lack of experience doesn't have to be a lack of empathy...
Today, Jesus is calling you. He wants to talk with you; He wants to have a relationship with you. You may be feeling lonely or dejected, or maybe something has happened recently in your life that has caused you pain. But take comfort in knowing that you are called by God, Himself. And in the midst of your circumstances, you can "be of good cheer." The Greek word literally means, "be full of courage." Yes, you can be courageous because you know that He loves you so much. You can "rise" in the face of whatever circumstances you face, because He is calling you.
God's love does not depend on our goodness. God's very nature is love, independent of our actions. His love for us is based on who he is, not on what we do. No matter what our circumstances, no matter what we have or haven't done, we can rest in the assurance that God loves us!
We can be discouraged in our tribulations if we do not keep focused on God's love. Even the strongest Christians may doubt the love of God in the middle of a trial and think that their troubles mean God is working against them. But God's Word tells otherwise. We were God's enemies under a death sentence when Christ died for us and reconciled us to God. If this is how he loves his enemies, how much more will he do for his family?
Believers are always under the canopy of God’s grace and love. Nothing we do can change that. At the same time, our behavior and heart condition do determine whether we receive the fullness of His blessings. He desires that we have a contrite heart and a humble spirit (Ps. 51:17). For that to be the case, all aspects of our lives must be surrendered to Jesus. Yet some dreams, desires, and people are difficult to release into His hands.
Anything we do not give over to His authority is evidence of pride, the exact opposite of what our Father wants in His children. Remember that “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). Lack of submission proves that we think our way is better than His plan.
God tells us to tremble at His Word (Isa. 66:2). Scripture—the unfolding revelation of Jesus Himself—is living and powerful to teach and transform us. Consider how we treat this treasure. Do we devote time each day to know what the Bible says and how to apply its principles? Do we hunger for more of the Word in our lives so we can know its Author better? One measure of our reverence is obedience: to honor the Lord, we must obey Him.
We all desire God’s favor. Are you living in a manner that positions you to receive His full blessings? Prayerfully consider whether you have submitted all areas of your life—from finances and health to relationships and work habits—to Jesus Christ. Recognize His authority in all things, and revere His Word.
… hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Romans 5:5
The Greek word for “hope” used in Romans means anticipation with expectancy. That means when we pass through suffering we expect to discover in its hardships the manifestation of His love. What do you hope in today, believe by faith with an understanding of God's will.
You have the power to change your future by making an important DECISION today. LET GO of the past!
IF YOU WANT TO GROW HANG AROUND PEOPLE WHO REQUIRE MORE OF YOU..... BE A BIG FISH IN A BIGGER POUND NOT IN A LITTLE POUND.
ALWAYS FOLLOW SOMEBODY WHO DID, WHO ARE WILLING, AND WHO IS STANDING WITH YOU IN THE TRENCHES. SUBMIT AND BE HUMBLE, COACHABLE, AND READY IN SEASON AND OUT.
A church that does not discipline a sinning member is like a person who has good reason to believe he has cancer but who refuses to go to a doctor—because he either does not want to face the problem or does not want to face the treatment. If he waits too long his whole body will be permeated with the disease and it will be too late for treatment to do any good. No church is healthy enough to resist contamination from persistent sin in its midst, any more than the healthiest and most nutritious bushel of apples can withstand contamination from even a single bad one. The only solution in both cases is separation.
Our “Glory Days” are such because we learn to hear God’s voice telling us to turn this way or that way. Isaiah speaks of it in chapter 30, verse 21. “Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go.”
God guides His people out of sin by faith; through the world by hope; into heaven by love.
~Michael Ayguan~
A lot can happen when you sit at the feet of Jesus.
“Love your neighbor” isn’t a call to bind the conscience of our neighbor to rules imagined in our own legalism. Dustin Benge
The kingdoms we are to subdue today are the kingdoms of self and flesh, as well as the kingdom of this world (with its millions of bound and lost, who are perishing in darkness). The righteousness we need and that we proclaim is the righteousness of Christ, who lives in us! The means is ever the same-by faith.
Bob Hoekstra
“When you are in the dark, listen, and God will give you a very precious message for someone else when you get into the light.”— Oswald Chambers.
You better be worried about yourself before you are worried about others!
Being a Christian is more than just an instantaneous conversion – it is a daily process whereby you grow to be more and more like Christ.
~Billy Graham~
Don't say you will go to jail for your faith when you won't go to church.
ONLINE CHURCH DOESN'T COUNT!
So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:46-47
The church has got away from the simplicity of Acts...
Some people have left churches that teach the Word of God for emotional experiences, miracles, and wonders. Churches whose focus is on these things will have to try every week to do something even more miraculous to keep people entertained––sad. I believe in healing and all 21 gifts of the Holy Spirit, but I do not like people misusing God’s gifts. They over-emphasize these things. As a child of God, make sure you go home and study what was said from the pulpit. If you are not doing that, you are a candidate to become deceived.
You don’t choose what happens to you, but you have the power to choose how you are affected by it. ~
Nona Jones
Take back your power through forgiveness.
It is an undoubted truth that every doctrine that comes from God, leads to God; and that which doth not tend to promote holiness is not of God.
~George Whitefield~
John Bunyan had written on the inside of his Bible: “Either, this book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this book.”
It’s so easy to get distracted. Some have said that if the devil can’t disrupt your purpose by shaking your faith, he’ll just make you too busy to do what God wills for you. Let’s stay focused!
It’s better to be with Jesus in any circumstance than to be anywhere else without Him.
"If a preacher is not first preaching to himself, better that he falls on the steps of the pulpit and breaks his neck than preach that sermon." -John Calvin. "Even those who sincerely love the Master sometimes wander, and we all need to take heed lest there be in any of us an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God." - Charles Spurgeon
Christians spend more time fretting about what the minister should do than praying for God‘s direction in their own lives.
—William Gurnall, The Christian in Complete Armour, 1:292
The fact is, we sometimes read Scripture, thinking of what it ought to say, rather than what it does say.
Charles Spurgeon
Rather than seeking revelations, visions, dreams, experiences, signs, and wonders, believers need only to study and obey what they already have — the Bible.
The primary business of the Christian Gospel is not to give us blessings. I emphasize the *primary* purpose. Its primary function is to reconcile us to God.
- Martyn Lloyd-Jones
"Truth is that which corresponds to reality as perceived by God." -R.C.Sproul.
“Don’t cut corners. Christ-centered preaching produces Christ-centered churches.”
~ Conrad Mbewe
If you’re not actively involved in a local church, then you’re also not “being the church”. Part of being the church is being in community and accountability with other believers.
“In the end, what is distinctive about Christianity is that it really has a gospel. It has a message of good news.” — Dr. James Anderson
"Let us drown the howling nonsense of Gomorrah with the melodies of the New Jerusalem.” –– Charles Spurgeon
The faith that is unto salvation is a penitent faith and the repentance that is unto life is a believing repentance…saving faith is permeated with repentance and repentance is permeated with saving faith. — John Murray
“God continues to forgive the sins of those that are justified, and… they can never fall from the state of justification…” — The Baptist Confession of Faith, 11.5.
The cross of Christ is in itself an offence to the world; let us take heed that we add no offence of our own. Charles Spurgeon
"If sin be still our delight, holiness will be still our burden. Therefore if God be our God, and Christ our Savior and Redeemer, prosperity, riches, credit, pleasure, and honor will be a sorry happiness and superficial righteousness yield no peace to the conscience." - Manton
“In heaven our eyes will see, our ears hear, and our hearts will conceive those things that now we neither can see, nor hear, nor understand.” — Richard Sibbes When we are full of self, there is no room for grace. —Thomas Manton, Works 6:48
When a man says, ‘Because I sinned I have lost it (salvation)’, what he is really saying on the other side is, ‘𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥.’ He is wrong in both respects. —Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Exposition of Romans, 5.22 "It is no strange motion of the physician if he require the patient to part with his disease... it is more pleasant to be rid of sin than to keep it; and the pleasures of sin would be found more troublesome than the most painful course of obedience." - Thomas Manton. Works 20:14
“A believing man, that has his heart subdued by the Spirit of God relishes the point of forgiveness of sins; he relishes the point of sanctification; he studies it daily more and more; he relishes peace of conscience and joy in the Holy Spirit; they are sweet things.” — Sibbes
… a Christian never loses that which he seeks after: God, Christ, and the things of a better life. The more we know of the vanities of the world and the excellencies of grace, the more we will love the one and hate the other.” — Richard Sibbes
“Labour therefore for faith to rely on the promise of provision, protection, and all things needful.” — Richard Sibbes
"We trust in Jesus for what we cannot do ourselves. If it were in our own power, why look to him?" — Charles Spurgeon
"Holy Spirit, guide our thoughts and words rightly." — Charles Spurgeon
"God can supply all of your needs out of his ever-living, overflowing fullness." — Charles Spurgeon "As a gnat might seek to drink in the ocean, so a finite creature might seek to comprehend the eternal God." — Charles Spurgeon "We sometimes read Scripture thinking of what it ought to say, rather than what it does say." — Charles Spurgeon "The world could not satisfy us. We wanted something more." — Charles Spurgeon
"Jesus, the Redeemer, is altogether ours and ours forever." — Charles Spurgeon "God has punished Christ instead of me, and therefore he cannot also punish me." — Charles Spurgeon "Leave Christ out of preaching, and you have taken milk from the children, you have taken the strong meat from the men." — Charles Spurgeon
"The gospel is all about Christ from beginning to end." – Charles Spurgeon "May we never look elsewhere for rest, but abide in Christ with an unwavering, immutable confidence." — Charles Spurgeon
This stupid world of “wise men” thinks that the gospel is a simple alternative we offer to its preferred lifestyle. We need to proclaim with a loud voice that the gospel is not an option, but is a divine ultimatum. Repent or perish, turn or burn. - Leonard Ravenhill
False teachers easily pass over the weighty things of both law and gospel, and stand most upon those things that are the least importance and concernment to the souls of men. —Thomas Brooks, Works 1:150
The world that seems to us so substantial is no more than the shadowlands; real life has not begun yet. C. S. Lewis "Pastors effectively have a pulpit inside people's heads. That is precisely why character matters when it comes to whether a person is qualified for the ministry." - Michael Kruger
I have always been comforted by this thought, that whatever I may forget in my own private prayers, as long as I pray the Lord’s Prayer I have at any rate covered all my principles. —Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 2.50
"Christian, take special care not to trust in the armour of God, but in the God of the armour." -William Gurnall.
“If God had granted all the silly prayers I’ve made in my life, where should I be now?” - C.S. Lewis
Blessed be God, all things happen for the furtherance of the Gospel. -George Whitefield - The Scriptures teach us the best way of living, the noblest way of suffering and the most comfortable way of dying. -John Flavel -
Fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement: he is a rebel who must lay down his arms. C. S. Lewis
“The Bible is the source of the preacher’s authority. The task of the preacher is to enable people to hear God speak to them.” -Paul Beasley-Murray
"You really cannot truly interpret nor understand the teaching of the epistles unless you do so in the light of the history of Acts." -Martyn Lloyd-Jones. The right manner of spiritual growth, is to grow less in one's own eyes. Thomas Watson
Of myself I can do nothing, but we can do all by your grace and strength, O Lord. Even so Lord Jesus. - William Wilberforce
It is a sign we have cheap thoughts of God, when we are slight in his service. Christians, we owe our best to God, and are to serve him with all our might. —Thomas Manton, Works 6:45
"All manner of afflictions that come to men are sent to touch their conscience and to bring them back to God." — Charles Spurgeon
Nothing is so great an enemy to true Christianity as ignorant zeal. -Stephen Charnock - Don't go where it is all fine music and grand talk and beautiful architecture, go where the gospel is preached and go often. -C.H.Spurgeon -
"We shall never fitly handle the word of God without prayer." - Charles Spurgeon
We should remember Paul's words, "It is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret" (Eph. 5:12). It is also a shame to willingly hear or read such things. Let us guard the gates of our lips, our eyes & our ears. -Hugh Crossley (1895)
7 simple Gospel doctrines 1. Sin—“..all have sinned”..” 2. Hell—“..condemned already..” 3. The Cross—“..Christ died for..sins..” 4. Blood—“..redemption through..” 5. Resurrection—“..he rose again..” 6. New Birth—“..he is a new creature..” 7. Eternal Life—“…gift of God..”
According to the Bible, we don’t merely need the money from work to survive; we need the work itself to survive and live fully human lives. "Jesus gives us sweet returns if we commune with him[…]" - Charles Spurgeon
"Salvation and supplication are a blessed pair. Put the two together, so that, when you speak to others about salvation, you do it after having baptized your own soul into supplication." - Charles Spurgeon
"Typically, Progressive Christians shift the authority for what they believe is true from the Bible to themselves—by becoming their own moral compass which will inevitably ebb and flow with culture." ―Alisa Childers
If you desire to be justified before God, you must either bring to him a perfect obedience of your own, and wholly renounce Christ; or else you must bring the perfect righteousness of Christ, and wholly renounce your own. —The Marrow of Modern Divinity (1645), Pg. 111-12
Antinomianism is any theology which undermines the pursuit of holiness, or calls into question God’s commands to Christian obedience. — Kevin DeYoung
"There is nothing expressly said of the resurrection of the body in this passage. The Apostle John saw the souls of them ... and they lived & reigned with Christ. The resurrection of the body is no where expressed in Scripture by the soul’s living." -Richard Watson (1832):
Poor Christian, be not dejected because you see yourself outstripped and excelled by many in other parts of knowledge; if you know Jesus, you know enough to comfort and save your soul. Many learned philosophers are now in hell, and many illiterate Christians in heaven. - Flavel
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