Whenever people really encounter God, they get humble. Isaiah said, "Woe is me, I am undone," and when Peter saw Jesus' power displayed, he said "Depart from me, I am a sinful man."
You might not be aware of it, but when Isaac Watts wrote the hymn "Joy to the World" he was writing about the second coming of Christ, not the first. As you sing words like "He rules the world with truth and grace," keep that in mind. Remember to reverence Him, because He is God.
"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed
Is your heart trained to come to God in prayer, listening for His voice above all others? The only voice that matters is His. Come to Him in prayer. Listen as He speaks to you. He is waiting.
Mary Southerland
We must not heed what others did who were before us, but
what Christ did who was before all.
~Thomas Fuller~
Ultimately, no matter what tradition you come from, the holidays are historically days in which we focus on the spiritual. Men and women are created with a natural draw toward spiritual life.
However, our culture today tends to stay away from a focus on the spiritual, and that has even crept into our holidays. Be sure to place an emphasis on building your spiritual life and growing in that area.
Fascination is one step beyond interest. Interested people want to know if it works. Fascinated people want to learn how it works. Learn how to turn frustration into fascination. You will learn more being fascinated by life than you will by being frustrated by it.
What God requires of us He Himself works in us, or it is not
done.~Matthew Henry~
The people who "don't make mistakes" are the ones who are falling behind. Why? Because they don't take the risk to get ahead.
When God chose to reveal himself, he did so through a human body. The hand that touched the leper had dirt under its nails. The feet upon which the women wept were calloused and dusty. And his tears—oh, don’t miss His tears. They came from a heart as broken as yours or mine has ever been.
It’s man who creates the distance. It’s Jesus who builds the bridge!
A victorious Christian life is not a superior brand of Christianity reserved for the elite of the elect. It is the normal Christian life for every Christian.
~Ronald Dunn~
We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. We will cast down the powers of darkness that are in the world by our faith and zeal and holiness; we will win sinners to Jesus; we will overturn false systems; we will convert nations. For God is with us, and none shall stand against us. This evening let the Christian warrior sing the war song and prepare for tomorrow's fight. Greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world.
faith is the conviction that God knows more than we do about this life and He will get us through it. Remember, disappointment is cured by revamped expectations!
How much can God entrust in your life? Are you happy to do what God has called you to do?
God requires no more than faithfulness in our place.
~William Gurnall~
Nothing can ever change God or the reality of redemption."—Oswald Chambers
It's funny, but sometimes in marriage we can find it hard to communicate exactly what we're feeling or thinking. If you've felt that way, you're not alone.
Communication is a skill we must learn, especially in marriage. When we communicate well, we clear our relationship of debris that builds up as we go about life.
Be Obedient in the silence...!
WHILE YOU ARE WAITING GOD IS STILL WORKING.
God is calling dead people to come alive not calling evil people to be made good.
Learn to let go and let God work His will for His good pleasure.
When your mind is attacked be obedient in your heart.
the Lord is in control and can use even the most implausible circumstances to reveal His glory.
God is not silent. It is the nature of God to speak. The second person of the Holy Trinity is called ‘The Word’
~A.W.Tozer~
Avoid churches that avoid the Bible. Get in a church that gets into the Bible.
How to encourage your pastor this weekend: Pray on the way. Show up early. Bring your Bible. Sing loudly. Take notes. Say an 'amen' or two. Stay engaged. Greet visitors. Sign up to serve somewhere. Then, go live out the sermon.
If the Jesus you’re worshipping is mainly shaped by your own preferences and opinions, instead of the Scriptures. Then, you’re not worshipping the real Jesus, but rather a version of yourself and attaching His name to it. That’s called idolatry.
As time passes, every one of us will fade from memory, except Jesus Christ — the Alpha and the Omega, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.
It will cost you to follow Christ, but it costs even more not to follow Him. Steven Lawson
True faith takes its character and quality from its object. Its strength therefore depends on the character of Christ. Even those of us who have weak faith have the same strong Christ as others! Sinclair B. Ferguson
Lord give me Yourself. Augustine
The Holy Spirit helps our weaknesses, but He does not encourage our laziness. Charles Spurgeon
There is not the slightest detail that is overlooked by the gaze of God. R.C. Sproul
Man's insulting God is not reversed by our insulting man. Sinclair Ferguson
“The love of Christ has depths we cannot sound, heights we cannot explore, an infinite fulness and freeness tiding over all the sins, infirmities, and sorrows of its blessed and favored objects.” — Octavius Winslow
“Run to Christ in the promise, and plead the promise, and let your souls cleave close to the promise: for this is the way of ways to have… your comforts restored, your peace maintained, your graces strengthened, and your assurance raised and confirmed.” — Thomas Brooks
“A secret dependence upon our prayers, tears, resolutions, repentance and endeavors, prevents us from looking solely and simply to the Savior, so as to ground our whole hope for acceptance upon his obedience unto death, and his whole mediation.” — John Newton
“He that believeth on Jesus shall never be confounded.” — Robert Traill
“That we may further conceive aright the moral law, we must make a difference between it and the gospel, for the gospel is that part of the Word which promises righteousness and life everlasting to all that believe in Christ.” — William Perkins,Works, 1:243–44.
“Man's Maker was made man, that He… might be wounded; that Life might die.” — Augustine
"True leaders are learners." – H. B. Charles
“Christianity is covenantal” (1 Cor 11:24-26). — Patrick Abendroth @PatAbendroth “Jesus Christ is a complete all-sufficient Savior.” — John Newton We count it no presumption to say that we are saved, for the Word of God has told us so in those places where salvation is promised to faith in Christ. The presumption would lie in doubting the Word of God. — Charles Spurgeon “Assurance is our reaction to the gift of salvation and our reflection on our trust in Christ.” — Sinclair Ferguson Beloved, nothing shall take the love of Christ from you, or separate you from it. It does not ebb with the ebbing of your feelings; it does not chill with the chill of your affections; it does not change with the changing scenes and circumstances of your life. — Octavius Winslow “Man by nature is a Legalist. Therefore, he can never escape from being a Legalist by becoming an Antinomian. The only escape from Legalism, I say again to you, beloved, is grace.” — Sinclair Ferguson
“Assurance is, as it were, the cream of faith.” — William Gurnall “A true believer will doubtless repent and pray, and forsake his former evil ways, but he is not accepted upon the account of what he does or feels but because Jesus lived and died, and rose and reigns on the behalf of sinners…” — John Newton
“Each Lord's Day as the gospel is preached or the sacrament of the Lord's Supper is administered, believers are reminded that Jesus is coming again…each Lord's Day we are reminded of the need to adopt an expectant posture.” — Jonathan Gibson, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, 29. “Cleanse me from my secret faults, O Lord, and forgive those offenses to your servant which he has caused in others… Therefore I contend not in judgment with you; for if you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall abide it? Amen.” — Augustine
“God, who foresaw your tribulation, has specially armed you to go through it, not without pain but without stain.” - C.S. Lewis
“When we Christians behave badly, or fail to behave well, we are making Christianity unbelievable to the outside world.” - C.S. Lewis
"There is no true faith without the tear of repentance in its eye." — Charles Spurgeon "The happiest of all Christians are those who never dare to doubt God, but take his Word simply as it stands." — Charles Spurgeon "The greatest blessing which God ever gave to man was the man Christ Jesus." — Charles Spurgeon
"I am a poor sinner still. I have to look to Christ every day as I did at the very first." — Charles Spurgeon "One drop of Jesus' precious blood could melt a mountain of ice as huge as a million worlds." — Charles Spurgeon "Only in heaven are we out of gunshot of the devil." — Charles Spurgeon "We shall not adjust our Bible to the age; but, by God's grace, we shall adjust the age to the Bible." — Charles Spurgeon
"We must own that we are powerless in this business. Salvation is of the Lord and we cannot save a single soul." — Charles Spurgeon "That very church which the world likes best is sure to be that which God abhors." — Charles Spurgeon "To believe God's Word is the most reasonable thing we can do." — Charles Spurgeon "Go to your rest rejoicing, for you are not a desolate wanderer but a beloved child, cared for and defended by your Lord." — Charles Spurgeon "God is love, and there is love in his heart even towards sinners who are dead in trespasses and sins." — Charles Spurgeon
"Faith goes up the stairs that love has built and looks out the windows which hope has opened." — Charles Spurgeon "You will never glory in God till first of all God has killed your glorying in yourself." — Charles Spurgeon "A Jesus who never wept could never wipe away my tears." — Charles Spurgeon "Nothing teaches us about the preciousness of the Creator as much as when we learn the emptiness of everything else." — Charles Spurgeon
"Keep close to Christ. Never let your heart be dissociated from intimate communion with him." — Charles Spurgeon
"The Bible is a very dangerous book to superstition, but to nothing else." — Charles Spurgeon
"There are times when solitude is better than society, and silence is wiser than speech." — Charles Spurgeon
"The gospel is all about Christ from beginning to end." – Charles Spurgeon "God did well enough before you were born, and he will do well enough when you have gone home." — Charles Spurgeon
STOP MAKING PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS ABOUT GOD'S PRIVATE AGENDA.
DON'T EVER BE ASHAMED TO SHARE YOUR STORY. YOU NEVER KNOW HOW GOOD THAT BAD CHAPTER OF YOUR LIFE COULD BE TO SOMEONE.
NO MATTER HOW LONG THE DELAY, GOD WILL DELIVER RIGHT ON TIME!
A HATER CAN HAVE A WHOLE CAKE AND STILL BE JEALOUS OF YOUR SLICE!
Real humility is found by submitting to the Word of God, no matter the consequences. Grant R. Castleberry
This evening let the Christian warrior chant the war song, and prepare for tomorrow’s fight. Greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. Charles Spurgeon
“Having been liberated from the power of sin and the bondage of the law, we can now serve the Lord in freedom by loving our neighbor in a life of good works.” — Brown and Keele, Sacred Bond, 152
What we believe about heaven and earth matters because Jesus’ life, death and resurrection secure the former and save from the latter. Tom Ascol
There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence, and the other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. C.S. Lewis
When God is said to enlighten us, it is not that we should expect new revelations, but that we may see the wonders in his word. Those that vent their own dreams under the name of the Spirit and divine light, they do not give you mysteries but monstrosities… —Thomas Manton
The longest life is too short to honour God. —Thomas Manton, Works 6:163
Lord’s Day reminder: “It is no sign of humility, no mark of saintliness, to go into the presence of God doubting wether God is forgiving you.” —Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Great Doctrines of the Bible, 1.355
"Every funeral should be used as a fishing trip to catch more fish." -C.T.Studd.
"A man may easier see without eyes, speak without a tongue, than to truly mortify one sin without the Holy Spirit." John Owen
"Scratching people where they itch and addressing their 'felt needs' is a stratagem of the poor steward of the oracles of God. This was the recipe for success for the false prophets of the Old Testament." RC Sproul
Our #Lord has written the promise of #resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime. -Martin Luther -
A true #Christian is one who has not only peace of conscience, but war within. - J.C. Ryle -
If the Lord does not change the place for the better, he will make us the better in the place. Spurgeon
The Old Testament was about the free mercy of God and was firmly grounded in Christ. John Calvin Oh, but it were better to be laughed at and go to Heaven, than to be applauded and cast into the pit. You may be laughed into hell, but you cannot be laughed out of it again. Charles Spurgeon
“Christ went more willingly to the cross than we do to the throne of grace.” — Thomas Watson
I preach the simple gospel, and our glorious Jesus is pleased to attend it with his power. - George Whitefield
Ask the Holy Spirit for help. Let God show Himself strong on your behalf. Drop your shovel, stand back, and watch Him move that mountain. Chuck Smith
Men depend on #God's blessing and favorable providence for success in all affairs... -Jonathan Edwards - #God is looking for people through whom He can do the impossible. -A.W. Tozer -
"Expository preaching is the most faithful way to proclaim God's Word and to serve the people of God." - Sinclair Ferguson
“We may say too much in a single sermon, we may give a field of wheat instead of a loaf of bread.” - Charles Spurgeon We shall not grow weary of waiting upon God if we remember how long and how graciously He once waited for us. Charles Spurgeon
You will never know the fullness of Christ until you know the emptiness of everything but Christ. Charles Spurgeon
"Begin with little things." -Henry Martyn.
Oh, thaw thy heart every morning with a meditation of pardon, and sin will not so easily freeze it in the day-time. —Puritan Stephen Charnock, The Pardon of Sin, Works 5:458
“The Kingdom of God is not Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. The Kingdom of God is ruled by a just and holy creator, for whom we should have fear.” R.C. Sproul “Christianity is not the removal of suffering, but the addition of grace to endure suffering triumphantly.” Thomas Watson
“We must recognize that God is at the heart of things and that we exist for his glory, that is to say, we exist for him, not he for us.” ~J. I. Packer Many people gladly celebrate the birth of Christ at Christmas, only to ignore, shun, and reject Him the rest of the year. John MacArthur "When the Bible references 'truth,' it's not talking about something that is vague or variable, but it is rather addressing that which is revealed, objective, defined, and absolute." —Alistair Begg
#God knoweth them that are his; because, that is, He has them marked as it were, and holds them as numbered on his roll -John Calvin -
Take all that is in the Bible, dear friends, to be true. Never be afraid of any text that is written by the sacred pen. Charles Spurgeon
Every day that passes brings us one day closer to that glorious day—that day of singing and rejoicing, when the Lord shall come and dwell in the midst of the people. Chuck Smith
As sinful commissions will stab the soul; so sinful omissions will starve the soul. – Thomas Brooks
We don’t take sin seriously because we don’t take God’s judgment seriously. – Wayne Mack
"If you were sons of God, you would recognize the Son of God. There is an eye-opening, Christ-endearing, spiritual DNA that comes with being fathered by God." -John Piper.
#God has a #Word for us, not an opinion. -John Calvin - Nothing teaches us about the preciousness of the #Creator as much as when we learn the emptiness of everything else. -C.H. Spurgeon -
“The gospel says you are simultaneously more sinful and flawed than you ever dared believe, yet more loved and accepted than you ever dared hope.” – Tim Keller
Disappointments are not necessarily God's appointments; but if we love Him & trust Him, He will, by His infinite resources, according to promise, make "All things," yea, even the ills & disappointments of life, "work together for good" in time & in eternity. -Hugh Crossley (1895)
"If the stones were to speak they could tell of their Maker; and shall not we tell of him who made us anew, and out of stones raised up children unto Abraham?" - Charles Spurgeon
God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain. -CS Lewis
It was by the Word that all true members of the church are reborn and brought to faith and repentance, purified and sanctified, gathered and established; and they in turn are called to preserve. —Herman Bavinck The Wonderful Works of God, p. 522
Kommentare