If you’re a Christian, your PRIMARY identity is found in being a disciple of Jesus, not a pop star. He is the One who paid for your sins. He is the One who gives you eternal life. He is the One who gives real hope and meaning to your life. He is the One who gets you through difficult days. He is the only One worthy of worship.
Our primary calling is to be ambassadors for Christ (2 Cor 5:20), not ambassadors for celebrities.
How does God get your attention? Does the house have to burn down? Sometimes the life changing events we experience (loss of a job, health issue, financial setback, family problem, etc.) are only necessary because we haven't been listening to God -- we've blocked Him out. Are you at all blocking God out of your life? Does He currently have your attention? What is He trying to tell you?
Jesus Christ is not about churches, establishments, religion or politics; He is about having a personal relationship with people just like you. He wants to be invited into our homes, and He wants to be with us. He wants to love us.
Wedding Feast of the Lamb
There is a place prepared for me
A table by the crystal sea
Where my Beloved bids me rest
And gently lean upon His breast
He dries my tears, He breaks my chains
He binds my wounds, He heals my pain
He soothes my tired and troubled soul
He fills my cup, it overflows
The finest wine, the choicest bread
By His own nail-scarred hands I am fed
He hides my shame in holy dress
He clothes me with His righteousness
He lifts my veil, He draws me close
Proclaims me His to the heavenly host
While angels sing His reverence
He leads me in a sacred dance
There is a place by the crystal sea
Where my Beloved waits for me.
He bids me come just as I am
To the wedding feast of the Lamb.
Jesus loves me. And His grace is strong enough to extend His love into every part of me.The good parts of me. The broken parts of me.
Only God can take the broken pieces of your life and make something beautiful out of each one. He is waiting for you to let go of your pain.
your heart—is vital for your whole being. You sink or swim based on your heart condition. Have a heart as my mom would say... A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.
Proverbs 17:22
How divinely supreme is our Lord above all others!
~D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones~
“There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance.
We need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections. If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot fully open to our ability to love others or our potential to create.
The fragrance of Christ is one of the great characteristics that God wants to build into our lives by His grace. "Now thanks be to God who… through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge." This spiritual aroma, which results from getting to know the Lord, blesses the heart of God. "For we are to God the fragrance of Christ." The Father loves to see the life of His Son being expressed in and through our humanity, even though this requires our dying to self. "For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh"
(2 Corinthians 4:11).
Christ’s resurrection is not only the best proof of immortality,
but we have no certain evidence of immortality without it.
~Augustus H. Strong~
Remember, we are overcomers because of Christ. In us alone, our future holds nothing but death.
Over and over the Bible makes it clear who really runs the earth. Satan may strut and prance, but it is God who calls the shots.
"At every crisis in one's life, it is absolute salvation to have some sympathetic friend to whom you can think aloud without restraint or misgiving."
~ President Woodrow Wilson
"A man has no more character than he can command in a time of crisis."
~ Ralph W. Sockman
"In a crisis, don't hide behind anything or anybody. They're going to find you anyway."
~ Paul "Bear" Bryant
"When you have that window of opportunity called a crisis, move as quickly as you can, get as much done as you can. There's a momentum for change that's very compelling."
~ Anne Mulcahy
How you live your life is your message to the world.
When was the last time you tried something new? Like if you're not a reader...read a book, take Salsa lessons, or simply take a walk...the monotony of your life could have something to do with your disposition.
They can talk, but it doesn't change the favor of God on your life! So, let them...
You don't feel the need to defend yourself when you know God saw what happened too.
Let the Lord fight your battles!
Some folk (so called friends/family) are waiting for your storm to be over to walk back in. LOCK THE DOOR!!!
If you’re not going to do it in a spirit of excellence just don’t do it! We are tired of being entertained—usher us into the Presence of Elohim.
People want God to do a million things for them, but won't do ONE thing for Him. Zero sacrifices...I'll never understand it.
"Forgiveness doesn't change the person that hurt you. Forgiveness changes YOU"!
"Don't become addicted to the applause"!
Unfortunately, some people won’t see your value until they try to replace you.
"We suffer more in our imagination than in reality ".
Some journeys must be traveled alone. You'll understand why...later.
Your most support will come from people that don't even know you! It's your own people that don't wanna see you win!
Prayer isn’t about getting God to do what you want, it’s about getting You to do what God wants.
Job 40:6 "Then The Lord spoke to Job out of the storm." God often uses storms to speak to us.
When you are aware of even the simplest of things to be thankful for, you see better what is going on around you, often bringing new reference to difficult life situations.
Our salvation is not simply a ticket to heaven in the future. It is also a passport to a new “walk” in this life, a new way of living and being, a new way of relating to God through Jesus Christ.
MARK D. ROBERTS
Friend, God, who is our great “I Am,” fulfills every longing of our hearts. Jesus carries this truth forward into the New Testament as He declares His many magnificent names.
Just as He was for Moses, God is everything we need! Who we are is not nearly as important as who God is. Let’s put our faith in Him.
If you have not the time, God gave it to you, and you must have spent it.
~C.H. Spurgeon~
As we are living in the Last Days, we need to buy up the time. It is a season full of opportunities. Every day, live with this mindset––this might be the last day I have to live on earth––then eternity.
The truest lengthening of life is to live while we live, wasting no time but using every hour for the highest ends. So be it this day.
~C.H. Spurgeon~
There are many forces at work in this world—forces colliding, reacting to each other, influencing one another. And you, brother, are one of them. Each of us is. The question is, though, what kind? Are we a force for goodness and generosity? I mean, is this broken, evil world better because of us? Or are we forces that are simply neutral? Or are we a force for ‘me’—for selfishness, for stockpiling, for negativity, or depravity even?
A huge part of changing your mindset is learning to forgive and let go. If you have been through something in your personal life that is making un-forgiveness and bitterness an issue, those feelings will show up in other places—and not in a good way.
God opens the doors, but we have to be courageous and obedient enough to walk through them.
The aim and result of faithful, fruitful, and fulfilling service are to make God famous.
~Don Cousins~
Without truth born in faith, worship becomes ordinary, self-centered, and even carnal.
Dustin Benge
Christianity isn’t knowing facts about God, but truly knowing God.
To a man who lives for God, nothing is secular, everything is sacred." — Charles Spurgeon
"Hell has many gates, though heaven has just one." — Charles Spurgeon
"If grace does not make you to differ from your surroundings, is it really grace at all?" — Charles Spurgeon
"Faith which accepts one word of God and rejects another is not faith in God, but faith in our own judgment or our own taste." — Charles Spurgeon
"You are a great sinner, but he is a greater Savior. Come, Goliath sinner, the Son of David can save even you." — Charles Spurgeon
"To submit to a Creator who is too wise to err and too good to be unkind should not be hard." — Charles Spurgeon
"Faith is the reverse of sight. It is to believe that we are saved when sin tells us that we are lost." — Charles Spurgeon
"God, you are not only the greatest source of joy but you are all our joy." — Charles Spurgeon
"If you are not very prayerful, you are much to be pitied." — Charles Spurgeon
"Our Master knows no limit of power or boundary of mission." — Charles Spurgeon
"God hates pride with a perfect hatred." — Charles Spurgeon
"All the beauty of the saints comes from Jesus." — Charles Spurgeon
"Send me what you will, my God, so long as it comes from you." — Charles Spurgeon
"All that puzzles us now will become plain to us in the light of the Lamb." — Charles Spurgeon
"Many choose to perish forever rather than trust in God." — Charles Spurgeon
"One of the greatest works of grace in the heart is to humble our pride." — Charles Spurgeon
"If Christ was punished for my sins, I can never be punished for them." — Charles Spurgeon
"The love of Jesus can overcome all adversaries, even death itself." — Charles Spurgeon
"Doctrines in the head, without holiness in the life, are of no service." — Charles Spurgeon
"One mark of a man's true wisdom is his knowledge of his ignorance." — Charles Spurgeon
"No subject will tend more to humble the mind than thoughts of God." — Charles Spurgeon
"The surest road to our own happiness is to seek the good of others." — Charles Spurgeon
"Who knows what is good for us? God does, and that is better than for us to know." — Charles
"It is a blessed thing to wait only on God." — Charles Spurgeon
"Preach Christ, always and evermore. He is the whole gospel." — Charles Spurgeon
"Half-hearted worshipers are an insult to God." — Charles Spurgeon
"The more we know him, the more we shall love him." — Charles Spurgeon
"Never dare to despair if God answers prayers." — Charles Spurgeon
"The gospel is all about Christ from beginning to end." – Charles Spurgeon
"An angel cannot be more pure than the poor blood-washed sinner." — Charles Spurgeon
"God is always wise. There can be no accidents, no mistakes." — Charles Spurgeon
"Better is one day with God than a thousand years without him." — Charles Spurgeon
"Let hell smoke and burn, if I am a believer I shall never have my portion there." — Charles Spurgeon
Take Christ for your strength, dear soul. He’ll give you power. Power to overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil; power to crucify every besetting sin, passion, lust; power to shout in triumph over every trouble and temptation of your life. Moody
Once we are honest about our feelings, they can be submitted to the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, who desires our emotions to be rooted in His love, reflecting the fruits of His Spirit in healthy, healing ways. Ray Bentley
We miss the people God sends into our lives because we’re too caught up in our human standards and fail to see what God sees. Even worse, we just might miss the Lord Himself. Ray Bentley
If Christ be with us, the worst afflictions can only loosen our earthly bonds, and set us free to soar higher. Moody
Time is short, and the world is passing away. Give yourself, your time, your energies, and your resources to things that are eternal. Live for the kingdom of God, and live forever. Chuck Smith
We cannot continue to ignore God’s will as expressed in the Scriptures and expect to secure the aid of God’s Spirit. Tozer
“Whoever it was that said expository preaching is boring—that’s on the preacher and not the method. Finding the meaning of God in the text should be our priority.” - Sam Davison
"Expository preaching is the best method for displaying and conveying your conviction that the whole Bible is true." - Tim Keller
"I preached myself, and the scholars came up and praised me. I preached Christ, and the sinners came up and thanked me." — Bernard of Clairvaux
“We may say too much in a single sermon, we may give a field of wheat instead of a loaf of bread.” - Charles Spurgeon
After the most careful and prayerful preparation of a sermon, I am fully persuaded that unless it is used by the Holy Spirit it will accomplish nothing. -Francis Grimké
"Expository preaching is when the text of Scripture establishes the agenda for the sermon." -Alistair Begg
“Now is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It won’t last forever. We must take it or leave it.” - 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
The gospel to me is truth. I am content to perish if it be not true." — Charles Spurgeon
“The Spirit-filled Christian is a Bible-filled Christian.” Grant Castleberry
Preach to broken hearts, for in every pew you are sure to find some Charles Spurgeon
'There is no place for us among God's children, except we renounce the world, and there will be no inheritance in heaven, except we become pilgrims on earth.' John Calvin
“Moses spent forty years in the palace thinking he was a somebody; forty years in the dessert thinking he was a nobody; and forty years realizing what God can do through a somebody who found out he was a nobody.” Dwight L. Moody
Never was sin seen to be more abominably sinful and full of provocation than when the burden of it was upon the shoulders of the Son of God...Would you, then, see the true demerit of sin?—take the measure of it from the mediation of Christ, especially His cross. John Owen
"Repentance is to leave The sin we loved before, And show that we in earnest grieve By doing so no more." Charles Spurgeon
Thy word is truth John 17:17 Thomas Brooks
"It was grace to have the love of God, yea, it was death to be without it." Richard Sibbes
Qh to be more concerned about what HE thinks, and less concerned about what perishing mortals think. A.W. Pink
Many seek Christ-but it is more for loaves-than for love. Thomas Brooks
When we cannot trace God's hand we can trust God's heart. C.H. Spurgeon
Prayer is a strong wall and fortress of the church; it is a goodly Christian weapon. Martin Luther
"The Bible has told me a great many of my faults; it would tell you yours if you would let it." Charles
The best proof that He will never cease to love us lies in that He never began. Geerhardus Vos
All shall be Amen and Alleluia. We shall rest and we shall see. We shall see and we shall know. We shall know and we shall love. We shall love and we shall praise. Behold our end which is no end. Augustine
Never lose heart in the power of the gospel. Do not believe that there exists any man, much less any race of men, for whom the gospel is not fitted. Charles Spurgeon
If I could today become king or emperor, I would not give up my office as preacher. Martin Luther
All of Holy Scripture, from beginning to end, points solely to Christ as our source of grace and truth. Martin Luther
There is only one satisfactory test of a man’s religious character. That test is his conduct and conversation. J.C. Ryle
Come to a Father of mercy who is more ready to pardon than you are to ask it. . . You shall find that God by His Spirit will be readier to meet you than you are to cast yourselves at the feet of His mercy, and into the arms of His mercy. Richard Sibbes
Carnal men are hot in their own cause, cold in God’s. God’s Children are quite otherwise, cold in their own cause, and hot in Gods. Thomas Manton
One of the prime acts of faith is to cast your soul on God as all-sufficient to make you completely happy. William Gurnall
A great help over temptation is to remember that sin is more than breaking a rule. It is grieving a Person who loves us beyond measure. Paul Washer
Submitting our lives to the Word of God is not radical Christianity, it's basic Christianity Paul Washer
"He who is his own teacher, is sure to have a fool for his master!" -William Gurnall
"The pulpit is never to be the ladder by which ambition is to climb." — Charles Spurgeon
"Labor to teach your children to always have an eye to God." — Charles Spurgeon
The person who cannot forgive his neighbor...can know nothing about the free and full pardon which Christ offers us. -J.C. Ryle -
Lusts also stir up the carnal mind to invent excuses for sinful practices -Jonathan Edwards -
"Unbelief brings misery, but a childlike trust brings happiness." — Charles Spurgeon
Sometimes the Lord reveals the heart of someone through their sinful actions. Pay attention, and don’t overlook sin. It will harm and hurt you in the long term if you do.
It is a very natural thing that man should fear death, for man was not originally created to die. Charles Spurgeon
God does not want partnership with us, but ownership of us -Leonard Ravenhill -
All Gospel truths centre in Christ: so that to learn the truth, is to learn Christ. -Thomas Boston -
[The fear of the Lord] is not contrary to the grace of the gospel. No; it is the fruit of it: Psalm 130:4, ‘There is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.’ —Thomas Manton, Works 7:176
"If Christ was punished for my sins, I can never be punished for them." — Charles Spurgeon
"The truths I know best I have learned on my knees. I never know a thing well, till it is burned into my heart by prayer." -John Bunyan.
Sin slew our Savior; how can we be on friendly terms with it? Charles Spurgeon
“In a counterfeit conversion there is no death to self, no submission to the Lordship of Christ, no taking up a cross, no obedience in following Christ, no fruit of repentance-only empty words, shallow feelings and barren religious activities.” Steven Lawson
To feel God's love is very precious, but to believe it when you do not feel it, is the noblest. Charles Spurgeon
It’s easy to be a guy, But it takes Courage, Integrity, Character, Honor, Strength, Discipline, and Humility to be a Man. Burk Parsons
There is nothing on earth or in heaven that is higher than this—the knowledge that God has set his heart upon us, that God loves us. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
When fear overtakes us, remember the achievements of the Cross of Christ. Richard Sibbes
“Salvation: If you have it, you never can lose it, and if you seemingly lose it, you never really had it.” R.C. Sproul
“The gospel teaches needy sinners, to come as simners, to come empty-handed to the market of free grace, for the remission of sins and all the other blessings of a free salvation.” —Colquhoun
Though God is infinite love, he is also infinite justice. Charles Spurgeon
Our efforts cannot make us ready for heaven apart from the hand of Jesus. Charles Spurgeon
Preach God's Word, not your opinions -A.W. Pink -
Repentance is too precious a flower to grow naturally If you have even one particle of hatred for sin God gave it to you. -C.H. Spurgeon -
A Christian without a Bible is a solider without a weapon. —Wilhelmus à Brakel, The Christian’s Reasonable Service, 1:76
Destroy, O God, the dark guest within whose hidden presence makes my life a hell. —Valley of Vision, On Indwelling Sin and Remaining Corruption, Pg. 127
When you fall into sin do not raise the whole question of your justification again. —Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Exposition of Romans, Volume 8, Pg. 100
I'm willing to bet this happens all the time! An independent lab will find Sugar in many "sugar-free" products.
"To step into the pulpit is to enter onto holy ground." -Steven Lawson.
This universe is not being run by a democracy, but by a theocracy—by God. Steven Lawson
God always does as He pleases, when He pleases, where He pleases, and with whom He pleases. A. W. Pink\\
“We may say too much in a single sermon, we may give a field of wheat instead of a loaf of bread.” - Charles Spurgeon
Justification, of course, has no degrees and is completed at one moment and in only one act. Yet, in manifestation, consciousness, and effects it has many degrees. —Puritan William Ames, The Marrow of Theology, 161
Always respond to every impulse to pray. The impulse to pray may come when you are reading or when you are battling with a text. I would make an absolute law of this: always obey such an impulse. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Every other religion does not tell the truth. Every other religious leader does not tell the truth. Only Jesus tells the truth. He is the truth. Steven Lawson
The Throne of Grace lieth always open; the more oftener we frequent it, the more welcome. We frown upon one that often troubleth us with his suits, but it is not so with God; we may beg and beg again. —Thomas Manton, Works 7:185
If God is impassible, does that mean that He is stoic, lifeless, indifferent, apathetic, and incapable of love or compassion? Actually, impassibility ensures just the opposite: God could not be more alive or more loving than He is eternally. —Matthew Barrett, Tabletalk 5/19
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