Repent is a Roman military word, meaning “about turn”. To “repent” is to turn around completely.
Carl Laferton
Quote
“Procrastination is the assassin of opportunity.”
Victor Kiam, U.S. entrepreneur (the man who was so impressed he bought the company - Remington.)
John Blanchard put it like this: “If Jesus never rose from the dead, the New Testament has no more value than a handful of confetti. If Jesus never rose from the dead the disciples were blasphemous deceivers, the early Christian church was a rabble of misguided bigots, all Christian martyrs have spilled their blood defending a non-event and the church’s great reformers of society were motivated by a pack of lies. What’s more, every Christian church building is a monument to a myth, all its ministers are liars, every prayer offered to or in the name of Jesus is pointless prattle, all who claim a living relationship with him are pathetically deceived, every Christian service is a farce, every Easter day commemorates something that never happened and any hope of life after death is deluded daydreaming.”
Source: John Blanchard, Is Anyone Out There? p.32
C. S. Lewis once saw this epitaph on a tombstone: “Here lies an atheist, all dressed up but with nowhere to go.” Lewis added his own comment, “I bet he wishes that were so.”
Source: Simon Guillbaud, For What It’s Worth, 2006, Oxford: Monarch Books, p.127
The kingdom of God has come, and is yet to come; it is here and not yet fully here; it is now and not yet. When we pray for healing and healing happens, we are reminded that the kingdom has come in power now. But sometimes we pray and it doesn’t happen and then we are reminded that the kingdom of God is not yet! – We have to live with this tension. – Sometimes God heals, sometimes he doesn’t. Sometimes healing is instant, other times we have to persist in prayer before we see breakthrough. But one thing is for certain: the more we pray for healing the more healings happen.
Picture a triangle with God at the top and a husband and wife at either side. The closer the husband and wife get to God the closer they get together.
“You do not have to go to church to be a Christian. You do not have to go home to be married either. But in both cases if you do not, you will have a very poor relationship.”
R. Kent Hughes
“You may delay but time will not… Lost time is never found.”
Benjamin Franklin
One reason the Lord permits us to go through trials, is so we might not get too content or comfortable in our faith and stop growing.
We often talk about the sacrifice Jesus made for us, but we seldom talk about the sacrifice He expects from us. Psalm 51v17 (NLT) says: ‘The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.’ Billy Graham has extended Christ’s invitation to people around the world saying, “Come just as you are. But when you come, you must leave your defiance and rebellion behind and come in submission for at that moment of repentance the Saviour of your soul will become Master of your life.”
Why does God allow evil to happen? ‘God is capable of preventing evil, and God desires to rid the world of evil. So why does God allow evil? Perhaps another way to look at that question is to consider the alternative ways that people might have God run the world. For example:
- God could change everyone’s personality so that they are not able to sin. But that would mean we’d no longer have freewill and so there’d be no meaningful relationship between us and God.
- Another option is that God could compensate for people’s evil actions through supernatural intervention 100 percent of the time. God would then intervene and stop a drunk driver from causing an accident or stop terrorists from flying airplanes into buildings. But while this solution sounds attractive, it would very quickly lose its attractiveness as soon as God’s intervention infringed on something we wanted to do. We want God to prevent horrible evil actions, but are we willing to let “lesser-evil” actions slide? Again we don’t really want to be controlled, do we? We want to retain control over our own lives. We value our freewill.
- Another alternative would be for God to judge and remove those who choose to commit evil acts. But the problem with this is that there would be no one left, because God would have to remove us all.
Instead of these alternatives, God has chosen to create a “real” world in which real choices have real consequences.’
Source: http://www.gotquestions.org/God-allow-evil.html
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
Martin Luther King (1929-1968), US Baptist minister and civil-rights leader.
“When the eagle flies the parrots begin to jabber.”
Winston Churchill
Any time you try to make your mark you’ll attract erasers!
“If we were never depressed we should not be alive; it is the nature of a crystal never to be depressed. A human being is capable of depression; otherwise there would be no capacity for exaltation.”
Oswald Chambers
Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest, (2000 edition), Worcester: Oswald Chambers Publications, p.54
“Fear knocked on the door. Faith answered it. Nobody was there!”
Harold Sherman
If God always rescued those who were true to him, then Christians would not need faith. Christianity would be nothing more than an insurance policy! We should be faithful to serve God whether He intervenes on our behalf or not.
Blessed are they that laugh at themselves for they shall never cease to be entertained.
Our God-given spiritual gifts are not to be used for selfish advantage or to draw attention or credit to ourselves but to serve the church. Our spiritual gifts are given to us for the good of the whole church. They are not for individual enjoyment, but for corporate employment.
Source: Adapted from Intercessory Prayer by Dutch Sheets p.142-143
Don’t ever make the error of thinking you will never make a mistake.
The reason God answers prayer is because his children ask. – Richard Foster
“The only place in the world where people don’t have problems is a graveyard!”
Norman Vincent Peale
If we waited until all the traffic lights were on green before we set off on a journey then we’d never leave home.
“Security is knowing what tomorrow will bring. Boredom is knowing what the day after tomorrow will bring.”
Ziggy, cartoon philosopher
Romans 8:28 makes the promise that, “in all things God works for the good of those who love him” – ‘in all things’… REALLY? Yes, really. Even in painful situations God works things out for our good – ‘for the good of those who love him’. The prison of pain will one day become a prism of praise.
We live in an age of personal reinvention. We can sculpt bodies, change wardrobes, and edit profiles. But have we really changed where it really matters?’
Explore 26/10/2020
The most famous portion of Michelangelo’s masterpiece on the Sistine Chapel ceiling is called The Creation of Adam. Adam reclines on a rock, while God, rushing by in the clouds, extends His creative finger toward the first man. Adam reaches out toward God and their outstretched fingers almost meet—but they do not touch. Contrast this image with the beauty of the incarnation: God becoming flesh so that He might not only be close to His creation, but also live as one of us, fully human and fully divine. The word “incarnation” may sound like a formal theological word, but it’s really a word that represents incredible intimacy.
Jesus became a baby, then a child, then an adolescent, and then a grown man—so that He could intimately relate to us in every way.
Charles F Stanley
'Journey To The Manger' reading plan on YouVersion, day 5 of 25
“The happiest people I know are those who are busy working toward specific objectives. The most bored and miserable people I know are those who are drifting along with no worthwhile objectives in mind.”
Zig Ziglar
Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones, former minister of Westminster Chapel in London, wrote a book called Spiritual Depression. In it he says: “The devil’s one object is so to depress God’s people that he can go to the man of the world and say: There are God’s people. Do you want to be like that?” Lloyd-Jones goes on to say: In a sense a depressed Christian is a contradiction in terms, and he is a very poor recommendation of the gospel. We are living in a pragmatic age. People today are not primarily interested in truth, what they are interested in is results. The one question they ask is: Does it work? They are frantically seeking and searching for something that can help them. (…) Nothing is more important, therefore, than that we should be delivered from a condition which gives other people, looking at us, the impression that to be a Christian means to be unhappy, to be sad, to be morbid, and that the Christian is one who scorns delights and lives laborious days. (…) Satan can’t rob us of our salvation, but he can definitely rob us of our joy. His great concern is to prevent anyone becoming a Christian, but when that fails, his one object then is to make them miserable Christians so that he can point men who are under conviction of sin to them and say: ‘That is Christianity; look at him or her. There is a picture of Christianity! Look at that miserable creature. Do you want to be like that?’
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, 1965, Spiritual Depression, Michigan: Eerdmans, p.19-20, p.69)
The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.
Confucius (551-479 B.C.) ancient Chinese philosopher and teacher
Often peace is the only ‘sign’ that God will give you to let you know his will. And the first thing you lose when you step outside of God’s will is your peace (the peace which transcends all understanding – Philippians 4:7). If you don’t have peace about it, don’t do it! Wait for God.
In serving others: Preach the gospel at all times and use words if it helps.
The roots of happiness grow in the soil of service.
Unfortunately, too many Christians are like Artic Rivers; they are frozen at the mouth!
J. John
“O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer.”
Joseph Medlicott Scriven, 1855
“The only way to have a friend is to be a friend.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-82), American poet and essayist
Motivate but don’t manipulate: Motivation creates inspired energy but manipulation creates only stress.
Helen Keller, the American author and lecturer who was blind and deaf from infancy, said: “Can there be anything worse than blindness? Yes. The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight, but no vision.”
“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference.”
Reinhold Niebuhr
Philip Yancey writes: ‘Confessing my sins before God communicates something God already knows, yet somehow the act of confession binds the relationship and allows a closeness that could not otherwise exist. I make myself vulnerable and dependent, bringing God and me together. The same kind of intimacy happens when, all too rarely, I apologise to my wife for something we both know about. I do not bring her information; I bring her my heart, my humbled self.’
Source: Quoted by Nicky Gumbel in The Jesus Lifestyle, 2010, London: Alpha International, p.164
“God allows us to experience the low points of life in order to teach us lessons we could not learn in any other way.”
C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), English writer and Christian teacher
Why does God want me to be generous? Because he wants me to be like him.
“Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races, one after another.”
Walter Elliot
The resurrection is like a receipt you are given when you pay a debt. The receipt does not pay the debt; it is evidence that the debt has been paid. In the same way, when Jesus died on the cross he paid the debt of sin. The punishment which should have been ours fell on him. The resurrection three days later is God’s great receipt and proof to us that the debt of sin has been paid. Forgiveness is available.
Val Grieve, 2017, 'Your Verdict on the Empty Tomb', Welwyn Garden City, UK: Evangelical Press Books, p.64
Followers of Jesus are not supposed to be miserable. Jesus prayed for all believers (in John 17:13) asking, ‘that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.’ Earlier he said to the disciples, ‘Remain in my love… that my joy may be in you’ (John 15:9, 11).
The more we give God thanks, the more we realise how much we have to give God thanks for. Remember how the old hymn goes: Count your blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.
Good stewardship demands that we invest our life where there is the greatest return.
It’s like God says, “I’ll take the blame for everything you ever did wrong and give you the credit for everything I did right.” It doesn’t get any better than that, and that’s why it’s called the gospel. It’s not just good news. It’s the best news.
Mark Batterson
Mark Batterson, Going All In, 2013, Michigan USA, Zondervan, p.25
Don’t be caught dead without Jesus!
Good deeds are like chickens; they always come home to roost.
Dance as it no one were watching.
Sing as if no one were listening.
And live each day as if it were your last.
Jesus loved you so much that He would sooner die than have you perish.
Charles H. Spurgeon
Charles H. Spurgeon, Morning By Morning, Sep 12.)
“When people know God, losses and ‘crosses’ cease to matter to them; what they have gained simply banishes these things from their minds.”
J. I. Packer
Some people wake up each day and say, ‘Good Lord, its morning!’ others wake up in an attitude of praise and say, ‘Good morning, Lord.’ Praising God opens doors. Praising God breaks chains. Praising God, even if you don’t particularly feel like it has an impact on the spiritual realm.
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.”
Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926), German poet
“There are four ways God answers prayer: ‘No, not yet; No, I love you too much; Yes, I thought you’d never ask; Yes, and here’s more’.”
attributed to Ann Lewis
Author Rick Richardson asks: Did you ever think that the greatest gift you could give to your seeking and sceptical friends is the story of your spiritual struggles and doubts? As you reveal some of the vulnerability and even the darkness of your soul, along with your choice to be true to who you are despite the cost, your friends will listen. Your authority in part comes from your authenticity. Your greatest asset is your humanity. It’s your weaknesses, doubts and questions. Most people today are not at first interested in your answers. But they will be immediately relate to and identify with your questions and struggles.
Source: Rick Richardson, 2006, Re-imagining Evangelism, Scripture Union, p.23, 69
Worry is essentially a control issue. It’s trying to control the uncontrollable. We can’t control the economy, so we worry about the economy. We can’t control our children, so we worry about our children. We can’t control the future, so we worry about the future. But worry never solves anything! It’s stewing without doing.
Rick Warren, Hard Questions, day 13 reading plan on YouVersion Bible app.
Sin contaminated the world like a virus infects a computer and brings disorder and chaos.
Waiting is a difficult thing to practice. We live in a culture of immediacy. Apparently the most used button in a lift – the one which is most likely to be rubbed smooth – is the ‘close door’ button. (Check it out next time you’re in one.) I am one of those cynics who are inclined to believe the rumour that most such lift buttons are not actually wired in – they are just there as a stress reliever so that we feel like we are doing something to speed things up. – Krish Kandiah
Krish Kandiah, 2014, Paradoxology, London: Hodder & Stoughton, p.151
People say, ‘I want to be used; I want to serve the church’… but then you ask them to stack the chairs or wash up or serve tea and coffee and they say, ‘now I’m just being used!’ – There’s no pleasing some folk!
Colonel James Irwin was one of the first men to walk on the moon. Soon afterwards he said: ‘The greatest miracle is not that man stood on the moon. It is that God came and stood on earth.’
Source: Vaughan Roberts: Missing The Point?, p.22
“Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticise me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I will not forget you.”
William Arthur Ward (writer)
In the gospels there are seven things recorded that Jesus spoke as he suffered on the cross:
“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34).
“I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).
“Dear woman, here is your son” (John 19:26).
“Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani – My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34)
“I am thirsty” (John 19:28)
“Tetelestai” – it is finished! – It is done; it is paid! (John 19:30)
“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” Then he breathed his last. (Luke 23:46)
If we didn’t have the Old Testament ‘Law’ and the New Testament ‘teachings’, if we didn’t have the Bible, would we ever know what sin is? Granted, there would be times when we might have to guess but, overall, the answer is still… Yes, we would know what sin is. ‘Phrases such as ‘it isn’t fair’ or ‘it serves him right’… Where does our sense of justice come from? John Stott said, “Human beings are moral beings by reason of our creation in the image of God. Every human being knows the difference between right and wrong.” We know what sin is even without the Bible, and so why then was the Law given?
- The law was given to show God’s perfect standard.
- The law was given so that God’s chosen people might seek to glorify Him, and in this way be a testimony and a witness to a pagan world.
- The law was given so that God’s chosen people might seek to be holy, set apart and obedient… so they might be in a right relationship with God.
- But the law – or keeping the law – was never given as a means of earning salvation (it’s worth remembering that the law was given to Moses after the people of Israel had already been redeemed/saved from Egypt).
- And the law was never intended to commend a man before God: not commend him, but to condemn him… to show Man that he is incapable of fully keeping the law.
- And so God (through the law) also provided atonement for sins by way of sacrifice – a foretaste of what Jesus would one day accomplish once and for all time, on the cross. Jesus himself said he didn’t come to abolish the Law but to fulfil it… that’s because nobody else, other than Jesus could ever fully keep/fully-fill the Law.
- And so the Law is, ultimately, evangelical; in that it shows that Man is incapable of fully keeping it and so it points us to our need for salvation: our need for a Saviour: Christ.
“Talent without discipline is like an octopus on roller skates. There’s plenty of movement, but you never know if it’s going to be forward, backwards or sideways.”
H. Jackson Brown Jr. (author)
“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak. Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.”
Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
“Be still, and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10 NIV) The original Hebrew root of ‘Be still’ doesn’t mean “be quiet”; it means “let go.” Let go and know that I am God! Let go of trying to control your spouse! Let go of your worry about your finances! Let go of your unforgiveness! Let go of your past! Let go of what you can’t control – and rest in the knowledge that God is in control.
Sheila Walsh
We have to face up our sins before God can put them behind us. When we are ready to uncover our sins in confession, God is ready to cover them in forgiveness.
Joel Osteen writes: ‘A war is raging all around you, yet, amazingly, you may not even be aware of it. The battle is for your mind. Your enemy’s number one target is the arena of your thoughts. (The Hebrew word for ‘adversary’ is satan, which means ‘a person who opposes or fights against another’. In the Bible, the word is often used as a proper name for a powerful angel-like being who is the avowed enemy of God and humans. Although Satan has great powers, he is no match for God.) The enemy knows if he can control and manipulate the way you think, he’ll be able to control and manipulate your entire life. Indeed thoughts determine actions, attitude and self-image. Really, thoughts determine destiny. That’s why the Bible warns us to guard our minds. We must be extremely careful not only about what we ingest through our eyes and ears, but what we think about. If you dwell on depressing thoughts, you will live a depressing life. If you continually gravitate towards negative thoughts, you will gravitate towards negative people, activities, philosophies and lifestyles. Your life will always follow your thoughts.
Almost like a magnet, we draw in what we constantly think about. If you are always thinking positive, happy, joyful thoughts, you’re going to be a positive, happy, joyful person.
Our thoughts also affect our emotions. We will feel exactly the way we think. You will never be happy unless you first think happy thoughts. Conversely, it’s impossible to remain discouraged unless you first think discouraging thoughts. So much of success or failure in life begins in our minds and is influenced by what we allow ourselves to dwell on.
Some people say, ‘Well, my circumstances have got me down. You just don’t know what I’m going through.’ Actually, your circumstances haven’t got you down. Your thoughts about your circumstances have got you down. On the other hand, you can be in one of the biggest battles of your life and still be filled with joy and peace and victory – if you simply learn how to choose the right thoughts.’
Joel Osteen, Your Best Life Now, 2008, London: Hodder and Stoughton, p.133-136
‘Humans are built to have purpose, to be building something, to have a reason to get up each day. One way to know your purpose is to ask, “What is the one thing that you hope people will say about you when you die?” That you lived a full life? Raised happy kids? Enjoyed a successful career? Were well respected in your community? – How many of those purposes will matter in a thousand years? – After Jesus’ resurrection he appeared to his disciples and reaffirmed his purpose; in Luke 24v46-47 we read: “Jesus told them, ‘This is what is written: the Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” Then Jesus continued with his people’s (our) purpose – yours and mine; verse 48: “You are witnesses of these things.”
Jesus is building something – the only thing – that will last forever. He is calling people to enjoy his rule and his recue as members of his people. Ultimately, nothing else matters. No other purpose counts. And he invited his people that day, and invites his people today, to be part of that great purpose. “You are witnesses of these things.” He will work though us. We will get to do something that is eternally meaningful, that will matter to us the day after we die. He gives us purpose that death cannot mock.’
Explore
Explore Bible notes, 3/4/2018
“Touch a thistle timidly and it pricks you, but grasp it boldly and its spines crumble.”
William F. Halsey (1882-1959), U.S. 5Star Admiral
Faith in prayer is not, at root, believing that we will get just what we asked for (often we cannot be certain of that). Rather, it is trusting God to be faithful to His word and His character (we know God will answer in line with those things).
Excerpt from ‘Explore’ Bible Notes
“Crisis always reveals character.”
Oswald Chambers
“Character is the ability to carry out a good resolution long after the mood in which it was made has left you.”
Cavett Robert (motivational speaker, writer)
‘Lucky’ coincidences are just God’s way of staying anonymous.
“Say much of what the Lord has done for you, but say little of what you have done for the Lord. Do not utter a self-glorifying sentence!”
Charles Spurgeon.
“Success makes success, as money makes money.”
Chamfort (1741-1794)
“If a man has a talent and cannot use it, he has failed. If he has a talent and uses only half of it, he has partly failed. If he has a talent and learns somehow to use the whole of it, he has gloriously succeeded, and won a satisfaction and a triumph few men ever know.”
– Thomas Wolfe
“Leadership is the talent for enabling others to use their talent… Leaders, like orchestral conductors, are there to enable all the voices or instruments to be heard to their best effect in harmony. Their role as leaders within their specific fields is to identify, develop and use all the talents of their people in a creative symphony of service to the common good.” – John Adair
“God doesn’t issue rules and regulations for every moment. No. He provides guidelines and principles and He allows us to make decisions. Why? Because ultimately He is glorified when we chose to consult and obey him.”
Bob Gass
Bob Gass, The UCB Word For Today, 10/5/2002
We can’t help being tempted – there is no sin in that, Jesus himself was tempted – but we must not give in to temptation, instead we must flee from it, and quickly. Tom Wright makes an important point here in regards to sexual temptation: He says, “As clearly implied by Hebrews 4v15, experiencing sexual temptation is not itself sinful. Sin begins when the idea of illicit gratification, presented to the mind in temptation, is not at once put to death, but is instead fondled and cherished.”
Source: N.T. Wright, (1996), Colossians and Philemon, Tyndale NT Commentaries, p.134
“Your success in life will be in direct proportion to what you do after you do what you are expected to do.” – Brian Tracy
Hope got Peter out of the boat.
Trust held him up.
Fear sank him.
Everything hinged on whether he focused on the Saviour or the storm.
John Ortberg
Source: John Ortberg, If You Want To Walk On The Water You Have Got To Get Out Of The Boat , p.155
“Purpose in life is far more important than property or possessions. Having more to live with is no substitute for having more to live for. God’s purpose for you is not that you should sit around waiting for Jesus’ return to redeem the world. He wants your life to make a difference now. You are called to be a blessing to those around you.” – Nicky Gumbel
“The enemy doesn’t fear your sin; he knows God can forgive. He doesn’t fear your depression; he knows God can drive it away. He doesn’t fear your poverty; he knows God can provide. He fears your discovery of God’s word, because your ignorance of it is the most effective weapon he can use against you when trouble comes.”
Bob Gass
If you go out to look for friends they will always be hard to find, but if you go out to be a friend you will find them everywhere.
“I never did anything worth doing by accident, nor did any of my inventions come about by accident; they came through preparation and work.”
Thomas A. Edison
“God didn’t create us to be robots. He created us to be powerful expressions of Himself. When He did this, God made it possible for Him to feel heartache and pain from our choices. All parents understand this pain. God took a risk by giving us a choice to serve Him, ignore Him, or even mock Him. And our freedom of choice is so valuable to Him that He restrains Himself from manifesting His presence in a way where our freedom of choice would be removed.”
Bill Johnson
Bill Johnson, 2016, God Is Good, Pasadena USA: Destiny Image Publishers, p.56
‘I am not the man I should be. And I am not the man I could be. But I am not the man I once was. And I am not the man I one day will be!’
John Newton
If your every human plan and calculation has miscarried, if, one by one, human props have been knocked out, and doors have shut in your face, take heart. God is trying to get a message through to you, and the message is: “Stop depending on inadequate human resources. Let me handle the matter.” – There is much in Scripture stressing our need to have faith in God; it not only admonishes us to trust, it promises that when we do, God will act in a supernatural way to answer our need. Dwell on that for a moment. We trust; God acts.
Catherine Marshall
Don’t doubt or be discouraged; it’s usually the last key in the bunch that fits the lock.
“The second most deadly instrument of destruction is a loaded gun. The first is the human tongue. The gun merely kills bodies. The tongue kills reputations and oftentimes ruins characters. Each gun works alone; each loaded tongue has hundreds of accomplices. The havoc of the gun is visible at once. The full evil of the tongue lives through all the years beyond what a man might see in his lifetime.”
William George Jordan (1864-1928), writer
The manner in which you share the gospel can determine how willing a person is to listen to you. In fact, your attitude speaks more powerfully than the words of your message. Unfortunately, some people use the gospel as a sledgehammer.
There are two ways to get an egg out of an eggshell. One way is to crack it open; the other way is to put it in a warm, loving environment and let it incubate and hatch. The second ways preserves the baby chick while the first way kills it. Likewise, there are two ways to get the Good News across to people. You can pound them over the head with it, or you can love them into the family of God. The most effective way to share the gospel with unbelievers is to surround them with love and acceptance as you share the gospel with them.
Rick Warren
Rick Warren, God’s Power To Change Your Life, 2006, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, p.191-192
As Jesus’ followers we are not to try and pin down the date of the second coming. Christ was ambiguous about when he would return, perhaps so that we would continue to follow him with passion rather than ticking off the days that are left!
J. John
Source: J. John, Soul Purpose, p.265
“Never forget that the word persevere comes from the prefix per, meaning through, coupled with the word severe. It means to keep pressing on, trusting God, looking up, doing our duty – even through severe circumstances.”
Robert J. Morgan
Rick Warren writes: “The Bible says sometimes suffering is God’s will for your life. Why? Because it makes you more like Jesus. It deepens your faith. It brings you rewards in Heaven. It builds your character. It teaches you to worship instead of worry. There are three kinds of suffering in the world.
- Common suffering is suffering that’s universal — it doesn’t matter if you’re Baptist or Buddhist or Muslim or atheist or whatever. Everybody suffers certain things. When a hurricane comes into town, it doesn’t just pick on Christians. There is suffering in the world that we all share in common.
- The second kind of suffering is carnal suffering. That’s suffering you bring on yourself from your own sin. If I choose to live an immoral life, one consequence could be a sexually transmitted disease. My choices led to that result, so it’s my fault. It’s not God’s fault. It’s not anybody else’s fault. Or if I spend more money than I make and go into debt and face bankruptcy, that’s my fault, too. I suffer because of my sin and bad decisions.
- Not all suffering is from sin. The Bible says sometimes suffering is according to the will of God, because God is more interested in your character than your comfort.
The Bible says in 1 Peter 4:19 (NIV), “Those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.” No matter what arrows are thrown at you, no matter what you suffer in this life because of your faith, God wants you to remain faithful to him and keep on doing good to others. Is that easy to do? Not always. Does it take faith? Definitely. Is it worth it? Absolutely, because God is guiding you to becoming more like Jesus.”
Rick Warren, Daily Hope, accessed 16/01/2018
John baptised in the River Jordan. In a sense those waters were teeming with the sins of mankind. John had baptised multitudes of converts there; their sins figuratively passing from them into the sea of God’s forgetfulness, just like the waters of the River Jordan end up in the Dead Sea.
Bob Gass
Source: The UCB Word For Today, 7/1/2016
Professor Edwin Conklin, biologist at Princeton University, made this statement: ‘The probability of life originating from accident is comparable to the probability of an Unabridged Dictionary resulting from an explosion in a printing factory.’
Source: David Watson, 1979, Is Anyone There, Hodder & Stoughton, p.27
Praise God for the gift of conscience. Though the pangs of a guilty conscience can cause great suffering, the purpose of this gift is to bring us to God for confession, repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation. (Read Psalm 32)
Explore Bible notes, 11/1/2011
John Dickson writes: ‘The message of Christianity gives us hope for this life and beyond. According to Jesus, death in not the scary mystery that many of us think it is. It can be the entrance into something incredible. Jesus was always on about ‘eternal life’. He never described it as fairies and angels floating through the air playing harps and listening to choir music. He likened it to a huge party, full of good food and drink, surrounded by great company – God especially. For the Christian, there is great reason for being hopeful about the future.’
John Dickson, A Sneaking Suspicion, p.120