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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

“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

Whilst effort has nothing to do with salvation, it has everything to do with spiritual growth. Seven times in the New Testament we are instructed to ‘make every effort’… towards becoming more like Christ. We are saved not by good works but for good works. If our faith doesn’t do anyone else any good then it can’t do us any good.

I asked the Lord, that I might grow

In faith, and love, and every grace;

Might more of His salvation know,

And seek more earnestly His face.

I hoped that in some favoured hour

At once He’d answer my request,

And by His love’s constraining power

Subdue my sins, and give me rest.

Instead of this, He made me feel

The hidden evils of my heart;

And let the angry powers of hell

Assault my soul in every part.

Yea, more, with His own hand He seemed

Intent to aggravate my woe;

Crossed all the fair designs I schemed,

Blasted my gourds, and laid my low.

‘Lord, why is this?’ I trembling cried,

‘Wilt thou pursue Thy worm to death?’

’Tis in this way,’ the Lord replied,

‘I answer prayer for grace and faith.

These inward trials I employ

From self and pride to set thee free;

And break thy schemes of earthly joy,

That thou may’st seek thy all in me.’

John Newton (1725-1807)

“To each of his disciples, Jesus simply said, “Follow me.” That was an invitation, not a requirement. An invitation respects the freedom on the invitee to accept of decline.

Jesus is the only man to ever make an appointment beyond the grave and three days later show up for it, rising to new life on that first Easter Sunday! The Church stands and falls on this one truth!

Following Jesus is costly; it involves personal sacrifice. Jesus said, “Pick up your cross and follow me.” He did not say, “Pick up your cushion and sit back in your armchair!”

“Most time is wasted, not in hours, but in minutes. A bucket with a small hole in the bottom gets just as empty as a bucket that is deliberately kicked over.”

Paul J. Meyer

Rick Warren teaches that we need to have personal vision and be specific about our future: In order to get to where you want to be, you need to describe exactly what you want. For instance, Abraham told Eliezer exactly what kind of wife he wanted for Isaac. He told him to go back to the land of his relatives instead of picking Isaac’s wife from among the Canaanite women. You will never reach a vague goal. The more general it is, the less power it has. But the more specific it is, the more power it has in your life. Ask yourself these four questions:

  1. What do I want to be?
  2. What do I want to do?
  3. What do I want to have?
  4. Why do I want it?

You can’t just know the what, you need to know the why – that’s your motivation. If you don’t know why, you will give up when it gets tough. When Eliezer heard Abraham’s goal, he started asking “What if?” If you listen to the what-ifs of your goal, you will fail because of worry and fear. You don’t need to focus on the how for now because, once you figure out the why, God will show you how. He will help you solve the problems that stand in the way of your goal.

Source: Rick Warren’s Daily Devotional on YouVersion, day 2 of 365

“Vision without action is hallucination. Action without vision is random activity.”

Christopher Hegarty

Mark Batterson writes: ‘I remember before I gave my life over to Christ, feeling lost and lacking direction and purpose. My life reminded me of that joke about an airline pilot who came over the intercom and said, “I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is we’re completely lost; the good news is we’re making great time!” That’s what my life felt like, but it wasn’t a joke. I was lost and life, or the meaning of life, was eluding me and passing me by.’

The truth is, as Christians we still often feel like that, lost and seeking direction, but the difference now is that we know what our purpose is, and we know where we are heading; where our destination is. One thing I’ve discovered in the Christian life is that God is never in a hurry, but He is always on time. As long as we’re heading in the right direction God wants us to enjoy the journey… walking with Him, daily. You remember Jesus said that we should pray daily asking our Father, to give us this day our daily bread… to supply our needs for today. Why did He say we should ask daily? For the same reason the Israelites were only allowed to collect enough manna for one day at a time when they journeyed in the desert. So we’d learn to depend upon Him daily as pilgrims as we journey through life. Learn to enjoy the journey. Don’t simply mope around waiting for the Promised Land!’

Mark Batterson, The Circle Maker, 2011, Michigan: Zondervan, p.29

Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

John Maxwell says, “When it comes to commitment, there are really only four types of people:

  1. Cop-outs. People who have no goals and do not commit.
  2. Holdouts. People who don’t know if they can reach their goals, so they’re afraid to commit.
  3. Dropouts. People who start toward a goal but quit when the going gets tough.
  4. All-outs. People who set goals, commit to them, and pay the price to reach them.”

A great many Christians are just too relaxed about not reading their Bible and so they don’t always know what God’s word says. They might say to themselves: “Oh, I’m happy enough in my faith and coming to church without reading the Bible!” Hey, an ostrich with its head in the sand may be happy. But is it safe? The Bible you don’t read can’t help you!

“For most of us, the unknown is so terrifying that we will remain with what we have long after it is apparent that it is punishing to do so.”

Daryl Conner

“… we must not select a few favourite passages to the exclusion of others. Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian.”

A. W. Tozer

You can be a victim of life or a victor of life. The choice is yours. It’s not what happens to you, it’s how you choose to react to what happens that determines the role of ‘victim’ or ‘victor’.

“Be so busy giving recognition to others that you don’t need it yourself.”

Jim Rohn

Faith is the belief that runs ahead of evidence.

“There are lots of people who want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.”

Oprah Winfrey

Responsibility has been defined as our response to God’s ability.

My wife is a light eater… as soon as it gets light she starts eating!

If you could kick the person who is responsible for most of your troubles, you wouldn’t be able to sit down for a week. – Anon.

“Be often alone with Christ and you’ll have much assurance. Be seldom alone with Him and your religion will be shallow and polluted with many doubts and fears.”

Charles H. Spurgeon

In today’s world of political correctness a housewife is now called a home-maker because that is a more acceptable way of describing the occupation of someone who doesn’t actually go out to work, because they’re always at work. If someone asks me what my wife does for a living I sometimes say, “My wife is the Director of Social Development for a medium sized family business.” – Because that is what she truly is.

Sage advice for women: The way to a man’s (husband’s) heart is through his stomach.

Sage advice to men: The way to a woman’s (wife’s) heart is through your ear.

“Patience and fortitude conquer all.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-82), American poet and essayist

“The most dangerous aspect of the comfort zone is that it seems to affect our hearing. The more comfortable we are, the more oblivious we become to the sound of the ticking clock.”

Jim Rohn

“Hard work often leads to success. No work seldom does.”

Harvey Mackay, US businessman and author

In 1848, when engineers were planning to build a suspension bridge across Niagara Gorge, the question became, how do you stretch the first wire across an 800-foot gorge with 225-foot cliffs on either side and rapids that rush toward a waterfall?

The solution? A kite-flying contest.

A fifteen-year-old American named Homan Walsh won. The day following that successful flight, a stronger line was attached to the kite string and pulled across. Then an even stronger line. Then a rope. Then a cable consisting of thirty-six strands of ten-gauge wire.

It all started with one kite string! It always does, doesn’t it? As God said to the prophet Zechariah, “Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand” (Zechariah 4:10, NLT). Plumb line, kite string—same difference!

Go ahead and dream big, but start small. The good news? If you do little things like they’re big things, God will do big things like they’re little things. That’s how kite strings turn into suspension bridges. You’ve got to take the first step before God reveals the second step.

Mark Batterson, 'Win The Day', day 5 of an 8-day reading plan on YouVersion

“Patience is not the ability to wait; it is the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting.”

Joyce Meyer

Someone said to me recently, ‘You don’t have to read the Bible or go to church to be a Christian.’ And I said, ‘no you don’t, that’s absolutely true! And similarly, you don’t have to talk to your spouse or go home for you to be married, but then what kind of a relationship is that? The fact is we can’t grow in our relationship with God if we don’t really spend any time with Him – in prayer and in the Scriptures.

R. Ian Seymour

The world wants us to conform but God wants us to transform. The decision is left to us.

“Faith says that odds are irrelevant. Faith argues that the only ‘impossible’ thing is for God not to keep His promises. Faith says that even death can’t stop God bringing life.”

– Explore

Explore Bible notes 30/06/2003

“Fear is the opposite of faith – it is faith in what you do not want to happen.”

David Watson

Our freedom of choice is so valuable to God that He restrains Himself from manifesting His presence in a way where our freedom of choice would be removed.

Bill Johnson

Bill Johnson, Encountering the Goodness of God - 90 Daily Devotions, 2017, Destiny Image, day 27, p.53

Belief in the virgin birth is absolutely crucial to the Christian faith. Why crucial? Because Jesus, God’s Son, had to be free from the sinful nature that has been passed on to all other human beings since Adam. Jesus, borne of Mary, was a fully human being, but as the Son of God, Jesus was born without any trace of human sin. He was both fully human and fully divine. Jesus is Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14), God with us. He temporarily, gave up his place in heaven and came to earth as a man, so that He could stand in the place of man – to pay the price of our sin and to be our substitute, when it comes to our facing God’s judgment.

“First we form habits, then they form us. Conquer your bad habits, or they’ll eventually conquer you.”

Rob Gilbert

“All great leaders have understood that their number one responsibility is cultivating their own discipline and personal growth. Those who cannot lead themselves cannot lead others.”

John Maxwell.

“Most of us live most of the time in the triple dot punctuation known as an ellipsis. The ellipsis indicates a pause in speech or an unfinished thought (dot, dot, dot). When we are waiting for God to answer a prayer, it’s a period of ellipsis.”

Mark Batterson

Source: Mark Batterson, The Circle Maker, 2011, Michigan: Zondervan, p.91

It is not happiness that makes us grateful but gratefulness that makes us happy.

“The two great laws of life are growth and decay. When things stop growing, they begin to die. This is true of men, business or nations.”

Charles Gow, author

“We are always in the forge, or on the anvil; by trials God is shaping us for higher things.”

Henry Ward Beecher

On eternal life: “Living is death; dying is life. On this side of the grave we are exiles, on that, citizens; on this side, orphans; on that, children; on this side, captives; on that, freemen; on this side disguised, unknown; on that, disclosed and proclaimed as the sons of God.”

Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887), U.S. clergyman and leader in the movement for the abolition of slavery

“Jesus came as our substitute. He endured crucifixion for us. Cicero (the Roman politician) described crucifixion as ‘the most cruel and hideous of tortures’. Jesus was stripped and tied to a whipping post. He was flogged with four or five thongs of leather interwoven with sharp jagged bone and lead. Eusebius, the third-century church historian, described Roman flogging in these terms: the sufferer’s ‘veins were laid bare, and… the very muscles, sinews and bowels of the victims were open to exposure’. He was then taken to the Praetorium where a crown of thorns was thrust onto his head. He was mocked by a battalion of about 600 men and hit about the face and head. He was then forced to carry a heavy cross bar on his bleeding shoulders until he collapsed, and Simon of Cyrene was press-ganged into carrying it for him. When they reached the site of crucifixion, he was again stripped naked. He was laid on the cross, and [crude nails were driven into his hands and feet]. He was lifted up on the cross which was then dropped into a socket in the ground. There he was left to hang in intense heat and unbearable thirst, exposed to the ridicule of the crowd. He hung there in unthinkable pain for six hours while his life slowly drained away. [It was the height of pain and the depth of shame.] Yet, the worst part of his suffering was not the physical trauma of torture and crucifixion nor even the emotional pain of being rejected by the world and deserted by his friends, but the spiritual agony of being cut off from his Father for us, as he carried our sins.”

Nicky Gumbel, Alpha: Questions of Life, Eastbourne: Kingsway (2007), p.44-45

The lives of great Christian leaders teach us that those who follow a God-sized calling need God-sized courage. Abraham left his home to journey to a place he wasn’t even sure existed. Moses overcame his speech impediment to lead the people of Israel to freedom. Joshua faced doubters who feared the Promised Land was too difficult to conquer. Gideon led an army of only three hundred to defeat an army of thousands. Daniel and Esther displayed tremendous courage in the face of death. Nehemiah overcame fierce opposition to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem in fifty-two days. Jesus faced the cross and triumphed over death. Paul penned parts of the New Testament while nurturing wounds in prison; and nearly every apostle preached the gospel until being martyred.

Brad Lomenick

Brad Lomenick, The Catalyst Leader, day 3 of a 3-day devotional on YouVersion Bible app

In ‘The Cross of Christ’, John Stott wrote: “I could never myself believe in God, if it were not for the cross. In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it? I have entered many Buddhist temples in different Asian countries and stood respectfully before the statue of Buddha, his legs crossed, arms folded, eyes closed, the ghost of a smile playing around his mouth, a remote look on his face, detached from the agonies of the world. But each time after a while I have had to turn away. And in my imagination I have turned instead to that lonely, twisted, tortured figure on the cross, nails through hands and feet, back lacerated, limbs wrenched, brow bleeding from thorn-pricks, mouth dry and intolerable thirsty, plunged in God-forsaken darkness. That is the God for me! He laid aside his immunity to pain. He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears and death. He suffered for us. Our sufferings become more manageable in the light of this.”

John Stott, Through The Bible Through The Year, Abingdon: Candle Books (2006), p.269

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek

to be consoled as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love;

for it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Saint Francis of Assisi (? 1181-1226)

Tucked away in the word “testimony” is a key element to having one: Test. You don’t really have a testimony until you have come through a test. A testimony testifies as to what God has done to bring you through something. – Tony Evans

Tony Evans, Victory in Spiritual Warfare, 2011, Oregon: Harvest House Publishers, p.159

“The strongest oak of the forest is not the one that is protected from the storm and hidden from the sun. It’s the one that stands out in the open where it is compelled to struggle for existence against the winds and rains and the scorching sun.”

Napoleon Hill

“Money is a wonderful servant but a terrible master. If it gets on top and you get under it, you will become its slave.”

E. Stanley Jones, author and speaker

“Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are.”

Malcolm Forbes (1919-1990), U.S. publisher

I read this challenge recently: “Do we really believe Jesus is coming again? We need to think carefully before we answer, because if we do, it will be perfectly obvious by our lifestyle that we are waiting for Him. We won’t spend our life worrying about our bank balance, our career, and our health down here; because when Jesus comes they will all have zero significance. Our lives should be about serving Him now, whatever the cost, in readiness for serving Him for eternity.”

Explore Bible notes, 17/10/2002

A Christian does not live by explanations but by promises. A parcel delivery company used to have a slogan written on their delivery vehicles saying, “A promise means nothing until it is delivered.” That’s true, unless the promise is from God! God always keeps his promises, his covenants; He is always as good as His word… and God has given us many promises in the Scriptures. Here are just a few of them:

  • Commit to the Lord whatever you do and he will establish your plans. (Proverbs 16:3)
  • Take delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)
  • Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go. (Joshua 1:9)
  • For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11)
  • I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. (…) Even to your old age and grey hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. (Isaiah 43:1, 46:4)
  • Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you. (Hebrews 13:5)
  • Jesus promised: And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28:20)

Jesus’ resurrection is God’s affirmation or ‘yes’ to the sacrifice that Jesus made being accepted. That’s why Jesus didn’t stay dead? His resurrection is the absolute proof that Jesus’ sacrifice is all-sufficient for the forgiveness of sins, and its proof too, that all believers will inherit eternal life, just as He promised. Think about it: If Jesus had remained dead how would we ever know that we are forgiven? If there was no resurrection then there is no forgiveness. If there’s no resurrection there’s also no judgment, no punishment and no reward – no heaven! If there is no resurrection this life is all there is! BUT there is life after death; the resurrection is true and the evidence is overwhelming.

Paul wrote: ‘God made him who had no sin to be sin for us’ (2 Corinthians 5:21). On the cross Jesus, in a sense, became the most sinful man the world has ever seen, as the sins of millions and millions of believers in every age, were poured into His body. That’s why, as He was dying, Jesus cried out, ‘My God, why have you forsaken me?’ (Matthew 27:26). The only time in the whole of eternity when God the Father was separated from His Son! – Like oil and water, sin and holiness just don’t mix: God had to turn away and be separated from Jesus as Jesus took our sin upon himself.

The Bible is like a love letter to us from God and as Paul Little, professor of evangelism at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, once noted: ‘The people that God used to record His words in the Bible were themselves uncommonly moved by them.’ They said the Word of God is:

  • honey in my mouth (Ezekiel 3:3)
  • spiritual food for the hungry (Job 23:12)
  • a lamp for my feet (Psalm 119:105)
  • a joy and delight to my heart (Jeremiah 15:16)
  • more precious than gold (Psalm 19:10)
  • sharper than a two-edged sword penetrating my thoughts and attitudes (Hebrews 4:12)
  • perfect and trustworthy… a great reward (Psalm 19:7, 11)

Paul E. Little, 2003, Know What You Believe, Illinois IVP Books, p.16

Say not in grief that she is no more but say in thankfulness that she was. A death is not the extinguishing of a light, but the putting out of the lamp because the dawn has come.

For some people a new year’s resolution simply goes in one year and out the next.

“To be happy you’ve got to learn how to rise above the ‘if onlys’. If only I had more money… if only I had more talent… if only I was better looking. Money never made anybody more generous, talent never made anybody more grateful, and looks never made anybody more fulfilled. Settle it once and for all… the happiest people are not the richest, the most beautiful or the most talented.”

Bob Gass

Fully Human: Author Max Lucado writes: ‘Jesus was angry enough to purge the temple, distraught enough to weep in public, fun-loving enough to be called a drunkard, winsome enough to attract kids, poor enough to borrow a coin for a sermon illustration, radical enough to get kicked out of town, responsible enough to care for His mother, tempted enough to know the smell of Satan, and anxious enough to sweat blood.

Source: The UCB Word For Today, 4/3/2016

“Mountaintops inspire leaders but valleys mature them.”

attributed to J. Philip Everson

“Love in your heart is not put there to stay. Love isn’t love, till you give it away.”

Anon.

You have to be clean on the inside. Rick Warren says: “God uses all kinds of people. He uses shy people. He uses outgoing people. He uses people from all different races, ages, stages of life, and backgrounds. He uses men and women. God will use plain vessels, and he’ll use ornate vessels. He’ll use big vessels and small vessels. But there is one thing that God will not use: He will not use a dirty vessel. You have to be clean on the inside.

How do you do that? How do you purify yourself? You do it through a simple word: confession. Augustine said, “The confession of bad works is the beginning of good works.” The Bible says in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins to God, he will keep his promise and do what is right: he will forgive us our sins and purify us from all our wrongdoing” (GNT).

The word confess in Greek is the word homologeo. Homo means “same,” and logeo means “to speak.” So homologeo literally means “to speak the same about my sin that God does.” It means you agree with him: “God, you’re right. It wasn’t a faux pas. It wasn’t a mistake. It was a sin. It was wrong.” It doesn’t mean you try to bargain with God (“I’ll never do it again”). It doesn’t mean you try to bribe God (“I promise to read my Bible every day if you’ll forgive me”).

You just admit it.

That may seem too simple to you. You may say, “All I’ve got to do is admit it, and God will forgive me?” Yes! It’s called grace!

Here’s what I suggest you do if you really want to be used by God: Take time this week to sit down with a pen and a pad of paper, and say, “God, what’s wrong in my life? Show me. I’m going to write it down, and I’m going to admit it. I’m going to confess it to you.” Then, when God gives you an idea, write it down.

The first time I did this, I thought I was going to write a book! And I’ve done this many times since. Make a list, and then write 1 John 1:9 over it and say, “God, I admit these to you. These are wrong. I don’t want them in my life.” Ask God to cleanse your life. God will forgive you!”

Source: Rick Warren, Daily Hope: ‘You Don’t Have to Be Perfect to Be Used By God’ (accessed 29/09/2018)

To enjoy a cheerful disposition adopt an attitude of gratitude. Being grateful acts like a vaccination; it protects you from the disease called ‘grumpy-itus’.

Mother Teresa said, ‘Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you.’

“The only person who likes change is a wet baby.”

Mark Twain

When we die, we are either in Christ or in sin. Those who die in their sin will have to give an account for it. Those who die in Christ stand in His righteousness. They won’t give account for their sin, because it was accounted for on the cross. They will be rewarded for deeds done while on earth.

Mark Batterson

Mark Batterson, IF, 2015, Grand Rapids: Michigan, Baker Books, p.128

“Discipline isn’t on your back needling you with imperatives, it’s by your side encouraging you with incentives.”

Cybil Stanton

“Our circumstances do not determine our contentment, but our faith and trust in God do.”

Patrick Morley

‘True humility is a central tenet of the Christian faith. No one struts through the narrow gate that leads into the kingdom. We are sheep, not peacocks; servants, not sovereigns.’

Explore 7/4/2017

Think about this for a moment: One day in the future you are going to go to a funeral. There will be a short service and then everyone will leave; everyone, that is, except one person… you! This life is a short-term mission trip. Live it well. Be a blessing and add value.

R. Ian Seymour

There is the potential of abundant fruit stored up within every man. If you will just labour and toil and persevere the harvest season eventually arrives. Then the fruit is produced almost effortlessly.

When you get an insight or inspiration, do something about it within twenty-four hours – or the odds are against you ever acting on it.

Bill Glass

“It is not the amount of years in your life that counts, but the amount of life in your years.”

Adlai Ewing Stevenson (1900-1968), U.S. statesman and delegate at the United Nations

I heard this true story: A woman was asked ‘What is the best thing about being 104 years old?’ She replied: ‘No peer-pressure!’

Window sticker seen on the back of a sports car, driven by an older person: ‘I’m not an O.A.P. I’m a recycled teenager.’

We are all made in the same mould; it’s just that some people are mouldier than others!

False teachers

“The gifts [of the Spirit] are without repentance – irrevocable (Romans 11:29). This explains why a person’s gift continues to flourish despite their personal morality. Never forget that King Saul prophesied on his way to kill David (1 Samuel 19:21-24). It is assumed by some sincere but gullible people that if a person is able to perform miracles, it can only be because God’s seal of approval is on them. Wrong. Very wrong. The gifts are irrevocable; God lets you keep them. This is why prophesying proves nothing. Speaking in tongues proves nothing. Performing a miracle proves nothing.”

R.T. Kendall

R.T. Kendall, Holy Fire, 2014, Florida: Charisma House, p.77

The Bible is a holy book: we call it the Holy Bible. But there is nothing holy, religious or spiritual about the word ‘Bible’ which is derived from the Latin word ‘biblia,’ and simply means books. The Bible is actually a collection of 66 books: 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament written by at least 40 different authors with diverse occupations such as kings, scholars, historians, prophets, poets, fishermen, a doctor and of course, the apostles of Christ. The genre of literature is also varied and includes history, story-narrative, poetry, wisdom, prophecy, letters, biographies (gospels) and apocalyptic literature.

It is fair to say that many people have tried to disprove the Bible, or they have searched for flaws to try and discredit it, and in doing so many have also ended up being converted. Such is the power of God’s Word: it has stood the test of time. Sir Isaac Newton was an avid student of Scripture, after years of diligent study he came to the conclusion that the Bible was ‘a rock from which all hammers of criticism have never chipped a single fragment.’

Cited in Why Believe The Bible? by John Blanchard, 2004, Darlington: Evangelical Press, p.13

“The measure of a man’s character is what he would do if he knew he never would be found out.”

Thomas B. Macaulay (1800-1859) English historian and statesman

“In reading the lives of great men, I found the first victory they won was over themselves. Self-discipline with all them came first.”

Harry S. Truman (1884-1972), 33rd American President

Charity cultivates character. Character is the way we act when nobody’s looking.

“He never wrote a book, yet the book that tells His story, the Bible, has outsold every other book in history. He never wrote a song, but there have been more songs written about Jesus than about anyone else. He never travelled more than a few miles from home, yet there are few places you can go where His name is not known.”

Tony Evans

Source: Tony Evans, Time To Get Serious, 1995, Wheaton Illinois: Crossway Books, p.32

A Bible that is falling apart usually belongs to a person who isn’t!

“The Gospel is not something we come to church to hear; it is something we go from church to tell.”

Vance Havner

The Bible insists that the Christmas story is an actual historical event; Jesus really was born in stable in Bethlehem and he grew up to become the most remarkable man the world has ever seen. So remarkable, in fact, that the whole world records time either before or after his birth. Have you ever really stopped to consider that?

Pastor Mark Batterson writes: “The kingdom of God has survived every threat against it. And it has not just survived – it has thrived. It’s advancing faster than ever before. By the most conservative estimates, a hundred thousand people around the globe put their faith in Jesus Christ every single day. That’s more people than there are seconds in a day, which means there is rejoicing in heaven every single second or every single day!”

Mark Batterson, Play The Man, 2017, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, p.152

Too many Christians are M.I.A (missing in action), If Jesus willingly died for the Church, it won’t kill you and me to show up for the church.

For our confession to be taken seriously there should also be a promise that you do not intend to make the same transgression again. You can give no guarantee, of course, because the best of us fail and go back on our promises. But there should be a sincere intention at least. So confession is not just naming where you have transgressed in the past. It also requires a kind of promises for the future, a genuine intention not to do it again.

Wernher Von Braun, the first director of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Centre, who’s known as the ‘father of the American space programme,’ stated in a published article in May 1974: ‘One cannot be exposed to the law and order of the universe without concluding that there must be a design and purpose behind it all… The better we understand the intricacies of the universe… the more reason we have found to marvel at the inherent design upon which it is based… To be forced to believe only one conclusion – that everything in the universe happened by chance – would violate the very objectivity of science itself… What random process could produce the brains of a man or the system of the human eye? [Evolutionists] challenge science to prove the existence of God. But must we really light a candle to see the sun… They say they cannot visualise a designer. Well, can a physicist visualise an electron? What strange rationale makes some physicists accept the inconceivable electron as real, while refusing to accept the reality of a designer on the grounds that they cannot conceive him?

The page you are reading was not the result of an explosion in a printing press. No, if there is a written page, then there must be a publisher. If there’s a building, then there must be an architect and builder. If there’s a work of art, then there must be an artist. – Isaiah 40v26 says: Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

Source: http://www.konig.org/wc179.htm (and ‘The UCB Word For Today’ devotional)

Don’t allow others to pull you down. Don’t get discouraged by people who are threatened by your success. Don’t succumb to criticism. Understand this: the only taste of success some people are likely to have is when they take a bite out you.

Death is not a full stop – it is only a comma.

‘When making decisions, requests for signs from God should be confirmatory, rather than predictive. Gideon twice laid a fleece before the Lord in order to confirm what God had said (Judges 6:36-40). It is important to note that the fleece was laid after the decision to go into battle to save Israel had actually been made – it was not a way of shirking responsibility. Requests for signs should, therefore, be confirmatory (although God may intervene) rather than predictive and need be made only in special cases.’ – Ken Costa

Ken Costa, God At Work, 2013, London: Alpha International, p.65