This is an astounding video clip from John Piper! Please soak up this powerful 2-minute snippet…
I love when he says, “Too many Christians are fighting graduate school sins with a grammar school knowledge of God.” You can find the link to watch Piper’s entire sermon by clicking here.
Some great quotes from Andrew Murray on prayer—
“Look up and see our great God on His throne. He is Love—He longs and delights to bless. He has inconceivably glorious plans concerning each of His children to reveal in them His love and power by the power of His Holy Spirit. He waits with all the anticipation of a father’s heart. He waits to be gracious to you. … You may ask, ‘How is it, if He waits to be gracious, that when I come and wait on Him, He does not always give the help I seek?’ There is a twofold answer. The first is that God is a farmer. He waits for the precious fruit of the earth and has patience. He cannot gather the crop until it is ripe. He knows when we are spiritually ready to receive the blessing to our profit and His glory. Waiting in the sunshine of His love is what will ripen the soul for His blessing. Waiting under the cloud of trial that breaks in showers of blessing is essential. Be assured that if God waits longer to answer than you anticipated, it is only to make the blessing all the more precious. The second answer points to what has been said before. The Giver is more than the gift; God is more than the blessing; and our time spent waiting on Him is the only way to learn to find our life and joy in Him. It is a blessing when a waiting soul and a waiting God meet each other.”
“‘Whatever you ask for….’ When we hear this, our human wisdom begins to doubt and say, ‘Surely this cannot be literally true.’ But if it is not, why did the Master say it, using the strongest expression He could find: ‘Whatever you ask.’ It is not as if this were the only time He spoke this way. He also said, ‘Everything is possible for him who believes’ (Mark 9:23). Faith is so wholly the work of God’s Spirit through His Word in the prepared heart of the believing disciple that it is impossible that the fulfillment should not come. The tendency of human reasoning is to interpose here certain qualifying clauses—‘if expedient’; ‘if according to God’s will’—to break the force of a statement that appears presumptuous. Beware of dealing this way with the Master’s words. His promise is literally true. He wants His ‘whatever’ to penetrate our hearts and reveal how mighty the power of faith is and how our Father shares His power.”
“You are created in Christ to pray; it is your very nature as a child of God to do so.”
Warren Wiersbe’s book The Cross Of Jesus is a very easy read, but that doesn’t mean the subject matter is light. It is a sobering look at what Jesus Christ did for us on the Cross, and it’s something at which we should always take a repeated look. You can read my book review by clicking here. Below are some quotes I especially appreciated.
“The Cross was a divine assignment, not a human accident; it was a God-given obligation, not a human option.”
“The fundamental problem lost sinners face isn’t that they’re sick and need a remedy. The problem is that they’re ‘dead in trespasses and sins’ (Ephesians 2:1) and need to experience resurrection. Religion and reformation may cosmetize the corpse and make it more presentable, but religion and reformation can never give life to the corpse. Only God can do that. ‘But God, Who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ’ (Ephesians 2:4-5).”
“If our faith in Jesus Christ isolates us from those who need Him, there’s something wrong with our faith—and our love.”
“Respectable religion that rejects the blood of the Cross can’t understand the message of the Bible, and it is powerless to deal with sin and sinful human nature. ‘Comfortable religion’ that avoids bearing the Cross and following Jesus is but a religious facade that knows nothing of true discipleship.”
“The Romans and the Jews ‘by lawless hands’ (Acts 2:23) put Jesus Christ to death, and yet their very actions fulfilled the plan of God. Even the wrath of man praises God (Psalm 76:10), and when sinners are doing their worst, God is giving His best. They were ignorant of their own sin. The enormity of their sins never bothered them. They nailed the Son of God to a Cross and then went about their business celebrating Passover!”
“God still works providentially to create situations that give people opportunity to meet Christ, trust Him, and be saved. No one is ever saved by accident, for meeting Jesus Christ is a divine appointment.”
“Grace is simply the undeserved favor of God. You can’t earn it, buy it, or work for it. You can only receive grace as a gift. But that demands honesty and humility: honesty in admitting that you need to be saved, and humility in confessing that you can’t save yourself.”
“The salvation Jesus gave to this man was personal. Jesus spoke to this man personally and saved him personally. ‘Assuredly, I say to you.…’ (Luke 23:43). God loves us personally. Writing about Jesus Christ, Paul said ‘…Who loved me and gave Himself for me’ (Galatians 2:20). The Lord Jesus Christ died for us personally. God’s love is shown to us personally, and God saves us personally. God doesn’t deal with sinners as part of a crowd; He doesn’t save people en masse. God saves people individually, one by one.”
“Salvation is not a process. You don’t receive the forgiveness of sins on the installment plan. Salvation is an instantaneous spiritual experience by the power of God when you put your faith in Jesus Christ.”
“‘Christ died for our sins’ (1 Corinthians 15:3) is a statement so simple that a child can believe it and be saved, but so profound that a theologian can never fully understand it.”
“A Crossless life is a wasted life. No matter how much enjoyment we experience or accomplishment we achieve, without the Cross our lives have been fruitless and in vain.”
“The question today is not, ‘Do you thirst?’ because all mankind has a thirst for reality, a thirst for God, a thirst for forgiveness, whether they realize it or not. The real question is ‘How long will you continue to thirst?’ When you trust Jesus Christ as your Savior, you will never thirst again. If you reject Him, you will thirst forever.”
There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.
Lose all their guilty stains, lose all their guilty stains;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.
The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day;
And there have I, though vile as he, washed all my sins away.
Washed all my sins away, washed all my sins away;
And there have I, though vile as he, washed all my sins away.
Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood shall never lose its power
Till all the ransomed church of God be saved, to sin no more.
Be saved, to sin no more, be saved, to sin no more;
Till all the ransomed church of God be saved, to sin no more.
E’er since, by faith, I saw the stream Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die.
And shall be till I die, and shall be till I die;
Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die.
Then in a nobler, sweeter song, I’ll sing Thy power to save,
When this poor lisping, stammering tongue lies silent in the grave.
Lies silent in the grave, lies silent in the grave;
When this poor lisping, stammering tongue lies silent in the grave.
Lord, I believe Thou hast prepared, unworthy though I be,
For me a blood bought free reward, a golden harp for me!
’Tis strung and tuned for endless years, and formed by power divine,
To sound in God the Father’s ears no other name but Thine. —William Cowper
“We find the deepest meaning in life when our hearts freely go out to admire God’s power, rather than turning inward to boast in our own—or even think about our own. We discover something overwhelming: It is profoundly satisfying not to be God, but to give up all thoughts or desires to be God.” —John Piper
“Of course, what these people mean when they say that God is love is often something quite different: they really mean ‘Love is God.’ They really mean that our feelings of love, however and wherever they arise, and whatever results they produce, are to be treated with great respect. Perhaps they are: but that is something quite different from what Christians mean by the statement ‘God is love.’ They believe that the living, dynamic activity of love has been going on in God forever and has created everything else.” —C.S. Lewis
“Holiness is the architectural plan upon which God builds up His living temple. … I pray you who profess to be followers of Christ, set a high value upon purity of life and godliness of conversation.” —Charles Spurgeon
This is a great inside-the-huddle conversation with Tom Brady and Josh McDaniels on the final two touchdown drives of Super Bowl XLIX.
“God make you—you that do little for Him—to humble yourselves before Him, and to begin the next year with this determination, that knowing the terrors of the Lord, you will persuade men, and labour, and strive to bring sinners to the Cross of Christ.” —Charles Spurgeon
Something to think about as you read your Bible: Don’t Just Read The Bible For Yourself.
I agree with Seth Godin, in his post In Search Of Arrogance, that people should think of you as arrogant every once in awhile.
Wow…
“Be sure that the ins and outs of your individuality are no mystery to Him; and one day they will no longer be a mystery to you.” —C.S. Lewis
“God knows you better than you know you and has reached this verdict: He loves you still! No discovery will disillusion Him. No rebellion will dissuade Him. He loves you with an everlasting love. God’s love—never failing, never ending.” —Max Lucado
“God never hastens and He never tarries. He works His plans out in His own way, and we either lie like clogs on His hands or we assist Him by being as clay in the hands of the potter.” —Oswald Chambers
[VIDEO] Ken Davis always makes me laugh—
Pastor Saeed Abedini is an American citizen imprisoned in Iran for his Christian faith. This letter he has written from prison is both heartbreaking and heartwarming. After reading this letter I hope you will sign this petition to let your voice be added to those calling on Iran to release Pastor Saeed.
“Prayer is not a lazy substitute for work. It is not a short cut to skill or knowledge. And sometimes God delays the answer to our prayer in final form until we have time to build up the strength, accumulate the knowledge, or fashion the character that would make it possible for Him to say ‘yes’ to what we ask.” —Roy M. Pearson
“Whoever, therefore, thinks that he understands the divine Scriptures or any part of them so that it does not build the double love of God and of our neighbor does not understand it at all.” —Augustine
As you prepare for Christmas and celebrate Advent, check out these beautiful words from Max Lucado in What Love Does.
Fans of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit will like this post: Bilbo’s Last Goodbye.
What this so-called ethicist says about “post-natal abortion” is truly horrifying.
Pastor Tom Kaastra continued our series The Carols Of Christmas by looking at the well-known Christmas hymn O Come, All Ye Faithful. The line he especially highlighted comes from the third stanza—Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing.
It is so vital that we keep both of those aspects of Jesus Christ in mind: He is both the Word of the Father and the Word become flesh. As Tom pointed out, this fact helps us answer the two most vital questions that humans have:
I can learn more about who I am when I know more clearly Who God is. And when I know this, I can more fully—as the song says—come and adore Christ the Lord.
Jesus is fully God:
Jesus revealed to us the Father’s love; after all, God is love (1 John 4:16). Jesus came to show us the love of God.
Jesus is fully Man:
As C.S. Lewis said, “The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God.” And as sons of God, we have access to the Heavenly Father—
Those who are led by God’s Spirit are God’s children. For the Spirit that God has given you does not make you slaves and cause you to be afraid; instead, the Spirit makes you God’s children, and by the Spirit’s power we cry out to God, “Abba! My Father!” (Romans 8:14-15)
Word of the Father now in flesh appearing is cause for adoration because Jesus has made it possible for us to become sons and daughters of God!
O come let us adore Him!!
If you’ve missed any of the messages in this series, you may check them out by clicking here.
Whenever I am working on a series of messages, I always end up with way more material than I could possibly share. But it’s still really good stuff! I remember a movie director once remarking that some of his best and favorite scenes ended up on the cutting room floor during the movie’s editing process. So here are some of the quotes and thoughts I really liked, recovered from “the cutting room floor” as I prepared our Love In The Law series.
“True obedience to God (not just to lists of laws) means more than outward performances which can be tallied in percentages (like 80 percent obeyed). Rather, true obedience is to be so transformed that we delight to do God’s will at multiple levels. We delight in His will as the excellent expression of His wisdom and justice and love. We delight in personal, close communion with Him as our guide, which we would lose, at least for a season, if we acted against His counsel. We delight in His gift of a clean conscience. We delight in the smile of His approval. We delight in God Himself whom we see and know more clearly when we walk in unbroken fellowship and obedience. We delight in the prospect of ongoing assurance and hope, which is jeopardized and weakened if we gradually slip away from Him in callous disobedience.” —John Piper
I delight to do Your will, O my God; yes, Your law is with in my heart. —Psalm 40:8
“To detect ourselves thus balancing a transgression here, against many observances there, ought at once to startle us into the conviction that the whole principle of our lives must be faulty. Our aim is, not to love God, or to obey Him, but to get to heaven, or at least escape hell, on the cheapest terms.” —Alfred Plummer
“Our will is morally and spiritually flawed. Nevertheless we are responsible to do the commandments of God. The moral corruption that cripples us does not relieve us of our responsibility to do what is right and good to do.” —John Piper
“I call the love to God the motion of the soul toward the enjoyment of God for His own sake, and the enjoyment of one’s self and of one’s neighbor for the sake of God.” —Augustine
“If thou neglect thy love to thy neighbor, in vain thou professest thy love to God; for by thy love to God, the love to thy neighbor is begotten, and by thy love to thy neighbor, thy love to God is nourished.” —Francis Quarles
“A pennyweight o’ love is worth a pound o’ law.” —Scottish Proverb
It pleased the Lord for the sake of His righteousness to make His law great and glorious. —Isaiah 42:21
“His greatness no one can fathom” (Psalm 145:3).
God’s kingdom is everlasting and endures through all generations (v. 13). Look at all of God’s “alls”—
My only appropriate response to all God’s “alls”—I will praise Your name for ever and ever. Every day I will praise You and extol Your name for ever and ever. … My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord. Let every creature praise His holy name for ever and ever (vv. 1, 2, 21).
ALL praise to God FOREVER!
Craig T. Owens 