Links & Quotes

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“O that you and I might have this blessed combination in ourselves; to win the high opinion of others, so far as it can be gained by integrity, by uprightness, and by decision of character, and yet at the same time to walk humbly with our God!” —Charles Spurgeon

Hebrews infographicThe Overview Bible Project has another book study released on Hebrews. Read this and then please subscribe to have the latest studies sent right to your email. I love these!

David Wilkerson wrote, “All the mourning, brokenhearted men of God in the Bible had one thing in common….” Check out this short post to see what this powerful thing was.

“God uses appropriate doses of guilt to awaken us to sin. His guilt brings enough regret to change us. satan’s guilt, on the other hand, brings enough regret to enslave us. Don’t let him lock his shackles on you.” —Max Lucado

J. Warner Wallace is a Christian and a trained police detective. He does a great job helping evaluate the evidence for the claims of God. Check out this post: The Dangers Of “Scientism.”

Thursdays With Oswald―Don’t Become A Pharisee

Oswald ChambersThis is a periodic series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.

Don’t Become A Pharisee

   If I cannot see God in others, it is because He is not in me. If I get on my moral high horse and say it is they who are wrong, I become that last of all spiritual iniquities, a suspicious person, a spiritual devil dressed up as a Christian. 

   Beware of mistaking suspicion for discernment, it is the biggest misunderstanding that ever twisted Christian humility into Pharisaism. When I see in others things that are not of God, it is because the Spirit of God has revealed to me my own meanness[*] and badness; when I am put right with God on the basis of His Redemption and see those things in others, it is in order that God may restore them through my intercession.

   [*] meanness as used here: something or someone ordinary, common, low, or ignoble, rather than cruel or spiteful.

From Not Knowing Where

Pharisees are so quick to point out what’s wrong with other people. Pharisees are so quick to look at others’ shortcomings as a means of propping up their own “religious perfection.”

As Oswald Chambers points out, the only reason God would ever show me something out of place in someone else, is so that I may intercede in prayer for them. If that revelation causes me to talk about them, instead of talking to God about them, then I have become a Pharisee.

Links & Quotes

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[PHOTOS] This is amazing! Womb-Selfies: 5 Amazing Photos Of Preborn Life.

“The enemy of creativity is fear. We’re all born creative, it takes a little while to become afraid. A surprising insight: an enemy of fear is creativity. Acting in a creative way generates action, and action persuades the fear to lighten up.” —Seth Godin

Super Vision: scientists are creating technologies to allow doctors to see inside you better. “It is already possible to peer inside the body with X-rays and ultrasound. But the images produced by such tools are crude compared with those that should be possible with visible light.”

Men’s Health magazine surveyed people on cheating. The results are eye-opening, and sad. It’s far better to do things God’s way!

“All that stuff you have now? You don’t get to keep it. In fact, you never had it. You’re simply a steward of what God has given you. Psalm 24:1 reminds us, ‘The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.’ Your stuff is not yours. Ever since you grabbed that toy and yelled, ‘Mine!’ you’ve been lying. Everything is God’s!” —Max Lucado

“In March 2014, the BICEP2 radio astronomy team announced purported direct evidence of cosmic inflation, an important part of the modern Big Bang model for the universe’s creation. This announcement was front-page news all over the world. However, these scientists recently submitted a paper for publication that effectively retracts their breakthrough claim, acknowledging that their earlier results were spurious. They admitted their ‘evidence’ was actually an artifact from dust within our own galaxy.” Read more in Big Bang Evidence Retracted.

Nicholas Herman took the name Brother Lawrence after his conversion to Christianity, and he wrote some amazing thoughts about prayer. Here are a few of his quotes.

“The real heart of integrity stays in place whether the test in adversity or prosperity.” —Chuck Swindoll

[VIDEO] A heartwarming story with dogs. What could be better than that?!

Links & Quotes

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“How can you know when you are trusting in man rather than in God? If you fall apart when someone else lets you down, or if the actions of others affect your walk with God, then you know you are leaning on the arm of flesh!” —David Wilkerson

“Hypocrisy turns people against God, so He has a no-tolerance policy. Let’s take hypocrisy as seriously as God does. For starters, expect no credit for good deeds. None! If no one notices, you aren’t disappointed. If someone does, you give the credit to God. If no one knew of the good you do, would you still do it? If not, you’re doing it to be seen by people.” —Max Lucado

Intersting ongoing studies about the brain development of children born before full-term pregnancy.

“Let not the fact that the answer seems farther off than ever be any discouragement to you. Remember that to trust God in the light is nothing, but to trust Him in the dark—that is faith. To rest upon God when everything witnesses with God—that is nothing; but to believe God when everything gives Him the lie—that is faith. To believe that all shall go well when outward providences blow softly is any fool’s play, but to believe that it must and shall be well when storms and tempests are round about you, and you are blown farther and farther from the harbor of your desire—this is a work of grace.” —Charles Spurgeon, commenting on Romans 4:19-20

For my pastor friends: “As a minister of the gospel, have you ever considered why you have a salary and a place to live, and so are freed from the need of holding a regular job? The reason is so that you can continue in prayer and the ministry of the Word. These will give you the necessary wisdom and anointing for your work. And that is the secret of a fruitful ministry. No wonder there are often complaints about the ineffective spiritual life of a minister and his congregation. That which is of prime importance—perseverance in prayer—does not occupy its rightful place.” —Andrew Murray

Links & Quotes

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“You may claim to love Jesus but your life proves you are still walking in darkness—confused, befuddled and foggy! When you are truly in love with Jesus, conversing with Him, He turns up the light. There is no darkness at all in His presence. The worst possible darkness to mankind is not in the hearts of God-hating Communist leaders or Christ-hating atheists. It is, rather, the horrible darkness that blinds so-called Christians who refuse to walk in the light.” —David Wilkerson

“It is not your business to succeed (no one can be sure of that) but to do right: when you have done so, the rest lies with God.” ―C.S. Lewis

“O how quickly we are given to defending God, or sometimes the truth, from words that are only for the wind. If we had discernment, we could tell the difference between the words with roots and the words blowing in the wind. There are words with roots in deep error and deep evil. But not all grey words get their color from a black heart. Some are colored mainly by the pain, the despair. What you hear is not the deepest thing within. There is something real within where they come from. But it is temporary—like a passing infection—real, painful, but not the true person. Let us learn to discern whether the words spoken against us or against God or against the truth are merely for the wind—spoken not from the soul, but from the sore. If they are for the wind, let us wait in silence and not reprove. Restoring the soul, not reproving the sore, is the aim of our love.” —John Piper

“What must you do so that you may know that your sins are taken away by the blood of Christ, and that, when He comes, He will shield you from the wrath of God and bring me into eternal life? The answer is this: trust Christ in a way that makes you eager for Him to come.” —John Piper

John Stonestreet has a great take on worldviews in Radical Islam, Secularism & Christianity.

“O beloved, what a defense is God to His church! Ah, the devil cannot cross this broad river of God. Between me and you, O fiend of hell, is my God. Do remember this, Christian; between you and your arch-enemy is your God; satan has to stand on the other side, and how he wishes he could dry up that stream, but God is omnipotent.” —Charles Spurgeon

 

13 Other Quotes From “JumpStart Your Leadership”

JumpStart Your LeadershipOne of the things I appreciate about John Maxwell’s work is how many other authors and deep thinkers he reads. Dr. Maxwell then sifts through all those works and brings the best of the best to his books. Here are some of the other quotes John shared in his book JumpStart Your Leadership.

“Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved.” —William Jennings Bryan

“No man is a leader until his appointment is ratified in the mines and the hearts of his men.” —Infantryman’s Journal (1954)

“The supreme quality of leadership is unquestionably integrity.” —Dwight Eisenhower

“You don’t lead by pointing and telling people some place to go. You lead by going to that place and making a case.” —Ken Kesey

“Let him that would move the world, first move himself.” —Socrates

“The most essential quality for leadership is not perfection but credibility. People must be able to trust you.” —Rick Warren

“Looking back, my life seems like one big obstacle race, with me being the chief obstacle.” —Jack Paar 

“Effective leaders reward dissent, as well as encourage it. They understand that whatever momentary discomfort they experience as a result of being told from time to time that they are wrong is more than offset by the fact that ‘reflective back talk’ increases a leaders ability to make good decisions.” —Warren Bennis

“You can dream, create, design, and build the most wonderful idea in the world, but it requires people to make the dream a reality.” —Walt Disney

“A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be.” —Rosalynn Carter

“The outstanding leaders of every age are those who set up their own quotas and constantly exceed them.” —Thomas Watson

“Do what you do so well that those who see you do what you do are going to come back to see you do it again and tell others that they should see you do what you do.” —Walt Disney

“The secret is to work less as individuals and more as a team. As a coach, I play not my eleven best, but my best eleven.” —Knute Rockne

You can read quotes from John Maxwell in this book by clicking here.

You can read my review of JumpStart Your Leadership by clicking here.

17 Quotes From “A Legacy Of Faith”

Legacy Of FaithBilly Graham is a man who has lived a life of integrity. And he’s done it in a highly public setting too. A Legacy Of Faith is a collection of quotes from this wise man. You can read my full book review by clicking here, but below are a few quotes I especially liked.

“We are not here by chance. God put us here for a purpose, and our lives are never fulfilled and complete until His purpose becomes the foundation and center of our lives.”

“Unless the soul is fed and exercised daily, it becomes weak and shriveled. It remains discontented, confused, restless.”

“Tears shed for self are tears of weakness, but tears shed for others are a sign of strength.” 

“Everybody needs some friends around him who will say, ‘You are wrong!’ And that includes me. I really value the friendship of people who’ll just tell it to me like it is.”

“Although Christians do not always agree … what is most needed in the church today is for us to show an unbelieving world that we love one another.” 

“satan would like nothing better than to have us stop our ministry and start answering critics, tracking down wretched lies and malicious stories. By God’s grace I shall continue to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and not stoop to mudslinging, name-calling, and petty little fights over nonessentials.”

“Like it or not, money is an essential part of any ministry, and safeguards must be put in place to avoid abuses or misunderstandings and to handle all finances with integrity and openness.”

“Preaching… involves us in a spiritual battle with the forces of evil. I am always deeply conscious that I am absolutely helpless and that only the Holy Spirit can penetrate the minds and hearts of those who are without Christ.”

“All of us in Christian ministry need to live and work with integrity. By integrity, I mean the moral value that makes people the same on the inside as they are on the outside—with no discrepancy between what they say and what they do, between their walk and their talk.”

“As long as there is one man in the world who hates another man because of the color of his skin or the shape of his nose or for some other reason, you have the possibility of war—as long as you have men in the world greedy for power, there is potential conflict. I believe that the Gospel of Christ is the only power in the world that can transform the heart of man and make it love instead of hate.”

“Suffering is part of the human condition, and it comes to us all. The key is how we react to it, either turning away from God in anger and bitterness or growing closer to Him in trust and confidence.” (On enduring Parkinson’s disease)

“I’m not a great man. I just have a great message.”

“The Psalms teach you how to get along with God; Proverbs teaches you how to get along with people.”

“Every day I have to renew my heart before God and ask for His grace and strength. I take time each day in the morning and evening to read passages of Scripture and ask the Lord to speak to me through them—apart from any preparations of sermon material.”

“When wealth is lost, nothing is lost. When health is lost, something is lost. When character is lost, everything is lost.” 

“Hot heads and cold hearts never solved anything.”

“I was called by God to do this, and I don’t read anyplace in the Bible where any of His servants retired.” 

A Legacy Of Faith (book review)

Legacy Of FaithIt sometimes distresses me to see great men and women who stumble later in life. But one man who has lived a life full of integrity is Billy Graham. If anyone can speak about “legacy” with the full support of his life’s message, it is Rev. Graham!

In the same format as Zig Ziglar’s Inspire To Be Great, and John Wooden’s Winning With Principle, A Legacy Of Faith is a collect of noteworthy quotes from Billy Graham. Time and time again I was impressed with Dr. Graham’s words, but more impressed that he lived them out so publicly for all to see.

If you haven’t read any of Billy Graham’s sermons or books, this book is a good place to start. Even if you are familiar with his works, this is still an excellent resource for his wise quotes.

What a great read!

10 Quotes From “Inspire To Be Great”

Inspire To Be GreatThe news show 60 Minutes described Zig Ziglar as “a legend in the industry—the Bill Gates, Henry Ford, and Thomas Edison of enthusiasm.” Truer words were never spoken! Zig is a fabulous motivator (you can read my review of Inspire To Be Great by clicking here). Here are some of my favorite quotes from this book.

“People often tell me that motivation doesn’t last, and I tell them that bathing doesn’t either. That’s why I recommend it daily.”

“To avoid procrastination, write your schedule out the night before, including precisely when you are going to start.”

“People with integrity are more successful, because with integrity you do the right thing, and there is no guilt attached to you. With integrity, you have nothing to fear because you have nothing to hide.”

“The greatest good we can do for anyone is not to share our wealth with them, but rather to reveal their own wealth to them.”

“It’s not what you’ve got; it’s what you use that makes a difference.”

“Never say anything negative about yourself. If we don’t see ourselves as ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’ [Psalm 139:14], who will?”

“When your goals are clearly defined and intelligently set, you have, in essence, taken a major step toward programming your left brain. That frees your right brain to be its creative best.”

“Among the things you can give and still keep are: your word, a smile, and a grateful heart.”

“Failure is an event, not a person. So regardless of what happens to you along the way, you must keep on going and doing the right thing in the right way. Then the event becomes a reality of a changed life.”

“Make failure your teacher, not your undertaker.”

10 Quotes From “How Do You Kill 11 Million People?”

How Do You KillAndy Andrews pulls no punches in this amazing book: How Do You Kill 11 Million People? You can read my full book review by clicking here. Below are some of the more noteworthy quotes I highlighted in this book.

“The punishment which the wise suffer who refuse to take part in the government, is to live under the government of worse men.” —Plato

“The past is what is real and true, while history is merely what someone recorded.”

“How fortunate for leaders that men do not think. Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.” —Adolf Hitler

“It is a fact that fewer than 10 percent of Germany’s population of 79.7 million people actively worked or campaigned to bring about Hitler’s change. Even at the height of its power in 1945, the Nazi political party boasted only 8.5 million members. So the remaining 90 percent of Germans—teachers and doctors and ministers and farmers—did . . . what? Stood by? Watched? Essentially, yes.”

“The danger to America is not a single politician with ill intent. Or even a group of them. The most dangerous thing any nation faces is a citizenry capable of trusting a liar to lead them.”

“Have you ever wondered why America doesn’t have a balanced budget? Have you ever in your life heard of a politician who wasn’t for a balanced budget? Have you ever heard a politician speak in favor of a complicated tax code that ordinary citizens would find difficult to understand? Then why do we have a complicated tax code that ordinary citizens find difficult to understand? Meet the 545 men and women who enact every law, propose every budget, and set every policy enforced on the citizens of the United States of America: one president, nine Supreme Court justices, one hundred senators, and 435 members of the House of Representatives. By the way, have you ever noticed that if any one of us lies to them, it is a felony? But if any one of them lies to us, it is considered politics.”

“During the past quarter century, no presidential election has been won by more than ten million ballots cast? Yet every federal election during the same time period had at least one hundred million people of voting age who did not bother to vote!”

“History shows that any people who are sheeplike in following their leadership (so long as their personal self-interests are satisfied) may one day awaken to find that their nation has changed in dramatic ways.”

“If we don’t demand honesty and integrity from America’s leadership now—and reward that integrity with our votes—our leaders will lack the fortitude to make the hard decisions that must be made to change course.”

“Now, more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave, and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature. … If [one hundred years from now] the next centennial does not find us a great nation … it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces.” —President James A. Garfield, in his address to Congress on the centennial of our country (1876)