“How can I maximize my enjoyment of God for all eternity while I am an exile on this earth? And the answer is always the same: by doing the labors of love.” —John Piper
“For if we take the imagery of Scripture seriously, if we believe that God will one day give us the Morning Star and cause us to put on the splendor of the sun, then we may surmise that both the ancient myths and the modern poetry, so false as history, may be very near the truth as prophecy. At present we are on the outside of the world, the wrong side of the door. We discern the freshness and purity of morning, but they do not make us fresh and pure. We cannot mingle with the splendors we see. But all the leaves of the New Testament are rustling with the rumor that it will not always be so. Some day, God willing, we shall get in.” ―C.S. Lewis
“Never reduce Christianity to a matter of demands and resolutions and willpower. It is a matter of what we love, what we delight in, what tastes good to us.” —John Piper
“The man who has a hope for the next world goes about his work strong, for the joy of the Lord is our strength. He goes against temptation mighty, for the hope of the next world repels the fiery darts of the adversary. He can labor without present reward, for he looks for a reward in the world to come. He can suffer rebuke, and can afford to die a slandered man, because he knows that God will avenge His own elect who cry day and night unto Him. Through the Spirit of God the hope of another world is the most potent force for the product of virtue; it is a fountain of joy; it is the very channel of usefulness.” —Charles Spurgeon
“Fast growth comes from overwhelming the smallest possible audience with a product or service that so delights that they insist that their friends and colleagues use it. And hypergrowth is a version of the same thing, except those friends and colleagues quickly become even bigger fans, and tell even more people. Often, we get sidetracked when we forget about ‘smallest possible.’ If you make the audience you’re initially serving too big, you will dilute the very thing you set out to make, avoid critical mass, and compromise the magic of what you’re building. You’ll make average stuff for average people instead of something powerful for the few. By ‘smallest possible’ I don’t mean, ‘too small.’ I mean the smallest number that eventually leads to the kernel of conversation that enables you to grow.” —Seth Godin
[VIDEO] An interesting discussion: Can postmodernists live a consistent life?…
“The Son of God suffered (really suffered!) to deliver me from sinning. I cannot believe He suffered to make me miserable. Therefore, what He died to purchase must be more wonderful than the pleasures of sin.” —John Piper
“They who are Christ’s are kings. Take care that you wear your crown, by reigning over your lusts.” ―Charles Spurgeon
“Human beings are story-making engines, and when we’re confronted with randomness, we make up an egocentric version of what happened, and it involves us. So when things randomly go well, we give ourselves a pat on the back, a reminder of why we deserved it. And when they don’t, we seek out the ghost in whatever machine did us wrong and come up with a reason. … All the time we spend inventing reasons is probably better spent responding to what occurs.” —Seth Godin
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.
“‘Amen’ is an exclamation point of hope after a prayer for help.” —John Piper
“You ask ‘for what’ God wants you. Isn’t the primary answer that He wants you. We’re not told that the lost sheep was sought out for anything except itself.” —C.S. Lewis
Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, had some messed up values! Check out this video where she is interviewed by Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes. If you cannot watch the whole thing, fast forward to the 19:50 mark where she answers a question about sin. She says one of the greatest sins is to bring unfit children into the world(!). Disgusting.
“I freed a thousand slaves. I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves.” ―Harriet Tubman
“We do our Lord an injustice when we suppose He wrought all His mighty acts in days of old, and showed Himself strong for those in the early time, but does not perform wonders or lay bare His arm for the saints that are now upon the earth. … Surely, beloved, the goodness of God of old has been repeated unto us.” —Charles Spurgeon
“Not one life spent in the cause of world evangelization is spent in vain. Not one prayer or one dollar or one sermon or one letter of encouragement mailed or one little light shining in some dark place—nothing in the cause of the advancing kingdom is in vain. The triumph is sure.” —John Piper
“Perfect humility dispenses with modesty. If God is satisfied with the work, the work may be satisfied with itself.” —C.S. Lewis
“Christ lived the life we could not live, and took the punishment we could not take, to offer the hope we cannot resist. Why? Jesus was angry enough to purge the temple, distraught enough to weep in public, winsome enough to attract kids, poor enough to sleep on dirt, responsible enough to care for His mother, tempted enough to know the smell of satan. Why? Why would heaven’s finest Son endure earth’s toughest pain? So you would know that He is able. . .able to to run to the cry of those who are being tempted, tested and tried.” —Max Lucado
Comedian Tim Hawkins shares what songs may be sung at an “atheist church”―
“The Cross was the place of your spiritual birth; it must ever be the spot for renewing your health, for it is the sanatorium of every sin-sick soul. The blood is the true balm of Gilead; it is the only catholicon [remedy] which heals every spiritual disease.” —Charles Spurgeon
“One way to be humble is to cast all your anxieties on God [1 Peter 5:6-7]. Which means that one hindrance to casting your anxieties on God is pride. Which means that undue worry is a form of pride.” —John Piper
“Where there is no Christian Sabbath, there is no Christian morality, and without these our free institutions cannot long be sustained.” —John MacLean, associate justice of the United States Supreme Court
“Hope is not some vague emotion that comes out of nowhere, like a stomachache. Hope is the confidence that the stupendous future promised to us by the Word of the Spirit is going to really come true. Therefore, the way to be filled with the Spirit is to be filled with His Word. The way to have the power of the Spirit is to believe the promises of His Word.” —John Piper
“God never fits His Word to suit me; He fits me to suit His Word.” —Oswald Chambers
“Puffery in doctrine leads to its dishonor.” —Charles Spurgeon
“In love’s service, only the wounded soldiers can serve.” —Dr. James Stewart
“Don’t bother about the idea that God ‘has known for millions of years exactly what you are about to pray.’ That isn’t what it’s like. God is hearing you now, just as simply as a mother hears a child. The difference His timelessness makes is that this now (which slips away from you even as you say the word now) is for Him infinite. If you must think of His timelessness at all, don’t think of Him having looked forward to this moment for millions of years: think that to Him you are always praying this prayer. But there’s really no need to bring it in. You have gone into the Temple (‘one day in Thy court is better than a thousand’) and found Him, as always, there. That is all you need to bother about.” ―C.S. Lewis
“The itch of self-regard craves the scratch of self-approval. That is, if we are getting our pleasure from feeling self-sufficient, we will not be satisfied without others seeing and applauding our self-sufficiency.” —John Piper
“When the body is about to be led into a sinful action by some fear or craving, we are to take the sword of the Spirit and kill that fear and that craving. In my experience, that means mainly severing the root of sin’s promise by the power of a superior promise. … Having promises at hand that suit the temptation of the hour is one key to successful warfare against sin…. Be constantly adding to your arsenal of promises. But never lose sight of the chosen few that God has blessed in your life. Do both. Be ever-ready with the old. And every morning look for a new one to take with you through the day.” —John Piper
“At the heart of the Hebrew concept of marriage is the notion of covenant—a legally binding agreement with spiritual and emotional ramification (Proverbs 2:17). God serves as a witness to the marriage covenant, blessing its faithfulness but hating its betrayal (Malachi 2:14-16). The Lord’s intimate involvement renders this legal commitment a spiritual union, ‘so they are no longer two, but one’ (Matthew 19:6). The purpose of marriage as articulated in the Bible is to find true companionship (Genesis 2:18; Proverbs 18: 22), produce godly offspring (Malachi 2:15; 1 Corinthians 7:14) and fulfill God’s calling upon an individual’s life (Genesis 1:28). … Marriage binds husband and wife together into an entity greater than either partner as an individual, and it does so in order to assure continuity of the family lineage.” —Archeological Study Bible
“To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.” —Theodore Roosevelt
Eric Metaxas, in his commentary A Murderous Mother, tells how the environmentalists have gotten off track, and how Christians are really the only one who can help us.
“In our esteem, the joys of earth are little better than husks for swine compared with Jesus the Heavenly Manna. I would rather have one mouthful of Christ’s love, and a sip of His fellowship, than a whole world full of carnal delights. What is the chaff to the wheat? What is the sparkling paste to the true diamond? What is a dream to the glorious reality?” —Charles Spurgeon
