“God made humans in His image so that the world would be filled with reflectors of God. Images of God. Seven billion statues of God. So that nobody would miss the point of creation.” —John Piper
“I do not admire the extreme of one virtue unless you show me at the same time the extreme of the opposite virtue. One shows one’s greatness not by being at an extremity but by being simultaneously at two extremities and filling all the space between.” —Blaise Pascal
“The most striking thing about Our Lord is the union of great ferocity with extreme tenderness.” —C.S. Lewis
“Our Lord in His infinite wisdom and superabundant love, sets so high a value upon His people’s faith, that He will not screen them from those trials by which faith is strengthened.” —Charles Spurgeon
“Christians are priests, but how priests if they offer no sacrifice? Christians are lights, but how are they lights unless they shine for others? Christians are sent into the world, even as Christ was sent into the world, but how are they sent unless they are sent to pray? Christians are meant not only to be blessed themselves, but in them shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, but how if you refuse to pray?” —Charles Spurgeon
“Why did Saul obey the people instead of God? Because he feared the people instead of God. He feared the human consequences of obedience more than he feared the divine consequences of sin. He feared the displeasure of the people more than the displeasure of God. And that is a great insult to God. … To turn from Him out of fear of what man can do is to discount all that God promises to be for those who fear Him It is a great insult. And in such an insult God can take no pleasure. On the other hand when we hear the promises and trust Him with courage, fearing the reproach brought upon God by our unbelief, then He is greatly honored. And in that He has pleasure.” —John Piper
“In the absence of any other proof, the thumb alone would convince me of God’s existence.” —Sir Isaac Newton
“No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. … We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means—the only complete realist.” —C.S. Lewis
“What, sirs, is your wisdom? Your wisdom dwells in denying what your eyes can see—a God; in denying what your consciences tell you—that you are guilty; in denying what should be your best hope, what your spirit really craves after—redemption in Christ Jesus. Your folly lies in following a perverted nature, instead of obeying the dictates of One Who points you to the right path. You are wise and you drink poison; we are fools and we take the antidote. You are wise and you hunt the shadow; we are fools and we grasp the substance. You are wise, and you labor and put your money into a bag which is full of holes, and spend it for that which is not bread, and which never gives you satisfaction; and we are fools enough to be satisfied, to be happy, to be perfectly content with heaven and God.” —Charles Spurgeon
Seth Godin says, “Those critical choices you made then, they were based on what you knew about the world as it was.” Now check out his post New Times Call For New Decisions.
J. Warner Wallace, a cold-case detective, wrote, “I’ve worked more cases involving witnesses than I can even count. A career in law enforcement will put you in direct contact with eyewitnesses on a daily basis, starting with your very first night on the job. After interviewing literally thousands of witnesses over the course of twenty five years, I think I’ve learned something about reliable eyewitness testimony.” Check out more in his post Why We Should Expect Witnesses To Disagree.
Such a sweet video from a boy with Down Syndrome to his Dad on Fathers Day. I love the ending tag line: “Love doesn’t count chromosomes”—
“In Biblical parlance anyone is a fool who denies the existence or relevance of God and who thus becomes a law unto himself in trying to make his way in life (cf. Psalm 14:1; Ephesians 5:15-17). The fool, as opposed to the wise person, is the one who has no use for God in any area of his life (cf. Proverbs 3:5-6). The Hebrew word for ‘fool’ appears to mean something like living within one’s own little world—like naïve or silly or idiotic people do, or those who make decisions and choices from the gut rather than from careful consideration of all the facts.” —T.M. Moore
“I say to every suffering parent: You must lay hold of spiritual authority yourself. Even if your child shuts you out, you still can attain power in your secret closet of prayer.” —David Wilkerson
J. Warner Wallace writes, “As Christians, we need to consider the entire counsel of God before we determine whether or not God’s Word approves or condemns a particular behavior.” Read more in his post If This Is Such Grievous Sin, Jesus Would Have Mentioned It, where he discusses hot-button topics like homosexuality and abortion.
There are several people in the Bible that are called “a counselor.” But there is only One Who is called “the Counselor.” This is the title Jesus gave to the Holy Spirit, when He said One was coming Who would be of invaluable help to us.
This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday. On that first Pentecost after Christ’s ascension, something amazing happened to the followers of Jesus—they were baptized in the Holy Spirit. The Counselor saturated their lives with His wisdom.
From this moment the Christians operated in extraordinary wisdom, power, discernment, boldness, and effectiveness.
Josh McDowell points out, “By AD 100, the apostles had died, but the Christian Church was still in its infancy, with fewer than twenty-five thousand proclaimed followers of Christ. But within the next two hundred years, the fledgling church experienced explosive multiplication of growth, to include as many as twenty million people. This means the church of Jesus Christ quadrupled every generation for five consecutive generations!” (emphasis added)
This type of growth was only possible because of the counsel The Counselor imparted every day to these new Christians. And this same counsel and help and empowerment is available to all Christians today!
This Sunday at Calvary Assembly of God we begin a new series called “The Counselor.” If you are in the Cedar Springs area and don’t have a home church, I invite you to come join us to learn more about this power that is for you.
Let’s see if you can guess what famous person said the following (the answers are below … but no cheating!):
“The phonograph is of no commercial value.”
“I think there is a world market for about five computers.”
“I tell you Wellington is a bad general, the English are bad soldiers; we will settle the matter by lunch time.”
“There will never be a bigger plane built.”
“The world potential market for copying machines is 5000 at most.”
People get it wrong lots of times. Even really smart, successful people. King Solomon, who was called the wisest of all, wrote a book called Ecclesiastes in which he shared some bad advice he tried to follow. In the closing verses he gave this warning, “My son, be warned. Of making many books there is no end so do not believe everything you read, and much study is the weariness of the flesh” (Ecclesiastes 12:12).
In the Hebrew world there were three departments of knowledge:
Law―words from God to man
Prophesy―judgment from God on how man is doing in observing God’s law
Wisdom―man’s attempt to live out God’s law based on observation, experience, and reflection (for a great example of all three departments at work, see Luke 10:25-37)
What we need is someone who (1) knows God’s way, (2) lives God’s way, and (3) can teach us how to live out God’s way for ourselves. Someone who is perfect, flawless in every phase. We need the One Who said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away” (Matthew 24:35). That One is Jesus.
Can I make a suggestion that will bring you amazing results? Spend some time reading the red letters. That is, go to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and focus on the words of Jesus (which many Bible translations print in a red font). There I am certain you will discover the greatest words ever spoken!
If you can, please join me over the next few Sundays as we will be attempting to discover the greatest words ever spoken on a variety of subjects. Folks have turned in the questions that they would like answered, and we are going to look to the red letters to see what Jesus has to say.
Answers to the quiz:
Thomas Edison, remarking on his own invention
Thomas Watson, Sr., chairman of IBM
Napoleon Bonaparte, at a breakfast with his generals preceding the Battle of Waterloo
A Boeing engineer, after the first flight of the 247, a twin engine plane that held ten people
IBM board of directors, to the eventual founders of Xerox
Ever been stumped or confused about something, and then received perfect advice from a friend? Maybe that advice helped you get through that particular time in your life.
But what if, later on, the wise friend from whom you got advice wasn’t following his own advice? What if your friend got off track? And now they were the one needed advice? Would you still go to them for counsel? Or would you look somewhere else?
On the other hand, if we could get advice from someone, and their advice helped us not only in a particular situation, but in every situation we faced. If this friend’s counsel was good all the time, and they always practiced what they preached … if they were able to show us things we would have never seen on our own … and guide us where we may never have gone by ourselves … that would be amazing! And what if this friend’s counsel was not only beneficial for you, but helpful for everyone who chose to follow it?
Those wise words could quite possibly bethe greatest words ever spoken!
I invite you to join me this Sunday as we begin a new series called The Greatest Words Ever Spoken. And if you are facing a challenging situation, we might even be able to find the right counsel for you. Others have submitted questions on which they would like to hear the wisest words of counsel, so feel free to comment below with the questions you have.
“‘Let him ask of God’ [James 1:5]; that is the advice of the Scripture. We are all so ready to go to books, to go to men, to go to ceremonies, to anything except to God. Man will worship God with his eyes, and his arms, and his knees, and his mouth—with anything but his heart—and we are all of us anxious, more or less, until we are renewed by grace, to get off the heart-worship of God.” —Charles Spurgeon
“Newly published research combining genetic, language, and demographic data challenges the idea of a single lineage of languages and human populations evolving out of Africa. Instead, the data supports the idea that multiple people groups have independent origins—a condition one would predict if the confusion of languages at the Tower of Babel happened as described in the Bible.” Read more in Out Of Babel.
Dr. Tim Elmore always has great insight for parents, teachers, coaches―anyone working with youth. Don’t let the title of this fantastic post fool you, because it’s not just for athletes: Helping Athletes Navigate A Short-Term, Shortcut Mindset.
This is not a quote from Teddy Roosevelt…
…but it does, I believe, capture his mindset. This is a quote from one of my favorite US presidents: “We have a given problem to solve. If we undertake the solution, there is, of course, always danger that we may not solve it aright; but to refuse to undertake the solution simply renders it certain that we cannot possibly solve it aright.” ―Theodore Roosevelt
There are few who have rivaled the wit and homespun wisdom of Will Rogers!
“Even if you are on the right track you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” —Will Rogers
“You can’t tell what a man is like or what he is thinking when you are looking at him. You must get around behind him and see what he has been looking at.” —Will Rogers
“People who fly into a rage always make a bad landing.” —Will Rogers
“Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip.” —Will Rogers
“It doesn’t take much to see something is wrong, but it does take some eyesight to see what will put it right again.” —Will Rogers
“Income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf.” —Will Rogers
“There are two theories to arguing with a woman. Neither works.” —Will Rogers
“Never miss a good chance to shut up.” —Will Rogers
“The quickest way to double your money is to fold it and put it back in your pocket.” —Will Rogers
“There are three kinds of men: ones who learn by reading, few who learn by observation, and the rest of them who have to grab the electric fence and find out for themselves.” —Will Rogers
“Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.” —Will Rogers
“If you’re riding ahead of the herd, take a look back every now and then to make sure it’s still there.” —Will Rogers
“After eating an entire bull, a mountain lion felt so good he started roaring. He kept it up until a hunter came along and shot him. The moral: when you’re full of bull, keep your mouth shut.” —Will Rogers
It 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.
Not only did John Wooden win, and win, and win on the basketball court, he won off the basketball court too. Literally decades after he stopped coaching, his players still traced their off-the-court success to the principles Coach taught them, and they continued to seek out his wise counsel. Winning With Principle is a collection of quotes from this legendary coach.
Coach Wooden was a lifelong learner. He relied on lessons his father taught him, he continued to read and memorize other wise people, and he continually learned how to adapt with the changing times. Some people have called Wooden’s maxims “homespun wisdom,” but I call it down-to-earth practical wisdom.
There are dozens of books that Wooden’s former players have written on the life lessons they leaned from Coach, but it’s best to hear from the man himself. This book of quotes is the perfect introduction to this amazing man’s wisdom.
Craig T. Owens 