God is a specialist at making something useful and beautiful out of something broken and confused.
It’s not our church; it’s God’s – it’s not our responsibility to run it!
Part of the thrill of guiding children into adulthood is the release. But it’s also a parent’s greatest act of surrender. Still, you have to let them go. Start now.
I want to preach till the last breath in my lungs runs out.
There is nothing more fearful for the average person in our society than to stand before a group of people and speak.
Of all the things God created, I am often most grateful He created laughter.
God will never adjust His agenda to fit ours. He will not speed up His pace to catch up with ours; we need to slow our pace in order to recover our walk with Him. God will not scream and shout over the noisy clamor; He expects us to seek quietness, where His still small voice can be heard again.
Leaders need to cultivate two things: a righteous heart and a rhinoceros skin.
Remorse is sorrow over being caught and the pain of consequences that follow. Repentance is not being concerned for ourselves but having a contrite heart.
Confidence brings joy when we let God be God.
Convictions are a matter of choice, not force.
To be used of God. Is there anything more encouraging, more fulfilling? Perhaps not, but there is something more basic: to meet with God.
Grace releases and affirms. It doesn’t smother. Grace values the dignity of individuals. It doesn’t destroy. Grace supports and encourages. It isn’t jealous or suspicious.
If we want the advantages of love, then we must be willing to take the risks of love. And that requires vulnerability. Of course, we can refuse this path and trod another one devoid of openness. But the toll on such a road is extremely high.
Sometimes people can’t see past us to hear our message. We never have a second chance to leave a first impression.
Don’t seek more days in your life but more life in your days.
It has come to the time where the most dangerous place to be in America is not the inner city, where gangs threaten innocent lives, or in angry prisons, where only the fit survive, but in the womb of a mother who is being told that if she doesn’t really want the baby, an abortion is the solution.
Only grace-large doses, frequently displayed, released-will restore the wounded.
A story without context is like a diamond without a mounting. The stone may be beautiful lying loose on a table, but when it is carefully mounted in the right setting it can dazzle you with its brilliance and sparkling beauty.
I don’t have to explain or defend the will of God. My job is simply to obey it.