God is the only true Giver, and He needs nothing from us. But still He wants us. He gave us life so that we might seek and know Him.
The message of the Bible is not about God in Heaven who wants to take from you. It’s about God who wants to give to you.
We often think of prayer as a means to an end. Prayer is the goal.
Fear of God failing us leads us to “cover for God.” This means we ask, expect, and are satisfied with less.
Because when you’re wildly in love with someone, it changes everything.
Which is more messed up- that we have so much compared to everyone else, or that we don’t think we’re rich? That on any given day, we might flippantly call ourselves ‘broke’ or ‘poor?’ We are neither of those things. We are rich. Filthy rich.
I was raised Christian after age 5, but I didn’t really understand it until high school. A friend of mine invited me to his youth group. There I heard the gospel, understood it, and accepted it.
I had come out of a church that was filled with petty arguments and hatred. I just wanted to meet with some friends and worship with them.
We live in a world where people say that you can believe anything you want about God.
God is so clear in spelling out His attributes in scripture in order that others would know what He is really like.
It’s a pretty crazy task to try to describe God “quickly.” Everything starts with a healthy fear of Him.
People see only my actions. Instead, if I focus on Christ with thanksgiving, people see Him.
I love staring out toward the ocean and away from anything manmade.
I don’t want my life to be explainable without the Holy Spirit. I want people to look at my life and know that I couldn’t be doing this by my own power.
Lukewarm people feel secure because they attend church, made a profession of faith at age twelve, were baptized, come from a Christian family, vote Republican, or live in America. Just as the prophets in the Old Testament warned Israel that they were not safe just because they lived in the land of Israel, so we are not safe just because we wear the label ‘Christian’ or because some people persist in calling us a ‘Christian nation.
Life is comfortable when you separate yourself from people who are different from you. That epitomizes what my life was like: characterized by comfort. But God doesn’t call us to be comfortable. He calls us to trust Him so completely that we are unafraid to put ourselves in situations where we will be in trouble if He doesn’t come through.
If everyone gave and served and prayed exactly like you, would the church be healthy and empowered? Or would it be weak and listless?
We can’t cure our narcissism by trying to ignore ourselves. The solution is to stare at God. When we actually stare at Him, everything else fades to its proper place.
It’s incredibly arrogant to pick and choose which incomprehensible truths we embrace. No one wants to ditch God’s plan of redemption, even though it doesn’t make sense to us. Neither should we erase God’s revealed plan of punishment because it doesn’t sit well with us. As soon as we do this, we are putting God’s actions in submission to our own reasoning, which is a ridiculous thing for the clay to do.
Here’s a blueprint for marriage: 1. We become overwhelmed by Christ’s care for us. 2. So we shower our wives with the same love we receive from God. 3. Then, people are shocked by our extravagant love toward our wives. 4. As a result, we are given an opportunity to tell them about the love of Christ that compels us.