The world is always changed by people who don’t listen to conventional wisdom. I think we often set our goals too small and try to accomplish them too quickly.
The Bible says that God puts government on earth to punish evildoers. Not good-doers. Evildoers.
The Bible says that governments can do things that I’m not supposed to do as an individual. God has not put the law in my hands. He’s put the law in the government’s hands.
People forget that the church is bigger than China. It speaks more languages than the United Nations. It has more volunteers than all the NGOs in the world put together.
The heart of the issue is an issue of the heart. And that’s why I’m a pastor, not a politician. Because I think only – only God can change hearts. And only God can take the evil out. I don’t think you can legislate the evil out of people.
Jesus meets every one of our deepest needs. And what we need to do is accept his gift of a pastor-given, purposeful living home in heaven.
America was founded by religious people, devout people who came here because they wanted freedom of religion. It’s what made America different from every other country.
I have always been blessed with an enormous amount of energy. And so I didn’t take care of my health at all.
I think any apparent contradiction in scripture is my limited capacity. Me trying to understand God is like an ant trying to understand the Internet. I don’t have the brain capacity.
I’m not looking for peace on earth through a political solution. I’m a pastor. The Bible talks about three kinds of peace. There is peace with God. There’s the peace of God. And there’s peace with each other.
The point is, there are some things worth dying for. There’s no doubt about that. And I would die for my family. I would die for my freedom. I would die for my country.
I could imagine God saying to a lot of us, “Hey, I’m God, and you’re not. You’re not the general manager of the universe.” And the greatest stress reliever is take God seriously, but don’t take yourself seriously.
I think a lot of times God takes away your feelings, so you have to depend on faith. And faith is kind of like a tide. It rolls in and rolls out.
My whole goal is just to keep myself motivated. If I’m motivated, if I’m on fire, it’s going to catch with somebody else.
I’m not looking for peace on earth, though, through a political solution. I’m a pastor.
There’s not a person on earth that God doesn’t love, but God wants us to learn to love him back.
Obviously there have been historically many different theories of the atonement and I think each of them has a part. But I think fundamentally it is the substitutionary understanding that God – Jesus took our payment and you can’t understand.
To me, God says, “I’ve given you this gift of grace, which means you don’t earn your way to heaven. You don’t work your way to heaven. You simply receive my gift.”
I don’t believe my interpretation’s inerrant. I don’t believe anybody else’s interpretation is inerrant, but I do believe the scripture is inerrant. I believe in the plenary, verbal plenary inspiration of scripture, without a doubt.
The only antidote to materialism is giving, because materialism’s all about getting. Every time I give, my heart grows bigger. Every time I give, I become more like Jesus.