Paul did not begin by attacking the false teachers and their doctrines. He began by exalting Jesus Christ and showing His preeminence in five areas: the gospel message, redemption, creation, the church, and Paul’s own ministry.
Each believer is either a conformer or a transformer. We’re either being squeezed into the world’s mold or we’re transforming things in the world into which God has put us. Transformers don’t always have an easy life, but it’s an exciting one, and it gives us great delight to know that God is using us to influence others.
Divine truth becomes dynamic life only when we yield to Jesus by faith and follow Him.
To be poor in spirit does not mean to deny your personality or try to suppress it. It simply means yielding it to God for Him to make it all that He wants it to be. The motto is old but true: “God always gives His best to those who leave the choice with Him.
When you feel like quitting or running away, remember that you can’t run away from your troubles and you can’t run away from yourself. The solution is not running away; it’s running to. It’s running to the throne of grace and finding grace to help in time of need.
Stop pampering yourself. Stop whimpering. Stop asking God to give you toys; ask Him to give you tools and weapons, because there is a Church to build and a battle to fight. It is a marvelous thing to be adopted and to be rich in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Bible meets the needs of the human heart. No other book is like it. It is God’s testimony. Its name is the law of the Lord. The sun is to creation what the law is to God’s people, bringing light, warmth, life, and growth.
We can’t depend upon our own rule, because we are weak and ignorant. And we can’t depend too much on the rule of others, because they are as weak and ignorant as we are. The only thing we can depend on is the rule and reign of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. If He is on the throne of our lives, then we can face tomorrow with courage and confidence.
When we commit our lives to the Lord, what happens to us happens by way of appointment and not by accident.
We are not saved by faith plus good works, but by a faith that works.
An older generation, chastened by one depression, is afraid to be optimistic; and a younger generation, accustomed to security, is inexperienced at being pessimistic.
There’s no substitute for Christian character. No matter how much talent and training we may have, if we don’t have character, we don’t have anything.
True Christian hope is more than “hope so.” It is confident assurance of future glory and blessing.
Peter is preeminently the apostle of hope, as Paul is the apostle of faith and John of love.
Am I conducting myself in a manner worthy of the gospel?” is a good question for us to ask ourselves regularly.
You have the privilege of praying to a loving, understanding Father, who knows your condition. He guides you through difficulty to victory. When your faith, hope, and love are fixed on the Lord, you can face any difficulty or problem, and God will give you joy and peace within.
Dr. J. H. Jowett said, “Ministry that costs nothing accomplishes nothing.” If there is to be any blessing, there must be some “bleeding.
Too many believers have an intellectual religion that satisfies the mind but never changes the life. They can discuss the Bible and even argue about it; but when it comes to living it, they fail.
God is shaking things so that you may learn to live by faith and not by sight. He wants you to build your life on the permanence of the eternal and not on the instability of the temporal.
True faith isn’t frightened by threats, impressed by crowds, or swayed by superstitious ceremonies. True faith obeys the Lord and trusts Him to work out the consequences.
David did not take matters into his own hands. Instead, he submitted himself to the Lord and His timing. David knew that God would deal with Saul, and he needed to just wait on the Lord.