“God s Love for you through Christ Jesus is more than a Valentine s card or gift.”
“I am a follower of Jesus and a student of the Buddha.”
“On the night before Jesus died, he said to his Heavenly Father, I have accomplished the work which you gave me to do. He didn t heal every sick person on earth. When he ascended to heaven, there was still sickness and heartache and pain. But Jesus knew that he had accomplished what his father had called him to do, and that was enough.”
“There is not one harsher, more sure-fire way to fail than that of the man who tries to be like Jesus without submitting to Jesus.”
“The Lord Jesus is a loyal friend.”
“When it comes to loving people, let s not allow it to be something we do on the side. Let s make it a lifestyle. Whether we are at the gas station, picking up groceries, even waiting to get our car repaired, there is always an open opportunity to love someone in need.”
“...people can go to church every week of their lives and never go all in with Jesus Christ. I m afraid we ve cheapened the gospel by allowing people to buy in without selling out. We ve made it too convenient, too comfortable. We ve given people just enough Jesus to be bored but not enough to feel the surge of holy adrenaline that courses through your veins when you decide to follow Him no matter what, no matter where, no matter when.”
“We need to be the church that serves and loves people now, today, exactly where they are. Until then, we are simply managing decline.”
“God will never tempt you. It s not in His nature. In fact, He promises to provide an escape route for every tempting situation. But I can promise you this: God will test your faith. And those tests won t get easier. They will get progressively harder as the stakes get higher. And those tests will undoubtedly revolve around what is most important to you... God will test you to make sure your identity and your security are found in the cross of Jesus Christ. And God will go after anything you trust in more than Him until you put it on the altar.”
“When surrounded by the ashes of all that I once cherished, despite my best efforts I can find no room to be thankful. But standing there amidst endless ash I must remember that although the ashes surround me, God surrounds the ashes. And once that realization settles upon me, I am what I thought I could never be ... I am thankful for ashes.”
“The best way to see majesty is to strip away everything that pretends to be majestic so that which is fake wholly collapses in the face of that which is majestic. And God in a manger is likely the most remarkable example we have of such a monumental truth.”
“Jesus had to reveal what prayer was not, before He taught what it is.”
“Today I must look in the mirror and be thankful for the person who I find staring back at me. For although the reflection is terribly imperfect, and I know that full well, God created it with enough room that one day it would be perfect. And if there is nothing else I can find to be thankful for, let me begin here.”
“What we’re searching for will determine where we arrive, or if we arrive. And right in the middle of such risky choices, Christmas is God perfectly solving the problem by showing us what to search for and then bringing it to us.”
“I, too, have to end up worshipping at the altar where God’s name is truth.”
“Growing up I sometimes imagined that for Christ s return perhaps He would appear as Black Jesus to white people and White Jesus to black people just to screw with the racists.”
“Jesus to Pilate: The trouble is, the bound man went on, not stopping by anyone, that you are too closed off and have definitely lost faith in people. You must agree, one can t place all one s affection in a dog. Your life is impoverished, Hegemon.”