sharing the gospel out of guilt

Our evangelism is often unbelievable because we don't listen at all. All too often the gospel we share is an information download, not a loving articulation of how the good news fits into the needs, fears, hopes, and dreams of others' lives. We content ourselves with "name dropping" Jesus, which gets us a √ in performance-based Christianity---unless, of course, we mention the cross, which bumps us up to a √+. This kind of evangelism, however, is more about clearing our evangelical conscience than compassionately sharing the good news with fellow sinners. Very often our gospel is unbelievable because we are motivated by unbelief in the gospel.
- Jonathan Dodson

my safety and obedience to Jesus

Do you choose your neighborhoods to be safe?  Do you go to the suburbs to be safe?  Is your first thought in a call to ministry “will my kids be safe?”  I got so tired of hearing that question when we were looking for associates at my church.  “Is your neighborhood safe?”  NO!  And who cares!  Good grief, what does that question have to do with obedience to Jesus?!
- John Piper, “The Supremacy of God in Missions” 

unbelief and theology

When historians of religion look back at the second half of the 20th century they will marvel at how its theologians could have written so much while believing so little.
- Steven Webb, Christian Century (Dec 4-17, 2002)

never been lost

I've never been lost, but I was mighty turned around for three days once.

- Daniel Boone

Or perhaps it was:
"I've never been lost, but I was mighty bewildered once for three days."

set goals

The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never score.
-Bill Copeland

plan and act!

A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.
- General George Patton

personal development

Reading makes a full man;
conference a ready man;
writing an exact man.
- Bacon

(and the holy spirit a new man!)

Do not mistake temptation for opportunity.

Do not mistake temptation for opportunity.

- Fortune cookie

only two kinds of people in the world

There are only two kinds of men: the righteous, who believe themselves sinners; the rest, sinners who believe themselves righteous.

Pascal

don't try to get god on your side

My concern is not whether God is on our side; my great concern is to be on God's side.

Lincoln's call to fasting and humility

We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!

- Abraham Lincoln

we are too sensual and earthly... immediately terrified when hungry!

“Let the doctrine which proceeds from thy mouth be sound. For he expressly uses this word, because it is the means of upholding us in true integrity, that the word of God, which is preached to us, be our spiritual pasture. This will not be perceived at first sight, but such is the fact. And why do we not perceive it? Because we are too sensual and earthly. For when we are in want of food for our body, we are immediately terrified, we become alarmed, we have not a moment of repose, for it touches us nearly. We are sensitive as to this fading life, but we are insensible to all that affects our souls; there is such brutal stupidity that we do not know our wants, though they press heavily upon us. Yet let it be observed that there is nothing but weakness in us, if we are not fed with the doctrine of God. And that is the reason why it is called ‘sound,’ for in this consists the health of our souls. As our bodies are kept in their proper condition by well-regulated nourishment, so our souls are supported by that doctrine which serves not only for nourishment but for medicine. For we are full of vices which are worse than diseases; and therefore our soul must be purged, and we must be healed of them. The method of doing this is, that we profit by the word of God. And so it is not without good reason that Paul gives to it this designation, that it is ‘sound,’ or that it is ‘wholesome.’” — Fr. Ser.

Footnote from ET of Calvin’s commentary on Titus 2:1

“Fr. Ser.” = French Sermon?

holiness and sin

[The Christian religion] teaches men both these truths: that there is a God of whom we are capable, and that a corruption in our nature makes us unworthy of Him. It is equally important for us to know both these points; for it is equally dangerous for man to know God without knowing his own wretchedness, and to know his wretchedness without knowing the Redeemer who can cure him of it. Knowledge of only one of these points leads either to the arrogance of the philosophers, who have known God and not their own wretchedness, or to the despair of the atheists, who know their wretchedness without knowing the Redeemer.

- pascal

finding contradictions in the bible is not "bold" and "courageous" but "lazy"

Here's a methodological driving principle that I hope remains at the foundation of our education for centuries, if Jesus tarries: namely, that it is not bold and courageous to oppose sacred tradition by finding contradictions in the Bible. Sometimes people will be described: "He's a courageous scholar!" and then he says something negative about the Bible or points out a contradiction and therefore he's "courageous" and "bold."

My assessment of that is that it's not courage but laziness, and a failure to go deep for the unity that is there. It will make a superficial institution of higher learning if we opt for the cheap solution of finding contradictions, instead of saying "If I work long enough and hard enough with all my might and as much help as I can get by the Holy Spirit I can find the unity beneath this apparent problem."

- Piper

truth in language

We simply must acknowledge that even though our finite understanding of God is limited, it is no less true! We possess exhaustive knowledge of very little; all reality, including the visible and physical, remains something of a mystery to us. Our talk of spiritual matters, including those of our own souls, is necessarily metaphorical, figurative, poetic. But this does not mean that what we say is untrue and incorrect. On the contrary, real poetry is truth, for it is based on the resemblance, similarity and kinship that exist between different groups of phenomena. All language participates in this rich interpenetration of visible and invisible. If speaking figuratively were untrue, all our thought and knowledge would be an illusion and speech itself impossible.

- Bavinck

the sinfulness of man

"In the worst of times, there is still more cause to complain of an evil
heart than of an evil world."

Robert Fleming (1630-1694)

knowledge and wisdom

There are those who desire to acquire knowledge for its own value – and this is a base vanity. But there are others who desire to have it to edify others – and this is charity. And there are others who desire it so that they may be edified – and this is wisdom.
Bernard of Clairvaux, The Song of Solomon

be unconventional, don't always choose "safe"

The path to effectiveness is often unconventional. The conventional approach is often the easy, risk-free, uninspiring path of low impact. It often seems safer, but actually isn’t. Organizations that make a difference are those that “stand for a truly distinctive set of ideas about where [their] industry should be going.” (Mavericks at Work: Why the Most Original Minds in Business Win)

- Matt Perman

dream big and then push hard to get to those dreams. they may fail, but you may also achieve something previously unthinkable, even in failure.

management

It’s not your role to “motivate” and closely supervise people, but to hire people who are self motivated, make sure they know the purpose of their role, make sure they have the knowledge they need, and make sure there are some helpful (but not overbearing) structures and systems that provide a context for the work. And then let them direct themselves.

matt perman

never give up

Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.

Thomas A. Edison