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As A Pastor, You Get Asked Questions And Receive Emails. Many Of Them I Had Answered, But Just In Conversation. So We Kind Of Re-crafted The Question And Answered It. It Turned Out To Be An Interesting Exercise. I Hope It's Encouraging For People.

-Max Lucado

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As A Pastor, You

Max Lucado

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As A Pastor, You Get Asked Questions And Receive Emails. Many Of Them I Had Answered, But Just In Conversation. So We Kind Of Re-crafted The Question And Answered It. It Turned Out To Be An Interesting Exercise. I Hope It's Encouraging For People.

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Bread Of Life? Jesus Lived Up To The Title. But An Unopened Loaf Does A Person No Good. Have You Received The Bread? Have You Received God's Forgiveness?

I Really Believe The Purpose Of Scripture Is To Give Us This Authoritative Handbook.

Through The Years, I Have Always Enjoyed Anything Chuck Swindoll Has Written. When I First Got Into Writing Chuck's Books Really Modeled A Style Of Writing That I Thought Was Accessible To People And Yet Still Biblical. I Wanted To Do That.

I Don't Get Asked A Lot Of Questions About Science And The Bible, For Example. Probably People Just Know I'm Not Very Smart And I Don't Have An Answer To Those Anyway.

Which Would You Prefer? To Be King Of The Mountain For A Day? Or To Be A Child Of God For Eternity?

Does God Understand You? Find The Answer In Bethlehem.

Were Studying In Philippians, And Im Trying To Figure Out This Passage, Paul Says I Want To Know Christ. What Does That Mean? See, Hes Fascinated By Jesus. I Think Thats A Desire Id Like To Have On My Heart, To Know More About Jesus.

I Think We Have Such A Crown Jewel In The Forgiveness Of God, And It Changes People's Lives.

Discover This Mystery: As You Help Others Face Their Days, You Put Life Into Your Own. And Life Is Exactly What Many People Need.

I Have Some Friends Whose Sermons Are Extremely Practical - So Practical That I Can Put Them Right To Use. I'm Trying To Learn How To Do That Better; But I Don't Think My Approach Or Style Really Has Changed In These 30 Years. Whether That's Good Or Bad I Don't Know, But I Don't Think It Has.

God Leads Us. God Will Do The Right Thing At The Right Time. And What A Difference That Makes.

Christian Inspirational

You Are God's Child. His Creation. Destined For Heaven. You Are A Part Of His Family.

Confession Is The Act Of Inviting God To Walk The Acreage Of Our Hearts. “there Is A Rock Of Greed Over Here, Father. I Can’t Budge It. And That Tree Of Guilt Near The Fence? Its Roots Are Long And Deep. And May I Show You Some Dry Soil, Too Crusty For Seed?” God’s Seed Grows Better If The Soil Of The Heart Is Cleared.

God Is Faithful Even When His Children Are Not.

God Is Faithful

As We Meditate On Christ's Life, We Find Strength For Our Own.

Finding Strength

There's An Antidote To Our Fears- Trust. If We Trust God More,we Can Fear Less.

I Really Enjoy Making People Laugh; I've Discovered That's A Great Technique. That's As Powerful As Stirring Their Sorrow, Stirring Their Compassion, Because That Befriends You To Them. It Engages You With Them And Then You Can Come In; They Will Remember That Point.

I Choose Gentleness... Nothing Is Won By Force. I Choose To Be Gentle. If I Raise My Voice May It Be Only In Praise. If I Clench My Fist, May It Be Only In Prayer. If I Make A Demand, May It Be Only Of Myself.

How We Handle Our Tough Times Stays With Us For A Long Time.

God Sees Us With The Eyes Of A Father. He Sees Our Defects, Errors And Blemishes. But He Also Sees Our Value.

Aging Is God's Idea. It's One Of The Ways He Keeps Us Headed Homeward.

Your Home Is Your Giant-size Privilege, Your Towering Priority.

You May Be Transferred, Enlisted, Commissioned, Reassigned, Or Hospitalized - But Brand This On Your Heart - You Can Never Go Where God Is Not.

You Can Climb Too High For Your Own Good. Linger Too Long At High Altitudes And Your Hearing Dulls And Your Eyesight Dims.

God Must've Had A Blast. Painting The Stripes On The Zebra, Hanging The Stars In The Sky, Putting The Gold In The Sunset. What Creativity! Stretching The Neck Of The Giraffe, Putting The Flutter In The Mockingbird's Wings, Planting The Giggle In The Hyena. And Then, As A Finale To A Brilliant Performance, He Made A Human Who Had The Unique Honour To Bear The Stamp, In His Image.

If Relationships Matter Most Then [at The End Of Our Lives], Shouldn't They Matter Most Now?

Who Are They To Give Stars Or Dots? They're Wemmicks Just Like You." Eli To Punchinello (p. 25)

One Of The Things I Discover A Lot In Marriage Counseling Is The Husband Or Wife Trying To Get Their Spiritual Thirst Quenched By Their Partner; I Think That's A Real Common Mistake That We Make.

That's What I'm Hoping We Can All Do, Is Come Together In A Spirit Of Prayer.

Sow Seeds Of Hope And Enjoy Optimism. Sow Seeds Of Doubt And Expect Insecurity

Jesus Gives Us Hope Because He Keeps Us Company, Has A Vision And Knows The Way We Should Go.

It's One Thing For Me To Tell People Not To Worry. It's Another Thing Entirely To Quote Matthew 6, Where Jesus Says, "why Do You Worry? The Birds Of The Air, The Flowers Of The Field..." He Says, "i Tell You, Do Not Worry."

In Our Faith We Follow In Someone's Steps. In Our Faith We Leave Footprints To Guide Others. It's The Principle Of Discipleship

We're All Travelers, All Sojourners.

If You Get A Lot Of Good Feedback From People, Thats A Sign That You Have A Strength Or Gift In Writing, If Not ... Try Singing.

There Is Not A Hint Of One Person Who Was Afraid To Draw Near Him [jesus]. There Were Those Who Mocked Him. There Were Those Who Were Envious Of Him. There Were Those Who Misunderstood Him. There Were Those Who Revered Him. But There Was Not One Person Who Considered Him Too Holy, Too Divine, Or Too Celestial To Touch. There Was Not One Person Who Was Reluctant To Approach Him For Fear Of Being Rejected.

Jesus Is Not "out Of Touch With Our Reality. He's Been Through Weakness And Testing, Experienced It All - All But The Sin. So Let's Walk Right Up To Him And Get What He Is So Ready To Give. Take The Mercy, Accept The Help" (heb. 4:15 - 16 Msg).

When Our Deepest Desire Is Not The Things Of God, Or A Favor From God, But God Himself, We Cross A Threshold.

December Is The Most Difficult Month. Medications For Insomnia Or Depression Go Up During The Month Of December. A Lot Of People Who Experience Loss Feel That Loss Magnified In December. Everybody Seems Happy And You Feel All Alone. You're Not All Alone.

Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, And Self-control. To These I Commit My Day. If I Succeed, I Will Give Thanks. If I Fail, I Will Seek His Grace. And Then, When This Day Is Done, I Will Place My Head On My Pillow And Rest.

Focus On Giants - You Stumble. Focus On God - Giants Tumble.

The Step Between Prudence And Paranoia Is Short And Steep. Prudence Wears A Seat Belt. Paranoia Avoids Cars. Prudence Washes With Soap. Paranoia Avoids Human Contact. Prudence Saves For Old Age. Paranoia Hoards Even Trash. Prudence Prepares And Plans, Paranoia Panics. Prudence Calculates The Risk And Takes The Plunge. Paranoia Never Enters The Water.

Hope Is Not A Granted Wish Or A Favor Performed; No It Is Far Greater Than That. It Is A Zany, Unpredictable Dependence On A God Who Loves To Surprise Us Out Of Our Socks.

What I Try To Do Is Narrow The Sermon Series Down To One Big Question. In This Case The Question Is: What Happens When Grace Happens? I Knew I Wanted To Preach About Grace. I Just Felt As If It Was Time For Our Church To Be Refreshed And See The Beauty Of God's Grace - The Uniqueness Of The Christian Grace As Compared To The Teachings Of Other World Religions On Forgiveness.

World Religions

God Is Not Troubled By One Who Is Conservative Or Liberal, And He Certainly Never Inclines His Ear Toward A Donkey Or An Elephant.

I Think I Could Do Better In My Approach To Application. I Think I Could Do Better In Preaching Practical Sermons.

Do You Purchase The First Tree You See? Of Course Not. You Search For The Right One. You Walk The Rows. You Lift Several Up And Set Them Down. You Examine Them From All Angles Until You Decide, This One Is Perfect. You Have A Place In Mind Where The Tree Will Sit. Not Just Any Tree Will Do. God Does The Same.

Philosophers Can Debate The Meaning Of Life, But You Need A Lord Who Can Declare The Meaning Of Life.

Meaning Of Life

We May Speak About A Place Where There Are No Tears, No Death, No Fear, No Night; But Those Are Just The Benefits Of Heaven. The Beauty Of Heaven Is Seeing God.

No Distance Is Too Far.

I Really Enjoyed Reading The Writings Of Fredrick Buechner, I Havent Read Anything By Him In Probably A Decade But About 20 Years Ago I Read Four Or Five Books Of His And It Helped Me.

God Comes On His Own Terms. He Comes When Commands Are Revered, Hearts Are Clean, And Confession Is Made.

You Don't Impress The Officials At Nasa With A Paper Airplane. You Don't Boast About Your Crayon Sketches In The Presence Of Picasso. You Don't Claim Equality With Einstein Because You Can Write 'h20.' And You Don't Boast About Your Goodness In The Presence Of The Perfect.

The Next Time You Are Called To Suffer, Pay Attention. It May Be The Closest You'll Ever Get To God.

To Live As God's Child Is To Know That You Are Loved By Your Maker Not Because You Try To Please Him And Succeed, Or Fail To Please Him And Apologize, But Because He Wants To Be Your Father. Nothing More.

Nature Is God's First Missionary. Where There Is No Bible There Are Sparkling Stars. Where There Are Not Preachers There Are Spring Times... If A Person Has Nothing But Nature, Then Nature Is Enough To Reveal Something About God.

I Don't Like Hassles. But I Love Christmas Because It Reminds Us How "god Causes Everything To Work Together For The Good Of Those Who Love God" (rom. 8:28 Nlt).

Working Together

To Have A Pure Heart, We Must Submit All Thoughts To The Authority Of Christ. If We Are Willing To Do That, He Will Change Us To Be Like Him.

It's Such A Unique Story. Book Of Joshua In The Bible Wasn't Always My Favorite Book, By The Way. Only Some Ago Did I Realize That This Book Covers A Seven-year Period In The History Of Ancient Israel In Which They Literally Went Undefeated.they Did Have One Setback, But Outside Of That, They Defeated Over 30 Kings. They Recaptured The Promised Land. They Did What Their Ancestors Said They Could Not.

Da Vinci Painted One Mona Lisa. Beethoven Composed One Fifth Symphony. And God Made One Version Of You.

God Never Promises To Remove Us From Our Struggles. He Does Promise, However, To Change The Way We Look At Them.

Lower Your Expectations Of Earth. This Isn't Heaven, So Don't Expect It To Be.

Jesus Will Press His Thumb Against The Cheek Of Humanity And Wipe Away All Tears.

Maybe Your Life Resembles A Bethlehem Stable. Crude In Some Spots, Smelly In Others. Not Much Glamour. Not Always Neat. People In Your Circle Remind You Of Stable Animals: Grazing Like Sheep, Stubborn Like Donkeys, And That Cow In The Corner Looks A Lot Like The Fellow Next Door. You, Like Joseph, Knocked On The Innkeeper's Door. But You Were Too Late. Or Too Old, Sick, Dull, Damaged, Poor, Or Peculiar. You Know The Sound Of A Slamming Door.

There Are Some Facts That Will Never Change. One Fact Is That You Are Forgiven. If You Are In Christ, When He Sees You, Your Sins Are Covered-he Doesn't See Them. He Sees You Better Than You See Yourself.

The Idea Of A Spiritual Heart Transplant Is A Vivid Image To Me; Once You Have The Heart Of Somebody Else Inside You, Then That Heart Is There. Jesus' Heart Is Inside Me, And My Heart Is Gone. So If God Were To Place A Stethoscope Against My Chest, He Would Hear The Heart Of Jesus Christ Beating.

God Is Kind, But He Is Not Soft. He Takes Us Firmly By The Hand And Leads Us Into A Radical Life Change.

Biblically Defined Marriage Is A Man And A Woman For Life, And So Anything Different Than That Is Not God's Ideal Whether It Be Polygamy, Whether It Be Divorce, Whether It Be A Marriage Between A Man And A Man Or A Woman And A Woman. The Ideal Would Be A Man And A Woman Under A Covenant Of God's Blessing.

God's Highest Desire Is Not To Make Us Rich, Successful Or Popular. His Goal Is To Make Us His

You Don't Have Wisdom For Tomorrow's Problems. But You Will Tomorrow. You Don't Have Resources For Tomorrow's Needs. But You Will Tomorrow. You Don't Have Courage For Tomorrow's Challenges. But You Will When Tomorrow Comes.

Find Joy In The Ordinary.

I Think We Live In Slavery To Fear. Most People Don't Have An Answer To The Death Question And Really Don't Even Have A Philosophy. That Is A Puzzle To Me. I Think Even If I Was Not A Christian, I Would Want To At Least Have A Personal Solution To The Death Question. Otherwise, Death Is Just A Frightening Thing.

Heaven Is Beyond Our Imagination . . . . At Our Most Creative Moment, At Our Deepest Thought, At Our Highest Level, We Still Cannot Fathom Eternity.

Christianity Teaches Salvation By Grace Through Faith, Every Other Religion Teaches Salvation Through Works And Merit.

God Is Using My Struggle. My Struggle Is The Answer To The Prayer.

When You Are In The Final Days Of Your Life, What Will You Want? Will You Hug That College Degree In The Walnut Frame? Will You Ask To Be Carried To The Garage So You Can Sit In Your Car? Will You Find Comfort In Rereading Your Financial Statement? Of Course Not. What Will Matter Then Will Be People. If Relationships Will Matter Most Then, Shouldn't They Matter Most Now?

I Think You Could Say Every Pastor Is Writing This Book [ Max On Life]; For Many It Just Never Gets Published.

God Has Forgiven You; You'd Be Wise To Do The Same

God Meets Daily Needs Daily. Not Weekly Or Annually. He Will Give You What You Need When It Is Needed.

I Think There Is, Not In The Sense That I Enjoy It, But That It's An Important Question. It's The Question, "does The Presence Of Pain Mean God Doesn't Care? Does God Not Love Me Anymore?" I Think That's A Very Common Connection We Tend To Make.

Choose Satisfaction Over Salary. Better To Be Happy With Little Than Miserable With Much.

The Wonders Of Nature Call To You. The Promises And Prophecies Of Scripture Speak To You. God Himself Reaches Out To You.

I Love Everything About The Christmas Season.

Christmas Season

We Enjoy The Fruit Of The First Coming But Anticipate The Glory Of The Second.

When We See Death, We See Disaster. When Jesus Sees Death, He Sees Deliverance!

I Think A Story Is An Attention Grabber. I Think It's A Truth Conveyor. Those Are Two Great Features Of A Good Story.

If We Think That This Life Is All There Is To Life, Then There Is No Interpretation Of Our Problems, Our Pain, Not Even Of Our Privileges. But Everything Changes When We Open Up To The Possibility That God's Story Is Really Our Story Too.

We Preachers, People Entrust Us With Their Time Week After Week. I'm Still Stunned That People Will Let Me Talk To Them For Thirty Minutes About Anything I Want To. It's A Wonderful Treasure That We Are To Steward.

Gods Given Us All Strengths And Gifts.

I Believe The Bible Tells A Story We Recognize As True. I Don't Just Mean It Tells An Accurate Story - Though It's Telling That The Bible Stands Tall Even After More Than 2,000 Years Of Secular Criticism.

If You Knew Jesus Was Returning Tomorrow, How Would You Feel Today? Anxious, Afraid, Unprepared? If So, You Can Take Care Of Your Fears By Placing Your Trust In Christ. If Your Answer Includes Words Like Happy, Relieved, And Excited, Hold Tightly To Your Joy.

Fear Results In Fight Or Flight. Anxiety Creates Doom And Gloom. Fear Is The Pulse That Pounds When You See A Coiled Rattlesnake In Your Front Yard. Anxiety Is The Voice That Tells You, Never, Ever, For The Rest Of Your Life, Walk Barefooted Through The Grass. There Might Be A Snake...somewhere.

When A Christian Stops Growing, Help Is Needed. If You Are The Same Christian You Were A Few Months Ago, Be Careful.

God Has The Final Word On Your Life And His Word Is Grace.

Our Tendency Is To Be Converted To Church And Not To Christ.

If God Had A Refrigerator, Your Picture Would Be On It.

Your Challenge Is Not Your Challenge. Your Challenge Is The Way You Think About Your Challenge. Your Problem Is Not Your Problem; It Is The Way You Look At It.

Christ Lived The Life We Could Not Live And Took The Punishment We Could Not Take To Offer The Hope We Cannot Resist.

God, The Master Weaver. He Stretches The Yarn And Intertwines The Colors, The Ragged Twine With The Velvet Strings, The Pains With The Pleasures. Nothing Escapes His Reach.

We Have A Place Where We Can Take People When They Come To Us With Questions So We're Not Just Speaking Out Of Our Own Opinion. We're Really Speaking To Them Out Of An Authoritative Place, Not Because Of What We Discovered, But Because Of What God Says.

I Have A Lot Of Special Memories With My Parents But My Toughest One Is, I Had, As A Teenager, A Pretty Insatiable Appetite For Beer. The First Time I Got Drunk My Father Found Me Throwing Up In The Bathroom. I Was 15, Maybe 16, And The Disappointment In His Voice, I Can Hear It To This Day, And The Sorrow That That Brought To Him. He Just Felt Like A Failure As A Father, And Id Give Anything To Take That Day Back Because That Was So Hard On Him. In Time, My Life Got Better, And His Did Too, But That Was Really Memorable, One Of Those Memories Id Like To Forget.

We See A Hearse; We Think Sorrow. We See A Grave; We Think Despair. We Hear Of A Death; We Think Of A Loss. Not So In Heaven. When Heaven Sees A Breathless Body, It Sees The Vacated Cocoon & The Liberated Butterfly.

I Am Very Confident In Preaching.

God Wants No One To Leave Our Presence Empty Handed.

Relationships Don't Thrive Because The Guilty Are Punished But Because The Innocent Are Merciful.

I Think You Can Tilt Too Far To The Side Of The Story Where The Message Is Just Simply Entertainment. So I Think Your Goal Has To Be To Craft In One Sentence What The Truth Is You Are Trying To Convey. And Then You Find Or Create A Story That You Wrap Around That Truth.

The Cross Is Where God Forgave His Children Without Lowering His Standards.

No Psychological Grid Works, Because If You Try To Place Every Personality In One Particular Grid Then You'd Need About 4 Billion Grids Because We Are All So Unique.

Kind Of The Bottom Line For Me, I Don't Think People Come To The Church Where I Preach To Hear My View On Politics.

Listen Carefully To The Feedback Your Readers Give You. Dont Write Unless People Want You To Write, A Lot Of People Write Just Because They Want To Write.

I Think There Is, Not In The Sense That I Enjoy It, But That It's An Important Question. It's The Question, "does The Presence Of Pain Mean God Doesn't Care? Does God Not Love Me Anymore?" I Think That's A Very Common Connection We Tend To Make. I See That A Lot In My Own Life And In The Lives Of Others.

Yes, Your Family History Has Some Sad Chapters. But Your History Doesn't Have To Be Your Future. The Generational Garbage Can Stop Here And Now.

It's Against God's Nature To Remember Forgiven Sins

He Loves Each One Of Us Like There Is Only One Of Us To Love (when God Whisper Your Name)

I Don't Think I Have Ever Created An Entire Fiction Piece Or Followed A Historical Piece And Made That Into A Sermon.

Compassion Gives Us A Common Ground To Stand On Regardless Of Your Faith Background. It Gives Us A Chance To Stand Shoulder-to-shoulder Rather Than Go Fist-to-fist With Somebody.

Seek Beauty And Miss Love. But Seek Love And Find Both.

Theres Some Inherently Unique Characteristics Of Christianity, The Chief Of Which Is That Christianity Teaches That We Are Saved By What Christ Has Done For Us, Instead Of We Are Saved By What We Do For God.

To See Sin Without Grace Is Despair. To See Grace Without Sin Is Arrogance. To See Them In Tandem Is Conversion.

Thoughts Have Consequences. Healing From Anxiety Requires Healthy Thinking. Your Challenge Is Not Your Challenge. Your Challenge Is The Way You Think About Your Challenge. Your Problem Is Not Your Problem; It's The Way You Look At It.

Most People Have Settled For A Wimpy Grace. It's Something That Doesn't Change Their Lives. There Is A Difference Between Grace And Mercy. Mercy Is The Decision Of God Not To Punish Us. But Grace Is The Decision Of God To Save And Bless Us.

Grace And Mercy

No Place Is Too Common.

Fear Will Always Knock On Your Door. Just Don't Invite It In For Dinner. And For Heaven's Sake, Don't Offer It A Bed For The Night.

Truth Can Arrive Within The Story And Ride Latent - A Bit Incognito - Within A Story, And People Are More Prone To Receive It.

We Live In The Most Multicultural, Multiracial, Multiethnic America Ever, And I Get The Sense That Because Of That Reality So Many Of Us Are Turning Nativist.

Others Have Promised And Failed. But God Has Promised And Succeeded. He Loves You With An Unfailing Love.

I Think There Is A Time, If I Can Say This; There Is A Time In A Message Where You Might Just Tell A Story To Give Your Audience A Break.

The Past Does Not Have To Be Your Prison. You Have A Voice In Your Destiny. You Have A Say In Your Life. You Have A Choice In The Path You Take.

What Is This Love That Endures Decades, Passes On Sleep, And Resists Death To Give One Kiss? Call It Agape Love, A Love That Bears A Semblance Of God's.

For Those Who Never Pray, Maybe Now You Will. For Those Of Us Who Attempt To Pray, Maybe We Can Pray More.

I Don't Have Any Desire To Retire In The Sense Of Not Doing Anything. Because As Long As The Lord Gives Me Strength I Want To Keep Writing And Keep Preaching. I Love What I Do.

Jesus Isn't A God Who Stayed On The Mountaintop - He's A Savior Who Came Down And Lived And Worked With The People.

All Of My Sermons Become Books. I've Been Accused Of Having No Unpublished Thought. I Encourage Pastors To Do That. I Think There Are So Many Great Sermons That Never Really Get Circulation.

Giants. We Must Face Them. Yet We Need Not Face Them Alone.

In March 2011 I'm Trying To Decide On A Sermon Series That I Will Preach In January 2012. So, I'm About Six Months Out.

I'm Protective Of The Reputation Of Christ And The Church.

I Want A Real Take-home Quality To The Sermon, So I Built The Whole Sermon Series Around The Word Grace, Those Five Letters.

The Scripture Says, "this Is The Day The Lord Has Made; Let Us Rejoice And Be Glad In It" [psalm 118:24].glory Days Are Days That Can Happen Right Now. The Key Is Understanding Some Basic Principles That Don't Just Apply To Any One Season Of Life But Transcend All Seasons Of Life - Not Allowing Our Circumstances To Define Our Outlook On Life, But Allowing What God's Word Says About Life To Define That Outlook.

Outlook On Life

If You Have A Pulse, You're Going To Have Pain.

I Believe You Select A President Who Best Represents What You Think Are The Values That God Wants Us To Have.

For Seven Years Ancient Israel Could Not Be Stopped In The Joshua Book. I Have Found This To Be A Great Imagery And Analogy For The Christian Life. As Christians, We Have The Same Images. We've Come Out Of Egypt (been Saved) We've Crossed Over, And Jesus Christ Is Our Moses And Our Joshua.

Don't See Yourself As A Product Of Your Parents Dna, But Rather As A Brand New Idea From Heaven.

I'm A Preacher First And A Writer Second, Although My Role Is Changing A Bit At The Church. I'm Going To Bring On A Co-teacher, But I'll Still Be A Pastor And A Writer.

Though The Bible Was Written Over Sixteen Centuries By At Least Forty Authors, It Has One Central Theme-salvation Through Faith In Christ.

You Are Who God Says You Are. Spiritually Alive. Heavenly Positioned. Connected To The Father. A Billboard Of Mercy. An Honored Child.

I Think The One Thing That I Cannot Do Without Each Day Is Hope. If You Put Me In A Position Where You Took All My Hope Away, I'm Not Sure I Could Make It Through The Day.

We Get A Lot Of Unsolicited Manuscripts Here. Im Not Even A Publisher, But We Get Several A Week. I Dont Read Them, But I Do Glance Through Some Of Them, And Some People Dont Need To Be Writing, They Have Something Else.

If God Had A Refrigerator, Your Picture Would Be On It. If He Had A Wallet, Your Photo Would Be In It. He Sends You Flowers Every Spring And A Sunrise Every Morning... Face It, Friend. He Is Crazy About You!

I Don't Get Asked A Lot Of Questions About Who Is The Best Political Candidate Or What My Position Is On What The Senate Is About To Do.

Jesus Came To Save Us, Not Just From Politics, Enemies, Challenges, Or Difficulties.

Sometimes When You Read The Bible, You Find Yourself Asking, "how Does This Book Know That About Me? How Does It Know That About Our World - Especially When It Was Written So Long Ago?"

A Story Does That: It Will Reach Out And Hook Somebody And Hold Them For Just A Few Moments While You Unpack This Story In Their Presence.

I Think "creative Preaching" Is Redundant.

It Works Well For Me To Go Ahead And Prepare The Sermon With A Chapter In Mind. What That Does Is To Force Me To Be Very Thrifty In My Language, Tighten Up My Words And Not Ramble So Much. It Puts Some Fiber In The Sermon.

I've Never Been One To Say I Know Exactly That We're In The Last Days, But There's Some Things Happening These Days, Both Good And Bad, That Make Me Wonder If We May Be Heading Into The Final Generation. One Of The Good Things That's Happening Is That Little By Little We're Taking The Gospel To The Whole World. But At The Same Time There Is This Resistance.

A Book Should Be A Garden That Fits In The Hands. Word-petals Of Color. Stems Of Strength. Roots Of Truth. Turn A Page And Turn The Seasons. Read The Sentence And Enjoy The Roses.

God Would Rather Give Up His Son..than Give Up On Us

All I Did Was Collect A Few Of The Questions I've Been Asked Through The Years, Write Up A Brief Response And Put Them In This Publication. As A Pastor, You Get Asked Questions And Receive Emails. Many Of Them I Had Answered, But Just In Conversation. So We Kind Of Re-crafted The Question And Answered It. It Turned Out To Be An Interesting Exercise. I Hope It's Encouraging For People.

God's Love Never Ceases. Never... God Doesn't Love Us Less If We Fail Or More If We Succeed. God's Love Never Ceases.

Jesus Spoke To Those Who Had Turned Their Backs On History. He Spoke To Those Who Had Blatantly Ignored Sign After Sign, Servant After Servant.

Your Requests Change History Because Your Prayers Change God!

Feed Your Fears And Your Faith Will Starve. Feed Your Faith, And Your Fears Will.

Our Society Is Just Less Open To Platitudes, More Open To Stories.

The Book On My Nightstand Right Now Isnt Anything That Inspired Me, But It Entertained Me. I Read A Book On Labor Day, It Was A Holiday, And I Have Three Daughters, And We All Went To The Shopping Mall And I Sat On The Bench And Read A Book While They Shopped, It Was Called The Greatest Golfer There Ever Was, It Was A Great Book, Easy To Read And Entertaining.

After A Hard Day Scrambling To Find Your Way Around In The World, It's Assuring To Come Home To A Place You Know. God Can Be Equally Familiar To You. With Time You Can Learn Where To Go For Nourishment, Where To Hide For Protection , Where To Turn For Guidance. Just As Your Earthly House Is A Place Of Refuge, So God's House Is A Place Of Peace.

Let's Be The People Who Look At The Hurting Until We Hurt With Them. No Hurrying Past, Turning Away, Or Shifting Of Eyes. No Pretending Or Glossing Over. Let's Look At The Face Until We See The Person.

I Didn't Want To Just Write Stories That Were Entertaining. Nor Did I Want To Be So Scholarly That People Couldn't Digest It.

Do You Believe That God Is Near? He Wants You To. He Wants You To Know That He Is In The Midst Of Your World. Wherever You Are As You Read These Words, He Is Present.

I'm Convinced That The Christian Claim Is Really True, That This Is Just A Warm Up To The Big Event. That This Is Just The Appetizer To The Feast, And If We Can Plug Into That And Understand That This Part Of Our Story Is Just The Introduction, It Is Not Even The First Line Of The First Paragraph, It's Just The First Letter Or First Word. We Are Just Getting Started.

Fredrick Buechner Kind Of Loosened Up My Clerical Collar, You Might Say.

Worry Is Anti-trust. If You're Worried, You Don't Trust Something: Your Kids, Their Friends, Strangers, The Church, Even God. Can He Take Care Of Your Children? Certainly. Jesus Says, 'i Tell You, Stop Being Anxious And Worried About Your Life.' Pretty Blunt. Stop It! Easier Said Than Done, Huh? Worry Tests Your Trust, So Hand Your Children To God And Let Him Babysit Your Babies When You're Not Around. He's Pretty Good At It!

Resentment Is When You Allow What’s Eating You To Eat You Up. Revenge Is The Raging Fire That Consumes The Arsonist. Bitterness Is The Trap That Snares The Hunter. And Mercy Is The Choice That Can Set Them All Free.

What Did Jesus Come To Do? God Saves.

God Has No Cousins, Only Children.

Gratitude Lifts Our Eyes Off The Things We Lack So We Might See The Blessings We Possess.

Don't Worry About Having The Right Words; Worry More About Having The Right Heart. It's Not Eloquence He Seeks, Just Honesty.

Here's What You Need To Keep In Mind. You No Longer Have Yesterday. You Do Not Yet Have Tomorrow. You Have Only Today. This Is The Day The Lord Has Made. Live In It.

You Know People Just Assume, 'well, All My Life I'll Be A Worrier.' That Doesn't Have To Be True. There's A Way To Drink From God's Presence So Much That Worry Begins To Dissipate.

As A Pastor, You Get Asked Questions And Receive Emails. Many Of Them I Had Answered, But Just In Conversation. So We Kind Of Re-crafted The Question And Answered It. It Turned Out To Be An Interesting Exercise. I Hope It's Encouraging For People.

What You And I Might Rate As An Absolute Disaster, God May Rate As A Pimple-level Problem That Will Pass. He Views Your Life The Way You View A Movie After You've Read The Book. When Something Bad Happens, You Feel The Air Sucked Out Of The Theater. Everyone Else Gasps At The Crisis On The Screen. Not You. Why? You've Read The Book. You Know How The Good Guy Gets Out Of The Tight Spot. God Views Your Life With The Same Confidence. He's Not Only Read Your Story...he Wrote It.

We Might Question God's Actions, Decisions, Or Declarations. But We Can Never, Ever Question His Zany, Stunning, Unquenchable Affection.

May You Live In Such A Way That Your Death Is Just The Beginning Of Your Life.

I Could Easily Go Through All My Books And Mark The Ones That Were Original, Mark The Ones That Were Adapted Or Pre-published That I've Found. I'm Guessing Though That Probably 75% Of Them Are Personal Events. I Just Love A Personal Story.

God Created Marriage. No Government Subcommittee Envisioned It. No Social Organization Developed It. Marriage Was Conceived And Born In The Mind Of God.

There Was A Time I Wanted To Go Into Politics. And So All Of A Sudden, Here I Am, I Guess. I'm In The Thick Of It.

God Does Uncommon Things Through Common People In Common Places.

Our Belief In God Is Not Blind Faith. Belief Is Having A Firm Conviction Something Is True, Not Hoping It's True.

I Try To Help People See They're Going To Have These Times In Which They Turn Away, In Which They Deny Christ And Their Faith Grows Cold, Their Convictions Weakened; But Jesus Is Waiting.

Want To Learn To Forgive? Then Consider How You've Been Forgiven.

I Think The Current Book [for Christian Apologetics] Is By Lee Strobel, Its Called A Case For Christ.

It Seems To Me That The Prayers Of The Bible Can Be Distilled Into One. The Result Is A Simple, Easy-to-remember, Pocket-sized Prayer: Father, You Are Good. I Need Help. They Need Help. Thank You. In Jesus' Name, Amen. Let This Prayer Punctuate Your Day.

If God Were Only Mighty, We Would Salute Him. But Since He Is Merciful And Mighty, We Can Approach Him.

The Church Is Never A Place To Show Off. Do Your Good Deeds Quietly. Serve; Don't Seek To Be Seen

It's God's Job To Run The World. Sometimes We Accomplish More By Doing Less.

When You Read That Our Heavenly Home Is Similar To A Bride, Tell Me, Doesn't It Make You Want To Go Home.

Your Goal Is Not To Know Every Detail Of The Future. Your Goal Is To Hold The Hand Of The One Who Does And Never, Ever Let Go.

So Immediately I'm Trying To Think: What Are Some Of These Times When We Feel We're Losing Our Hold On Christ, And What's The Fear We're Trying To Address? I Try To Get Into That Quickly.

You Are Saved, Not Because Of What You Do, But Because Of What Christ Did. And You Are Special, Not Because Of What You Do, But Because Of Whose You Are. And You Are His. And Because We Are His, Let's Forget The Shortcuts And Stay On The Main Road. He Knows The Way. He Drew The Map. He Knows The Way Home.

Don't Equate The Presence Of God With A Good Mood Or A Pleasant Temperament. God Is Near Whether You Are Happy Or Not.

Presence Of God

You'll Get Through This. It Won't Be Painless. It Won't Be Quick. But God Will Use This Mess For Good. In The Meantime Don't Be Foolish Or Naïve. But Don't Despair Either. With God's Help You Will Get Through This.

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