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I Think What Happens Is That We're So Busy As Pastors That We Never Get Around To Trying To Turn That Material Into A Book. It's A Shame Because There Is So Much Good Material Out There That Needs To Be Published.

-Max Lucado

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I Think What Happens

Max Lucado

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I Think What Happens Is That We're So Busy As Pastors That We Never Get Around To Trying To Turn That Material Into A Book. It's A Shame Because There Is So Much Good Material Out There That Needs To Be Published.

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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.

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God Has Proven Himself As A Faithful Father. Now It Falls To Us To Be Trusting Children.

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One Of The Secrets In Life Is That We Really Lead A Better Life When We're Living For Others Than We Do When We're Living For Ourselves, And I Think That's The Way For Our Creator Intended For It To Be, Is That If We Can Live For Other People, We Really Leave This World In A Different Way.

My Parents, They Were Good, Godly People, But They Never Said, You Need To Write.

Off To One Side Sits A Group Of Shepherds. They Sit Silently On The Floor, Perhaps Perplexed, Perhaps In Awe, No Doubt In Amazement. Their Night Watch Had Been Interrupted By An Explosion Of Light From Heaven And A Symphony Of Angels. God Goes To Those Who Have Time To Hear Him-and So On This Cloudless Night He Went To Simple Shepherds.

Christ Became One Of Us To Redeem All Of Us.

If We Could Solve The Problem Of Who We Are And Where We Are Going, That It Would Have A Huge Impact On The Culture And Waterfall In On Some Of The More Practical And Social Issues.

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.

Every Time We Equip The Church With A Verse, Chapter Or A Story From The Bible, We're Really Placing Another Weapon In The Hands Of The Holy Spirit That He Uses To Challenge And Strengthen The Church. I Think That's Very Important.

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?

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

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.

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

We're Important, But Not Essential; Valuable, But Not Indispensable. We Have A Part In The Play, But We Are Not The Main Act. A Song To Sing, But We Are Not The Featured Voice. God Is.

My Conversations With Trump Supporters Have Left Me With More Questions Than Answers.

There Is No Way Our Little Minds Can Comprehend The Love Of God. But That Didn't Keep Him From Coming.

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.

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

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 You Do For A Tree, God Does For You.

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

Initially, When I First Became A Christian And Got Into Ministry, My Thought Was That God Existed To Make My Life Better And To Take Me To Heaven. Now I Realize That It Is Not About Me At All. It Is All About God And That He Did This To Display His Plan To Restore The Earth To The Garden Of Eden State.

For All Its Peculiarities And Unevenness, The Bible Has A Simple Story. God Made Man. Man Rejected God. God Won't Give Up Until He Wins Him Back. God Will Whisper. He Will Shout. He Will Touch And Tug. He Will Take Away Our Burdens; He'll Even Take Away Our Blessings. If There Are A Thousand Steps Between Us And Him, He Will Take All But One. But He Will Leave The Final One For Us. The Choice Is Ours. Please Understand. His Goal Is Not To Make You Happy. His Goal Is To Make You His. His Goal Is Not To Get You What You Want; It Is To Get You What You Need.

Demanding Respect Is Like Chasing A Butterfly. Chase It, And You'll Never Catch It. Sit Still, And It May Light On Your Shoulder.

The Bible Teaches Us That God Does Not Cause Pain, But That He Uses Pain And Evil To Advance His Cause And Shape His Servants.

God Knows What It's Like To Be A Human. When I Talk To Him About Deadlines Or Long Lines Or Tough Times, He Understands. He's Been There. He's Been Here.

Don't Be Defined By Your Failures, Be Refined By Them.

There Is No Religion Like Christianity, It Is Not One Religion Among Others, It Is Completely Different, Its Mixing Apples And Oranges.

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.

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

The Difference Between Mercy And Grace? Mercy Gave The Prodigal Son A Second Chance. Grace Gave Him A Feast.

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

Revenge Is The Raging Fire That Consumes The Arsonist.

God Is Recruiting For Himself A People Who Will Populate Heaven.

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.

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

God Does Uncommon Things Through Common People In Common Places.

Heaven Knows The Difference Between Sunday Morning And Wednesday Afternoon. God Longs To Speak As Clearly In The Workplace As He Does In The Sanctuary. He Longs To Be Worshiped When We Sit At The Dinner Table And Not Just When We Come To His Communion Table. You May Go Days Without Thinking Of Him, But There's Never A Moment When He's Not Thinking Of You.

Thinking Of You

You See, It's One Thing To Accept Him As Lord, Another To Recognize Him As Savior - But It's Another Matter Entirely To Accept Him As Father.

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

Nails Didn't Hold God To A Cross. Love Did.

Live In Such A Way That You Would Not Have To Change Your Plans.

Unhappiness On Earth Cultivates A Hunger For Heaven. By Gracing Us With A Deep Dissatisfaction, God Holds Our Attention.

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.

Is It Possible For An Unbaptized Believer To Be Saved? Yes, Definitely. Should Every Believer Be Baptized? Yes, Definitely.

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

Our Aim - Our Only Aim - Is To Be At Home In Christ. He's Not A Roadside Park Or Hotel Room. He's Our Permanent Mailing Address. Christ Is Our Home. He's Our Place Of Refuge And Security. We're Comfortable In His Presence, Free To Be Our Authentic Selves. We Know Our Way Around In Him. We Know His Heart And His Ways. We Rest In Him, Find Our Nourishment In Him. His Roof Of Grace Protects Us From Storms Of Guilt. His Walls Of Providence Secure Us From Destructive Winds. His Fireplace Warms Us During The Lonely Winters Of Life. We Linger In The Abode Of Christ And Never Leave.

When Words Are Most Empty, Tears Are Most Apt.

Patience Is More Than A Virtue For Long Lines And Slow Waiters. Patience Is The Red Carpet Upon Which God's Grace Approaches Us.

Write Today's Worries In Sand. Chisel Yesterday's Victories In Stone.

Faith Is Not The Belief That God Will Do What You Want. It Is The Belief That God Will Do What Is Right.

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.

Scot Mcknight Stirs The Treasures Of Our Lord's Life In An Engaging Fashion. He Did So With The Jesus Creed, And Does So Again With 40 Days Living The Jesus Creed. Make Sure This New Guide For Living Is On Your Shelf.

I Noticed People Would Read These Short Articles I Was Assigned To Write For Our Church Bulletin And They Would Say, Boy, Thats Good Stuff. I Got Letters From People Around The Country Saying, Thats Really Good. And I Thought, Is It Really?

When Grace Happens, Generosity Happens. Unsquashable, Eyepopping Bigheartedness Happens.

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Since Our Greatest Need Was Forgiveness, God Sent Us A Savior. He Became Like Us, So We Could Become Like Him.

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Sentences Are Like Just Caught Fish. Spunky Today, Stinky Tomorrow.

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

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Peace Happens When People Pray. "cast All Your Anxiety On Him Because He Cares For You" Casting Is An Intentional Act To Relocate An Object. Let This "throwing" Be Your First Response To Bad News. As You Sense Anxiety Welling Up Inside You, Cast It In The Direction Of Christ. Do So Specifically And Immediately. Find A Promise Of God That Fits Your Problem, And Build Your Prayer Around It. These Prayers Of Faith Touch The Heart Of God And Activate The Angels Of Heaven. Miracles Are Set Into Motion. Your Answer May Not Come Overnight, But It Will Come. And You Will Overcome.

God Loves You Simply Because He Has Chosen To Do So. He Loves You When You Don't Feel Lovely. He Loves You When No One Else Loves You. Others May Abandon You, Divorce You, And Ignore You, But God Will Love You Always. No Matter What!

In The Pulpit, I Really Feel Like I'm In My Sweet Spot, I'm In My Stride.

What Makes A Christian A Christian Is Not Perfection But Forgiveness.

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If There Are A Thousand Steps Between Us And God, He Will Take All But One. He Will Leave The Final One For Us. The Choice Is Ours.

I Love Everything About The Christmas Season.

Christmas Season

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

Be Less About Protecting Any Type Of Identity Affiliated To A Country Or Even Ethnic Background. Be More About The Fact That We're Here For A Short Time And Heaven Is Going To Be A Rainbow Of People, Multiculture, Every Generation.

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.

If Today Were Your Last, Would You Do What You're Doing? Or Would You Love More, Give More, Forgive More?

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

I've Never Disclosed For Whom I'm Voting.

It Was A Matter Of Going Back Through A Lot Of Sermons And Remembering The Questions And Conversations, Where These Ideas Came From. So The Book [max On Life] Is Really Kind Of A Second Chance To Answer These Questions.

When It Comes To Christ, You've Got To Do The Same. Call Him Crazy, Or Crown Him As King. Dismiss Him As A Fraud, Or Declare Him To Be God. Walk Away From Him, Or Bow Before Him, But Don't Play Games With Him.

Children Spell Love With Four Letters: T-i-m-e.

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

We're Also A Multi-site Church, So We Have Other Pastors On Other Campuses Who Want To Read The Message Before The Video Plays On The Weekend Services. So It Just Works Better For Me.

His Is A Joy Which Consequences Cannot Quench. His Is A Peace Which Circumstances Cannot Steal.

No One Can Do Everything, But Everyone Can Do Something

Every Faith Has Its Story; Every Faith Has Its Roots.

The Purpose Of The Bible? Salvation. God's Highest Passion Is To Get His Children Home. His Book, The Bible, Describes His Plan Of Salvation. The Purpose Of The Bible Is To Proclaim God's Plan And Passion To Save His Children.

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

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

There Is Nothing On Earth That Can Satisfy Our Deepest Longing. We Long To See God. The Leaves Of Life Are Rustling With The Rumor That We Will - And We Won't Be Satisfied Until We Do.

God Wants Us To Know We Are Saved, For Saved People Are Dangerous People, Willing To Face Off With The World, Unafraid Of The Consequences Since They Know That, Whatever Happens, They Will Have Eternal Life.

No Place Is Too Common.

God's Goal Is Not To Get What You Want; It Is To Get You What You Need.

I Picked Up This Book Called Blue Mountain, Supposed To Be A Really Good Book On The Civil War.

Jesus Took Your Punishment, And God Gave You Credit For Jesus' Perfection.

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 Uses Every Possible Means To Communicate With You.

To Me That's Always A Little Satisfying - To Find An Underdeveloped Topic And Start Developing It.

God Is Not A Miser With His Grace. Your Cup May Be Low In Cash Or Clout, But It Is Overflowing With Mercy.

The Land Of Promise Is For Those Who Simply Remain To The End.

You Want To Make A Difference In Your World? Live A Holy Life: Be Faithful To Your Spouse. Be The One At The Office Who Refuses To Cheat. Be The Neighbor Who Acts Neighbors. Be The Employee Who Does The Work And Doesn't Complain. Pay Your Bills. Do Your Part And Enjoy Life. Don't Speak One Message And Live Another. People Are Watching The Way We Act More Than They Are Listening To What We Say.

Who Was Jesus? God Saves.

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

I Spent The Better Part Of A Week Trying To Figure Out How To Organize These Stacks Of 30 Years Of Conversations And Dialogues. I Finally Began Clustering Them In These Different Categories, And I Ended Up With The Ones You Listed.it's Interesting To Me The Kinds Of Questions I Haven't Been Called To Wrestle With. For Example, I Don't Know What This Says, But I'm Not Asked A Lot Of Political Questions.

A Little Rain Can Straighten A Flower Stem. A Little Love Can Change A Life.

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

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

I've Never Really Prided Myself As Being Quick On My Feet.

Compassion In Evangelical Churches Is Out Of Balance. When I Talk About It, I Get A Lot Of Glazed Expressions.

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.

Thats Usually What I Gravitate To, I Read The Perfect Storm, Then I Read Into Thin Air .

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.

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

Anger Is The Noise Of The Soul; The Unseen Irritant Of The Heart; The Relentless Invader Of Silence.

Creativity Has Got To Be The Warp And Woof, The Heart And Soul, Of Our Sermons.

The Secret Of Loving Is Living Loved.

You Wonder If God Has A Place For A Person Like You. Find Your Answer In The Bethlehem Stable.

Grace Is The Voice That Calls Us To Change And Then Gives Us The Power To Pull It Off.

I Think "creative Preaching" Is Redundant.

The Most Powerful Life Is The Most Simple Life. The Most Powerful Life Is The Life That Knows Where It's Going, That Knows Where The Source Of Strength Is; It Is The Life That Stays Free Of Clutter And Happenstance And Hurriedness.

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.

How Does God Deal With Your Bitter Heart? He Reminds You That What You Have Is More Important Than What You Don't Have. You Still Have Your Relationship With God. No One Can Take That.

I Think There Is Something About A Story That Is Enduring. Stories Take On A Life Of Their Own.

What I'm Urging People To Do Is Trust In The Sovereignty Of God.

Sovereignty Of God

Indeed, Baptism Is A Vow, A Sacred Vow Of The Believer To Follow Christ. Just As A Wedding Celebrates The Fusion Of Two Hearts, Baptism Celebrates The Union Of Sinner With Savior.

The English Name Jesus Traces Its Origin To The Hebrew Word Yeshua. Yeshua Is A Shortening Of Yehoshuah, Which Means "yahweh Saves."

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.

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

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

There Are Certain Weights In Life You Simply Cannot Carry. Your Lord Is Asking You To Set Them Down And Trust Him. What Do You Say We Take God Up On His Offer?

No Matter Who Wins, God Is Still Sovereign Regardless If My Preferred Candidate Wins Or Not.

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.

When We're In The Middle Of A Difficult Time, We Have To Speak Against That Lie That Says, "god Is Not Here." We Have To Draw Near To God.

Difficult Times

I Co-pastor Now, So I Preach Six Months, Then Another Guy Preaches Six Months. So That's Really Why I'm Preparing For January, Because I'll Finish In June; Then I'll Be Writing And Doing Other Projects For The Rest Of The Year.

Don't Quit. For If You Do, You May Miss The Answer To Your Prayers.

God Does Not Exist To Make A Big Deal Out Of Us. We Exist To Make A Big Deal Out Of Him. It's Not About You. It's Not About Me. It's All About Him.

God Would Prefer We Have An Occasional Limp Than A Perpetual Strut.

Gods Given Us All Strengths And Gifts.

About Four Days A Week, I Do Pretty Good At Having A Morning Prayer Time. But Even At That, It's A Rambling Sort Of Thing. What I Have Learned To Do Better Is To Try To Keep My Mind Turned Toward God And Ear Inclined Toward God Throughout The Day, And I Think I'm Doing Better At That ,but I've Got A Long Way To Go.

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

It Seems To Me That Election Season Is Just A Petri Dish For Anger And Cynicism.

Does God Care If I'm Sad? Look At The Tear-streaked Face Of Jesus As He Stands Near Lazarus's Tomb.

I Think What Happens Is That We're So Busy As Pastors That We Never Get Around To Trying To Turn That Material Into A Book. It's A Shame Because There Is So Much Good Material Out There That Needs To Be Published.

Each One Of Us Should Lead A Life Stirring Enough To Start A Movement.

Love Like There's No Tomorrow, And If Tomorrow Comes, Love Again.

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.

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

I Think It's Noteworthy That The Almighty Didn't Act High And Mighty. The Holy One Wasn't Holier-than-thou. The One Who Knew It All Wasn't A Know-it-all. The One Who Made The Stars Didn't Keep His Head In Them. The One Who Owns All The Stuff Of Earth Never Strutted It.

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

I Was About 21 When I Read That [mere Christianity], And My Faith Was Really Being Shaken During Those Days. Its A Great, Classic Book.

Vengeance Fixes Your Attention On Life's Ugliest Moments. Is This Where You Want To Look? Remember: God Dispenses Perfect Justice.

I Am Very Confident In Preaching.

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

The Greater Your Cares, The More Genuine Your Prayers

God Understands How You Feel And Has Faced What You Face.

Jesus Was Not Just Godly, Godlike, God Hungry, God Focused, Or God Worshipping. He Was God. Not Merely A Servant Of God, Instrument Of God, Or Friend Of God, But Jesus Was God.

I Don't Know How To Answer The Problem Of Deep Pain Without A Deep Hope In Eternity.

How Grimy Did God Get When He Reached Down To Clean You Up? How Grimy Are You Willing To Get In Order To Be An 'imitator Of God'?

You Are Valuable Because You Exist. Not Because Of What You Do Or What You Have Done - But Simply Because You Are.

You Will Never Forgive Anyone More Than God Has Already Forgiven You.

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.

The Duty Of The Branch Is To Cling To The Vine.

When You Read The Bible, It's As Though It Reads You.

The One Who Saved Your Soul Longs To Remake Your Heart. Let's Fix Our Eyes On Jesus. Perhaps In Seeing Him, We Will See What We Can Become!

If Today Were Your Last, Would You Do What You're Doing? Or Would You Love More, Give More, Forgive More? Then Do So! Forgive And Give As If It Were Your Last Opportunity. Love Like There's No Tomorrow, And If Tomorrow Comes, Love Again.

When You're Full Of Yourself, God Can't Fill You. But When You Empty Yourself, God Has A Useful Vessel.

Full Of Yourself

Find Joy In The Ordinary.

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.

Jesus Will Empty The Tombs And Melt The Winter Of Death.

Immerse Yourself In The Curriculum Of Grace.

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

Be A Child Again. Flirt. Giggle. Dip Your Cookies In Your Milk. Take A Nap. Say You're Sorry If You Hurt Someone. Chase A Butterfly. Be A Child Again.

Prayer Is The Window That God Has Placed In The Walls Of Our World. Leave It Shut And The World Is A Cold, Dark House. But Throw Back The Curtains And See His Light. Open The Window And Hear His Voice. Open The Window Of Prayer And Invoke The Presence Of God In Your World.

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

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.

Seek First The Kingdom Of Wealth And You'll Worry Over Every Dollar. Seek First The Kingdom Of Health And You'll Sweat Every Blemish And Bump. Seek First The Kingdom Of Popularity, And You'll Relive Every Conflict. Seek First The Kingdom Of Safety, And You'll Jump At Every Crack Of The Twig. But Seek First His Kingdom And You Will Find It. On That, We Can Depend And Never Worry.

Bitterness Is The Trap That Snares The Hunter

Let God Have You, And Let God Love You - And Don’t Be Surprised If Your Heart Begins To Hear Music You’ve Never Heard And Your Feet Learn To Dance As Never Before.

When You Keep The Porch Light On For The Prodigal Child, You Do What God Does Every Single Moment.

God Will Use Your Mess For Good. We See A Perfect Mess; God Sees A Perfect Chance To Train, Test , And Teach.

We've Been Taught That The Christian Life Is A Life Of Peace, And When We Don't Have Peace, We Assume The Problem Lies Within Us. Not Only Do We Feel Anxious, But We Also Feel Guilty About Our Anxiety! The Result Is A Downward Spiral Of Worry, Guilt, Worry, Guilt.

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!

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

[ Christianity], In And Of Itself, Sets Itself Apart Inherently, And So, For Somebody To Say, Well It Just Seems To Me Like You Can Pick Between All These Religions And Still Have The Same Thing. Its Kind Of Like Somebody Saying, You Could Pick Between 80 Bananas And One Apple And Say You Have A Banana. You Cant Call That Apple A Banana.

I Don't Get The Impression That Most Sources Of Media - Like Television And Movies - Are Trying To Get Out A Positive Message, Necessarily. My Impression Is They're Trying To Get A Message Out That Promotes Their Personal Opinion, Position Or Belief And They're Trying To Do Something That Makes Money. They Want To Turn A Buck.

Personal Opinions

We Are Such A Sound-bite Culture; People Are So Accustomed To Flipping Through Their Television So Quickly That We Only Have Just A Few Seconds To Grab Someone's Attention.

You May Not Be Down To Your Final Heartbeat, But You May Be Down To Your Last Paycheck, Solution, Or Thimble Of Faith. Each Sunrise Seems To Bring Fresh Reasons For Fear.

No Person Is Too Hardened.

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

First, God Does Not Send People To Hell. He Simply Honors Their Choice. Hell Is The Ultimate Expression Of God's High Regard For The Dignity Of Man. He Has Never Forced Us To Choose Him, Even When That Means We Would Choose Hell.

Forgive And Give As If It Were Your Last Opportunity.

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

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.

Be Careful What You Think, Because Your Thoughts Run Your Life.

Can You Imagine A Life With No Fear? What If Faith, Not Fear, Was Your Default Reaction To Threats?

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

God Wants The World To See What God Can Do With His Purchased Possessions. So He Prunes You.

When You Give A Gift To One Of God's Children, You Give A Gift To God.

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