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It's One Thing To Be Discouraged. It's Another Thing To Have Despair. Despair Is When You Think There's Just No End To This [suffering]. There's No Solution For This. Despair Is When You Think That Your Suffering Has No Purpose, And Your Suffering Has No End.

-Max Lucado

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It's One Thing To

Max Lucado

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It's One Thing To Be Discouraged. It's Another Thing To Have Despair. Despair Is When You Think There's Just No End To This [suffering]. There's No Solution For This. Despair Is When You Think That Your Suffering Has No Purpose, And Your Suffering Has No End.

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All My Books Come Out Of Sermons, And I'm Really A Pastor Who Writes Rather Than A Writer Who Pastors.

The Bible Is The Story Of Two Gardens: Eden And Gethsemane. In The First, Adam Took A Fall. In The Second, Jesus Took A Stand. In The First, God Sought Adam. In The Second, Jesus Sought God. In Eden, Adam Hid From God. In Gethsemane, Jesus Emerged From The Tomb. In Eden, Satan Led Adam To A Tree That Led To His Death. From Gethsemane, Jesus Went To A Tree That Led To Our Life.

Aren't You Glad That God Doesn't Give You Only That Which You Remember To Thank Him For?

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?

No Person Is Too Hardened.

I Love Everything About The Christmas Season.

Christmas Season

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.

Forgive And Give As If It Were Your Last Opportunity.

Worship Is The Thank You That Can't Be Silenced

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

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.

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

Someday I Want To Go Back And Maybe Write Another Book On Those Seven Sayings. I Just Think They Are Kind Of Like A Table Of Contents To The Christian Hope. They Invite Us To Go Into All The Aspects Of The Heart Of Jesus. Everything About Them From The Drama, The Setting, The Passion Around Them - I Think The Seven Sayings Of The Cross Are Powerful.

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

There's Something About Compassion That Causes Society To Say, 'we're Going To Take This Person Seriously.' Take Mother Teresa. She Was Confrontational On Abortion, But She Wasn't Rejected By Society.

I Think That The Holy Spirit Works Through The Pastors Of The Church. It Helps Me Avoid The Trap Of Writing To The Reading Market. It Helps Me Stay A Pastor First, Because They Have No Agenda; They Are Not Thinking: "this Would This Be A Good Book Someday." They're Thinking: "how This Will Help Bob And Suzy Who Are Going Through A Tough Marriage? What Series Can Encourage Them?" And So I Really Bow To Their Preference.

Somewhere, Sometime, Somehow You Got Tangled Up In Garbage, And You've Been Avoiding God. You've Allowed A Veil Of Guilt To Come Between You And Your Father. You Wonder If You Could Ever Feel Close To God Again. The Message Of The Torn Flesh Is You Can. God Welcomes You. God Is Not Avoiding You. God Is Not Resisting You. The Curtain Is Down, The Door Is Open, And God Invites You In

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

Finding Strength

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.

I Firmly Believe That The Purpose Of Life Is Not This Life. It Is To Equip Us, Whatever Our Role Is Going To Be In The Next Life. And Understanding God's Story Is Really Where I Find The Significance And Purpose In My Own Story.

Understanding God

The Great Promise Of Scripture Is That Every Day Is A Day That's Worth Rejoicing In.

Bethlehem Was Just The Beginning. I Call Jesus Christ's Next Appearance, Bethlehem, Act 2. No Silent Night This Time, However. The Skies Will Open, Trumpets Will Blast, And A New Kingdom Will Begin.

Your Pain Has A Purpose. Your Problems, Struggles, Heartaches, And Hassles Cooperate Toward One End-the Glory Of God.

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.

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

When You Teach On A Familiar Text, You're Capitalizing On Common Knowledge. When You Teach On An Unfamiliar Text, You're Having To Build A Bridge Of Understanding, And We Need To Do That As Well.

In A Sense We're All Children Of God - Jesus Is Called The One And Only Son. Monogeneo Is The Word, God's Only "genetic" Child. He Bears The Very Essence Of God. What We Say About God We Say About Jesus. So The Promise Rises And Falls On The Identity Of Jesus.

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

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."

It Deeply Concerns Me That Somebody Who Knows Little Or Nothing About The Christian Faith Would Hear Mr. Trump Call Himself A Christian And Then Make A Decision Based On The Christian Faith, Based On His Behavior.

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

I Think That I Speak A Lot Like I Write.

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

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

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

In Our Grandparents' Generation News Of An Earthquake In Nepal Would Reach Around The World Some Days Later. In Our Parents' Day The Nightly News Communicated The Catastrophe. Now It's A Matter Of Minutes. We've Barely Processed One Crisis, And Then We Hear Of Another.

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

If You Are 8 Hours A Day In A Job You Hate, You're Not Going To Be A Very Good Spouse; It Can Contribute To Chemical Dependency, Financial Mismanagement.

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

My Main Concern Is With The Anxiety That Has Settled Upon America.

Let's Try To Present The Same Gospel But In A Fresh Fashion, Always Looking For A Better Way To Connect With The Audience.

Don't Measure The Size Of The Mountain; Talk To The One Who Can Move It.

Staying Engaged With God Is Absolutely Essential For Getting Through A Tough Time.

In The Manger God Loves You; Through The Cross God Saves You. But Has He Taken You To His Home? Not Yet.

I Have Learned That My Assignment Is To Write Books For People Who Do Not Like To Read Books. I Really Try To Connect With People Who Are Not Given To Spending A Lot Of Time With An Open Book. Pay Day To Me Is When Somebody Comes Up To Me And Says, "i Never Read Books But I Read Yours." I Have A Heart For That Person.

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

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.

Fear Corrodes Our Confidence In God's Goodness.

Confidence In God

Grace Is God As Heart Surgeon, Cracking Open Your Chest, Removing Your Heart - Poisoned As It Is With Pride And Pain - And Replacing It With His Own.

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.

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.

God's Blessings Are Dispensed According To The Riches Of His Grace, Not According To The Depth Of Our Faith.

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

On The Eve Of The Cross, Jesus Made His Decision. He Would Rather Go To Hell For You Than Go To Heaven Without You.

Pastoring The Flock With Words. I Love That. We Always Have A Prayer Time In The Middle Of Our Service. We Take About Eight Or Ten Minutes Before I Preach, After We've Sung, And Invite People To Come Forward For Prayer. That's A Tender Moment To Me. I Don't Preach Much In That, But I Like To Speak To The People.

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

Bitterness Is The Trap That Snares The Hunter

Our Task Is To Stand Tall In God's Love, Secure In Our Place, Sparkling In Kindness, Surrounded By His Goodness, Freely Giving To All Who Come Our Way. You, Me, And The Christmas Tree. Picked, Purchased, And Pruned.

God Has A Timeline. And Because Of Bethlehem, We Have An Idea Where We Stand On It.

He Saw You In Your Own Gethsemane And He Didn't Want You To Be Alone..he Would Rather Go To Hell For You Than To Haven Without You.

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

Theres A Verse Thats Meant A Lot To Me Ever Since I Was In My Early 20s. 2 Timothy 2:8, Paul Told Timothy To Remember Jesus Christ, Descended From David And Raised From The Dead. Thats A Good Principle, That If My Theology, My Whole Life Can Be Focused On Remembering Jesus. Just Trying To Remember Who He Is, What He Did, Being Strong In What He Did And What He Accomplished.

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.

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

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

Changing Directions In Life Is Not Tragic. Losing Passion In Life Is.

In This Post-modern Culture In Which We Live - Where People Question Absolute Truth - Stories Are Resistant To Platitudes; They're Resistant To Me Making Declarations Of Truth To Them. A Story Can Do That In Kind Of A Trojan-horse Fashion.

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.

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.

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.

[there Is] A Great Book From Ravi Zacharis, A Scholar From India, And Its Called Jesus Among Other Gods. I Havent Read That One, But I Know Ravi Really Well, And I Know Its A Good Book.

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.

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 Work For You To Do.

There Is A Time For Risky Love. There Is A Time For Extravagant Gestures. There Is A Time To Pour Out Your Affections On One You Love. And When The Time Comes - Seize It, Don't Miss It.

My First Encounters With Faith Came About The Time I Was A Boy Scout, At About 14 Or 15. I Made The Logical Deduction That They Operate The Same Way; I Treated My Faith Like Earning A Merit Badge, And Everything About Christianity Was About Earning Merit Badges.

I Just Love Those [saying Of Christ ]: "father Forgive Them, They Know Not What They Do. I Thirst. It Is Finished. Into Your Hands I Commit My Spirit. Today You Will Be With Me In Paradise." That Was Really The Heart Of The Second Book I Wrote Called No Wonder They Call Him Savior.

We're All Travelers, All Sojourners.

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

It's Up To Me To Promote My Faith And Somebody Else To Promote Theirs. Let The Government Just Protect Our Right To Do So.

Have You Been Called To Go Out On A Limb For God? You Can Bet It Won't Be Easy. Limb-climbing Has Never Been Easy. Ask Joseph. Or, Better Yet, Ask Jesus. He Knows Better Than Anyone The Cost Of Hanging On A Tree.

One Of The Greatest Gifts We Can Give People Is The Hope That Their Death Is Nothing To Fear - You Know, Not That It Has No Fear In It, But The Promise Of Scripture Is That God Will Lead Us Through The Valley Of The Shadow Of Death.

Shadow Of Death

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

You May Go Days Without Thinking Of God, But There's Never A Moment When He's Not Thinking Of You.

Thinking Of You

Very, Very Rarely Will I Leave San Antonio To Speak Somewhere Else. I Used To Do That, And It Just About Wore Me Out, So I Quit Traveling.

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

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.

A Christian In His Surroundings Should Encourage Everyone To Be Better, Instead Of Being The One Who Stoops To Be Like Everyone Else.

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?

God Has No Cousins, Only Children.

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

The Prodigal Son Story Is, I Think, The Greatest Short-story Ever Written. It Has Such Drama In It, Such Great Characters, It's So Clear And Concise, And It's Entertaining In The Sense That Everyone Can Relate To It. But You Have No Doubt What Our Lord Was Trying To Communicate In The Heart Of That Story. So The Truth Was Not Sacrificed On The Altar Of Entertainment In That Case. And It Can Be.

I Wanted To Talk About How Grace In And Of Itself Changes Us. It Changes The Way We Treat Other People, The Way We View Our Lives, The Way We Treat Our Purpose And Our Eternal Identity.

We Need To Remember That The First Disciples Were Ordinary Men Called To An Extraordinary Mission. Their Devotion To Jesus Outweighed- By Hair- Their Fears And Insecurities. As A Result God Change Them And Use Them To Accomplish Some Mind-boggling Things. Why Couldn't God - Why Wouldn't God Do The Same In Your Life?

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.

Though You See Nothing, He Is Acting.

Every Person Is Unique.

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.

There Is Something About Keeping Him Divine That Keeps Him Distant, Packaged, Predictable. But Don't Do It. For Heaven's Sake, Don't. Let Him Be As Human As He Intended To Be. Let Him Into The Mire And Muck Of Our World. For Only If We Let Him In Can He Pull Us Out.

The Ultimate Solution To Poverty Is Found In The Compassion Of God's People.

Are You Weary? Catch Your Breath. Are You Strong? Reserve Passing Judgment On The Tired.

I Choose Goodness... I Will Go Without A Dollar Before I Take A Dishonest One. I Will Be Overlooked Before I Will Boast. I Will Confess Before I Will Accuse. I Choose Goodness.

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.

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.

Our Moods May Shift, But God's Doesn't. Our Minds May Change, But God's Doesn't. Our Devotion May Falter, But God's Never Does. Even If We Are Faithless, He Is Faithful, For He Cannot Betray Himself. He Is A Sure God.

Does God Understand You? Find The Answer In Bethlehem.

God Will Restore His Planet And His Children To Their Garden Of Eden Splendor. It'll Be Perfect. Perfect In Grandeur. Perfect In Righteousness. Perfect In Harmony.

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

To Accept Grace Is To Admit Failure, A Step We Are Hesitant To Take. We Opt To Impress God With How Good We Are Rather Than Confessing How Great He Is.

Prayer Pushes Us Through Life's Slumps, Propels Us Over The Humps And Pulls Us Out Of The Dumps. Prayer Is The Oomph We Need To Get The Answers We Seek.

I Choose Joy... I Will Invite My God To Be The God Of Circumstance. I Will Refuse The Temptation To Be Cynical... The Tool Of The Lazy Thinker. I Will Refuse To See People As Anything Less Than Human Beings, Created By God. I Will Refuse To See Any Problem As Anything Less Than An Opportunity To See God.

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

Worry Is To Joy What A Hoover Vacuum Cleaner Is To Dirt: Might As Well Attach Your Heart To A Happiness-sucker And Flip The Switch.

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

There Are Many Things In Life Over Which You Have No Choice. But The Greatest Activity Of Life Is Well Within Your Dominion. You Can Choose What You Think About. You Can Be The Air Traffic Controller Of Your Mental Airport. You Occupy The Control Tower And Can Direct The Mental Traffic Of Your World. Thoughts Circle Above, Coming And Going. If One Of Them Lands, It's Because You Gave It Permission. If It Leaves, It's Because You Directed It To Do So. You Can Select Your Thought Pattern.

I Don't Think God Is A Gender. He Presents Himself As A Father But He Comes To Us With The Tenderness Of A Mother. In Some Of The Parables, He Is The Housewife Who Cleans The House Looking For The Lost Coin.

The Purpose Of The Bible Is Simply To Proclaim God's Plan To Save His Children. It Asserts That Man Is Lost And Needs To Be Saved. And It Communicates The Message That Jesus Is The God In The Flesh Sent To Save His Children.

I Remember Enjoying Writing Those, Theres Two Clues Of A Gift: You Enjoy Doing It And People Enjoy You Doing It.

God's Greatest Blessings Often Come Costumed As Disasters. Any Doubters Need To Do Nothing More Than Ascend The Hill Of Calvary.

Hiding Out With The Enemy Brings Only Temporary Relief.

When Jesus Died On The Cross, So Did Your Sin; When He Rose From The Dead, So Did Your Hope.

In The Great Orchestra We Call Life, You Have An Instrument And A Song, And You Owe It To God To Play Them Both Sublimely.

Apple Trees Bear Apples, Wheat Stalks Produce Wheat, And Forgiven People Forgive People.

God Loves You Because He Has Chosen To Do So.

I Would Not Have Said Anything About Mr. Trump, Never - I Would Never Have Said Anything If He Didn't Call Himself A Christian. It'd Be None Of My Business Whatsoever To Make Any Comments About His Language, His Vulgarities, His Slander Of People, But I Was Deeply Troubled ... That Here's A Man Who Holds Up A Bible One Day, And Calls A Lady "bimbo" The Next.

What If You Woke Up This Morning And Had Only The Things You Thanked God For Yesterday?

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.

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

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).

To Be Active In A Church Social Life Or Church Activities Or Even A Church Mission To Help The Hungry Or Reach The Poor, But Really Our Dedication Has To Be Born Out Of An Infatuation With Jesus.

No Distance Is Too Far.

Does God Know If I Am Ignored Or Rejected? Find The Answer In The Compassionate Eyes Of Christ As He Stands To Defend The Adulterous Woman.

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.

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.

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!

Be Patient. God Is Using Today's Difficulties To Strengthen You For Tomorrow. He Is Equipping You. The God Who Makes Things Grow Will Help You Bear Fruit.

There Is A Canyon Of Difference Between Doing Your Best To Glorify God And Doing Whatever It Takes To Glorify Yourself. The Quest For Excellence Is A Mark Of Maturity. The Quest For Power Is Childish.

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

It's Nothing Mystical, Necessarily. It's Nothing Secretive. It's Just What We Do With Our Body We Do With Our Soul.

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

I Believe Ingratitude Is The Original Sin. I Believe If Adam And Eve Had Been Grateful For The Garden Of Eden They Had, They Would Not Have Been So Focused On The One Tree They Didn't Have.

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

Be Gone, Sorrow, Sickness, Wheelchairs, And Cancer! Enough Of You, Screams Of Fear And Nights Of Horror! Death, You Die! Life, You Reign!

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.

The Claims Of Christ Are Always On Trial, And We Remain Under Oath! We Are His Witnesses For Truth.

Most Of My Sermons Are Inspirational, And I Believe People Need That Encouragement.

There Are Some People That Say I Need To Be More Academic In My Teaching, I Need To Be More Disciple Developing Focus, Probably True. But Where My Heart Is, Is With People Who Are Just Passing Through Difficult Time. I Want To Put Literature In A Form That Is Accessible For People Who Don't Particularly Read Books.

Forgiveness Is Not Saying That The One Who Hurt You Was Right. Forgiveness Is Stating That God Is Faithful And He Will Do What Is Right.

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

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

God Does Uncommon Things Through Common People In Common Places.

Unmet Expectations Are Tough When It's Your Wife Or Your Husband, But It's Really Tough When It's God. And Yet, It Can Be A Time Of Growth And A Time Of Faith, A Time Of Understanding Who God Is.

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.

Tragically, Some People Believe They Are Going To Heaven When They Die Just Because A Few Drops Of Water Were Sprinkled Over Their Heads A Few Weeks After Their Birth. They Have No Personal Faith, Have Never Made A Personal Decision, And Are Banking On A Hollow Ceremony To Save Them. How Absurd.

Give A Man Religion Without Reminding Him Of His Filth, And The Result Will Be Arrogance In A Three- Piece Suit.

The Key Is This: Meet Today's Problems With Today's Strength. Don't Start Tackling Tomorrow's Problems Until Tomorrow. You Do Not Have Tomorrow's Strength Yet. You Simply Have Enough For Today.

Prayer Lets God Do What He Does Best. Take A Pebble & Kill A Goliath. Take The Common, Make It Spectacular! Pray & See What He Can Do.

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.

God Saves, Not God Empathizes, Cares, Listens, Helps, Assists, Or Applauds.

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.

Just When The Truth About Life Sinks In, His Truth Starts To Surface. He Takes Us By The Hand And Dares Us Not To Sweep The Facts Under The Rug But To Confront Them With Him At Our Side.

All I Know Is That The Stable Is Empty, And The Horse Is Gone. The Rest I Don't Know. Whether [in The Future] It Be A Curse Or A Blessing, I Can't Say. All We Can See Is A Fragment. Who Can Say What Will Come Next [and What Is Good Or Bad In The Long Run]?

I Am Very Confident In Preaching.

A Woman's Heart Should Be So Hidden In God That A Man Has To Seek Him Just To Find Her.

The Temptation Is For Us To Share Our Own Opinions, Our Own Thoughts And To Speak From The Whole Realm Of Possibility. We Can't Do That As Pastors. We Need To Have A Strong Voice Of Conviction, And The Way We Can Do That Is Through Scripture.

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

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 Life Of Jesus Christ Is A Message Of Hope, A Message Of Mercy, A Message Of Life In A Dark World.

The Presence Of Anxiety Is Unavoidable, But The Prison Of Anxiety Is Optional. Anxiety Is Not A Sin; It's An Emotion. So Don't Be Anxious About Feeling Anxious. Anxiety Can, However, Lead To Sinful Behavior. When We Numb Our Fears With Six-packs Or Food Binges, When We Spew Anger Like Krakatau, When We Peddle Our Fears To Anyone Who Will Buy Them, We're Sinning.

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.

1 Out Of 3 Americans Says, "i Hate My Job." 80-plus Percent Say, "i'm Ill-equipped And Unenthused About My Work."

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.

Gratitude Develops Faith. The Surest Path Out Of A Slump Is Marked By The Road Sign "thank You, God."

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.

The Secret Of Loving Is Living Loved.

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 Delight Is Received Upon Surrender, Not Awarded Upon Conquest.

Parents, What Are Your Children Learning From Your Worship? Do They See The Same Excitement As When You Go To A Basketball Game? Do They See You Prepare For Worship As You Do For A Vacation? Do They See You Hungry To Arrive, Seeking The Face Of The Father? Or Do They See You Content To Leave The Way You Came?.....they Are Watching. Believe Me. They Are Watching.

Gratitude Is A Mindful Awareness Of The Benefits Of Life. It's The Greatest Of Virtues. Studies Have Linked The Emotion With A Variety Of Positive Effects. Grateful People Tend To Be More Empathetic And Forgiving Of Others. People Who Keep A Gratitude Journal Are More Likely To Have A Positive Outlook On Life. Grateful Individuals Demonstrate Less Envy, Materialism, And Self-centeredness. Gratitude Improves Self-esteem And Enhances Relationships, Quality Of Sleep, And Longevity.

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.

We Refuse To Believe That This Present World Is The Sum Total Of Human Existence.

The Apostle Paul Never Seemed To Exhaust The Topic Of Grace - What Makes Us Think We Can? He Just Kept Coming At It And Coming At It From Another Angle. That's The Thing About Grace. It's Like Springtime. You Can't Put It In A Single Sentence Definition, And You Can't Exhaust It.

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

What We Realize Is Number One, People Want To Know What The Bible Says. In Their Heart, They Want To Know The Bible But It Is Just Hard To Understand The Big Picture Of It. And Number Two, They Want To Know Where They Plug In.

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.

Sovereignty Is The Term The Bible Uses To Describe God's Perfect Control And Management Of The Universe. He Preserves And Governs Every Element. He's Continually Involved With All Created Things, Directing Them To Act In A Way That Fulfills His Divine Purpose. That's Why The Most Stressed-out People Are Control Freaks. They Fail At The Quest They Most Pursue. The More They Try To Control The World, The More They Realize They Cannot. Life Becomes A Cycle Of Anxiety, Failure; Anxiety, Failure; Anxiety, Failure. We Can't Take Control, Because Control Is Not Ours To Take.

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

Michael Jordan Once Said That The Most Peaceful Moments Of His Life Were On A Basketball Court, Because That's The Only Place He Knew Exactly What To Do. And To Me The Most Peaceful Moments In My Ministry Are In The Pulpit Because That's When I Really Know What I'm Going To Do.

God Crowns Us. Most People Crown Their Christmas Trees With Either An Angel Or A Star. God Uses Both.

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

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

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.

I'm Right Now Wrapping Up The Sermon Series On Grace. I'd Like To Figure Out What This Next Series Will Be In January. To Do That, I'm Going To Come Up With Four Or Five Really Good Ideas - At Least That I Think Are Really Good Ideas - And If I Don't Sense God Really Highlighting One Of Those, I Will Go To The Elders Of Our Church And My Co-pastors.

While We Appreciate Our Ancestry As Americans Or Even Our Ethnic Ancestry And Our Color Of Skin, We Believe That Our Real Citizenship Is In Heaven.

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.

I Don't Think God Is A Gender. He Presents Himself As A Father But He Comes To Us With The Tenderness Of A Mother. In Some Of The Parables, He Is The Housewife Who Cleans The House Looking For The Lost Coin. So I Think We Can Miss The Point If We Get Too Concerned About The Gender Of God.

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

Never Let The Church Become A Place Where It's Just A Las Vegas Display Place For You To Show Off.

What To Change Your Life? Begin By Saying, "the Lord Is My Shepherd."

Changing Your Life

We Just Need The Government To Be That Greenhouse That Permits Our Faith To Grow.

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