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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.

-Max Lucado

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Pastoring The Flock With

Max Lucado

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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.

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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 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

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

Ggrace Is God's Best Idea - It's His Decision To Ravage People By Love, To Rescue Passionately, And To Restore Justly.

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

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.

We May Forget Him, But God Will Never Forget Us. We're Forever On His Mind And In His Plans.

The Manger Dares Us To Believe The Best Is Yet To Be. And It Could All Begin Today.

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?

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

We Will Find Grace To Help Us When We Need It

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

God Cast You In His Play, Wrote You Into His Story. He Has A Definite Direction For Your Life. Fulfill It And Enjoy Fulfillment. Play The Part God Prepared For You And Get Ready For Some Great Days.

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

If You're Feeling Pain, Express That To The Lord. If You're Feeling Worried, Express Those Worries. One Passage That Gives Me Comfort Is In Psalms, Chapter 11, Verse 3, It Reads, "when All That Is Good Falls Apart, What Can Good People Do?" That's Really The Question Of The Day.

I Think We Pray, We Make A Clear-headed Decision, And Then We Quit Being So Mean To Each Other. We've Got To Stop That.

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

We've Got To Realize There's Something Bigger Than Who Is In The White House. And That Is The Spirit Of Camaraderie And Peace That Keeps Our Nation Together.

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

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

The Greater Your Cares, The More Genuine Your Prayers

Yesterday You Can't Alter, But Your Reaction To Yesterday You Can. The Past You Cannot Change, But Your Response To Your Past You Can.

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.

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.

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

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

Matthew Loved The Magi. He Gave Their Story More Square Inches Of Text Than He Gave The Narrative Of The Birth Of Jesus. He Never Mentions The Shepherds Or The Manger, But He Didn't Want Us To Miss The Star And The Seekers. It's Easy To See Why. Their Story Is Our Story.

Mark It Down. You Will Never Go Where God Is Not.

If You're Looking For A Place With No Change, Try A Soda Machine.

Stay Strong! Your Test Will Become Your Test-imony, Your Mess Will Become Your Mess-age.

A Few Songs With Him Might Change The Way You Sing. Forever.

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.

Democracy Is The Right Choice And Is The Greatest Form Of Government Ever Created.

Waiting Is A Sustained Effort To Stay Focused On God Through Prayer And Belief.

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.

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

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

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

Where We Might Think Of Sin As Slip-ups Or Missteps, God Views Sin As A Godless Attitude That Leads To Godless Action.

I Was Never Really Lead By [my Parents] And Didnt Sense Any Leading From The Lord To Go Into Writing.

The Promised Land, For Many People, Though, Is Something That's Far Off In The Future. People Are Saved, But They Don't Feel Victory. They Feel Like They're In A Wilderness And They're Wandering. And So This Book Of Joshua Gives Us A Picture Of How We Can Come Out Of The Wilderness In Our Own Spiritual Lives And Enter Into A Season Of Victory.

God Gives Us People To Love And Things To Use, Not Things To Love And People To Use.

Two Types Of Voices Command Your Attention Today. Negative Ones Fill Your Mind With Doubt, Bitterness, And Fear. Positive Ones Purvey Hope And Strength. Which One Will You Choose To Heed?

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

God Loves People Just The Way They Are, But He Loves Them Too Much To Leave Them That Way!

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.

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.

Refusing To Forgive Is Like Ingesting A Lethal Dose Of Poison And Hoping It Kills My Enemy.

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.

The People Who Make A Difference Are Not The Ones With The Credentials But The Ones With The Concern.

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

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

Every Movie Really Does Have A Message. Somebody Somewhere Is Trying To Make A Point Or Advance A Cause Or Promote Their Agenda. There's Nothing Wrong With That. They Try To Do So In An Entertaining Fashion.

Fear Corrodes Our Confidence In God's Goodness.

Confidence In God

Prayer Is The Hand Of Faith On The Door Knob Of Your Heart, Inviting Jesus To Enter.

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

The Wonder Of A Free-market Society Is That We Can All Do Our Best To Package Our Message In An Entertaining Fashion And Present It - And Then Everybody Votes With Their Footsteps.

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.

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.

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.

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

If Jesus Heals Instantly, Praise Him. If Jesus Heals Gradually, Trust Him. When Jesus Heals Ultimately, You Will Understand.

We Forget That Impossible Is One Of God's Favorite Words

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

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

Meaning Of Life

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

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.

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

We Will Never Be Cleansed Until We Confess We Are Dirty. And We Will Never Be Able To Wash The Feet Of Those Who Have Hurt Us Until We Allow Jesus, The One We Have Hurt, To Wash Ours.

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

The Worst Part Of All Is That, Without Forgiveness, Bitterness Is All That Is Left

I Am Very Confident In Preaching.

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

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.

Christ Became One Of Us To Redeem All Of Us.

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.

When God Gives An Assignment, He Also Gives The Skill. Study Your Skills, Then, To Reveal Your Assignment.

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.

If God Is Willing To Be Born In A Barnyard, Then Expect Him To Be At Work Anywhere - Bars, Bedrooms, Boardrooms, And Brothels.

Maybe You've Had The Experience Where Somebody's Asked You A Question And You Give An Answer, Then Later In The Day You Think, "oh, I Wish I'd Said That!" I Tend To Journal These Things And Put The Answers In Sermons.

Be Careful What You Think, Because Your Thoughts Run Your Life. Do You Want To Be Happy Tomorrow? Then Sow Seeds Of Happiness Today -count Blessings, Memorize Bible Verses, Pray, Sing Hymns, Spend Time With Encouraging People. Do You Want To Guarantee Tomorrow's Misery? Then Wallow In A Mental Mud Pit Of Self-pity Or Guilt Or Anxiety Today Assume The Worst, Beat Yourself Up, Rehearse Your Regrets, Complain To Complainers.

Trust God's Love. His Perfect Love. Don't Fear He Will Discover Your Past. He Already Has. Don't Fear Disappointing Him In The Future. He Can Show You The Chapter In Which You Will. With Perfect Knowledge Of The Past And Perfect Vision Of The Future, He Loves You Perfectly In Spite Of Both.

Visions Of The Future

The Magical Dust Of Christmas Glittered On The Cheeks Of Humanity Ever So Briefly, Reminding Us Of What Is Worth Having And What We Were Intended To Be.

If The Purpose Of Life Is Just To Live This Life And Then Die, It's Hard To Answer The Purpose Of Pain Question; But If We Can Help People See From An Eternal Perspective - That All Of This Is Working Together To Prepare Us For Something Higher Than We've Ever Imagined, More Noble Than We've Ever Dreamed - Then We Discover Some Hope That We Can Hold On To.

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.

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.

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

Jesus Said, "my Father Is The Gardener...he Trims And Cleans Every Branch That Produces Fruit So That It Will Produce Even More Fruit".

When All Of Earth Turns Against You, All Of Heaven Turns Toward You.

Let Your Failures Refine You, Not Define You.

You Have A God Who Hears You, The Power Of Love Behind You, The Holy Spirit Within You, And All Of Heaven Ahead Of You. If You Have The Shepherd, You Have Grace For Every Sin, Direction For Every Turn, A Candle For Every Corner And An Anchor For Every Storm. You Have Everything You Need.

You Don't Have To Be Dishonest To Communicate The Gospel.

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

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.

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.

You'll Never Know Jesus Is All You Need Until Jesus Is All You Have. Are You In The Wilderness? Find Refuge In God's Presence. Find Comfort In His People.

It's Okay To Rest. Jesus Fights When You Cannot.

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.

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

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 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.

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

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

God Loves You Just The Way You Are, But He Refuses To Leave You That Way.

Are You On The Eve Of Change? Embrace It. Accept It. Don't Resist It. Change Is Not Only A Part Of Life, Change Is A Necessary Part Of God's Strategy. To Use Us To Change The World, He Alters Our Assignments.

I Just Love Preaching.

Answer The Big Question Of Eternity, And The Little Questions Of Life Fall Into Perspective.

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

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

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

We Celebrate The First Advent To Whet Our Appetites For The Second. We Long For The Next Coming.

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

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.

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

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.

Filter Your Pain Through The Brevity Of This Life And The Unending Beauty Of The Next.

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.

If We Can Understand That Death Is Not The End But Is Really A Transition Into The Next Life, The Great Part Of Life, That Frees Us Up Into Receiving God's Courage And His Help.

You Can Do Something No One Else Can Do In A Fashion No One Else Can Do It.

Can Do Something

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

Does God Notice When I'm Afraid? Note The Resolve In The Eyes Of Jesus As He Marches Through The Storm To Rescue His Friends.

He Came, Not As A Flash Of Light Or As An Unapproachable Conqueror, But As One Whose First Cries Were Heard By A Peasant Girl And A Sleepy Carpenter. God Tapped Humanity On Its Collective Shoulder, "pardon Me," He Said, And Eternity Interrupted Time, Divinity Interrupted Carnality, And Heaven Interrupted The Earth In The Form Of A Baby. Christianity Was Born In One Big Heavenly Interruption.

Rather Than Seeking Total Control, Relinquish It. You Can't Run The World, But You Can Entrust It To God. This Is The Message Behind Paul's Admonition To "rejoice In The Lord." Peace Is Within Reach, Not For Lack Of Problems, But Because Of The Presence Of A Sovereign Lord. Rather Than Rehearse The Chaos Of The World, Rejoice In The Lord's Sovereignty, As Paul Did. Sovereignty Gives The Saint The Inside Track To Peace. Others See The Problems Of The World And Wring Their Hands. We See The Problems Of The World And Bend Our Knees.

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.

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

I Don't Feel Like I Have A Lot To Offer In Terms Of An Authoritative Voice On A Lot Of Political Issue. I Don't Know How To Fix The Economy, Or How To Increase The Number Of Jobs. That Is Not Where I Spent My Life And Thought And Meditation. I Guess I Would Like To Think That The Topics That I Am Discussing - The Gospel, The Forgiveness Of Sins And The Defeat Of Death - Goes Up River To All Problem.

All Preaching Should Be As Creative As We Can Make It. We've Been Entrusted With Such A Treasure. To Have Anywhere From 50 To 5000 People Who Give Us 30 Minutes Of Their Time To Hear Whatever We Want To Say - I Think They Deserve All The Creativity That We Can Give.

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.

No Place Is Too Common.

What I May Intend For A Story To Communicate And What A Story Ends Up Communicating Could Be Two Different Things. And It Could Be An Even More Positive Thing.

God Sends His Angels To Protect Us And His Word As A Star To Guide Us. Then He Surrounds Us With His Grace. We Become His Depot, The Distribution Point Of God's Gifts.

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.

No Person Is Too Hardened.

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.

But By Faith You Look In The Mirror And See A Robed Prodigal Bearing The Ring Of Grace On Your Finger And The Kiss Of Your Father On Your Face.

God's Love Has A Width, Length, Height, And Depth, But We Will Never Reach The End Of It. Our Capacity To Experience God's Love Will Be Exhausted Long Before God's Capacity To Give It Is Strained. The Picture Of Having Christ Dwell Inside Us By Faith Presents Us With Compelling And Comforting Possibilities. What Christ Does In Us And Through Us Will Always Be 'exceedingly Abundantly Above All We Ask Or Think.'

I Think The Hardest One Had To Do With Suffering. It Had To Do With All Of Our Church Members And Friends Passing Through Difficult Times. Sometimes It's The Global Climate: Tsunamis, Earthquakes, Radiation. I Think These Kinds Of Questions Are Absolutely The Most Difficult, Yet We Need To Be Ready To Respond To Them Because We Have To Be Able As Pastors To Walk People Through These Valleys, These Tough Times In Their Lives.

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

Your Serenity Matters To Heaven. God's Presence Encapsulates Your Life.

I Do Believe That Leaders Have To Be Held To A Higher Standard, Especially Christian Leaders. I Put Myself In That Camp.

I Do Think There Is Great Strength, Though, In Starting A Sermon With A Story, Then Returning To That Story At The End. That Puts Book Ends To A Sermon. It Is A Real Simple Technique That Communicates To The Audience That There Is A Sense Of Closure, That They Have A Package Here, Or We Began And We Closed With This. I Think That's Just A Nice Technique.

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).

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.

Whether Or Not Storms Come, We Can Not Choose. But Where We Stare During A Storm, That We Can.

Every Person Is Unique.

I've Never Been Surprised By God's Judgment, But I'm Still Stunned By His Grace.

[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.

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.

I Would Love To Have A More Earnest Prayer Life! In My Life, Prayer Is The Single Most Difficult Discipline. I Love God And There's Something In Me That Would Rather Do Things For God Than Talk To God. I'm Not By Nature A Mystical, Devotional Person. I Like To Do Things. And So It's A Challenge For Me To Have A Faithful Prayer Life, But I Know God Loves Me And He's Not Mad At Me. He Just Wishes I Would Slow Down And Turn Things Over To Him. And That's What I Think You Achieve Through Prayer.

Were It Not For The Shepherds, There Would Have Been No Reception. And Were It Not For A Group Of Stargazers, There Would Have Been No Gifts.

I Choose Faithfulness...today I Will Keep My Promises. My Debtors Will Not Regret Their Trust. My Associates Will Not Question My Word. My Wife Will Not Question My Love. And My Children Will Never Fear That They Father Will Not Come Home.

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

Some People Find The Gift Of Salvation. For Others The Gifts Are Smaller: A Kind Word, A Good Deed. But All The Gifts Are From God.

I Choose Kindness... I Will Be Kind To The Poor, For They Are Alone. Kind To The Rich, For They Are Afraid. And Kind To The Unkind, For Such Is How God Has Treated Me

Just As Your Earthly House Is A Place Of Refuge, So God's House Is A Place Of Peace.

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

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

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

Never Underestimate The Power That Comes When A Parent Pleads With God On Behalf Of A Child.

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.

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

I Try To Be Honest; I Really Do Try Not To Exaggerate The Story. I Try To Be Accurate.

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

Changing Your Life

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

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

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

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

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.

Our Prayers May Be Awkward. Our Attempts May Be Feeble. But Since The Power Of Prayer Is In The One Who Hears It And Not In The One Who Says It, Our Prayers Do Make A Difference.

We’re Grateful When All Is Well, But Can We Say The Same On Disastrous Days?

God Has High Plans For You And Me.

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

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

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.

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.

God Has No Cousins, Only Children.

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

Jesus Tends To His People Individually. He Personally Sees To Our Needs. We All Receive Jesus' Touch. We Experience His Care.

God Can't Fill You When You Are Already Full Of Yourself.

Full Of Yourself

Every Other Religion Is A Salvation By Self, Christianity Is A Salvation By Christ.

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.

It's No Wonder, That God's Anxiety Therapy Includes A Large, Delightful Dollop Of Gratitude. The Anxious Heart Says, "lord, If Only I Had This, That, Or The Other, I'd Be Okay." The Grateful Heart Says, "oh, Look! You've Already Given Me This, That, And The Other. Thank You, God."

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

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

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.

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.

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.

Those In The Circle Of Christ Had No Doubt Of His Love; Those In Our Circles Should Have No Doubt About Ours.

It's My Hope That As You Dip Your Toe Into The Bible's Story And Viewpoint, You'll Find Yourself Feeling That The Good Book Knows More About The World - And About You - Than Any Normal Book Does.

Finding Yourself

The Path Marked Humility Will Take You To The Manger Of The Messiah.

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

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.

Our God Is Abundant In Love And Steadfast In Mercy. He Saves Us, Not Because We Trust In A Symbol, But Because We Trust In A Savior.

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

The Bible Is Full Of Stories Of Men And Women Who've Found Themselves In Frightening Situations But Who Chose To Look Up Rather Than Look Down - Look Up In Faith - And God Got Them Through It.

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