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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.

-Max Lucado

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The Apostle Paul Never

Max Lucado

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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.

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No One Can Teach Your Child Like You Can. No Nanny, Bible School Teacher, Aunt, Or Uncle Has Your Authority. What A Phenomenal Privilege Is Yours.

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 Love Everything About The Christmas Season.

Christmas Season

If Hurts Were Hairs, We'd All Look Like Grizzlies.

Praise Is The Highest Occupation Of Any Being

If You Knew Jesus Was Coming Tomorrow, What Would You Do Today? Then Do It!

Actions In Heaven Begin When Someone Prays On Earth. What An Amazing Thought!

I've Caught Myself A Time Or Two Adding Or Embellishing. I Don't Think That Pleases The Lord. I Don't Think He Needs My Dishonesty To Convey His Gospel.

Love The One Who Wears Your Ring. And Cherish The Children Who Share Your Name. Succeed At Home First.

Deflating Inflated Egos Is So Important To God That He Offers To Help.

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.

Let Your Failures Refine You, Not Define You.

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

I Think To Trust In The Sovereignty Of God Does Not Excuse My Personal Responsibility. Just The Opposite - It Equips Me To Be Personally Responsible.

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.

I Think You Have To Be Very Careful About Any Story That Puffs You Up.

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

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.

You Are Heaven's Halley's Comet; We Have One Shot At Seeing You Shine.

The Moment Mary Touched God's Face Is The Moment God Made His Case: There's No Place He Will Not Go.

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.

No Place Is Too Common.

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.

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

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

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.

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

Not Everybody Can Create A Foundation That's Worth A Billion Dollars, But All Of Us Can Figure Out Those Things We Do. I Really Think God Loves Us Too Much To Give Us An Assignment We Don't Enjoy Doing.

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

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)

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.

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

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.

When No One Is Watching, Live As If Someone Is.

You Present A Challenge To Satan's Plan. You Carry Something Of God Within You, Something Noble And Holy, Something The World Needs - Wisdom, Kindness, Mercy, Skill. If Satan Can Neutralize You, He Can Mute Your Influence.

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

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

At Our Church I Do Not Endorse Politicians Publicly. Because I Am Afraid That If I Endorse One Candidate, It Would Keep Somebody From Coming To Our Church. So I Made One Exception One Time To Put One Bumper Sticker On My Car, But I Don't Ever Do It Anymore.

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

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

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

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

I'm First A Pastor And Then A Writer.

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

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.

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

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

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 Forgets The Past... Imitate Him.

Forget The Past

Reading The Bible Can Be Like Meeting Someone You Don't Know Who, Oddly, Somehow Seems To Know You Deeply. It's Uncanny.

Meeting Someone

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

I'm Thinking, "what Difference Will This Sermon Make In Their Lives Tomorrow? What Am I Trying To Give Them That Will Make A Difference?" For Example, Had To Do With The Theme That Jesus Will Not Let Go Of You. He's Holding Onto You. I Talked To Them About The Disciples And Peter On The Night Before The Crucifixion Of Christ - How Jesus Said That All Of You Are Going To Turn Away, But He Would Be Waiting For Them In Galilee.

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.

Gods Given Us All Strengths And Gifts.

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

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

Religion Is Intended To Facilitate Hope And Faith. Much Like A Path Is Intended To Facilitate A Journey.

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

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

God 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.

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

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.

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.

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

God Will Use Whatever He Wants To Display His Glory. Heavens And Stars. History And Nations. People And Problems.

My Book Centers In On The New Testament, The Goal Being To Help A Person Who Wants To Understand The Bible To See How What God Did As Revealed In The New Testament Will Reveal To Them Their Own Personal Story.

Nothing Fosters Courage Like A Clear Grasp Of Grace... & Nothing Fosters Fear Like An Ignorance Of Mercy

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

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

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

Thinking Of You

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

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

We Are Jesus Christ's; We Belong To Him. But Even More, We Are Increasingly Him. He Moves In And Commandeers Our Hands And Feet, Requisitions Our Minds And Tongues. We Sense His Rearranging: Debris Into The Divine, Pig's Ear Into Silk Purse. He Repurposes Bad Decisions And Squalid Choices. Little By Little, A New Image Emerges.

When Grace Happens, We Receive Not A Nice Compliment From God But A New Heart. Give Your Heart To Christ, And He Returns The Favor.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

If You Concern Yourself With Your Neighbor’s Talents, You’ll Neglect Your Own. But If You Concern Yourself With Yours, You Could Inspire Both!

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

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

I Work In Theology And Christian Books All Day Long, When Im Studying, So Its Just Kind Of Nice To Pick Up Something Different. The Books That Have Influenced Me, Theres Not Just One Book That Was A Watershed, Although Mere Christianity Was As Much As Any.

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.

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.

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

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

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

When We Submit To God's Plans, We Can Trust Our Desires. Our Assignment Is Found At The Intersection Of God's Plan And Our Pleasures.

Give Your Problems To Christ Before Your Problems Get To You.

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.

I've Found Great Virtue In Two-thirds Of The Way Into The Message; Right Before I'm Really Want To Nail Home A Point, Pausing To Tell A Joke Or To Tell A Light-hearted Story, Because I Know My Audience Has Been Working With Me Now For 20 Or 25 Minutes. And If I Can Get Them To Laugh, Get Oxygen Into Their System, It Wakes Up Those Who Might Be Sleeping, So There's Something About Using A Story To Draw People Back In Right Before You Drive Home Your Final Point. In That Case I Think It's Real Legitimate Just To Use A Story For Story's Sake.

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

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

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

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.

A Nation Is Blessed When It Has Godly Leaders.

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

God Wants No One To Leave Our Presence Empty Handed.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

God Is Faithful Even When His Children Are Not.

God Is Faithful

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

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

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

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

God Offers Authentic Love. His Devotion Is The Real Deal. But He Won't Give You The Genuine Until You Surrender The Imitations.

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

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

All Of My Books Began As Sermons, So Really The Heart Of The Message Is Still The Same.

God Has No Cousins, Only Children.

No Person [should] Walk Out Into The World To Begin The Day Until He Or She Has Stood Beneath The Cross To Receive God’s Love.

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

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

The Same Hand That Stilled The Seas Stills Your Guilt. The Same Hand That Cleansed The Temple Cleanses Your Heart. The Hand Is The Hand Of God. The Nail Is The Nail Of God. And As The Hands Of Jesus Opened For The Nail, The Doors Of Heaven Opened For You.

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.

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

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.

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 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.

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

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

I Am Very Confident In Preaching.

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

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

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

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.

Heaven Is God's Answer To Any Suffering You May Face.

The Presence Of Fear Does Not Mean You Have No Faith. Fear Visits Everyone. But Make Your Fear A Visitor And Not A Resident.

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.

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.

Hiding Out With The Enemy Brings Only Temporary Relief.

Does The Presence Of Pain Mean The Absence Of God? I Try To Help People See That God Uses Pain, That Pain Is One Of The Ways God Shapes Us Into The Kind Of Beings He Wants Us To Be For Eternity.

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?

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

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

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

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

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

You'll Always Face Problems. When You Experience Hard Times, Immerse Your Mind In God Thoughts. Turn A Deaf Ear To Doubters. Set Your Mind On A Holy Cause. Once You Find Your Mountain, No Giant Will Stop You, No Age Will Disqualify You, And No Problem Will Defeat You.

We Will Find Grace To Help Us When We Need It

Your Requests Change History Because Your Prayers Change God!

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.

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

Humility Has Such Power. Apologies Can Disarm Arguments. Contrition Can Defuse Rage. Olive Branches Do More Good Than Battle Axes Ever Will.

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

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.

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

The Secret Of Loving Is Living Loved.

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.

Immerse Yourself In The Curriculum Of Grace.

The State Of Your Heart Dictates Whether You Harbor A Grudge Or Give Grace, Seek Self-pity Or Seek Christ, Drink Human Misery Or Taste God's Mercy.

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

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

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

The Only Mistake Is Not To Risk Making One.

Look At The Bethlehem Birth. A King Ordered A Census. Joseph Was Forced To Travel. Mary, As Round As A Ladybug, Bounced On A Donkey's Back. The Hotel Was Full. The Hour Was Late. The Event Was One Big Hassle. Yet, Out Of The Hassle, Hope Was Born. It Still Is.

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.

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

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

I Accepted The Forgiveness Of God. I Got Off Track As An Adult And Because I Believe In God's Grace, I Believe That Gave Me Strength Then To Get That Little Part Of My Life Realigned, To Not Play Games About It, To Confess It, To Ask For Forgiveness From God And Ask Others To Forgive Me As Well And Then Move On.

[ 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.

God's Love Supply Is Never Empty.

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

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.

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

Full Of Yourself

I Believe A Personal Relationship With God Is Healthy, But Organized Religion Has Potential For Danger, In Whatever Faith.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

Want To Snatch A Day From The Manacles Of Boredom? Do Overgenerous Deeds, Acts Beyond Reimbursement. Kindness Without Compensation. Do A Deed For Which You Cannot Be Repaid.

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

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.

I Was Raised In The Greatest Of Homes... Just A Really Great Dad, And I Miss Him So Much... He Was A Good Man, A Real Simple Man... Very Faithful, Always Loved My Mom, Always Provided For The Kids, And Just A Lot Of Fun.

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

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

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

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

No Matter What The Storm Clouds Bring, You Can Face Your Pain With Courage And Hope. For Two Thousand Years Ago-six Hours, One Friday-christ Firmly Planted In Bedrock Three Solid Anchor Points That We Can All Cling To. For The Heart Scarred With Futility, That Friday Holds Purpose. For The Life Blackened With Failure, That Friday Holds Forgiveness. And For The Soul Looking Into The Tunnel Of Death, That Friday Holds Deliverance.

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

Christmas Begins What Easter Celebrates. The Child In The Cradle Became The King On The Cross. And Because He Did, There Are No Marks On My Record. Just Grace. His Offer Has No Fine Print. He Didn't Tell Me, "clean Up Before You Come In." He Offered, "come In, And I'll Clean You Up." It's Not My Grip On Him That Matters But His Grip On Me. And His Grip Is Sure. So Is His Presence In My Life.

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

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.

Sometimes I Wonder If We Don't See Christ's Love As Much In The People He Tolerated As In The Pain He Endured.

When I Was A Young Kid, My Dad, A Man Of Few Words, Told My Brother And Me, "boys, Christmas Is About Jesus." I Thought About What He Said, And I Began Asking The Christmas Questions. I've Been Asking Them Ever Since. I Love The Answers I've Found.

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Carol Moseley Braun

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