The work of God in the cross of Christ strikes us as awe-inspiring only after we have first been awed by the glory of God.
Progress stems from education, culture, freedom and equality. Without these fundamentals, mankind will flounder.
"Being a good steward" and "placing your hope in" is not the same thing.
What stirs up in my heart is, 'Oh would we see an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.'
The miracles of Jesus are signs of the right order of things. Jesus was not so much turning things upside down as turning them rightside up or, at least, giving his followers glimpses of the rightside up. The miracles of healing, deliverance, provision, and resurrection all reveal that God, through Jesus, is making all things new, that he is restoring what once was unbroken.
If the gospel of Jesus Christ is not at the center of a wedding ceremony, it is likely not going to be at the center of the marriage. This would be a grave mistake, however, as marriage itself is designed to be a great reflector of that gospel.
Engaging the city around us and ministering to its needs reveal to us the remaining bastions of sin in our lives, the areas we refuse to surrender to God.
You and I are stymied in our own creativity. We can only create as sub-creators, and even then our best work is only sub-creation.
If all you got is "I don't want to be that" then sell insurance.
If we confuse the gospel with response to the gospel, we will drift from what keeps the gospel on the ground, what makes it clear and personal, and the next thing you know, we will be doing a bunch of different things that actually obscure the gospel, not reveal it.
I think people can get a little weirded out by pain, suffering, and death. They don't know what to do so they end up saying things that are hurtful to people who have experienced loss.
I don't believe in the end that God gave me cancer, but He certainly could have stopped it and didn't.
If we could understand how impossible our situation is, we would grow in reverence for the kingship of Christ.
The reconciling gospel is always at the forefront of the church’s social action, because a full belly is not better than a reconciled soul.
I learned very early that people need to have a good grasp of God's goodness and God's sovereignty.
