c2p-cmd/Good-Quotes-Authors huggingface dataset:
No books is more fascinating than the Bible. And no books are less fascinating than most of our commentaries on the Bible. Nothing is more formidable and unconquerable than the Church Militant. But nothing is more sleepy and sheepish than the Church Mumbling. Christ's words roused His enemies to murder and His friends to martyrdom. Our words reassure both sides and send them to sleep. He put the world in a daze. We put it in a doze.
— Peter Kreeft, Jesus-Shock
Grace and truth are distinct and yet they are not mutually exclusive. But when people focus on one without the other, they usually fall into two extremes. They either embrace a gospel of “grace without truth” or a gospel of “truth without grace”. Grace without truth is not really grace. Truth without grace is not really truth. Grace without truth pampers. Truth without grace hammers. Grace without truth is love without correction. Truth without grace is correction without love. Grace without truth is mercy without justice. Truth without grace is justice without mercy. Grace without truth is soft and spoils people. Truth without grace is harsh and crushes people. Grace without truth is freedom without responsibility. Truth without grace is responsibility without freedom. Either extremes are neither of Christ or the gospel.
— Richard PW Tan
The truth is, Jesus didn't die for junk.
— Kris Vallotton
Anybody who wants to get their way says that Jesus supports their view. But that isn't Jesus' fault.
— Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality
No story is more beautiful than the Gospel, even though it is a story full of pain and nails and hate and blood and sin and murder and betrayal and forsakenness and unimaginable agony and death. It is the story of what happens to the most beautiful thing, Perfect Love, when it enters our world: it comes to a Cross, to the crossroad between good and evil. All our most beautiful stories are like the Gospel: they are tragedies first, and then comedies; they are crosses and then crowns. They are crosses because they are conflicts between good and evil. That is the fundamental plot of every great story. To say "that story is beautiful" means "that story resembles the Gospel." If you are bored by the Gospel, that puts no black eye on the Gospel, but on you. Most likely, it means you have never listened to it. You must have heard it, but hearing is far from the same thing as listening...
— Peter Kreeft, Jesus-Shock
If Christianity is true, this changes EVERYTHING. Christ's very last words to us in scripture were: "Behold, I make all things new." (Rev. 21:5) I hope you remember that most moving line in the most moving movie ever made, The Passion Of The Christ, when Christ turns to His mother on the way to Calvary, explaining the need for the Cross and the blood and the agony: "See, Mother, I make all things new." I hope you remember that line with your tear ducts, which connect to the heart, as well as with your ears, which connect to the brain. Christ changed every human being he ever met. In fact, He changed history, splitting it open like a coconut and inserting eternity into the split between B.C. and A.D. If anyone claims to have met Him without being changed, he has not met Him at all. When you touch Him, you touch lightning.
— Peter Kreeft, Jesus-Shock
I loved him not, yet I did not hate Him. I listened to Him not to hear His words but rather he sound of His voice; for His voice pleased me. All that He said was vague to my mind, but the music thereof was clear to my ear. Indeed were it not for what others have said to me of His teaching, I should not have known even so much as whether He was with Judea or against it.
— Kahlil Gibran, Jesus the Son of Man
There is no such thing as 'my truth,' 'your truth,' or 'our truth'; there is only the Truth. And Truth is a Person: His name is Jesus. And it is only He that can set us free.
— Desiree M. Mondesir
No institutional arrangement will ever contain all that they church is. Don't look for it institutionally; look for it relationally. Certainly the New Testament talks about the priorities of that church -- Jesus as its sole head and focus, daily encouragement among believers, plural and lateral leadership, open participation, and an environment of freedom so people can grow in him.
— Wayne Jacobsen and Dave Coleman
He will use you to accomplish great things on the condition that you believe much more in His love than in your weakness.
— Mother Teresa
If you have a thankful heart and are using that domain to reflect God's beauty as a Creator, then you are worshiping. Listening to Hillsound United isn't worship; it's and aid for worship. I found a deeper level of joy and connection with Jesus when I realized that eating a good meal with thankfulness was just as holy as my prayer time. The truth is, Go doesn't just want your "Christian" things. He wats it all. When we realize the beauty of God's grace in the mundane, not just the religious, that's when we will begin to see him correctly.
— Jefferson Bethke, Jesus > Religion: Why He Is So Much Better Than Trying Harder, Doing More, and Being Good Enough
In the Upper Room and on Calvary's hill, Jesus teaches us that the most important aspects of a well-lived life are love, humility and obedience.
— Joan  Campbell, Encounters: Life Changing Moments with Jesus
Not all who listen, believe. If you call the Gospel a crazy fairy tale, a far-too-good-to-be-true myth, an insane extension of wishful thinking, or even a blasphemous lie, I will respect you and argue with you. But if you call it a platitude, I can only pity you, for that means you have never listened to it.
— Peter Kreeft, Jesus-Shock
Our job as Christians is to stick so close to Jesus that when people are around us, they sense him.
— Jefferson Bethke, Jesus > Religion: Why He Is So Much Better Than Trying Harder, Doing More, and Being Good Enough
To keep my life free of evil I must of necessity keep my life full of God, for keeping my life full of anything else will give evil everything else.
— Craig D. Lounsbrough, An Intimate Collision: Encounters with Life and Jesus
God has privileged us, in Christ Jesus, to live above the "Ordinary" human plane of life. We are the head and not the tail, above and not beneath!
— Pazaria Smith
THE "SON" ALWAYS SHINESWe speak of the weather everyday. Is it going to be cloudy and overcast, or will the sunshine provide us warmth on this new day?We all love the days when the "sun" shines brightly. Not only does the sun brighten our day, it serves as a beacon of fulfillment and lasting optimism in this constantly changing world.The "SUN" which, by the way is 93 million miles away from earth, is all well and good for our positive outlooks, but it cannot bring us as much joy and contentment as we seriously lack in our lives. The "sun" does invigorate our bodies, but does nothing to stimulate our souls.There is only one "SON" that can revitalize our souls and make us truly contented. That's God's "Son", Jesus Christ. With the "Son" of God in our lives, nothing is impossible. With Jesus in our hearts, His powerful loves radiates through our souls and is magnified through our thoughts, words and deeds. His brightness is shone through in every aspect of our lives.With Jesus, we sense a new beginning each and every day. He can fill all voids we allow Him to fill. Christ is eager and willing to enter our hearts. He will begin to shine his everlasting light of love, hope and grace throughout our future discipleship in His word.Jesus can turn any sadness into gladness, turn doom and despair into hope and reassurance, and more importantly; hate into love.His abundant gifts of mercy and love can transform any lonely den of darkness into a palace of brightly lit possibilities. Ask Jesus to enter your life and transform it into a splendid garden where hope and love spring eternal.The next time we gaze out the window and see clouds forming, let us not forget that the "Son" always shines. As long as we believe and carry Him in our hearts and minds, no day will be gloomy and downcast. God's "Son" shines in our lives everyday!__In Christian Praise, Much 
— Pazaria Smith
Sometimes we find ourselves wanting to impart the life of the gospel without telling a person that he or she is dead.
— Pazaria Smith
But that's not how God views the cross, Jake. His wrath wasn't an expression of the punishment sin deserves; it was the antidote for sin and shame. The purpose of the cross, as Paul wrote of it, was for God to make his Son to become sin itself so that he could condemn sin in the likeness of human flesh and purge it from the race. His plan was not just to provide a way to forgive sin, but to destroy it so that we might live free.
— Wayne Jacobsen and Dave Coleman
It is not possible that you will repent unless you are aware of your sin; it is not likely that you will look to Christ unless you first know what it is for which you are to look to him. Therefore, I pray you, set apart some season every day, or at least some season as often as you can get it, in which the business of your mind shall be to take your longitude and latitude, that you may know exactly where you are. You may be drifting towards the rocks, and you may be wrecked before you know your danger. I implore you, do not let your ship go at full steam through a fog; but slacken speed a bit, and heave the lead, to see whether you are in deep waters or shallow. I am not asking you to do more than any kind and wise man would advise you to do; do I even ask you more than your own conscience tells you is right? Sit alone a while, that you may carefully consider your case.
— Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Working for love is a curse. Working from love is a ministry.
— Kris Vallotton
I have no doubt that Jesus would actually practice the neighborliness he preached rather than following our example of religious supremacy, hostility, fear, isolation, misinformation, exclusion, or demonization.
— Brian D. McLaren, Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road?: Christian Identity in a Multi-Faith World
Dreher laments we now live in a “post-Christian” America, but he’s wrong. The Americans who are standing with their loved ones and neighbors are in fact doing exactly what Jesus asked them to do, when he said that we should love each other as we love ourselves. It’s possible, however, that we live in a post-accepting-bigotry-cloaking-itself-in-the-raiments-of-Christ America. And, you know. I can live in that America just fine.
— John Scalzi
We must not define Jesus and his kingdom by fitting them within conventional understandings of kings and kingdoms. Rather, we must judge and deconstruct those conventional definitions in light of Jesus and his example.
— Brian D. McLaren, Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road?: Christian Identity in a Multi-Faith World
Jesus did not use hell to try and compel "heathens" and "pagans" to believe in God, so they wouldn't burn when they die. He talked about hell to very religious people to warn them about the consequences of straying from their God-given calling and identity to show the world God's love.
— Rob Bell, Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived
I’d like to propose to you that revelation is not the product of laborious study, but it is the fruit of friendship with God.
— Kris Vallotton
God would have us cherish even the smallest of blessings, for in taking a blessing for granted we are well on our way to taking it to its grave.
— Craig D. Lounsbrough, Flecks of Gold on a Path of Stone: Simple Truths for Profound Living
God has an amazing plan for your life and what you're going through now is a part of it! Whether you're suffering with depression, anxiety or just going through a difficult time, it's for the best! God will use your past to help people in the future!
— Jacob Bowen
our life does not belong to us any more, it is now the life of Jesus Christ that lives in us.
— Sunday Adelaja
You will never find Jesus so precious, as when the world is one vast howling wilderness. Then He is like a rose blooming in the midst of the desolation, or a rock rising above the storm! Do not set your hearts on any of the flowers of this world. They shall all fade and die. Prize the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valley. Jesus never changes! Live nearer to Christ than to any person on this earth; so that when they are taken away, you may have Him to love and lean upon. “Yes, He is altogether lovely. This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend!” (Song of Solomon 5:16)
— Robert Murray McCheyne
I have remembered Who wept for a parting between the living and the dead.
— Charles Dickens, David Copperfield
The world is not a theater large enough to display the glory of Christ upon or unfold even half of the unsearchable riches that lie hidden in Him. And such is the deliciousness of this subject, Christ, that were there ten thousand volumes written upon it, they would never become tiring to the heart. We used to say that any one thing can finally tire us and this is true, except about this one eminent thing, Christ, and then one can never tire, for such is the variety of sweetness in Christ.
— John Flavel
We became God’s carriers because of the sacrifice of Jesus.
— Sunday Adelaja
When Jesus enters a place revival fire begins.
— Sunday Adelaja
In the parable of the ten virgins, Jesus is clearly saying that prior to his return the whole church will be asleep (Mt. 25:5), not just the foolish virgins but the wise as well. This verse turned my thinking upside down. No matter how I looked at it, no matter what commentary I read, no one had an adequate answer for what this verse really says. Denomination Presidents, Seminary Professors, Pastors and everyone in the pews: Jesus is telling us that we’re all snoozing.
— Nelson Walters
When we aim for Holiness and a true fellowship of God in our own personal lives, then only we really understand what we actually stand for in our Christian life.
— Santosh Thankachan
...Jesus responds to almost every question he's asked with...a question."What do you think? How do you read it?" he asks, again and again and again.
— Rob Bell, Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived
Seeking Intimacy with God and desiring Fellowship with Him, will make our calling in Christ sure.
— Santosh Thankachan
If bad men, to serve their own private ends, pretend to be religious when they are not, it is not the fault of Christianity. More importantly, it is not the fault of Christ! The Bible tells us that men are to be judged by their fruits; and the wickedness and hypocrisy of a thousand false professors does not prove religion—nor Christ Himself—to be wicked and hypocritical and false. We don’t set our faith and hope on religion or Christianity, but on Christ alone.
— George E. Sargent, The Story Of Charles Ogilvie
The most elusive and ultimately impossible act of liberation is freedom from sin and self, and no document or declaration of man regardless of how exquisitely penned can do that. Such an astonishing act of liberation could only have been penned in one place: the cross.
— Craig D. Lounsbrough, An Intimate Collision: Encounters with Life and Jesus
Being an example to others is a requirement of following Jesus, even though none of us will ever be a perfect example.
— Tim Hiller, Strive: Life is Short, Pursue What Matters
Seven billion who need to be kept happy, and docile, until the end. How do you do that? What's the best way to calm down a scared kid, get them to go back to sleep? Tell them a story. Some shit about Jesus or whatever.
— Neal Stephenson, Seveneves
Preach [and live] as if Jesus was crucified yesterday, rose from the dead today, and is returning tomorrow.
— Martin Luther
Sin bites bitter. But oh, the sweet taste of salvation, that stirs the spirit!
— Anthony Liccione
Let there be no mistake in your mind as to the special character of the man who has come to Christ, and is a true Christian. He is not an angel, he is not a half-angelic being, in whom is no weakness, or blemish, or infirmity - he is nothing of the kind. He is nothing more than a sinner who has found out his sinfulness, and has learned the blessed secret of living by faith in Christ. What was the glorious company of the apostles and prophets? What was the noble army of martyrs? What were Isaiah, Daniel, Peter, James, John, Paul, Polycarp, Chrysostom, Augustine, Luther, Ridley, Latimer, Bunyan, Baxter, Whitefield, Venn, Chalmers, Bickersteth, M’Cheyne? What were they all, but sinners who knew and felt their sins, and trusted only in Christ? What were they, but men who accepted the invitation I bring you this day, and came to Christ by faith? By this faith they lived; in this faith they died. In themselves and their doings they saw nothing worth mentioning; but in Christ they saw all that their souls required. The invitation of Christ is now before you. If you never listened to it before, listen to it today. Broad, full, free, wide, simple, tender, kind, that invitation will leave you without excuse if you refuse to accept it. There are some invitations, perhaps, which it is wiser and better to decline. There is one which ought always to be accepted: that one is before you today. Jesus Christ is saying, “Come! Come unto Me.
— J.C. Ryle
Yeshua was a feminist. A feminist is a person who is in favor of, and promotes, the equality of women with men, who advocates and practices treating women primarily as human persons (as men are so treated) and willingly contravenes social customs in so acting.
— Leonard Swidler
Walk the streets by moonlight, if you dare, and you will see sinners then. Watch when the night is dark, and the wind is howling, and the picklock is grating in the door, and you will see sinners then. Go to jail and walk through the wards, and see the men with heavy, over-hanging brows, men whom you would not like to meet out at night, and there are sinners there. Go to the Reformatories, and see those who have betrayed an early and a juvenile depravity, and you will see sinners there. Go across the seas to the place where a man will gnaw a bone upon which is reeking human flesh, and there is a sinner there. Go you where you will, and ransack earth to find sinners, for they are common enough; you may find them in every lane and street, of every city and town, and village and hamlet. It is for such that Jesus died. If you will select me the grossest specimen of humanity, if he be but born of woman, I will have hope of him yet, because the gospel of Christ is come to sinners, and Jesus Christ is come to seek and to save sinners. Electing love has selected some of the worst to be made the best. Redeeming love has bought, specially bought, many of the worst to be the reward of the Savior's passion. Effectual grace calls out and compels to come in many of the vilest of the vile.
— Charles Haddon Spurgeon
The Holy Spirit never draws attention to Himself. He always points to and reveals Jesus.
— John Paul Warren
Arminius, appealing to Lactantius, held that: 'To recommend faith to others, we must make it the subject of persuasion, and not of compulsion'. He insisted that the true religion from Christ does not deteriorate into dissention. In the exercise of Christian liberty there will be sincere and honest differences. These differences cannot and should not be stamped out by means of coercion. In confronting the Scripture, Christians should be able to agree on what is necessary for salvation. But when mutual consent and agreement cannot be obtained on some articles, 'then the right hand of fellowship should be extended by both parties'. Each party should 'acknowledge the other for partakers of the same faith and fellow-heirs of the same salvation, although they may hold different sentiments concerning the nature of faith and the manner of salvation'.
— Gerald O. McCulloh, Man's Faith and Freedom: The Theological Influence of Jacobus Arminius
Wearing your feelings on your sleeve will end up being a chip on your shoulder.
— John Paul Warren
...love people when they least expect it and least deserve it. That is the kind of love Jesus shows to us.
— Mark Batterson, A Trip Around the Sun: Turning Your Everyday Life Into the Adventure of a Lifetime
...if you can truly surrender to Him, you will do more, be more, experience more. Life will just be more.
— Mark Batterson, A Trip Around the Sun: Turning Your Everyday Life Into the Adventure of a Lifetime
...if you're walking with Jesus and you invite someone to walk with you, there is a good chance they'll get to know Jesus somewhere along the way.
— Mark Batterson, A Trip Around the Sun: Turning Your Everyday Life Into the Adventure of a Lifetime
Following Jesus is a verb.
— Mark Batterson, A Trip Around the Sun: Turning Your Everyday Life Into the Adventure of a Lifetime
Jesus, the Blessed Child of God, is merciful. Showing mercy is different from having pity. Pity connotes distance, even looking down upon. When a beggar asks for money and you give him something out of pity, you are not showing mercy. Mercy comes from a compassionate heart; it comes from a desire to be an equal. Jesus didn’t want to look down on us. He wanted to become one of us and feel deeply with us.When Jesus called the only son of the widow of Nain to life, he did so because he felt the deep sorrow of the grieving mother in his own heart (see Luke 7:11-17). Let us look at Jesus when we want to know how to show mercy to our brothers and sisters.
— Henri J.M. Nouwen, Bread for the Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith
Jesus says, "Here's the deal! I'll leave My place. I'll come to your place. I'll take your place. And then we'll go to My place.
— Richard Foth, A Trip Around the Sun: Turning Your Everyday Life Into the Adventure of a Lifetime
I think that's why so many couples fight, because they want their partners to validate them and affirm them, and if they don't get that, they feel as though they're going to die. And so they lash out. But it's a terrible thing to wake up and realize the person you just finished crucifying wasn't Jesus.
— Donald Miller
I've tried reading the Bible. I never make it past all the talk about the firmament. The firmament is the thing, on Day 1 or 2, that divides the waters from the waters. Here you have the firmament. Next to the firmament, the waters. Stay with the waters long enough, presumably you hit another stretch of firmament. I can't say for sure: at the first mention of the firmament, I start bleeding tears of terminal boredom. I grow restless. I flick ahead. It appears to go like this: firmament, superlong middle part, Jesus. You could spend half your life reading about the barren wives and the kindled wraths and all the rest of it before you got to the do-unto-others part, which as I understand it is the high-water mark.
— Joshua Ferris
Too many read a chapter or two in the Bible, then for lack of interest put it down for weeks at a time and never look at it. Bernard compares the study of the Word and the mere reading of it to the difference between a close friendship and a casual acquaintance. If you want genuine knowledge, he says, you will have to do more than greet the Word politely on Sundays or nod reverently when you chance to meet it on the street. You must walk with it and talk with it every day of the week. You must invite it into your private chambers, and forego other pleasures and worldly duties to spent time in its company.
— William Gurnall
But this does not take away the fact that Luke sees the frustrations women face, including the constant discipline of being quietly useful while others crowd in to take the more obviously attractive roles. Furthermore, he remembers Jesus as a teacher who was willing to recognize the value of women's contribution. Working in partnership with a man also protected the women from being bothered by other men who resented their independent activity or simply wanted to meddle. For the women of Galilee, Jesus was invaluable as a sympathetic male focal point around which their activity could be organized. The presence of such a person in their midst would have been a godsend even if the man in question had not been a miracle-worker.
— Kate  Cooper, Band of Angels: The Forgotten World of Early Christian Women
In Luke's Gospel, Jesus is never unkind to the weak. He treats Martha with humiliating honesty, just as he would treat the male disciples.
— Kate  Cooper, Band of Angels: The Forgotten World of Early Christian Women
Those who did know Jesus - those who followed him into Jerusalem as its king and helped him cleanse the Temple in God's name, who were there when he was arrested and who watched him die a lonely death - played a surprisingly small role in defining the movement Jesus left behing.
— Reza Aslan, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth
Life should be lived more from the heart than the head.
— John Paul Warren
The basic question is not how much of our money we should give to God, but how much of God's money we should keep for ourselves.
— Jim George, A Husband After God's Own Heart
To know Christ entails accepting his will as norm. When we feel this we draw back, startled for it means the cross. The it is better to say honestly: “I can’t yet,” than to mouth pious phrases. Slow there with the large words “self-suffender,” and “sacrifice.” It is better to admit our weakness and ask him to teach us strength.
— Romano Guardini, The Lord
Part of the treasure in heaven that Jesus talks about is the feeling of purpose and satisfaction a person has when they know they are performing the will of God. Those who put themselves and money first often complain about life feeling empty and meaningless. Jesus pays those who serve him with meaning and spiritual abundance in their lives and hearts instead of money.
— Tim Crawshaw, So, You Want to Be Rich... But Jesus Doesn't.
I would like to say that I had all kinds of great ideas about what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it. I would like to say my ministry was born out of a carefully thought-out plan. These things simply aren't true, though. I was walking through life one moment at a time, blown away by what God could do through me if I simply said yes.
— Katie J. Davis
Denial is a seductive ruse of our own making, force-fitting our agendas by forcing out truth all because we bent to fear rather than bowed to God.
— Craig D. Lounsbrough
Like my girlfriend Denisha is always saying (she’s an Episcopalian), some of Jesus’ best friends were sex workers.
— Sarah Lotz, The Three
The story of getting there is greater than the story of being there. Wherever your there might be.
— Chris Burkmenn
I would be dreadfully remiss not to think that God would painstakingly craft something an intimately ingenious and inexplicably intricate as my life, and that by virtue of such sheer brilliance I should not examine it with the greatest precision and unleash it with the fullest abandon.
— Craig D. Lounsbrough
It would be infinitely more prudent to be a single “David” standing with God, than a million “Goliath’s” standing without Him.
— Craig D. Lounsbrough
God’s Word is written for you and to you, but it won’t help unless you read it.
— Elizabeth George
They here shall be redeemed from sin,Shall here put on their glorious dress,Fine linen, pure, and white, and cleanThe saints' inherent righteousness.Love, perfect love, expels all doubt,Love makes them to the end endure;Their names thou never wilt blot out;Their life is hid, their heart is pure.Their names thou wilt vouchsafe to ownBefore thy Father's majesty,Pronounce them good, and say, 'Well done,Enter, and ever reign with me!
— Charles Wesley
The problem is not in being sinners, the problem is when we don't let ourselves be transformed in love by the encounter with Christ.
— Pope Francis, Encountering Truth: Meeting God in the Everyday
JESUSJust when you think it is over, He always comes for your rescue in a very miraculous way.Every satanic power must bow when His Mighty name is mentioned.Success and happiness would become inevitable when you trust and follow His daily guidance.Unlike any man on earth, you can place all your trust, hope and faith in Him, and He will never betray you.Seek Him to be your King, and you would surely discover what it means to live a meaningful life with a true purpose.
Did he know that God loved him from the foundations of the earth? With a power far exceeding the immensity of the cosmos, He turned all His attention to creating that man and declared, "You are My child. I love you.
— Nabeel Qureshi
You know, I've always thought scars were beautiful. Really. They remind me of my Saviour. You know, without scars, Jesus would look like any other man. His scars proved his love for you and me. He became marred and disfigured by choice, because of his love.
— J.E.B. Spredemann, Rosabelle's Story
Answer this to yourselves, & expel from among you those who pretend to despise the labours of Art & Science, which alone are the labours of the Gospel: Is not this plain & manifest to the thought? Can you think at all, & not pronounce heartily! That to Labour in Knowledge. is to Build up Jerusalem: and to Despise Knowledge, is to Despise Jerusalem & her Builders. And remember: He who despises & mocks a Mental Gift in another; calling it pride & selfishness & sin; mocks Jesus the giver of every Mental Gift. which always appear to the ignorance-loving Hypocrite, as Sins. but that which is a Sin in the sight of cruel Man. is not so in the sight of our kind God.
— William Blake, Jerusalem
It was as though God's hand was reaching down to Anna, and she was reaching her hands to Harvey and Joe, creating a circle of love.
— J.E.B. Spredemann, A Secret Encounter
It was then that she realized she still had God. He was the only one who hadn't left her. He knew who she was, even if he didn't. A single tear formed in the corner of her eye as she thanked God for not abandoning her - especially when she needed Him most.
— J.E.B. Spredemann, Amish by Accident
Our conduct is an advertisement for or against Jesus Christ. That’s why unity in the body of Christ is so important.
— Elizabeth George, Understanding Your Blessings in Christ: Ephesians
To embrace Jesus Christ, you must let go of the world by crucifying the pleasures of your flesh.
— Felix Wantang, God's Blueprint of the Holy Bible
Satan wants you to die, but Jesus wants you to live.
— Fritz Chery
If Jesus is not your Lord, then Satan is.
— Fritz Chery
A true work of art is shaped by the hands of another, and if in shaping us that ‘other’ is anything other than God, the piece will never touch the remotest periphery of its potential.
— Craig D. Lounsbrough
Worlds of my own creation are erected with walls that are within but a few scant paces of each other. The world that God creates for me has no idea what walls are.
— Craig D. Lounsbrough
Do not be afraid to preach the gospel
—  Jesus Christ was not afraid to die on the cross.
Rejecting Jesus Christ is like a fugitive who spends all day running but has nowhere to hide
—  you will face him after death. He is the only judge and jury.
As much as salvation is a free gift, the truth is that keeping salvation comes with a price; you must live by God's law through Jesus Christ.
— Felix Wantang, God's Blueprint of the Holy Bible
Jesus Christ did not perform any transgender miracles and no disciple was gay.
— Felix Wantang, God's Blueprint of the Holy Bible
Has Christ provided such a blessed banquet for us? He does not nurse us abroad—but feeds us with His own breast—nay, with His own blood! Let us, then, study to respond to this great love of Christ. It is true, we can never parallel His love. Yet let us show ourselves thankful. We can do nothing satisfactory—but we may do something out of gratitude. Christ gave Himself as a sin-offering for us. Let us give ourselves as a thank-offering for Him. If a man redeems another out of debt—will he not be grateful? How deeply do we stand obliged to Christ—who has redeemed us from hell!
— Thomas Watson, The Lord's Supper
Yep, there's special eyes that only Jesus can give. When people have special eyes, they can see past a person's face and show other people love.
— J.E.B. Spredemann, Rosabelle's Story
Does biblical psychology, then, merely ask us to value good things a little less? Does the Bible seek a reduction of guilt by an overall deflation of the currency of moral ideals, so we can live more comfortably with an uneasy conscience? That would exaggerate a valid point. Although the Bible holds that no finite relationship is of infinite value, it does not embrace an extreme ascetic view that the source of happiness lies essentially in the reduction of desire. Some ascetic strategies try to diminish desire and reduce all valuing so as not to allow any loss to become an overwhelming disappointment. According to this view, the less one values created goods, the happier one is.In contrast, life-affirming Christianity hopes that love, desire, and appreciation of limited values can be increased or decreased to the measure of their real proportional value. Jesus does not call for a stark reduction of all finite valuing merely as a preventative measure against disappointment. He calls for a love of good things with an awareness that they exist within the boundaries of birth and death, and are therefore under the judgment of the giver and source of all value (Matt. 6:19-21).
— Thomas C. Oden, Guilt Free
The Christ event did not in that sense CHANGE the will of God, but rather it more clearly expressed God's eternal will toward the whole of history.
— Thomas C. Oden, Guilt Free
I ruthlessly expend my time and my energies seeking many random things, none of which will bless me in the way that I suppose they will, for despite my frequently stubborn resistance to the thought, the single and sole blessing that I can be utterly confident in is found in seeking God alone.
— Craig D. Lounsbrough
Some would say a whore don't have no expectation of Heaven. I'd say, if she gives value for cash, she's got a better shot at God's blessing than your average banker. Jesus loved Mary Magdalene. He kicked over tables when He met a moneylender.
— Elizabeth Bear, Karen Memory
I am wholly deserving of all the consequences that I will in fact never receive simply because God unashamedly stepped in front of me on the cross, unflinchingly spread His arms so as to completely shield me from the retribution that was mine to bear, and repeatedly took the blows. And I stand entirely unwounded, utterly lost in the fact that the while His body was pummeled and bloodied to death by that which was meant for me and me alone, I have not a scratch.
— Craig D. Lounsbrough
Today's young people have gay friends whom they love. If they view the church as an unsafe for them, a place more focused on politics than on people, we just might be raising the most anti-Christian generation America has ever seen, a generation that believes they have to choose between loving and being Christian.
— Justin Lee, Torn: Rescuing the Gospel from the Gays-vs.-Christians Debate
Satan is hopelessly desperate as Jesus waits patiently.
— Felix Wantang, God's Blueprint of the Holy Bible
Just as some of Jesus' first-century followers could not credit the presence of the risen Christ, so our own blindness, habit, and fear form a kind of constant fog that keeps us from seeing, and thereby believing in, the forms that grace takes in our everyday lives. We may think that it would be a great deal easier to believe if the world erupted around us, if some savior came down and offered as evidence the bloody scars in his side, but what the Gospels suggest is that this is not only wishful thinking but willful blindness, for in fact the world is erupting around us, Christ is very often offering us the scars in his side. What we call doubt is often simply dullness of mind and spirit, not the absence of faith at all, but faith latent in the lives we are not quite living, God dormant in the world to which we are not quite giving our best selves.
— Christian Wiman, My Bright Abyss: Meditation of a Modern Believer
Without God, all we do in life, no matter how great or significant, will pass and is useless. Only the things with Jesus at the center will bring true peace and happiness to both mankind and the world at large.
— Leon Lutje, Rounding Home: A Chicago Cubs Fan's Guide to the Book of Ecclesiastes
I believe God intervenes in the lives of every one of us. He speaks to us in different ways and at different times so that we may know he is the author of our very personality.
— Ravi Zacharias
The day that each person willingly accepts himself or herself for who he or she is and acknowledges the uniqueness of God's framing process marks the beginning of a journey to seeing the handiwork of God in each life.
— Ravi Zacharias, The Grand Weaver: How God Shapes Us Through the Events of Our Lives
In conversion, God interferes with out lives. We relinquish autonomy. If we find the gospel message to be true, we need to surrender to God and change our lives. For that reason - whether or not the trilemma or some form of it works - many will still never assent that Jesus is God.
— Gregory S. Cootsona, C. S. Lewis and the Crisis of a Christian
You have beautiful hair"... and she reached out to touch it, her bejeweled fingers gently caressing my head. A tear slipped down my cheek. I knew how the lepers felt when Jesus touched them and made them whole again.
— Lynn Austin, All She Ever Wanted
It is a grim job, this business of looking out over humanity.
— Amanda  Hudson, Coffee, Tea, and Holy Water: One Woman's Journey to Experience Christianity Around the Globe
To be able to accept the wonder and the marvel of one's own personality, however flawed or 'accidental,' and place it in and trust it to the hands of the One who made it, is one of the greatest achievements in life.
— Ravi Zacharias, The Grand Weaver: How God Shapes Us Through the Events of Our Lives
It is the absoluteness of meaninglessness that Christianity, as I understand it, inhabits and inflects, the shock and stark violence of the cross that discloses the living Christ. Revelation, like creation, arises not merely out of nothingness but by means of it.
— Christian Wiman, My Bright Abyss: Meditation of a Modern Believer
Perfection, then, is not a change in the essential character but the completion of a course. This is precisely what Jesus must have meant when he admonished his disciples and us to 'be perfect,' as our Heavenly Father is perfect.
— Ravi Zacharias, The Grand Weaver: How God Shapes Us Through the Events of Our Lives
Because Jesus was forsaken, we are forgiven. Because He was beaten, we are healed. Because He was thirsty, we're awash in the water of life. Because He died, we have an eternal home. No matter how deep our regrets, how searing our conscience, how messy our past, we start each day with a clean slate. All our failures are washed away in His blood.
— Robert J. Morgan, The Lord Is My Shepherd
Do everything with the greatest possible calm and serenity and out of the greatest, purest and holiest love of Jesus and Mary.
— Father Jacques Philippe
To preach about sin, but refuse to integrate grace and mercy is a sermonic sin.
— Rev. Corey M. Osborne
The obedience of Christ was far more acceptable to God, than the innocence of Adam; so that a thousand such as Adam could not have equalled Christ alone. For however he, had he continued in the state of innocence, would have left us an hereditary righteousness, of which we should have been possessed: notwithstanding, unspeakably greater, and more excellent, is our union with God in Christ, since he being made man, hath so purified and exalted the human nature in himself, that the primitive state of Adam is not once to be compared with it.
— Johann Arndt, True Christianity
But the most extraordinary is this relationship with Jesus. It’s not mass produced - one size fits all. No, it’s one to one, customized to fit the shape of who you have been, what you have done and where you want to be in the future. He’s taken that time to tune into me, into my patterns and my past.
— Emily Silver, Fifty Shades of Christ
Jesus the very thought of TheeWith sweetness fills my breast;But sweeter far Thy face to see,And in Thy presence rest.
— Bernard of Clairvaux
You cannot be a positive influence to the “sinners at the table" if you refuse to dine with them.
— Donald L. Hicks, Look into the stillness
Jesus Christ died on the cross for everything you are afraid of.
— Felix Wantang
Now if BECOMING history is the particularity of the Son in the economy, what is the contribution of the Spirit? Well, precisely the opposite: it is to liberate the Son and the economy from the bondage of history. If the Son dies on the cross, thus succumbing to the bondage of historical existence, it is the Spirit that raises him from the dead. The Spirit is the BEYOND history, and when he acts in history he does so in order to bring into history the last days, the ESCHATON. Hence the first fundamental particularity of Pneumatology is its eschatological character. The Spirit makes of Christ an eschatological being, the 'last Adam.
— John D. Zizioulas, Being as Communion: Studies in Personhood and the Church
Nevertheless, in a passage that is very often commented upon because it summarizes the entire salvific economy of faith, the Apostle calls Christ the 'pioneer and perfecter of our faith' (Heb. 12:2), because he has to accomplish the same act as the Christian, only in the opposite direction, as it were. Whereas by venturing to let go of everything the Christian takes a stand beyond finitude and comes into the limitlessness of God, Christ, in order to make this act possible and to be its source, has dared to emerge from the infinitude of the 'form of God' and 'did not think equality with God a thing to be grasped,' has dared to set out into the limitation and emptiness of time. This involved a transcendence and a boundary crossing no less fundamental than that of the Christian, and Christ undertook it so as to entrust himself henceforth within time, with no guarantee or mitigation from eternity, to the Father's will, which is always given to him in the present moment.
— Hans Urs von Balthasar, The Christian and Anxiety
All unbelievers in Jesus Christ is a House Divided Against Itself
—  it cannot stand against Jesus Christ.
Each step you take from Jesus Christ, brings you closer to hell.
— Felix Wantang, Face to Face Meetings with Jesus Christ 2: Preparing for God's Paradise
God and Jesus are supernatural beings and a paranormal experience.
— Jenna Alatari
If you lose God's paradise in Heaven, then you never existed.
— Felix Wantang, Face to Face Meetings with Jesus Christ 2: Preparing for God's Paradise
Moreover, the fact that the Son of God became man through being conceived by the Holy Spirit and being born of the Virgin Mary, that is, not of the will of the flesh nor of the will of a human father, but of God (John 1:13), means that at this decisive point in the incarnation the distinctive place and function of man as male human being was set aside.
— Thomas F. Torrance
As I read the Gospels, I never saw a time when Jesus was a doormat. Jesus found a perfect balance, and for me it has been an ongoing search to find the line to walk between making people happy and giving up too much in order to do so.
— Shawn Michaels
Jesus Christ died to save us from our sins; we tend to concentrate on that merciful fact. But isn't it also true He lived to show us a lifestyle free from sin? So, wouldn't following in his footsteps be something like preventative medicine?
— Richelle E. Goodrich, Making Wishes
What gives meaning to your life is rooted in your definition of the author of life.
— Felix Wantang, Face to Face Meetings with Jesus Christ 3: Revealing the End of the Age
Listening in the spiritual life is much more than a psychological strategy to help others discover themselves. In the spiritual life the listener is not the ego, which would like to speak but is trained to restrain itself, but the Spirit of God within us. When we are baptised in the Spirit - that is, when we have received the Spirit of Jesus as the breath of God breathing within us - that Spirit creates in us a sacred space where the other can be received and listened to. The Spirit of Jesus prays in us and listens in us to all who come to us with their sufferings and pains. When we dare to fully trust in the power of God's Spirit listening in us, we will see true healing occur.
— Henri J.M. Nouwen, Bread for the Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith
Love is blind and now he prove that to me. He left me alone . But when she left me I now realizee that my true love is God.
— Marlo Rayon Hallasgo
Jesus seemed to believe that the key to generosity wasn’t having more, but being content with what you already have.
— Cole Ryan, Money: I Think We've Missed The Point
The Christian experience is not primarily formed by our liturgy, doctrine, or ecclesiology, as important as those might be. We are formed by the dangerous stories of our great hero.
— Michael Frost, Exiles: Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture
A Christian’s hope is not a possibility but a promise in Jesus.
— Jim George
Our God is vulnerable. He is.This might be striking to some. The prominent view of God is strong, mighty, courageous - not vulnerable. God?Vulnerable? God didn’t only hang naked on a wooden cross, and He didn’t only do that because He loved us - but He did it all first. He made the first move. He initiated the relationship. He didn’t wait for us to clean ourselves up."For while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." The foundation of our relationship with God is vulnerability.
— Cole Ryan, Dating: I Think We've Missed The Point
Why does Jesus love us? Do you ever think about that? Why does Jesus, content and whole and complete and satisfied, love us? I don’t see how this would benefit Jesus. He has nothing to gain from us; we have nothing to offer Him. There’s nothing in this for Jesus.His love for us must not be driven by what He can get - but what He can give. Jesus is aware that by loving us we might become like Him - content and whole and complete and satisfied. We must not miss this: Jesus does not love us in order to get something from us in return. Jesus loves us simply to give us all that He has to offer - Himself.
— Cole Ryan, Dating: I Think We've Missed The Point
Jesus’ idea of blessing is completely contrary to ours. It has nothing to do with what we have, and everything to do with who we are.
— Cole Ryan, Money: I Think We've Missed The Point
Jesus' love for you far outweighs your expectations of Him.
— Todd Stocker, Dancing with God: First Year Thoughts on the Loss of My Daughter
Stay Humble. Often anger comes from our own ego and pride. We don't get our own way and so we get angry. But remember, it's not all about you. :) There are other people on the planet that have wants and needs to. :) If what you want conflicts with what others want, sometime you will have to let them have what they want. Everyone is not here to meet your needs alone. They need to take care of themselves sometimes too. Sometimes anger is an ego trip. It's when we think everyone should cater to our needs and do things our own way. Our pride makes us start to think that it's our way or the highway. But you are not God. No one but God is God. :) You cannot run the universe and you are not perfect. These are all good things to remind ourselves of all the time. Paul says in Romans 12, "Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment." Often times anger comes when we have a high opinion of ourselves and the way we think things SHOULD be done. But no one of is perfect. None of us has a perfect way of doing things. We need to allow for differences in other people and different opinions on things. It is never we are right and everyone else is wrong. We need to admit that sometimes we might be wrong too. Amen. So always remember to stay humble and not think of yourself as being perfect or better than you are. If you are able to see that you too make mistakes all the time, then you will have more grace for other people, and you will then become angry less. Amen.
— Lisa Bedrick, How to Walk Worthy of Your Calling