c2p-cmd/Good-Quotes-Authors huggingface dataset:
For if we see that the sun, in sending forth its rays upon the earth, to generate, cherish, and invigorate its offspring, in a manner transfuses its substance into it, why should the radiance of the Spirit be less in conveying to us the communion of his flesh and blood? Wherefore the Scripture, when it speaks of our participation with Christ, refers its whole efficacy to the Spirit. Instead of many, one passage will suffice. Paul, in the Epistle to the Romans (Rom. 8:9-11), shows that the only way in which Christ dwells in us is by his Spirit. By this, however, he does not take away that communion of flesh and blood of which we now speak, but shows that it is owing to the Spirit alone that we possess Christ wholly, and have him abiding in us.
— John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion
Last summer we had eight people in the [Christian] congregation who danced four different sun dances. Of course the missionaries have said all along that those ceremonies are pagan and we can't do that. Our people insist that they are free in the gospel, free in Christ Jesus, to participate in Indian religious forms and ceremonies. - George Tinker
— Jim Wallis (Author), Cloud of Witnesses
If you're looking for an excuse to quit you will find it, but if you are looking for the reason to continue you must fight for it.
— Chris Burkmenn
You're single not because you are not good enough for one, it's that you're too good for the wrong one.
— Chris Burkmenn
Jesus never wrote a book
—  never went outside his country. His only legacy was to never compromise the good. And it was more than enough for the world.
If you have been born only once, you will have to die twice. But if you have been born twice, you will have to die only once (and you may even escape that one death if Jesus returns to the earth during your lifetime).
— David Jeremiah, What Are You Afraid Of?
Because Jesus was someone, you’re free to be no one.
— Tullian Tchividjian, Jesus + Nothing = Everything
Your life is full of purpose, push past the set back and press into the set up.
— Chris Burkmenn
Daily Christian living, in other words, is daily Christian dying: dying to our trivial comforts, soul-shrinking conveniences, arrogant preferences, and self-centered entitlements, and living for something much larger than what makes us comfortable and safe.
— Tullian Tchividjian, Jesus + Nothing = Everything
If we who self-designate ourselves with terms like "Catholic," "Orthodox," "Protestant," "Evangelical," "Charismatic," "Pentecostal" and others would fully surrender ourselves to The Holy Spirit, we could stop focusing on the secondary words we use to describe the primary experience of The Holy Spirit.
— John David Geib, Beyond Beliefs
Poor Mary. They married her to Jesus, and Jesus is an asexual circumcised revolutionary. What future is there to be had in that scenario?
— Rawi Hage, Carnival
The law was good, Paul wrote, and its purpose vital. But its purpose was also temporary. Once Christ fulfilled the law, his followers would have trivialized his sacrifice by living as though they were still subject to the law's constraints.
— Matthew Vines, God and the Gay Christian: The Biblical Case in Support of Same-Sex Relationships
Exchanging life with Jesus Christ as taught by Jesus and His designated witnesses is not following a set of laws, rules, codes, principles, disciplines, scripts or cookbook formulas in our own power in an attempt to be like Jesus. Exchanging life with Jesus is not us giving imitation performances with our own acting abilities of what we think Jesus would be or do. Exchanging life with Jesus is Jesus giving repeat performances of His life in anyone who allows Jesus to do so. Jesus then lives out the supernatural performance of His Life in and through their lives.
— John David Geib, Beyond Beliefs
God has taken you from something in order to get you to something.
— Chris Burkmenn
Not afraid to write about my past to inspire your future
— Jordone Branch
How would I know what Jesus would have done? That fella was a mass of contradictions as far as I can see. One minute he says to turn the other cheek, the next minute he's having a big strop and kicking over lads' market stalls. He says blessed are the meek and he goes around shouting and roaring the odds to everyone. He rises from the dead and then shags off a few weeks later and leaves his buddies in the shit.
— Donal Ryan, The Spinning Heart
Imagine every hideous and vile deed committed from the beginning of time until Christ’s future return—heaped upon the pure and perfect Son of God. Bearing the sin of many, he drank the very cup of wrath he prayed would be taken from him. No other pain can compare to Christ’s separation from his Father.
— Linda Lesniewski, Women at the Cross: Experiencing the Wonder and Mystery of Christ's Love
Your is full of purpose Push past the set back and press into the set up.
— Chris Burkmenn
You life is full of purpose. Push past the set back and press into the set up.
— Chris Burkmenn
Warriors will always have wounds from the battle, but they are only stronger from them.
— Chris Burkmenn
Believe that fighter in you is stronger than anything you will ever face.
— Chris Burkmenn
Life is defined by the lives you touch, and not by the mistakes you've made.
— Chris Burkmenn
Was Jesus a christian?
— Jostein Gaarder, Sophie's World
Fix your eyes on what you believe and not what you see.
— Chris Burkmenn
God will cause you to prosper, even when man says you won't.
— Chris Burkmenn
If you are looking for an excuse to quit you will find it, but if you are looking for a reason to continue you must fight for it.
— Chris Burkmenn
It's through the test, that we find our true strength.
— Chris Burkmenn
No matter how many times you think you have failed, there is always another opportunity for you to succeed.
— Chris Burkmenn
Choose to believe the promise of God over the obstacles of man.
— Chris Burkmenn
It is often the tiny steps that define the big moments in our dreams.
— Chris Burkmenn
If we don't chase our dreams then we will be ran over by our fears.
— Chris Burkmenn
Jesus loved crème brûlée, but even with crème brûlée enough isn't just enough, it can get to be too much.
— Thomas M. Disch, The Word of God: Or, Holy Writ Rewritten
Seek God's inspiration first, then you will become an inspiration to someone else.
— James Tamara
Faith is trusting, that no matter what plan you had, God has a better one.
— Chris Burkmenn
Be patient and pray for God will make a way.
— Chris Burkmenn
Life is about learning to fly, when everyone says you will fall.
— Chris Burkmenn
Christian apologists who argue that a story about an empty tomb is convincing evidence of a resurrected body are likely unfamiliar with Occam’s razor, which states that among competing hypotheses, the hypothesis with the fewest assumptions should be selected. They assume that the most likely explanation is miraculous resurrection through some unproven divine connection, but more likely scenarios include a stolen body, a mismarked grave, a planned removal, faulty reports, creative storytelling, edited scriptures, etc. No magic required.
— David G. McAfee
It’s perfectly understandable, in my opinion, to find good things in the teachings of Jesus Christ or any other figure, mythical or otherwise. But to base your life on the teachings of Jesus as they are portrayed in the Bible and claim that you are not religious is disingenuous.
— David G. McAfee
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'The first command was clear and absolute, unalterable and unchanging. But there was a loophole in the second--wiggle room if we do not love ourselves. So at dinner Jesus tightened the loop, closed the hole:'A new command I give you, that you love one another as I have loved you.
— Thomas R. Steagald, Every Disciple's Journey: Following Jesus to a God-Focused Faith
It's not about the storms we go through, it's about the umbrella that gets us through.
— Chris Burkmenn
Sometimes in history the name of God has been invoked on behalf of actions and movements that have ennobled the human soul and lifted the body politic to a higher plane. Take the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., and the American civil rights movement, or Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the struggle against South African apartheid, as examples. Other times religious fervor has been employed for the worst kinds of sectarian and violent purposes. The Ku Klux Klan, the troubles in Northern Ireland, the wars in the former Yugoslavia, and David Koresh's Branch Davidian standoff in Waco, Texas, are frightening examples.Is there a reliable guide to when we are really hearing the voice of God, or just a self-interested or even quite ungodly voice in the language of heaven? I think there is. Who speaks for God? When the voice of God is invoked on behalf of those who have no voice, it is time to listen. But when the name of God is used to benefit the interests of those who are speaking, it is time to be very careful.
— Jim Wallis, Who Speaks for God?
Life isn't about being perfect, it's about being perfected.
— Chris Burkmenn
Your life isn't determined by your mistakes, but by your determination to keep going despite of them.
— Chris Burkmenn
To a man without a country, He appeared a joint sojourner. To Joshua armed but afraid, He came a valiant warrior.To Moses raised up on the mount, He was the One yet higher. To Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, He was the fourth man in the fire.To Elijah who stood as one for God, he was never less alone. For Noah's faithful family, He made an ark their home. To Ezekiel He appeared to be the light cast over the dark. To King David running from the throne, He was the true Monarch. To Daniel at the bite of death, He was the lock upon their jaws. To King Solomon who'd had it all, He was the only worthy cause. To a sinking fisherman, He was life upon the water. To a grieving Jairus, He was life unto his daughter.To a woman at the well, He was complete acceptance. To a doubting Thomas, He was the proof for his reluctance. To a dozen throwbacks from the world, He unleashed His awesome power. From a greedy grave of several days burst forth his finest hour."~Things pondered
— Beth Moore
........................................To a man without a country, He appeared a joint sojourner. To Joshua armed but afraid, He came a valiant warrior.To Moses raised up on the mount, He was the One yet higher. To Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, He was the fourth man in the fire.To Elijah who stood as one for God, he was never less alone. For Noah's faithful family, He made an ark their home. To Ezekiel He appeared to be the light cast over the dark. To King David running from the throne, He was the true Monarch. To Daniel at the bite of death, He was the lock upon their jaws. To King Solomon who'd had it all, He was the only worthy cause. To a sinking fisherman, He was life upon the water. To a grieving Jairus, He was life unto his daughter.To a woman at the well, He was complete acceptance. To a doubting Thomas, He was the proof for his reluctance. To a dozen throwbacks from the world, He unleashed His awesome power. From a greedy grave of several days burst forth his finest hour.........................................
— Beth Moore
God shall shine through the person you are and not the mistakes you made.
— Chris Burkmenn
If you always lived in comfort you would miss the adventure that is uncomfortable, but of great reward.
— Chris Burkmenn
To catch the dream you are chasing, change is required.
— Chris Burkmenn
What I want from the church, or any faith community, I see now, is a look between human beings that says we are knitted together, standing in a circle, holding each other up, waiting for the next ax to fall, rather than persons following a crowned Jesus, believing in an oppressive creed and tinny, false hope. That "religion" is about wanting the thing to last forever and make the pain go away. The reality is, instead, more about Jesus kneeling in the dust making a paste of spit and dirt. The reality is much more raw.
— Nora Gallagher
God has taken you from something in order to you to something.
— Chris Burkmenn
Some people say, “Once you learn to be happy, you won't tolerate being around people who make you feel anything less.” My Christ says, “Your job is to get off your self righteous butt and start reaching out to the difficult people because my ministry wasn’t about a bunch of nice people getting together once a week to sing hymns and get a feel good message, that you may or may not apply, depending on the depth of your anger for someone. It is about caring for and helping the broken hearted, the difficult, the hurt, the misunderstood, the repulsive, the wicked and the liars. It is about turning the other cheek when someone hurts you. It is about loving one another and making amends. It is allowing people as many chances as they need because God gives them endless chances. When you do this then you will know me and you will know true happiness and peace. Until then, you will never know who I really am. You will always be just a fan or a Sunday only warrior. You will continue to represent who you are to the world, but not me. I am the God that rescues.
— Shannon L. Alder
After eating the world's bread, we wake each morning to remember: We are still hungry. Seek a better loaf. Eat, and never die. Taste, savor, and be filled forever.
— Calvin Miller, The Words of Christ: An Every Day Journey with Jesus
You Might Not Be A Wife Material,Neither Might You Be Worth MotheringAnyone's Child, According To PEOPLE.You Are However ENOUGH To Make God Leave His Throne And Come Down To Earth To Change Your Situation.You Are ENOUGH To Make Mary Virgin Again For Your Worth To Be Seen Not By The Naked Eye.You Are ENOUGH To Reverse The Curse Of Adam And Eve For God To Redeem You.You Are ENOUGH, My Sister,For Jesus To Be Crucified Again,Just For God To Refill Your Cup.
— Nomthandazo Tsembeni
Jesus sets the boundaries of God's will. If it doesn't look like Christ, then it's outside the will of God. Jesus iS the will of God for us.
— David D. Flowers
By shattering my preconceptions and cultural stereotypes, what materialized was a massive personality who was astonishingly winsome yet gravely terrifying. A man whose breathtaking compassion would draw you in, but whose ferocious honesty could cut and slice like a razor. Someone who was the most controversial, confrontational, divisive, yet compellingly beautiful man who has ever lived. Which is precisely what we would expect if the Creator of the universe happened to invade our world.
— Timothy J. Stoner, Crucify!: Why the Crowd Killed Jesus
Only the redeeming, all-powerful, transforming grace of God can raise our sin-besotted heart from the dead, give us eternal life, and set our gaze on Jesus, our blessed hope.
— Gloria Furman, Glimpses of Grace: Treasuring the Gospel in Your Home
Christians believe, as is reported in the New Testament scriptures, that Jesus of Nazareth healed 10 men with leprosy. It sounds like an astounding feat, but compare that to Jacinto Convit who saved thousands of lives when he developed the vaccine that protects us from it. In 1988, Convit was nominated for a Nobel Prize in Medicine for his anti-leprosy vaccine. So, while the promise of Jesus’ healing power is a centerpiece of the Christian myth, the demigod’s results leave something to be desired when compared to the rigor of man’s scientific inquiry.
— David G. McAfee
God is the leader of your team. As you follow Him with all your heart, you will be leading your team in Jesus’ steps.
— Jim George
Luther and Calvin believed that both the Roman church on the right and the Zwinglian and Anabaptist churches on the left made the Lord's Supper too much a place WHERE BELIEVERS DID THINGS FOR GOD - either by offering Christ to God (Rome) or by offering their deep devotion to God (the Radical Protestants). The main direction of the Supper, in both of these views, was up.
— Frederick Dale Bruner, Matthew: The Churchbook Matthew 13-28
enough people disagree with what Jesus is to prevent Him from...from manifesting, as such. And billions don't believe He existed at all. He is a legend, a myth. A Jewish carpenter people ignore while committing acts in His name, even as they call themselves believers.
— Thomm Quackenbush, Artificial Gods
Torrance uses the analogy of an embrace. When we hug someone, there is a double movement. We open our arms and in so doing give ourselves to the beloved. But in the embrace we also draw that person close to us...One hand, Christ, opens the relationship, the other hand, the Holy Spirit draws us into that relationship with the Father.
— Leonard J. Vander Zee, Christ, Baptism and the Lord's Supper: Recovering the Sacraments for Evangelical Worship
If Jesus was put to death by powerful elites protecting their turf, then the murder is only a historical or academic puzzle. But if those who knew Him best—His longtime admirers—were involved, everything changes. It suddenly becomes personal, for we are then forced to confront the more troubling questions: Would I have sided with the majority and cried out for His blood? Would you?
— Timothy J. Stoner, Crucify!: Why the Crowd Killed Jesus
And these are the sametype of people who killthe innocent andjustify it by saying“They’ve gone to bewith Jesus now”But we won’t talkabout how theycrucified Him, too
— Phil Volatile
To be Spirit-filled is to be Christ-centered.
— John F. MacArthur Jr., Strange Fire: The Danger of Offending the Holy Spirit with Counterfeit Worship
Jesus incarnated when our Western civilization was changing from being predominantly baby soul to predominantly young. We are now in a similar transition, from young to mature.
— Shepherd Hoodwin, Journey of Your Soul: A Channel Explores the Michael Teachings
It means that I love you and you love me until forever, Mama. Just like Jesus. Right, Mama?” “Yes, sweetheart. Until forever I will love you. Always remember that, Ethan—until forever.
— Darlene Shortridge, Until Forever
Don't argue with the person who puts his knowledge above everyone's else's; you'll always lose in that respect. But, in reality, he is the loser because he has put himself in a position where he can longer learn and therefore he can no longer grow and prosper! Be humble and open to always being a student, and you will continue to grow wise throughout your days!
— K.J. Masters
The great truth of the Incarnation is that the Son of God became flesh and dwelt among us. In this foundational truth we may emphasize the nature of the Son of Man himself, or we may emphasize his taking on flesh and dwelling among us. The condemning scandal for evangelicals is that they have neglected this second emphasis and all that it implies about the possibility of thinking about this realm of flesh. Their redeeming scandal is that they have not yet forgotten the first.
— Mark A. Noll, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind
Reading the bible is like dumpster diving. You sift through the garbage hoping to find anything of value.
— Nick Krampus
He sent Jesus to come and to talk to us and then allowed him to be killed so that the spirit that lived in Jesus could go out into all the earth and speak to you right where you are in your heart. Right now.
— Lacey Sturm
Detachment, properly understood, means freedom, inner freedom. And, although it is not a word Jesus used, detachment expresses very well an important element in his spirituality: the ability to let go. In the Christian tradition this has been spoken of as “purity of heart” or as the process of becoming “poor in spirit.
— Albert Nolan, Jesus Today: A Spirituality of Radical Freedom
I'll walk through the fireWith my head lifted highAnd my spirit revivedIn Your story
— Hillsong
When we bring it all back to 'Just Jesus' it is amazing how much grace God can work in and through our lives.
— brother Mark
I see in Jesus not only the supreme act of humility in God, but the supreme act of humanity in God.
— William Porcher Dubose
Democracy
—  Everyone's opinion is required! Autocracy
Many people equate what they do with what they hope they are. They want to identify with Christianity and have an idea of what they need to do to wear that label. The only problem is that Jesus is not concerned about what they do as much as He is about who they know.
— Dwayne Morris, the OUTRAGEOUS life: Letting God Take You From Ordinary to Outrageous
God is the message owner; prophets and pastors are messengers. It's happens on no account when the messenger becomes greater than the message owner! Let's us avoid these "human worships", confining our source of hope in prophets, kings, presidents, lawyers, etc. God deserves the greatest honour!
— Israelmore Ayivor, The Great Hand Book of Quotes
I have decided. I want to be about the cause of Jesus. I want to follow Christ, not the crowd.
— Jennifer Dukes Lee, Love Idol: Letting Go of Your Need for Approval - and Seeing Yourself Through God's Eyes
The reason we haven't yet fully understood the Jesus story is that we are gospel-based rather than Bible-based Christians!
— Eli Of Kittim, The Little Book of Revelation: The First Coming of Jesus at the End of Days
In His manifesto, Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit of God to us when He ascended into the Kingdom above. He fulfilled this mission. Mission accomplished! Great people make plans and promises that they yearn to fulfill. Keep your eyes on the goals you set to accomplish; let them be done as planned!
— Israelmore Ayivor, The Great Hand Book of Quotes
Once humanity discovers what's behind the mirror of all the ruling class of governments and religions there will be a new beginning of justice called Enlightenment.
— Charleston Parker, One Soul, Many Faces: Revealing the Hidden Truth
You can always count on the promise of forever that He made when He died on that cross and rose again three days later. He did that for you.
— Naya S., The Promise of Forever: Book One: Part One
He came to me through faith in him.
— James Pinnick
When a wise woman speaks, her words are gracious. Ask God to help you find words that speak life to those around you.
— Stormie Omartian
I figured in the modern world, considering, Jesus himself would have likely been born in a frat house.
— Trebor Healey, A Horse Named Sorrow
There was a warrior once who foughtAgainst man's subtlest, mightiest foe,And more than valiant deeds he wroughtT' effect th' enslaver's overthrow.But ah! how dread was his campaign,Forc'd in the wilderness to stray,Lone, hungry, stung with grief and pain,And thus sustain the arduous fray.Prompt at each call from place to place,'Mid sin's dark shade and sorrow's flow,He sped to save man's erring race,And bear for him the vengeful blow.But when his soldiers saw the strife,When imminent the danger grew,Though 'twas for them he pledg'd his life,Like dastards from the field they flew.Wearied, forsaken, still he strove,And gain'd the glorious victory;Yet such achievements few could move,To hail his triumpn 'beath the sky.Dying he conquer'd; yet at lastNo human honours grac'd his bier;No trumpet wail'd its mournful blast,No muffl'd drum made music drear.But when he dy'd the rocks were rent,The sun his radiant beams withheld,All nature shudder'd at th' event,And horror every bosom swell'd.E'en Death, fell Death! could not detainHim, who for man his life had given,He burst the ineffectual chain,And soar'd his advocate to heaven.
— Thomas Gillet, The Juvenile Wreath; Consisting of Poems, Chiefly on the Subject of Natural History
Paul says in Philippians 4:19, 'And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.' Our needs won't be met according to the destitution of the world or to the poverty of our own faith in the moment but according to the riches in Jesus. There's no one richer than him!
— Stasi Eldredge, Becoming Myself: Embracing God's Dream of You
Awakening and owning the dreams that God has placed in our hearts isn't about getting stuff or attaining something. It's about embracing who we are and who he has created us to be. In him. He is our dream come true, and the one true love of our life. But we can't love him with our whole hearts when our hearts are asleep. To love Jesus means to risk coming awake, to risk wanting and desiring.
— Stasi Eldredge, Becoming Myself: Embracing God's Dream of You
Religion, which was obviously created to give meaning and purpose to people, has become part of the oppression. This is true in both Eastern and Western religious traditions. The Buddha, Jesus and Muhammad were all revolutionaries who critiqued and attempted to dismantle the corrupt societal traditions of their time. Yet their teachings, like most things in human society, have been distorted and co-opted by the confused and power-hungry patriarchal tradition. What were wonce the creation myths of ancient cultures, have become doctrines of oppression. More blood has been spilled and more people oppressed in the name of religion than for any other reason in history.
— Noah Levine, Against the Stream: A Buddhist Manual for Spiritual Revolutionaries
Jesus didn't fight against what was wrong. But he fought for what was right.
— Ricky Maye
Life doesn’t always go our way. But one thing we know and can stand upon. Jesus has burst open the gates of LIFE. So we look ahead with great joy. The Story of God is one of hope, promise and life eternal.
— Anusha Atukorala
Jesus obviously does not answer many questions from you or me. Which is why apologetics is always such a questionable enterprise. Jesus just doesn’t argue.
— Robert Farrar Capon, Parables of Judgement
You don't need superpowers to be someones hero
— Ricky Maye
She leaned down so she was looking right in my eyes. "You hear me, child. you can't use other folks' bad behavior to excuse your own. When we got a choice, we keep Jesus in our hearts and don't do nothing that would make him ashamed.
— Susan Crandall, Whistling Past the Graveyard
I've heard it said that grace is God reaching God's hands into the world. And the Bible tells us that we are part of the body of Christ, that if we let the Spirit move through us, we can become the hands of Christ on earth. Hands that heal, bless, unite, and love. I'd like to think God's hands are a bit like Grace's man hands—gentle but big, busy, and tough. God's hands are those of a creator—an artist who molded and shaped the universe out of a void, who hewed matter from nothingness.
— Cathleen Falsani, Sin Boldly: A Field Guide for Grace
Then round about the age of twenty-five, I was tired of being tired of being scared about doing something that, if I deconstruct it honestly, might somehow cost me my salvation and make God love me less. When I understood, in God's grace, that there was nothing—not a thing—I could do to make God love me any less or any more, when I understood that there was nothing wrong or right about who I am in God's eyes, that I'm just loved, I started to live. Boldly. Or at least as boldly as I can muster much of the time.
— Cathleen Falsani, Sin Boldly: A Field Guide for Grace
Jesus must have had man hands. He was a carpenter, the Bible tells us. I know a few carpenters, and they have great hands, all muscled and worn, with nicks and callused pads from working wood together with hardware and sheer willpower. In my mind, Jesus isn't a slight man with fair hair and eyes who looks as if a strong breeze could knock him down, as he is sometimes depicted in art and film. I see him as sturdy, with a thick frame, powerful legs, and muscular arms. He has a shock of curly black hair and an untrimmed beard, his face tanned and lined from working in the sun. And his hands—hands that pounded nails, sawed lumber, drew in the dirt, and held the children he beckoned to him. Hands that washed his disciples' feet, broke bread for them, and poured their wine. Hands that hauled a heavy cross through the streets of Jerusalem and were later nailed to it. Those were some man hands.
— Cathleen Falsani, Sin Boldly: A Field Guide for Grace
Our hope doesn't rest on our finally getting it together. Our hope rests in Jesus. Jesus in us. It's Christ in us, the hope of glory. Paul says, “To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col 1:27). We won't be perfect on this side of heaven. But Jesus is perfect. Always. We are becoming more holy and true. Jesus already is. His name isn't “Becoming.” It is “I Am.” Perfection isn't the goal. Jesus is.
— Stasi Eldredge, Becoming Myself: Embracing God's Dream of You
Let all that you do be done in love.
— 1 Corinthians 16 14
Maybe that's why Jesus was so fond of parables: Nothing describes the indescribable like a good yarn.
— Cathleen Falsani, Sin Boldly: A Field Guide for Grace
All along it was not by stunts of glory, but by touch and laughter and tears that Jesus has healed and restored.
— Kayla McClurg
Instead of practicing philoxenos, which means loving the stranger, we find many times that the church is xenophobic. We forget that Jesus, whom we claim to follow, was the ultimate lover of otherness in people. Even differences in religion didn't freak Jesus out when it came to loving people.
— Holly Sprink, Faith Postures: Cultivating Christian Mindfulness
Wait, go back to that Southern Baptist part,” Julia said, interrupting, as she does. “Are you a born-again?” articulating her question as if she were asking me if I were really a headhunter or a Martian. “Yes,” I said, “but I'm not an asshole. At least not theologically speaking.
— Cathleen Falsani, Sin Boldly: A Field Guide for Grace
You’ve heard the saying “time heals all wounds.” Nothing could be further from the truth. Time won’t heal all wounds. Jesus will. By His wounds, we are healed. That’s what this book is all about. There is a real answer to the why question, and it’s much better than anything you could ever make up.
— Dan Greenup, Generation Why?
The Purpose of the Eucharist lies not in the change of the bread and wine, but in the partaking of Christ, who has become our food, our life, the manifestation of the Church as the body of Christ. This is why the gifts themselves never became in the Orthodox East an object of special reverence, contemplation, and adoration, and likewise an object of special theological 'problematics': how, when, in what manner their change is accomplished.
— Alexander Schmemann, The Eucharist: Sacrament of the Kingdom
God simply told us to think of Jesus as Immanuel, which means 'God with us.' How amazing that one of the main ways God wants us to think about the person of Jesus is as 'a sharing, an embrace of life by Life, a total identification of God with the object of his love.
— Holly Sprink, Faith Postures: Cultivating Christian Mindfulness
No man by mere high human wisdom would dare undertake a step for Jesus’ sake unless he knows that the Holy Spirit has directly spoken to him; and until He comes, I shall not go.
— Oswald Chambers
In the arms of Your mercy I find rest'cause You know just how far the east is from the westFrom one scarred hand to the other
— Casting Crowns
We don't treat Jesus like a puppy, soaking in his excitement over our coming home and then leading him back to stay in the laundry room when we go out to begin another day.
— Holly Sprink, Faith Postures: Cultivating Christian Mindfulness
As Christians, we celebrate many holidays and memorials throughout the year. Some we decide to celebrate by referencing events in the Bible. Others are related to events in our personal lives. Still more are pushed upon by this World.There's nothing necessarily wrong with celebrating events that bring us joy or keep important parts of our lives in focus.As a Christian, it is important for me to follow Christ's words and teachings. I do not obey man's intepretations of God's word. I read it and follow it. Its that simple. I dont need an interpreter. Christ is my intermediary. Ive been blessed to have been given the gift of language and... in the Bible, when you read it in Aramaic, there is only ONE event, one memorial that Jesus asks us to remember and thus honor our Savior. And its not His birthday. We are upon that annual event this weekend. For Jesus "blessed and he broke and he said, “Take eat; this is my body, which is broken for your persons; thus you shall do for my Memorial."[1 Cor 11:24]Holidays can be fun times for families to get together and to celebrate life. This weekend lets not lose focus. For this is the one and ONLY holiday that our Christ commands us to memorialize. Its in his words. Its in the Bible. It was important enough for Him to spell it out. It should be important enough for us to listen. Above all other events in our lives, isn't Christ Jesus's sacrifice truly the most magnificent one? Lets remember our Savior and not allow the World to mislead us into over prioritizing any other day than when -He gave His life for us. Truly His act was a gift to mankind that remains matchless.
— José N. Harris
Predestination therefore, as it regards the thing itself, is the Decree of the good pleasure of God in Christ, by which He resolved within Himself from all eternity, to justify, adopt, and endow with everlasting life, to the praise of His own glorious grace, believers on whom He had decreed to bestow faith.
— James Arminius
My nun, which is how I think of her, was the most profound witness for God's love I've ever encountered in this world. She was a magnet for lost souls, a petite fortress of strength and unconditional love. What this sprightly, silly, lovely woman did from the obscurity of a faded convent in Rust Belt Chicago was to fulfill in a passionate, tireless way the supreme commandment of Jesus' gospel every day of her life.
— Cathleen Falsani, Sin Boldly: A Field Guide for Grace
You cannot find excellent corporate worship until you stop trying to find excellent corporate worship and pursue God himself.
— D.A. Carson, Worship by the Book
judgment, as it is portrayed in the parables of Jesus (not to mention the rest of the New Testament) never comes until after acceptance: grace remains forever the sovereign consideration. The difference between the blessed and the cursed is one thing and one thing only: the blessed accept their acceptance and the cursed reject it; but the acceptance is already in place for both groups before either does anything about it.
— Robert Farrar Capon, Parables of Judgement
In Jesus Christ, there is no distance or separation between the medium and the message: it is the one case where we can say that the medium and the message are fully one and the same.
— Marshall McLuhan
The call to “take the land” ...is not a call to a new political, cultural or geographical dominance. It is Kingdom of God territory. It is the will of the Eternal God being done on earth, as it is in heaven.
— Ken Baker
One of the most significant lessons Jesus taught his disciples was to stop looking for God's life in the regimen of rituals and rules. He came not to refurbish religion, but to offer them a relationship.
— Jake Colsen, So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anymore: An Unexpected Journey
What I am is a proud humanist. Atheism says what I don't accept, humanism says what I do." - Nathan Phelps﻿
— Nathan Phelps
That said the conspirators: Tell us your secret and we will have betrayed you for a lifetime.
— Kristian Goldmund Aumann, The Seven Deadly Sins
Not only is diversity allowed within the People of God
—  it is expected.
Only Jesus can complete.
— Phindiwe Nkosi, Behind the Hospital
That said the conspirators:Tell us your secret and we will have betrayed you for a lifetime.
— Kristian Goldmund Aumann
K-I-N-G Jesus is busy in every moment! (Kind hearted -Integrous - Noble - Gracious)" ~ © gfp '42™
— Gary Patton
Jesus is more likely to lead you across the street than across the ocean.
— Jeremy Myers, Skeleton Church
When Jesus died on the cross the mercy of God did not become any greater. It could not become any greater, for it was already infinite. We get the odd notion that God is showing mercy because Jesus died. No--Jesus died because God is showing mercy. It was the mercy of God that gave us Calvary, not Calvary that gave us mercy. If God had not been merciful there would have been no incarnation, no babe in the manger, no man on a cross and no open tomb.
— A.W. Tozer, The Attributes of God: A Journey Into the Father's Heart
I do believe Jesus died so we could feel freed up to go after life to the full, so we would feel equpped to take risks and not beat ourselves up when we fail. He didn't die to make our lives look perfect. He died so we could stop feeling as if our lives have to be perfect for them to mean something.
— Mandy Steward, Thrashing About with God: Finding Faith on the Other Side of Everything
When the crucified Jesus is called "the image of the invisible God," the meaning is that THIS is God, and God is like THIS.
— Jürgen Moltmann, The Crucified God: The Cross of Christ as the Foundation and Criticism of Christian Theology
But the heavy stroke which most of all distresses me is my dear Mother. I cannot overcome my too selfish sorrow, all her tenderness towards me, her care and anxiety for my welfare at all times, her watchfulness over my infant years, her advice and instruction in maturer age; all, all indear her memory to me, and highten my sorrow for her loss. At the same time I know a patient submission is my Duty. I will strive to obtain it! But the lenient hand of time alone can blunt the keen Edg of Sorrow. He who deignd to weep over a departed Friend, will surely forgive a sorrow which at all times desires to be bounded and restrained, by a firm Belief that a Being of infinite wisdom and unbounded Goodness, will carve out my portion in tender mercy towards me! Yea tho he slay me I will trust in him said holy Job. What tho his corrective Hand hath been streached against me; I will not murmer. Tho earthly comforts are taken away I will not repine, he who gave them has surely a right to limit their Duration, and has continued them to me much longer than deserved. I might have been striped of my children as many others have been. I might o! forbid it Heaven, I might have been left a solitary widow. Still I have many blessing left, many comforts to be thankfull for, and rejoice in. I am not left to mourn as one without hope. My dear parent knew in whom she had Believed...The violence of her disease soon weakned her so that she was unable to converse, but whenever she could speak, she testified her willingness to leave the world and an intire resignation to the Divine Will. She retaind her Senses to the last moment of her Existance, and departed the world with an easy tranquility, trusting in the merrits of a Redeamer," (p. 81 & 82).
— Abigail Adams, My Dearest Friend: Letters of Abigail and John Adams
I recommend to you Jesus Christ, the unchanging One. I recommend to you God's answer to your questions, God's solution to your problems, God's life for your dying soul, God's cleansing for your sin-cursed spirit, God's rest for your restless mind, and God's resurrection for your dying body. For advocate above, I recommend Him to you. You will find Him to be all He ever was--the very same Jesus.
— A.W. Tozer, The Attributes of God: Deeper into the Father's Heart
Had it been the object or the intention of Jesus Christ to establish a new religion, he would undoubtedly have written the system himself, or procured it to be written in his life time. But there is no publication extant authenticated with his name. All the books called the New Testament were written after his death. He was a Jew by birth and by profession.
— Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason
With the veil removed by the rending of Jesus' flesh, with nothing on God's side to prevent us from entering, why do we tarry without? Why do we consent to abide all our days just outside the Holy of Holies and never enter at all to look upon God? We hear the Bridegroom say, `Let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice and thy countenance is comely.' (Song of Sol 2:14) We sense that the call is for us, but still we fail to draw near, and the years pass and we grow old and tired in the outer courts of the tabernacle. What doth hinder us?The answer usually given, simply that we are `cold,' will not explain all the facts. There is something more serious than coldness of heart, something that may be back of that coldness and be the cause of its existence. What is it? What but the presence of a veil in out hearts? A veil not taken away as the first veil was, but which remains there still shutting out the light and hiding the face of God from us. It is the veil of our fleshly fallen nature living on, unjudged within us, uncrucified and unrepudiated. It is the close- woven veil of the self-life which we have never truly acknowledged, of which we have been secretly ashamed, and which for these reasons we have never brought to the judgment of the cross. It is not too mysterious, this opaque veil, nor is it hard to identify. We have but to look in our own hearts and we shall see it there, sewn and patched and repaired it may be, but there nevertheless, an enemy to our lives and an effective block to our spiritual progress.This veil is not a beautiful thing and it is not a thing about which we commonly care to talk, but I am addressing the thirsting souls who are determined to follow God, and I know they will not turn back because the way leads temporarily through the blackened hills. The urge of God within them will assure their continuing the pursuit. They will face the facts however unpleasant and endure the cross for the joy set before them. So I am bold to mane the threads out of which this inner veil is woven. It is woven of the fine threads of the self-life, the hyphenated sins of the human spirit. They are not something we do, they are something we are, and therein lies both their subtlety and their power.
— A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God
The most thankful person is the most fully human.
— Thomas Goodwin, What Happens When I Pray
The proof of how real Jesus knew hell to be is that He came to earth to save us from it.
— Peter Marshall
Jesus is love.He is our hope.So love Jesus and be hopeful.
— Calvin W. Allison, A Sunset Rising
The way some people read the parables reminds me of Aesop's Fables. And the way others read them reminds me of the way some discern clue after perplexing clue in their Beatle albums as evidence for a cover-up of Paul's having died in a car accident.
— Jared C. Wilson, The Storytelling God: Seeing the Glory of Jesus in His Parables
Jesus doesn't come asking if He can hang out with us. He commands us to follow Him. He has total authority and will settle for nothing less; He won't settle for being an accessory, an add- on, or a peaceful accompaniment to a nice life. No, He will rule and He will meddle.
— Justin Buzzard, The Big Story: How the Bible Makes Sense out of Life
Jesus doesn't adjust to us, and He doesn't submit to our whims. We adjust to Jesus and submit to Him. Jesus is King, not an accessory.
— Justin Buzzard, The Big Story: How the Bible Makes Sense out of Life
Jesus gives each of his Followers, not just his first Apostles, authority & power to heal every sickness, raise the dead, and expel demons plus perform other miracles in His name as He wills in any situation. He did so in Matthew 10:8 via His follow-up command to His early Followers in Matthew 28:19 ~ © gfp '42™
— Gary Patton
To accept Jesus is to accept His total authority in your life.
— Justin Buzzard, The Big Story: How the Bible Makes Sense out of Life
Where God gives opportunity for preaching it is more than likely that he has some people to convert. Usually the Word of God takes root among some, though often in but a few.
— Thomas Goodwin, What Happens When I Pray
He takes no pleasure in human tears. He came and wept that He might stop forever the fountain of human tears. He came and bereaved His mother that He might heal all bereavement. He came and lost everything that He might heal the wounds that we have from losing things. And He wants us to take pleasure in Him. Let us put away our doubts and trust Him.
— A.W. Tozer
All that God is, will supply your need.
— Thomas Goodwin, What Happens When I Pray
Ask God to make you like David: an intercessor, even in the midst of your own great sins and great needs.
— Thomas Goodwin, What Happens When I Pray
God is infinitely beautiful in himself, and his beauty ought to attract you like a magnet to him.
— Thomas Goodwin
Jesus said the truth will set us free when we remain intimate with Him. (John 8:31-32) But, He can do so only when we allow Him to dismantle the wall that separates our heads from our hearts! ~ © gfp '42™
— Gary Patton
Lord, how excellent are Thy ways, and how devious and dark are the ways of man. Show us how to die, that we may rise again to newness of life. Rend the veil of our self-life from the top down as Thou didst rend the veil of the Temple. We would draw near in full assurance of faith. We would dwell with Thee in daily experience here on this earth so that we may be accustomed to the glory when we enter Thy heaven to dwell with Thee there. In Jesus' name, Amen.
— A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God
Isn't the human body a miracle
— Shane Flynn
I am so glad that Jesus does not say, “Practice more spiritual disciplines.” He says, “Come to me…and I will give you rest.
— Colin S. Smith, Jonah: Navigating a God-Centered Life
Jesus modeled true leadership as both personal and hospitable.
— Adam LiVecchi
When your heart is gripped by the love of God poured out in the cross, and when you see the extent of that love in the propitiation by which Christ became the sacrifice for your sin, bearing wrath and entering hell for you, and when you are convinced that this Christ offers Himself in redeeming love to others who do not yet know Him, a passion will be lit in your heart to pursue a God-centered life.
— Colin S. Smith, Jonah: Navigating a God-Centered Life
Jesus Christ said 'by their fruits ye shall know them,' not by their disclaimers.
— William S. Burroughs
Misunderstood! It is a right fool's word. Is it so bad then to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance and Other Essays
Two thousand years ago Jesus is crucified, three days later he walks out of a cave and they celebrate with chocolate bunnies and marshmallow Peeps and beautifully decorated eggs. I guess these were things Jesus loved as a child.
— Billy Crystal, Still Foolin' 'Em: Where I've Been, Where I'm Going, and Where the Hell Are My Keys
The resurrection is the revelation to chosen witnesses of the fact that Jesus who died on the cross is indeed king - conqueror of death and sin, Lord and Savior of all. The resurrection is not the reversal of a defeat but the proclamation of a victory. The King reigns from the tree. The reign of God has indeed come upon us, and its sign is not a golden throne but a wooden cross.
— Lesslie Newbigin, Foolishness to the Greeks: The Gospel and Western Culture
Surely we can only come to understand each other's beliefs by means of direct encounter and open, honest discussion. In the meantime, many free churches invite all believers in Jesus Christ to the Table for the sake of true spiritual unity that transcends intellectual differences of interpretation. Withholding sacramental sharing on the basis of disagreement about the nature of the Lord's Supper seems odd to us. What two people think exactly alike about the act? We are not offended by Catholics' closed Communion, but we find it odd and exclusive. It places intellectual understanding above fellowship among disciples of Jesus Christ.
— Roger E. Olson
His self-righteousness has prevented him from enjoying the grace all around him.
— Justin Buzzard, The Big Story: How the Bible Makes Sense out of Life
A true god surely cannot have been born of a girl, nor died on the gibbet, nor be eaten in a piece of dough... [or inspired] books, filled with contradictions, madness, and horror.
— Voltaire, The Works: Voltaire