As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
“Our guest today is Ben Hicks, the Associate Pastor at Colonial Hills Baptist Church in Indianapolis, Indiana…. Ben has done a lot of work on the topic of Christian liberty and he brings his study of that topic to the issue of substance abuse.” - P&D
“But God’s Word never says, ‘Since you’re a sinner, there’s no reason to expend effort to gain victory over sin.’ On the contrary, Paul says, ‘For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me’ (Colossians 1:29).” - Randy Alcorn
Read the series.
And now, in the New Testament, God speaks in a way he never has before.
He speaks in person, visibly, incarnately, powerfully.
“ ‘But I don’t want my children to think I don’t trust them.’ …Some parents trust their teenagers in situations I wouldn’t trust myself in. You can trust your fourteen-year-old to his level of maturity and life skills. But that doesn’t mean you would trust him to fly the space shuttle or have a smart phone with unrestricted internet access.” - Randy Alcorn
“We’ve been warned not to let our feelings define our faith. And fair enough—emotions are fickle. They’re shaped by bad sleep, awkward conversations and existential dread at 2 a.m. … But in the process of keeping our feelings from running the show, many of us learned to shut them out entirely.” - Relevant
From Voice, Mar/Apr 2014. Used by permission.
Recently I read an article which began with these words:
Some time ago a man said to me, “I drink beer in the pub in my spare time. Some guys I know go out chasing women. So what’s the difference? Your hobby is Christianity.” To think that a man could look at me and say that Christianity was just a pleasant spare time occupation like collecting stamps or yachting. Is that my definition of Christianity? Do I put it second, or do I put it first?
This quotation points out the fact that if our faith does not change our lives, even the world questions the genuineness of our profession.
“What’s the point of such discipline? Four verses later, we get the answer to that question. It says, ‘[God] disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.’” - John Piper
“How often do we take time to pay attention to our surroundings and look closely at the intricacies and beauty of God’s creation? Do we know the plants and animals that inhabit our backyards or our local parks?… Do we view them with a sense of wonder? Does it even matter if we don’t?” - By Faith
Read the series.
We’re looking at God’s speech as a model for our own. The previous post ended with God speaking of delivering his people Israel from their Egyptian taskmasters, and of his keeping that promise through the plagues.
After crossing the Red Sea—miraculously—Israel travels to Mount Sinai, where they will meet God and receive the Law of Moses.
“Grief comes easily to me. The furnace of my many afflictions—stoked by painful bone disease, stage 4 cancer, advancing arthritis, perpetual 35-year-long head pain…. When you grieve as much as I have, you sometimes wonder what the Lord thinks of it. Is my grief permissible, or have I fallen into grieving doubt and self-pitying discontent?” - TGC
Discussion