Year: 2015

…Jesus takes full responsibility for the constituent parts of his body. “You did not choose me, but I chose you,” he told his disciples, and these were the very scalawags who so exasperated him and would soon desert him at his hour of greatest need. I think of Peter, whose bluster, love, hot-headedness, misdirected passion, and faithless betrayal preview in embryo form nineteen centuries of church history. On “rocks” like him, Jesus built his church, and he promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against it.
–Philip Yancey

I am a sinner saved by grace.
I am so grateful that Jesus chose me.

Christianity has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.
–G.K. Chesterton

One of my favorite quotes.

Too many people have “thrown out” Christianity without ever “trying” it. (not that you can really “try” Christianity, though you can truly investigate it.) But to the many who say that Christianity is of no value – that it is an outdated, unnecessary religion – the truth is that most of them have in no way truly investigated Christianity – they have been unwilling to give a fair look at the claims of who Jesus is and what He has done.

In my own experience, I have found that Christianity is difficult, but its value is immeasurable and worth my very life.

“Abhor what is evil.” A gospel-centered community acknowledges the presence of sin and welcomes the confession of sin. But a truly gospel-centered community never reduces the severity of sin…. When God saves us, our attitude toward sin changes. Sin doesn’t become easier to commit; it becomes more despicable to us than ever.
–Matt Chandler

Another current Christian leader – Russell Moore – tells us that we need to hold a “high view” of grace AND a “high view” of sin. What he means is that we do not reduce either one. We hold to what the Bible says about sin – that it is deplorable to God. We don’t begin excusing sin. We remind ourselves that we are sinners who commit terrible actions against God’s plans. And yet, we also hold a high view of grace, that reminds us that where sin abounds, grace abounds even more. That sin is deplorable but grace can cover over every deplorable sin.

May we all continue to abhor what is evil and keep shouting to others the marvelous message of grace!

Jesus’ harvest vision was leveraged by prayer. Prayer is continually connected to the mission of God in the life of Jesus. We have no ability to transform anything without God’s power. Jesus explained the power needed for the harvest was found in the resource of praying, ‘The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest’” (Matt. 9:37-38). The source for harvest workers is not in recruitment strategies, but in prayer. Prayer recognizes God as eternally resourceful.
–Ed Stetzer & Thom Rainer

God calls us to be people of prayer. And He instructs us about what we should pray. As you pray for the harvest and for more people to answer the call to work in the harvest, God will also begin transforming you into a worker for His kingdom purposes. Take time to stop and pray that God will send more into the harvest fields today.

Our problem in evangelism is not that we don’t have enough information–it is that we don’t know how to be ourselves. We forget we are called to be witnesses to what we have seen and know, not to what we don’t know.
–Rebecca Pippert

Too many times we don’t share about our relationship with Jesus because we are afraid that we don’t have enough knowledge. We are afraid we will be asked a question that we don’t know the answer to. The problem is that we can never be prepared for every question that could ever be asked. Instead of worrying about what I don’t know, I need to focus on what I do know… and what I know is that my life is different because of my meeting Jesus. My character, attitude, thoughts, speech, and behavior are all different due to how He has transformed me. That is what I need to let people see and hear about. And that is enough to draw people to Jesus. Now… how can I change my conversations with people today so that I can tell someone something about who Jesus is to me?