Jun 11thStill More Memorable Quotes
Sometimes the best preaching is the kind where all I jot down is quotes straight from scripture because there's not much "filler". That was the kind of message Paul Sr. preached Sunday morning. I've got about two whole pages of scripture and no fluffy stuff and nothing I don't know where to find in the Bible. But since the title of this post is quotes . . . .
Sunday night my brother from Brazil, Robson (pronounced Hobson) preached on Galatians 6:17.
"The marks — Scars always tell a story."
"What do you think about a person who would suffer so much for you?"
"The marks and scars we have will one day disappear. The only one left who will have marks on his body in eternity is Jesus."
"Jesus has the marks of love. It's a love that is eternal."
More from Jonathan:
"The Word became flesh . . . The world needs the word inside us to become flesh. They need to see the word lived out in our lives."
"We need to expand our vision and see this world as God sees it."
I think it was Rand who quoted this:
Some men die in battle;
Some die in flames;
But most die little by little
Playing silly games.
Phillip Pritchard had this to say:
"Some people think that missions began with the Great Commission, but it began with the fall of man."
"We must realize that, just as with Abraham, God blesses us so that we can be a blessing."
Jun 8thMemorable Quotes
Here are a few memorable quotes from the first week.
Joe Davis, speaking about Jesus' words in Matthew 11:28-30 spoke about how young oxen are trained by being put into the yoke with an older, bigger, more experienced ox.
"The little ox doesn't pull anything. All he has to do is learn the yoke. The burden is all on the big ox."
Do you want to be a disciple of Christ? In Luke 14, three times Jesus says you can't be his disciple. "Verse 33 kicks most people right out the door. . . . He's not trying to keep people from being disciples. He's showing us what the path of discipleship is."
"Americans have so much stuff we're trying to get rid of some of the stuff so we can get more stuff."
"How can we make disciples if we are not disciples?"
"Christ is first. . . . He makes the choices. . . . He owns it all. . . . One of those three will knock most people out of the race."
"There are many things you can know about the Bible, but there are many things you will never understand until you give your life to the Gospel."
From Jonathan Quinn:
"God's priority is to redeem fallen man, not make us happy and comfortable."
"We think the community we live in is the world, but Jesus died for everyone on the face of the globe."
"We think the call to serve God is something only a few people have, but the call is to the world, and we're all responsible."
"There is going to have to be some suffering that has to take place in order to get the Gospel out to the world."
More later.
May 31stVictoria
As I walked away, I could see she was already reading her new Bible. I went back and asked for her photo and thanked her.
May 21stGoals
One more thing that sticks out in my mind from this brief trip. Most of the time I never see the people who clean the hotel room, but this time because I was working my usual schedule I got to speak with "Mary" several times. She seemed to be about my age, but maybe a lot harder life than I've had to deal with. On Sunday, I had a little more chance to talk to her. What she told me in that conversation has lodged in my brain.
The first thing she said was that she knew I would be nice when she saw my Bible in the room. I guess a lot of hotel guests aren't. She told me a couple of stories. But the thing I reallly want to remember about her is what she said next.
She said, "My goal is to learn to read so I can read the Bible." As we talked some more, it was clear that she had placed her faith in Jesus, but now she wanted to be able to read his words for herself. I thought about how saturated we are with Bibles in the churches in this country, and about how little we sometimes value these riches. I thought about how many people there are in the world — and right here in this country — who would love to have a Bible to read or who have set themselves the goal of learning how to read so that they can read the words of God for themselves. And I wondered if this was how education became a thing for the common people. I've read somewhere that where the Gospel has come to an illiterate culture, education isn't far behind.
A week from today I'll have the great privilege of taking God's word to people who can read, but don't have the ready access to Bibles that we do. I'm grateful for the opportunity to share my blessings.
What goal have you set for yourself?
Jul 31stThe One Book Meme
1. One book that changed your life:
Toss up between Romans and Hebrews.
2. One book that you’ve read more than once:
Honey From Stone: A Naturalist’s Search for God, Chet Raymo.
3. One book you’d want on a desert island:
If I couldn’t have the whole Bible, I’d settle for The Gospel of John.
4. One book that made you laugh:
When I Was 7 and 8 (by my daughter).
5. One book that made you cry:
A Sorrow In Our Heart: The Life of Tecumseh, Alan W. Eckert
6. One book that you wish had been written:
Dunno.
7. One book that you wish had never been written:
The Woman’s Bible, Elizabeth Cady Stanton
8. One book you’re currently reading:
Treasures from Heaven in the Stuff of Earth, Babbie Mason.
9. One book you’ve been meaning to read:
A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking (It’s been on the shelf for a year now. Probably by the time I get to it it will be old news.)