The revival we aim for in our preaching may still be quenched by our pride. The Spirit exalts the broken, not the boisterous.

“I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.” —Isa 43:25 For his own sake. Unimaginably reassuring.

"Jesus didn't get in the disciples' boat because he needed a ride." - Ray Ortlund

You can't forgive somebody without absorbing the cost. Either that person pays for it or you do. On the cross, God didn't just forgive us, he paid the cost himself.

Gospel doctrine without gospel culture is just religious intellectualism

You can run from God either by breaking his rules or by keeping them.

Grace takes root in our hearts when Jesus becomes our advocate, not our accuser. And grace takes root in our churches when we become our brothers' and sisters' advocates, not their accusers.

There is all the difference in the world between a God who gives you what you want, and a God who changes what you want.

The older one gets, the more often irritated we seem to naturally become — with people, with inconveniences, with “stuff.” But for followers of Jesus, the opposite should be true. The older we get, the longer we walk with him, the less and less irritable we should be.

The fastest way to become a Pharisee is to hate Pharisees.

One of God's greatest judgments is giving us what we want. One of God's greatest mercies is not giving us what we want. One of God's greatest strategies is changing what we want.

Each day there are new joys to discover in communion with Christ. He is such a person that to know him is a never ending adventure. Grateful.

Us questioning how God runs the world is like a 7-year-old questioning the mathematical calculations of a world-class physicist. Asking questions is always good. Knowing the limits of our own understanding will sharpen those questions.

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In all my years of pastoring, I have learned this lesson: a person’s spiritual maturity is not truly visible until they DON’T get their way. Then you see the person. —Erik Reed

You should not begin to pray for all you want until you realize that in God you have all you need.

If you have a God powerful enough to be mad at because of evil (because you think he could do something about it), then you have a God great enough to have reasons that you can't fully understand.

More often than not, the reason your life is out of control is because you're afraid of giving control of your life to God.

Look at Jesus. He is always weeping, a man of sorrows. Do you know why? Because He is perfect. When you are not absorbed in yourself, you can feel the sadness of the world.

At the heart of self-deception is a refusal to handle the most earth-shattering truth of all. If there is a God, he owns you utterly and you must obey him completely. If there is no God, your life is meaningless and nothing is truly right or wrong and no one knows which end is up