christianity
Imported tag from Readwise
christianity
But if you desire to be godly, you must face the fact that you will always be busy. To do what God wants most, that is, to love Him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as you love yourself (see Mark 12:29-31), can’t be done in your spare time. Loving God and others in word and in deed will result in a busy life.
... See moreDonald S. Whitney • Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life
Examples of those wolves might be materialism, sensuality, pluralism, relativism, and the panoply of sins flowing from them. In a culture saturated with these destructive values, the sheep not only need to be warned about the dangers but equipped to stand against them.
Timothy Z. Witmer • Shepherd Leader
Tests of external memory are usually discouraging to pastors because they are dismayed at how little people remember days or even hours after a sermon.25 Such discovery may tempt preachers to hammer away at the distinctions of an outline or repeat the main ideas multiple times to increase external memory. Such efforts are more likely to result in
... See moreBryan Chapell • Christ-Centered Preaching
In what ways have you seen the gospel attacked in the church or in society? Is the objective or subjective dimension of the gospel attacked more frequently? Now consider your role in the kingdom to defend the gospel and take some time to reflect on these two dimensions. Rehearse a succinct gospel presentation that incorporates both aspects and
... See moreR.C. Sproul • The Power of the Gospel
Crazy: Stat(s) I Found Fascinating [Or Alarming] This WeekThese stats are worth repeating as we make are way into 2025…In 1900, 18% of the world's Christians lived in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Oceania...Today that figure is 67%, and by 2050, it is projected to be 77%.Africa is home to 27% of the world's Christians, the largest share in the world, and by 2050, that figure will likely be 39%.For comparison, the United States and Canada were home to just 11% of all Christians in the world in 2020 and will likely drop to 8% by 2050.If these projections play out, and many believe they will, we have a problem.Source: Gina Zurlo, Center for the Study of Global Christianity, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary https://charper.substack.com/p/the-week-in-review-f93?publication_id=1235283&utm_campaign=email-post-title&r=1w28vw&utm_medium=email The Gospel is attacked in many ways in America now. To say we are a post-Christian nation seems to be an understatement. This especially poignant as I studied Psalms 1 and 2 this morning. It is amazing how big and puffed up we get as humans. We are such ignorant sheep for being as intelligent as we are.
Each verse needs to be understood in the context of the chapter in which it appears, and each chapter in the light of the book as a whole. And there is a wider context we must consider as well: the whole Bible.
Vaughan Roberts • God's Big Picture
"The Function Of Leadership Is To Produce More Leaders, Not More Followers." — Ralph Nader
Harp from BetterMan • The Week in Review
Father, I want to know Thee, but my coward heart fears to give up its toys. I cannot part with them without inward bleeding, and I do not try to hide from Thee the terror of the parting. I come trembling, but I do come. Please root from my heart all those things which I have cherished so long and which have become a very part of my living self, so
... See moreA. W. Tozer • The Pursuit of God
.prayer
Asking a strong diagnostic question after the proposition and then answering the question with the main-point statements make people keenly aware of the purpose of each main point and give the entire message a sense of unity as it progresses. Interrogating the proposition and answering it with the main points is one of the most common and effective
... See moreBryan Chapell • Christ-Centered Preaching
These forms work well because they naturally link, in a single statement, a sermon’s overall content: a truth principle and an exhortation.