“Your service might not be what you thought it would be or look the way you thought it would look. Along the way, you may have to redefine ‘good works;’ remember, our good works don’t have to be spectacular to be valued in God’s kingdom. Suffering with God’s name on our lips may be the very good work he has in mind for you to do!” – Katie Faris

“Do you know why books ARE NOT being written making the case by argument that the gift of pastor is still being given?

That’s right: because every biblically faithful Christian knows and universally OBSERVES that fact. No need to make the case by argument.

Now: do you know why books ARE being written making the case by argument that revelatory and attesting gifts are still being given?” – Dan Phillips

By fencing the table, we mean giving biblical instruction about who should partake of the Lord’s Supper, and who should refrain. We fence the table because Scripture does. In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul warns that some who partake wrongly come under God’s judgment. The Lord’s Supper is a means of grace for Christ’s people, but it must never be approached carelessly. Since we do not know the heart of every person in the room, love requires us to speak clearly. The warning is not unloving. It is one of the ways we care for souls.

“This is true spirituality. Spirituality…means that Christ is the Lord of all your life and not just your religious life. And if you make a dichotomy in these things, you are denying your Lord His proper place. And I don’t care how many butterflies you have in your stomach, you are poor spiritually.” – Francis Schaeffer

It is extremely important to distinguish between faith as the ground of our justification (wrong) versus faith as the instrument of our justification (right). Justification is grounded upon the obedience and satisfaction of Christ; that is the “stuff” of the righteousness we receive from Him. Faith is merely the (sole) instrument, the empty hand, by which we lay hold of His righteousness. If you construe faith as the ground rather than the mere instrument of justification – if the stuff of our righteousness is our believing – then you make faith into a work and the Gospel into a new law. This excerpt from Horatius Bonar explains this distinction well:

“Faith is not our saviour. It was not faith that was born at Bethlehem and died on Golgotha for us. It was not faith that loved us, and gave itself for us; that bore our sins in its own body on the tree; that died and rose again for our sins. Faith is one thing, the Saviour is another. Faith is one thing, and the cross is another. Let us not confound them, nor ascribe to a poor, imperfect act of man, that which belongs exclusively to the Son of the Living God.”

“The measure of all love is its giving. The measure of the love of God is the cross of Christ.” – J. I. Packer

“Grace is the pleasure of God to magnify the worth of God by giving sinners the right and power to delight in God without obscuring the glory of God – and cheerful Christian giving flows from that same delight in God’s supreme worth.” – John Piper

“Whatever is given to Christ is immediately touched with immortality.” – A. W. Tozer  

“Giving affirms Christ’s lordship. It dethrones me and exalts Him… Giving breaks me free from the gravitational hold of money and possessions. Giving shifts me to a new center of gravity – heaven.” – Randy Alcorn

1 Chronicles 29:14 (David’s prayer): “But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from You, and we have given You only what comes from Your hand.”

“No doubt the church in the west has many new things to learn. But for the most part, everything we need to learn is what we’ve already forgotten. The chief theological task now facing the Western church is not to reinvent or to be relevant but to remember. We must remember the old, old story. We must remember the faith once delivered to the saints. We must remember the truths that spark reformation, revival, and regeneration. And because we want to remember all this, we must also remember-if we are fortunate to have ever heard of them in the first place-our creeds, confessions, and catechisms.” – Kevin DeYoung, The Good News We Almost Forgot- 13.

“Catechism (from the Greek word catechesis) is simply instruction in the basic doctrines of the Christian faith. Instead of replacing or supplanting the role of the Bible in Christian education, catechism ideally serves as the basis for it. For the practice of catechism, as properly understood, is the Christian equivalent of looking at the box top of a jigsaw puzzle before one starts to put all of those hundreds of little pieces together. It is very important to look at the big picture and have it clearly in mind, so that we do not bog down in details, or get endlessly sidetracked by some unimportant or irrelevant issue. The theological categories given to us through catechism help us to make sense out of the myriad of details found in the Scriptures themselves. Catechism serves as a guide to better understanding Scripture. That being noted however, we need to remind ourselves that Protestants have always argued that creeds, confessions and catechisms are authoritative only in so far as they faithfully reflect the teaching of Holy Scripture. This means that the use of catechisms, which correctly summarize biblical teaching, does not negate or remove the role of Holy Scripture. Instead, these same creeds, confessions and catechisms, as summary statements of what the Holy Scriptures themselves teach about a particular doctrine, should serve as a kind of springboard to more effective Bible study.” – Kim Riddlebarger

“Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever. Missions exists because worship doesn’t.”

— John Piper, Let the Nations Be Glad, p. 17

It’s possible to be a zealous defender of Reformed orthodoxy, a vigorous apologist, and a stalwart polemicist against error and heresy — AND have a kind and gracious heart, filled with the love and mercy of Jesus! – Matthew Everhard

Five ways believers should be an example:

1. In the way we talk

2. In the way we act

3. In the way we love

4. In the way we trust God

5. In the way we seek holiness

-1 Timothy 4:12

(Kevin Hay)

Real hard work — the kind that changes your life, your income, and your future — isn’t a schedule. It’s a mindset. It’s what you do when no one’s watching. It’s the standard you hold when it’s inconvenient. It’s showing up when there’s no immediate reward… and doing it anyway.