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    The Problem with Apologetics

    Author
    Joshua Chatraw and Jack Carson
    Keywords
    Scripture
    1 Corinthians 13:2, James 2:19-20, 1 Corinthians 8:1-2, Ecclesiastes 1:18, 1 Corinthians 2:5, Philippians 3:10, Matthew 7:21, 24-27, James 1:22
    The Oxford scholar and apologist C. S. Lewis... once closed a lecture to a group of apologists like this:  I have found that nothing is more dangerous to one’s own faith than the work of an apologis...

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    Fear & Growth, Risk & Comfort

    Author
    John Ortberg
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Matthew 8:20, Philippians 3:8, Hebrews 12:11, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Romans 5:3-4, James 1:2-4, Luke 9:23
    Fear and growth go together like macaroni and cheese. It’s a package deal. The decision to grow always involves a choice between risk and comfort. This means that to be a follower of Jesus you must re...

  • Quote

    Author
    C. S. Lewis
    Keywords
    Scripture
    2 Corinthians 12:9-10, Proverbs 24:16, James 1:12, Philippians 3:13-14, Psalm 103:13-14, Hebrews 4:15-16, Matthew 25:14-30, Luke 18:1-8, Exodus 16:, Mark 5:25-34, Romans 5:3-5
    God knows our situation; He will not judge us as if we had no difficulties to overcome. What matters is the sincerity and perseverance of our will to overcome them.

  • Quote

    Author
    Algernon Charles Swinburne
    Keywords
    Scripture
    John 14:2-3, Revelation 21:4, Revelation 22:1-2, Matthew 25:34, 1 Corinthians 2:9, Philippians 3:20-21
    No sign that ever was given To faithful or faithless eyes Showed ever beyond clouds riven So clear a paradise. Earth’s creeds may be seventy times seven And blood have defiled each creed But if such b...

  • illustration

    The Crucial Thing

    Author
    Søren Kierkegaard
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Matthew 22:37-39, 1 Corinthians 8:1-3, Ezekiel 36:26-27, Colossians 1:9-10, Philippians 3:10-14, James 1:22, John 14:21
    In a journal entry by the Danish Philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, the great existentialist philosopher describes the importance not simply of grasping the truth of the Christian faith, but having the tr...

  • Quote

    Author
    John D. Zizioulas
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Romans 5:2-5, 1 Peter 1:3-4, Colossians 1:27, Romans 8:24-25, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Philippians 3:13-14
    [The Christian Faith] has its roots in the future and its branches in the present.

  • Quote

    Author
    Rainer Maria Rilke
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Psalm 23:4, Philippians 3:13-14, Lamentations 3:22-23, Isaiah 43:2, 2 Corinthians 4:16-17, Psalm 30:5, Romans 5:3-5
    Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.

  • Quote

    Author
    Luke Norsworthy
    Keywords
    Scripture
    1 Peter 2:2, Colossians 2:6-7, Philippians 3:12-14, Ephesians 4:15, Galatians 5:1, 2 Corinthians 3:17, Romans 12:2
    For some, faith begins with a hard shell, a rigid set of answers and platitudes that keep them safe but eventually prevent them from growing into who they could be. The system that was initially prote...

  • Quote

    Author
    Alister E. McGrath
    Keywords
    Scripture
    1 Peter 1:8-9, Philippians 3:20, 1 Corinthians 2:9, John 20:29, 2 Corinthians 5:7
    Faith is not something that goes against the evidence, it goes beyond it. The evidence is saying to us, 'There is another country. There is something beyond mere reason'.

  • illustration

    Sad Will Be The Day

    Author
    Phillips Brooks
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Ecclesiastes 3:11, 2 Timothy 4:7, Hebrews 11:16, Psalm 42:1, Isaiah 6:8, Romans 12:2, Philippians 3:14
    Sad will be the day for every man when he becomes absolutely contented with the life he is living, with the thoughts that he is thinking, with the deeds that he is doing, when there is not forever bea...

  • illustration

    Grace Upon Grace

    Keywords
    Scripture
    Exodus 3:1–12 , 1 Kings 8:10–11, Isaiah 55:6–9 , John 1:16, Philippians 3:10–14, Psalm 84:5–7
    A number of mature Christians have described the Christian journey as one in which the follower of Jesus experiences different levels of grace.  Let us imagine . . . that there are many rooms in t...

  • illustration

    Christianity at its Core

    Author
    Andrew Purves
    Keywords
    Scripture
    John 14:6, Philippians 3:8, Ephesians 2:13, 1 John 1:3, John 10:10, Hebrews 1:3, Colossians 1:15-17
    Christianity at its core is not about subscription to a theological system or the authority of a sacred text or ethical perspectives, although they are all important. Christianity at its core is about...

  • Quote

    Author
    David Livingstone
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Acts 20:35, Proverbs 3:9, 2 Corinthians 9:7-8, Mark 10:21, Luke 12:33-34, Philippians 3:7-8, Matthew 13:44-46
    I place no value on anything I have or may possess, except in relation to the kingdom of God. If anything will advance the interests of the kingdom, it shall be given away or kept, only as by giving o...

  • Quote

    Author
    C. S. Lewis
    Keywords
    Scripture
    1 Corinthians 13:13, Titus 2:11-13, Hebrews 11:1, Philippians 3:20, 1 Peter 1:3-4, 2 Corinthians 4:17-18, Romans 8:24-25
    Hope is one of the Theological virtues. A continual looking forward to the eternal world is not as some modern people think, a form of escapism or wishful thinking. But it's one of the great thing...

  • Quote

    Author
    Dietrich Bonhoeffer
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Matthew 11:28-30, Genesis 22:, Acts 9:1-19, Matthew 4:18-22, Matthew 19:16-22, Philippians 3:7-8, Romans 6:22
    Grace is costly because it compels a person to submit to the yoke of Christ and follow him; it is grace because Jesus says: “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

  • Quote

    Author
    D. A. Carson
    Keywords
    Scripture
    2 Corinthians 4:17-18, Luke 18:29-30, Mark 10:28-30, Matthew 19:29, Philippians 3:8, Luke 14:33, Matthew 13:44
    The kingdom of heaven is worth infinitely more than the cost of discipleship, and those who know where the treasure lies joyfully abandon everything else to secure it.

  • illustration

    This Intention

    Author
    William Law
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Colossians 3:23-24, Matthew 6:33, Psalm 90:12, Romans 12:1-2, Philippians 3:13-14, 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, Proverbs 16:3, Revelation 2:10, Matthew 5:10-12, Philippians 1:27, Acts 2:42
    It was this…intention that made the primitive Christians such eminent instances of piety, that made the goodly fellowship of the Saints and all the glorious army of martyrs and confessors. And if you ...

  • illustration

    Christians are Weird

    Author
    A. W. Tozer
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Ephesians 3:19, 2 Corinthians 6:10, John 12:24-25, Luke 6:20-21, Matthew 23:12, Philippians 3:8-9
    A real Christian is an odd number, anyway. He feels supreme love for One whom he has never seen, talks familiarly every day to Someone he cannot see, expects to go to heaven on the virtue of Another, ...

  • Quote

    Author
    Alister E. McGrath
    Keywords
    Scripture
    James 2:24, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Romans 4:5, Philippians 3:9, Galatians 2:16
    The faith by which we are justified is faith. Faith is like a channel through which the benefits of Christ flow to us. We are not justified on account of faith; we are justified through faith. It is t...

  • illustration

    The One Thing Going For Us

    Author
    Andy Crouch
    Keywords
    Scripture
    1 John 1:8-9, Galatians 2:21, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Psalm 51:17, Luke 18:13-14, Isaiah 64:6, Philippians 3:9
    As for Christians, well, we really have just one thing going for us. We have publicly declared… that we are desperately in need of Another to give us his righteousness, to complete us, to live in us. ...

  • Quote

    Author
    Malcolm Muggeridge
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Colossians 3:2, Isaiah 65:17, Revelation 21:1-2, Philippians 3:20, 2 Corinthians 4:18, Hebrews 11:10
    The trouble with kingdoms of heaven on earth is that they're liable to come to pass, and then their fraudulence is apparent for all to see. We need a kingdom of heaven in Heaven, if only because i...

  • illustration

    Sometimes Easy, Sometimes Hard

    Author
    C. S. Lewis
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Philippians 3:7-8, Galatians 2:20, Romans 12:1-2, John 12:24-25, Matthew 7:14, Luke 14:27, Matthew 11:28-30
    You have noticed, I expect, that Christ Himself sometimes describes the Christian way as very hard, sometimes as very easy. He says, “Take up your Cross”—in other words, it is like going to be beaten ...

  • illustration

    Faith Like a Journey

    Author
    Samuel Rodriguez
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Isaiah 40:31, Acts 20:24, Hebrews 12:1-2, James 1:2-4, Proverbs 3:5-6, Psalm 37:23-24, Philippians 3:13-14
    While global flights and online booking have made travel easier in many ways, other aspects, often related to safety and security, still create challenges. As often as I fly, I could tell you plenty o...

  • illustration

    Cheap Grace vs. Costly Grace

    Author
    Dietrich Bonhoeffer
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Philippians 3:7-8, Romans 6:1-2, Ephesians 2:8-10, John 21:15-19, Luke 9:23-24, Mark 10:17-22
    Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting to-day for costly grace. Cheap grace means grace sold on the market… Cheap grace means grace as a doctrine, a principle, a system…. Chea...

  • illustration

    When Success looks like Failure

    Author
    Donna Barber
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Matthew 6:19-21, Matthew 16:26, Philippians 3:7-8, Proverbs 16:8, Luke 12:15, Proverbs 23:4-5, Ecclesiastes 4:7-8
    Sometimes our successes can be more devastating than our failures. We fight, strain, and struggle in pursuit of something or someone that looks to be good, and after days or months or years, we obtain...

  • illustration

    Meriting our Salvation

    Author
    Jen Pollock Michel
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Romans 6:23, Philippians 3:9, Titus 3:5, Galatians 2:16, Isaiah 64:6, Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:8-9
    At the core of every project of self-salvation is the staunch unwillingness to believe that God’s love and forgiveness can be unmerited. Those who would try and save themselves prefer work to rest, ef...

  • illustration

    Living in Two Worlds

    Author
    Ruth Chou Simons
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Genesis 12:1-3, Exodus 3:7-10 , Isaiah 40:28-31, John 1:4-5, Romans 8:18-25, Philippians 3:20-21
    We all live between two worlds. We are planted here on earth while our hope is in heaven. We are given work to do in temporary soil that, we’re told, has the potential to spring up into unending fruit...

  • Quote

    Author
    Thomas à Kempis
    Keywords
    Scripture
    2 Corinthians 5:15, Colossians 3:1-2, Romans 12:1, John 15:4-5, Philippians 3:7-8, Galatians 2:20, Matthew 6:33
    Let this be thy whole Endeavour, this thy prayer, this thy desire, that thou mayest be stripped of all selfishness, and with entire simplicity follow Jesus only.

  • illustration

    Suffering is Evidence of God’s Presence

    Author
    Eugene H. Peterson
    Keywords
    Scripture
    1 Peter 4:12-13, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Psalm 34:18, Luke 9:23, Philippians 3:10
    Suffering is not evidence of God’s absence, but of God’s presence, and it is in our experience of being broken that God does his surest and most characteristic salvation work. There is a way to accept...

  • illustration

    Not Found Wanting

    Author
    G. K. Chesterton
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Hebrews 12:1-2, John 16:33, Philippians 3:10, Romans 12:1-2, 2 Timothy 3:12
    Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it’s been found difficult and not tried.
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