Sermon quotes on strength
James Agee
She thought that she had never before had a chance to realize the strength that human beings have, to endure; she loved and revered all those who had ever suffered, even those who had failed to endure.
Frederick Buechner
Even the saddest things can become, once we have made peace with them, a source of wisdom and strength for the journey that still lies ahead.
Telling Secrets (HarperCollins, 1991)
Chuck DeGroat
When I started doing psychological assessments for pastors and church planters, I saw that narcissistic traits were often presented as strengths. Narcissism can be interpreted as confidence, strong leadership, clear vision, a thick skin.
Taken from When Narcissism Comes to Church by Chuck DeGroat Copyright (c) 2020 by Chuck DeGroat. Published by InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL. www.ivpress.com
Dag Hammarskjöld
Life only demands from you the strength you possess. Only one feat is possible—not to have run away.
Ernest Hemingway
The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places.
A Farewell to Arms (1929)
Nicki Koziarz
The strongest people in my life are the ones who know how to win battles behind closed doors that no one knows about. They know how to rise above the hard and pursue the holy. And they know bad days do not equal a bad life.
Timothy Keller
If someone is criticizing you and the criticism is mostly mistaken, identify the 20 percent of the indictment that is fair. Without excuse be willing to take it to heart. The strongest Christians are the ones most willing to repent.
James Bryan Smith
Most of us live with the false narrative that strength is found in domination and control. But these are not the highest forms of power. God’s power is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9). The power of the seed emerges only when the (wheat) seed dies. The power of God is demonstrated most clearly on the cross.
Bryan Stevenson
There is a strength, a power even, in understanding brokenness, because embracing our brokenness creates a need and desire for mercy, and perhaps a corresponding need to show mercy. When you experience mercy, you learn things that are hard to learn otherwise.
Just Mercy: A Story of Mercy and Redemption (One World, 2015).
Dallas Willard
This is an age for spiritual heroes—a time for men and women to be heroic in faith and in spiritual character and power. The greatest danger to the Christian church today is that of pitching its message too low.
The Spirit of the Disciplines (New York: HarperCollins, 1988).
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