John Piper on C.S. Lewis this afternoon:
“the most fundamental reason why he has been so influential in my life, and so awakening to my own soul, is that he remained anchored as a Christian in the unfathomable rock-solid objectivity of God and his Truth and his gospel as infinitely Beautiful and infinitely Desirable and, therefore, as the unshakeable ground of unutterable and exalted Joy.”
From the opening session last night at the 2010 Desiring God Conference for Pastors by Dr. Sam Storms:
“the ultimate purpose of pastoral ministry is identical with the purpose for which God created the universe.” – Sam Storms
to clarify via Jonathan Edwards:
Jonathan Edwards: “Glorifying God is nothing else than rejoicing in God in his glory. But if God made man to rejoice in this, then he made man to be happy.”
“Men today do not, perhaps, burn the Bible. But men destroy it in the form of exegesis: they destroy it in the way they deal with it. They destroy it by not reading it as written in normal literary form, by ignoring historical-grammatical exegesis, by changing the Bible’s own perspective of itself as propositional revelation in space and time, in history, by saying that only the “spiritual” portions of the Bible have authority for us.”
… Francis A. Schaeffer (1912-1984), Death in the City, London: Inter-Varsity Press, 1969, Good News Publishers, 2002, p. 77-78
For Austin, Anna, Amy, Jon, and Trent…
“When our lives are focused on God, awe and wonder lead us to worship Him, filling our inner being with a fullness we would never have thought possible…
Awe prepares the way in us for the power of God… to transform us and this transformation of our inner attitudes can only take place when awe leads us in turn to wonder, admiration, reverence, surrender, and obedience toward God.”
… James Houston (b. 1922), The Transforming Power of Prayer, Colorado Springs, Colo.: NavPress, 1996, p. 221-222
With profound thanks to my dear friends from the Class of 2008. You have indeed rekindled His light within us….
“Sometimes our light goes out but is blown into flame by
another human being. Each of us owes deepest thanks
to those who have rekindled this light.”
~ Albert Schweitzer
Raphael – Marriage of the Virgin, 1504
“A Christian marriage is [not] one with no problems or even a marriage with fewer problems. (It may well mean more problems.) But it does mean a life in which two people are able to accept each other and love each other in the midst of problems and fears. It means a marriage in which selfish people can accept selfish people without constantly trying to change them—and even accept themselves, because they realize personally that they have been accepted by Christ.”
… Keith Miller, The Taste of New Wine, Waco, Texas: Word Books, 1965, p. 48
“I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others to do the same.”
C.S. Lewis – Mere Christianity
Lord, may this be my aim this year…
King David in Prayer
Author : PIETER DE GREBBER
Date :1635-40
“Almighty and most merciful Father, I again appear in Your presence the wretched misspender of another year which Your mercy has allowed me. O Lord, let me not sink into total depravity, look down upon me, and rescue me at last from the captivity of sin. Impart to me good resolutions, and give me strength and perseverance to perform them. …grant that I may redeem the time lost, and that by temperance and diligence, by sincere repentance and faithful obedience, I may finally attain everlasting happiness, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.”
… Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), Prayers and Meditations, London: Verner, Hood, and Sharpe, 1806, Jan. 1, 1766, p. 53-54
Bernardo Strozzi 1581 – 1644
The Conversion of Zacchaeus
oil on canvas (163 × 100 cm) — 2nd q 17th century
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nantes
“The nature of Christ’s salvation is woefully misrepresented by the present-day ‘evangelist.’ He announces a Saviour from hell rather than a Saviour from sin. And that is why so many are fatally deceived, for there are multitudes who wish to escape the Lake of fire who have no desire to be delivered from their carnality and worldliness.”
… A. W. Pink (1886-1952), Studies on Saving Faith, Swengel, Pa.: Reiner Publications, 1932, p. 9-10
“A gospel which does not express itself to the physical needs of man is a gospel not worthy of the name… Man is a whole person, with body and soul. Some evangelicals act as if people are disembodied souls, statistics for eternity only.”
… Stan Mooneyham, former president, World Vision US, in a private communication from World Vision
