There is no Jesus without Judas, no Martin Luther King, Jr. , without the Klan; no Ali without Joe Frazier; no freedom without tyranny. No wisdom exists that does not include perspective. Relativity is the greatest gift.
If JESUS cannot control you, HE cannot save you. And if HE cannot control ALL of you HE cannot control any of you.
All I have to tell you about is what I have heard and seen of Jesus, how He is helping me find freedom, to occasionally love other people, and even accept myself with all my mixed motives.
The church as a whole has strayed quite far from biblical evangelism; that is, sharing the Gospel in the way that Jesus did, the way the Apostle Paul did, and the rest of the disciples and prophets in Scripture.
Each one could be a Jesus mild, Each one has been a little child, A little child with laughing look, A lovely white unwritten book; A book that God will take, my friend, As each goes out at journey's end.
We do not really know how to forgive until we know what it is to be forgiven. Therefore we should be glad that we can be forgiven by others. It is our forgiveness of one another that makes the love of Jesus manifest in our lives, for in forgiving one another we act towards one another as He has acted towards us.
In Great Britain, an author published a book in which he claimed that Jesus Christ had children. Such statements don't trigger civil unrest and bloodshed in Europe. But write similar statements about Islam in Syria and you might see bloody uprisings.
We modern people think of miracles as the suspension of the natural order, but Jesus meant them to be the restoration of the natural order.
We are great sinners; Jesus is a greater Savior!
We must be holy, because this is the only sound evidence that we have a saving faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Again, Rayford slid to the ground, raising his arms. "My Lord and my God, I am so unworthy. " "And you, Rayford, who once were alienated and an enemy in your mind by wicked works, yet now I have reconciled the body of My flesh through death to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in God's sight. " "Unworthy! Unworthy!" Rayford cried. "Justified by faith," Jesus said, "Justified.
From the Crusades, to the Inquisition, to American politics--the name of Jesus had been hijacked as an ally in all kinds of power struggles. Since the beginning of time, the ignorant had always screamed the loudest, herding the unsuspecting masses and forcing them to do their bidding. They defended their worldly desires by citing Scripture they did not understand. They celebrated their intolerance as proof of their convictions. Now, after all these years, mankind had finally managed to utterly erode everything that had once been so beautiful about Jesus.
Jesus isn't a logo, I'm not promoting some company, some brand. I'm just professing my faith.
If Jesus were here today, he wouldn't be riding around on a donkey. He'd be taking a plane, he'd be using the media.
As we follow that Man of Galilee-even the Lord Jesus Christ-our personal influence will be felt for good wherever we are, whatever our callings.
Can you honestly tell me that your great desire is to be holy? Can you honestly tell me your great desire is to not be like the world, but to be like Jesus Christ? Because if you cannot, you should be afraid. Those who love the world do not have the love of the Father (1 John 2:15).
Even if you're not Christian, just from being in our culture you know Jesus and resurrection and redemption.
I've always assumed that every time a child is born, the Divine reenters the world. Okay? That's the meaning of the Christmas story. And every time that child's purity is corrupted by society, that's the meaning of the Crucifixion story. Your man Jesus stands for that child, that pure spirit, and as its surrogate, he's being born and put to death again and again, over and over, every time we inhale and exhale, not just at the vernal equinox and on the 25th of December.
This book is written for those who want more Jesus. It is for those who are bored with what American Christianity offers. It is for those who don't want to plateau, those who would rather die before their convictions do.
Fear not because your prayer is stammering, your words feeble, and your language poor. Jesus can understand you.