How we Experience

...he doesn't promise to give us experiences of super-abounding joy and serenity such that for a moment the stress and sadness seem to melt away. That can happen, and we should be endlessly grateful for such "touches" of God's love. But he doesn't promise them, and only he knows what we need and when. Remember John Newton's maxim: "Everything is needful that he sends; nothing can be needful that he withholds."

~ Gospel Coalition

Enduring: What we actually do

"When we endure suffering with all the patience we can muster, we treat God as God, and that glorifies him, regardless of any other results we can discern."

~ Gospel Coalition

Characterized by Might

In the Bible, you continually see God mightily testing those he uses before he uses them mightily.

~The Resurgence

What gives Impact...

Because rules don’t change you.
But a Story—God’s Story—can.

~ The Resurgence 

Comfort & Suffering?

With mystery and glory, the bleeding Nazarene reigned from where he hung. Christianity is uniquely comforting because only the Christian God plunged into the suffering we experience. ~ Gospel Coalition

Happiness Defined

Contentment is to know and rest in the fact that in all things, God will never leave you or forsake you. ~ The Resurgence

Crediting Properly

"God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God." ~ 1 Cor. 1:27-29

Simply Ask (and Answer)

1. What specific false thoughts or disturbing emotions hinder me when I don't trust (fully grasp) that God has this particular attribute?
2. Although my conscious mind may agree that God has this attribute, does my outward life demonstrate that he is like this?

Try these questions out on the glory and majesty of God, the wisdom and sovereignty of God, the love and mercy of God. Spend time thinking and you will begin to see that many of our most personal and practical problems are doctrinal ones. Either we don't grasp the truth or we don't connect it to our lives so that it creates "soundness," or spiritual health, in us.

~ Gospel Coalition

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2013/03/19/why-studying-doctrine-is-the-best-medicine/

Newborn Lives...to Abandon or Redeem?

Interesting...thought of something else when I read "Drop Box." Turns out to be on another topic which is definitely more about making people aware of what's going on out there.

http://vimeo.com/41412962#

God?

"God has revealed himself as holy, just, and righteous—but that’s not all. He’s revealed himself as the definition of love (1 John 4:8), whose grace is scandalous, (Luke 15:11–32), and whose mercy leads to our justification (Rom. 2:4). In fact, Jesus teaches us that he is our heavenly Father (Matt. 6:7–15) and Paul goes as far as to tell us on two occasions that God prefers his kids use a familial name like “Abba” when talking to him in prayer (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:16)."

~ The Resurgence

http://theresurgence.com/2013/01/23/do-unborn-children-go-to-heaven-or-hell?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheResurgence+%28The+Resurgence%29

Worship Gladly

"Yes, because he is Elohim, we have to give him our all. But because he is Yahweh, the God who is near and compassionate with his people, we should want to give him our all. We should want to surrender all of our rights, because this kind of God wants better things for us than we could ever dream up for ourselves! Because our God is Elohim, we must give him all our worship, but because he's Yahweh, we gladly offer it, as nothing else could make us happier."

~ Gospel Coalition 

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2013/01/14/the-greatness-and-closeness-of-god/

Loving & Seeking

My son, if you receive my words
and treasure up my commandments with you,
making your ear attentive to wisdom
and inclining your heart to understanding;
yes, if you call out for insight
and raise your voice for understanding,
if you seek it like silver
and search for it as for hidden treasures,
then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.

~ Proverbs 2:1–5 (ESV)

Pursuit of Good

"...remember that our Lord says that because he has chosen us out of this world that the world will hate us. (John 15:19) This hate is not a mere effect of our focusing on divisive cultural issues. This is the default attitude of the world toward Christians. Jesus healed the sick, cured the blind, and even raised the dead---and for these good works they crucified him." ~ The Gospel Coalition 

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2013/01/10/pastor-disinvited-from-giving-inaugural-prayer-because-of-sermon-on-homosexuality/

"For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead." ~ James 2:26

Inducing growth

"Healthy systems, processes, and cultures enable and facilitate growth, but don't cause it. The Apostle Paul explained that we cooperate with God in the planting and watering of the seeds, but that it's God who makes the seeds grow. 'I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth' (I Cor. 3:6)." ~ The Resurgence

http://theresurgence.com/2012/11/12/are-you-building-healthy-systems?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheResurgence+%28The+Resurgence%29

Christ's response

"It is urgent that Christians respond as Jesus did when he saw people in great pain. He didn’t pontificate with cold philosophy, nor did he patronize suffering people with pithy aphorisms like 'Let go and let God.' It is precisely because he was God that he did not let go. Jesus’ heart broke and he wept when his friend Lazarus died (John 11:35). He put his hands to work to feed the starving (Mark 6:30–44). He rejected religious bigotry and restored a woman’s dignity and saved her life (John 8:1–11)." ~ The Resurgence

http://theresurgence.com/2012/10/30/god-sandy-and-the-christians-response?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheResurgence+%28The+Resurgence%29

Gospel message

"The gospel message is that we are saved by Christ’s work, not by our work." ~ The Resurgence

http://theresurgence.com/2012/10/28/two-ways-the-gospel-changes-your-view-of-sin?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheResurgence+%28The+Resurgence%29

Impossible divide

"The biblical teaching on sin shows us the complete pervasiveness of sin and the ultimate impossibility of dividing the world neatly into sinful people and good people. It eliminates our attitudes of superiority toward others and our practices of shunning or excluding those with whom we differ." ~ The Resurgence

http://theresurgence.com/2012/10/28/two-ways-the-gospel-changes-your-view-of-sin?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheResurgence+%28The+Resurgence%29

Point of beauty

"The only weapon powerful enough for this fight is Jesus. He is beautiful. He is loveliness beyond description, splendor and glory and might. All this time and energy and attention are only worth it for Jesus. All this money and fuss and focus are a waste of time unless the time is redeemed in him. The melding of a mother’s heart with her children is his work. The love of a man for a woman is a mere hint of the beauty to be found in Jesus’ eyes. Beloved Jesus is always and only the point. He is beauty." ~ The Resurgence

http://theresurgence.com/2012/10/24/i-see-you-and-i-judge?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheResurgence+%28The+Resurgence%29

Land of the free

"Many members of today's black church attend because their parents, who introduced them to Christ and the church, are believers---believers themselves who are the children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren of slaves and freedmen who went to church because they believed in a God who would free them from slavery just as he freed the children of Israel from Egypt. My grandfather, great-grandfathers, and great-great grandfathers, all humble, land-owning (but not well-to-do) farmers, had no ambitions or motives for being churchgoers other than to please Christ, their faithful Lord. The same could be said for the faith of millions of African Americans who preached, prayed, sang, and gave their monies so that their children might follow in the faith as free members in the land of the free." ~ Gospel Coalition

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2012/10/23/atheists-behind-the-black-church-veil/