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From C. S. Lewis:

For my own part, I tend to find the doctrinal books often more helpful in devotion than the devotional books, and I rather suspect that the same experience may await others. I believe that many who find that ‘nothing happens’ when they sit down, or kneel down, to a book of devotion, would find that the heart sings unbidden while they are working their way through a tough bit of theology with a pipe in their teeth and a pencil in their hand.

HT: Justin Taylor

JC Ryle writes:

Like a Good Shepherd, Christ cares tenderly for all His believing people.  He bears patiently with their many weaknesses and infirmities, and does not cast them off because they are wayward, erring, sick, footsore, or lame.

Like a Good Shepherd, Christ lays down his life for the sheep.  He did it once for all, when He was crucified for them.  When He say that nothing could deliver them from hell and the devil, but His blood, He willingly made His soul an offering for their sins.  The merit of that death He is now presenting before the Father’s throne.  The sheep are saved for evermore, because the Good Shepherd died for them.

(Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, 3:190.)

“Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O Lord!”—Psalm 25:7

“Do not remember against us our former iniquities; let your compassion come speedily to meet us, for we are brought very low.”—Psalm 79:8

“I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.”—Isaiah 43:25

“I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”—Jeremiah 31:34

“For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”—Hebrews 8:12

“I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”—Hebrews 10:17

HT: Justin Taylor

Soundbites from various preachers and various sermons…

“The Bible is a window and a mirror.  A window to see the majesty of God like you can no place else and a mirror to see the depths of your sin need for God like you can no place else.”

“Every sin has enough truth to make it desirable and enough error to make it devastating.”

“You either come to Jesus boastful or broken…which will it be?”

“The opportunity for is not the cause of…Sin is not in the bait, but in the bite.”

“Jesus suffered that you might soldier.”

From Michael Horton’s Christless Christianity:

Conformity to Christ’s image (sanctification) is the process of dying to self (mortification) and living to God (vivification) that results from being regularly immersed in the gospel’s story of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection.

Want to make an impact on the global missions front?  One of the most important things you can do is pray for unreached people groups.  Don’t know of any? That’s fine. 

Sign up to have daily or weekly emails sent to prompt you to pray for those around the globe who need to hear the name of Jesus.

Is God’s relentless self-exaltation to be considered megalomania?  In short, no.  Rather, it’s quite the opposite.  It’s loving.  John Piper explains why:

God must uphold his own glory as the supreme value of the universe because 1) he is true, and it would be false to hold up any other glory as supreme; and 2) he is loving, and it would be unloving to offer us as supremely satisfying anything less than what is infinitely and eternally satisfying—namely, himself.

This past Sunday we were encouraged to not waste our lives.  Want to read about some people who did not waste their life?  Check out these great biographies:

Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret
Hudson Taylor was the first missionary to inland China.  What propelled him to abandon comfort and place himself in jeopardy?  A fierce faith that believed God truly would fulfill the promises in His Word.  Read this biography and be challenged in your faith.

Amazing Grace in the Life of William Wilberforce
This succinct and superbly perceptive study of William Wilberforce not only tells the story of a great man’s life-it also tells us how to understand the ultimate source of his greatness and happiness.  William Wilberforce’s secret, as revealed in this book, was that he made the journey from self-centeredness, achievement-centeredness, and political-centeredness to God-centeredness. And he made it with Christlike joy.

Autobiography of George Muller
What can be accomplished in an ordinary man who trusts in an extraordinary God?  Müller’s unwavering, childlike dependence upon his heavenly Father will inspire you to confidently trust the God of the impossible in every area of your life.