"Lord Jesus, our good Shepherd, don’t let us wander away from you. Don’t let us think that we are far from you and forgotten. Instead, enable us to know that you are always near and busy about the work of making all things new. Amen." (For full post, click the link below.)
Tag: faith
Bible Note #66: God’s Big Vision in Jesus
"Help us to display the humility and compassion of the heart of Jesus, which is far more powerful than anything the “great ones” of the earth put on display. Lift our small vision above our own small borders, so that we might catch a vision of your all-encompassing, world-transforming goodness. Amen."
Bible Note #65: Knowing Jesus & Following Him
"They saw something in Jesus – something powerful and glorious and very, very good, something that they wouldn’t really understand for a long time after this – that just drew them right out of themselves and into a life of discipleship to Jesus." (For full post, click link below.)
Pastor Note #146: “One of ours; All of yours”
“One of ours; All of yours” is the very essence of the spirit of Lamech. It is not the path to greatness. It is the path to degenerateness and degradation. “One of ours; All of yours” is the very antithesis of Jesus. And so, it is no surprise that the MAGA love of the Lamech spirit would make that movement pretty much allergic to Jesus." (For the full post, click the link below.)
Bible Note #64: Zechariah 7:9-10–A Rightly Ordered Society in God’s Eyes
"One of the primary tasks God gave to the prophets in ancient Israel was to instruct the people of Israel on how to order their society so that it reflected God’s heart and mind. These verses from the prophet Zechariah are a prime example of that." (For the full post, click the link below.)
Pastor Note #145: What Makes for the Blessed Life?
"Blessed are those who force their way to the front of the line; they will get to run things their own way." (For full post, click link below.)
Quote of Note #233: Repentance and Forgiveness of Sins
"There is no sin, and there can be no sin on all the earth which the Lord will not forgive to the truly repentant!" F. Dostoevsky (click link below for full quote)
Quote of Note #231: The “First Law of Prayer”
"There should be in our prayers an astringent honesty with ourselves, so that we may be honest with God, for God sees the secrets of our hearts, and God well knows when we are conventionally asking for blessings which we have no real desire to receive." Wm. Barclay (click link below for full quote)
Pastor Note #144: Jesus vs. Brutality & Inhumanity
"To truly follow Jesus is to follow the lamb who was slain (Rev. 5:6), not the roaring lion “seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8)."
Pastor Note #143: Coercion & the Kingdom of God
Here’s an important diagnostic question for American Christians to ask themselves: “Does my vision for the kingdom of God rely on coercively imposing righteousness on my neighbors?” Said another way, “Do I see the kingdom of God as something that should be forced upon people against their will? Are people coerced into the kingdom of God or invited into it?”
Gary Chorpenning's Notebooks 