Sawtooth Mountains, Idaho; photo by GAC Father, it is so hard for me to hold your terrifying holiness and your gentle kindness together in my conception of you. My mind wavers and falls out of balance as I try to keep those true aspects of your character in healthy tension. Then you either become a … Continue reading Prayer Note #62: Holy Kindness/Kind Holiness
Tag: God’s presence
Prayer Note #59: Fleeing My Inescapable God
What savoriness sin has! It is so hard to leave it alone, Even when I know it for what it is. I come back to it again and again. But behind the savoriness, There’s a coldness, a darkness. Savoring my sin keeps me Far from you, Lord. I can’t savor my sin In your presence. … Continue reading Prayer Note #59: Fleeing My Inescapable God
Quote of Note #75: God Is Not Always Gentle
"Anyone who has any experience at all of the living God knows that he is nothing at all like this Somebody who tut-tuts politely at our failings and lays a soothing hand upon our anxious little heads. The God, who lives in us if we allow him, is not necessarily always gentle: he can be … Continue reading Quote of Note #75: God Is Not Always Gentle
Quote #13 — God as He Is
"But how far removed from the idea of the New Testament are the insipid words of the hymn which says, 'He came sweet influence to impart, a gracious willing guest,' and goes on to say, 'and his that gentle voice we hear, soft as the breath of even, that checks each fault, that calms each … Continue reading Quote #13 — God as He Is
Quotes of Note #12 — To Be Filled With the Holy Spirit
"I believe firmly that the moment our hearts are emptied of pride and selfishness and ambition and self-seeking, and everything that is contrary to God's law, the Holy Spirit will come and fill every corner of our hearts. But if we are full of pride and conceit, ambition and self-seeking, pleasure and the world, there … Continue reading Quotes of Note #12 — To Be Filled With the Holy Spirit
Prayer Note #53 — A Lenten Prayer
A Lenten Prayer of a Busy Christian “Transcribed” by Pastor Gary A. Chorpenning What do you want me to do, Lord? Isn’t that what I’m supposed to ask you in this season of Lent? I don’t mean to be rude to you, God, but I have to confess that my life is already really busy. … Continue reading Prayer Note #53 — A Lenten Prayer
Prayer Note #52 — To the God of Light
Lord, you are all glorious, and the light of your presence pierces the deepest darkness of sin, sorrow, evil, despair. There is no darkness so thick, so impenetrable, so oily that the Light, Life, Love of your Being cannot invade and evaporate it. That is the truth of who you are. And so I ask … Continue reading Prayer Note #52 — To the God of Light
Sermon #53–The Fullness of God: Alive in Christ
The Core Idea Behind this Sermon: Because Jesus Christ is "the fullness of God in bodily form," and because we are "in Christ," the transforming power of Christ's presence and identity is applied to our lives, making us genuinely new beings, who are forgiven in Christ, made alive in Christ, and who triumph in Christ … Continue reading Sermon #53–The Fullness of God: Alive in Christ
Pastor Note #58 — One Pastor’s Annual Report to his Congregation in Pursuit of God’s Presence
WHO ARE WE? As I mentioned in a recent sermon, I have been listening to a recording of a series of lectures given by one of my former seminary professors, Dr. Gordon Fee, who has written a great number of wonderfully helpful and insightful books and articles, especially on the New Testament. In one of … Continue reading Pastor Note #58 — One Pastor’s Annual Report to his Congregation in Pursuit of God’s Presence
Prayer Note #49 — A Prayer for Those Who Know Their Sins Well
Without your mercy, I will die. Apart from your forgiveness, you will consume me in the fires of your holy judgment. How can I live apart from you? I would be lost entirely! Yet, how can I live in your presence? I should be devoured by your holy wrath! I will hide in Jesus. In … Continue reading Prayer Note #49 — A Prayer for Those Who Know Their Sins Well
Gary Chorpenning's Notebooks 