I love hand tools – old hand tools. My workbench and toolboxes are stocked with a wide variety of old hammers of all sorts, wood plains of several different types, chisels, and draw knives, and hand saws. I have a few very interesting old pipe wrenches, which I honestly hope I never have to use, … Continue reading Pastor Note #83 — God’s Toolbox
Tag: Religion and Spirituality
Quote of Note #53 — Irritability, Impatience, and Serving God
“I believe God cannot use many of His servants because they are full of irritability and impatience; they are fretting all the time, from morning until night. God cannot use them; their mouths are sealed; they cannot speak for Jesus Christ, and if they have not love, they cannot work for God.” Dwight L. Moody, … Continue reading Quote of Note #53 — Irritability, Impatience, and Serving God
Bible Note #36 — Obeying God — Numbers 9:15-23
Numbers 9:15-23 Here we have one of the classic summary passages describing how God led the Israelites through the wilderness. There is a certain drama in the process, because the means of God’s leading was grand and very public. There was no indication that discerning God’s leading in this process was at all difficult. The … Continue reading Bible Note #36 — Obeying God — Numbers 9:15-23
Quote of Note #52 — Prayer, Praise, and the Christian Life
"To praise God for mercies received both with our voices and with our actions, and then to pray to God for the mercies that we need, devoutly acknowledging that they come from him, these two exercises in one form or another should make up the sum total of human life. A life psalm should be … Continue reading Quote of Note #52 — Prayer, Praise, and the Christian Life
Bible Note #35: Compassion for the Weak — Job 29:14-17
Job is a tricky book to use. The book is a debate among Job and some friends over how to understand suffering and what God is doing in the midst of that suffering. We should not assume that everything that Job or the others say is correct. The only one who speaks infallibly in the … Continue reading Bible Note #35: Compassion for the Weak — Job 29:14-17
Quote of Note #50: Graciousness to Others Because of God’s Graciousness to Me
"As you contemplate the cross of Christ, you should be overwhelmed with the oceans of grace you have received from the Lord. Even when others commit pools or even lakes full of sin against you, you should be gracious to them because of those oceans of grace you have received. 'Be kind to them,' Jesus … Continue reading Quote of Note #50: Graciousness to Others Because of God’s Graciousness to Me
Bible Note #34: Evil Will Slay the Wicked — Psalm 34:21
There is an essential irony in this verse. It is essential in that it touches the very essence and fabric of reality. It is a state of affairs that is woven into the very fibers of existence. "Evil will slay the wicked." (Psalm 34:21 NIV) Evil is self-consuming. The evilness of that which is evil … Continue reading Bible Note #34: Evil Will Slay the Wicked — Psalm 34:21
Quote of Note #48: Finding Happiness
"Happiness is the great question confronting mankind. The whole world is longing for happiness and it is tragic to observe the ways in which people are seeking it. The vast majority, alas, are doing so in a way that is bound to produce misery. Anything which, by evading the difficulties, merely makes people happy for … Continue reading Quote of Note #48: Finding Happiness
Quote of Note #47: Being Part of What God Is Doing
"'The first thing to do in responding to God's presence and Word,' [Basil Pennington] repeatedly told me, 'is to notice what God is doing and to keep out of God's way. The second is to align ourselves with and participate in God's transformational actions in the world.' God is active and present in the world. … Continue reading Quote of Note #47: Being Part of What God Is Doing
Bible Note #33: The Hairy Arms of Esau and the Embrace of God’s Grace — Genesis 33
This event – the reconciliation of Esau and Jacob – has long captured my imagination. The rupturing of their relationship was overflowing with emotion. So, it should be no surprise that the reconciliation here is also full of emotion. There is also a large measure of raw, burly physicality in the reconciliation of these two … Continue reading Bible Note #33: The Hairy Arms of Esau and the Embrace of God’s Grace — Genesis 33
Gary Chorpenning's Notebooks 