Colin S. Smith

Grace means that God steps into the lives of particular individuals with the purpose and effect of saving them. He needs no permission to do this, nor is He under any obligation to do so.

He endured all that hell is on the cross, so that you would never know what hell is like.

When your heart is gripped by the love of God poured out in the cross, and when you see the extent of that love in the propitiation by which Christ became the sacrifice for your sin, bearing wrath and entering hell for you, and when you are convinced that this Christ offers Himself in redeeming love to others who do not yet know Him, a passion will be lit in your heart to pursue a God-centered life.

I am so glad that Jesus does not say, __ractice more spiritual disciplines._ He says, __ome to me_and I will give you rest.

Lord, make me less like Jonah and more like Jesus. Save me from being the kind of person who cares more about my comfort, my reputation, and my success than I do about the people You are calling me to serve. Help me to keep all of my dreams on Your altar and be ready at all times to respond with faith and obedience to Your call.

There will be times in your life when you want to pray but feel so far from God that prayer seems impossible. The flesh will tell you that God is against you, that you have gone too far and that He is no longer interested in you. But faith defies the flesh. It contradicts Satan__ lies. It rises up against defeat, gloom, and despair and finds hope in God.

God had spoken to His people through His Word. It had humbled them in their sins, but it had lifted them up to see the grace and mercy of God, and then had directed them into a new life of obedience. In all our desperate searching for ways to find joy, God is telling us that we will never find joy like the joy of knowing God, being humbled in our sins, experiencing His grace, and walking in a life of obedience.

Idolatry involves putting the things we love in the place of God or seeing God as a means of getting the things that we want, and that's the second great struggle of our lives.

When God interrupts your life, He is calling you to follow Him in a new way. By breaking into your settled pattern, He is moving you to a new place where you can make fresh discoveries of His grace. Embracing God__ call is never easy, but this is where the pursuit of a God-centered life begins, and where the shame of a self-centered life is exposed.

Authentic gospel preaching always engages people with eternal issues.

The heart of the gospel is that Christ has come to save us from the judgment of God.

Living communion with God in which He is real, alive, fresh, and present to your soul energizes a God-centered life.

Early on in the Bible story, we will discover the devil taking on the form of an animal. At the center of the Bible story, we will find God taking on the form of a man. The Son of God is the image of God, and so when He took flesh, it was in the form of a man, because man was made in the image of God.

Has what you do for God become more important to you than the Lord Himself?

The God you worship will shape the values you hold, and the values you hold will shape the lifestyle that you choose.

Saint Augustine defined idolatry as worshiping what should be used or using what should be worshiped

The Law of God was never a ladder for unsaved people to climb up to heaven. It was always a pattern of life for God__ people who had been saved from judgment by the blood of the Lamb.

If you can grasp those two truths__ou are made in His image and dependent on Him__ou will discover a great dignity and at the same time a profound humility.