We have control over our prayer life, our relationship with Jesus.
Francis ChanRead
It is not scientific doubt, not atheism, not pantheism, not agnosticism, that in our day and in this land is likely to quench the light of the gospel. It is a proud, sensuous, selfish, luxurious, church-going, hollow-hearted prosperity.
Interpretation
The quote warns against the dangers of complacency and materialism that can overshadow spiritual truth.
Francis Chan highlights that the greatest threat to the gospel message is not outright disbelief or alternative beliefs, but rather a comfortable, selfish lifestyle that prioritizes luxury and superficial faith. This sense of prosperity can lead individuals to become indifferent to deeper spiritual truths, resulting in a hollow experience of faith.
In practice
During a sermon about the importance of genuine faith, this quote could serve as a powerful reminder.
We have control over our prayer life, our relationship with Jesus.
A disciple is a disciple maker.
Don't fall into the trap of studying the Bible without doing what it says.
Our God listens to us. Our God is a living God. He's not a block of wood you made up that's not going to answer you. My God listens to me. He answers me.
...I don't have to worry about not meeting His expectations. God will ensure my success in accordance with His plan, not mine.
People who are obsessed with Jesus aren't consumed with their personal safety and comfort above all else. Obsessed people care more about God's kingdom coming to this earth than their own lives being shielded from pain or distress.
We oppose the death penalty not just for what it does to those guilty of heinous crimes, but for what it does to all of us: It offers the tragic illusiion that we can defend life by taking life.
Free speech is the whole thing, the whole ball game. Free speech is life itself.
Confusion of sign and object is original sin coeval with the word.
Love, friendship, respect, admiration are the emotional response of one man to the virtues of another, the spiritual payment given in exchange for the personal, selfish pleasure which one man derives from the virtues of another manβs character.
People just weren't interesting. Maybe they weren't supposed to be. But animals, birds, even insects were. I couldn't understand it.
Perhaps he had to be close in order to keep a reason for the things he did. To make the things he did be themselves Life. And not merely a delightful exercise of technical skill which man had been able to achieve because he, of all the animals, had a fine thumb. Which is nonsense, for whatever you live is Life.
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