An open drawer of everything that piled up during my ministry among students and on my journey towards God
INTERACTIVE OVERVIEWS
Prayer
Prayer: The Interior CastleAfter Teresa of Ávila
Prayer: The Game with MinutesAfter Frank C. Laubach
Frequency of prayerAfter the pilgrims of the Interior Castle
D. Willard: Hearing GodBased on the book Hearing God
Keller: Prayer — toil or delight?Based on the book Prayer
C. S. Lewis on prayerBased on Letters to Malcolm
N. T. Wright on prayerBased on the book The Lord and His PrayerDevotion
Map of the disciplinesAfter Dallas Willard
D. Willard: Renovation of the HeartBased on Renovation of the Heart2×
Seeking and strayingAfter the testimonies of ten pilgrims
The quiet revivalBased on The Quiet RevivalScripture at a glance
Two mentalities: Shalom vs. EmpireBased on the Bema podcast
Chiasm: Treasure huntBased on the Bema podcast
The kingdom of God: Map and timelineBased on the Bema podcast and MH
The Minor Prophets: Twelve voicesBased on the Bema podcast
The Gospels: Four voicesBased on the Bema podcast
Groups of Jesus' dayBased on the Bema podcastFIND YOURSELF
From the outer courtyard all the way to the seventh mansion — find the character you recognise yourself in.
Set out on the journeySERMONS, PROGRAMMES FOR YOUTH GROUPS AND JUNIORS
WORKSHOP FOR THE ETS SCHOOL CAMP: OPENITYouth-group revitalization — introductionThere was evening and there was morning, the umpteenth day — and we wake up into our families, youth groups, fellowships and towns, and we'd love for things to be alive around us. How do we keep from losing our saltiness, stay open outwards, devout inside and creative in both?WORKSHOP FOR THE ETS SCHOOL CAMP: OPENIT
“They regarded society… as a shipwreck from which each single individual man had to swim for his life… These were men who believed that to let oneself drift along, passively accepting the tenets and values of what they knew as society, was purely and simply a disaster. …” [relates primarily to the 1st workshop of the Youth-group revitalization series]
“…They knew that they were helpless to do any good for others as long as they floundered about in the wreckage. But once they got a foothold on solid ground, things were different. Then they had not only the power but even the obligation to pull the whole world to safety after them.” [relates primarily to the 3rd workshop of the Youth-group revitalization series]
Thomas Merton, The Wisdom of the DesertI've got two experiences for you: one is bad and one is good — try to guess which is which.
1) Video project: In our youth group we once decided that since Nordic crime dramas and anti-heroes were extremely popular at the time, we'd make a video project in that spirit with the group. We wrote a script and kept it secret, so that the unsuspecting youth-group members would become the actors of the film. We had a lot of footage pre-shot, so video posts revealing how the whole plot was unfolding could come out almost in real time. We filmed by day, edited by night, and new episodes kept coming out one after another. The plot climaxed in scenes that the whole congregation took part in during the service.
2) Text message: A classmate lost at poker, a friend laughed at him for it, and the whole thing ended in an injury and a fair bit of trouble. A few days later I sent him a short message, even though we hadn't really talked much before: “Hey, want to go and talk sometime?”
So tell me: which of these was the good experience and which the bad one? I'm guessing the video project is exactly the kind of event that should bring youth groups to life. Except…
You get the atmosphere of a proper Nordic crime drama with gloomy detective music… The whole thing was rather bleak, the main plot was built around a crime, and even though the ending was positive, we were still left with a strange aftertaste from the weekend, a sense that it had all been somehow wrong… It was marketing, and at its core actually deeply un-Jesus-like… It all made me sad. On top of that, the format of the weekend was so demanding that there was no time to prepare the spiritual side. It was all about form. About empty form.
And the second story? Twenty years later I found out that at the moment of my text message, my classmate was seriously considering suicide. For twenty years I had no idea that the Lord had used me for something like that… It was an ordinary, short message — a human one.
My conclusion: form often takes all the attention away from what matters. There's no time left for people, for conversation or for prayer — you're running around after a million things. After marketing.
It's simply not about form. I once had a leader myself who could do both — great events, but above all he could sweep us up for the faith. So the goal is a leader who radiates something of the kingdom of heaven: there's so much peace and calm in him, such balance — and such interest in others. I say that as an indictment of myself — because I focused far too much on form.
John Ortberg asked Dallas Willard: “How can I help the people in my church grow spiritually?” — So that it doesn't stand still — so that it isn't stale, but alive and growing.
“The main thing you give to the church is the person you become. And that's what everyone will see; that's what will be reproduced; that's what people will believe. Arrange your life so that you experience deep contentment, joy and confidence in your everyday life with God.”
Dallas Willard to John Ortberg — Living in Christ's Presence“If anyone asked me what my greatest difficulty is in meeting these Moros [an illiterate Muslim tribe], I'd have to answer: ‘I know of no great difficulty — except staying spiritually prepared.’ And I wonder whether that isn't the only really serious difficulty — anywhere and in anything. This year I'm more prepared than I've ever been, and maybe that's exactly why people seem more prepared too.”
Frank C. Laubach: Letters by a Modern Mystic, p. 30 — missionary among the Muslim Moro tribe; his method freed 60 million people from illiteracyWe'll meet Frank Laubach more in the next workshop — but this quote makes it clear why in our workshops I won't be prioritising top games and activities, but dealing with the state of us as servants and our readiness for ministry.
YOUTH-GROUP REVITALIZATION · III/ GO
“They regarded society… as a shipwreck from which each single individual man had to swim for his life… These were men who believed that to let oneself drift along, passively accepting the tenets and values of what they knew as society, was purely and simply a disaster. …” [relates primarily to the 1st workshop of the Youth-group revitalization series]
“…They knew that they were helpless to do any good for others as long as they floundered about in the wreckage. But once they got a foothold on solid ground, things were different. Then they had not only the power but even the obligation to pull the whole world to safety after them.” [relates primarily to the 3rd workshop of the Youth-group revitalization series]
Thomas Merton, The Wisdom of the DesertAs part of the Youth-group revitalization workshop we
The vast majority of this website is actually the content of the third workshop. We went into detail mainly on:
Upcoin weekend retreatwe went through the Upcoin weekend retreat
Sketcheswatched one of the sketches
Public debatetalked about how to prepare a debate for the public
Klub Upyou can also take a look at klub-up.cz
Klub Výtopnayou can also take a look at klub-vytopna.cz
Hopefully the site will keep on growing
“Whatever is going on around you, nothing you do for the Lord is ever in vain (1 Cor 15:58). But if you stay in ministry for the sake of visible breakthroughs on your own timetable, you'll most likely give up in the end. As Jackie Pullinger puts it so well: ‘The problem is that we expect to reap the harvest we sowed ourselves — whereas most of the time we reap a harvest someone else sowed.’”
Pete Portal, How to be (Un)Successful, p. 25The main fruit of the ministry from my youth-group years is actually only showing now, a generation later — after 20 years. I mention this as an encouragement to be patient and to lower expectations: “once we put this or that idea into practice, everything will be different…” 🙂
“As busy, active, useful ministers we want to earn our bread by making a real contribution. This means first and foremost doing something — showing that our presence makes a difference. And so we overlook our greatest gift: the ability to enter into solidarity with those who suffer.”
Henri Nouwen — The Way of the Heart, p. 34On a website full of activities I have to stress the main point of my repentance: it's not so much about talks prepared for everyone, but about small personal conversations with the kids outside the programme; not so much about activities and their demanding preparation, but about having time for the kids…
MODERATED EVENINGS FOR THE PUBLIC
superpowers
and super-weaknesses
of one generation
Jindřich
ŠÍDLO
Janek
RUBEŠ
Konstantin
SULIMENKO
on teenagers'
mental health
for their parents
Mgr. et Bc. VLASTA
PECHANCOVÁ
Mgr. et Mgr. MONIKA
ČUHELOVÁ
FOR JUNIORS
We printed a new currency, the UpCoin. You can only pay with it for others, never for yourself. Earning UpCoins is a bit upside down too, because in God's kingdom what looks like weakness in this world often has real value. You start with a budget that covers the first night's lodging. The weekend is full of sacrifices for others and the joy of giving.
One small slip and out of nowhere you find yourself in the arms of crime. And your former friends can do nothing but try to arrest you. A weekend full of twists, secret messages encoded in Scripture and challenges.
Bit by bit you lose everything. Food, drink, all your luggage, the roof over your head, your sight… Then you have to ask… is there anything left at all?
At the start everyone gets a new name and a role in the group. The adventure then unfolds on paper and out in the field.
You choose from four Czech rap songs. Then comes a two-day marathon involving creativity and logistics — shooting by day, editing by night — and on Sunday you head to the service with a finished music video. Take a look at two examples.
RAP PROJECT RUQPER + BIG BEAT BAND BLABOVY STROMY
Here it is,
I’ve just come of age,
I’ll run head-first into the wall
is there maybe another way?
Nobody prepared me for this crazy game here
nobody walked me through even half of the first kilometre
…
act one…
You’d only understand what Christmas is worth
if it were printed on a banknote, maybe.
So think it over and get it once and for all:
that’s when God stepped down under the microscope.
…
Achilles lies on velvet
in Hotel Mama,
Kevlar slippers,
a straw in a cocktail umbrella,
girls on the meadow,
In Karlovy Vary — on the boil
That’s exactly what life is like
…
Mankind clenches its muscles, its strength, its sphincters,
looks out of the box in the role of a searcher,
looks further than anyone was ever born,
further than Musk ever threw his rocket,
beyond the comfort zone of GPS,
towards countless planets and stars.
…
PITVA
In a dream I was in the autopsy room
and let me tell you, you’d never guess
It was me lying in that thin sleeping bag,
in a relaxed position and seemingly fine.
…
ŠESTÝ SMYSL
7 billion blind men tapping their canes to the rhythm,
they’ve set out on a hike, blood pounding in their temples.
They set off blind, searching, because they say there’s something more,
that there are colours and lights too, not just darkness and nothing else.
…
FYZIK
With Mr Physicist under the lamp
of Aladdin I talk about things that can’t
happen in the world of the five senses.
Just keep blowing, your nature is small,
God has to fit in there too…
SUBAQUEOUS
Breathe under water try to sing there well,
believe me,
it is no fun I’m heading anywhere.
My Father said:
Son!…
PSALM 23
When I keep sinking lower and the shadows seem to grow longer,
when it seems to me you’ve forgotten and you’re not here with me…
I know that you are with me, with me.
VIDEOS AND SCRIPTS FOR CHURCH SERVICES
A children’s Sunday on blessing: what really happens when we bless someone? Living water and dead water, Jacob’s wrestling — and surfing the waves on a rope that one day won’t be needed any more.
SKETCH · CHILDREN’S SUNDAY
How the surfing works: two strong youth-group members hold a longish board — one at the front, one at the back — and a child stands on it. They slowly raise and lower the board, making waves: sometimes stronger, sometimes gentler.
Water-skiing: a parent holds a rope, the child holds on to it and “flutters” along behind. Everything gets explained during the ride — and the parent is mainly afraid the rope might snap too soon.
Kids, when you were little and couldn’t walk yet, many of you were carried in here by your parents and the pastor blessed you. But what actually happened back then? What does a blessing mean? We were talking about it with a few adults recently, and the conclusion was that even we grown-ups aren’t entirely clear about it. What happens when I bless someone? What effect does it have?
One of the suggestions that came up was that it might simply mean something like saying “all the best” or “take care” when we say goodbye — shaking hands. Basically that you say something nice, something positive, to a person. And it’s true that a word in itself has quite a lot of power.
I’ve got two little bottles here — one has living water in it and the other dead water. We’ll test it on Fifi again. Fifi is a mountain of a man and you’d think nothing could move him — but I know something can.
Living water: I can say to him: “Fifi, I really think you’re a legend — you handle a ton of stuff, you recently took on a brutal load and you came through.” When I tell him this — in front of everyone, no less — I know it’ll have an effect on him. It’s a bit like dripping living water on him: it fills him with life, it encourages him.
Dead water: but when two people get angry with each other, a terrifying thing happens — they start thinking about what to say to the other one to hit a nerve, to cause as much pain as possible. And that’s like dead water: it hits home and can hurt for a really long time, it knocks a person down. As if you’d put a drop of darkness into them that they somehow have to deal with.
So is a blessing something like praise, and a curse something like an insult? No — because when we bless, we bring God himself into it. We aren’t just acting on our own like an ordinary person; we’re more like a police officer in uniform who doesn’t forbid things on his own authority, but in the name of someone greater. In the same way a curse isn’t just an insult, because we’re dragging the evil one into it to do harm.
When Jesus met children, do you know what he did? He blessed them too. But I reckon that probably didn’t mean “take care”. Either way, let’s do an experiment: we’ll find the places in the Bible where the word blessing appears and try replacing it with “take care”. In the Old Testament the word appears 600 times, and twice in the very first chapter — so it’s probably quite an important word.
Remember the creation story, when everything was formless and empty and God gave everything its place — light and darkness, water and land — and created all the animals. And here I’ll quote from the Bible:
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
Genesis 1:27“And God said to them: Hey, take care!” — no, that doesn’t sound right. There’s more to it. I’ll ask Fifi to help (he lies down on a blanket like a freshly created human). It’s a serious moment — you don’t say empty words at a moment like that. God has created man, man can hear him, and it matters what his first words will be. The whole of creation went quiet for a few seconds to hear what God would say:
“And God blessed them and said to them: ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Subdue it and have dominion over every living thing that moves on the earth.’”
Genesis 1:28So he says: I created you, and I’m giving you the power to create too — you’ll have children, you’ll create new life. But he also gave their life a task, a mission, a purpose — that’s insane career growth: you’re to rule over every living thing, everything alive is in your care.
You see — that blessing was nothing empty or meaningless. Instead of the word blessing we could say: he focused 100 % of his attention on them, gave them something good and dripped living water on them. And it was nothing hollow: he gave them the gift of creating new life and he gave them a goal.
We find this story in chapter 32. Who of you can read? Don’t wait for them to read it to you in Sunday school, don’t wait for your parents to read it to you — read it yourselves, or ask for it.
For the next demonstration I’ll ask Fifi again. Fifi will play Jacob — he’s on his way to Esau, and at that moment he runs into God and they fight. It’s another serious moment. God wrestles with Jacob and says: “let me go”. And Jacob answers: “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” And God replies: “Hey, take care”? It was a serious moment — what did Jacob want to get out of that fight? A blessing. A blessing can’t be without effect. It can’t be just an empty word.
And here too the blessing brought concrete effects: God focused his attention on Jacob and gave him something good — he dripped living water on him. He was fruitful and multiplied and filled the land, he prospered. And he got a new name — Israel. Suddenly everyone would see him differently: he got a new identity.
All in all: when we bless, we bring God himself into it. And God focuses his attention on us and, as it were, drips living water. The word blessing is a serious thing — it’s nothing empty. Does it mean you’ll be beautiful, clever, successful and rich? We’ll talk about that after the song.
——— song ———
A blunt question: kids, do you and your parents agree on what’s good for you? It’s good for you to go to bed early. It’s good for you not to eat only sweets so your teeth don’t fall out. It’s good for you to do your homework now. “Nooooo — what’s good for me is to play all the time!” It’s exactly the same between people and God. Even the first two people didn’t agree with God about what was good for them: don’t eat from this tree — “noo, God is surely keeping something from me that’s good for me”… And then it went from one thing to the next.
God is clear about what’s good for you and what the fullness of blessing looks like. The fullness of blessing is being close to Christ and being like Jesus — having a heart as good as his, loving God the Father as he does, loving other people as he does, caring about others above all. In that you’d be truly happy — that would be really good for you.
The problem is that we keep slipping:
A blessing is a drop of living water that pulls you towards that ideal. And we’re meant to bless one another — blessing pulls us towards the good, but by no means necessarily towards wealth and success. Let me show you in a video.
I’ll ask one of the parents of a child who was blessed or baptised here whether he’d be willing to help me out. And I’ll ask his little one — don’t worry, you’ll be surfing, it’ll be a laugh 🙂
(The child surfs on the board — the youth-group members make waves.) When you were little, your parent brought you to be blessed, and God focused his attention on you and dripped living water on you to draw you closer in that direction.
(During some gentle, extra-slow skiing on the rope:) When you’re a bit older, your parent holds you on a rope like this and you depend on them. The Shema prayer says clearly that it’s up to the parent to instil and pass on the faith. You go to church when they tell you to go to church. You read the Bible only if your parent reads it to you. You pray only if your parent decides that you’re going to pray.
But with adulthood the ropes often snap. When you’re a teenager, you’re hanging by a thread. Big waves are tossing you about and your parent watches with terror in their eyes to see whether you’ll break loose — whether the next wave, the next event, will snap the rope. And they plead desperately with God, together with the preacher, that you’ll say: I don’t need the rope any more.
Riding on your own is more fun. Come and try it — nicely, one after another.
A word has great power, so be careful how you talk to others. But a blessing is much bigger, because you’re bringing God himself into it — it’s like a drop of living water that pulls you towards a full life and brings good into your life. And God is clear about what’s good for you and which direction his blessing will pull you in. Your parents are doing their best too — but you can stand on your own.
A question for you, kids: when you’re at home in your bed, it’s dark all around and you’re having a bad dream, or you’re scared — are you already independent enough to sort it out with God yourselves and ask him for protection? Or do you still need your parents for that? There’s nothing to it. Learn to do it yourselves. Next time you’re scared, pray to God for protection. You’ll see that it helps and that little by little you’ll gain experiences with God this way.
Do you ask your parents yourselves to read the Bible with you? Because it’s an extremely useful book. Lately Bruno has reached the point where he’s started asking me himself to read from the Daily Texts or from the Bible — you have no idea how happy this independence makes me.
And what about you older ones — are you seeking God yourselves? Have you knelt before him on your own yet? A leader once asked me this question and from that moment on I couldn’t stop thinking about it — and at night I knelt before God and said to him: I believe in you and I want to live with you.
And that is the way to the fullness of blessing. And with that kind of blessing I bless you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
REGULAR YOUTH-GROUP MEETINGS
“As busy, active, relevant ministers, we want to earn our bread by making a real contribution. This means first and foremost doing something to show that our presence makes a difference. And so we ignore our greatest gift, which is our ability to enter into solidarity with those who suffer.”
Henri Nouwen — The Way of the Heart, p. 34
BASED ON THE ORIGINAL EXHIBITION FOR THE NIGHT OF CHURCHES AT NOVÝ KOSTEL IN LITOMYŠL
WRITTEN
“For me words are in any case secondary. They are only an anchor. Or, shall I say, they are the movements of a conductor’s baton: not the music. They serve to canalise the worship, or penitence, or petition which might without them — such are our minds — spread into wide and shallow puddles. It does not matter very much who first assembled them.”
C. S. Lewis — Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God,
have mercy on me, a sinner
Holy Spirit, breath of the living God,
renew me and my whole life
My God, here I am, I am wholly yours;
Lord, let your will be done in me.
Morning
God, I want to receive this day from your hand with everything it brings.
You are the way, the truth and the life.
You are the way: I want to walk it.
You are the truth: I want to keep it before my eyes.
You are the life:
whether trouble and cold chill me
or happiness and warmth keep me warm,
everything is good just as it comes.
Grant that it may do me good!
I begin this day in your name.
Evening
You have made us for yourself, Lord,
and our heart is restless
until it rests in you.
Yours is the light of day.
Yours is the darkness of night.
Yours are life and death.
I too am yours, and I bow before you.
Give me peaceful rest
and bless tomorrow,
so that I may praise you the moment I wake.
The Kingdom
Grant that I seek your Kingdom
and never stop seeking
– it is my first task.
Grant that your Kingdom finds me,
that I dwell in it and serve.
Grant that I bring it wherever you send me.
Open me
+ Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will praise you.
+ Lord, open my eyes,
so that I see your deeds and the needs of other people.
+ Lord, open my ears,
so that I hear your word and the cry of the poor.
+ Lord, open my sense of smell,
so that I perceive the life-giving fragrance of the knowledge of Christ.
+ Lord, open my mind,
so that I understand you and your word.
+ Lord, open my heart,
so that I can make room for you
and seek and find you in everything.
+ Lord, open my hands,
so that I receive from you and give gladly to others.
Holy Spirit
Breathe in me, Holy Spirit,
that my thoughts may all be holy!
Move me, Holy Spirit,
that my deeds may be holy!
Draw my heart, Holy Spirit,
that I may love what is holy.
Strengthen me, Holy Spirit,
that I may defend what is holy!
Guard me, Holy Spirit,
that I may never lose what is holy!
FROM THE SERMON WORKBOOKS
Judgement isn’t the church’s to makeChurchSalvation
The church has always sought to control who’s "in" and who’s "out." It has tried to hold a monopoly on salvation. But in my view that judgment does not belong to the church at all.
Dallas Willard full quote →
God looks at the heartSalvation
I personally believe there are going to be people outside the mainstream church in heaven, but they won’t be there for that reason. There are going to be a lot of Baptists not in heaven, and they won’t not be there because they are Baptists. It will be because they have learned to love and honor and trust Jesus Christ. It’s possible to le
Dallas Willard full quote →
Whom to trust? JesusSalvationFaith and experience
So, if someone asks my advice, it is always the same: Trust Jesus Christ. I wouldn’t trust the Buddha for a bushel of oranges. Often when people talk about the Buddha they don’t realize that from a Buddhist point of view, the best thing that could happen to you would be for you to stop existing. The best thing. That’s not much of a gospel
Dallas Willard full quote →
The church as God’s dwellingChurchMission
The primary function of the church is not evangelism, but to be a place for the dwelling of God on the earth. This requires that people grow and receive God and occupy their place with God. That would have a natural effect of evangelism. … Many people will be drawn in without any special strategy but simply by the health of the people.
Dallas Willard full quote →
The limits of mass evangelismMission
Right now, evangelism with big meetings is in a very hard place—not only in trying to keep it going, but because of its results. Three out of four people who make professions at crusades never show up in any church. That’s partly due to the fact that in our notions of evangelism today, being converted has nothing to do with community; it
Dallas Willard full quote →
A message for the heart’s longingsGood newsMission
We have to present our message as something that deals with the natural aspirations of the human heart. The reality is that people deeply desire to be good, but they are prepared to do evil, and to do it repeatedly. Unfortunately, they live in a world where people feel they need to desecrate their souls to survive. What Jesus announced at
Dallas Willard full quote →
A kingdom not of this worldGood news
Simply Good News – pp. 74-80: – John 18: My kingdom is not the kind that grows in this world. It is not from the world in its origin or its character. It is not of this world, it doesn’t originate here, but it is most definitely for this world. … Jesus is here bringing to life a kingdom of a different kind, founded on a different type of
N. T. Wright full quote →
News that is good in itselfGood news
Simply Good News – 8-9: the idea of the Christian faith as news that is good in itself is, for many people today, news in itself — which is quite a paradox. … They really did understand it as news, and they believed this news was so good that they had to tell it to as many people in as many places as possible. We are all victims of this f
N. T. Wright full quote →
Salvation doesn’t rest on doctrineGood newsSalvation
Doctrine and Salvation: You don’t need correct doctrine to be saved — you need to believe that Jesus is really it. Salvation begins in the attitude of the children’s song: “Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so…” Your doctrine will come along.
Dallas Willard full quote →
Distortions of the gospelGood news
Simply Good News – 8-11, 20: In some churches “preaching the gospel” means: * explaining how to become a Christian – the instructions we use to make sure we arrive safe and sound in heaven. That is good news, but: * it isn’t the news that JC and the disciples proclaimed – JC himself didn’t say much about heaven in this sense. When he spok
N. T. Wright full quote →
The sun has risen, not a torchGood news
Simply Good News – 21: The herald wasn’t someone offering people a new kind of torch so they could see better in the dark. He was someone saying that the sun has risen and that if you open the curtains you’ll see you don’t need a torch any more. …they no longer need the old gods – they are just a scam… every activity was tied to a differe
N. T. Wright full quote →
The conservative shortcut of the gospelGood news
* The Conservative Gospel: “Jesus died to pay for our sins and if we will only believe he did this then we will go to heaven when we die.” It makes the atonement the whole story. We trust something Jesus did, but not necessarily who he is. * The Social Gospel: “Jesus is committed to liberating the oppressed and we should do likewise.” It
Dallas Willard full quote →
More than a ticket to heavenGood newsSalvation
Simply Good News – 54-57: [The simplification: You are a sinner, you deserve death. Jesus died in your place, so if you believe in him you will eventually go to heaven. Or even more briefly: “Jesus died for my sins.” – yes – …. It is a basic idea we must never lose. But when we put it this briefly and simply, it carries with it serious di
N. T. Wright full quote →
Deliverance — but from what?Good newsSalvation
Biblically, salvation means deliverance; the question is, "Deliverance from what?" The common message is "deliverance from guilt." But the full concept of salvation in the New Testament is deliverance from our present sins. Deliverance from sins comes from the new life of God’s Kingdom when we place our confidence in Jesus the person. …
Dallas Willard full quote →
When death overshadows lifeGood news
The Universal Christ – 67: Instead of his life, it was his death that was defined as saving! That is no small thing. The shift in what we valued allowed us to bypass Jesus’ own life and teaching, because all we needed was the act of his death atoning for guilt. Jesus thus became just a kind of operation to clear the ground of sin, and the
Richard Rohr full quote →
Two signs that something’s offGood news
Simply Good News – 58: Two clear signs show that something isn’t right: First, the various statements that Jesus died in our place appear in the Bible in the context of the twofold story of creation and covenant. Creation: here is God the creator, the God to whom the whole world belongs and who longs to finally put this world right. Coven
N. T. Wright full quote →
Reality is the kingdom of GodGood newsMeaning
Jesus’ Answers to the Four Great Questions of Life 1. What is reality? God and his kingdom.
Dallas Willard full quote →
Devotion cut off from the worldGood news
Simply Good News – pp. 63-68: Private devotion in the present, heaven in the future … – that was Christianity. That was the good news. It had no particular connection with what people usually call the “real world”. Most Western churches went along with this view. … Many churches neither believe nor teach that when Jesus and his first foll
N. T. Wright full quote →
Rationalism and RomanticismGood news
Simply Good News – pp. 63-71: Rationalism: we humans come to know things primarily through reason, not through the senses. … For many people … faith … can be boiled down to the statements “God exists”, “Jesus died for my sins”, “Jesus really rose from the dead”. The whole main content thus shifts (which is of course paradoxical) from the
N. T. Wright full quote →
Heaven and earth will be joinedGood newsEnd times
Simply Good News – pp. 74-80: – definitely not leaving the earth and going off to heaven … heaven and earth will be joined together – the rescue and renewal of all creation – the final scene of the Bible, Revelation 21-22: the new Jerusalem coming down from heaven to earth, the creation of a new heaven and a new earth which are one and th
N. T. Wright full quote →
A church without commitmentChurchGood news
We tell them to come to church, participate in our programs and give money. But we see a church that knows nothing of commitment. We have settled for the marginal, and so we carry this awful burden of trying to motivate people to do what they don’t want to do. We need to clarify in our minds what discipleship is. A disciple is a person wh
Dallas Willard full quote →
News needs a storyGood news
Simply Good News – 8-9: 1) a longer story and a background context – without it we won't understand the good news (see the story of England winning the Rugby World Cup – in Australia nobody saw that as good news) 2) something has happened, and because of it everything is now going to be completely different (we can no longer simply go bac
N. T. Wright full quote →
The Roman gospel of the emperorGood news
Simply Good News – 13-16: The Roman example: see 44 BC, Julius Caesar died – the country was split by civil war into two camps – Octavian won the sea battle, Antony fled with his lover Cleopatra to Egypt, where he committed suicide. If you'd been living in Rome: you're anxiously waiting for news from the front – and it comes: Octavian wil
N. T. Wright full quote →
Foolish news for the worldGood news
Simply Good News – 18: [Saul – whose name in Greek meant something like Wimp/Slacker – changed his name to Paul and went off to proclaim news that was bound to draw sneers: “to Jews … a stumbling block, to everyone else foolishness” 1 Cor 1:23 Paul sums up the news in several ways: 1 Thess 1:9-10: “For they themselves report what kind of
N. T. Wright full quote →
Courage instead of irrelevanceGood newsMission
Simply Good News – 22: Jews often kept to their own communities and made no attempt to persuade the non-Jewish population … they chose irrelevance … Paul's good news, which gave him such a life-giving, energising sense of purpose, ran into the same difficulty we face today … this news is either offensive or boring. It's either a scandal o
N. T. Wright full quote →
Paul comes to townGood newsMission
Simply Good News – 26-28: … he arrived in the city accompanied by one or two friends. He knows no one in town. Because he is a Jew, and because he believes the good news is in line with Scripture, the best starting point for him is the place where the Jews gather. But his message is shocking and usually unwelcome. A crucified Messiah? Tha
N. T. Wright full quote →
The power of God for salvationGood news
Simply Good News – 28: … the good news is “the power of God for salvation” Rom 1:16 … the gospel “came not only in word, but in the power of the Holy Spirit and with full conviction” 1 Thess 1:5 … something happens to some of the people who hear it! The message, the royal announcement, does them good like a hot drink on a cold day … It re
N. T. Wright full quote →
The sun by which I seeGood newsFaith and experience
I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else. (N. T. Wright on this: people don't necessarily start believing it because we can fully understand it (we can't), but because once we've got it clear, we can make sense of all sorts of other things … God, the
C. S. Lewis full quote →
News that transformsGood news
Simply Good News – 29-35: That is exactly what it does to people. It transforms them. … the strangest thing, and yet the central one – that this Jesus, this Messiah, becomes personally present and real to them. He isn't just someone they hear about. It's as if he were standing right beside them. … They see that the man-made idols and thei
N. T. Wright full quote →
A Messiah without a swordGood news
Simply Good News – 35-37: If Jesus had said the word, plenty of people would have beaten their ploughshares into swords and signed up. … not only did he not go down that road, he explicitly warned against it. … Some people in Jesus' day reacted the opposite way … Hide away in the desert, say your prayers … or study the Scriptures … as par
N. T. Wright full quote →
Resurrection means a bodyGood newsResurrection
Simply Good News – 42-46: – the word resurrection always referred to the body … so it refers to new bodily life after a period in which the person was physically dead – the Jews were the only nation in the ancient world that believed God would eventually raise the dead – but nobody imagined that one person could be raised ahead of everyon
N. T. Wright full quote →
The world hasn't changed? It hasGood news
Simply Good News – 22 – 23: … apart from … the departure from Egypt 1500 years earlier, nothing much had happened that could give anyone the sense that the world was now a different place, ruled by the Jewish God. … Paul, however, was convinced that something had now happened as a result of which … the Jewish faith had been dramatically v
N. T. Wright full quote →
A story that was missing its endingGood news
Simply Good News – 24: If you don't know what happened before, you won't understand the significance of the event. Paul's Bible … is the Old Testament … a story that was somehow missing its ending. God called one nation so that through it he could rescue the world – humankind and the whole of creation … the people who were supposed to car
N. T. Wright full quote →
Creation, covenant, renewalGood news
Simply Good News – 59-63: even Paul himself, in his famous letter to the Romans, starts by saying that God is angry with sinners, and goes on to explain that Jesus died in our place! … in the opening chapters of Romans Paul does four more things that put this picture in a completely different context: 1) he makes it clear that God's wrath
N. T. Wright full quote →
On earth as in heavenGood news
Simply Good News – pp. 39, 47: The good news is that the living God is overcoming all the powers of the world in order to establish the rule of justice and peace on earth as in heaven. Not in heaven at some later date. … The resurrection does not mean that death didn’t matter or wasn’t real. … but the fact that on the cross evil itself wa
N. T. Wright full quote →
Back on the right trackGood news
Simply Good News – pp. 74-80: – God created human beings so that through these particular creatures he could care for his world. … from the beginning he wanted to be present and active in the world, and so he created humans to be the means and the agents of that presence and activity. That is exactly why the human rebellion against the Cr
N. T. Wright full quote →
Jesus and the good personGood newsDiscipleship
For instance, in our culture everyone acknowledges that each of us ought to be a loving, good person. Well, consider how Jesus was that, and how he helps others be that, and then compare that honestly with the others. That is how we will see, not by trying to manipulate. This would mean looking at Hindus at their best, and Christians at t
Dallas Willard full quote →
Ravish with the kingdom's blessingsGood newsMission
The real question is: how do you do “evangelism-discipleship”? My short answer: You ravish people with the blessings of the Kingdom. You make them hungry for it. That’s why words are so important — we must be wordsmiths. You use words to ravish people with the beauty of the kingdom. It was the beauty of the kingdom that, Jesus said, was c
Dallas Willard full quote →
Gospel for the lostGood newsMission
Evangelism is for the lost. People who regard themselves as not in need can be enjoyed as good company, but there is not much that will be done for them if they think they don’t have a need. Now, for those who have a need, it’s very simple. You help them understand their need, and then you tell them that if they put their confidence in Ch
Dallas Willard full quote →
Speaking into real lifeGood newsMission
We have to recognize that most of what we say today does not cut through to real life, and we must find ways to do that. Generally speaking, we have to address the real needs of people—to understand those needs and to devise ways to help people understand that you are talking to them about their needs. For example, what is sin today? Use
Dallas Willard full quote →
The Old Testament succeededGood news
We forget that the Old Testament was actually very successful. It prepared a people who could receive Jesus Christ in such a way that he could carry out the Abrahamic covenant, "that through your seed all the nations on the earth shall be blessed." So you don’t want to miss the point that, in many respects, the Old Testament was very succ
Dallas Willard full quote →
Proof? The resurrectionGood newsResurrection
Simply Good News – pp. 80-83: How do we know that all this isn’t just a pious dream, a fantasy, a utopia … an illusion? The answer is simple: Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus’ resurrection marks the beginning of God’s new world. Together with Jesus’ crucifixion, the resurrection is presented as the climax of the whole biblical story. … Joh
N. T. Wright full quote →
Within a single generationGood newsEnd times
Simply Good News – pp. 85-87: Jesus spoke of certain things that were going to happen within a single generation. In those famous passages in the Gospels, Jesus is not talking about the end of the world but about the fall of Jerusalem. The central text makes this absolutely clear. And Jerusalem, of course, fell to the Romans roughly forty
N. T. Wright full quote →
The illusion of automatic progressGood news
Simply Good News – pp. 88-91: – the discoveries and innovations in the field of politics in the eighteenth century gave rise to the view … that history is automatically heading somewhere, and that somewhere is an ever freer, more open, more liberal or more tolerant society. … it is inevitable. … the secular world … has its own vision of t
N. T. Wright full quote →
The church and the myth of progressChurchGood news
Simply Good News – pp. 91–98: How does the Christian vision fit into this? Once again the church routinely goes with the flow. In times of social optimism it could easily talk in lofty terms about evangelizing the world in this very generation. In times of social catastrophe some Christians see everything growing darker and darker, which
N. T. Wright full quote →
Infant baptism and the covenantNew birth
Infants are to be baptized too, because, just like adults, they belong to God’s covenant and God’s people. Just as to adults, redemption from sins through the blood of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, who works faith, are promised to them as well. Therefore infants are to be received into the Christian church by baptism, as the sign of t
Heidelberg Catechism full quote →
Thérèse's childhood holinessNew birth
Her spiritual life in childhood is shown by her decision, already in Alençon (before the age of 4), that she would refuse the good God nothing. Likewise the testimony of her teacher, to whom Thérèse, when asked what she did in her free time, replied: “In a quiet corner I think about the good God, about life, about eternity…” She made her
Thérèse of Lisieux full quote →
Nothing less than a new birthNew birth
“Born of God” is one of several of John’s powerful, meaning-laden expressions. With it he is trying to suggest that at the beginning of Christian faith nothing less than a “new birth” will do. For Christian faith is not just some worldview or a resolution to adopt some kind of higher morality. At its birth something has to happen between
Pavel Hošek full quote →
Slavery to sin and a new beginningSinNew birth
– Regeneration has to be thought of in relation to the person who is a slave to sin – the Bible regards the effect of sin on human character as so serious that without a new birth the sinner cannot see the kingdom of God, let alone enter it. At the beginning there is often an understanding of sin, a strong need to get things right with Go
Bible Dictionary full quote →
Repentance = a change of mindNew birth
Repentance is not beating your head on the floor or feeling bad about your sins — it’s to re-think your thinking so as to change the way you’ve been thinking and acting. We repent in light of the gospel of Jesus. The gospel is not primarily about who will appease God’s wrath, who will pay your bill… The gospel is primarily the good news t
Dallas Willard full quote →
The ransom isn't the whole storyGood newsNew birth
In today’s presentation of the gospel, Jesus’ death is primarily presented as a ransom that deals with guilt and the effects of guilt regarding our standing before God. But there is more to life than guilt. Once you have been forgiven, you still have to live. Jesus is about the redemption of actual life from actual sin. It is by entering
Dallas Willard full quote →
New management, the same personNew birth
We can safely say that there is no change of personality; it is still the same person. But there has been a change in who governs the person. Before the new birth, sin ruled over him and he rebelled against God. Now the Holy Spirit governs him and directs him towards God. The person who is born again walks by the Spirit, is led by the Spi
Bible Dictionary full quote →
Amphibians of spirit and timeNew birth
Humans are amphibians: half spirit, half animal. … As spirits they belong to the eternal world, but as animals they live in time. This means that their soul can be directed towards an eternal goal, but their bodies, feelings and imaginations are constantly changing; for “to be in time” means to change. Their nearest approach to constancy
C. S. Lewis full quote →
Recognised by loveNew birth
“According to John’s epistle, a person who is born again is recognised by love. How so?” John’s statement concerns the mysterious connection between love for God and love for people. One wise pastor calls it the “cycle of love”. (more below: 5 – Distant neighbours) Faith cannot exist without works (see James). If a person lives righteousl
Pavel Hošek full quote →
A righteous life as a signNew birth
When we see someone who lives a righteous life like Jesus, we can have confidence that they have fellowship with Him. It is a strong indicator that such a person is born again, saved. Whether the opposite is also true is not as certain — a struggle with sin cannot be taken as proof that someone is not saved, especially when it comes to ot
BibleRef.com full quote →
The fruit of the new birthNew birth
These verses show that the result of the new birth is doing what is right, not committing sin, love for one's neighbour, faith that Jesus is the Christ, and overcoming the world – which demonstrates that in spiritual matters a person is not entirely passive.
Bible Dictionary full quote →
Passive reception, far-reaching activityNew birth
In the new birth (a person) is passive, because it is God who accomplishes it. The consequence of that act, however, is far-reaching activity. In the new birth the initiative is ascribed to the Lord (John 1:13); it comes from above (John 3:3, 7) and from the Spirit (John 3:5–8) Regeneration can be defined as a radical intervention by the
Bible Dictionary full quote →
Conceived and born of the SpiritHoly SpiritNew birth
We can also think about this question from the perspective of conception and birth. The Holy Spirit sows, or conceives, new life by acting directly on the soul. Then comes birth through the word (Jas 1:18) ✦ Jas 1:18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
Bible Dictionary full quote →
Born through God's wordNew birth
Peter and James also mention the word of God as a means of the new birth, thereby showing that by the new birth they mean the whole process by which God brings a person to conscious faith in Christ. … The view that baptism works ex opere operato contradicts other texts of Scripture, above all those in which the prophets protest against th
Bible Dictionary full quote →
Eyes open to the SpiritHoly SpiritNew birth
In 1 Corinthians 2:7–16 the Bible clearly teaches that a person is in such a state that they cannot grasp the things of God's Spirit. For us to be able to hear God's word in its saving meaning, an intervention by God must come first, one that causes the natural person to begin to understand God's word. When that happens, God's word brings
Bible Dictionary full quote →
Conversion is for everyoneNew birth
Everyone who has started drifting away from the Lord, who is turning their back on God and on people, is called to conversion. A life without conversion has no future and is headed straight for hell. Everyone who is drifting away. Whoever is beginning to turn away from the Lord, whoever is going the wrong way.
Pavel Hošek full quote →
Never finishedDiscipleshipNew birth
You know, we are on a journey. Never stop examining yourselves… Let your present state always leave you dissatisfied, if you want to become what you are not yet. So whenever you feel satisfied with yourselves, you stop making progress. If you say: “That's enough!”, you are lost. You must always add something more, keep going forward, keep
St Augustine full quote →
Every choice changes directionDiscipleshipNew birth
As C. S. Lewis says, with every choice between the good path and the bad one, a person slightly changes the overall direction of their life. ✦ James 5:19–20 19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from de
C. S. Lewis full quote →
What are you leaning on?SufferingFaith and experience
“Whenever I go through hard times, I have to ask myself the following questions: What are you leaning on? What are you counting on in this situation? In what, or in whom, are you placing your hope? How do you think you'll get out of this? …I count on the Lord; it is from him that I expect help. That doesn't mean I won't try to use all the
Thérèse of Lisieux full quote →
Persevering in spiritual povertyPrayerFaith and experience
“At first, a sense of spiritual poverty and of God's absence usually prevails. The best guides through this period urge us not to give up, to persevere and to pray with discipline until — as James Innell Packer says — we get through duty to delight. …periods of spiritual dryness may return… and we won't be free of their returns until we b
Timothy Keller full quote →
Delights are not the measurePrayerFaith and experience
(John of the Cross) was against any striving after sensory delights, and he maintained that the pleasure someone finds in them is far from being a sign of perfect prayer — rather of weakness. When he nonetheless spoke of “the abundance of sweetness that God has stored up for those who fear him, and of the streams of delight he will give t
Teresa of Ávila full quote →
Love poured into our heartsHoly SpiritFaith and experience
I think the answer is offered by the apostle Paul in the Letter to the Romans when he says: “God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.” This sentence contains a deep and important truth: that love is not a product of our devotion, not the result of our zeal or pious doggedness, but a gift that comes from above. L
Pavel Hošek full quote →
Mysticism is an intimate relationshipPrayerFaith and experience
“If the Charismatic Renewal does not lead to a renewal of mysticism, it is useless. For mysticism is not mainly about experiencing unusual phenomena, but about entering into an intimate relationship with God, about a personal experience of God. As has already been said, that experience can be very simple, lived in dry faith, but it is the
Thérèse of Lisieux full quote →
An indestructible kingdomPowerless giants
… his kingdom, which is not of this world, cannot and will not be subdued or destroyed by the powers of this world. The same goes for the citizens of this kingdom, that is, for Christians … A person who relies fully and trustingly on God’s promise is, in a certain important sense, not subject to the laws, conditions and forces of this wor
Pavel Hošek full quote →
Don't pull heaven down by forcePowerless giants
I think we need to watch out for two things. First: when someone, in their zealous piety, tries too hard to pull heaven down to earth, they usually do manage to pull something down in the end — but it tends not to be heaven. In other words: a dogged expectation of miracles usually does get its “miracles”; the only question is whether the
Pavel Hošek full quote →
Trust attracts gracePowerless giantsGrace
Thérèse fully understood how much trust draws God’s grace into our lives. Good will and humility are needed too, that’s clear; but trust has a special power. Thérèse was very fond of these words of St John of the Cross: “The soul obtains from God as much as it hopes for.” Let it be done for you according to your faith, Jesus keeps saying
Thérèse of Lisieux full quote →
Remaining a child before GodPowerless giants
“That evening, at Matins, I asked her what she meant by remaining a little child before God. She answered me: ‘It means recognizing your own nothingness, expecting everything from God, as a little child expects everything from its father; not worrying about anything.’” p. 33: …“faults don’t grieve God”, and the fact that she feels so smal
Thérèse of Lisieux full quote →
A person in serious troubleSin
That humanity is in serious trouble from which it needs to be saved is assumed everywhere in the Bible. It is clearly set out right at the beginning of the book of Genesis, and it is explicitly or implicitly present on every page of the New Testament. … The reality of sin is so obvious to the biblical writers that they rarely bother to pr
Frank Stagg full quote →
Sin rules and deceivesSin
12 “Sin came into the world”, and in Rom 5:21 “Sin reigned and brought death.” In Heb 3:13 sin has the power to deceive, to trick … “that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” It has its own interesting cycle of birth: ✦ Jas 1:14 14 When anyone is tempted, it’s always their own desire that drags them away and entices t
Frank Stagg full quote →
The inner yes to temptationSin
Sin is when we inwardly say yes to a temptation — when we would do the deed if the conditions were right, even if we don’t actually do it. In relationships, sin shows up as attack or withdrawal. Often we want to do what is good, but without thinking about it we are prepared to do what is evil. (This is true when sin lives in our bodily me
Dallas Willard full quote →
Powers turned against GodSin
Fallen human nature is our deformed condition inherited from our first parents. The good powers placed in our human flesh at creation are twisted and organized against God. The only way to escape being conformed to a fallen humanity is to receive the mind of Christ himself. Then our heart can be renovated and our soul restored. Rom 5:12:
Dallas Willard full quote →
Calling sinners to repentanceSin
John the Baptist’s mission was to preach “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Mk 1:4). Jesus defined his own task, as far as sinners are concerned, like this: “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mk 2:17). His very name expressed his mission and tied in with humanity’s miserable state: “You shall call h
Frank Stagg full quote →
A dozen words for sinSin
The Greek New Testament doesn’t have just one dominant term …. More than a dozen Greek words serve to express sin in its various aspects. … – adikia (unrighteousness as ungodliness, sinfulness, wickedness) – hamartia – the most frequent in the NT (the verb means to transgress, to act wrongly, badly, to sin against God). The older idea of
Frank Stagg full quote →
Sanctification changes a personSinHoliness
Sanctification isn’t defined by external obedience, but by the kind of person someone has become. It is living in a right relationship to Jesus Christ, the Master — a relationship that brings and sustains right thoughts, feelings, choices and habits and enables us to do what is right. Jas 4:7–10: Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist
Dallas Willard full quote →
A spring that satisfiesSin
Renovation of the Heart, p. 9: They will not thirst — that is, they will not be driven and ruled by unsatisfied desires — and this “water” will become a well or spring of water “welling up to eternal life” … It will even become a “river of living water”, flowing from the centre of the Christian’s life out to a thirsty world. Jn 7:38 So if
Dallas Willard full quote →
God's response: forgivenessSinGrace
Simply Good News (Czech ed.), pp. 111–112: When this creative love met people who were completely buried under the weight of their own moral failure, it showed itself as forgiveness. “Take heart, my son,” he said to a young man whose wrongdoing had evidently caused his paralysis, “your sins are forgiven.” … It doesn’t just put you back on
N. T. Wright full quote →
Heaven and hell as a continuationHell
Heaven and Hell are God’s provisions for who we choose to be. It is a natural extension of the way we live. I tell people that what they get out of this life—after this life—is the person that they become now. Probably the simplest way to understand Hell is as a cosmic junk heap, Gehenna. You can get in a lot of arguments about the detail
Dallas Willard full quote →
First the news to the whole worldEnd times
Simply Good News (Czech ed.), p. 98: Notice that this coming of the kingdom appears at the end of the preaching of the gospel to the whole world, not at the time of the resurrection of the dead and the new creation. That comes later. First comes the worldwide reign of Jesus, which will come about through the ordinary preaching of the gosp
N. T. Wright full quote →
Knowledge will fill the earthEnd times
Simply Good News (Czech ed.), pp. 108–109: “the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” Isa. 11:9 Or, to put it in Paul’s words, when even death itself has been overcome, God will be “all in all” (1 Cor 15:28). That is the greatest good news of all. Nothing will be lost. Everything that is good and be
N. T. Wright full quote →
Dressing up as the SonDiscipleship
…“putting on Christ”, or really “dressing up as” the Son of God, so that we may finally become real sons. I want to make it clear that this is not one among many different Christian activities. Nor is it some special exercise for the most advanced. It is the very essence of Christianity. Christianity offers nothing else at all.
C. S. Lewis full quote →
God with me, I with himDiscipleship
… I cannot do it without God, and God neither will nor is to do it without me. If it is to happen, God must become human in me too – that is, take upon himself and make his own everything that is in me, inwardly and outwardly, so that there is nothing at all in me that resists God or hinders him in his work.
Theologia Deutsch full quote →
The one essence of ChristianityDiscipleship
What I’m writing about here is the essence of Christianity. There is nothing else to it. People easily get the wrong idea about this. We slip into thinking that the church is about a whole range of different things – education, buildings, mission, holding services. In the same way, it’s easy to assume that the state, too, has many differe
C. S. Lewis full quote →
Evangelism without discipleshipMissionDiscipleship
I am uncomfortable with the distinction between evangelism and discipleship. What we call evangelism is often nothing more than soul-winning. Evangelism has come to mean getting people "across the line." It operates according to a model of providing goods and services that has nothing to do with Christlikeness. The leading assumption in t
Dallas Willard full quote →
The mountain and the grain of sandHoliness
“You know, Mother, that I have always longed to be a saint, but — alas! — whenever I compared myself with the saints, I always saw that the difference between them and me was the same as the difference between a mountain whose peak is lost in the clouds and an insignificant grain of sand trodden underfoot by passers-by. Instead of losing
Thérèse of Lisieux full quote →
I want you, not half of youFuneralDiscipleship
Christ says: hand everything over to me. It is not so much your time or your money or your work that I am after: I want you. I have not come to torment your natural self — I have come to kill it. Half-measures are no use. I am not out to cut off one branch here and another one there; I mean to fell the whole tree…. Hand over your whole na
C. S. Lewis full quote →
Old Adam, new ChristFuneralRebirth
…when we are speaking about the person who is old, and when about the person who is new. See: the old one is Adam and disobedience, self-will, I-ness and the like; the new person, however, is Christ and obedience. When there is talk of dying and passing away and so on, what is meant is that the old person is to be destroyed. If that happe
Theologia Deutsch full quote →
A fool for ChristFuneralDiscipleship
I’m a Fool for Christ: “People kept telling me: ‘John, you’re wrecking your career, you’re wrecking your name, you’re writing yourself off socially!’ And I had to laugh at that. I told them: ‘You don’t get it. You can’t kill a dead man. I have already died to myself. I no longer have a reputation to protect, or an ego for anyone to offend
John Wimber full quote →
Petrol and wind in the sailsLittle faithFaith and experience
Faith is the key to heavenly resources. Faith opens up access to heavenly fuel. In faith, a person can overcome the hardships and suffering that the whole of Peter's First Letter is, after all, about. From faith, love and hope, everyone may draw strength and motivation for a fruitful, creative life. Faith is like wind in the sails, allowi
Pavel Hošek full quote →
Grace is not opposed to effortLittle faithGrace
Grace is not opposed to effort, but to earning. Earning is an attitude. Effort is an action. Grace is not just about forgiveness — if we had never sinned we would still need grace! Grace is God acting in our life to do what we cannot do on our own. Grace is what we live by and the human system won’t work without it. The saint uses grace l
Dallas Willard full quote →
Beyond a childish faithLittle faith
The proven genuineness of faith is essentially another name for spiritual maturing, in the course of which a person leaves behind a childish faith based on expecting the Lord God above all to fulfil our own wishes and to provide for all our needs. It is a kind of putting out into the deep, where faith is no longer merely gratitude for God
Pavel Hošek full quote →
Carried hour by hourPrayer
Letters by a modern mystic: I feel simply carried along each hour, doing my part in a plan which is far beyond myself. This sense of cooperation with God in little things is what so astonishes me, for I never have felt it this way before. I need something, and turn round to find it waiting for me. I must work, to be sure, but there is God
Frank Laubach full quote →
Prayer lets the news get inPrayer
Simply Good News, p. 119: But prayer gives us an important way of getting inside the good news – or perhaps we might say that it allows the good news to get inside us. … our calling is not just to believe the good news. We are to become good-news people. That cannot be achieved simply by trying very hard. We can achieve it only by means o
N. T. Wright full quote →
Our Father: a list of prioritiesPrayer
Simply Good News, pp. 120–131: I have the feeling that the Lord's Prayer is not just a list of key themes. It is a list of priorities. Most of us, I suspect, begin our prayers at the end and then perhaps never really get back to the beginning. … Think of it like this. The Lord's Prayer invites us to come inside, as if we were entering a g
N. T. Wright full quote →
Transformed by prayerPrayer
Simply Good News, pp. 120–131: * When … we go through the prayer in the right direction, each petition creates the context for the next one. When we call God Father, we know that the next line … will have nothing to do with a thundering, tyrannical god who puffs himself up to the rafters while we cower in a corner. Likewise, when we truly
N. T. Wright full quote →
The God I want?God
Simply Good News, p. 118: I am not saying it is easy to believe in God. It isn't. I once saw a little book called “The God I Want” and a shiver ran down my spine. A god like that must be an idol. If we ever get to the point of saying, “Here is a God you can believe in!”, we know at once that we are fitting an idea of God into an already e
N. T. Wright full quote →
Two thousand years of waitingEnd timesMeaning
Question: “According to the letter, the climactic moment towards which everything is heading is the revelation of Jesus Christ, which has always been the object of hope and comfort for all who suffer. But almost two thousand years have passed since the letter was written, and Christ has not come. Isn't the whole concept mistaken after all
Pavel Hošek full quote →
The four great questionsMeaning
Jesus’ Answers to the Four Great Questions of Life 1. What is reality? God and his kingdom. 2. Who is blessed? (Who has the good life?) Anyone who is alive in God’s kingdom. 3. Who is a really good person? Those who are pervaded with agape love. 4. How do you become a really good person? Apprentice yourself to Jesus.
Dallas Willard full quote →
Faithfulness in small thingsDistant neighbours
“…I'm not chasing extraordinary feats, I'm not after great works that everyone could admire. In the banality of everyday life I look for ways to please God by doing little things. I don't want to miss the slightest opportunity for the most ordinary gesture of love and self-sacrifice – not to collect merits or to be better than others, but
Thérèse of Lisieux full quote →
Bearing with others' faultsDistant neighbours
“Ah, now I understand that perfect love consists in bearing with the faults of others, in not being surprised at their weaknesses, in being uplifted by even the smallest virtuous deeds we see in them. But above all I have understood that love must not stay shut away at the bottom of the heart. “When a lamp is lit, said Jesus, it is not pu
Thérèse of Lisieux full quote →
Eyes fixed on the BridegroomSeeing one step ahead
“Keep your eyes fixed on your Bridegroom. It is he who must feed you. If he is pleased with you, even those who are not too well disposed towards you will give you something to eat, as your own experience confirms. And if in the meantime you were to die of hunger – blessed are you, nuns of St Joseph's! … So leave aside all worries about f
Teresa of Ávila full quote →
Living in the present momentSeeing one step ahead
“An important condition for receiving light is to live the present moment. Let's not ask for a definitive answer or for answers of general validity; let's be content to receive light at least for today (as the refrain of one of Thérèse's poems goes). If we insist on definitive answers, we won't always get them… We have to live from day to
Thérèse of Lisieux full quote →
Day by day from God's handSeeing one step ahead
…one of the aspects of what Thérèse calls “being little”. Accepting that day by day we take from God's hand everything we need, without worrying about tomorrow or reproaching ourselves for the past. Every day I do what is asked of me, without getting anxious or giving in to fear. I am certain that God is faithful and that at every moment
Thérèse of Lisieux full quote →
Self-knowledge with every mealSuffering
“Self-knowledge is the bread that must be eaten with every meal, even the most exquisite, for we cannot do without it.” The Mother never stops stressing the extraordinary importance of clear-sightedness about ourselves. When this strong soul, thanks to prayer and God's grace, takes three words as her motto – “to act, to suffer, to love” –
Teresa of Ávila full quote →
The way leads through life itselfDiscipleshipSuffering
That is why there is no other, better way or preparation for the beloved life of Jesus Christ than this life itself, and practising it as much as one can.
Theologia Deutsch full quote →
Trouble refines faithSuffering
If we accept trouble with the right attitude, it refines, toughens and deepens both us and our faith. “All things work together for good for those who love God”
Pavel Hošek full quote →
Jesus in the midst of chaosGood newsSuffering
Simply Good News – 104-108: Jesus … did not descend from on high on a parachute like some Superman; he lived in the chaos and confusion of a very complicated part of the world at a particularly hard moment in its history, and took its pain and shame upon his own life and his own body. … Jesus offered no explanation for the pain and suffer
N. T. Wright full quote →
Mission through your own lifeMissionDiscipleship
The main function of the church is not evangelism but to be a place for God's dwelling on earth. That requires people to grow, to receive God and to take their place with God. That would have the natural effect of evangelism. … Many people will be drawn without any special strategy, simply thanks to the health of the people. 4. and above
Dallas Willard full quote →
Truth and experience togetherPrayerRevitalization
p. 29 We are not called to choose between a Christian life based on truth and doctrine and a life filled with spiritual power and spiritual experience. These two aspects are inseparable. I'm not being called to abandon theology and look around for “something more”, for experiences. Rather, my task is to ask the Holy Spirit to help me expe
Timothy Keller full quote →
Faith as access to resourcesLittle faithRevitalization
Faith is the key to heavenly resources. Faith opens up a person's access to heavenly fuel. … Faith doesn't work merely as some kind of psychological optimism or an inner mechanical law. It is strength given from Heaven. Where there is faith, the Holy Spirit is at work. Whoever believes draws their strength from above. Faith gives a person
Pavel Hošek full quote →
Grace as fuelGraceRevitalization
Grace is God acting in our life to do what we cannot do on our own. Grace is what we live by and the human system won’t work without it. The saint uses grace like a 747 jet burns gas on takeoff!
Dallas Willard full quote →
God isn't stingy with consolationsRevitalizationFaith and experience
p. 223: It seems fitting to me that for frail women like me, wretched and without any courage, God is not sparing with consolations. That is how he is dealing with me now. … But that servants of God, respected men, very sensible and intelligent, make a fuss when God doesn't give them great devotion – that is something I find repulsive jus
Teresa of Ávila full quote →
Intelligent mysticismRevitalizationFaith and experience
It is necessary to recognise that there is an intelligent mysticism in the life of faith… a living union and communion with the exalted and ever-present Redeemer… (who) with attentive love dwells in fellowship with his people, and his people dwell with Him… The life of true faith cannot be one of cold, impersonal assent. It must have the
John Murray full quote →
Mirroring God's lovePrayerRevitalization
Simply Good News – 120 – 131: * It takes us back to the point in our story where we remember that God created human beings chiefly so that they would reflect his image into the world. God wants to run his world, to bring his love, wisdom and purposes into it, through human beings. * When people believe this and find that this faith has ch
N. T. Wright full quote →
Brighter than the sunRevitalizationFaith and experience
p. 95 One could say that he is there the way we know in the dark that someone is beside us. It is something like that, but not exactly. It is more like a message communicated to the soul, tidings clearer than the sun. Not that one sees the sun or brightness, yet a kind of light illuminates the mind without striking us as light does, and p
Teresa of Ávila full quote →
Three steps of inner prayerPrayerRevitalization
Prayer is divided into three parts: 1. picturing the mysteries we are to meditate on, 2. reflecting on these mysteries with the mind, 3. resting in God lovingly and attentively: that is when the fruits of meditation are gathered and the mind opens to divine illumination. One passes from natural knowledge to supernatural knowledge when the
Teresa of Ávila full quote →
A child has accessPrayerRevitalization
Being a child of God means having access. We know that God takes an immense interest in us, listens to us, watches us.
Timothy Keller full quote →
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