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1 " What would your prayers look like if you believed that the cross really was the measure of God's compassion for someone? "
― , Gospel: Recovering the Power that Made Christianity Revolutionary
2 " My identity and my security are not in my spiritual progress. My identity and my security are in God’s acceptance of me given as a gift in Christ. "
3 " The gospel has done its work in us when we crave God more than we crave everything else in life and when seeing His kingdom advance in the lives of others gives us more joy than anything we could own. When we see Jesus as greater than anything the world can offer, we’ll gladly let everything else go to possess Him. "
4 " It is one thing to understand the gospel but is quite another to experience the gospel in such a way that it fundamentally changes us and becomes the source of our identity and security. "
5 " Without love even the most radical devotion to God is of no value to Him. Let me make sure that sinks in… You can gain all the spiritual gifts in the world. You can take the most radical steps of obedience. You can share every meal with the homeless in your city. You can memorize the book of Leviticus. You can pray each morning for four hours like Martin Luther. But if what you do does not flow out of a heart of love - a heart that does those things because it genuinely desires to do them - it is ultimately worthless to God. "
6 " It’s not that I didn’t understand or believe the gospel before. I did. But the truth of the gospel hadn’t moved from my mind to my heart. There was a huge gap between my intellect and my emotions. The Puritan Jonathan Edwards likened his reawakening to the gospel to a man who had known, in his head, that honey was sweet, but for the first time had that sweetness burst alive in his mouth. "
7 " Awe combined with intimacy is the essence of Christian worship. "
8 " When something becomes so important to you that it drives your behavior and commands your emotions, you are worshipping it. "
9 " Gospel change is the Spirit of God using the story of God to make the beauty of God come alive in our hearts "
10 " We are changed not by being told what we need to do for God, but by hearing the news about what God has done for us. "
11 " Being able to articulate the gospel with accuracy is one thing; having its truth captivate your soul is quite another. "
12 " As we see the beauty of God and feel His weightiness in our hearts, our hearts begin to desire Him more than we desire sin. Before the Bible says, "Stop sinning," it says, "Behold your God. "
13 " A Christianity that does not have as its primary focus the deepening of passions for God is a false Christianity, no matter how zealously it seeks conversions or how forcefully it advocates righteous behavior. "
14 " Unless we are actively preaching the gospel to ourselves daily, we fall back into “works-righteousness. "
15 " In a post-Christian, skeptical age, love on display is the most convincing apologetic. "
16 " The Gospel Prayer “In Christ, there is nothing I can do that would make You love me more, and nothing I have done that makes You love me less.” “Your presence and approval are all I need for everlasting joy.” “As You have been to me, so I will be to others.” “As I pray, I’ll measure Your compassion by the cross and Your power by the resurrection. "
17 " The gospel has done its work in us when we crave God more than we crave everything else in life. "
18 " True worship is obedience to God for no other reason than that you delight in God. "
19 " Abiding in Jesus means understanding that His acceptance of us is the same regardless of the amount of spiritual fruit we have produced. "
20 " True religion is when you serve God to get nothing else but more of God. Many people use religion as a way of getting something else from God they want-blessings, rewards, even escape from judgement. This is wearisome to us, and to God. But when God is His own reward, Christianity becomes thrilling. Sacrifice becomes joy. "
