“Human beings are at their core defined by what they worship rather than primarily by what they think, know, or believe. That is bound up with the central Augustinian claim that we are what we love.”

Spiritual transformation into Christ-likeness in not going to happen unless we act. What transforms us is the will to obey Jesus Christ.

The truly powerful ideas are precisely the ones that never have to justify themselves.

To allow lust (or strong desires) to govern our life is to exalt our will over God’s.

Bodily pleasure is not in itself a bad thing. But when it is exalted to a necessity and we become dependent upon it, then we are slaves of our body and its feelings. Only misery lies ahead.

The will is transformed by experience, not information.

The open secret of many Bible believing Churches is that a vanishingly small percentage of those talking about prayer and Bible reading are actually doing what they are talking about.

Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning. Earning is an attitude. Effort is an action. Grace, you know, does not just have to do with forgiveness of sins alone.

This life is not something that is imposed upon us; we receive it and work with it.

Every church needs to be able to answer two questions. First, what is our plan for making disciples? And second, does our plan work?

Theology is a part of our lives. It’s unavoidable. A thoughtless theology guides our lives with just as much force as a thoughtful and informed one.

The effect of standing before God by welcoming him before us will be the transformation of our entire life.

Grace is not opposed to effort; it’s opposed to earning.

Almost everything worth doing in human life is very difficult in its early stages and the good we are aiming at is never available at first, to strengthen us when we seem to need it most.

Spiritual formation for the Christian basically refers to the Spirit-driven process of forming the inner world of the human self in such a way that it becomes like the inner being of Christ himself.

Discipleship is the process of becoming who Jesus would be if he were you.

The ultimate freedom we have as human beings is the power to select what we will allow or require our minds to dwell upon.

One definition of maturity is learning to delay pleasure.

Prejudice and bigotry are brought down…by the sheer force of determination of individuals to succeed and the refusal of a human being to let prejudice define the parameters of the possible.

God is love, but He also defines what love is. We don’t have the license to define love according to our standards.

To define yourself is to limit yourself. Without labels you remain the infinite being.

The purpose of the corporation must be redefined as creating shared value, not just profit per se. This will drive the next wave of innovation and productivity growth in the global economy.

The Cross of Christ is the crux of history. Without the Cross, history cannot be defined or corrected.

I define God as an energy. A spiritual energy. It has no denomination, it has no judgment, it has an energy that when we’re connected to it we know why we’re here and what we’re here to do.

She teaches me I am boundless and free. She teaches me my past does not define me.