“There is a joy available that the deepest grief cannot put out. No circumstance or person can take away the joy God gives.”

Christians tend to motivate others with guilt. We tend to say: You would do this if you were really committed Christians, indicating that we are committed and all that is needed is for others to become as good as we are!

The Bible’s purpose is not so much to show you how to live a good life.

Our character is mainly shaped by our primary social community – the people with whom we eat, play, converse, and study.

There is no way to have a real relationship without becoming vulnerable to hurt. Christmas tells us that God became breakable and fragile.

How do you change your behavior? Change what you worship

The gospel is not only the way to enter the kingdom; it is the way to live in the kingdom.

The Christian Gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me.

The sin that is most destructive in your life right now is the one you are most defensive about.

Christians need the gospel as much as non-Christians do.

We instinctively tend to limit for whom we exert ourselves. We do it for people like us, and for people whom we like. Jesus will have none of that.

The great basis of Christian assurance is not how much our hearts are set on God, but how unshakably his heart is set on us.

I am going to judge my circumstances by Jesus’ love, not Jesus’ love by my circumstances.

In religion, you obey because God is useful. In Christianity, you obey because God is beautiful.

All human problems are ultimately symptoms, and our separation from God is the cause.

Since they were saved by sheer grace, not by their perfect doctrine or strong moral character.

When we grasp that we are unworthy sinners saved by an infinitely costly grace, it destroys both our self-righteousn ess and our need to ridicule others.

Shallow men believe in luck or in circumstance. Strong men believe in cause and effect.

Wisdom means understanding without any doubt that circumstances do not rise to meet our expectations. Events happen as they may. People behave as they will.

An irresponsible person is a person who makes vague promises, then breaks his word, blames it on circumstances and expects other people to forgive it.

I’m aware that, whatever the circumstances, there will always be speculation about me.

My responsibility is to lead youth, no matter what the circumstances are.

Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past.

Yeah, I wasn’t chosen to be first. I was just chosen to command that flight. Circumstance put me in that particular role. That wasn’t planned by anyone.

You are not your circumstances. You are your possibilities. If you know that, you can do anything.