Here are some of my favorite quotes…

PURPOSE

“Are the things you’re living for worth Christ dying for?”- Leonard Ravenhill

“Lord, please deliver me from living for something so small and insignificant as myself”- Me

“If you aim at nothing, you get it every time”- Unknown

GOD’S LOVE

“True love never forces… Love that is forced is no love at all” (God speaking)- William Young (5, 190)

“‘Does that mean… that all roads will lead to you?’ ‘Not at all…Most roads don’t lead anywhere. What it does mean is that I will travel any road to find you.’”- Conversation between Mack and Jesus. William Young (5, p. 182)

…”God’s cause isn’t cult (religion), but humankind.”- Brennan Manning (1)

FAITH

“Faith is not nagging God into doing something, but holding onto the One Who IS doing something.”- Me

EVANGELISM

“As long as there is someone who doesn’t know Christ, don’t ever say any church, anywhere is too big”- Craig Groeschel

“Offer yourself as a vehicle to transport Divinity into the world of lost. hurting, and searching humanity.”- Tommy Tenney (4, p. 77)

LOVING OTHERS

“You can love people if you don’t love God. You don’t love God if you don’t love people”- Me

“An ounce of love is worth a pound of knowledge.”- John Wesley

…”Jesus said, ‘Love one another as I have loved you (Jn 13:34)’ Surely it would have been more reasonable to say, ‘Love Me as I have loved you’ but He didn’t say that.”- Brennan Manning (1)

…Again in John’s first letter we read, ’since God loved us so much, we too should love one another (4:11)’ Certainly it would have been more logical for the author to say, ’since God loved us so much, so we ought to love Him.’ But he didn’t say that either.”- Brennan Manning (1)

…”For the meaning of our religion is love. Christianity is all about loving, and we either take it or leave it. It’s not about worship and morality, except insofar as these things are expressions of the love that causes them both.”-Brennan Manning (1)

God’s Call

“Whenever God calls us to something, it inspires not only faith, but also fear. God always summons us to something bigger than ourselves. When He calls us to battle, the opposition will always be greater than the strength we have.”- Erwin McManus (2, p. 89)

SERVING OTHERS

“Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.”- John Wesley

“When you lust for power, you are it’s slave. When you live for other, you are a powerful servant of God. Only those who would live to serve can be trusted with the power of God”- Erwin McManus (2, p. 80)

INTEGRITY

“If you lack integrity, thank God that you are not more powerful”- Erwin McManus (2, p. 80)

“As with Jesus, integrity is best showcased in the context of opposition or even persecution… It’s when we face a moment of truth that our integrity is tested and proven genuine or not.”- Erwin McManus (2, p. 72)

“It’s a wonderful thing when you look inside your own heart and like what you see”- Erwin McManus (2, p. 83)

CHARACTER

“There is a dramatic difference between seeking honor and being honorable”- Erwin McManus (2, p. 81)

POLITICS

“If we are truly to represent (Jesus), we better come up with a better plan than diving the country over temporal, political issues.”- Dan Merchant (9, p. 28)

OBEDIENCE

“We won’t expect to understand much more about the Bible until we start doing what we already know.”- Brian McLaren (6, p. 83)

HUMILITY

“In fact, if no other feet have ever touched the ground that marks the way of humility, the path is clearly marked by the footprints of God.- Erwin McManus (2, p. 51)

THE CHURCH AND CULTURE

Are we creating a self-isolating, self-serving, self-perpetuating, self-centered subculture instead of a world penetrating (like salt and light), world-serving (focused on “the least and the lost,” those Jesus came to seek and to save), world-transforming (like yeast in bread), God-centered (sharing God’s love for the whole world) countercultrue?” If so, even if we proudly carry the name evangelical (which means “having to do with the gospel”), we’re not behaving as friends of the gospel but rather as betrayers.”- Tony Campolo (6. p. 11-12)

PAIN

“Will you at least consider this: When all you can see is your pain, perhaps then you lose sight of me (God explaining why we feel He is far away during hard times)?”- William Young (5, p. 96)

“(God) doesn’t stop a lot of things that cause Him pain… (mankind) demanded your independence, and now you are angry at the one who loved you enough to give it to you.”- William Young (5, p. 164)

“Just because I work incredible good out of unspeakable tragedies doesn’t mean I orchestrate the tragedies. Don’t ever assume that my using something means I caused it or that I needed it to accomplish my purposes… Grace doesn’t depend on suffering to exist, but where there is suffering you will find grace in many facets and colors.” (God speaking)- William Young (5, p. 185)

FOLLOWING JESUS

“Even the subtle shift from receiving Jesus to following Jesus is significant. The first allows us to remain stationary as God comes to us; the second demands our moving with God.”- Erwin McManus (7, p. 11)

COURAGE

“God call you to dream great dreams and to have the courage to live them. Great dreams require great courage.”- Erwin McManus (2, p. 89)

DIVINE APPOINTMENTS

“The most important moments rarely come at a convenient time.”- Erwin McManus (7, p. 14)

DEALING WITH FAILURE

“He that fails today may rise tomorrow; unless he chooses to lie in bed and groan, instead of getting into heart and spirits, ready for fresh encounters.”- Miguel Cervantes (3, ch 77)

SELF-CENTEREDNESS

“Oddly enough, Narcicissus’ greatest admirer was a nymph called Echo. They were, after all, a perfect match. He only spoke about himself, and she in turn could only repeat his self-indulgent praise.

When we are in love with ourselves, we are prone to only listen to what we want to hear. We want to feel good about ourselves more than we want to become good.”- Erwin McManus (2, p. 24)

GOD’S WILL

The question is not “‘…What is God’s will for my life?’ but ‘How can I give my life to fulfill God’s will?’”- Erwin McManus (7, p. 66)

“It is a short distance from ‘God’s way is my way’ to ‘My way is God’s way’ (not to mention ‘My way is Yahweh’).”- Tony Campolo (6. p. 34)

“It can be a terrible thing when a man identifies his aims with the will of God instead of submitting his ways to that will.”- William Barclay (8, p. 140)

“God clarifies in the midst of obedience, not beforehand. It is fair to say that God informs us on a need to know basis.”-Erwin McManus (7, p. 57)

HOLINESS

“We have defined holiness through what we have separated ourselves from rather than what we give ourselves to. I am convinced the great tragedy is not the sins we commit, but the life that we fail to live.”- Erwin McManus (7. p. 36)

THEOLOGY

“In the end, God’s truth is not a theology, but a person.”- Tony Compolo (6, p. 35)

SUCCESS

“The great danger that success brings, aside from arrogance, is the fear of losing what has been gained.”- Erwin McManus (7, p. 41)

COMFORT

“Ours is a society…that has seduced us into slavery that is so attractive, comfortable, and titillating that we do not recognize it as slavery.”- Tony Campolo quoting Herbert Marcuse (6. p. 67)

DESIRES

“In Buddhism the goal of the spiritual journey is the elimination of desire. In Christianity the goal of the spiritual journey is the transformation of our desires.”- Erwin McManus (7, p. 49)

THE BIBLE

“Ever notice, when Jesus was asked a question, how often he answered with another question? What if God’s answers to us are often questions? And what if, by inspiring questions in us, the Bible actually reads us, instead of us reading it?”- Brian McLaren (6, p. 87)

REGRETS

“When you keep traveling backwards, it tears away at your soul.”- Erwin McManus (7, p.16)

RANDOM

“You have to be weird to be normal, because if you’re normal, you’re weird- Me

“and thus with little sleeping and much reading, his brains were dried up, and his intellect deranged.”- Miguel Cervantes (3, ch. 1)

*”I would have entered the the ministry if certain clergymen did not act so much like undertakers…” Oliver Wendel Holmes

(1) Brennan Manning, Wisdom of Tenderness.

(2) Erwin McManus, Uprising: A Revolution of the Soul.

(3) Miguel Cervantes, Don Quixote.

(4) Tommy Tenney, Chasing God, Serving Man.

(5) William P. Young, The Shack.

(6) Tony Campolo & Brian McLaren, Adventures in Missing the Point.

(7) Erwin McManus, Chasing Daylight: Seize the Power of Every Moment.

(8) William Barclay, The Acts of the Apostles.

(9) Dan Merchant, Lord, Save Us From Your Followers: Why is the Gospel of Love diving America?