Can We Please God?

The Bible teaches that since the original sin of Adam, all humans are spiritually dead and morally incapable of submitting to God in faith and obedience.  By nature we have a mindset that cannot submit to God.  "The mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed it cannon.  Those who are in the flesh cannot please God" (Rom. 8:7-8).  The reason for this moral inability is given in Ephesians 2:1-"You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked."  And therefore, we are "sons of disobedience" and "children of wrath"...

John Piper,
Bloodlines

The Essence of Sin

"The essence of sin:  Man substitutes himself for God.  Man asserts himself against God and puts himself where only God deserves to be.  

 

The essence of salvation:  God substitutes Himself for man.  God sacrifices Himself for man and puts Himself where only man deserves to be."

David Platt

How to Walk with God

To walk with God is to walk in the light of God’s countenance; to live as people who remember that all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we walk, that the darkness is no darkness with Him, and remembering this, to aim at never thinking or saying or doing anything we should be ashamed of in the presence of the great Searcher of hearts. To walk with God is to walk after the Spirit–to look to the Holy Spirit as our Teacher, to lean on Him for strength, to put no confidence in the flesh, to set our affections on things above, to wean them from things on earth, and to be spiritually-minded.

~ J.C. Ryle

Great Quotes From TGC11

James MacDonald
"The surest antidote for the fear of man...is maximizing concern for what God thinks about you."

"Jesus isn't just the one in whom I trust, but He exemplifies how to trust."

Matt Chandler
"Everybody loves Pauline theology, but nobody wants Pauline pain."

"Remembering rightly will redeem your rejoicing."

Andrew Murray Quotes

"Jesus Christ took the place and fulfilled the destiny of man by His life of perfect humility.  His humility is our salvation.  His salvation is our humility.  Therefore, study the humility of Jesus.  This is the secret, the hidden root of your redemption."

"Humility is the recognition that we owe everything to God...humility is to be nothing, so that God may be all...humility, the place of entire dependence on God, is the first duty and the highest virtue of man.  It is the root of every virtue."

"It is only by the indwelling of Christ in His divine humility that we become truly humble.  We have our pride from another, from Adam; we must have our humility from Another [capital A], too."

 

John Angell James

"Every woman, whether rich or poor, married or single,

has a circle of influence, within which, according to her character,

she is exerting a certain amount of power for good or harm.

Every woman, by her virtue or her vice:

by her folly or her wisdom; by her levity or her dignity,

is adding something to our national elevation or degradation...

A community is not likely to be overthrown where woman fulfills her mission;

for by the power of her noble heart over the hearts of others,

she will raise it from its ruins

and restore it again to prosperity and joy."

John Angell James (1785-1859)

Female Piety: A Young Woman's Friend and Guide

Amy Carmichael Quote

"If I ask to be delivered from trial rather than for deliverance out of it, to the praise of His glory; if I forget that the way of the Cross leads to the Cross and not to a bank of flowers; if I regulate my life on these lines, or even unconsciously my thinking, so that I am surprised when the way is rough and think it strange, Think it not strange, Count it all joy, then I know nothing of Calvary love."

Amy Carmichael

How Sovereign Is God?

"I believe that every particle of dust that dances in the sunbeam does not move an atom more or less than God wishes—

that every particle of spray that dashes against the steamboat has its orbit, as well as the sun in the heavens—

that the chaff from the hand of the winnower is steered as the stars in their courses.

The creeping of an aphid over the rosebud is as much fixed as the march of the devastating pestilence—

the fall of sere leaves from a poplar is as fully ordained as the tumbling of an avalanche."

Charles Haddon Spurgeon