Where love is the compelling power, there is no sense of strain or conflict or bondage in doing what is right: the man or woman who is compelled by Jesus’ love and empowered by His Spirit does the will of God from the heart.
Paul – Apostle of the Heart Set Free, Eerdmans, 1977, www.eerdamns.com, p. 21. Get this book!
The time of business does not differ with me from the time of prayer; and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were on my knees.
The Practice of the Presence of God, Revell, 1958, p. 30, 31.
The real issue in the creation/evolution debate is not the existence of God. The real issue is the nature of God. To think of evolution as basically atheistic is to misunderstand the uniqueness of evolution. Evolution was not designed as a general attack against theism. It was designed as a specific attack against the God of the Bible, and the God of the Bible is clearly revealed through the doctrine of creation. Obviously, if a person is an atheist, it would be normal for him to also be an evolutionist. But evolution is as comfortable with theism as it is with atheism. An evolutionist is perfectly free to choose any god he wishes, as long as it is not the God of the Bible. The gods allowed by evolution are private, subjective, and artificial. They bother no one and make no absolute ethical demands. However, the God of the Bible is the Creator, Sustainer, Savior, and Judge. All are responsible to Him. He has an agenda that conflicts with that of the sinful humans. For man to be created in the image of God is very awesome. For God to be created in the image of man is very comfortable.
Bones of Contention: A Creationist Assessment of Human Fossils, Baker, 1992, p. 188-189.
Evolution is simply the latest means our fallen race has devised in order to suppress our innate knowledge and the biblical testimony that there is a God and that we are accountable to Him (cf. Romans 1:28). By embracing evolution, modern society aims to do away with morality, responsibility, and guilt. Society has embraced evolution with such enthusiasm because people imagine that it eliminates the Judge and leaves them free to do whatever they want without guilt and without consequences.
The Battle for the Beginning, W Publishing Group, 2001, p. 24.
[In reference to the temptation in the garden] “God is a liar,” (Satan) says. “He has deceived you, taken your freedom, and restricted your joy.” Satan’s lie is still the same today: “You can be free. Do whatever you want. It is your life. There are no divine laws; no absolute authority; and above all, no judgment. You will surely not die.”
The Battle for the Beginning, W Publishing Group 2001, p. 197.
Leaders have to make decisions day by day. Convictional leaders are determined to make the right decisions, grounded in those convictions. But at the end of the day, all we can do is make the best decisions we can, knowing that the final verdict will not come from shareholders, board members, church members, or even historians, but from God. “Well done, good and faithful servant” is the verdict for which we strive and hope. The decision to aim for that verdict is one we had better make right now before it is too late.
The Conviction to Lead, Bethany House Publishers, 2012, p. 147, Used by Permission.
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Let us look at our lives in the light of this experience [in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10] and see whether we gladly glory in weakness, whether we take pleasure, as Paul did, in injuries, in necessities, in distresses. Yes, let us ask whether we have learned to regard a reproof, just or unjust, a reproach from friend or enemy, an injury, or trouble, or difficulty into which others bring us, as above all an opportunity of proving how Jesus is all to us, how our own pleasure or honor are nothing, and how humiliation is in very truth what we take pleasure in. It is indeed blessed, the deep happiness of heaven, to be so free from self that whatever is said of us or done to us is lost and swallowed up in the thought that Jesus is all.
Humility: The Beauty of Holiness, p. 83. Get this book!
The excuse that is banished, the excuse every pagan hopes in vain to use, the excuse that is exploded by God’s self-revelation in nature is the pretended, vacuous, dishonest appeal to ignorance. No one will be able to approach the judgment seat of God justly pleading, “If only I had known You existed, I would surely have served You.” That excuse is annihilated. No one can lightly claim “insufficient” evidence for not believing in God.
Classical Apologetics, Zondervan, 1984, p. 46, www.zondervan.com.
God has left the indelible mark of His fingerprints all across the vast face of the universe… This revelation is sufficiently clear and inescapable that it renders all without excuse (see Rom. 1:20). Consequently, there is no such thing as “an innocent native in Africa” any more than there is “an innocent pagan in America”… The problem is not a lack of evidence. The problem is the innate, natural, moral antipathy of mankind to God. The problem is not that the evidence is not open to mankind. The problem is that mankind is not open to the evidence.
General Revelation, November 8, 2006, www.enjoyinggodministries.com. Used by Permission.
God hath given to man a short time here upon earth, and yet upon this short time eternity depends.
