glory
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” ‘The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.’* It would be scripturally false to leave out the second phrase, ‘and to enjoy Him forever.’ The men who formulated this showed great wisdom and insight is saying, ‘and to enjoy Him forever.’ Nevertheless, the first phrase is the first
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“When I have a terrible need of—shall I say the word—religion—then I go out and paint the stars.” —Vincent Van Gogh In a turbulent world, a turbulent man had it right. Before he painted, Vincent was a failed preacher who remembered that the heavens still declared the glory of God. In Alex Haley’s novel Roots,
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“He made us lamps for His light, not the salesmen or customers of His fire. He fits no category, exceeds every attribution, defies all description. He is immeasurably more than the object of our study—He’s the subject of the universe itself. “He’s the superlative of everything good you choose to call Him”, Rev. Lockwood proclaimed—
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“Many years ago I asked the Lord why He called me to ministry and He answered me very clearly. He said, “This is how you will worship Me, and bring Me glory…” —Pastor Roger Ullman What is your calling? Not sure? What do you love to do that benefits and blesses others? That’s a much
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“You asked for a loving God: you have one. The great spirit you so lightly invoked…is present: not a senile benevolence that drowsily wishes you to be happy in your own way, not the cold philanthropy of a conscientious magistrate, nor the care of a host who feels responsible for the comfort of his guests,
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What will people remember you for? Even more, what have you done with your life that will outlast you? C.H. Spurgeon, the “prince of preachers”, put it like this… “What pain to find your life-work to be a lot of wood, and hay, and stubble that will blaze furiously, and die out in ashes! You know what I
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Tough day? Philosopher Simone Weil had many. She also saw God’s grace while dying of tuberculosis… “The extreme greatness of Christianity lies in the fact that it does not seek a supernatural cure for suffering, but a supernatural use of it.” It amazes me that even when God doesn’t ease our sufferings, He can still be glorified through them. That alone may be the
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Sometimes Hollywood gets it right. Sometimes. In a quiet scene from “Chariots of Fire”, Scottish missionary Eric Liddell, to assuage his sister’s protests, explained why he would race in the Olympics before returning to his China ministry… “Jenny, Jenny, you’ve got to understand, I believe that God made me for a purpose—for China. But He also made me fast,
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God wants heaven filled, and its radiant population continues to grow. Last Monday it gained Pastor Douglas Mark, known to me as “Dougie”. I knew him all of five hours on earth though it feels like we were lifelong friends. As he prepared for his graduation, he wrote some lyrics in his prayer diary, which were read to
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A college professor once told a pompous student, “Young man, I suggest you plunge your finger into a bowl of water and remove it—the hole that remains will show you how significant you really are.” Our world is driven by the fleeting and superficial—people, ideas and things that pave the way to human insignificance, but it was never meant to
Jay McCarl 