The Gospel Will Persuade No One Unless

The Christ Within Who Is Our Hope Of Glory Is Not A Matter Of Theological Debate Or Philosophical Speculation. He Is Not A Hobby, A Part-time Project, A Good Theme For A Book, Or A Last Resort When All Human Effort Fails. He Is Our Life, The Most Real Fact About Us. He Is The Power And Wisdom Of God Dwelling Within Us.

I Believe That The Real Difference In The American Church Is Not Between Conservatives And Liberals, Fundamentalists And Charismatics, Nor Between Republicans And Democrats. The Real Difference Is Between The Aware And The Unaware.

Lord, When I Feel That What I'm Doing Is Insignificant And Unimportant, Help Me To Remember That Everything I Do Is Significant And Important In Your Eyes, Because You Love Me And You Put Me Here, And No One Else Can Do What I Am Doing In Exactly The Way I Do It.

Won't The Awareness God Loves Us No Matter What Lead To Spiritual Laziness And Moral Laxity? Theoretically, This Seems A Reasonable Fear, But In Reality The Opposite Is True. . . . The More Rooted We Are In The Love Of God, The More Generously We Will Live Our Faith.

To Ignore, Repress, Or Dismiss Our Feelings Is To Fail To Listen To The Stirrings Of The Spirit Within Our Emotional Life. Jesus Listened. In John's Gospel We Are Told That Jesus Was Moved With The Deepest Emotions (11:33)... The Gospel Portrait Of The Beloved Child Of Abba Is That Of A Man Exquisitely Attuned To His Emotions And Uninhibited In Expressing Them. The Son Of Man Did Not Scorn Of Reject Feelings As Fickle And Unreliable. They Were Sensitive Antennae To Which He Listened Carefully And Through Which He Perceived The Will Of His Father For Congruent Speech And Action.