The irony is that while God doesn’t need us but still wants us, we desperately need God but don’t really want Him most of the time.

[Y]ou have to stop loving and pursuing Christ in order to sin. When you are pursuing love, running toward Christ, you do not have opportunity to wonder, *Am I doing this right?* or *Did I serve enough this week?* When you are running toward Christ, you are freed up to serve, love, and give thanks without guilt, worry or fear. As long as you are running, you're safe.

The Christian life is a process of better understanding what Jesus taught, learning to apply that teaching in our everyday lives, and then teaching others - people directly around us and people on the other side of the globe - to do the same.

Jesus said go and make disciples, but so often we just sit and make excuses

The truth is that the Spirit of the living God is guaranteed to ask you to go somewhere or do something you wouldn’t normally want or choose to do. The Spirit will lead you into the way of the cross, as He led Jesus to the cross, and that is definitely not a safe or pretty or comfortable place to be. The Holy Spirit of God will mold you into the person you were made to be…

Because I want to get a lot done, I can sometimes do that in the flesh. If I don't rest in the Lord, and enjoy him as I should, my action doesn't spring from my identity and enjoyment of Christ. When that happens, I end up getting the glory rather than Jesus.

I confess to you guys, I confess to the church, I know I have backed away from certain things because of my arrogance. I thought I could attract more people to Jesus by hiding certain things about him.

In the midst of our failed attempts at loving Jesus, His grace covers us.

There will be people who will teach for the sake of greed or for the sake of ego. So watch their lives. Do they look and act like Jesus?