Congregations shaped by the Scriptures generally have preachers who are shaped by the Scriptures.
From John Ortberg
Those of us who preach the Scriptures, along with being nourished by it ourselves, have to figure out along with our congregations how we can incarnate the gospel in our community, or we will preach to a religious ghetto.
Far more books get written about how to get more people in your church than how to get the people already in your church to have more humility and sincere love.
In community, we discover who we really are and how much transformation we still require. This is why I am irrevocably committed to small groups. Through them, we can accomplish our God-entrusted work to transform human beings.
God has decided, for his own good reasons, that people are not transformed outside of community.
Sloth is the failure to do what needs to be done when it needs to be done - like the kamikaze pilot who flew seventeen missions.
As much as we complain about it, though, there's part of us that is drawn to a hurried life. It makes us feel important. It keeps the adrenaline pumping. It means I don't have to look too closely at my heart or life. It keeps us from feeling our loneliness.
The hurried can become unhurried. But it will not happen by trying alone, nor will it happen instantly. You will have to enter a life of training.
My wife is one of the most extroverted people I know. She could out-talk Oprah and Joyce Meyer simultaneously.
One of the reasons I'm an interesting person to be married to is my intensely late-blooming self-awareness.
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