Archives by: Gary Hoag

“When Christ calls us to a new act of obedience that will cost us some temporal pleasure, we call to mind the surpassing value of following Him, and by faith in His proven worth, we forsake the worldly pleasure. The result? More joy! More faith! Deeper than before. And so we go on from joy to joy and faith to faith.”

John Piper in Desiring God (Colorado Springs: Multnomah, 2011) 74.

“God is always at work in His world. He seeks to bring every person into a personal relationship with Himself through Jesus Christ.

Jesus described the way He knew and did the will of the Father. Because the Father loved the son, He showed the Son what He was doing. Jesus watched to see where the Father was working and joined Him.

You can follow the same pattern by watching to see where God is at work around you. When He shows you, join Him in His work.”

Henry Blackaby, Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God (B&H Publishing, Nashville, 2008) 77.

“We please God when we comply with His will… We please God when we do the work He sets before us… We please God when we dedicate our hearts to giving Him the best of everything. We please God when we serve Him with love, fervency, and zeal. There is but one God. Therefore there is but One whom we must please, namely, God.”

Thomas Watson (1620-1686) Puritan preacher in Glorifying God: A Yearlong Collection of Classic Devotional Writings (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2009) June 26 reading.

But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you into Galilee; there you will see him as he told you. Mark 16:7

“Now tell me if that’s not a hidden treasure!

If I might paraphrase the words, “Don’t stay here, go tell the disciples,” a pause, then a smile, “and especially tell Peter, that he is going before you to Galilee.”

What a line. It’s as if all of heaven had watched Peter fall—and it’s as if all of heaven wanted to help him back up again… No wonder they call it the gospel of the second chance. Not many second chances exist in the world today…You can have a second chance.

Just ask Peter…The next time he saw Jesus, he got so excited that he barely got his britches on before he jumped into the cold water of the Sea of Galilee.

It also enough, so they say, to cause this backwood Galilean to carry the gospel of the second chance all the way to Rome where they killed him. If you ever wonder what would cause a man to be willing to be crucified upside down, maybe now you know.

It’s not everyday that you find someone who will give you a second chance—much less someone who will give you a second chance every day. But in Jesus, Peter found both.”

You can too.

Max Lucado, excerpt from “The Gospel of the Second Chance” in No Wonder They Call Him the Savior (Portland: Multnomah, 1986) 44-45.

“But that many of us are called poor, this is not our disgrace, but our glory; for as our mind is relaxed by luxury, so it is strengthened by frugality, and yet who can be poor if he does not want, if he does not crave for the possessions of others, if he is rich towards God? He rather is poor, who, although he has much, desires more.”

Tertullian (160-220) in Apologetical Works, Argument XXXVI.

“I’ve always wondered why they call it Good Friday, when in fact, it was bad Friday, dark Friday, evil Friday…Perhaps the Church Fathers wanted to deny Satan any credit of victory in the Easter story. Although it was bad at the time, it ultimately turned into the greatest victory mankind has ever witnessed. Christ defeated death, defeated sin, and won for us eternal life. It culminated on Good Friday. Good Friday gave us the cross of Jesus Christ…We would not know of His ultimate generosity and love unless this story were told.”

Randal Wiedemann, Five Minutes with Jesus: Transforming Power (Bloomington: CrossBooks, 2011) 48.

“We’re most like God when we’re giving.”

Dixie Fraley at Generous Giving Conference 2001, Phoenix, AZ.

“It ought to be the business of every day to prepare for our last day.”

Matthew Henry as cited by Richard J. Krejcir in Contemporary thoughts amongst Evangelical Leaders why Stewardship is Declining.

“In the sphere of material things giving means being rich. Not he who has much is rich, but he who gives much.”

Eric Fromm, The Art of Loving (New York: Continuum) 22.

“Giving produces freedom 100% of the time: freedom from the bondage of things, freedom to receive more from God, and freedom to be a conduit of blessing to others.”

Tricia Mayer as cited by Richard J. Krejcir in Contemporary thoughts amongst Evangelical Leaders why Stewardship is Declining.