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99957f6
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Sometimes we read Scripture about rejoicing or trusting and think, "Easy to say, but you're not facing what I am." But few people have faced conditions as dire as Habakkuk, with the impending destruction of his nation, family and friends, and way of life. His statement "I will be happy because of the God who delivers me" demonstrates that delighting in God isn't dependent on favorable circumstances. Happiness in God involves an act of will ..
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Randy Alcorn |
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8b3040c
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When God provides more money we often think, This is a blessing. Yes, but it would be just as scriptural to say, "This is a test." Abundance isn't God's provision for me to live in luxury. It's his provision for me to help others live."
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Randy Alcorn |
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9d051a3
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When we fail to acknowledge God as the Source of all good things, we fail to give Him the recognition and glory He deserves. We separate God from joy, which is like trying to separate heat from fire or wetness from rain.
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Randy Alcorn |
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f31e8e7
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Not the way it's supposed to be." Evil is exactly that--a fundamental and troubling departure from goodness. The Bible uses the word evil to describe anything that violates God's moral will."
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Randy Alcorn |
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c946bae
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Each day every man comes closer to the day of his death. Those who lay up their treasures in Thuros spend each day moving away from them. Those who lay up their treasures in Charis spend each day moving toward them.
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Randy Alcorn |
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da841f8
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Whatever is given to Christ is immediately touched with immortality.
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Randy Alcorn |
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9604470
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What we should see in the real Beatitudes is not merely that the words of Jesus exalt good character instead of bad but that good character brings happiness and bad character brings misery.
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Randy Alcorn |
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9a523c9
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This gift cannot be worked for, earned, or achieved. It's not dependent on our merit or effort but solely on Christ's generous sacrifice on our behalf.
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Randy Alcorn |
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9ba027e
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If you are looking for a religion centered around yourself, Ben, I must agree that Christianity is a poor choice.
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Randy Alcorn |
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0b35490
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You can't take it with you-- but you can send it on ahead.
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Randy Alcorn |
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94de2d2
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To address good and evil without gazing upon God is fruitless. Good flows from the life connected to God. Evil flows from the life alienated from God. "Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God" (3 John 11). To embrace good and turn from evil, we must see God as he really is. We must not simply believe in God, but believe what is true about God. Diminishing God not only fails to solve theologica..
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Randy Alcorn |
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111dff1
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A steward manages assets for the owner's benefit. The steward carries no sense of entitlement to the assets he manages. It's his job to find out what the owner wants done with his assets, then carry out his will.
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Randy Alcorn |
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60a7119
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God, like a father, doesn't just give advice. He gives himself. He becomes the husband to the grieving widow (Isaiah 54:5). He becomes the comforter to the barren woman (Isaiah 54:1). He becomes the father of the orphaned (Psalm 10:14). He becomes the bridegroom to the single person (Isaiah 62:5). He is the healer to the sick (Exodus 15:26). He is the wonderful counselor to the confused and depressed (Isaiah 9:6).
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Randy Alcorn |
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e920316
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The circumstances surrounding our lives are no accident: they may be the work of evil, but that evil is held firmly within the mighty hand of our sovereign
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Randy Alcorn |
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7eab745
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As you go through life, don't let your feelings--real as they are--invalidate your need to let the truth of God's words guide your thinking. Remember that the path to your heart travels through your mind. Truth matters.
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Randy Alcorn |
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a578b0a
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The only proper foundation for optimism is the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. Any other foundation is sand, not rock. It will not bear the weight of our eternity.
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Randy Alcorn |
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689eee1
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Now think, my brother, you will be in Heaven very soon. Since last year a great number have gone home: before next year many more will have ascended to glory. Sitting up in those celestial seats, how shall we wish that we had lived below?" --Charles Spurgeon"
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Randy Alcorn |
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e6185ea
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A Barna poll shows that for every American who believes he or she is going to Hell, there are 120 who believe they're going to Heaven.[4] Yet Christ said otherwise: "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it" (Matthew 7:13-14)."
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Randy Alcorn |
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c94581e
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We are more concerned about looking stupid (fear of people) than we are about acting sinfully (fear of the Lord)." --Edward T. Welch"
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Randy Alcorn |
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c3bba40
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In the United States there are sixteen-and-a-half square feet of mall space for every man, woman, and child.
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Randy Alcorn |
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78a871b
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Emily peered at him and frowned, then began to dance on the grass. "Okay, Daddy," Emily said. "When you're ready to dance with me, this is what you do. First, you put your right hand around my waist like this, then hold your other hand out like this. Then we sway back and forth to the music." Face animated, she gestured gracefully while talking, lost in the moment"
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Randy Alcorn |
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0335c66
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What if one day we discover that God has wasted nothing in our life on Earth? What if we see that every agony was part of giving birth to an eternal joy?
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Randy Alcorn |
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14dd9ee
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In the Bible, Jesus says more than anyone else about Hell. He refers to it as a literal place and describes it in graphic terms. Jesus taught that in Hell the wicked suffer terribly, are fully conscious, retain their desires and memories and reasoning, long for relief, cannot be comforted, cannot leave their torment, and are bereft of hope. The Savior could not have painted a bleaker picture.
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Randy Alcorn |
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1b03d1a
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Imagination is a God-given gift; but if it is fed dirt by the eye, it will be dirty. All sin, not least sexual sin, begins with the imagination. Therefore what feeds the imagination is of maximum importance in the pursuit of kingdom righteousness." --D. A. Carson"
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Randy Alcorn |
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2c29bc3
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Life on earth is a dot, a brief window of opportunity; life in Heaven (and ultimately on the New Earth) is a line going out from that dot for eternity. If we're smart, we'll live not for the dot, but for the line.
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Randy Alcorn |
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c477420
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God will not be a half husband. He will not be comforted by the fact that we call him "Savior" when we refuse to follow him as Lord."
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Randy Alcorn |
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c577ba1
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God the Father (who now pleads with mankind to accept the reconciliation that Christ's death secured for all) and God the Son (our appointed Judge, who wept over Jerusalem) will in a final judgment express wrath and administer justice against rebellious humans. God's holy righteousness will hereby be revealed; God will be doing the right thing, vindicating himself at last against all who have defied him. . . . (Read through Matt. 25; John 5..
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Randy Alcorn |
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e8b8ae6
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So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (NIV) What does Scripture mean when it tells us to fix our eyes on what we can't even see? How do we begin to do that? Even though as Christians we affirm the reality of the spiritual realm, sometimes we succumb to naturalistic assumptions that what we see is real and what we don't see isn't. Many people conclude th..
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Randy Alcorn |
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ed4d997
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There is a powerful relationship between our true spiritual condition and our attitude and actions concerning money and possessions.
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money
possessions
materialism
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Randy Alcorn |
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76230e3
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Looking back," Ruby said, "I wonder why I was so afraid to grow old. Every day brought me one day closer to being here with You."
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Randy Alcorn |
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885a914
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When you once had faith and no longer do, I suppose it's like a woman carrying a dead baby. The sight of live babies becomes painful.
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Randy Alcorn |
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75b1809
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Tomorrow's character is made out of today's thoughts. Temptation may come suddenly, but sin doesn't.
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pornographers
sex
men
temptation
women
purity
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Randy Alcorn |
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cce55c1
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But earth is not heaven." "And those who expect it to be," Dani said, "can never know Joy."
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Randy Alcorn |
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947a36d
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If all the Bibles in America were simultaneously dusted, the sun would be obscured for a week. It's not a magic talisman that works without being read. A Bible does us no harm as long as it remains closed.
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Randy Alcorn |
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e4c7e56
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When we offend everybody, we've declared truth without grace. When we offend nobody, we've watered down truth in the name of grace. John 1:14 tells us Jesus came full of grace AND truth. Let's not choose between them, but be characterized by both.
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Randy Alcorn |
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7ec2743
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What an encouragement to know that even if no one else knows our needs and is praying for us, Christ does and is.
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Randy Alcorn |
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3c05e6e
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The earth matters, our bodies matter, animals and trees matter, matter matters, because God created them and intends them to manifest his glory.
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Randy Alcorn |
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0fff444
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Old Zhou Jin began singing a hymn Quan had heard and reluctantly sung many times since childhood: "One day I'll die for the Lord."
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Randy Alcorn |
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8cfeb22
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God is the ultimate salvage artist. He loves to restore things to their original condition--and make them even better.
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Randy Alcorn |
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57f88bb
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Even if materialism brought happiness in this life (which it certainly does not), it would leave us woefully unprepared for the next. Materialism blinds us to our spiritual poverty. It's a fruitless attempt to find meaning outside of God, the Source of all life and the Giver of all good gifts.
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Randy Alcorn |
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afc506f
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The fear of God is a profound respect for His holiness, which includes a fear of the consequences of disobeying Him.
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Randy Alcorn |
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7b65cc1
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So look out a window. Take a walk. Talk with your friend. Use your God-given skills to paint or draw or build a shed or write a book. But imagine it - all of it - in its original condition. The happy dog with the wagging tail, not the snarling beast, beaten and starved. The flowers unwilted, the grass undying, the blue sky without pollution. People smiling and joyful, not angry, depressed, and empty.
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Randy Alcorn |
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83b64d8
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How Can We Know for Sure That We'll Go to Heaven?
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Randy Alcorn |
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bbb61cd
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An unholy world will never be won to Christ by an unholy church.
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Randy Alcorn |