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If we believe the great God of the universe really loves us, it should make us emotionally unshakable in the face of criticism, suffering, and death. In
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Timothy J. Keller |
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The essence of sin is we human beings substituting ourselves for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for us. We...put ourselves where only God deserves to be; God...puts himself where we deserve to be.8
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Timothy J. Keller |
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Sin shrugs at God. Its essence is failing to believe not that he exists but that he matters. This attitude is deadly.
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Timothy J. Keller |
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Lord, I will obey you simply because you are worthy of it and it is my duty. But don't let my service to you remain at that level. Show me your beauty--attract my heart, capture my imagination, so that I find joyful pleasure in serving you. Amen.
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Timothy J. Keller |
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The Christian Gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me. This leads to deep humility and deep confidence at the same time. It undermines both swaggering and sniveling. I cannot feel superior to anyone, and yet I have nothing to prove to anyone. I do not think more of myself nor less of myself. Instead, I think of myself less
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Timothy J. Keller |
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Idolatries of the heart lead to foolishness in the life.
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Timothy J. Keller |
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Paul said when he got to the cities of the Mediterranean. He said, "They saw him, and touched him. He really rose. That proves that the kingdom of God is real and will triumph. If you believe, you enter his realm and power now." 76 The story of Jesus changes our lives because it is true."
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Timothy J. Keller |
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Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship... is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough... Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel..
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Timothy J. Keller |
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People who laugh at the claim that there is a transcendent moral order do not think that racial genocide is just impractical or self-defeating, but that it is wrong. The Nazis who exterminated Jews may have claimed that they didn't feel it was immoral at all. We don't care. We don't care if they sincerely felt they were doing a service to humanity. They ought not to have done it.
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Timothy J. Keller |
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She reasoned, she doubted, she surrendered, she connected with others.
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Timothy J. Keller |
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When a Russian cosmonaut returned from space and reported that he had not found God, C. S. Lewis responded that this was like Hamlet going into the attic of his castle looking for Shakespeare. If there is a God, he wouldn't be another object in the universe that could be put in a lab and analyzed with empirical methods. He would relate to us the way a playwright relates to the characters in his play. We (characters) might be able to know qu..
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Timothy J. Keller |
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Christians do not claim that their faith gives them omniscience or absolute knowledge of reality. Only God has that. But they believe that the Christian account of things--creation, fall, redemption, and restoration--makes the most sense of the world. I ask you to put on Christianity like a pair of spectacles and look at the world with it. See what power it has to explain what we know and see.
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Timothy J. Keller |
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Lord, I don't like some of the things I find taught in the Bible. I don't like some of the ways you arrange the circumstances of my life. I confess I don't even like the doctrine of grace--I'd rather earn my salvation so you owe me. In all these ways I refuse to let you be God. Forgive me. Amen.
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Timothy J. Keller |
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And yet, why do you think Jesus Christ came into this world through a pregnant, unwed teenage girl in a patriarchal shame-and-honor culture? God didn't have to do it that way. But I think it was his way of saying, "I don't do things the way the world expects, but in the opposite way altogether. My power is made perfect in weakness. My Savior-Prince will be born not into a cradle in a royal palace but into a feed trough in a stable --not to ..
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jesus
savior
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Timothy J. Keller |
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This pattern of the Cross means that the world's glorification of power, might, and status is exposed and defeated. On the cross Christ wins through losing, triumphs through defeat, achieves power through weakness and service, comes to wealth via giving all away. Jesus Christ turns the values of the world upside down.
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jesus
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Timothy J. Keller |
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Jesus's own answer to this question, through the parable, is similar. He is on the side of neither the irreligious nor the religious, but he singles out religious moralism as a particularly deadly spiritual condition.
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Timothy J. Keller |
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There is a difference between believing that God is holy and gracious, and having a new sense on the heart of the loveliness and beauty of that holiness and grace. The difference between believing that God is gracious and tasting that God is gracious is as different as having a rational belief that honey is sweet and having the actual sense of its sweetness."13"
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Timothy J. Keller |
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Prayer brings perspective, shows the big picture, gets you out of the weeds, reorients you to where you really are.
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Timothy J. Keller |
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Jesus not only preached the word, but also healed the sick, fed the hungry, and cared for the needs of the poor.
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Timothy J. Keller |
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Elder brothers obey God to get things. They don't obey God to get God himself--in order to resemble him, love him, know him, and delight him. So
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Timothy J. Keller |
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If doctrinal soundness is not accompanied by heart experience, it will lead eventually to nominal Christianity--that is, in name only--and eventually to nonbelief. The irony is that many conservative Christians, most concerned about conserving true and sound doctrine, neglect the importance of prayer and make no effort to experience God, and this can lead to the eventual loss of sound doctrine. Owen believes that Christianity without real e..
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Timothy J. Keller |
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Ordinary moralistic religion operates on this principle: "I live a good and moral life; therefore God accepts me." Gospel Christianity operates in the opposite way: "God accepts me unconditionally in Jesus Christ; therefore I live a good and moral life."
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Timothy J. Keller |
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She quotes three current studies into the subject of self-esteem, all of which reach this conclusion and she states that 'people with high self-esteem pose a greater threat to those around them than people with low self-esteem and feeling bad about yourself is not the source of our country's biggest, most expensive social problems.'1
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Timothy J. Keller |
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Havel puts it well--humanity cannot save itself. In fact, he argues, the belief that we can save ourselves--that some political system or ideology can fix human problems--has only led to more darkness.
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Timothy J. Keller |
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An ounce of sin can harm us more than a ton of suffering. Sin can harden our hearts so we lose everything, but suffering, if handled rightly, can make us wiser, happier, and deeper.
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Timothy J. Keller |
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Actually every day that your heart keeps pumping, your country is not invaded, and your brain keeps functioning is wholly an undeserved gift of God. We ought to live simple, normal, uneventful days full of amazed, thankful joy. Prayer: Lord, I thank you for my routine mercies. I thank you for sustaining my life daily, for being endlessly patient with me, for shielding me from so many consequences of my foolish behavior, for the ways you hav..
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Timothy J. Keller |
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Jonathan Edwards wrote a sermon with the following outline:342 Our bad things will turn out for good (Rom 8:28), Our good things can never be taken away from us (Ps 4:6-7), and The best things are yet to come (1 Cor 2:9). If,
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Timothy J. Keller |
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All this I did for thee; what doest thou for me?
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Timothy J. Keller |
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Western science sees the universe as "naturalistic." While other cultures see the world as consisting of both matter and spirit, Western thought understands it as consisting of material forces only, all of which operate devoid of anything that could be called "purpose." It is not the result of sin, or any cosmic battle, or any high forces determining our destinies. Western societies, therefore, see suffering as simply an accident. In this v..
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Timothy J. Keller |
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Augustine writes: "We love God, therefore, for what He is in Himself, and [we love] ourselves and our neighbors for His sake." That"
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Timothy J. Keller |
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By the time we get to the third story, and we hear about the plight of the lost son, we are fully prepared to expect that someone will set out to search for him. No one does. It is startling, and Jesus meant it to be so. By placing the three parables so closely together, he is inviting thoughtful listeners to ask: "Well, who should have gone out and searched for the lost son?" Jesus knew the Bible thoroughly, and he knew that at its very be..
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Timothy J. Keller |
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this is what a true elder brother would have done. He would have said, "Father, my younger brother has been a fool, and now his life is in ruins. But I will go look for him and bring him home. And if the inheritance is gone--as I expect--I'll bring him back into the family at my expense."
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Timothy J. Keller |
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but forgiveness always comes at a cost to the one granting the forgiveness.
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Timothy J. Keller |
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There is a good lesson in choosing a leader here. We are often far too easily impressed by qualities that are unimportant to God. Further, we can far too easily be swayed by pragmatic arguments. God does not prize popularity, humor, or academic intelligence, being an extrovert, and so on. He seeks men who hold to his truth, seek to lead their family rightly, are patient and self-controlled (1 Timothy 3:1-7; Titus 1:6-9). He does not want we..
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Timothy J. Keller |
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Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next person. We say that people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good-looking, but they are not. They are proud of being richer, or cleverer, or better-looking than others. If everyone else became equally rich, or clever, or good-looking there would be nothing to be proud about.'3 In
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Timothy J. Keller |
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Christians have their attitude toward God changed from one of duty to free, loving self-giving because of what Jesus did for us on the cross.
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Timothy J. Keller |
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Lord of the Word, don't let me be seduced by the world--either naively going with the crowd or becoming a hardened cynic. Help me meditate on your Word to the point of delight. Give me stability and contentment regardless of the circumstances. How I need that! Amen.
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Timothy J. Keller |
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Righteous Lord, I have many who falsely accuse me. Defend me from them! But I also know my sin, and my heart rightly accuses me. I rest in Jesus's atoning death for me.
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Timothy J. Keller |
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Many voices argue that it is exclusionary to claim that you have the truth, but as we have seen, that view itself sets up a dichotomy with you as the heroically tolerant and others as villainously or pathetically bigoted.
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Timothy J. Keller |
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Our culture tells us that you must look inside to discover your deepest desires and dreams and to express them. You must do this yourself, and must not rely on anyone outside to affirm and tell you who you are.
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Timothy J. Keller |
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But this is an impossibility.23 You cannot get an identity through self-recognition; it must come in a great measure from others.
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Timothy J. Keller |
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January 9 READ Psalm 7:1-5. 1 LORD my God, I take refuge in you; save and deliver me from all who pursue me, 2 or they will tear me apart like a lion and rip me to pieces with no one to rescue me. 3 LORD my God, if I have done this and there is guilt on my hands-- 4 if I have repaid my ally with evil or without cause have robbed my foe-- 5 then let my enemy pursue and overtake me; let him trample my life to the ground and make me sleep in t..
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Timothy J. Keller |
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The gospel comes and turns them all upside down. It says: You are in such a hopeless position that you need a rescue that has nothing to do with you at all. And then it says: God in Jesus provides a rescue which gives you far more than any false salvation your heart may love to chase.
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Timothy J. Keller |
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God repeatedly refuses to allow his gracious activity to run along the expected lines of worldly influence and privilege. He puts in the center the person whom the world would put on the periphery.
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Timothy J. Keller |