Austin Gardner

I just finished reading Surprised by Grace by Tullian Tchividjian!

Here are several quotes that made the book well worth reading:

In seminary I had a professor who referred to the New Testament as the Bible’s footnotes. He meant no disrespect; he knew that the New Testament is just as inspired and trustworthy and infallible as the Old. He was simply saying in a different way what Augustine said centuries earlier-that the New Testament is contained in the Old, and the Old Testament is explained in the New.

God is more interested in the worker than he is in the work the worker does. He’s more interested in you than in what you can accomplish. If accomplishing Project Ninevah was all God cared about, he could have discarded Jonah and found a more reliable prophet. He knew Jonah would run; so why did he ask Jonah to go in the first place? It was because Jonah was God’s project. God comes after Jonah not because he needs Jonah, but because Jonah needs God.

But before we go to far in condemning Jonah’s self-righteousness, we need to be aware of another (prehaps more subtle) side to self-righteousness that “younger brother” types need to be careful of. There’s an equally dangerous form of self-righteousness that plaques the unconventional and the non-religious types. Anti-legalists can become just as guilty of legalism in the opposite direction. What do I mean? Those who are more like the younger brother -more irreligious-can easily take sinful pride in that fact.

Many younger evangelicals today are reacting to their parents’ conservative, buttoned-down, rule-keeping flavor of “older brother religion” with a type of liberal, untucked, rule-breaking flavor of “younger brother irreligion” It screams out, “That’s right! I know I don’t have it all together, and you think you do; I know I am not good, and you think you are. And that makes me better than you!” See the irony? We become self-righteous against the self-rightesous.

God is in the business of relentlessly pursuing rebels like us and that he comes after us not to angrily strip away our freedom but to affectionately strip away our slavery so we might become truly free.

We learn about the danger we experience when we run from God’s will, the deliverance we experience when we submit to God’s will, the deliverance others experience when we fulfill God’s will, and the depression we experience when we question God’s will.

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I just finished reading  Leaders Who Last [Kindle Edition] Dave Kraft (Author)

Here are some quotes that will make you want to read this book:

Followers don’t do what leaders say as much as they do what leaders do.

The author wrote an article entitled “Seven Habits of Highly Ineffective Leaders,” a satire based on Stephen Covey’s book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Here’s the list:

1. They spend too much time managing and not enough time leading.
2. They spend too much time counseling the hurting people and not enough time developing the people with potential.
3. They spend too much time putting out fires and not enough time lighting fires.
4. They spend too much time doing and not enough time planning.
5. They spend too much time teaching the crowd and not enough time training the core.
6. They spend too much time doing it themselves and not enough time doing it through others.
7. They make too many decisions based on organizational politics and too few decisions based on biblical principles.

A Christian leader is humble, God-dependent, team playing servant of God who is called by God to shepherd, develop, equip, and empower a specific group of believers to accomplish an agreed-upon vision from God.

Author Dallas Willard observed that “grace is not opposed to effort, but to earning.” That means that it is not wrong to expend energy and effort to get to know the Lord, but it is unbiblical to do so with the thoughts of earning God’s love, favor, and acceptance through the effort.

This is my favorite of the book!

Some people come into our lives and quietly go. Others stay awhile, and leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never the same.

A purpose statement is, in essence, a written-down reason for being. Jesus’ mission helped Him decide how to act, what to do, and even what to say when challenging situations arose. Clarity is power; Once you are clear about what you were put here to do then ‘jobs’ become only a means toward accomplishing your mission, not an end in themselves.

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The following quotes and ideas come from

Redemptive Divorce: A Biblical Process That Offers Guidance for the Suffering Partner, Healing for the Offending Spouse, and the Best Catalyst for Restoration [Kindle Edition] Mark W. Gaither (Author)

One of the good men in our church asked me to read this book. It is a good book well worth your time reading. You will see some great quotes as you read the following:

Forgiveness is agreeing to live with the consequences of another person’s sin. Forgiveness is costly; we pay the price of the evil we forgive. Yet you’re going to live with those consequences whether you want to or not; your only choice is whether you will do so in the bitterness of unforgiveness or the freedom of forgiveness. That’s how Jesus forgave you–He took the consequences of your sin upon Himself. All true forgiveness is substitutional, because no one really forgives without bearing the penalty of the other person’s sin.

This is quoted in the book but is actually a quote by Neil Anderson in his book the Bondage Breaker.

Here are some more quotes on forgiveness and the process of healing and restoration and the three distinct stages involved:

1. Forgiveness has to do with the past. Forgiveness is not holding something someone has done against her. It is letting go. It only take one to offer forgiveness. And just as God has offered forgiveness to everyone, we are expected to do the same. Matthew 6:12. 18:35
2. Reconciliation has to do with the present. It occurs when the other person apologizes and accepts forgiveness. It takes two to reconcile.
3. Trust has to do with the future. It deals with both what you will risk happening again and what you  will open yourself up to. A person must show through his actions that he is trustworthy before you trust him again, Matthew 3:8, Proverbs 4:23

This quote comes from Henry Cloud and John Townsend in How to have that Difficult Conversation You’ve Been Avoiding

The author states:

Restoration will not be easy for anyone. The upright partner must open himself or herself to the possibility of re injury. The repentant partner must endure the excruciating process of self-examination and reformation. The rebuilding of the marriage will be fraught with danger and marked by setbacks. And, truth be told, few couples make it. Nevertheless, redemption is possible, not only for individuals but for couples. Given the right environment and expert guidance, God can raise a temple of extraordinary grace from the ashes of sin. But it won’t happen automatically. Reconciliation and restoration must be intentional. Redemption requires tough love backed by consequences and actions that have genuine impact.

This book was worth it for the quotes on forgiveness alone. It certainly also has some questions and answers for those who are in horrible marriages where one of the partners is consumed with drunkenness or adultery!

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The law is our schoolmaster. Its purpose was to bring us to Christ. We are no longer under the law or in need of our schoolmaster.

Galatians 3:24-25 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

1. The law was given to convict us of our sins, shortcomings, and failures. Romans 3:20
2. The law was given to convince us that we are helpless to fix ourselves or to get to God. Galatians 3:22
3. The law concludes that we are all in unbelief, failures so that God can have mercy on us. Romans 11:32

We do not determine how victorious we are based on how well we follow the law. If we did that would mean that our own self effort gave us our satisfaction. Jesus fulfilled the law!

We didn’t get saved by the law and we don’t live by keeping it.

Galatians 3:1-3 O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?

Our fight isn’t to produce better behavior, but it is characterized by fighting to believe what is true about us because of what God has done; it’s a fight to decide to live in a manner that’s consistent with who we are.

Tired of Trying to Measure Up by Jeff VanVonderen

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The following quotes are from a book by Warren Wiersbe, On Being a Servant of God. They are some of the bravest, bluntest statements I have ever read. Read and enjoy or endure!

Because it has power and can slowly seduce us into treating it like a god. Instead of loving  God with all the heart, soul, and mind, we try to love God and  money; and before long, God loses out. The desire for money possesses the heart; thoughts of ways to get money control the  mind; and before long, the will is captured, and money starts  to rule the will. No wonder Paul equated “covetousness” with  “idolatry” (Col. 3:5).

Money is a very satisfying substitute for God. After all, money  is more tangible, and less faith is required to trust it.

Money is the god of modern civilization, and its worship has invaded the church. It makes no difference what kind of character people have, if they are “successful”-translate that “rich and famous”-they are admired and imitated, even by Christians, who ought to know better. These celebrities show up in pulpits and are interviewed on religious radio and television. The “health and wealth” preachers have convinced millions of people that poverty is the penalty for unbelief and that the unpardonable sin is driving a used car when God can give you a stretch limousine.

Money is the “god of this world:’ and it empowers millions of people to enjoy life by living on substitutes. With money, they can buy entertainment, but they can’t buy joy. They can go to the drugstore and buy sleep, but they can’t buy peace. Their money will attract lots of acquaintances but very few real friends. Wealth gains them admiration and envy but not love. It buys the best in medical services, but it can’t buy health.

Paul next asks for open doors to preach the gospel. That is exactly what your missionary is going to need the minute he arrives on the field. Just where will he preach? Who will listen to him? He needs God to direct his paths. He needs to know where to go. He needs God to open doors. This is a definite way that you can help by praying. Even Paul had to have open doors. There are multiplied millions of folks out there. Most of them have never heard the gospel. But where will I really be able to have success. Where will I find some folks to listen to me? I need your prayers for open doors. Your pastor needs the same thing in prayer. He goes soul winning. He tells folks about Jesus and often times we do not have the success that we could have if we would just go where He has prepared the way and the hearts of folks. Today why don’t you pray for your missionary and for your pastor that God would show him where to go and that God would open doors and prepare hearts for the gospel message?

Paul also realized that it was more than just having open doors. He would need to know how to preach, witness and talk. God open doors but then teach me how to talk to them. What should I say? How do I get the message across? Especially crossing cultural boundaries and speaking in another language we need special help from ‘God. Will you pray for your missionary that God would move in this way? This also would include special pray for your missionary while he or she is in language school. We have the message. We don’t have the tools of how to get it to them. We need another language. They are all hard. We must pray that God would encourage them and help them get the language.

Finally brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you: And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith. 2Thessalonians 3:1-2

Finally Paul asks them to pray that the word of God might have free course and be glorified. It was the word of God that changed our lives. Paul asks them to pray for free course. That means that nothing would hinder the working of the word of God. That means that the Bible would be able to run through them and their society.

Then Paul asks his people to pray that his service will be accepted by the saints. Paul did not want to offend the brethren he just wanted to be a blessing. He wanted to do what he knew God had called him to do but he knew that God would have to open the doors for him and prepare the way. As your missionary travels raising support he will need the saints to accept him and his ministry. What is the key to raising support as a missionary? Most of all it can be simplified by saying that the saints will have to accept his service. That is exactly what we need to pray for. Often times the missionary is on deputation for a long time, more than really necessary and we wonder why. I would like to beseech you or beg you to strive together with him in prayer that where he goes to present his ministry folks would accept him and his service. Pray that folks will see the importance of his work and ministry and get behind it. Might I add that your pastor needs you to pray the same thing for him. He needs God’s working and help in his ministry that his service will be accepted by the saints. How many times do men of God prepare good Bible messages that the folks (saints) need to hear but they are not accepted. Let us pray that after our pastor has sought face of God his message will be accepted and taken to heart by the folks of our church.

Thirdly in this passage Paul asks them to pray that he return with joy. How important this prayer request is to the missionary and pastor. The missionary leaves to go out on deputation. Will he be able to return with joy? Will he be successful? If he goes out and preaches ten meetings with small love offerings and no support it will be hard to have joy. If he goes to the field and spends a term and sees no real results it will not be easy to return with joy. We must pray for him and ask God to give him success in the work he has been called to. Let’s pray that God be at work in his life. Have you ever gone soul winning? You know what it means to come back with joy and you know what it means to come home sad and beaten. Let us pray that the missionary can go to the field and see the hand of God on his ministry. Let’s pray that God open doors to him. Let’s pray that souls will be saved and that he can come back with joy, excited about what God is doing. The same prayer request applies to your pastor. He visits, prays, preaches etc. Do we want to see him excited about what God is doing in his life, then we must pray and help him.

Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds; That I May make it manifest, as I ought to speak. Colossians 4:3-4

Now let us consider some of the ways that we can pray knowing them to be the will of God that will have a definite effect on the ministry of our missionary or pastor. Here Paul asks (begs) that his people get involved and to strive, or work, or agonize with him in prayer. He tells them exactly what they should pray for.

1. First Paul asks that the folks pray for his protection, “that he might be delivered from unbelievers.” Now we know that our war is not against flesh and blood but against Satan and his forces. Paul is going forth into areas totally dominated by Satanic forces. He realizes that he will be under attack. He literally begs his folks to pray that he be delivered, protected, rescued from these ungodly forces. How much your missionary and your pastor need this same prayer. Every day we watch as other “men of God” fall into sin. Oftentimes we are quick to criticize but slow to pray. When a man goes forth to war he is taking a chance. He is risking his life against a roaring lion that hates God and all that he stands for. Satan will be after him. If the devil can stop the man of God then the work of God will not go forward. He will go to any lengths to get the man of God to fail. He will do so through persecution, discouragement, sex sin, pride, money problems, and a thousand other ways that we have seen Satan destroy the effectiveness of many preachers. Will you pray for your missionary by name asking God to protect him and deliver him from Satan and the unbelievers? Paul asks pray for this same need in 2Thessalonians 3:2. There the bible says and that we may be delivered from unreason able and wicked men for all men have not faith.

We have turned the Great Commission into something like the following:

Go ye

(Well not the majority of you…, We need most of you to stay home and work, make money…, take care of the church and the pastor, have a nice house, life, spend time with your family—after all you shouldn’t sacrifice the family, and if you were meant to be a missionary you would have a desire to live in another country and not in America, the majority should give a little to missions through the Faith Promise program of our church, after all the home front needs workers too, and of course we can all pray—not that we will even read the letters or get to know the missionaries)

Into all the world and preach the gospel!

Well if we all go there won’t be anybody to support the missionaries

I really want to go, I am willing but….

Well we really are all missionaries whether it is across the street or across the sea. Lets all be a missionary.