"A second route that humanity has followed in seeking to achieve
independence from God is at first surprising. It is religion. In various
different forms men have established religious rules and systems of
worship so complete and all-sufficient that there is no further need of
God. All they have to do is to keep their rules."
Rules Of Engagement
|
"Sometimes it may take a crisis -- or even a
seeming disaster -- to bring us to the place where we fully acknowledge
our dependence on God... God brings us to the place of total dependence
upon Himself, to demonstrate that He is totally dependable."
Rules Of Engagement
|
"Through exercising his will in direct disobedience to God, man
became a rebel in his soul. Since that time, every person descended from
Adam has inherited the nature of a rebel." Rules
Of Engagement
|
"Jesus commissioned His apostles to make
disciples of all nations. He did not tell them to make church members."
Rules Of Engagement
|
"Worship is not entertainment. That belongs in the theater, not the
church... As I see it, this purposeful worship is not the type of loud
boisterousness that has become the norm; it is quietness." Rules Of Engagement
|
"Nor is worship the same as praise. We praise
God with our souls, and it is right to do so. Through our praise we have
access to God's presence. But once we are in His presence, it is through
worship that we enjoy true spiritual union with Him. To be able to worship
God in this way is the goal of salvation -- first on earth, and then in
heaven. It is the highest and holiest activity of which a human being is
capable. It is only possible, however, when the soul and the body come
into submission to the spirit and in harmony with it. Such worship is
often too profound for words. It becomes an intense and silent union with
God." Rules Of Engagement
|
"For the understanding of spiritual things, the soul is dependent upon
the spirit. If it is out of harmony with the spirit, the realm of
spiritual truth is closed to it." Rules Of
Engagement
|
"When Christians become earthly, they
lose the vision of eternity. They cannot see beyond the things of this
life: success, pleasure, wealth, physical health. They are interested only
in what their faith will do for them in this life... Christians like that
often consider themselves prosperous and successful. God considers them
pitiable." Rules Of Engagement
|
"God applies special tests to those for whom He has special purposes."
Rules Of Engagement
|
"Repentance is perhaps the basic
Christian doctrine least emphasized by contemporary preachers... any kind
of faith that does not proceed out of repentance is a humanistic
counterfeit. It does not produce the results that proceed from genuine
faith." Rules Of Engagement
|
"When we [truly] confess Jesus as Lord, we give Him unreserved control
over our whole lives -- our time, our money, our talents, our priorities,
our relationships." Rules Of Engagement
|
"God will not permit us to be tested beyond what
we can bear. He will not expect of us what He required of Jesus -- perhaps
not even what He required of Job. Every test or corrective chastening we
go through is designed to mold our character, until we have become in
Christ all that God created us to be."
Rules Of Engagement
|
"God will not withdraw His tests and chastening until His purpose has
been accomplished. The sooner we learn to endure -- assuming repentance
has taken place when necessary -- the more rapid will be our spiritual
progress." Rules Of Engagement
|
"It is not sufficient that we deal with things
in our lives that are actually sinful. We must also eliminate weights --
things that are not sinful in themselves, but yet would hinder us from
concentrating every effort on our service for Christ."
Rules Of Engagement
|
"If God grants you some special miracle, that does not make you a
special person; it only means that you have a special God."
Rules Of Engagement
|
"We must never let the world entice us into
accepting its standards of success. We must never seek the world's
approval. The desire for popularity is always dangerous."
Rules Of Engagement
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"Only after we have denied ourselves can we go on to take up our
crosses. Someone has defined our crosses as the place where God's will and
our will cross. It is, in fact, the place of execution."
Rules Of Engagement
|
"God has only one solution for dealing with our
old man. He does not send him to church or Sunday school; He does not
teach him the Golden Rule or direct him to a class on self-improvement.
God's solution is simple and final. It is execution. The good news of the
Gospel, however, is that the execution took place when Jesus died on the
cross. Our old man was crucified at that time in Him. This is a simple
historical fact. It is true whether or not we know it or believe it. But
to benefit from it, we must both know it and believe it."
Rules Of Engagement
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"In many churches people talk about the morning worship service.
Without being critical, it has been my experience that in many of those
churches not much true worship is taking place."
Rules Of Engagement
|
"I believe it is hard for God to accept
halfhearted praise. In fact, if we are not prepared to praise Him greatly,
maybe we should not do it at all. That is the way of access, and I do not
believe there is any access without it."
Rules Of Engagement
|
"The first reason to worship God is because He IS God and He is OUR
God. He is the only being in the universe actually worthy of worship...
The second reason given for worshipping Him is that we are the people of
His pasture, the flock under His care. Worship is the appropriate response
to God's care for us. It is the way we recognize Him as our God; it is the
way we respond to His care for us."
Rules Of Engagement
|
"We do not hear God's voice unless we possess an
attitude of worship. Then, in hearing God's voice, we enter into His rest.
thus, I believe worship is the way to rest. Only those who really know how
to worship can really enjoy rest."
Rules Of Engagement
|
"God is more concerned with our character than with our achievements.
Achievements have importance only in the realm of time. Character is
eternal. It determines what we will be through eternity."
Rules Of Engagement
|
"I am awed by the realization that Judas could
not carry out his plan to betray Jesus until Jesus Himself spoke the word
that released him to do it. Throughout this whole scene, it was the
Betrayed, not the betrayer, who was in control."
Rules Of Engagement
|
"There is no such thing as an emergency in the Kingdom of heaven. And
God does not merely KNOW the end from the beginning, He HIMSELF IS both
the Beginning and the End (see Revelation 21:6). And He is always in total
control."
Rules Of Engagement
|
"No matter where we may go, God is
there by His Spirit -- invisible, often imperceptible, but inescapable."
Rules Of Engagement
|
"All three Persons of the Godhead are involved in this process of
bringing forth fruit. The Father is the vinedresser. Jesus is the vine.
And the Holy Spirit is the life that flows through the vine and into the
branches. The Holy Spirit is the one who actually produces the fruit. It
is not the fruit of our best efforts. It is not the fruit of religion. It
is the fruit of the Holy Spirit."
Rules Of Engagement
|
"What can we say of a church that refuses the
gifts of the Holy Spirit? It lacks the distinctive marks of the bride."
Rules Of Engagement
|
"Deception is the primary weapon that Satan relies on to keep humanity
under his control. Once his ability to deceive is stripped away, Satan has
nothing to offer anyone except a place with him in the lake of eternal
fire."
Rules Of Engagement
|
"In the spiritual realm, therefore, there are
three coordinates of truth: Jesus, the Scripture, and the Holy Spirit...
Thus, there are three questions we must ask concerning any spiritual
issue: Does it represent Jesus as He truly is? Is it in harmony with
Scripture? Does the Holy Spirit bear His witness?... Before we can accept
what is presented to us as truth, all three coordinates must be in place:
Jesus, the Scripture, the Holy Spirit."
Rules Of Engagement
|
"This truth runs through the whole Bible: God will never compromise
with sin."
Rules Of Engagement
|
"Many Christians today are speaking and praying
about revival. They often overlook the fact that there is one barrier to
revival that can never be bypassed. It is sin. Until sin is dealt with,
true revival can never come... Frankly stated, many sections of the
contemporary Church are full of covered sin."
Rules Of Engagement
|
"God's remedy is twofold: First, CONFESS, then FORSAKE. It is seldom
easy to confess our sins. Yet there is no other remedy... God has never
committed Himself to forgive sins that we are not willing to confess. But
it is not enough to merely confess. We must also FORSAKE. We must make a
resolute determination not to continue to commit the sin we have
confessed."
Rules Of Engagement
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"We can espouse reasonable philosophy and noble
thoughts about God all day long, but if we are not rooted in HIS WORD, OUR
words are not reliable. There is no way around it: We cannot hope to
endure if our Christian lives are not built on the foundation of the Word
of God."
Rules Of Engagement
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"We will find that we move from strength to strength as we meditate
on, study and apply the Word of God."
Rules Of Engagement
|
"The Bible, though it came through vessels of
clay -- weak, fallible, sinful men and women -- has been purified seven
times by the fire of the Holy Spirit. It is totally reliable."
Rules Of Engagement
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"The Holy Spirit always glorifies Jesus. If you ever are confronted by
spiritual manifestations that do not glorify Jesus but give glory to a
person or in some other direction, you can be sure that it is not the Holy
Spirit. The supreme ministry of the Holy Spirit is to reveal and glorify
Jesus."
Rules Of Engagement
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"Please do not imagine that God's blessing will
always make life easy for you. In fact, in a certain sense, it may make
life more difficult, because Satan much more strongly opposes those whom
God has anointed."
Rules Of Engagement
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"If people are excessively preoccupied with spiritual gifts, it often
indicates that they are more concerned with the things of time than
eternity."
Rules Of Engagement
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"The most essential form of knowledge in the
Christian life is the knowledge of God's will as revealed in Scripture.
This, too, is practical. It demands a regular, systematic study of the
whole Bible."
Rules Of Engagement
|
"We all need to bear mind continually that PRIDE was the cause of
Lucifer's downfall. It is also the main motive that Satan uses in tempting
human beings to sin. Pride has caused the downfall of more men and women
than all the other sins put together."
Rules Of Engagement
|
"We may make claims to love God and we may even
pray long and eloquent prayers or preach long and eloquent sermons, but as
the last resort we really do not honor and obey God more than we honor and
obey His Word."
Rules Of Engagements
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"We must be faithful to the truth of Scripture even when it is
controversial or unpopular."
Rules Of Engagements
|
"The kind of righteousness God looks for is not
mere intellectual assent to doctrine. It is a condition of the hear, not
the mind."
Rules Of Engagements
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"We can take God's Word in our mouths, but it only achieves its full
effect when it is the Holy Spirit within us who actually wields it."
Rules Of Engagements
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"Untested relationships are like unrefined gold.
They are not acceptable in heaven."
Rules Of Engagements
|
"The governments and the armies of the world, operating solely in the
natural plane, have no understanding of the conflict and no power to deal
with the satanic forces in the heavenlies. On the contrary, without
realizing it, they themselves are manipulated and controlled by those
forces."
Rules Of Engagements
|
"It has been demonstrated that, carried to its
ultimate conclusion, humanism will believe anything but the Truth and will
tolerate anything but righteousness."
Rules Of Engagements
|
"Those who speak of Satan being reconciled to God do not understand
the scriptural basis of reconciliation... Where there is no repentance,
there can be no reconciliation."
Rules Of Engagements
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"It is possible for the will of a created being
to be so set in rebellion that there is thereafter no possibility of its
being changed. In such a case, repentance is no longer possible."
Rules Of Engagements
|
"There are only two possible attitudes: submission to God or
opposition to God. Human beings who, through repentance, submit themselves
to God, are spared from the lake of fire. All others, who do not thus
submit, are in opposition to God. They necessarily associate themselves
with the devil and his angels. Because of this association, they are
condemned to the same destination -- the lake of fire. For all who once
enter this lake of fire -- whether angels or men -- there is no way back.
It is forever and ever."
Rules Of Engagements
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"The picture presented in Scripture of God's
nature and dealings with man is like a coin. It has two opposite sides,
which together make up the complete coin... To efface one side of a coin
renders it incomplete and valueless. So it is with the picture of God
presented in the Bible. To speak always of goodness, but never of severity
-- to speak always of mercy and grace, but never of wrath and judgment --
this is to efface one side of the coin, and to render the Bible's picture
of God incomplete and valueless. Those who speak like this are unfaithful
to god and unfair to men. In so doing, they misrepresent God and mislead
men."
Rules Of Engagements
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"The opposition of Satan to the return of Jesus is the unseen force
behind many of the conflicts and pressures in the contemporary world."
Rules Of Engagements
|
"Just as surely as Jesus came the first time
THROUGH the Jews, so surely He will come back the second time TO the
Jews... The spirit that opposes the reestablishment of Israel is the
spirit that opposes the return of Jesus. Though it may wear many
disguises, it is the spirit of Satan himself."
Rules Of Engagements
|
"Balaam is a strange and intriguing personality -- a baffling
combination of supernatural spiritual gifts and corrupt character.
Significantly, we see more and more ministries in today's Church with a
similar combination of spiritual gifts and corrupt character."
Rules Of Engagements
|
"Almighty God has made an irrevocable commitment
to establish the Jews as His people forever. There is no power in the
universe, human or satanic, that can ever annul this commitment." Rules
Of Engagements
|
"When we pass from time to eternity, we will leave our gifts behind,
but our character will be with us forever." Rules
Of Engagements
|
"Love of the truth is not mere conformity to a
religious code, however orthodox is may be. Nor is it even reading your
Bible and having a quiet time every day. It demands a total, unreserved
commitment to believe and obey God's Word -- one that rules out all forms
of compromise." Rules Of Engagements
|
"Truth is not obtained cheaply. It demands much time given to prayer
and study of the Scriptures, followed by practical application in our
daily lives. It must take priority over the many forms of cheap
entertainment offered by our secular culture. It is a lifetime
commitment." Rules Of Engagements
|
"We can be tempted to purchase
popularity at the price of truth by leaving out the hard sayings of Jesus
and presenting a Gospel that demands no sacrifice but promises an easy way
through life." Rules Of Engagements
|
"Simply stated, there are two kinds of tests: when it is too hard and
when it is too easy -- the first is persecution; the second is riches...
So bear in mind, you are going to be tested by tribulation, and you are
going to be tested by success. You have to hold out through both." Rules Of Engagements
|
"We need to remember that some things are not
sins, but they are weights that can burden you down and hold you back." Rules Of Engagements
|
"It is hard to find another way into the Kingdom of God other than
through tribulation... We live now in the Kingdom -- but it is through
much tribulation that we come into Kingdom living." Rules Of Engagements
|
"Sometimes I think we owe it to people when they
come to the Lord to warn them that if they are going to move into the
Kingdom, it will be through tribulation and opposition. I think it is
unfair to tell new converts that when they come to Jesus, all their
problems will be solved, because it certainly rarely, if ever, will work
out that way. In fact, often you will have problems you never knew existed
before." Rules Of Engagements
|
"Faith is related to the unseen. Faith is a sure conviction concerning
things not seen. If you and I are going to hold out, the unseen world has
got to be more real to us than the seen." Rules Of Engagements
|
"Stay in the Word. don't take just five minutes
a day with your Bible. Read it. Meditate on it. Believe it. Live in it.
Ask the Holy Spirit to make it real to you. And that Word will become so
real to you that there will be nothing in this world that could tempt you
or attract you in any disloyalty to Jesus Christ." Rules Of Engagements
|
"Another way to look at gifts and character is to realize spiritual
gifts are one thing, and spiritual fruit are another."
The Gifts Of The Spirit
|
"One of the main means by which love is enabled
to act is by the gifts of the Holy Spirit."
The Gifts Of The Spirit
|
"Biblical love is always very practical. It does not sit around using
nice phrases; it does something." The Gifts Of
The Spirit
|
"While all believers are given distinct gifts,
this does not limit the Holy Spirit from manifesting any gift through any
person at any time He wants to, because all the gifts are resident in
Him." The Gifts Of The Spirit
|
"Some people tell us that the gifts were withdrawn from the church
after the first century. Yet Paul said the church is to exercise the gifts
while it waits for the return of the Lord Jesus... There is not a
Scripture in the Bible that suggests the supernatural gifts of God's grace
will ever be withdrawn from the church of Jesus Christ. When the church,
as the bride, goes to meet Jesus, the Bridegroom, she will be adorned with
the gifts He sent to her." The Gifts Of The
Spirit
|
"Spiritual gifts are not something remote from a
bygone age; neither are they reserved for a few spiritual giants or
preachers and missionaries in foreign lands. The New Testament reveals the
gifts as part of the spiritual equipment for normal Christian living for
believers throughout all ages until Christ returns." The
Gifts Of The Spirit
|
"We can never do anything to earn the grace of God. The hardest thing
for a religious person to realize is he has no claim on the grace of God
whatever. We cannot please God more than by being willing to accept His
grace without trying to earn it or be good enough." The
Gifts Of The Spirit
|