Time of Reflection Quotations

“I do verily believe that when God shall accomplish unity, it will be the effect of love, and not the cause of love. It will proceed from love, before it brings forth love.”

~ John Owen (1616-1683), English church leader, theologian, and academic administrator at the University of Oxford

“Humility is throwing oneself away in complete concentration on him. something or someone else.”

~ Madeleine L’Engle (1918-2007), American writer

“Each human soul has in a sense to enact for itself the gigantic humility of the Incarnation. Every man must descend into the flesh to meet mankind.”

~ G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936), English writer, philosopher, orator and lay theologian

“The way to open our hearts to others is by receiving afresh the grace of God and appreciating what it means: seeing our own need of Christ; coming to receive His mercy; sensing how undeserved His love for us is… the heart that is opened to receive the grace of Christ will learn to welcome all those whom Christ Himself has welcomed.”

~ Sinclair Ferguson (1948-present), Scottish minister, theologian, professor and author

“We don’t come to church, to be a church. We come to Christ, and then we are built up as a church. If we come to church just to be with one another, one another is all we’ll get. And it isn’t enough. Inevitably, our hearts will grow empty, and then angry. If we put community first, we will destroy community. But if we come to Christ first and submit ourselves to Him and draw life from Him, community gets traction.”

~ C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), British writer and Christian apologist

Sermon Passage

Psalm 133 & Philippians 2:1-11 (NIV)

Psalm 133

A song of ascents. Of David.

¹ How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! ² It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down on the collar of his robe. ³ It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the LORD bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.

Philippians 2:1

¹ Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, ² then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. ³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴ not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

⁵ In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

⁶ Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; ⁷ rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!

⁹ Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Time of Reflection Quotations

“If anyone would like to acquire humility, I can, I think, tell him the first step. The first step is to realise that one is proud. And a biggish step, too. At least, nothing whatever can be done before it. If you think you are not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed.”

“To even get near humility, even for a moment, is like a drink of cold water to a man in a desert.”

~ C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), British writer and professor

“Humility is perfect quietness of heart. It is to expect nothing, to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I am blamed or despised. It is to have a blessed home in the Lord, where I can go in and shut the door, and kneel to my Father in secret, and am at peace as in a deep sea of calmness, when all around and above is trouble.”

~ Andrew Murray (1828-1917), South African writer, teacher, pastor

“The very essence of anxious care is the imagining that we are wiser than God, and the thrusting of ourselves into His place, to do for Him that which we dream He either cannot or will not do!”

“Behold the wonder! There He hangs upon the cross! This is the greatest sight you will ever see. Son of God and Son of Man, there He hangs, bearing pains unutterable, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God. Oh, the glory of that sight! The innocent punished! The Holy One condemned! The Ever-blessed made a curse! The infinitely glorious put to a shameful death! The more I look at the sufferings of the Son of God, the more sure I am that they must meet my case. Why did He suffer, if not to turn aside the penalty from us? If, then, He turned it aside by His death, it is turned aside, and those who believe in Him need not fear it.”

~ Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892), English preacher and writer

Sermon Passage

Psalm 131 (ESV)

A Song of Ascents. Of David.

¹ O LORD, my heart is not lifted up;
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
too great and too marvelous for me.
² But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me.

³ O Israel, hope in the LORD
from this time forth and forevermore.

Time of Reflection Quotations

“…the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere flea bites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.”

“As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down you cannot see something that is above you.”

~ C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), British writer and professor

“On the highest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own bottom.”

~ Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592), French writer & statesman

“There is no other matter in which the heart is more deceitful and unsearchable. Alas, how much pride the best have in their hearts! Pride is God’s most stubborn enemy! There is no sin so much like the devil as pride. It is a secret and subtle sin, and appears in a great many shapes which are undetected and unsuspected.”

~ Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), American theologian, writer, pastor

“The essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for man. Man asserts himself against God and puts himself where only God deserves to be. God sacrifices himself for man and puts himself where only man deserves to be.”

~ John Stott (1921-2011), English Anglican priest, theologian, author

“The deeper we grow in the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the poorer we become – the more we realize that everything in life is a gift. The tenor of our lives becomes one of humble and joyful thanksgiving. Awareness of our poverty and ineptitude causes us to rejoice in the gift of being called out of darkness into wondrous light and translated into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son.”

~ Brennan Manning (1934-2013), American author and former priest

Sermon Passage

Psalm 36 (ESV)

To the choirmaster. Of David, the servant of the LORD.

¹ Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes. ² For he flatters himself in his own eyes that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated. ³ The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit; he has ceased to act wisely and do good. ⁴ He plots trouble while on his bed; he sets himself in a way that is not good; he does not reject evil.

⁵ Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. ⁶ Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; your judgments are like the great deep; man and beast you save, O LORD.

⁷ How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings. ⁸ They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights. ⁹ For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light.

¹⁰ Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you, and your righteousness to the upright of heart! ¹¹ Let not the foot of arrogance come upon me, nor the hand of the wicked drive me away. ¹² There the evildoers lie fallen; they are thrust down, unable to rise.

Time of Reflection Quotations

“A ruthless, sleepless, unsmiling concentration upon self… is the mark of Hell.”

~ C.S. Lewis (1898-1963)

“Sin comes when we take a perfectly natural desire or longing or ambition and try desperately to fulfill it without God. Not only is it sin, it is a perverse distortion of the image of the Creator in us. All these good things, and all our security, are rightly found only and completely in Him.”

~ Augustine (354-430), North African bishop and theologian

“Nothing humbles and breaks the heart of a sinner like mercy and love. Souls that converse much with sin and wrath, may be much terrified; but souls that converse much with grace and mercy, will be much humbled.”

~ Thomas Brooks (1608-1680), English preacher and author

“Love is the only fire that is hot enough to melt the iron obstinacy of a creature’s will.”

~ Alexander MacLaren (1826-1910), English minister

“Sovereign grace has pow’r alone To subdue a heart of stone;
And the moment grace is felt, Then the hardest heart will melt.”

~ John Newton (1725-1807), English clergyman

“In ‘religion,’ the purpose of repentance is basically to keep God happy so he will continue to bless you and answer your prayers. This means that religious repentance is selfish, self-righteous, and bitter all the way to the bottom. In the gospel, however, the purpose of repentance is to repeatedly tap into the joy of our union with Christ, to weaken our impulse to do anything contrary to God’s heart.”

“Disordered love leads always to misery and breakdown. The only way to ‘reorder’ our loves is to love God supremely.”

~ Timothy Keller (1950-2023), American minister, theologian, author

Sermon Passage

Psalm 36 (ESV)

To the choirmaster. Of David, the servant of the LORD.

¹ Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes. ² For he flatters himself in his own eyes that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated. ³ The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit; he has ceased to act wisely and do good. ⁴ He plots trouble while on his bed; he sets himself in a way that is not good; he does not reject evil.

⁵ Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. ⁶ Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; your judgments are like the great deep; man and beast you save, O LORD.

⁷ How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings. ⁸ They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights. ⁹ For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light.

¹⁰ Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you, and your righteousness to the upright of heart! ¹¹ Let not the foot of arrogance come upon me, nor the hand of the wicked drive me away. ¹² There the evildoers lie fallen; they are thrust down, unable to rise.

Time of Reflection Quotations

“Few delights can equal the mere presence of one whom we trust utterly.”

~ George MacDonald (1824-1905), Scottish author, minister

“Hope for the Christian isn’t just confidence in a certain, glorious future. It’s hope in a present providence.”

~ Elliot Clark, contemporary author, cross-cultural church planter

“God’s providence is not blind, but full of eyes.”

~ John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892), American Quaker poet and advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States

“I do know that waiting on God requires the willingness to bear uncertainty, to carry within oneself the unanswered question, lifting the heart to God about it whenever it intrudes upon one’s thoughts.”

~ Elisabeth Elliot (1926-2015), Christian missionary, author, speaker

“In the most restless age of history, Christ can give you rest.”

“The rest that Christ gives is not a piece of negation. It is founded upon something positive – Christ himself.”

“This rest that Jesus gives will endure the ravages of time and will abide through all eternity.”

~ Billy Graham (1918-2018), American minister and evangelist

“Do not tell me that there is no rest for us till we get to heaven. We who have believed in Jesus enter into rest even now. Why should we not do so? Our salvation is complete. The robe of righteousness in which we are clad is finished. The atonement for our sins is fully made. We are reconciled to God, beloved of the Father, preserved by His grace, and supplied by His providence with all that we need. We carry all our burdens to Him and leave them at His feet. We spend our lives in His service, and we find His ways to be ways of pleasantness, and His paths to be paths of peace. Oh, yes, we have found rest unto our souls!”

~ C.H. Spurgeon (1834-1892), English pastor and author

Sermon Passage

Psalm 33 (CSB)

¹ Rejoice in the LORD, you righteous ones; praise from the upright is beautiful. ² Praise the LORD with the lyre; make music to him with a ten-stringed harp. ³ Sing a new song to him; play skillfully on the strings, with a joyful shout.

⁴ For the word of the LORD is right, and all his work is trustworthy. ⁵ He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the LORD’s unfailing love.

⁶ The heavens were made by the word of the LORD, and all the stars, by the breath of his mouth. ⁷ He gathers the water of the sea into a heap; he puts the depths into storehouses.

⁸ Let the whole earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. ⁹ For he spoke, and it came into being; he commanded, and it came into existence.

¹⁰ The LORD frustrates the counsel of the nations; he thwarts the plans of the peoples. ¹¹ The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart from generation to generation. ¹² Happy is the nation whose God is the LORD — the people he has chosen to be his own possession!

¹³ The LORD looks down from heaven; he observes everyone. ¹⁴ He gazes on all the inhabitants of the earth from his dwelling place. ¹⁵ He forms the hearts of them all; he considers all their works. ¹⁶ A king is not saved by a large army; a warrior will not be rescued by great strength. ¹⁷ The horse is a false hope for safety; it provides no escape by its great power.

¹⁸ But look, the LORD keeps his eye on those who fear him—those who depend on his faithful love ¹⁹ to rescue them from death and to keep them alive in famine.
²⁰ We wait for the LORD; he is our help and shield. ²¹ For our hearts rejoice in him because we trust in his holy name. ²² May your faithful love rest on us, LORD, for we put our hope in you.

Time of Reflection Quotations

“Through many dangers, toils and snares I have already come:
‘tis grace has brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.”

~John Newton, “Amazing Grace”

“The real glory is being knocked to your knees and then coming back. That’s real glory. That’s the essence of it.”

~Vince Lombardi, American football coach

“You don’t really suppose, do you, that all your adventures and escapes were managed by mere luck, just for your sole benefit?”

~Gandalf to Bilbo, in The Hobbit

“The consolation of fairy-stories, the joy of the happy ending: or more correctly of the good catastrophe [eucatasrophe], the sudden joyous ‘turn’ […] is a sudden and miraculous grace: never to be counted on to recur. It does not deny the existence of dyscatasrophe, of sorrow and failure: the possibility of these is necessary to the joy of deliverance […] Joy beyond the walls of the world, poignant as grief.”

“For I coined the word ‘eucatastrophe’: the sudden happy turn in a story which pierces you with a joy that brings tears […] the Resurrection was the greatest ‘eucatastrophe’ possible in the greatest Fairy Story – and it produces that essential emotion: Christian joy which produces tears because it is qualitatively so like sorrow, because it comes from those places where Joy and Sorrow are at one.”

~J.R.R Tolkien, English writer and academic

“What we like to do is we try to protect ourselves from ever having to go through the valley of the shadow of death. […] But if Jesus really is your shepherd […] wouldn’t you kind of want to go through the valley of the shadow of death? […] There ought to be this side [of us] that’s actually excited about it and going, ‘Okay, this is going to be cool. I’m going to see God come through in some ways where he wasn’t coming through. I’m going to see this other side of the shepherd that I didn’t see by the still waters.’”

~Francis Chan, American pastor, on Psalm 23

“We can’t outrisk His faithfulness”

~Ocean and the Ghost, “Can’t Outrisk”

Sermon Passage

Psalm 124 (NIV)

¹ If the LORD had not been on our side—
let Israel say—
² if the LORD had not been on our side
when people attacked us,
³ they would have swallowed us alive
when their anger flared against us;
⁴ the flood would have engulfed us,
the torrent would have swept over us,
⁵ the raging waters
would have swept us away.
⁶ Praise be to the LORD,
who has not let us be torn by their teeth.
⁷ We have escaped like a bird
from the fowler’s snare;
the snare has been broken,
and we have escaped.
⁸ Our help is in the name of the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

Exodus 13:17-18, 14:1-4 (NIV)

¹⁷ When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” ¹⁸ So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. […] ¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, ² ‘Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp […] ³ Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.’ ⁴ And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.’

Romans 5:6 (NIV)

⁶ You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.

Time of Reflection Quotations

“We all are born into the world looking for someone looking for us, and…we remain in this mode of searching for the rest of our lives.”

~Curt Thompson, psychiatrist and author

“Instructions for living a life.
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.”

~Mary Oliver (1935-2019), Pulitzer Prize-winning poet

“What you pay attention to shapes what you care about. And what you care about shapes what you become.”

~Jonathan Haidt, social psychologist and professor at New York University

“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”

~Augustine (354-430), North African theologian

“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.”

~C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) in “The Weight of Glory”

“There is no duty we so much underrated as the duty of being happy.”

~Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894), Scottish writer

“…if we doubt or do not believe that God is gracious to us and is pleased with us, or if we presumptuously expect to please Him only through and after our works, then it is all pure deception, outwardly honoring God, but inwardly setting up self as a false god…. [God] has promised His grace freely, and wills that we begin by trusting that grace, and in it perform all works, whatever they may be.”

~Martin Luther (1483-1546) in his “Treatise on Good Works”

“God wants so much to be trusted.”

~David Wilkerson (1931-2011), Christian leader & founder of Teen Challenge

Sermon Passage

Psalm 67 (NASB95)

Psalm 67 (NASB95)

¹ God be gracious to us and bless us,
And cause His face to shine upon us— Selah.
² That Your way may be known on the earth,
Your salvation among all nations.
³ Let the peoples praise You, O God;
Let all the peoples praise You.

⁴ Let the nations be glad and sing for joy;
For You will judge the peoples with uprightness
And guide the nations on the earth. Selah.
⁵ Let the peoples praise You, O God;
Let all the peoples praise You.

⁶ The earth has yielded its produce;
God, our God, blesses us.
⁷ God blesses us,
That all the ends of the earth may fear Him.

Numbers 6 (NASB95)

²² Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²³ “Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, ‘Thus you shall bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them:
²⁴ The Lord bless you, and keep you;
²⁵ The Lord make His face shine on you,
And be gracious to you;
²⁶ The Lord lift up His countenance on you,
And give you peace.’
²⁷ So they shall invoke My name on the sons of Israel, and I then will bless them.”

Time of Reflection Quotations

“Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself?”

~ D. Martin Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981), Welsh minister and medical doctor

“Every week I preach justification by faith to my people, because every week they forget it.”

~ Martin Luther (1483-1546), German theologian, author and hymn writer

“To preach the gospel to yourself, then, means that you continually face up to your own sinfulness and then flee to Jesus through faith in His shed blood and righteous life. It means that you appropriate, again by faith, the fact that Jesus fully satisfied the law of God, that He is your propitiation, and that God’s holy wrath is no longer directed toward you.”

~ Jerry Bridges (1929-2016), American author and speaker

“The older I grow, the more I am drawn to preach much concerning the person, the atonement, the glory of the Savior, and the influence of the Holy Spirit. There are other truths, important in their places, but unless beheld through the medium of the cross, they have but a faint effect.”

~ John Newton (1725-1807), Anglican clergyman and abolitionist

“The central basis of Christian assurance is not how much our hearts are set on God, but how unshakably his heart is set on us.”

~ Tim Keller (1950-2023), American pastor and author

Sermon Passage

Psalm 103 (ESV)

Of David.

¹ Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! ² Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, ³ who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, ⁴ who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, ⁵ who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

⁶ The LORD works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. ⁷ He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. ⁸ The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. ⁹ He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. ¹⁰ He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. ¹¹ For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; ¹² as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. ¹³ As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. ¹⁴ For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.

¹⁵ As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; ¹⁶ for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. ¹⁷ But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children, ¹⁸ to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments. ¹⁹ The LORD has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.

²⁰ Bless the LORD, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word! ²¹ Bless the LORD, all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will! ²² Bless the LORD, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the LORD, O my soul!

Time of Reflection Quotations

“Guilt is the gift that keeps on giving.”

~ Garrison Keillor (1942-present), American author, radio personality

“We have a strange illusion that mere time cancels sin. But mere time does nothing either to the fact or to the guilt of a sin.”

~ C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), British novelist, theologian and Christian apologist

“To be convinced in our hearts that we have forgiveness of sins and peace with God by grace alone is the hardest thing.”

~ Martin Luther (1483-1546), German professor of theology, author and seminal figure in the Protestant Reformation

“Forgiveness transcends finite human reason. The mere thought that one’s entire sin account can be utterly eradicated is staggering. Yet it is quite clear that the forgiveness of sins strikes at the very core of human need and experience. It speaks of guilt gone, remorse removed, depression disappearing and emptiness of life eradicated. What power there is in forgiveness! And it all comes abundantly from the gracious hand of God.”

~ Lewis Drummond (1926-2020), American minister and professor

“How sweet all at once it was for me to be rid of those fruitless joys which I had once feared to lose!… You drove them from me, You who are the true, the sovereign joy. You drove them from me and took their place, You who are sweeter than all pleasure.”

~ Augustine of Hippo (354-430) Christian author, theologian and philosopher

“There is more mercy in Christ than sin in us.”

~ Richard Sibbes (1577-1635) Anglican author and theologian

Sermon Passage

Psalm 32 (CSB)

Of David. A Maskil.

¹ How joyful is the one
whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered!
² How joyful is a person whom
the LORD does not charge with iniquity
and in whose spirit is no deceit!

³ When I kept silent, my bones became brittle
from my groaning all day long.
⁴ For day and night your hand was heavy on me;
my strength was drained as in the summer’s heat. Selah
⁵ Then I acknowledged my sin to you
and did not conceal my iniquity.
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,”
and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah

⁶ Therefore let everyone who is faithful pray to you immediately.
When great floodwaters come,
they will not reach him.
⁷ You are my hiding place;
you protect me from trouble.
You surround me with joyful shouts of deliverance. Selah

⁸ I will instruct you and show you the way to go;
with my eye on you, I will give counsel.
⁹ Do not be like a horse or mule,
without understanding,
that must be controlled with bit and bridle
or else it will not come near you.

¹⁰ Many pains come to the wicked,
but the one who trusts in the LORD
will have faithful love surrounding him.
¹¹ Be glad in the LORD and rejoice,
you righteous ones;
shout for joy,
all you upright in heart.

Time of Reflection Quotations

“What are you really living for? It’s crucial to realize that you either glorify God, or you glorify something or someone else. You’re always making something look big.”

~ Ken Sande, Contemporary engineer, lawyer and minister

“Be not lax in celebrating. Be not lazy in the festive service of God. Be ablaze with enthusiasm. Let us be an alive, burning offering before the altar of God.”

~ Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179), German Benedictine abbess, writer, composer and philosopher

“The world rings with praise — lovers praising their mistresses, readers their favorite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favorite game — praise of weather, wines, dishes, actors, motors, horses, colleges, countries, historical personages, children, flowers, mountains, rare stamps, rare beetles, even sometimes politicians or scholars…praise almost seems to be inner health made audible…I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses, but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation…Fully to enjoy is to glorify. In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him.”

~ C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), British writer, professor

“Misplaced affection is the root problem behind all conflict. Preoccupied with the streams, we are blind to the fountain of joy. We will not seek the presence of God. Blind to God’s beauty and to his pleasures, we seek to satisfy ourselves with pleasures of the flesh that are too trivial to sustain hungry souls.”

~ Tony Reinke, contemporary author and journalist

“O think, that he who was master of all heaven’s majesty came down to be the victim of all man’s misery!”

~ C.H. Spurgeon (1834-1892), English minister and writer

Sermon Passage

Psalm 146 (ESV) 

¹ Praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD, O my soul!
² I will praise the LORD as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

³ Put not your trust in princes,
in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
⁴ When his breath departs, he returns to the earth;
on that very day his plans perish.

⁵ Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD his God,
⁶ who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them,
who keeps faith forever;
⁷ who executes justice for the oppressed,
who gives food to the hungry.

The LORD sets the prisoners free;
⁸ the LORD opens the eyes of the blind.
The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down;
the LORD loves the righteous.
⁹ The LORD watches over the sojourners;
he upholds the widow and the fatherless,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

¹⁰ The LORD will reign forever,
your God, O Zion, to all generations.
Praise the LORD!