Your Voice

Power of a surrendered life

By Terry Long
Choctaw Baptist Association

The message that grips our hearts and saves us from our sins is not the message of Jesus taking the little children up in His lap or healing the blind or walking on the water or feeding the 5,000. It is the message of the cross: The message of his suffering and death; the preaching of His love and life poured out unto death for every sinner. THAT is the power of the gospel to save!

Take away Gethsemane. Take away the crown of thorns. Take away the scourging. Take away the blood. Take away the death on the cross. What do you have left? A world dying in their sins!

It is only when a person lays down his life, his possessions, his money, his reputation, his desire, all he is and all he possesses that he can be used of God. Why?

Because it is then and only then that he can be filled with the Holy Spirit of God.

If programs could save the world, the SBC would have won the world to Christ years ago.

If plans, organizations, education and vision statements could save the world and bring in the Kingdom, then the wolf and the lamb would be living together in the Holy Land today.

But personality and pomp and all the rest is as a sounding brass and clanging cymbal if the breath of God is not on it.

The greatest danger you will ever face is losing the touch of God upon your church!

The strength of our witness, the measure of our devotion and the determining factor in whether or not we have revival in the church lies in the degree of surrender in the lives of the men and women that make up the membership of our church.

I have all of these songs in me. Children are in need of a way to connect with the Father, and music is such an awesome way to connect.

Linda Harper, Songwriter

Every day we have enough faith to carry on doing what we are doing. God renews that faith every single day. The reason we have strength is because we know His faithfulness.

Yaroslav Pyzh, president
Ukrainian Baptist Theological Seminary

Love is a decision, a commitment that we make to each other. As Christians, that’s how we were first known — they were known by their love.

Mike Hardin, provost
Samford University

We knew we needed to become debt free in order to do more for the kingdom of God.

Pastor Ryan Whitley
CrossPoint Church, Trussville, Alabama

May our cooperative work and witness grow for the glory of God.

Ben Curlee
Pastor, Lineville Baptist Church

“I’ve had several who stopped, full gear, still sitting on their motorcycle, lean over and give me a hug and start sobbing. Grown men that you would not want to see in a back alley, just sobbing on your shoulder, not saying a word. But you know exactly why they’re sobbing. It’s the coolest thing,” said RaceLine Ministry chaplain Mark Merical, who has spent the last 10 seasons ministering to pro motorcycle riders on the WERA and MotoAmerica pro motorcycle road racing circuit.

In the beginning, God worked. And then He rested. … If God worked for six days when He created the world and rested on the seventh day, why are we not also resting on the seventh day?

In the Old Testament God’s people were told in the Ten Commandments to keep the Sabbath holy — free from work, even from ordinary house chores.

To clarify, rest is not laziness. Laziness is allowing inactivity to take priority over work. Rest is a reward for your work in Christ. There is joy and purpose in fulfilling your calling through work, but we need rest to renew ourselves in order to be able to do more good work.

Selah Vetter
“Rhythms of rest”
the-scroll.com

“I encourage church leaders not to fall prey to the temptation to jump into the latest programs immediately but have what restaurants call a ‘soft opening.’ That way we can make our rookie mistakes and work them out and then have a better ministry,” said Scott Cormode, Hugh De Pree professor of leadership development at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, speaking at a seminar hosted by the Center for Congregational Resources of Samford University in Birmingham.

“We all know that God has brought the nations … to our country so that we can share the gospel with them without even leaving our neighborhood,” said Ramón Osorio, ethnic-linguistic church planting director for the North American Mission Board.

From the Twitterverse

@KristinKellen
What are you struggling with today? Loss? Failure? Uncertainty? The Lamb stands poised and ready in victory, seated on His throne and triumphant over His enemies. Rest. In. That. Victory. Appreciate this reminder from Rev. 14 from @kellum_s @SEBTS.

@richardblackaby
Pastor, preach today as if … lives, marriages, and futures hang in the balance. For they do.

@drjamesmerritt
The primary purpose of praying is not to get gifts from God: It is to give glory to God.

@trillianewbell
I’m so grateful that knowing Jesus as our Lord and Savior isn’t complicated. We never graduate from the simple truth of the gospel. I’m also glad that we will explore the riches and depths of our great salvation for a lifetime.

@w_strickland
If we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His. Romans 6:5

@GaryFenton07
Prayer is practiced and commanded in the Bible, but never fully explained. We trust the One to whom we pray and not our words.

@MichaelCatt
When you sling mud, you’re always losing ground.

@DavidCCrowther
Just as nothing but hewn timbers held back the floodwaters of God’s judgment from Noah & his family, nothing but the old rugged cross of Christ will hold back the flood of God’s judgment … today.

@DrStevenJLawson
Grace is greater than the corruption of our sins. It is stronger than the evil of this world. It is mightier than the seductions of the devil.

@LysaTerKeurst
We may not know what someone is walking through. But one thing I do know is that we all have tear stains on our pillow. And your unusual kindness, patience or grace may be the thing God uses to reach inside their desperation and help them believe He hears their prayers.

@MattSmethurst
“No, Lord” is a contradiction …

@DrLoritts
One of the most dangerous kinds of people are the ones who are extremely gifted and occupy broad platforms of influence who have never had their hearts broken. They lack sympathy.