I wanted to share two incredibly powerful and excellent ministry-related resources with you today from the historic Lausanne Congress that just wrapped up last weekend in Cape Town, South Africa. The first is a heart-grabbing, tear-producing video entitled “The Tears of the Saints” relating the latest statistics on the needs in our world today. I would encourage you to take 4-5 minutes and watch it (I sat at my desk in stunned silence with tears welling up in my eyes after I watched it). I think you will agree with my assessment of it and I believe that you won’t regret it.
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This past weekend I had the privilege of participating in the 2010 Desiring God National Conference in Minneapolis, MN. The theme for this year’s conference was:

“Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God.”

The speakers this year ranged from…

Francis Chan

R.C. Sproul

R. Albert Mohler, Jr.

Rick Warren

Randy Alcorn

to John Piper (who sponsors the conference each year).
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Here are a few quotes on decisions, choices and wisdom…

“Good and evil both increase at compound interest. The little decisions you and I make every day are of infinite importance.” (C. S. Lewis)

“Our lives are (to a large degree) a product of the choices we make. Make right choices.” (Chuck Swindoll)

“Everyday we are either going forward or backwards in our walk with God. There is no such thing as ‘standing still.’ The moment we stop giving our utmost attention to following Christ, we begin to decline in your walk with Him!”

“If you would win the world, melt it, don’t hammer it.” (Scottish Preacher – Alexander MacLaren … 1826 – 1910)

“Our choices flow out of our hearts, and therefore we must take care to guard them from contamination: ‘Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.’ (Prov. 4:23). What’s the most effective way to contaminate a water supply? Poison it at its source. If you don’t guard your heart from the world’s values, you will be conformed to the world.” (Randy Alcorn)

“Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great as a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom.” (Charles Spurgeon)

Here are a few quotes on God’s grace, mercy and greatness…

“At the cross, the love of God and the wrath of God shake hands; the mercy of God and the justice of God embrace; and the holiness of God and the sinfulness of humanity appear in stark contrast.” (William P. Farely, from his book – Outrageous Mercy)

“We cannot find God without God. We cannot reach God without God. We cannot satisfy God without God… The decisive part of our seeking is not our human ascent to God, but his descent to us. Without God’s descent there is no human ascent. The secret of the quest lies not in our brilliance but in his grace.” (Os Guinness)

“Never believe anything about yourself or God that makes His grace to you seem anything less than astonishing. Because that’s exactly what it is.” (Randy Alcorn)

“…so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:7).

“Pray to the Lord to keep you low at his feet, for in no other place can you be largely used of him.” (Charles Spurgeon)

“Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:58).

“If we are to succeed in living by grace, we must come to terms with the fact that God is sovereign in dispensing His gracious favors, and He owes us no explanation when His actions do not correspond with our system of merits.” (Jerry Bridges)

For almost 35 years now, I have been a voracious collector of “quotable quotes,” “nuggets of wisdom,” and “pithy sayings.” I think if I were to count them and put them all together, there would be well over 15,000.

Great quotes boil a whole bunch of truth down into a simple and memorable sentence or two. For the next few weeks, I want to share with you some of the best quotes that I have come across in the past few months.

I pray that these “nuggets” would be an encouragement to your heart and soul, and a stimulus to your mind. Before I go any further, let me add, nothing comes close to or is more important than the actual words of Scripture! Our Bibles should be our steady daily diet. But other books, written by great men and women of God, can help us to grasp and understand many of the riches found throughout the pages of the Bible.

Here are a few quotes on troubles, trials and trusting God…

“Do not be anxious about what may happen tomorrow; the same everlasting Father who cares for you today will take care of you tomorrow and every day. Either He will shield you from suffering, or He will give you unfailing strength to bear it. Be at peace, then, put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginations.” (St. Francis de Sales)

“God is in the business of turning rough coals into diamonds through pressure. When we suffer, it is a God-given opportunity to become more like the One who suffered most.” (Randy Alcorn)

“Christ followers contract malaria, bury children, and battle addictions, and as a result, face fears. It’s not the absence of storms that sets us apart. It’s whom we discover in the storm: an unstirred Christ.” (Max Lucado from his new book Fearless)

“Today’s impossibility is tomorrow’s miracle!”

“Let the size of your God determine the size of your goal!”

“May the omnipotence of God be the measure of our expectation!”

“O God, let me make a difference for You that is utterly disproportionate to who I am.” (from the Journal of David Brainerd – American Missionary to the Native Americans – 1718-1747)

“There is nothing which shows our ignorance so much as our impatience under trouble. We forget that every cross is a message from God, and intended to do us good in the end. Trials are intended to make us think—to wean us from the world—to send us to the Bible—to drive us to our knees.” (J. C. Ryle)