Best 665 quotes in «discipleship quotes» category

And morning came… It still comes. Our God is here, Emmanuel, among us, always coming towards us, always standing behind us, always standing up for us, always standing with us in solidarity in communion asking us to come with Him now as disciple, as follower, as believer, as a friend, as intimate beloved child of God, now and forever.

And—you can be very sure of this—all who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ; who have seen the all-importance of the soul; who have seen their dread condition under the condemnation of the law; who have believed in Christ and His sacrificial death; who have committed themselves to Him, taking upon themselves the scorn and sarcasm of the world; those who have counted all things loss for his sake, who have denied themselves and taken up their cross daily and followed Him; those who have said, “I care not what happens to me as long as all is well between me and Him”—these are they who will be with Him in the new heaven and the new earth and will share and enjoy His glory for ever and ever.

An employee made a mistake that cost the company $10 million, he walked into the office of Tom Watson, the C.E.O., expecting to get fired. “Fire you?” Mr. Watson asked. “I just spent $10 million educating you.

Any serious reading of the Bible means personal involvement in it, not symbol mental agreement with abstract propositions. And involvement is dangerous, because it leaves one open to unforeseen conclusions.

A philosophy that cannot be lived is no philosophy at all.

Apprenticeship assumes that knowing a trade not only comes by numbers and outlines but also by watching and inhabiting. Knowing is found in these forms, because teaching is. We teach not only by our words and assignments but also by the manner of our words and the ways we ourselves already embody the assignments we give.

A question is far more subversive, biblically, than a statement.

Are you following Christ's ambitions for your life or expecting Him to help you reach yours?

A sacred space is not a place to hide out. It is a place where we recognize ourselves and our commitments.

A servile spirit you have nothing to do with: you are not a slave, but a child; and now, inasmuch as you are a beloved child, you are bound to obey your Father's faintest wish, the least intimation of His will.

As frustrating as the battle for purity must be, I suppose it's easier if you've got company.

A soul that is happy in the things of God can overcome tremendous obstacles.

As soon as (Teddy Roosevelt) received an assignment for a paper or project, he would set to work, never leaving anything to the last minute. Prepared so far ahead "freed his mind" from worry and facilitated fresh, lucid thought.

A student was given a mentoring opportunity, "in the hope that when you had somebody to lean on you, you would begin to stand a little steadier yourself, and get manliness and thoughtfulness.

As we gaze on Christ, the mind is informed, and the heart is inflamed, and the body begins to line up.

As we grow into maturity in Christ our distinctiveness is accentuated, not blunted. General directions, useful as they are, don't take into account the details that face us as holiness takes root in the particular social and personal place we are planted.

As your father keeps clean his lamp to have good light, so keep clean your spirit.

At the end of life, each of us must answer the question, Whose story captured my soul?

A whole nation cannot rise above itself.

Battles are won, not with weapons, but with God. They are won where the way leads to the cross.

Battling busyness is a community response.

Because children already have a realization of their weakness, is this not the best opportunity to apply the gospel to their hearts?

Because of the Resurrection, our natural reaction must be to get past our emotional reactions as quickly as possible and reflect on what happened in light of the cross and the resurrection and our own baptisms into that defining reality – to the life-giving and life-affirming waters of forgiveness and reconciliation.

Because we don't know the state of our children's souls, and because they might simply want to please us by praying to be saved, we must continue to give them the Law and encourage them to ask God for faith to believe that He is as good as He says He is.

Because their example is powerful, they're somewhat responsible for the weaklings who copy them.

Before we can influence our culture, our visions must die.

Better to wait actively than passively.

Blessing and obedience do comfortably and mysteriously coexist.

Boethius moved from considering history from the actor's point of view to a "timeless" eternal view. From the divine perspective, nothing is ever utterly lost, because all of life is possessed by God in the eternal now. Though time was gnawing away at Boethius and stealing all he valued, God was beyond time and loss. Gaining this philosophical vantage allowed the last Roman to become one of the first men of the Middle Ages.

Any journalist who holds the office writes in a straitjacket.

As you call people to submit to the Person of Christ, you can trust the Spirit of Christ to lead them to salvation.

At Gethsemane: "Jesus is subordinating His loudest desires to His deepest desires.

At the approach of a certain dark hour, the light of Heaven fills those who are quitting the light of Earth.

A wilderness experience includes a long walk back.

A writer at the time said, "Lincoln means to sink the man in the public officer.

Being a “Christian” – a word used only three times in the New Testament – is not Jesus’ goal for his people. But the making of a community of revolutionary followers or “disciples” – a word used nearly three hundred times in the New Testament – seems to be exactly the goal. The church must return to these roots. The church must become a way of life, an alternative lifestyle, a counter-community of Christ-followers. Church must once again become a people who are on “The Way” formed by the words and way of Jesus.

Being self-owned is a state of mind.

Belief and confusion are not mutually exclusive; I believe that belief gives you the direction in the confusion. But you don't see the full picture. That's the point. That's what faith is. You can't see it. It comes back to instinct. Faith is just up the street. Faith and instinct, you can't just rely on them. You have to beat them up. You have to pummel them to make sure they can withstand it, to make sure they can be trusted.

Believers are called to engage this ever-changing culture with the never-changing gospel.

Believers think only prominent ministers can have followers, but actually, every believer can and should have a few or at least one newer or younger believer as a disciple.

Better abolish pulpits then to appoint men who have no experiential knowledge of what they teach.

But I know, with all the certainty of my being, that Jesus has no interest in my doing this. To just say, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, I'm your biggest fan," causes him to stare at his watch, tap his feet, and order a double Glenlivet on the rocks with a twist. Fandom is of no interest to Jesus. What matters to him is the authentic following of a disciple. We all settle for saying, "Jesus," but Jesus wants us to be in the world who he is.

By giving us control, our new technologies tend to enhance existing idols in our lives. Instead of becoming more like Christ through the forming and shaping influence of the church community, we form, and shape, and personalize our community to make it more like us. We take control of things that are not ours to control. Could it be that our desire for control is short-circuiting the process of change and transformation God wants us to experience through the mess of real world, flesh and blood, face-to-face relationships?

By nature, we get more pleasure from God's gifts then from Himself.

Carnal love is the love of table, not of the host.

Bono has commented often that U2 did everything the wrong way around. Other bands started singing about girls and then found the issues in the cosmos and started singing about God; U2 started singing about God and eventually ended up doing a love album.

(Bonhoeffer's) change was not an ungainly, embarrassing leap from which he would have to retreat slightly when he gained more maturity and perspective. It was by all accounts a deepening consistent with what had gone before.

Change from despair to joy he made her extremely beautiful.

Challenge quandary thinking, either/or thinking come by moving from the abstract to the concrete. What can we do with the choice actually in front of us?

Cause every task of your day to be a sacred ministry to the Lord. however mundane your duties, for you they are a sacrament.