Ultimate satisfaction is found not in making much of ourselves but in making much of God

For God to be holy does not just mean He is without error. It means He is without equal. May it not be said of any one of us that there is not respect for the author of the universe. He is sovereign over all nature, over all nations and over every single one of our lives.

This is the gospel. The just and loving Creator of the universe has looked upon hopelessly sinful people and sent His Son, God in the flesh, to bear His wrath against sin on the cross and to show His power over sin in the resurrection so that all who trust in Him will be reconciled to God forever.

But then I realize there is never going to be a day when I stand before God and He looks at me and says, 'I wish you would have kept more for yourself.' I'm confident that God will take care of me.

Do you and I believe him (Christ) enough to obey him and to follow him wherever he leads, even when the crowds in our culture - and maybe in our churches - turn the other way?...For the sake of an increasingly marginalized and relatively ineffective church in our culture, I want to risk it all. For the sake of my life, my family, and the people who surround me, I want to risk it all.

God in His providence hasn't called us to watch history, but to shape history by praying in His Name.

Disciple making also involves teaching people to obey all that Christ has commanded us. Now some might say, "Isn't that what preachers are supposed to do?" And in one sense, the answer to this question is yes. God has clearly called and gifted some people in the church to teach his Word formally. At the same time, he has commanded every follower of Jesus to teach his Word relationally.