Fear of God failing us leads us to "cover for God." This means we ask, expect, and are satisfied with less.

The world says love yourself, grab all you can, follow your heart. Jesus says deny yourself, grab your cross and follow me.

We live in a relativistic culture, where people are more con- cerned with being liked than being truthful. In A Sweet and Bitter Providence, John Piper does an outstanding job of bibli- cally defending key truths that the church often ignores. He gives us an example of how to take a bold and educated stand on issues of race, purity, and God's sovereignty.

Parents are supposed to instruct their kids. It doesn't mean they necessarily have that gift of teaching.

Only the Holy Spirit can give you the power to not think about yourself, to set you free from yourself.

We don't get to decide who God is.

But God doesn't call us to be comfortable. He calls us to trust Him so completely that we are unafraid to put ourselves in situations where we will be in trouble if He doesn't come through.