Salvation is not a prayer you pray in a one-time ceremony and then move on from; salvation is a posture of repentance and faith that you begin in a moment and maintain for the rest of your life.

We may not be worthy to be forgiven, but He is worthy to forgive us.

Surveys show that more than 50 percent of people in the U.S. have prayed the sinner's prayer and think they're going to heaven because of it even though there is no detectable difference in their lifestyles from those outside of the church. On this issue- the most important issue on earth- we have to be absolutely clear. We need to preach salvation by repentance before God and faith in the finished work of Christ.

We are changed not by being told what we need to do for God, but by hearing the news about what God has done for us.

God sometimes answers our prayers by giving us what we would have asked for had we known what He knows.

Without love even the most radical devotion to God is of no value to Him. Let me make sure that sinks in… You can gain all the spiritual gifts in the world. You can take the most radical steps of obedience. You can share every meal with the homeless in your city. You can memorize the book of Leviticus. You can pray each morning for four hours like Martin Luther. But if what you do does not flow out of a heart of love - a heart that does those things because it genuinely desires to do them - it is ultimately worthless to God.

In a post-Christian, skeptical age, love on display is the most convincing apologetic.