The key to maturity is time and community. Discernment and godly wisdom develop in a community that spans generations. The church is called to be this place where the [God's] Spirit uses normal patterns and rhythms of the Christian life in a community, so that we may bear fruit like a well-watered tree. Despite common appearances, the church is the place where God's new creation is coming into existence and being sustained by the Spirit like a great vineyard.

Our weaknesses are an opportunity for God to show his strength.

Ask the proficient athlete, artist, businessperson, or homemaker what creates excellence and they'll all agree: a commitment to long-term goals - and with a community of mentors and fellow "disciples."

Theology, not morality, is the first business on the church's agenda of reform, and the church, not society, is the first target of divine criticism.

People ask me, 'Why pray if God is sovereign?' I respond, 'Why pray if He isn't?

Jesus and spirituality can easily become therapies that merely help us cope with life. They can serve us if we chose Him over other service providers. We even talk about "making Jesus my personal Lord and Savior," as if we could make Him anything!

If the focus of our testimony is our changed life, we as well as our hearers are bound to be disappointed.