Does the Lord intend to make man happy? Sure... but it's a byproduct, not a prime product.

Do you realize this? That if you were to somehow purpose to, from this day on, perfectly please God and succeed in doing it, that that perfect obedience, from this moment, would not acquire in the remainder of your life, enough merit to atone for one past sin, because God exacts and God demands perfect obedience and there's no merit for giving him the minimal requirement.

Is God an end or is He a means?

The liberal says the end of religion is to make man happy while he's alive. And the fundamentalist says the end of religion is to make man happy when he dies.

We who are born from above testify to the change that God has wrought in our hearts. Perhaps the best time for you to tell someone what has taken place in your life is when that person comes to you and says, 'What has happened to you? I have known you before and after. You are different, Tell me about it.' This is the best opportunity to tell someone about Christ. If they don't see a difference, all the talking in the world is meaningless.

You've got to get out of the car, take the keys around, open up the trunk lid, hand the keys to the Lord Jesus, get inside the trunk, slam the lid down, whisper through the keyhole, 'Lord look, fill'r up with anything you want and you drive, it's up to you from now on.'

Why should a person come to the cross? Why should a person embrace death? With Christ? Because it's the only way that God can get glory out of a human being!