You cannot divide human beings into those who worship and those who don't. Everybody worships; it's just a matter of what, or whom, we serve.
Paul David TrippFoolishness is more than being stupid, that deadly combination of arrogance and ignorance.
Paul David TrippYou can tell yourself that God's not fair, or you can thank Him that He's not fair. If God was fair, we would be doomed and condemned.
Paul David TrippIf you don't keep the eyes of your heart focused on the paradise that is to come, you will try to turn this poor fallen world into the paradise it will never be.
Paul David TrippHuman self-righteousness denies the need for the saving, enabling grace of Christ. Human righteousness embraces the cruelest of Satan's lies, that a person can be righteous by keeping the law. If that were true, there would have been no need for the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Christ.
Paul David TrippGod's design in our pain enables us to look back and say: He loves me enough to take me where I would have never wanted to go in order to produce in me what I never could have achieved on my own.
Paul David TrippBecaise I love God, I want to handle his truth with accuracy, clarity, and specificity. I want to build bridges of understanding from the wisdom of the Word to the details of people's lives. And because I love people, I will not be satisfied with lobbing grenades of general truth at them. Rather, through good questions, committed listening, and careful interpretation, I will enter their world with the understanding necessary to bring Christ's help to where it is really needed.
Paul David TrippHarboring bitterness against people is actually confessing their sin to myself, over and over again. Anger is akin to confessing their sin to God, dissatisfied that he hasn't done something and placing myself in his position as judge.
Paul David TrippWe, with all of our sin, weakness, and failures are welcome to do what should blow our minds. We are not only tolerated by God at a distance; no, we are welcomed into intimate personal communion with the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the creator, the sovereign, the Savior. We, as unholy as we are, are told to go with confidence into his holy presence.
Paul David TrippToday you will envy the blessings of another, or you will bask in the wonder of the amazing grace you have been given.
Paul David TrippHow can you admit that your only hope is divine grace and then throw condemnation at another sinner when you see them struggle?
Paul David TrippCorporate worship is a regular gracious reminder that it's not about you. You've been born into a life that is a celebration of another.
Paul David TrippEvery time you ask for forgiveness, you recognize that the biggest problems you face in life exist inside of you, not outside of you.
Paul David TrippGod is the ultimate musician. His music transforms your life. The notes of redemption rearrange your heart and restore your life. His songs of forgiveness, grace, reconciliation, truth, hope, sovereignty, and love give you back your humanity and restore your identity.
Paul David TrippWe must begin by admitting that people and situations do not cause us to speak as we do. Our hearts control our words. People and situations simply provide the occasion for the heart to express itself.
Paul David TrippThe Bible says that our core problem, the fundamental reason we do what we do, is sin.
Paul David TrippThe church is not a theological classroom. It is a conversion, confession, repentance, reconciliation, forgiveness and sanctification center, where flawed people place their faith in Christ, gather to know and love him better, and learn to love others as he designed.
Paul David TrippOur need is so desperate an idea, a thing, a law can't help us. It took one thing, the gift of gifts, God in the flesh, to rescue us.
Paul David TrippOnly love for Christ has the power to incapacitate the sturdy love for self that is the bane of every sinner, and only the grace of Christ has the power to produce that love.
Paul David TrippGod never intended for us to simply be the objects of His love. We are also called to be the instruments of that love in the lives of others.
Paul David TrippIf you are in Christ, you've been chosen to transcend the borders of your own glory, to reach out toward a greater glory, the glory of God.
Paul David TrippRemember, when you're sinned against its tempting to respond sinfully. Don't give in, talk to your heart and seek the grace of Jesus.
Paul David TrippGrace will expose the deepest issues of your heart, then point you to the Cross which covers everything that's been exposed.
Paul David TrippRemember, it is not your weakness that will get in the way of God's working through you, but your delusions of strength. His strength is made perfect in our weakness! Point to His strength by being willing to admit your weakness.
Paul David TrippEvery day you preach to yourself a gospel of your loneliness, inability, and lack of resources or you faithfully preach to yourself the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul David TrippEmbedded in the larger story of redemption is a principle we must not miss: God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things in the lives of others.
Paul David TrippGod's grace doesn't always come in comfortable forms. But it's still grace, and it's still evidence that He loves us.
Paul David TrippDo you require yourself to remember? In order to live as you can and should, you first must remember who you are and what youโve been given.
Paul David TrippIf your hope disappoints you, it is the wrong kind of hope. You see, hope in God never disappoints, precisely because it is hope *in God.* This means that hope placed in any other thing will always end up disappointing.
Paul David TrippIt is a sweet thing that we serve a dissatisfied God who has destinations in mind for us that we would never choose for ourselves. It really is a good thing that he will not be satisfied until he has gotten us exactly where he created us and re-created us to be. Most of us would have been satisfied to stay at home, and many of us would have quit the journey long before it was completed. But our heavenly Father won't give up until each one of his children has completed the journey.
Paul David TrippWhen your sin is exposed, you will run toward confession and forgiveness or self-righteousness and self-justification.
Paul David TrippWe forget that God's primary goal is not changing our situations or relationships so that we can be happy, but changing us through our situations and relationships so that we will be holy.
Paul David TrippThere simply aren't any grand moments in life, and we surely don't live in those moments. No, we live in the utterly mundane. We exist in the bathrooms, bedrooms, living rooms, and hallways of life. This is where the character of our life is set. This is where we live the life of faith.
Paul David TrippLove is willing self-sacrifice for the good of another that does not require reciprocation or that the person being loved is deserving
Paul David TrippWe must not offer people a system of redemption, a set of insights and principles. We offer people a Redeemer.
Paul David TrippThe Bible isn't a storybook with many heroes. No, there's only one hero in Scripture: the Son, the Lamb, the Savior, the King, the Redeemer - Jesus.
Paul David TrippWhen Christ is my hope, he becomes the one thing in which I have confidence. I act on his wisdom and bank on his grace. I trust his promises and I rely on his presence. And I pursue all the good things that he has promised me simply because I trust him. So, I am not manipulating, controlling, or threatening my way through life to get what I want, because I have found what I want in Christ. He is my hope.
Paul David TrippPeople struggling with life in a fallen world often want explanations when what they really need is imagination.
Paul David TrippCorporate worship is designed to remind you that in the center of all things is a glorious and gracious King, and this king is not you
Paul David TrippThere is a God of awesome grace who meets his children in moments of darkness and difficulty. He is worth running to. He is worth waiting for. He brings rest when it seems like there is no rest to be found.
Paul David Tripp