We are regularly in danger of having too light a view of our sin and also too light a grasp of what Jesus has done to free us from our sin.

To preach the gospel is to show people their need for salvation against a backdrop of God's nature and the character of sin, and then present Jesus as the only remedy for what ails them and the world. In my weekly preaching in the worship services I always call people to believe in Christ.

All human problems are ultimately symptoms, and our separation from God is the cause.

Jesus lost all his glory so that we could be clothed in it. He was shut out so we could get access. He was bound, nailed, so that we could be free. He was cast out so we could approach. And Jesus took away the only kind of suffering that can really destroy you: that is being cast away from God. He took so that now all suffering that comes into your life will only make you great. A lump of coal under pressure becomes a diamond. And the suffering of a person in Christ only turns you into somebody gorgeous.

The Bible says that our real problem is that every one of us is building our identity on something besides Jesus.

God will only give you what you would have asked for if you knew everything he knows

Idolatry happens when we take good things and make them ultimate things