Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?Galatians 3:3God does not run factories; He grows gardens. He is not interested in your works; He desires to enjoy your fruit. He does not want you to depend upon your flesh; He calls you to rely upon His Spirit.-Chuck Smith
Yeah, that's an awesome book! Did a bible study with the high school girls in our youth group a few years back through that book.I think Chuck Smith presents a good, godly and biblical balance between God's grace, yet the love of Christ constraining us from willful sinning and grace abusing.
God does not run factories; He grows gardens.Amen! This is a very good summary of some of what He's been getting through to me lately: He didn't create everything to meet some kind of production quota; on the contrary, Love was the point.He is not interested in your works; He desires to enjoy your fruit.I think I know what Mr. Smith meant, but at face value the first part of this is false; God cares very much about His people doing good works, He ordained them unto those good works quite a while ago, and "our fruit" is (at least partly) our good works. Justification is not by works (in Pauline theological vocabulary, not necessarily James's, I think it was Bro. Ron that has reminded us of this, though I'm not sure), but Sanctification almost by definition results in them.He does not want you to depend upon your flesh; He calls you to rely upon His Spirit.Amen and amen. May He keep us from forgetting upon Whose strength we stand, and even have our being.
For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. Galatians 5:17The biblical prescription for resolving the conflict between flesh and Spirit is not personal discipline or self-control. Power over the flesh comes only through a Spirit-controlled life.Why Grace Changes Everything | Pg. 132
To be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.Romans 8:6We must pray for the grace to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. It is then that we will know the tremendous victory over even our most besetting sins, and it is then that the Spirit of God is able to use us in the most extraordinary ways.Why Grace Changes Everything | Pg. 92
This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.John 6:29At the moment we believe and trust in Jesus Christ, God imputes to our account righteousness?not on the basis of what we have done or what we are going to do, but simply on the basis of our belief in Jesus Christ.Why Grace Changes Everything | Pg. 68
Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.Romans 14:4Don’t worry that some people can’t see how you’re ever going to make it. I have found that God has been much easier to please than man. It is an exercise in futility to try to please everybody.Why Grace Changes Everything | Pg. 102
Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?Galatians 3:2I had been trying on my own to become holy enough or righteous enough, but of course I never managed to become good enough to earn the filling of the Holy Spirit. It never occurred to me to ask in simple faith. I was sure God needed my help.Why Grace Changes Everything | Pg. 114, 115
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.Ephesians 2:10Wherever we find ourselves, God has a reason for placing us there. He is working on us His poiema, or masterpiece. Even in our difficult trials, God has His hand upon our lives to develop in us the character we need to fulfill His plan for us.Why Grace Changes Everything | Pg. 56
I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you foreverJohn 14:16[The Holy Spirit] is not merely an impersonal force or power or essence within the universe, but He is rather a Person who can speak to you and to whom you can speak. He is a Person who can guide you, who can help you, who can strengthen you, who can teach you the truth of God.Living Water | Pg. 13
He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.1 John 5:10,11By our refusal to believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God who bore the sins of the world, we are blaspheming the Holy Spirit. If we refuse to believe, we call the Spirit a liar, for we reject the record that God gave of His Son.Living Water | Pg. 37
He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.John 3:36The Spirit reproves the world of righteousness by pointing to Jesus Christ. He is the example; He?s what God would have us to be. And if you can?t meet that standard, then your only hope is to place your faith in Him.Living Water | Pg. 39
For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.2 Chronicles 16:9God is looking for instruments through which He might accomplish His work and through which He might pour out His resources to a needy world.Living Water | Pg. 78
o one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit.1 Corinthians 12:8[The] word of wisdom can be a glorious thing in resolving tough issues and problems. It settles people’s differences and brings solutions to thorny problems. It removes the rancor between people, settles the issue, and brings a peaceful solution that everybody can be happy with.Living Water | Pg. 101
“And try Me now in this,”Says the LORD of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessingThat there will not be room enough to receive it.”Malachi 3:10If we give to God what is God’s and what God requires, then the Lord has promised He will pour out blessings too numerous to contain. As Malachi tells us, this is a spiritual law you can test. Give it a try. And when you do so, you’ll discover that it works. The more you give, the more God brings back to you. Try it, you’ll like it.Living Water | Pg. 27
aving then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them. ? He who exhorts in exhortation.Romans 12:6, 8The exhorter comes alongside us and says, “You’ve heard it, now let’s do it. You know it, now let’s practice it. Let’s go.”Living Water | Pg. 216
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