“Can mortal man be in the right before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker? Even in his servants, he puts no trust and his angels he charges with error; how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust.”

“This is Philippians 1:29: “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him, but also suffer for his sake.” It would be very clear and biblical to say that while we live on this earth, in these bodies, it is God’s will that we suffer because we are going to be administering the gospel.”

“The point of your obedience is to help your brother and sister grow in the love of Christ. That’s the point. The whole entire point. This is why he says to consider how to build one another up daily. So James writes a letter to scared, fighting, sin-sick, wandering Christians. And you know how he always brings them back? He grounds them in their faith, and he reminds them of the grace of God.”

“For, I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comprehension, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.”

“Jesus gave what we don’t deserve – that’s grace. And then what does first John say? We love because he first loved us.”

“You will never be considered my enemy again. You will live forever as my beloved child. I will provide you a new home and a new body, and I will always provide for you everything that you need. And while you are in this sinful body and in this sinful world, I promise that nothing you do or that happens to you will ever separate you from my love and my promises to you, not even death.”

“The God-man, Jesus of Nazareth, knew suffering in this life. We read in Hebrews chapter two, that he was perfected by suffering. Sometimes we think and reduce it down to the fact that he suffered in his death, which is certainly true, but he suffered his whole life in that way.”

When someone finds themself in the deepest, darkest – like they are bitter at God. They’re weak in faith. They just feel cold and distant. Do you know what James says? All right. Here’s your list of things you need to do: call the elders…

“God, change my desire so that I desire your will. Hallowed be your name in my life for your glory and my good, for your praise and my joy…”

We’re not taught to read literally every passage of scripture through the lens of Christ and his redemptive work in place of the sinner. I am saying that is how we should read every page of this book: through the lens of Christ’s work in our place…

“Listen, you who are sinning, you can trust in the power of the righteous position you are in.” This is why he says, “Hey, just so you guys know, Elijah had a nature, like ours, weak and sinful, and he prayed, and God heard him…”

I find great hope in the fact that Jesus, in his model prayer, says to us, “Be cognizant of who you’re talking to: ‘Our Father’.” Now, for those of us who’ve been in Christianity, that’s not earth-shattering. When I said, “Our Father,” no one gasped, “How dare he!” But this was not a common practice amongst the Jews, especially of that day…