Quotes from Larry Osborne

That's why I cringe when I hear aging baby boomers decry the moral and political chaos that has overtaken our country. No doubt things are a mess. But I wonder if these former hippies have forgotten or simply romanticized the decadent and violent days of their youth.

When I first entered the ministry, I dreamed of communicating God's Word so powerfully that people would mull it over and discuss it during the week. I envisioned impassioned discussions of the deep theological truth I'd presented in the sermon. I must have been smoking something.

The absence of biblical morality is proof positive that I don't know or follow Jesus.6 But the presence of biblical morality doesn't necessarily validate that I have a genuine relationship with Jesus.

Spiritual urban legends aren't just harmless misunderstandings. They're spiritually dangerous errors that will eventually bring heartache and disillusionment to all who trust in them.

Since longtime members who switch services don't like to be asked if they're visiting (try it; you'll enjoy the dirty looks), most of us learn to treat anyone we don't recognize as a regular we haven't met or someone whose face we can't remember.

Unfortunately, when my truth becomes more important than the truth, the Bible loses its objective authority.

If Jesus put Simon the Zealot (an insurrectionist who hated the Roman occupiers) on the same team as Matthew the tax collector (a collaborator with the Romans) and then made them room together, I'm not sure why we can't have some strong differences on the hot-button issues of our day and still march together under the banner of unity.

Without perspective, everything gets blown out of proportion. We catastrophize. The loss of privilege becomes harsh persecution. Opposition becomes hatred. And every legal or electoral setback becomes cause for anguish and despair. In short, we evaluate and extrapolate without putting God into the equation.

In my own profession, some surveys show that up to 80 percent of pastors rate their preaching skills as well above average. Our congregants aren't so kind; 60 percent say our messages aren't so hot—rating them as average or below.

For most of us, beliefs are intellectual. Acting upon them is optional.

In response, Habakkuk wrote one of the greatest expressions of faith in all of Scripture. He finally grasped what God was up to. He was using the wicked to discipline those who were his own in order to bring about godly sorrow and full repentance.

But Jesus didn't say, "If you love me, you'll fulfill your potential." He said, "If you love me, you will obey what I command."39

No one likes to be on the receiving end of a gift projector's drive-by guilting.

Yet, ironically, the one thing most people think accountability groups do best is what they don't do well at all. They're not good at preventing sin.

The thing to note about accidental Pharisees is just that. They're accidental. They're like dinner at Denny's. No one plans to go there. You just end up there.

The primary reason to be in a small group setting is not to learn more biblical information.

If you allow your frustration to turn into disgust and disdain for people you've left behind, you'll end up on a dangerous detour. Instead of becoming more like Jesus, you'll become more like his archenemies, the Pharisees of old, looking down on others, confident in your own righteousness.

Specialists who can't become trainers or who aren't willing to become trainers will eventually put a ceiling on the growth of your church or bust your budget.

That's where those of us who choose to treat Christianity as a team sport have a special advantage. Even when we don't have a clue what, if anything, the Bible says about a particular situation, we invariably know someone who does—or someone who at least knows someone who does.

I'm often asked how in the world we can develop life-changing sticky relationships in just ten weeks. Fact is, we can't. But by stringing together enough ten-week sessions, we end up with something much deeper than we'd ever get with a mere six-month or one-year commitment—and very little weaseling.

But in the midst of my research, I came across a series of studies that indicated that the amount of time a group spends together correlates directly to the level of personal appreciation for one another and overall sense of group cohesiveness. In other words, it's not what people do in a group that matters as much as simply staying together for the long haul.

In no particular order (since vital signs are all equally vital), the five areas we monitor are: •Word • Worship • Witness • Warmth • Works

Frankly, not many people show up. But that's a sign of high trust, not low commitment (the measure of commitment is best found in our high number of volunteers, not in how few show up for a boring business meeting).

We take too much credit when the walls of Jericho cave in and too much blame when our Ai's can't be conquered.