Quotes from Steve Brown

It is so freeing to realize that we don't have anything to prove or to protect. We don't have to fix anything. God doesn't need any help. He did fine before we came along and will do fine long after we're gone. The great thing about being a Christian is that you can forgive, love, and encourage 'em all, and then let God sort it out.

Love in response to goodness isn't love, but reward. Fortunately for us, that's not God's way. Our relationship with God is not a matter of reward, but of love. And that's why we can enjoy such staggering freedom in his presence.

Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly – until you learn to do it well.

Let me once again give you the principle I offered in chapter 2: If there is no God, there are no values; if there are no values, there is no meaning; and if there is no meaning, you are a turnip and will simply live for a while, die, and then go back to the soil from which you came.

If you worship a God who is out to get you, you will never be free … free to cuss and spit, free to move to joyous acceptance, and free to get on with your life.

If God, who loves us, has given us an instruction manual, and we ignore the instructions, we have no right to complain because we are miserable and hurt. I don't know about you, but I'm tired of Christians who sow their wild oats and pray for a crop failure.

Perfectionism will make you sour, mean, and judgmental, and it will rob you of the freedom Jesus died to give you.

The reason we feel guilty before the God of the universe is because we are guilty and because God is really God. So, if you feel guilty, you've made a very good start. At least you are beginning at the right place. Properly understood, that is the bridge you cross that will get you to God in prayer. But

You see, self-image that is built on a lie will one day destroy you. I'm important, valuable, and significant not because I am good but because I am loved—incredibly loved. The realization that I am unconditionally loved is the very thing that has led to psychological security. I have a very good self-image, thank you. There

It is tough to be forgiven because when one has been forgiven, it is hard to look down one's arrogant nose at anybody else. I'm

In order to understand great grace, you have to understand your great need. In order to understand God's lack of anger, you have to understand how much you deserve the anger of a holy God. In order to understand great mercy, you have to know that you need it. As

The church, someone has said, is the only club in the world where the only qualification for joining it and staying in it is that one be unqualified. The Bible and systematic theology tell us that we are sinners who sin. The church's confessions of faith add that same assessment. The liturgies have prayers of confession. All point to the fact that we're screwed up . . . and not just a little bit.

But there is another reason for the reality of sin and evil on this side of God's love: it is only through sin that we see his grace and his love.

Based on the stories present here, I believe that the church needs to decide how long it is going to coddle legalism in its ranks. By legalism I mean people who preach grace but practice works. People who inflict guilt on others for being human, let alone sinful. People who say, "Well, we don't want to go overboard on this grace thing because people will take advantage of it.

Someone has said that the difference between a successful person and a failure is that the successful person got up the last time he or she was knocked down. That

If you can't say in one sentence what you are trying to accomplish, then you won't achieve it.

But the truth is that we're not there yet. So if you decide to remove your mask, don't do it quickly. Before you remove your mask, make sure that the other person is someone who cares enough to listen to the reasons you wear the mask. If no one has that time or inclination, keep your mouth shut.

One of my friends is Snake from Skid Row.

You know, with bands like Kiss back out on the road and Aerosmith coming out, we are going to be a band like that, in the sense that it's a big rock band.

I guess it comes back to the old motto, you have you're fifteen minutes a fame.

I have known from the beginning one thing you need to know. That is, the music business is a business.

It's in the vein, somewhere in a cross between The Beatles, Cheap Trick, The Stones, Badfinger, you know, but it's not retro at all. But it is very pop.

I also have a recording studio that I use to produce bands.