Quotes from Stuart Briscoe

To believe in God starts with a conclusion about Him, develops into confidence in Him, and then matures into a conversation with Him.

Children can withstand a lot of pressure and trial from the outside if the home inside is held steady by parents whose character is steady.

To believe in God starts with a conclusion about Him, develops into confidence in Him, and then matures into a conversation with Him.

Christianity stands or falls on this tenet of the faith. If Christ is risen, he is all he said he was—the Messiah, the Son of God, the eternal king. If he isn't risen, he's dead—and irrelevant. Either way, we don't need more signs. We need to choose to believe what the evidence clearly shows.

The enemies of our soul are real and not to be underestimated, they are to be engaged and not avoided, and they are to be countered using the five smooth stones of Scripture, prayer, fellowship, worship, and discipline. Like David, we must develop our skills in handling our own smooth stones in the power of the Lord. The results will be stunning.

God can be trusted to give us what we need when we need it. He does not guarantee to meet our wants. He meets our needs! He does not promise a stocked fridge—just today's food. Daily we learn to trust and we discover contentment. Sadly, if, like the Israelites, we don't listen, our manna may turn to maggots (16:20).

Paul's claim to apostleship was that he had seen the risen Christ (1 Cor. 9:1). His calling had come directly from Christ, not from men nor through man (Gal. 1:1). He was commissioned as an ambassador of Christ (2 Cor. 5:20).

Paul was convinced that God had a plan for his life. Are you? Like

Love is never passive. It is the very nature of love to give the best and not hold back. And the gift is unique, "the only begotten." The greater the object of love, the more costly the gift. "Any old thing" is not good enough. That would not be love.

Paul teaches us many things in his letter to Philemon. Two of them are that we should take time to develop deep friendships and that we should write letters to communicate in an in-depth manner with our friends. These are two more things we can do to make leisure productive!

Paul also reminds the Roman believers that "we have peace through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. 5:1). Foerster helpfully writes, "The basic feature of the Greek concept of 'eirene' is that the word does not primarily denote a relationship between several people, or an attitude, but a state, i.e., 'time of peace' or 'state of peace' originally conceived of purely as an interlude in the everlasting state of war.

Paul never thought of himself as having chosen God—it was the other way: God had chosen him. This

Grace is God's stance of giving, loving, blessing. The Greek word for grace (claris) means favor and gift and blessing. In

Thomas Merton asked, "What am I?" and answered, "I am myself a word spoken by God." How we perceive ourselves, who we think ourselves to be, determines the direction of our lives and shapes our relationships. To

Holy" in Greek always had in it the idea of difference and separation. The Christian is to be distinctly different—set apart by God for His purposes. The church has often mistaken the meaning of this. The separation is not from the world, but a difference expressed in the world.

Beyond earth, however, is heaven. Beyond time is eternity. Beyond change is the changeless promise of God. Thus

The organizing theme of 1 Corinthians is how to live as a Christian in an increasingly secular world.

advanced technology is converting many industries into factories full of robots raises questions about work, leisure, and meaning for life. The proliferation of nuclear weapons creates a morbid fear of the destruction of the human race which undermines the moral and ethical foundations of our society.

It is right and proper that Christian men should rejoice in whatever manner they feel is compatible with their experience of Christ and the wishes of the Christian community to which they belong.

The sheer power of emotional response to situations when the mind is put out of gear can lead a life on a reckless uncontrolled journey to disaster. For

To bear the name, to be with Jesus, marks them as aliens in the world. And this provokes trouble; for when they are faithful to the word Jesus has given them, the world reacts with hostility.

I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be; But by the grace of God I am not what I was.1

"Slightly lower than the angels" is a whole lot better than slightly higher than the apes. Let's get the order straight. God, angelic beings, man, animals, and vegetables.

Faith is only as valid as its object. You could have tremendous faith in very thin ice and drown. . . . You could have very little faith in very thick ice and be perfectly secure.