"Self and the flesh seductively whisper, 'Thou hast a life of many necessities; earn thy bread and eat it; and pay thyself for all thy trouble with a warm hearth and a soft bed.' The voice of God thunders in reply, 'Thy life is short, thy work is great, thy God is near, thy heaven is far; do I not sent thee forth, armed with thought, and speech, and a strong right hand, to contend with the evil and avenge the good? Indulge no more, or I shall leave thee: do thy best, and faint not: take up thy free will, and come with me.' Martineau.

  I saw lightening last night! I heard the peals of thunder crashing! I was humbled, I was lifted, I was motivated and I was in awe.

Now I consider myself a pretty visceral and passionate  preacher, and I sense the presence of God and feel His hand on me when I speak, but last night two young bucks, still wet behind their ears, were given a chance to give their testimonies. They shot their arms up, and when called on bolted up and began, what I could almost call, an apostolic, energized, enthusiastic, articulation of what Jesus STILL  does today in the darkest haunts, the deepest recesses of hells prison! Oh the joy, the gratitude and the earnest urging for all there to find this pearl of great price! They choked up, the exclaimed they shook and they trembled as Christ took every ear in the room and filled it with His HOPE, HIS LOVE and His Mercy! Oh man! my heart was rapid, not a hair on my body laid down, this was a moment, one none of us there will soon forget.

Here's a link to a two minute video that I just love and think every person, Christian or not, should here. It's called, "Shoulder Taps." It's a great video on how to truly enhance your life and others.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OAAJwnMNRQ

 "True contentment depends not upon what we have; a tub was large enough for Diogenes, but a world was too little for Alexander." C.C. Colton. 

I just love this quote --

  "I have never been bored an hour in my life. I get up every morning wondering what new strange glamorous thing is going to happen and it happens at fairly regular intervals. Lady Luck has been good to me and I fancy she has been good to every one. Only some people are dreary, and when she gives them the come hither with her eyes, they look down or turn away and lift an eyebrow. But me, I give her the wink and away we go."  William Allen White.

 Now, flirting aside as well as Lady Luck, my entire life I have yielded to that "come hither" look, whether it was in chasing girls when a boy or some circumstance of intrigue or fascination, and certainly in Christian ministry. My point in sharing this quote regards Christian ministry; how often we are prompted by the Holy Spirit to enter someones life: a tug of compassion, when acted on, often leads to rich times of ministry. Unheeded, well, it may be a great opportunity gone by. I can't think of a time when I acted on an impulse I thought was the Holy Spirit that didn't usher in some meaningful connection. And many resulted in deep and meaningful relationships that may last for a moment, a season or many years. 
I think most things in life that pay rich dividends necessarily take us out of our comfort zone. 

 "Still we must remember, that religion is after all beyond the range of mere instructions. It is not an educational thing that words can give, and silence can withhold. It is a spirit; a life; an aspirations; a contagious glory from soul to soul; a spontaneous union with God. Our inward unfaithfulness is sure to extinguish it, our outward policy cannot produce it. To love and to do the Holy Will is the ultimate way, not only to know the truth, but to lead others to know it too." Martineau. 

 "Tomorrow morning, if you choose to take up a spirit of such power, you may rise like a soul without a past; fresh for the future as an Adam un-tempted yet; with every link of guilty habit shaken off.

I know indeed that you will not; that no one ever will; but the hindrance is with yourself alone.

The coming hours are open yet, -- pure and spotless receptacles for whatever you may deposit there; they are pledged to no evil nor secure of no good; neither mortgaged to greedy passion, nor given to generous toil. There they lie in non-existence still; ready to be organized by a creative spirit of beauty, or make foul with deformity and waste." Martineau. 

                "His mercies are new every morning."

My son preached about how to know if you are in a dead or dying church, and I thought this little excerpt from the sermon was good.

"Dead and dying religion sees people as the enemy, Jesus sees sin as the enemy.

Dead and dying religion makes God the boss and you the employee: Jesus makes God the father and you a son or daughter.

Dead and dying religion is fueled by fear and punishment: Jesus is fueled by love and mercy.

Dead and dying religion is safe and practical: Jesus is radical and unpredictable.

Dead and dying religion grades righteousness, causes judgment of others; doesn’t encourage questions; focuses on how instead of who and wants you to serve the church and not the world."