Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.  We are half-hearted creatures, fooling around with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at sea.  We are far too easily pleased.

C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

Non-Christians get courage by forgetting reality; Christians get courage by remembering reality. 

Timothy J. Keller

True spirituality is not a superhuman religiosity; it is simply true humanity released from bondage to sin and renewed by the Holy Spirit.  This is given to us as we grasp by faith the full content of Christ's redemptive work; freedom from the guilt and power of sin. 

Richard F.  Lovelace, Dynamics of Spiritual Life

God's mission is nothing less than the sending of the Holy Spirit from the Father through the Son into this world, so that this world should not perish but live.  The sending of the Holy Spirit is the revelation of God's indestructible affirmation of life and his marvelous joy in life.  

Jurgen Moltmann

Anyone who opens his personality to the living Spirit takes a risk of being considerably shaken. 

J.B. Phillips

Order of Worship, October 3 2010

Grace Presbyterian Church