John Ortberg Quotes
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The question isn't if someone will sign up for spiritual formation; it's just who and what our spirits will be formed by.
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To have my mind racing and my heart beating fast over glorious possibilities is very close to the summit of life experience for me.
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In my love-challenged condition, seeing a difficulty for someone else can leave me feeling a little more smug or superior-by-comparison.
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When people feel they're getting to speak into what's being preached, there is high built-in motivation to participate.
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Jesus had a universal concern for those who suffered that transcended the rules of the ancient world.
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No one wants pain. Not even long-time, mature Christians who want to grow. We will always find ways to avoid pain. Pain itself is a bad thing.
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I have given up the idea that there is an opposition-free church out there. But I have gained something else - an appreciation for the gift of opposition. When it comes, I learn something about my motives. When it comes, I get to test my courage.
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Far more books get written about how to get more people in your church than how to get the people already in your church to have more humility and sincere love.
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In the context of worship, amusement is a waste of time and a waste of life, and therefore a form of sin.
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Preaching a series allows you to go into greater depth in the text, and spending several weeks on one theme allows the teaching to be absorbed more thoroughly.
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Prudence is what makes someone a great commodities trader - the capacity to face reality squarely in the eye without allowing emotion or ego to get in the way. It's what is needed by every quarterback or battlefield general.
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'Who Is This Man?' is about the impact of Jesus on human history. Most people - including most Christians - simply have no idea of the extent to which we live in a Jesus-impacted world.
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Ghettos and barrios and abusive homes and trauma wards may produce scarred souls; they can cripple more human spirits than they strengthen.
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Congregations shaped by the Scriptures generally have preachers who are shaped by the Scriptures.
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Authentic spiritual authority is what puts you in touch with reality.
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The New Testament doesn't present Jesus as a single man to cover up his humanity. It presents him as a single man because... he was a single man.
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Over time, grit is what separates fruitful lives from aimlessness.
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I wrote 'Soul Keeping' because we are taught more about how to care for our cars than how to steward our souls. But you cannot have an impactful life with an impoverished soul.
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I know that those of us who go into church work are to regard ourselves as servants, are to offer our lives as a gift.
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The human longings that are deep inside of us never go away. They exist across cultures; they exist throughout life. When people were first made, our deepest longing was to know and be known. And after the Fall, when we all got weird, it's still our deepest longing - but it's now also our deepest fear.
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I need an inspiration that is grounded in reality while thoroughly transcendent.
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In community, we discover who we really are and how much transformation we still require. This is why I am irrevocably committed to small groups. Through them, we can accomplish our God-entrusted work to transform human beings.
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The church is in the hope business. We, of all people, ought to be known most for our hope because our hope is founded on something deeper than human ability or wishful thinking.
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Spiritual formation is for everyone. Just as there is an 'outer you' that is being formed and shaped all the time, like it or not, by accident or on purpose, so there is an 'inner you.' You have a spirit.