Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by Mark Batterson, (2015-10-06) from his book, If: Trading Your If Only Regrets for God's What If Possibilities (Kindle Location 498). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Now that is an awesome thing.   The Bible says that the soul that sins must die. That is the penalty.   But then it also says, that God so loved the world that he gave his only son so that whosoever believes on him will not perish but have eternal life.   And that is great news because we all have sinned so we all deserve death but that is not the whole story. Mark says, “At Calvary’s cross, Jesus broke the chains, broke the curse, and broke the code. It’s history’s greatest accomplishment, but sometimes we shortchange it. My sin debt is paid in full, and I’m fully forgiven. But that’s only half the gospel— the glass-half-empty gospel. We tend to focus on the penalty being paid, which is wonderful beyond words. But the righteousnes

A thought by Mark Batterson, (2015-10-06) from his book, If: Trading Your If Only Regrets for God's What If Possibilities (Kindle Locations 412-413). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) I love the memory that I have when my wife, Margaret said yes to becoming my wife.   That is a great memory that I have shared over and over.   But there are some memories that we would like to forget.  Aren't there?    Mark says, “Consciously or subconsciously, most of us are prisoners of our past. Even if we’ve confessed our sin, we still feel condemned. And that feeling of condemnation undermines the fact that God is for us. We keep beating ourselves up. We keep sabotaging ourselves. We keep believing the self-defeating lies that come from the enemy and become self-fulfilling prophecies.” And that is so true for many of us, we truly are prisoners of our past.   And w e are so very tired of those memories. Mark g

A thought by Mark Batterson, (2015-10-06) from his book, If: Trading Your If Only Regrets for God's What If Possibilities (Kindle Locations 377-378). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Malcolm Gladwell wrote a book called The Tipping Point.   Now to him the tipping point is the moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior passes the point of no return and gains acceptance. Mark gives some examples.   He says, “In economics, it’s the point at which an emerging technology becomes the industry standard. In sociology, it’s when a quorum of people adopts a behavior so that it reaches critical mass and goes viral. And in sports, it’s the moment when momentum shifts.”   I saw that the other night when the Dodgers were playing the Mets.   It happened when Murphy ended up at third base.   I won’t dwell there.   It still hurts. He then said, “Spiritually speaking, the tipping point is when you believe, without