“
Rejection is an opportunity for your selection.
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Bernard Branson
“
By looking at the Bible as if it were fundamentally about us, we totally miss the Point–like the two on the road to Emmaus. As Luke 24 shows, it's possible to read the Bible, study the Bible, and memorize large portions of the Bible, while missing the whole point of the Bible. It's entirely possible, in other words, to read the stories and miss the Story.
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Tullian Tchividjian
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..you will find that bibles and silver bullets will fail you.. you will collapse into a pathetic little heap on the floor.. you will let him feast on your tears and your self-esteem.. instead you will live forever as the monster he turned you into. -Lessons in Hot-Boy Demonology
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Megan Fox (Pretty Boys Are Poisonous: Poems)
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Blessed is the person who desired to read the Holy Scriptures. It’s brings great reward to those who believe, trust and obey the Holy instructions.
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Lailah Gifty Akita (Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind)
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People only believe the truth that their self-esteem will allow.
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Shannon L. Alder (The Narcissistic Abuse Recovery Bible: Spiritual Recovery from Narcissistic and Emotional Abuse)
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The Holy Scriptures are to be read constantly, memorized, treated as more important than gold and silver. We should esteem the Scriptures more than our daily food. God's Words should be our delight and hope.
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Greg Gordon (Principles for the Gathering of Believers Under the Headship of Jesus Christ)
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But the most catastrophic display of misogyny in all religion lies at the very heart of Christianity—in the story of the Virgin Mary. That Jesus was born of a virgin is a fundamental narrative upon which all Christianity is based. It is one that is carried through to Islam, where the Quran holds Mary in great esteem.
The implications of this have historically been devastating to women.
...Mary gave birth to Jesus Christ as a virgin, with no man ever having touched her. She is therefore described as pure, chaste, undefiled, innocent—being the product of an “immaculate conception” herself (as per Catholic doctrine), and now hosting God’s immaculate son in her unblemished womb.
What does this mean for women who are touched by men? Are their conceptions corrupted? Are their characters and bodies now impure or unchaste? Have they been “defiled”?
...Was all of Mary’s beauty, sanctity, chastity, and innocence confined to her vagina?
Fetishizing Mary’s virginity—as Christians and Muslims both do—is a sickness that directly leads to a dangerous, unnatural glamorization of celibacy and sexual repression.”
Excerpt From: Ali A. Rizvi. “The Atheist Muslim.” iBooks.
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Ali A. Rizvi (The Atheist Muslim: A Journey from Religion to Reason)
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He was attempting to prove to himself and God that he was indeed the new creation the Bible said he was.
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Kristi Ann Hunter (A Lady of Esteem (Hawthorne House, #0.5))
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You can read the word of God, but without mediation and prayer, we become spiritually weak and unfilled.
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Lailah Gifty Akita (Think Great: Be Great! (Beautiful Quotes, #1))
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The purest thought comes from mediation on word of God.
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Lailah Gifty Akita (Think Great: Be Great! (Beautiful Quotes, #1))
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Keep negative people long meters away from you; their presence is a threat to your high self-esteem! Job, the man of God kept his wife afar before he could make it again!
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Israelmore Ayivor (The Great Hand Book of Quotes)
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O, how easy it is to do religious things if other people are watching! Preaching, praying, attending church, reading the bible, acts of kindness and charity-they all take on a certain pleasantness of the ego if we know that others will find out about them and think well of us. It is a deadly addiction for esteem that we have.
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John Piper (A Hunger for God)
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In the LGBT community, the opposite of pride is self- hatred. But in the Bible, the opposite of pride is faith. Was pride keeping me from faith, or was pride keeping me from self-hatred? That was when the question inserted itself like a foot in the door: Did pride distort self-esteem the way lust distorts love? This was the first of my many betrayals against the LGBT community: whose dictionary did I trust? The one used by the community that I helped create or the one that reflected the God who created me? As soon as the question formed itself into words, I felt convicted of the sin of pride. Pride was my downfall. I asked God for the mercy to repent of my pride at its root.
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Rosaria Champagne Butterfield (Openness Unhindered: Further Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert on Sexual Identity and Union with Christ)
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So many abusers survivors feel they were loved so little, as if the abuser was the most important person to receive love from. They forget that God loves them deeply and that is the only person's love they need to validate their worth.
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Shannon L. Alder (The Narcissistic Abuse Recovery Bible: Spiritual Recovery from Narcissistic and Emotional Abuse)
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You can gain self-confidence, with the prayerful life, reading and mediation on the Scripture.
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Lailah Gifty Akita (Think Great: Be Great! (Beautiful Quotes, #1))
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You ought to read, mediate and affirm the living word of God.
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Lailah Gifty Akita (Think Great: Be Great! (Beautiful Quotes, #1))
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3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in humility let each esteem others better than themselves,
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Russell M. Stendal (The Holy Scriptures, Jubilee Bible 2000)
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Hold fast to the promises of God. And mediate on it day and night.
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Lailah Gifty Akita (Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind)
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The more you read the Bible, the more transform your life will be.
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Lailah Gifty Akita (Think Great: Be Great! (Beautiful Quotes, #1))
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Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.
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Anonymous (Bible (King James Version))
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A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.
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The Bible (Proverbs 22:1)
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God works at the edges of life, in the alleys, far away from the clout and the image and the prestige so esteemed by the world. God’s people have always been marginalized. The Bible makes this clear and normative: We are called to the edges, like Abraham – to trust in a God of the edges who moves us and leads us in ways we can’t comprehend, and in ways the world dismisses as crazy.
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Dave Arnold (Pilgrims of the Alley: Living Out Faith in Displacement)
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1.
Women do not have as great a need for poetry because their own essence is poetry.
2.
Every uneducated person is a caricature of himself.
3.
Versatility of education can be found in our best poetry, but the depth of mankind should be found in the philosopher.
4.
If you want to see mankind fully, look at a family. Within the family minds become organically one, and for this reason the family is total poetry.
5.
Considered subjectively, philosophy always begins in the middle, like an epic poem.
6.
Duty is for Kant the One and All. Out of the duty of gratitude, he claims, one has to defend and esteem the ancients; and only out of duty has he become a great man.
7.
Nothing truly convincing - which would possess thoroughness, vigor, and skill - has been written against the ancients as yet; especially not against their poetry.
8.
The genuine priest always feels something higher than compassion.
9.
Man is a creative retrospection of nature upon itself.
In the world of language, or in other words in the world of art and liberal education, religion necessarily appears as mythology or as Bible.
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Friedrich Schlegel
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The greatest privileges:
You are saved.
You are a child of Most High God.
You are co-heirs with Christ.
You share in Christ suffering, life adversities.
You share in Christ glory, strength of will and survival of life's difficulties.
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Lailah Gifty Akita (Think Great: Be Great! (Beautiful Quotes, #1))
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Pride makes a god of self, covetousness makes a god of money, sensuality makes a god of the belly; whatever is esteemed or loved, feared or served, delighted in or depended on, more than God, that (whatever it is) we do in effect make a god of.
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Matthew Henry (Matthew Henry's Complete Unabridged Commentary on the Whole Bible (An Exposition of All the Books of the Old and New Testament) (With Active Table of Contents in Biblical Order))
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12:16 Esteem everyone with the same respect; no one is more important than the other. Associate yourself rather with the lowly than with the lofty. Do not distance yourself from others in your own mind. (“Take a real interest in ordinary people.”— JB Phillips)
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François Du Toit (The Mirror Bible)
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HEB11.24 By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; HEB11.25 Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; HEB11.26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches
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Anonymous (Holy Bible: King James Version)
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and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, n smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 o But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, p and with his wounds we are healed.
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Anonymous (Holy Bible: English Standard Version (ESV))
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We can’t build anything that will impress God because He has already created the entire universe. There is one thing, however, that does attract His favor: “On this one will I look [esteem or respect].” Whom will God respect and take into account? “Him who is poor and of a contrite spirit and who trembles at My word.
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Derek Prince (Prayers & Proclamations: How to Use the Bible as the Authority over Trials and Temptations)
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the New Testament envisions followers of Jesus living alongside one another for the sake of one another. The Bible portrays the church as a community of Christians who care for one another, love one another, host one another, receive one another, honor one another, serve one another, instruct one another, forgive one another, motivate one another, build up one another, encourage one another, comfort one another, pray for one another, confess sin to one another, esteem one another, edify one another, teach one another, show kindness to one another, give to one another, rejoice with one another, weep with one another, hurt with one another, and restore one another.
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David Platt (Follow Me: A Call to Die. A Call to Live.)
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Take away all the moral beauty and sweetness in the Word, and the Bible is left wholly a dead letter, a dry, lifeless, tasteless thing. By this is seen the true foundation of our duty, the worthiness of God to be so esteemed, honoured, loved, submitted to, and served, as He requires of us, and the amiableness of the duties themselves that are required of us. And by this is seen the true evil of sin; for he who sees the beauty of holiness must necessarily see the hatefulness of sin, its contrary. By this men understand the true glory of heaven, which consists in the beauty and happiness that is in holiness. By this is seen the amiableness and happiness of both saints and angels. He that sees beauty of holiness, or true moral good, sees the greatest and most important thing in the world, which is the fulness of all things, without which all the world is empty, no better than nothing, yea, worse than nothing. Unless this is seen, nothing is seen that is worth the seeing; for there is no other true excellency or beauty. Unless this be understood, nothing is understood that is worthy of the exercise of the noble faculty of understanding. This is the beauty of the Godhead, and the divinity of Divinity (if I may so speak), the good of the infinite Fountain of good; without which, God Himself (if that were possible) would be an infinite evil; without which we ourselves had better never have been; and without which there had better have been no being.
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Jonathan Edwards (The Religious Affections)
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Their famous attempt to make clothing of fig leaves perfectly illustrates the utter inadequacy of every human device ever conceived to try to cover shame. Human religion, philanthropy, education, self-betterment, self-esteem, and all other attempts at human goodness ultimately fail to provide adequate camouflage for the disgrace and shame of our fallen state. All the man-made remedies combined are no more effective for removing the dishonor of our sin than our first parents' attempts to conceal their nakedness with fig leaves. That's because masking over shame doesn't really deal with the problem of guilt before God. Worst of all, a full atonement for guilt is far outside the possibility of fallen men and women to provide for themselves.
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John F. MacArthur Jr. (Twelve Extraordinary Women : How God Shaped Women of the Bible and What He Wants to Do With You)
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The ministry of evangelization is an extraordinary opportunity of showing gratitude to Jesus by passing on His gospel of grace to others. However, the “conversion by concussion” method, with one sledgehammer blow of the Bible after another, betrays a basic disrespect for the dignity of the other and is utterly alien to the gospel imperative to bear witness. To evangelize a person is to say to him or her, You, too, are loved by God in the Lord Jesus. And not only to say it but to really think it and relate it to the man or woman so they can sense it. This is what it means to announce the Good News. But that becomes possible only by offering the person your friendship—a friendship that is real, unselfish, without condescension, full of confidence, and profound esteem.
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Brennan Manning (The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out)
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Isaiah 53 1Who †has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no aform or bcomeliness; And when we see Him, There is no cbeauty that we should desire Him. 3† He is despised and drejected by men, A Man of esorrows and †acquainted with fgrief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and †we did not esteem Him.
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Anonymous (Holy Bible, New King James Version)
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It is comic - but I used to believe that dying persons saw the vanity of things, the futility of fame, passion, art, and so forth. I believed that treasured memories in a dying man's mind dwindled to rainbow wisps; but now I feel just the contrary: my most trivial sentiments and those of all men have acquired gigantic proportions. The entire solar system is but a reflection in the crystal of my (or your) wrist watch. The more I shrivel the bigger I grow. I suppose this is an uncommon phenomenon. Total rejection of all religions ever dreamt up by man and total composure in the face of total death! If I could explain this triple totality in one big book, that book would become no doubt a new bible and its author the founder of a new creed. Fortunately for my self-esteem that book will not be written - not merely because a dying man cannot write books but because that particular one would never express in one flash what can only be understood immediately.
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Vladimir Nabokov (Transparent Things)
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Through reading the Bible, drunkards become sober, thieves become honest, prostitutes become pure, and drug addicts become clean. Anger, bitterness, and resentment yield to loving forgiveness, mercy, and graciousness. Selfish greed gives way to unselfish service. Crumbling marriages are rebuilt. Broken relationships are rekindled. Shattered self-esteem is restored. In God’s Word, the weak find strength, the guilty find forgiveness, the discouraged find new joy, and the despairing find hope. The same Holy Spirit who inspired the Bible writers inspires those who read it.
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Mark A. Finley (Unshakable Faith)
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What though some suffer and die, what though they lay down their lives for the testimony of Jesus and the hope of eternal life--so be it--all these things have prevailed from Adam's day to ours. They are all part of the eternal plan; and those who give their "all" in the gospel cause shall receive the Lord's "all" in the mansions which are prepared. . . .
We have yet to gain that full knowledge and understanding of the doctrines of salvation and the mysteries of the kingdom that were possessed by many of the ancient Saints. O that we knew what Enoch and his people knew! Or that we had the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon, as did certain of the Jaredites and Nephites! How can we ever gain these added truths until we believe in full what the Lord has already given us in the Book of Mormon, in the Doctrine and Covenants, and in the inspired changes made by Joseph Smith in the Bible? Will the Lord give us the full and revealed account of the creation as long as we believe in the theories of evolution? Will he give us more guidance in governmental affairs as long as we choose socialistic ways which lead to the overthrow of freedom?
We have yet to attain that degree of obedience and personal righteousness which will give us faith like the ancients: faith to multiply miracles, move mountains, and put at defiance the armies of nations; faith to quench the violence of fire, divide seas and stop the mouths of lions; faith to break every band and to stand in the presence of God. Faith comes in degrees. Until we gain faith to heal the sick, how can we ever expect to move mountains and divide seas?
We have yet to receive such an outpouring of the Spirit of the Lord in our lives that we shall all see eye to eye in all things, that every man will esteem his brother as himself, that there will be no poor among us, and that all men seeing our good works will be led to glorify our Father who is in heaven. Until we live the law of tithing how can we expect to live the law of consecration? As long as we disagree as to the simple and easy doctrines of salvation, how can we ever have unity on the complex and endless truths yet to be revealed?
We have yet to perfect our souls, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel, and to walk in the light as God is in the light, so that if this were a day of translation we would be prepared to join Enoch and his city in heavenly realms. How many among us are now prepared to entertain angels, to see the face of the Lord, to go where God and Christ are and be like them? . . .
Our time, talents, and wealth must be made available for the building up of his kingdom. Should we be called upon to sacrifice all things, even our lives, it would be of slight moment when weighed against the eternal riches reserved for those who are true and faithful in all things.
[Ensign, Apr. 1980, 25]
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Bruce R. McConkie
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The words are few, and the sentence short; no one in Scripture so short. But it fareth with Sentences as with coynes: In coines, they that in smallest compasse conteine greatest value, are best esteemed: and, in sentences, those that in fewest words comprise most matter, are most praised. Which, as of all sentences it is true; so specially of those that are marked with Memento. In them, the shorter the better; the better, and the better carried away, and the better kept; and the better called for when we need it. And such is this here; of rich contents, and with all exceeding compendious: So that, we must needs be without all excuse, it being but three words, and but five syllables, if we doe not remember it.
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Lancelot Andrewes (Lancelot Andrewes: Selected Sermons and Lectures (|c OET |t Oxford English Texts))
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Jesus made it clear that he did not come to abolish the laws of the Torah, “but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17). The life and teachings of Jesus, then, embody all that these laws were intended to be. Jesus is what the living, breathing will of God looks like. This includes compassion for the poor, esteem for women, healing for the sick, and solidarity with the suffering. It means breaking bread with outcasts and embracing little children. It means choosing forgiveness over retribution, the cross over revenge, and cooking breakfast for the friend who betrayed you. As Elton Trueblood put it, “The historic Christian doctrine of the divinity of Christ does not simply mean that Jesus is like God. It is far more radical than that. It means that God is like Jesus.
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Rachel Held Evans (Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again)
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God created man out of dust from the ground. At a basic level, the Creator picked up some dirt and threw Adam together. The Hebrew word for God forming man is yatsar,[11] which means “to form, as a potter.” A pot usually has but one function. Yet when God made a woman, He “made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man” (Genesis 2:22). He created her with His own hands. He took His time crafting and molding her into multifaceted brilliance. The Hebrew word used for making woman is banah, meaning to “build, as a house, a temple, a city, an altar.”[12] The complexity implied by the term banah is worth noting. God has given women a diverse makeup that enables them to carry out multiple functions well. Adam may be considered Human Prototype 1.0, while Eve was Human Prototype 2.0. Of high importance, though, is that Eve was fashioned laterally with Adam’s rib. It was not a top-down formation of dominance or a bottom-up formation of subservience. Rather, Eve was an equally esteemed member of the human race. After all, God spoke of the decision for their creation as one decision before we were ever even introduced to the process of their creation. The very first time we read about both Eve and Adam is when we read of the mandate of rulership given to both of them equally. We are introduced to both genders together, simultaneously. This comes in the first chapter of the Bible: Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:26–27) Both men and women have been created equally in the image of God. While within that equality lie distinct and different roles (we will look at that in chapter 10), there is no difference in equality of being, value, or dignity between the genders. Both bear the responsibility of honoring the image in which they have been made. A woman made in the image of God should never settle for being treated as anything less than an image-bearer of the one true King. As Abraham Lincoln said, “Nothing stamped with the Divine image and likeness was sent in the world to be trodden on.”[13] Just as men, women were created to rule.
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Tony Evans (Kingdom Woman: Embracing Your Purpose, Power, and Possibilities)
“
read the Bible daily? That means every day without fail. Each of us should say to ourselves,“No Bible, no breakfast. No read, no feed.” Be like Job, who “treasured the words of His mouth more than [his] necessary food” (Job 23:12, emphasis added). The key is to put your Bible before your belly—to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. If we are not “disciples” of Christ—disciplined to His Word—we will more than likely reproduce after our own kind. If we are worldly and undisciplined, our kids may grow up to follow our poor example of what a Christian should be. If we are hypocrites, we may just reproduce hypocrites. What greater parental betrayal could there be than to lead your children to hell? So esteem God’s Word more than your necessary food, and teach your kids to do the same.
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Ray Comfort (How to Bring Your Children to Christ...& Keep Them There: Avoiding the Tragedy of False Conversion)
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Cromwell. The door was flung open. In stalked the Protector, disgusted once more with the inability of human weaklings to come to the point, to get action, to see what he wanted and let him have it. Was it not, he berated them, every Christian’s duty to receive the Jews into England, the only nation where religion was taught in its full purity, and “not to exclude them from the light and leave them among false teachers, Papists and idolaters”? This argument silenced objectors among the clergy. Then he poured his contempt upon the City men. “Can ye really be afraid that this mean and despised people should be able to prevail in trade over the merchants of England, the noblest and most esteemed merchants of the whole world?” “Thus he went on,” says an observer, “till he had silenced them too.… I never heard a man speak so well in his life.” But
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Barbara W. Tuchman (Bible and Sword: England and Palestine from the Bronze Age to Balfour)
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24 By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; 25 Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; 26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. 27 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. 28 Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. 29 By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned. 30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days. 31 By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.
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Anonymous (The Holy Bible: King James Version)
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Therein, of course, lay a terrible problem for the Jews. One of their greatest gifts was the critical faculty. They had always had it. It was the source of their rationality, one of the factors which brought them to monotheism in the first place, for their critical sense would not allow them to accept the follies of polytheism. But they were not only critical; they were, perhaps above all, self-critical. And they were, or at any rate had been in ancient times, superb historians. They saw the truth, sometimes the ugly truth, about themselves, and they told it in the Bible. Whereas other peoples produced their national epics to endorse and bolster their self-esteem, the Jews wanted to discover what had gone wrong with their history, as well as what had gone right. That is why the Bible is littered with passages in which the Jews are presented as a sinful people, often too wicked or obstinate to accept God’s law, though they know it. The Jews, in fact, produced the evidence for their own prosecution.
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Paul Johnson (History of the Jews)
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Command, promise, Messiah—the basic terms of the Bible’s message are ineradicably verbal and cannot be communicated in isolation from words. Bin the words and whatever else you are left with; it is not Christianity, biblical, historical or otherwise. We do need to think about how such a word-based religion can be communicated in this day and generation; we do need to avoid at all costs becoming a middle-class ghetto for frustrated academics. But we also need to be faithful to the Bible’s own form and matter, both of which involve words at their very centre. Let us not despair: the Word is not just the Word; it is the Word of, in, and through the Spirit. It is powerful in its very essence. Our task is ultimately to communicate it; the power of the communication resides in God alone. Let us remember the words of Isaiah and concentrate not so much upon technique as upon the moral attitude we should adopt: This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word. (Isa. 66:2).
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Carl R. Trueman (Reformation:Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow)
“
Fast-forward nearly a hundred years, and Prufrock’s protest is enshrined in high school syllabi, where it’s dutifully memorized, then quickly forgotten, by teens increasingly skilled at shaping their own online and offline personae. These students inhabit a world in which status, income, and self-esteem depend more than ever on the ability to meet the demands of the Culture of Personality. The pressure to entertain, to sell ourselves, and never to be visibly anxious keeps ratcheting up. The number of Americans who considered themselves shy increased from 40 percent in the 1970s to 50 percent in the 1990s, probably because we measured ourselves against ever higher standards of fearless self-presentation. “Social anxiety disorder”—which essentially means pathological shyness—is now thought to afflict nearly one in five of us. The most recent version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV), the psychiatrist’s bible of mental disorders, considers the fear of public speaking to be a pathology—not an annoyance, not a disadvantage, but a disease—if it interferes with the sufferer’s job performance. “It’s not enough,” one senior manager at Eastman Kodak told the author Daniel Goleman, “to be able to sit at your computer excited about a fantastic regression analysis if you’re squeamish about presenting those results to an executive group.” (Apparently it’s OK to be squeamish about doing a regression analysis if you’re excited about giving speeches.)
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Susan Cain (Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking)
“
The fruit of the Spirit is evidence that the kingdom of God is at hand: “For the kingdom of God is…righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17). When Jesus rules, righteousness, peace, and joy are evidence His kingdom has come. When we have love, peace, and joy in our heart, we know we’re operating out of the right kingdom: “The kingdom of God is within” (Luke 17:21). The love chapter of the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13, describes how we should allow God’s love to work through us: “Love is patient, love is kind” (1 Cor. 13:4 NASB). Paul writes in regard to the fruit of the Spirit: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (Gal. 5:22-23 NASB). Notice that the word fruit is singular. Love is one fruit. In Galatians 5:22-23, the love of God is described as one fruit with nine different expressions. One Fruit: Love Joy is love rejoicing Peace is love resting Patience is love enduring Kindness is love caring Goodness is love motivating Faithfulness (faith) is love trusting Gentleness is love esteeming others (see Phil. 1:3) Self-control is love restraining (power under control) But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:18). The fruit of the Spirit is one fruit with nine expressions.
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Dennis Clark (Releasing the Divine Healer Within: The Biology of Belief and Healing)
“
At the very moment that they are thanking God for the enjoyment of civil and religious liberty, and for the right to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences, they are utterly silent in respect to a law which robs religion of its chief significance, and makes it utterly worthless to a world lying in wickedness. Did this law concern the “mint, anise, and cumin” — abridge the right to sing psalms, to partake of the sacrament, or to engage in any of the ceremonies of religion, it would be smitten by the thunder of a thousand pulpits. A general shout would go up from the church, demanding repeal, repeal, instant repeal! — And it would go hard with that politician who presumed to solicit the votes of the people without inscribing this motto on his banner. Further, if this demand were not complied with, another Scotland would be added to the history of religious liberty, and the stern old Covenanters would be thrown into the shade. A John Knox would be seen at every church door, and heard from every pulpit, and Fillmore would have no more quarter than was shown by Knox, to the beautiful, but treacherous queen Mary of Scotland. The fact that the church of our country, (with fractional exceptions), does not esteem “the Fugitive Slave Law” as a declaration of war against religious liberty, implies that that church regards religion simply as a form of worship, an empty ceremony, and not a vital principle, requiring active benevolence, justice, love and good will towards man. It esteems sacrifice above mercy; psalm-singing above right doing; solemn meetings above practical righteousness. A worship that can be conducted by persons who refuse to give shelter to the houseless, to give bread to the hungry, clothing to the naked, and who enjoin obedience to a law forbidding these acts of mercy, is a curse, not a blessing to mankind. The Bible addresses all such persons as “scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, who pay tithe of mint, anise, and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy and faith.
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”
Frederick Douglass (What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?)
“
And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; 13 And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves. 14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. 15 See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men. 16 Rejoice evermore. 17 Pray without ceasing. 18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 19 Quench not the Spirit. 20 Despise not prophesyings. 21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. 22 Abstain from all appearance of evil. 23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. 25 Brethren, pray for us. 26 Greet all the brethren with an holy kiss. 27 I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren. 28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. ¶ The first epistle unto the Thessalonians was written from Athens. Holy Bible 2 Thessalonians 1 2 3 THE SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. CHAPTER 1 PAUL, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: 2 Grace unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth; 4 So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure: 5 Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: 6 Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; 7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, 8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: 9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; 10 When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.
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Anonymous (Holy Bible: Old and New Testaments - King James Version - Full Navigation)
“
is it i, who have dragged the latter of linger from the shadows
the smell of death from the pits; the footprints where no one steps
the pitiful thoughts of nostalgia, hate?
the love for another, hate for myself, of human feeling?
is it i? falling from the skies was the son of God, or his enemy?
constantly torn between sun and shade, the good and not
weighing scales of justice, the path to good grace
living a lie for a heaven only dreamed; the preacher man's belly
sweet wine and sour, deceit before the holy bible, of the preacher man's tongue
testaments of old and new, what to follow for truth, what is new to old laws
laws of the land, of the people, laws broken, held against ourselves
is it i? to think of Christ Jesus, or His Father in Heaven, or the holy spirit
solemn: my thoughts running wild, the second coming of who we love
who we do not; who we believe in; who we want to follow; or not
is it i? who is afraid, or the voices in my head? of Jacob's ladder?
buried in myself; afraid of the light, afraid of change.
is it i? in low, bottomless pits,holds the crucifix in high esteem;
soar lips preaching testaments in disbelief?
of what we have become, what we are, what we live to not see
is it i? who have dragged myself to this? or this bottomless thoughts?
”
”
Nii Yeboah Norton Nortey
“
Jesus did not reveal a “potential” you, he revealed the truth about you so that you may know the truth about yourself and be free indeed! In the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God did not redeem a compromised replica of you; he rescued the original, blueprint you, created in his radiant mirror likeness! Any other ‘self’ you’re trying to find or esteem will disappoint! Reckon your ‘DIY-law of works-self’ dead, and your redeemed self co-raised and co-seated together with Christ! This is freedom indeed!
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François Du Toit (The Mirror Bible)
“
have never seen a case in which an individual made progress in bodybuilding without experiencing an accompanying boost in self-esteem, self-confidence, and enjoyment of life.
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Arnold Schwarzenegger (The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding: The Bible of Bodybuilding, Fully Updated and Revised)
“
As we saw time and time again, Daniel stood his ground; even risking his life to oppose the cultural pressure surrounding him. He didn't argue, defend, explain, or debate. He simply made his boundaries clear with direct, respectful communication. As a result, Daniel shone like a beacon of God's truth for 70 years--valued and esteemed by 4 different Babylonian regimes.
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Chris Hodges
“
respect those who labor among you and n are over you in the Lord and admonish you, 13 and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. o Be at peace among yourselves. 14[✞] And we urge you, brothers, admonish p the idle, 1 q encourage the fainthearted, r help the weak, s be patient with them all. 15[✞] See that t no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always u seek to do good to one another and to everyone. 16 v Rejoice always, 17 w pray without ceasing, 18 x give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19[✞] y Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise z prophecies, 21 but a test everything; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil. 23[✞] Now may b the God of peace himself c sanctify you completely, and may your d whole e spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at f the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 g He who calls you is faithful; h he will surely do it. 25 i Brothers, pray for us. 26 j Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. 27[✞] I put you under oath before the Lord to have k this letter read to all the brothers. 28 l The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
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Reformation Trust Publishing (ESV Reformation Study Bible)
“
No matter what the wrong, never harm your neighbour or go the way of arrogance. ...with humility have self-esteem; and give yourself the esteem you deserve.
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The Bible (Sirach 10:6,28)
“
in heaven (Psalm 2:4). David had self-confidence because he believed in God and he believed in himself. When you have low self-esteem, you might rely only on God. Like any good parent, God wants you to rely on yourself too.
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Shannon L. Alder (The Narcissistic Abuse Recovery Bible: Spiritual Recovery from Narcissistic and Emotional Abuse)
“
How astonishingly improbable that we could actually be children of the God of all creation. But should such improbability actually be reality, how could we ever look in the mirror again without seeing something so utterly marvelous that we would be forced to spend the rest of our lives celebrating it?
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Craig D. Lounsbrough
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MESSIAH’S APPEARANCE. [Isa. 53:1–3] Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. HIS SUFFERING FOR OUR SINS. [Isa. 53:4–6] Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. HUMILITY OF MESSIAH’S DEATH. [Isa. 53:7–9] He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression6 and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished.7 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
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F. LaGard Smith (The Daily Bible® - In Chronological Order (NIV®))
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Renew your mind daily by reading the Holy Scriptures.
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Lailah Gifty Akita
“
Devote yourself to reading of the Holy Scriptures.
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Lailah Gifty Akita
“
Thy word O Lord is my hope.
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Lailah Gifty Akita (Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind)
“
If you begin reading your Bible daily, you will develop a positive mindset, positive attitude and positive action.
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Lailah Gifty Akita (Think Great: Be Great! (Beautiful Quotes, #1))
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Compare yourself only with the word of God.
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Lailah Gifty Akita (Think Great: Be Great! (Beautiful Quotes, #1))
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The Word of God, strengthen the spirit! Mediate on it daily!
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Lailah Gifty Akita (Think Great: Be Great! (Beautiful Quotes, #1))
“
PHi2.1 If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, PHi2.2 Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. PHi2.3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. PHi2.4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
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Anonymous (KING JAMES BIBLE with VerseSearch)
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When we dwell on the God’s promises; we find the faith, hope and courage to survive life.
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Lailah Gifty Akita (Think Great: Be Great! (Beautiful Quotes, #1))
“
Renew your mind with the word of God.
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Lailah Gifty Akita (Think Great: Be Great! (Beautiful Quotes, #1))
“
Mediation on word of God leads to renewal of mind; rekindle of spirit and revival of soul.
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Lailah Gifty Akita (Think Great: Be Great! (Beautiful Quotes, #1))
“
Renewal of mind begins with mediation on the word of God.
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Lailah Gifty Akita (Think Great: Be Great! (Beautiful Quotes, #1))
“
The truth of history requires us to sacrifice the orthodox fiction of moral perfection in the apostolic church. But we gain more than we lose. The apostles themselves never claimed, but expressly disowned such perfection.477 They carried the heavenly treasure in earthen vessels, and thus brought it nearer to us. The infirmities of holy men are frankly revealed in the Bible for our encouragement as well as for our humiliation. The bold attack of Paul teaches the right and duty of protest even against the highest ecclesiastical authority, when Christian truth and principle are endangered; the quiet submission of Peter commends him to our esteem for his humility and meekness in proportion to his high standing as the chief among the pillar-apostles; the conduct of both explodes the Romish fiction of papal supremacy and infallibility; and the whole scene typically foreshadows the grand historical conflict between Petrine Catholicism and Pauline Protestantism, which, we trust, will end at last in a grand Johannean reconciliation.
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”
Philip Schaff (History Of The Christian Church (The Complete Eight Volumes In One))
“
Christ, in the council and covenant of grace and peace, asked many things of his Father, which were granted; he asked for the persons of all the elect to be his bride and spouse, and his heart's desire was given him, and the request of his lips was not withheld from him: he asked for all the blessings of grace for them; for spiritual life here, and eternal life hereafter; and all were given him, and put into his hands for them, Ps 20:2; and here it is promised him, and I shall give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession; by "the Heathen", and "the uttermost parts of the earth", are meant God's elect among the Gentiles, and who live in the distant parts of the world; which are Christ's other sheep, the Father has given to him as his portion, and whom he has made his care and charge: as if it was not enough that he should be King of Zion, or have the government over his chosen ones among the Jews, he commits into his hands the Gentiles also; see Isa 49:6; and these are given him as his inheritance and possession, as his portion, to be enjoyed by him; and who esteems them as such, and reckons them a goodly heritage, and a peculiar treasure, his jewels, and the apple of his eye. These words respect the calling of the Gentiles under the Gospel dispensation; and the amplitude of Christ's kingdom in all the earth, which shall be from sea to sea, and from the rivers to the ends of the earth.
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John Gill (Gill's Bible Commentary)
“
I recall the Scriptures into my mind, therefore, I have hope.
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Lailah Gifty Akita (Think Great: Be Great! (Beautiful Quotes, #1))
“
Modern people, for example, may come to the Bible looking for answers to the question “How do I build up my self-esteem and feel better about myself?” Yet in the biblical passages on sin and repentance, they will discover that the more basic human problem is too high a view of ourselves.
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”
Timothy J. Keller (Preaching: Communicating Faith in an Age of Skepticism)
“
Thomas Goodwin said that “next to the Bible, he esteemed Dr. Ames, his Marrow of Divinity, as the best book in the world.
”
”
Joel R. Beeke (Meet the Puritans: With a Guide to Modern Reprints)
“
3:2 establish…encourage…your faith. This was a common ministry concern and practice of Paul (Acts 14:22; 15:32; 18:23). Paul’s concern did not focus on health, wealth, self-esteem, or ease of life, but rather the spiritual quality of life. Their faith was of supreme importance in Paul’s mind as evidenced by 5 mentions in vv. 1–10. Faith includes the foundation of the body of doctrine (Jude 3) and their believing response to God in living out that truth (Heb. 11:6).
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John F. MacArthur Jr. (The MacArthur Daily Bible: Read through the Bible in one year, with notes from John MacArthur, NKJV)
“
Surely he [Jesus] hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted (Isa 53:4). Notice the two words, “griefs” and “sorrows. The study reference, Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible, gives an excellent definition of these two words. “Perhaps the proper difference between this word [sorrows] and the word translated griefs is, that this [sorrows] refers to pains of the mind, that [griefs] of the body; this to anguish, anxiety, or trouble of the soul; that to bodily infirmity and disease.” In the original Hebrew, the word “griefs” specifically means sickness of the body and “sorrows” refers to mental anguish. We see from this verse that Jesus in His death on the cross not only cleansed man of sin, but carried away sicknesses and mental anguish too. He bore all the lies and torments of the devil onto Himself so that we would not have to bear them.
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Suzanne D. Williams (Fearless)
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You have great talents. Aim for God best for your life.
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Lailah Gifty Akita (Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind)
“
I am a prayer warrior who is continually blessed with wisdom and understanding from heaven. As soon as I begin to pray, my Father has the answer prepared and is ready to bless me. He esteems me highly among His children and it pleases Him to be my partner in every circumstance.
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James Riddle (Complete Personalized Promise Bible)
“
Be a Bible man, go so far as the Bible, but not an inch beyond it. Though Calvin should beckon you, and you esteem him, or Wesley should beckon, and you esteem him, keep to the Scripture, only to the Scripture! from the Sermon: Infallibility—Where To Find It and How To Use It
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Charles Haddon Spurgeon
“
Just because you…achieve what you always thought would make you feel special does not fix that deep-down internal insecurity. External achievement never equals internal acceptance.
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Lysa TerKeurst (Becoming More Than a Good Bible Study Girl)
“
In the Bible, God called Gideon a mighty man of (fearless) courage.
Gideon looked around and said, “Who’s He talking to? That’s not me.”
God had an assignment for Gideon, something great for him to accomplish, but Gideon had not renewed his mind. He had these toxic thoughts. God saw him as strong, but Gideon saw himself as weak, defeated, not able to.
God wanted him to lead the people of Israel and to defeat an opposing army, but Gideon said, “God, I can’t do that. I’m the least one in my father’s house. I come from the poorest family. I don’t have the education, the skills, the courage.”
Notice how Gideon perceived himself compared to how God saw him. God said he was a mighty man of fearless courage. If God were to call your name today, He wouldn’t say, “Hello, you weak worm of the dust. Hello, you failure. Hello, you ol’ sinner. How’s My loser doing today?”
God would say the same sort of thing to you that He said to Gideon: “Hello, Mary, you mighty woman of fearless courage.” Or “Hello, Bob, you mighty man of fearless courage.”
I wonder if you would be like Gideon and say, “God, who are You talking to? Don’t You know what family I come from? Haven’t You seen the mistakes I’ve made? Let me remind You of some of them. God, You know I’m not that talented. Why are You calling me a mighty man?”
The problem is, you have allowed these wrong thoughts to infect your thinking. But thank God this is a new day. You are beginning a new diet. You are starting a fast by cutting out every negative, discouraging, can’t do it thought.
When those wrong thoughts come up, instead of saying like Gideon, “I’m not able. Who am I?” Turn it around and say, “I know who I am. I am well able. I’m ready for my assignment. God I am who You say I am.”
I believe in the coming days God will present you with new opportunities. New doors will open. New people will come across your path. Maybe there will even be a new career opportunity. If you are to reach a new level, you must have a new way of thinking. You have to clean out the old so you’ll have room for the new. I’m asking you to detox all the garbage telling you what you’re not and what you can’t do. Remove all those strongholds. Detox little dreams. Detox low self-esteem. Detox the negative words. Stay on your diet.
Every morning go through a good cleanse. Start the day off in faith. If you’ll guard your mind and instead of letting it get toxic keep it full of faith-filled thoughts, God promises you’ll overcome every obstacle, you’ll defeat every enemy, and every dream and every desire God has put in your heart will come to pass.
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Joel Osteen (Every Day a Friday: How to Be Happier 7 Days a Week)
“
I absolutely love the Bible. I hold it in high esteem and take great joy in connecting with God through Scripture. But I also recognize that it was never intended to be a medical or scientific text. It doesn't tell us how to perform lifesaving open-heart surgery. It doesn't explain how to treat diabetes, cancer, or Alzheimer's disease. It also doesn't tell us how to treat mental illness or trauma.
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Sarah J. Robinson (I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die: Finding Hope in the Darkness of Depression)
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The first step astray is a want of adequate faith in the divine inspiration of the sacred Scriptures. All the while a man bows to the authority of God's Word, he will not entertain any sentiment contrary to its teaching. "To the law and to the testimony," is his appeal concerning every doctrine. He esteems that holy Book, concerning all things, to be right, and therefore he hates every false way. But let a man question, or entertain low views of the inspiration and authority of the Bible, and he is without chart to guide him, and without anchor to hold him.
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Charles Haddon Spurgeon (The Downgrade Controversy (C. H. Spurgeon Collection Book 12))
“
sets the scene for my treatment of the Bible in this book. I wish to show how it came into being, developed and was used and interpreted down the years, in both Christianity and Judaism. In the process I shall call in question the tendency of religious believers to treat it as so special that it cannot be read as any other book might be – ‘attributing unto Scripture more than it can have’, as Hooker put it. Yet at the same time I shall not seek to diminish the sense, shared by believers and many non-believers alike, that the Bible is a collection of great books. That it is not perfect (and what could be meant by a perfect book anyway?) does not mean it is of poor quality: on the contrary, these are some of the most profound texts humanity has produced. I have no intention to ‘cause even those things which indeed it hath most abundantly, to be less reverently esteemed’.
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John Barton (A History of the Bible: The Story of the World's Most Influential Book)
“
If you have a hard time believing that God chose you, it’s probably because you haven’t chosen you.
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Craig D. Lounsbrough
“
The heroine of this chapter, Rahab, the pagan prostitute, becomes a favorite figure in Jewish stories and is esteemed by Bible writers as well. She offers proof that God honors true faith from anyone, regardless of race or religious background. In fact, Rahab, survivor of Jericho, becomes a direct ancestor of Jesus.
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Zondervan (NIV, Student Bible)
“
Properly understood, Sola Scriptura means that Scripture alone is esteemed as the Word of God. It is His special revelation to man, revealing Him as Creator and Judge of all flesh and us as fallen creatures who deserve His wrath. The Bible reveals to us the hope of redemption that is possible in Christ Jesus alone, and in Whom alone there is safety from the judgment of God against sinners.
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”
Stuart L Brogden (Captive to the Word of God: A Particular Baptist Perspective on Reformed and Covenant Theology)
“
when we are doers of the
word and not hearers only, we shall think
much less of self, and esteem others
better than ourselves
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”
Ellen Gould White (Ellen G White Study Bible with Spirit of Prophecy Comments KJV (Ellen White))
“
Jesus Christ advises us in His gospel to take the lowest place: "Sit down in the lowest place." (Luke xiv, 10) He does not tell us to sit down in a place in the middle, nor in one of the last, but in the last; that is we ought to have such an opinion of ourselves that we must esteem ourselves inferior to all,
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Mary da Bergamo (Humility Of Heart: Linked to the Bible and Illustrated)
“
And since, far from loving self-abasement, you have such a desire to gain the esteem of others, you belong truly to those proud sons of Adam, of whom the Prophet cried: "Why do you love vanity and seek after lying?
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Mary da Bergamo (Humility Of Heart: Linked to the Bible and Illustrated)
“
Summing Up Paul’s characterization of the sexual misbehavior in Romans 1: 24-27 as “degrading” and “shameless” requires that we understand this form of moral logic. This language must be understood in the context of an honor-shame culture in which public esteem is valued very highly, and where male and female roles are clearly and sharply delineated. In this context, the reference to “their women” in Romans 1: 26 probably does not refer to same-sex activity but to dishonorable forms of heterosexual intercourse. The reference to degrading acts between men probably refers both to the ancient assumption that same-sex eroticism is driven by excessive passion, not content with heterosexual gratification, and also to the general assumption in the ancient world that a man was inherently degraded by being penetrated as a woman would be. Although the need to honor others is a universal moral mandate, the specific behaviors that are considered honorable and shameful vary dramatically from one culture to another. In the past, the church has often contributed to the toxic shame of gay and lesbian persons by the ambivalent response, “We welcome you, but we abhor the way you operate emotionally.” What is shameful about the sexual behavior described in Romans 1: 24-27 is the presence of lust, licentiousness, self-centeredness, abuse, and the violation of gender roles that were widely accepted in the ancient world. The church must wrestle with whether all contemporary gay and lesbian committed relationships are accurately described by Paul’s language. If not, then perhaps this form of moral logic does not apply to contemporary committed gay and lesbian relationships.
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James V. Brownson (Bible, Gender, Sexuality: Reframing the Church's Debate on Same-Sex Relationships)
“
Jesus Christ has no need to shed his blood for a mother’s need to depend on other women for fellowship. The eternal Son of God did not go to the cross and suffer crucifixion and the wrath of God to atone for a mom’s inability to accomplish everything she wants to do in a day. The Lamb of God was not esteemed stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted for the sake of women who simply don’t know everything there is to know about nutrition, or the Bible, or childhood development, or whatever. Before we call upon the great doctrine of justification by faith alone to redeem us out of our so-called calamity, or before we herald the massive truth that we are counted righteous in Christ by faith in him, we ought to consider the nature of our need.
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Gloria Furman (Missional Motherhood: The Everyday Ministry of Motherhood in the Grand Plan of God (The Gospel Coalition))
“
The man that never says “no” when questioned on subjects of which he is entirely ignorant, to avoid, as he imagines, being thought ignorant, but confidently puts forward guesses and assumptions as knowledge, will be known for his ignorance, and ill esteemed for his added conceit. An honest confession of ignorance will command respect where a conceited assumption of knowledge will elicit contempt.
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Napoleon Hill (The Prosperity Bible: The Greatest Writings of All Time on the Secrets to Wealth and Prosperity)
“
Sincere people do not think of themselves, of their talent, their genius, their virtue, their beautify and because they are so unconscious of themselves, they attract all, and win their confidence, affection, and esteem.
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Napoleon Hill (The Prosperity Bible: The Greatest Writings of All Time on the Secrets to Wealth and Prosperity)
“
The Bible teaches us that lovemaking is to be honoured among Christians; to honour something means to esteem it highly. Those Christians who have reacted to public immorality by retreating into blue-nosed prudishness in their own bedrooms are very much part of the problem
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Douglas Wilson (Reforming Marriage: Gospel Living for Couples)
“
Some people have culturally specific gender categories, such as the Two Spirit people in many Native American tribes, the fa’afafine of Samoa, the hijra of India, the sekrata of Madagascar, and the muxes of Mexico. These cultures recognize more than two genders, and often people in these additional gender categories were historically held in high esteem or considered spiritually powerful in some way.
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Austen Hartke (Transforming: The Bible and the Lives of Transgender Christians)
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We have the keys to open the Heavens door; Bible reading and prayer.
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Lailah Gifty Akita (Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind)