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" Amusement is a way of boredom-avoidance through external stimulation that fails to exercise our minds. It's mere diversion. "
John Ortberg
Through
Exercise
Amusement
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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. "
John Ortberg
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" Sometimes in churches somebody will discover a particular vein of spirituality and seek to recruit others into it, or assume a superior position because they have found certain techniques - but no one actually wants to become like them. "
John Ortberg
Sometimes
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" People cheer the Bible, buy the Bible, give the Bible, own the Bible - they just don't actually read the Bible. "
John Ortberg
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" I need an inspiration that is grounded in reality while thoroughly transcendent. "
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" We all want to feel spiritually vigorous, and we hurt when we don't. This pain is intensified for people who lead church ministries. "
John Ortberg
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" I am a political junkie. During a presidential campaign, I will often buy a couple of newspapers a day just to keep up. "
John Ortberg
Campaign
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" I hate how hard spiritual transformation is and how long it takes. I hate thinking about how many people have gone to church for decades and remain joyless or judgmental or bitter or superior. "
John Ortberg
Long
Hate
Thinking
" Politics, after all, is largely about power. And power goes to the core of our issues of control and narcissism and need to be right and tendency to divide the human race into 'us' vs. 'them.' "
John Ortberg
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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. "
John Ortberg
Pain
Always
Want
" When it comes to sermon writing, generally there are two problems. Some preachers love the research stage but hate the writing, and they start writing too late. Others don't like doing research, so they move way too fast to the writing part. "
John Ortberg
Love
Problems
Research
" There are dozens of references to God in the Scriptures for every one to the figure of Satan. This reflects a sometimes forgotten theological truth that the devil is by no means God's counterpart. He is a creature, not the Creator. "
John Ortberg
God
Satan
Sometimes
" Evil exists. Evil is real. One of the hallmarks of evil is that it seeks to convince its victims that it exists 'out there.' "
John Ortberg
Convince
Real
Out
" I'm not sure ministry can ever have the urgency it requires if it is not aware of evil, both externally and internally. "
John Ortberg
Sure
Urgency
Ministry
" Prudence is not the same thing as caution. Caution is a helpful strategy when you're crossing a minefield; it's a disaster when you're in a gold rush. "
John Ortberg
You
Strategy
Gold
" The day people around me stop questioning my character is the day my character begins to grow vulnerable. "
John Ortberg
Stop
Character
Day
" 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. And it's constantly being shaped and tugged at: by what you hear and watch and say and read and think and experience. "
John Ortberg
Spiritual
Time
Experience
" Jesus is why women have traveled continents, spent decades learning a strange language so they could translate the Gospel, planting churches, caring for the sick, educating the illiterate, and marching for the oppressed. "
John Ortberg
Language
Women
Sick
" This much I have learned: human beings come with very different sets of wiring, different interests, different temperaments, different learning styles, different gifts, different temptations. These differences are tremendously important in the spiritual formation of human beings. "
John Ortberg
Human
Learning
Spiritual
" When someone is in crisis, don't start by teaching, leveraging, or explaining. Just be with. "
John Ortberg
Crisis
Just Be
Someone
" Normally, if someone's legacy will outlast their life, it's apparent when they die. On the day when Alexander the Great, or Caesar Augustus, or Napoleon, or Socrates, or Muhammad died, their reputations were immense. When Jesus died, his tiny, failed movement appeared clearly at an end. "
John Ortberg
Day
Legacy
Great
" Universities such as Cambridge, Oxford, and Harvard all began as Jesus-inspired efforts to love God with all ones' mind. "
John Ortberg
God
Mind
To Love
" We do not need answers or formulas to minister in crisis. "
John Ortberg
Need
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Crisis
" We call an obsession with having someone's approval 'co-dependency;' the Bible's word for it is idolatry. A country can be an idol. A family can be an idol. "
John Ortberg
Bible
Family
Someone
" Being deeply contented with God in my everyday life is a focused attitude. It is always available. It means practicing letting go of my obsession with how I'm doing. It means training myself to learn to actually be present with people, and seeking to love them. "
John Ortberg
God
Myself
Doing
" God has entrusted us with his most precious treasure - people. He asks us to shepherd and mold them into strong disciples, with brave faith and good character. "
John Ortberg
God
Faith
Brave
" As much as we complain about it, though, there's part of us that is drawn to a hurried life. It makes us feel important. It keeps the adrenaline pumping. It means I don't have to look too closely at my heart or life. It keeps us from feeling our loneliness. "
John Ortberg
Loneliness
Look
Heart
" Nobody lives up to the norms that God had in mind when he first created human beings. "
John Ortberg
Nobody
God
First
" Better to be a loving person without knowing how you got there, than an expert no one can stand to be around. "
John Ortberg
Person
Loving
Better
" Learning something new is a fabulous way to be refreshed. When work can grind you down, something about learning a new activity thrills the soul. It reminds you that the world is bigger than your desk and your to-do list. "
John Ortberg
Work
Grind
World
" Pastors have historically understood their primary battle to be not the battle to build a big church, but the battle against the power of sin. "
John Ortberg
Build
Power
Sin