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Churches can become places of cynicism, resistance, and pessimism.

John Ortberg

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John Ortberg
Age: 67
Born: 1957
Born: May 5
Author
Psychologist
Theologian
Rockford
Illinois
Pessimism
Cynicism
Churches
Resistance
Places
Church
Become

More quotes by John Ortberg

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At the deepest level, pride is the choice to exclude both God and other people from their rightful place in our hearts. Jesus said the essence of the spiritual life is to love God and to love people. Pride destroys our capacity to love.
John Ortberg
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Jesus ... associated with the outcasts he spoke with them, touched them, ate with them, loved them.
John Ortberg
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Spiritual transformation is not a matter of trying harder, but of training wisely.
John Ortberg
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The decision to grow always involves a choice between risk and comfort. This means that to be a follower of Jesus, you must renounce comfort as the ultimate value of your life.
John Ortberg
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For many of us the great danger is not that we will renounce our faith. It is that we will become so distracted and rushed and preoccupied that we will settle for a mediocre version of it.
John Ortberg
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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. 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
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Joylessness may be the sin most readily tolerated by the church.
John Ortberg
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Prudence is not hesitation, procrastination, or moderation. It is not driving in the middle of the road. It is not the way of ambivalence, indecision, or safety.
John Ortberg
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The good news as Jesus preached it is not just about the minimal entrance requirements for getting into heaven when you die. It is about the glorious redemption of human life-your life.
John Ortberg
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The most important task of your life is not what you do, but who you become.
John Ortberg
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We must learn to cast off our anxieties because we have so many of them. The world destroys spiritual life by generating constant anxiety. Jesus said that the life of the gospel is choked out by the cares of this world. We know this to be true yet we are more chained and tethered to the world than ever before in the human race.
John Ortberg
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In the beginning, we're told, was the word. Every once in a while someone shows up on the planet who is word-obsessed and word-gifted and the light and darkness get named again. In our day, that someone is Buechner.
John Ortberg
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Over and over in the Bible, it is fear that threatens to keep people from trusting and obeying God.
John Ortberg
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The main measure of your devotion to God is not your devotional life. It is simply your life.
John Ortberg
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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
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Every day you and I walk through God's shop. Every day we brush up against objects of incalculable worth to Him. People. Every one of them carries a price tag, if only we could see it.
John Ortberg
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Hurry is not just a disordered schedule. Hurry is a disordered heart.
John Ortberg
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The Holy Spirit says: You are it. You are God's plan. In a thirsty world, people need to be refreshed. It is a broken world, and people need to be healed. Now get out there and do it!
John Ortberg
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I'm more concerned about who you're becoming than what you're doing.
John Ortberg
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sometimes we do not realize how much we have to be grateful for until it is threatened.
John Ortberg