Jesus, Continued... Quotes

“Looking back, I see now that I’ve come to know God more in the pastures, and wildernesses, and white spaces, and valleys than I have on the mountaintops.”
― J.D. Greear, Jesus, Continued...: Why the Spirit Inside You Is Better than Jesus Beside You

“The Spirit inside of us is greater than even Jesus beside us.”
― J.D. Greear, Jesus, Continued...: Why the Spirit Inside You Is Better than Jesus Beside You

“God doesn’t need you! Never has. Never will. For anything. Ever.”
― J.D. Greear, Jesus, Continued...: Why the Spirit Inside You Is Better than Jesus Beside You

“Another reason God often leads us through dark, silent valleys is that he wants to purify our hearts. Why do we want to be close to God? Is it because of what he gives us, or is it simply because we want him? What is more valuable to us: God or his blessings? Sometimes God withholds everything from us except his promises in order to make us ask ourselves, “Is this — his promise — enough for me?”
― J.D. Greear, Jesus, Continued...: Why the Spirit Inside You Is Better than Jesus Beside You

“The vibrant Christian life is a union of clarity in the Word and openness to the Spirit.”
― J.D. Greear, Jesus, Continued...: Why the Spirit Inside You Is Better than Jesus Beside You

“If you want to be led by the Spirit of God, then devote yourself to the Word of God.”
― J.D. Greear, Jesus, Continued...: Why the Spirit Inside You Is Better than Jesus Beside You

“Where the gospel is not cherished, the Spirit will not be experienced. And, on the flip side, where the Spirit is not sought, there will be no deep, experiential knowledge of the gospel. The two always go hand in hand. Jesus said, “The words I have spoken to you — they are full of the Spirit and life” (John 6:63, emphasis mine). Spirit and Word, inseparably united.”
― J.D. Greear, Jesus, Continued...: Why the Spirit Inside You Is Better than Jesus Beside You

“Fullness of the Spirit and depth in the gospel are inseparable, and one always leads you to the other.”
― J.D. Greear, Jesus, Continued...: Why the Spirit Inside You Is Better than Jesus Beside You

“This means that when someone claims to be filled with the Spirit and yet spends most of his time talking about his own experiences with the Spirit, you have reason to doubt whether he really is filled with the Spirit. When the Holy Spirit speaks through someone, you tend to forget about the person speaking. You don’t even really think about the Holy Spirit. You find yourself thinking about Jesus.”
― J.D. Greear, Jesus, Continued...: Why the Spirit Inside You Is Better than Jesus Beside You

“The Spirit points to Jesus’ words and works, not his own (John 16:14). In fact, there is a certain irony in how the Spirit operates; whenever he is really present, you are not thinking about him, you’re thinking about Jesus.”
― J.D. Greear, Jesus, Continued...: Why the Spirit Inside You Is Better than Jesus Beside You

“Knowing he engraved my name upon his heart engraves his mission upon mine (Isa. 49:15 – 16).”
― J.D. Greear, Jesus, Continued...: Why the Spirit Inside You Is Better than Jesus Beside You

“God steers moving ships — ships driven by the winds of worship, gratefulness, love to God for what he’s done, and compassion for those he cares about.”
― J.D. Greear, Jesus, Continued...: Why the Spirit Inside You Is Better than Jesus Beside You

“God doesn’t need you! Never has. Never will. For anything. Ever. It turns out that I had vastly overestimated what I had to contribute. I didn’t have “more” I needed to give; I actually had nothing God needed to begin with. Nothing. God is not now looking, nor has he ever looked, for “helpers” to assist him in saving the world. That doesn’t mean he isn’t calling us to give ourselves generously to that mission or be sacrificially generous with our neighbors; it’s just that he’s not looking for people to supply his needs. He’s not short on money, talent, or time. He has never commanded us to go save the world for him; he has called us to follow him as he saves the world through us. God’s call to radical generosity begins with the good news that he doesn’t need us!”
― J.D. Greear, Jesus, Continued...: Why the Spirit Inside You Is Better than Jesus Beside You

“The Spirit takes God’s timeless truths and makes them come alive in us. He helps us understand them, shows us how to implement them, and empowers us to accomplish them. He transforms task lists into a relationship.”
― J.D. Greear, Jesus, Continued...: Why the Spirit Inside You Is Better than Jesus Beside You

“The Word is God’s revelation to us, profitable for rebuke, for correction, for training and instruction in righteousness, capable of making us complete, sufficient for any and all good works (2 Tim. 3:16 – 17).”
― J.D. Greear, Jesus, Continued...: Why the Spirit Inside You Is Better than Jesus Beside You

“Many Christians, you see, function as deists. They act as if God rules from the heavens and has spoken in his Word, but does not act on earth or move in their souls — at least in any way that they can sense those movements.”
― J.D. Greear, Jesus, Continued...: Why the Spirit Inside You Is Better than Jesus Beside You

“In Scripture, the word of the gospel and the power of the Spirit always go together.”
― J.D. Greear, Jesus, Continued...: Why the Spirit Inside You Is Better than Jesus Beside You

“reticence of the Spirit that cannot be converted into openness. For these reasons one feels helpless, inadequate, and unworthy to write . . . about the Spirit. — Bernard Ramm Several years ago, a college friend and I dove into unpacking what the Bible taught about various”
― J.D. Greear, Jesus, Continued...: Why the Spirit Inside You Is Better than Jesus Beside You

“We have an enemy who works 24/7 to open up the wrong doors for us, and then give us “peace” about going through them! Every open door should be viewed through the lens of Scripture and in the counsel of godly wisdom.”
― J.D. Greear, Jesus, Continued...: Why the Spirit Inside You Is Better than Jesus Beside You

“The greatest promises of Jesus about the church relate to her sending capacity. So let’s cease to be satisfied with building big churches and instead strive to see our churches become extraordinarily effective at equipping people to move out in the power of the Spirit. Let’s cease judging a church’s “success” by its seating capacity and put more emphasis on its sending capacity.”
― J.D. Greear, Jesus, Continued...: Why the Spirit Inside You Is Better than Jesus Beside You

“The apostles understood the church to be a movement birthed by the mighty, rushing wind of the Spirit of God.”
― J.D. Greear, Jesus, Continued...: Why the Spirit Inside You Is Better than Jesus Beside You

“if we’re in a season where the harvest simply is not coming, the last thing we should do is abandon the only thing that can produce faith.”
― J.D. Greear, Jesus, Continued...: Why the Spirit Inside You Is Better than Jesus Beside You

“The same Spirit who moved in Nineveh and in the Great Awakening still fills the church today. The same power that brought Jesus back from the dead still animates our preaching. People are not “more spiritually dead” today than they were in the days of Jonah or the days of the Great Awakening. There are no degrees of deadness, or any such thing as “mostly dead” (apologies to The Princess Bride). Every conversion to Christ requires the same, glorious miracle of resurrection, and God has not lost his ability to raise the dead. We’ve simply lost confidence that he will do it on a large scale.”
― J.D. Greear, Jesus, Continued...: Why the Spirit Inside You Is Better than Jesus Beside You

“When it comes to the voice of God, the Scriptures are in a class all by themselves.17 God is always speaking clearly and reliably there. Want to hear the Spirit? Open your Bible.”
― J.D. Greear, Jesus, Continued...: Why the Spirit Inside You Is Better than Jesus Beside You

“What if the lack of divine activity in those places had nothing to do with “unwillingness” in God’s heart, but unbelief in yours?”
― J.D. Greear, Jesus, Continued...: Why the Spirit Inside You Is Better than Jesus Beside You

“Perhaps your “holy discontent” will not lead to a lifelong calling. As far as we know, Goliath is the only giant David ever killed personally. Sometimes God moves us to be involved in situations for a particular season.”
― J.D. Greear, Jesus, Continued...: Why the Spirit Inside You Is Better than Jesus Beside You

“The great irony in the Christian life, you see, is that the way up is the way down. The lower we sink in ourselves, the higher we rise in him.”
― J.D. Greear, Jesus, Continued...: Why the Spirit Inside You Is Better than Jesus Beside You

“Our most important assignment, I believe, is to believe. God overflows with all the compassion and power necessary to save, and he can do more in a few moments than we can accomplish in 10,000 lifetimes. So as we labor, we ask. We keep our hands to the plow, but always looking to heaven with the hope that he will send down the power of the Holy Spirit just as he promised.”
― J.D. Greear, Jesus, Continued...: Why the Spirit Inside You Is Better than Jesus Beside You

“The apostles understood the church to be a movement birthed by the mighty, rushing wind of the Spirit of God. Is that how you see your church? Most people today see the church as an institution, a place to go to, or something to sit through. How did that happen?”
― J.D. Greear, Jesus, Continued...: Why the Spirit Inside You Is Better than Jesus Beside You

“Prayers that start in heaven are heard by heaven.”
― J.D. Greear, Jesus, Continued...: Why the Spirit Inside You Is Better than Jesus Beside You