Jonathan Hayashi > Jonathan's Quotes

“Sow a thought, and you reap an act;
Sow an act, and you reap a habit;
Sow a habit, and you reap a character;
Sow a character, and you reap a destiny.”
― Samuel Smiles, Happy Homes and the Hearts That Make Them

“Confident and courageous leaders have no problems pointing out their own weaknesses and ignorance.”
― Thom S. Rainer

“Fearful leaders love to stay in the morass of insignificant details. Because the details are usually unimportant, it is difficult to make a mistake of consequence. Of course, it's impossible to do anything of consequence when your focus is on those things that really don't make a difference.”
― Thom S. Rainer

“the health of the church is directly tied to the health of groups in the church. If you are not in a small group, a Sunday school class, or some other type of group, you are not contributing to the health of the church.”
― Thom S. Rainer, I Will: Nine Traits of the Outwardly Focused Christian

“The churches were purposeless. They were engaged in an activity called, “This is the way we’ve always done it.”
― Thom S. Rainer, Autopsy of a Deceased Church: 12 Ways to Keep Yours Alive

“church members who became involved in some type of group in the churches were five times more likely to be active in the church five years later compared to the worship-only attenders.”
― Thom S. Rainer, I Will: Nine Traits of the Outwardly Focused Christian

“Thriving churches have the Great Commission as the centerpiece of their vision, while dying churches have forgotten the clear command of Christ.”
― Thom S. Rainer, Autopsy of a Deceased Church: 12 Ways to Keep Yours Alive

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.”
― C.S. Lewis

“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”
― C.S. Lewis

“If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”
― C.S. Lewis

“The Christian does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us.”
― C.S. Lewis

“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”
― C.S. Lewis

“Atheism turns out to be too simple. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning...”
― C.S. Lewis

“God can't give us peace and happiness apart from Himself because there is no such thing.”
― C.S. Lewis

“Our worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace.”
― Jerry Bridges, The Discipline of Grace: God's Role and Our Role in the Pursuit of Holiness

“Jesus did not urge his disciples to commit their lives to a doctrine, but to a person who was the doctrine, and only as they continued in his Word could they know the truth ( John 8:31–32).”
― Robert E. Coleman, The Master Plan of Evangelism

“It is good to tell people what we mean, but it is infinitely better to show them. People are looking for a demonstration, not an explanation.”
― Robert E. Coleman, The Master Plan of Evangelism

“People are looking for a demonstration, not an explanation.”
― Robert E. Coleman, The Master Plan of Evangelism

“Knowledge was gained by association before it was understood by explanation.”
― Robert E. Coleman, The Master Plan of Evangelism

“One living sermon is worth a hundred explanations.”
― Robert E. Coleman, The Master Plan of Evangelism

“The best way to love your children is to love their mother [father].” That’s true. The quality of your marriage greatly affects the way you relate to your children—and the way they receive love. If your marriage is healthy—both partners treating each other with kindness, respect, and integrity—you and your spouse will feel and act as partners in parenting.”
― Gary D. Chapman, The 5 Love Languages of Children

“Forgiveness is not a feeling; it is a commitment.”
― Gary Chapman, The Five Love Languages: How to Express Heartfelt Commitment to Your Mate

“Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.”
― Stephen Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

“My joy grows with every soul that seeks the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Remember, you have one life. That’s all. You were made for
God. Don’t waste it.”
― John Piper, Don't Waste Your Life

“Your mind was made to know and love God.”
― John Piper, Don't Waste Your Life

“If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.”
― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

“If God had perceived that our greatest need was economic, he would have sent an economist. If he had perceived that our greatest need was entertainment, he would have sent us a comedian or an artist. If God had perceived that our greatest need was political stability, he would have sent us a politician. If he had perceived that our greatest need was health, he would have sent us a doctor. But he perceived that our greatest need involved our sin, our alienation from him, our profound rebellion, our death; and he sent us a Savior. ”
― D.A. Carson, A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers

“People do not drift toward Holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated.”
― D.A. Carson

“... the worst possible heritage to leave with children: high spiritual pretensions and low performance.”
― D.A. Carson, A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers