[Regeneration] is therefore, beyond all contradiction a supernatural change produced by the Sprit of God; and there is something in its nature which is mysterious and wonderful,…but however inscrutable…its effects are certain… Its effects will be, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ; a hatred to sin, and a love to holiness; supreme love to God, and unfeigned benevolence to men.
Conversion Essentials to Salvation, 1816, p.8.
The special purpose of the deacon is found in Acts 6:1–7; they assist the elders in the ministry to the poor and widows (mercy ministry) so the elders can devote themselves to the ministry of prayer and the Word. As the name implies in the Greek, the deacons’ primary function is that of service. They perform their duties under the oversight of the elders (Howard Davis).
Howard Q. Davis Jr. We Don’t Need Supermen, Tabletalk, July 2008, p. 65. Used by Permission.
The biblical portrait of salvation centers around the antithesis between the greatness of God and the desperate condition of humanity (George Thornbury).
Who Will Be Saved? Edited by: House, Paul and Thornbury, Gregory. Crossway, 2000, p. 222.
In the New Testament there is no such person as a Christian who is not a church member. Conversion was described as “the Lord adding to the church” (Acts 2:47). There was no spiritual drifting (Douglas Millar).
Should I Join A Church? Issue 62, Nov. 1968, p. 21, by permission Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA.
Parents must be aware of the personal value of truth for their own sakes and not just for the sakes of their children. We cannot simply make a child believe in a truth because it’s good for them. Their perceptive spirits will sense when we are doing something to engineer or manipulate a certain response. Instead it is the authenticity of parental commitment to truth apart from the lives of the children that brings freedom to share or pass on that truth to them. In other words, a mature motive for passing on truth is that as a parent I hold that truth to have value for my life, independent of my children and their response to it (Tom Cohen).
Eternity Magazine, May 19, p. 35.
But the Lord God of His infinite and great goodness towards man exceeding His favour unto the lost angels had before all beginning of His great love towards [the] elect appointed of His free gift the means whereby His wrath should be satisfied, man’s sin and guilt done away, and he brought into a far more blessed state than he was created in Adam (John Penry).
A Puritan Golden Treasury, compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 252.
If I wish to humble anyone, I should question him about his prayers. I know nothing to compare with this topic for its sorrowful self-confessions (Charles Vaughn).
Quoted in: Spiritual Leadership by Oswald Sanders, Moody Publishers, 1967, p. 85.
One of [the] chief and excruciatingly ironic effects [of the ideology of pluralism]: It silences a lot of people… So far as my observation reaches, the silenced are almost always those who if they spoke would say something characteristically…Christian. Try, for example, arguing that unrestricted permission to abort the unborn is a social and political evil at a party in Manhattan or a college town in Minnesota. Your arguments will not be rebutted; heads will merely be turned as from one who has audibly broken wind. If, on the other hand, you argue what is in fact the conventional opinion, you will be praised for courage and compassion. Or relate two conversions, one to Christianity and the other away from it; one will be received as a tale of horrid narrow-mindedness and the other as an example of an open society’s marvelous possibilities (Robert Jensen).
The God-Wars, Either/Or: The Gospel or Neopaganism, ed. Carl Braaten and Robert Jenson, Eerdmans, 1995, p. 25.
Delays be dangerous, our hearts will cool, and our affections will fall down… Satan hath little hope to prevail unless he can persuade us to omit our duties when the clock strikes, and therefore his skill is to urge us to put off till another time as fitter or better. Do it anon, next hour, next day, next week (saith he); and why not next year (Richard Capel)?
A Puritan Golden Treasury, compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 65.
What the preacher is in the pulpit, the same the Christian householder is in his house (Lewis Bayly).
At an early hour in the morning the family was assembled and a portion of Scripture was read from the Old Testament, which was followed by a hymn and a prayer, in which thanks were offered up to the Almighty for preserving them during the silent watches of the night, and for His goodness in permitting them to meet in health of body and soundness of mind; and, at the same time, His grace was implored to defend them amid the dangers and temptations of the day – to make them faithful to every duty, and enable them, in all respects, to walk worthy of their Christian vocation… In the evening, before retiring to rest, the family again assembled, the same form of worship was observed as in the morning, with this difference, that the service was considerably protracted beyond the period which could be conveniently allotted to it in the commencement of the day (Lyman Coleman).
The Antiquities of the Christian Church, Gould, Newman & Saxton, 1841, p. 376-377.
By expository preaching, I mean that method of pulpit discourse which consists in the consecutive interpretation, and practical enforcement, of a book of sacred canon (William Taylor).
The Ministry of the Word, Baker Books, 1975, p. 155.
How would you answer a person who says, “You can’t take the Bible literally because it promotes killing homosexuals” (Lev 20:13)?
1. This particular law was only given to ancient Israel under the terms of the Old Covenant. But God is not relating to anyone under the terms of this covenant today. Rather, God is now relating to all men under the terms of the New Covenant (Hebrews 8). Hence, this is not a law which should be implemented today.
2. This passage does not promote killing homosexuals. This is simply false – and it is important to say so. This particular law requires that those who engage in homosexual activity be put to death. Even under the Old Covenant, a person with homosexual inclinations or attractions, who refused to act on them, would NOT be put to death. What is at issue here is homosexual activity – not homosexual attraction.
3. God takes sin very seriously and His holiness and moral perfection require that He deal with it as it deserves. Under the terms of the Old Covenant, homosexual behavior was not unique in meriting the sentence of death. Adultery (Lev. 20:10), blasphemy (Lev. 24:16), murder (Exod. 21:12), striking one’s father or mother (Exod. 21:15), kidnapping (Exod. 21:16), cursing one’s father or mother (Exod. 21:17), and other acts as well, all merited the death sentence under the Old Covenant. Even Sabbath violations received the death sentence (Exod. 31:14).
4. God disapproves of all sexual sin – not just homosexual activity. God disapproves of adultery, fornication, rape, incest, bestiality, as well as homosexual sin. Again, homosexual sin is not unique in being prohibited by God. All sexual sin is prohibited. The Bible allows for sexual activity only within the confines of one man/one woman heterosexual marriage. Any kind of sexual activity outside of this is sin (Michael Gleghorn).
Excerpted from: How Do You Answer a Person Who Says You Can’t Take the Bible Literally Because It Promotes Killing Homosexuals? Probe Ministries, 2012, www.probe.org.
Neither Paul nor any other New Testament writer envisions any Christian couple voluntarily remaining childless for the duration of marriage (John Davis).
Evangelical Ethics, P&R, 2004, p. 40.
No amount of good talking can make a good prayer-meeting. The impression prevails in some quarters that little homilies, pious exhortations, interesting anecdotes with a religious bearing, and well-selected quotations from popular religious writers are of equal value with prayer in a prayer-meeting. This cannot be true. In the former case we are talking among ourselves. It may be very edifying and helpful; but in the latter instance we are doing business directly with God. An ounce of believing prayer is worth a ton of edifying talk, if the Scriptures are good authority. To be sure, no prayer-meeting leader should object to a personal testimony, or to any contribution calculated to edify, but at the same time there is great need, in the average prayer-meeting, of developing the volume of prayer (J.F, Cowan).
More Prayer in the Prayer Meeting, New York, 1906.
Here in His holy House of Prayer we may come on our day of rest, and be safe, if we will, from any thoughts but those of the world to come. Here we gather together for no earthly business, but for a purpose of one sort only; and that purpose is the same for which saints and angels are met together in that innumerable company before the throne of God. If there is a place on earth which, however faintly and dimly, shadows out the courts of God on high, surely it is where His people are met together, in all their weakness and ignorance and sin, in their poor and low estate, yet with humble and faithful hearts, in His House of Prayer (Richard Church).
Village Sermons, 1897.
As long as there are millions destitute of the Word of God and knowledge of Jesus Christ, it will be impossible for me to devote time and energy to those who have both (John Ewen).
Who can describe the miseries of a lost soul, when the door of the bottomless pit has closed upon it forever (David Harsha)?
Is the fire spoken of literal fire? It is an accepted law of language that a figure of speech is less intense than the reality. If “fire” is merely a figurative expression, it must stand for some great reality, and if the reality is more intense than the figure, what an awful thing the punishment symbolized by fire must be (William Evans).
The Great Doctrines of the Bible, Moody, p. 262.
If you sow in prayerlessness, you will reap powerlessness, peacelessness, joylessness, fruitlessness and backsliddenness (Raymond Kwong).
Unless the pulpit is the place where you are the humblest in giving God’s message, it is certain to be the place where you are vainest in giving your own (John Oman).
Concerning the Ministry, Harper, 1937, p. 44.
Everywhere he stepped Scotland shook. Whenever he opened his mouth a spiritual force swept in every direction. Thousands followed him to the feet of Christ (Courtland Meyers).
Quoted in: John MacArthur, 1 Corinthians, 1985, p. 120
While we do not get a better Christ in the sacraments than in the Word, sometimes we get Christ better (Robert Bruce).
The typical church is an activity trap. Having lost sight of the higher purposes for which it was originated, it now attempts to make up for this loss by an increased range of activities (George Odiorne).
Quoted in: Dann Spader, Growing a Healthy Church, Moody, 1991, p. 9.
God’s purpose is to glorify Himself through His church. He is glorified as the church is true to Him and His Word, as the church mirrors His purity and holiness. Failure to keep the church pure brings discredit to God on this earth and brings to His name great shame in the failure of those who profess to know Him (Richard Belcher).
The real power of pornography is that it provides men with the ultimate fantasy fulfillment without the risk of emotional rejection that often accompanies relationship with “real” women. In normal sexual relations, our fragile male egos are on the line, and often the slightest rejection of our advances can drive us quickly into seclusion, brooding, and hurt. Pornography solves the problem. There exists a seemingly unceasing supply of super attractive, inviting women, always available, always willing – and who give the impression that each reader (viewer) is very special. Pornographic literature plays with our minds at the deepest levels (Robert Hicks).
Copied from Masculine Journey by Robert Hicks © 1993, p. 65-66. Used by Permission of NavPress – www.navpress.com. All rights reserved.
In short, pornography and all forms of sexual sin rob men of the godly leadership they are called to provide in the lives of those closest to them; it robs men of confidence in the truths of Scripture and their enthusiasm for things of God; and finally, it undermines the place of God as the supreme Being whom they are called to worship and serve – and replaces Him with a more manageable and predictable object of adoration (John Freeman).
Godly Living in a Sexually Immoral Culture, Tabletalk, June 2005, p. 17-18. Used by Permission.
When a True Christian sins, what happens?
1. His Fellowship with God is severed. David, when backslidden, mourned, “Day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer” (Psalm 32:4). As clouds hide the sun for days, so sin comes between the soul and God.
2. The Joy of salvation is lost. One loses all relish for spiritual things: the heart is empty. David, in this condition, confessed, “My sin is ever before me” and “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free Spirit” (Psalm 51:3, 12).
3. Power for service is lost. The Holy Spirit’s power is essential for any real witness for Christ. It cannot be faked. David prayed, “Thou desirest truth in the inward parts” and “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:6, 10).
4. The Christian invites divine chastisement. Hebrews 12:6-7 – “Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth…What son is he whom the father chasteneth not?” Psalm 89:32-33 – “I will visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless, my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.”
5. There is loss of reward. (Read 1 Corinthians 3:11-15.) Out of Fellowship means out of Service – out of service means that one is failing to lay up treasures in heaven. He is building of “wood, hay, and stubble” which cannot endure the test of the rewarding day (1 Corinthians 3:12-15). Many will be chagrined in that day by suffering Loss of Reward. Take the Way Back Now. Psalm 32:5; 1 John 1:9 (Keith Brooks).
Essential Themes, Moody Press, 1974, p. 48-49.
Jonathan Edwards’s own analysis of the revivals: the Word is the occasion for awakening, and a necessary one, but the Spirit of God does the work, and he “blows where he wills.” His passing could be seen in lasting changes: People made humble, faithful, prayerful, holy. Churches made earnest in worship and hungry for the Word. Towns where, to quote Charles Simeon, a century later, “goodness” became “fashionable” (Stephen Holmes).
A Mind on Fire, Christian History, Issue 77, p. 13.
George Muller observed, “The great fault of the children of God is, they do not continue in prayer; they do not go on praying; they do not persevere. If they desire anything for God’s glory, they should pray until they get it” (Roger Steer).
George Muller: Delighted in God! Harold Shaw, 1975, p. 310
Christian! Death cannot hurt you! Death is your best friend – who is commissioned by Christ to summon you from the world of vanity and woe, and from a body of sin and death – to the blissful regions of glory and immortality, to meet your Lord, and to be forever with Him (William Mason)!
The One Thing Needful to Make Poor Sinners Rich and Miserable Sinners Happy.
While researching the biblical principles of giving, I considered the subject of worship. Frankly, I had never before studied worship in detail to find out God’s point of view. I have come to the conclusion that giving, along with our thanksgiving and praise, is worship. In the past I made pledges to my church to be paid on a yearly basis. Once a month, I would write a check while in church and drop it in the collection plate. Sometimes I would mail a check from my office. My objective was for the church to get the total pledge before the end of the year. Though I had already experienced the joy of giving, the act of making my gift had little relationship to worship. While I was writing this book God convicted me to begin giving every time I went to church. The verse that spoke to me about this Deuteronomy 16:16: “Do not appear before Me empty-handed.” When I started doing this, if a check were not handy, I gave cash. At first I thought about keeping up with the money given. Then God convicted me again. He seemed to say, “You do not need to keep up with the amount of cash. Give to Me simply out of a heart of love, and see how much you enjoy the service.” I made this change in giving habits, and it has greatly enhanced my joy in our worship services (Wayne Watts).
The Gift of Giving, NavPress, 1982, p. 35-36.
A Trojan horse full of dangerous psycho-fantasies has been professionally prepared for us by Christian psychiatrists and psychologists… At base, such therapies stand upon dogma, not scientific observations, and the dogma is the odious one of Freud and his followers who were some of the century’s most anti-Christ teachers. No amount of well- intentioned refinement of deadly doctrines will make them clean for use by Christians. Though gems are usually found in coal mines, Christians who go fossicking for gems of God’s truth in psychoanalytic coal mines will usually emerge empty-handed and filthy… Christians of discernment should avoid the dangerous system completely (Hilton Terrell).
Preaching must pump his heart until he lives and breathes the message. The message will hound him, drive him, even explode within him. So great will be the desire to preach that he will find it difficult to wait for the next time to deliver the message of God (Michael Tucker).
Quoted in: Erwin Lutzer, Pastor to Pastor, Kregel, 1998, p. 33.
Character is the one thing we make in this world and take with us into the next. The circumstances amid which you live determine your reputation; the truth you believe determines your character. Reputation is what you are supposed to be; Character is what you are. Reputation is what you have when you come to a new community; Character is what you have when you go away. Reputation is made in a moment; Character is built in a lifetime. Reputation grows like a mushroom; Character grows like an oak. Your reputation is learned in an hour; Your character is does not come to light for a year. A single newspaper report gives your reputation; a life of toil gives you your character. Reputation makes you rich or makes you poor; Character makes you happy or makes you miserable. Reputation is what men say about you on your tombstone; Character is what angels say about you before the throne of God. Your character is what God knows you to be. Your reputation is what men think you are (William Davis).
The greatest missionary is the Bible in the mother tongue. It needs no furlough and is never considered a foreigner (William Townsend).
Inclusivism holds that although Christianity is the true religion and Jesus the only way to salvation, more people are saved through Christ than the church traditionally has thought. Accordingly, God forgives followers of the world’s religions on the basis of their response to the revelation they have. If those who have never heard the gospel respond in faith, God will save them on the basis of Christ’s saving work. “In other words, people can receive the gift of salvation without knowing the Giver or the precise nature of the gift (John Sanders).
No Other Name: An Investigation into the Destiny of the Unevangelized, Eerdmans, www.eerdmans.com, 1992, p. 215.
Take note that when men oppress and persecute most unjustly, yet there is cause to justify God in suffering it to be so. God’s justice is executed upon us by their injustice; if men falsely accuse us, yet God can truly charge us. When Job has to deal with men, he maintains his integrity against their accusations, Job 27:4-6, but when he has to deal with God, he acknowledges his sin, and will not stand upon his own justification; he will not plead but supplicate (John Oldfield).
A Puritan Golden Treasury, compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 14.
I have never known a pastor to be fired for prayerlessness, even though I expect that many justly could have been (myself included). There are at least three reasons for this. First, congregations rarely hold a pastor accountable for his devotional life. Second, pastors themselves too infrequently seek such accountability. Third, pastors can conceal the neglect of private duties more easily than the neglect of public duties. But what does such private neglect reveal? That a pastor fears man more than he fears God (Mike Smith).
The Devotional Life of the Professional Christian, © 9Marks. Website: www.9Marks.org. Email: [email protected]. Toll Free: (888) 543-1030. Used by Permission.
It belongs to the very idea and nature of man to be in communion with God. It was once said to a useful minister, “Sir, if you did not plough in your closet, you would not reap in your pulpit” (Samuel Prime).
The Power of Prayer, p. 248.
Love is the root of missions; sacrifice is the fruit of missions (Roderick Davis).
The greatest hindrances to the evangelization of the world are those within the church (John Mott).
One must persevere in faith to be saved. True believers cannot lose their faith, since it’s God’s gift. Those dying without faith in Christ are condemned. Those who “lose” their faith never had it to begin with. God will preserve true believers and they will be saved (Greg Johnson).
If your body makes all the decisions and gives all the orders, and if you obey, the physical can effectively destroy every other dimension of your personality. Your emotional life will be blunted and your spiritual life will be stifled and ultimately will become anemic (Michael Quoist).
The Christian Response, Gill and Macmillan, 1965, p. 4.
The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power and all that beauty and all that wealth e’er gave await alike the inevitable hour. The paths of glory lead but to the grave (Thomas Gray).
By Sabbath…we are to understand the Lord Jesus only, Who Alone is the Sabbath or Rest of Believers under the Gospel. And to keep this Sabbath from polluting it, is to believe in Him only unto righteousness. For to do any work, I mean to seek righteousness, or peace, or reconciliation with God by any work, is to pollute this Sabbath or this Rest; by Whom Alone, such as believe in Him, do and shall enjoy a glorious, an everlasting rest (Robert Garner).
A Treatise on Baptism, The Old Faith Baptist Church, 1645, p. 30.
O good God, guide me by Thy holy hand, that I may keep myself within the lists of Christianity, being modest in apparel, moderate (in) diet, chaste and temperate in speech, sober in fashion and my ordinary deportment, respective to my superiors, amiable to my equals, without pride and insolency towards these that are below me, courteous and affable and yet without vanity and popularity towards all (Samuel Hieron).
A Puritan Golden Treasury, compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 207
A man pardoned, and justified by faith in Christ, though he may, sometimes doth, fall into foul sins, yet they never prevail so far as to reverse pardon, and reduce to a state of non-justification (William Greenhill).
A Puritan Golden Treasury, compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 111.
Discipling others is the process by which a Christian with a life worth emulating commits himself for an extended period of time to a few individuals who have been won to Christ, the purpose being to aid and guide their growth and maturity, and equip them to reproduce themselves in a third spiritual generation (Allen Hadidian).
Successful Discipling, Moody, 1979.
In the Being of God there are not three individuals, but only three personal self distinctions within the one Divine Essence (R.A. Finlayson).
Trinity, The New Bible Dictionary, Eerdmans, p. 1300.
Many believers are “rabbit hole” Christians. In the morning they pop out of their safe Christian homes, hold their breath at work, scurry home to their families and then off to their Bible studies, and finally end the day praying for the unbelievers they safely avoided all day (Jan Johnson).
Moody Monthly, Nov. 1987.
[True forgiveness means] laying down our right to remain angry and giving up our claim to future repayment of the debt we have suffered (Brian Dodd).
Taken from Praying Jesus’ Way: A Guide for Beginners and Veterans, © 1997, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA. Used with permission of IVP, P.O. Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515. www.ivpress.com, p. 101.
We are not called to forgive others in order to earn God’s love; rather, having experienced His love, we have the basis and motive to forgive others (Pat Morison).
Forgive! As the Lord Forgave You, P&R Publishing, 1987, p. 7, Used by Permission.
It is work as free from care and toil and fatigue as is the wing-stroke of the jubilant lark when it soars into the sunlight of a fresh, clear day and, spontaneously and for self-relief, pours out its thrilling carol. Work [in heaven] is a matter of self-relief, as well as a matter of obedience to the ruling will of God. It is work according to one’s tastes and delight and ability. If tastes vary there, if abilities vary there, then occupations will vary there (David Gregg).
The Heaven-Life, Revell, 1895, p. 62.
Show me a place on the face of the earth ten miles square where a man may provide for his children in decency and comfort, where infancy is protected, where age is venerated, where womanhood is honored, and where human life is held in due regard, and I will show you a place where the gospel of Christ has gone and laid the foundation (James Lowell).
However abundant the Scriptural data might be regarding the resurrection of believers and their life in heaven, the state of the soul between death and resurrection is rarely referred to in the Bible (Wilbur Smith).
Wilbur Smith Biblical Doctrine of Heaven, Moody, 1968, p. 155.
Jesus consistently tied together self-denial and the cross. The call of God into the Christian life is a call to self-denial. The cross – self-denial – is the path of every Christian. The antithesis of the cross is self-love. Therefore, self-love is classified as a “different gospel” (Gal. 1:6), opposed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ (David Tyler).
The Gospel of Self-Esteem – Are We Really Better than We Think? The Quarterly Journal, v. 24, n. 1.
Each of us in the Body of Christ has the ability, because of His love for us, to minister to and bless the Lord. We can bring joy to God just as a loving son or daughter does to their parents, and as a friend to a friend. Worship from the heart is one of the best gifts you can bring to your heavenly Father. When we worship Him, not because of fear or pride or obligation, but out of an overflow of love and gratitude, we bless and minister to God. This is a privilege that He has given to all His sons and daughters. A worship leader is not necessarily more “spiritual” than anyone else; he or she simply is willing to help a group of people reach a place of loving intimacy with God via music (Don Francisco).
Am I Worthy to Minister, Music Ministers Newsletter, Rocky Mountain Ministries.
Wisdom in ruling is justice; wisdom in speech is discretion; wisdom in conduct is prudence; wisdom in evaluation is discernment (George Seevers).
Quoted in: Curtis C. Thomas, Practical Wisdom for Pastors, Crossway Books, 2001, p. 210. Used by Permission.
To the extent that this kind of preaching uses the Bible at all, it does so to exploit or devour it and not to listen to it, let alone to stand under it and be guided by it… [They] are using the text as its masters rather than serving the text as its ministers (Dwight Stevenson).
In the Biblical Preacher’s Workshop, Abingdon Press, 1967, p. 196.
God’s commands instruct us about His attitude toward sin, and tell us what kinds of things He designates as sin, and that He has a provision for sin, typified, and then fulfilled in His Son. If we use the law that way – let it be so. If we use it as a scourge, let us be anathema. It is revelation, not salvation (Reid Ferguson).
Quoted in: Studies in Galatians by John Reisinger, Sound of Grace, Issue 148, June 2008, p. 17. Used by Permission.
All things (but lying, dying, and denying Himself) are possible to God (Christopher Neese).
A Puritan Golden Treasury, compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 119.
Trusting God involves the loss of our agenda…so that we die to our inclination to live a lie. It requires forfeiting our rigid, self-protective, God-dishonoring ways of relating in order to embrace life as it is meant to be lived; in humble dependence on God and passionate involvement with others (Dan Allender).
Copied from The Wounded Heart: Hope for Adult Victims of Childhood Sexual Abuse, copyright 1990, p. 174, Used by permission of NavPress – www.navpress.com, All rights reserved.
What is “resting in God,” but the instinctive movement and upward glance of the spirit to Him; the confiding of all one’s griefs and fears to Him, and feeling strengthened, patient, hopeful in the act of doing so! It implies a willingness that He should choose for us, a conviction that the ordering of all that concerns us is safer in His hands than in our own (James Burns).
Quoted in the Treasury of David by C.H. Spurgeon, v. 1, p. 184.
Love is not an emotion to which we may give expression now and then, as we feel inclined; it is a duty required of us at all times by God, and the children of God ought surely to obey their Heavenly Father (Alexander Ross).
The Epistles of James and John, Eerdmans, 1954, p. 208, Used by Permission, www.eerdmans.com.
To abide in [Christ] expresses the continual act by which the Christian sets aside everything which he might derive from his own wisdom, strength, merit, to draw all from Christ (Frederic Godek).
Commentary of John’s Gospel, 1978, p. 855, Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, MI. Used by Permission. All Rights Reserved.
[What has God made known in nature and conscience?]
1. God exists.
2. This God created the physical universe.
3. This God is loving.
4. This God is personal, since love cannot characterize an impersonal deity.
5. This God is a moral being.
6. We have violated the moral law and thus are guilty.
7. We have displeased the morally perfect God who is the source of the moral law (Ronald Nash).
Taken from: What About Those Who Have Never Heard? © 1995, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA. Used with permission of InterVarsity Press, P.O. Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515. www.ivpress.com.
Sexual relations within marriage are holy and good (Hebrews 13:4).
1. Pleasure in sexual relations (like pleasure in eating or in the performance of other bodily functions) is not forbidden but rather assumed (Proverbs 5:18-19 and Song of Solomon).
2. Sexual pleasure is to be regulated by the key principle that one’s sexuality does not exist for himself or for his own pleasure, but for his partner.
3. Sexual relations are to be regular and continuous.
4. The principle of mutual satisfaction means that each party is to provide the sexual enjoyment which is “due” his or her spouse whenever needed.
5. There is to be no sexual bargaining.
6. Sexual relationships are equal and reciprocal (Harry McGee).
The Scriptures, Sex, and Satisfaction, P&R Publishing, 1975. Used by Permission.
It is God’s good plan that sex not be thought of, principally, as a legitimate way to get a rush, but rather as God’s way of bringing man and wife to the point of greatest unity and, through that unity, propagating (for Himself) “a godly seed” (Mal. 2:15 KJV) (Timothy Bayly).
Pastoral Leadership for Manhood and Womanhood, ed. Wayne Grudem and Dennis Rainey, Crossway, 2002, p. 145.
In the world it is called Tolerance, but in hell it is called Despair, the sin that believes in nothing, cares for nothing, seeks to know nothing, interferes with nothing, enjoys nothing, hates nothing, finds purpose in nothing, lives for nothing, and remains alive because there is nothing for which it will die (Dorothy Sayers).
If God were small enough to be understood He would not be big enough to be worshipped (Evelyn Underhill).
Quoted by Elisabeth Elliot, Secure in the Everlasting Arms, Revell, 2002, p. 91.
Another reason [patience] is so hard to come by is that we often don’t like the way it comes. Romans 5:3 says, “Suffering produces endurance,” and James 1:3 says, “The testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” In both cases the product is patient endurance – the ability to remain under tremendous weight and pressure without succumbing. That which produces this is the difficult part: suffering, testing, trials. We would prefer an easier I way for the fruit to be produced, but this is God’s way (Robert Carver)!
Wrath and Patience, Tabletalk, May 2008, p. 19, Used by Permission.
The problem of evil assumes the existence of a world-purpose. What, we are really asking, is the purpose of suffering? It seems purposeless. Our question of the why of evil assumes the view that the world has a purpose, and what we want to know is how suffering fits into and advances this purpose. The modern view is that suffering has no purpose because nothing that happens has any purpose: the world is run by causes, not by purposes (Walter Stace).
Religion and the Modern Mind, 1953.
When God’s people departed from Him (in the Old Testament biblical accounts) all the more emphasis was put upon His faithfulness, so that the only hope of His wayward people lay not only in His grace and mercy but also in His faithfulness, which stands in marked contrast with the faithlessness and inconstancy of His people (Gaspar Hodge).
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 1915, Entry for Faithfulness, Public Domain.
A heathen philosopher once asked, “Where is God?” The Christian answered: “Let me first ask you, where is He not?” (John Arrowsmith).
A Puritan Golden Treasury, compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 120.
When we depend upon organizations, we get what organizations can do; when we depend upon education, we get what education can do; when we depend upon man, we get what man can do; but when we depend upon prayer, we get what God can do (Amzi Dixon).
No doctrine of the Christian religion is worth preserving which cannot be verified in daily life (John Watson).
Don’t pray to escape trouble. Don’t pray to be comfortable in your emotions. Pray to do the will of God in every situation. Nothing else is worth praying for (Samuel Shoemaker).
The Bible is innocent of error until proven guilty. Based on the Bible’s self-claim of inerrancy and the mass of evidence for inerrancy, we can assume there are good explanations for apparent contradictions. The burden of proof is on the critic. There are at least plausible explanations for all so-called discrepancies (Sid Lidke).
Inerrancy, www.bible.org, Copyright ©1996-2005, All rights reserved.
Spiritual leadership is the development of relationships with the people of a Christian institution or body in such a way that individuals and the group are enabled to formulate and achieve biblically compatible goals that meet real needs. By their ethical influence, spiritual leaders serve to motivate and enable others to achieve what otherwise would never be achieved (James Means).
Leadership in Christian Ministry, Baker, 1989, 59.
Never are church leaders to think of their status as lordship, but as servanthood. Note the following about true spiritual leaders: Spiritual leaders do not dominate, they serve. Spiritual leaders do not command, they guide. Spiritual leaders do not manipulate, they teach. Spiritual leaders are not lords, they are models and ministers. Whenever these truths are ignored, church leaders become dictators, overbearing and ugly. The love of preeminence, greatness, and authority is the antithesis of Biblical leadership. Leaders must remind themselves that they are servants of the church; their power is the power of example, teacher, and servant. The real power of leaders is the Word of God spoken through them and exemplified in them! (Larry Hess)
Developing the Leader Within You, www.faithlibrary.cc/index.php/christian-sermons/sermon/developing_the_leader_within_you
If we do not keep people’s eternal plight in mind, then immediate needs will force their way to the top of our agenda, and we will betray the gospel and the people we profess to love. The most loving thing we can do for the poor is to proclaim the good news of eternal salvation through Christ (Tim Chester).
Total Church: A Radical Reshaping around Gospel and Community, Crossway, 2008, p. 78.
Be not afraid at His sweet, lovely and desirable cross, for although I have not been able because of my wounds to lift up or lay down my head but as I was helped, yet I was never in better case all my life… He has so wonderfully shined on me with the sense of His redeeming, strengthening, assisting, supporting, through-bearing, pardoning and reconciling love, grace and mercy that my soul doth long to be freed of bodily infirmities and earthly organs, so that I may flee to His Royal Palace, even the Heavenly Habitation of my God, where I am sure of a crown put on my head and a palm put in my hand and a new song in my mouth, even the song of Moses and of the Lamb, so that I may bless, praise, magnify and extol Him for what He hath done to me and for me… Farewell, my children, study holiness in all your ways, and praise the Lord for what He hath done for me, and tell all my Christian friends to praise Him on my account. Farewell, sweet Bible, and wanderings and contendings for truth. Welcome, death. Welcome, the City of my God where I shall see Him and be enabled to serve Him eternally with full freedom. Welcome, blessed company, the angels and spirits of just men made perfect. But above all, welcome, welcome, welcome, our glorious and alone God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost; into Thy hands I commit my spirit, for Thou art worthy. Amen.
Quoted in Jock Purves, Fair Sunshine: Character Studies of the Scottish Covenanters, 1990, p. 92-93.
There aren’t many things more stupid than Christians relying on a forbidding text to keep young people from marrying non-believers without offering rich, warm, inspirational biblical theology about Christian destiny, mission and maximum joy. By the time some young man or woman is speaking of marriage to a non-believer it’s already too late to quote a verse of Scripture (Jim McGuiggan).
Unequal Yokes and Mixed Marriages.
It is beyond all question that this eminent piety is before everything else in preparation for the duties of the sacred office. It is before talents, or learning, or study, or favorable circumstances, or skill in working, or power in sermonizing. It is needed to give character and tone and strength to all these, and to every other part of the work. Without this elevated spirituality nothing else will be of much account in producing a permanent and satisfactory ministry. All else will be like erecting a building without a foundation… Oh that at the very beginning this could be deeply impressed upon the hearts of young ministers!… Without it success in the holy office is not to be expected (Thomas Murphy).
Pastoral Theology.
The first sexual thought in the universe was God’s, not man’s (Doug Barnett).
But why this disciplined emphasis on tradition and memory? Because of the rootlessness of today’s culture. The contemporary world’s post-Christian mind-set, its confusing pluralism, its broken families, the high rate of divorces, and the nomadic mobility of so many have produced a generation without memory or tradition. And frankly this is where many Christian families are- especially if they have not come from Christian backgrounds. These Christians feel rootless, alien, and insecure. This is sufficient reason from every Christian family to take conscious and disciplined measures to cultivate tradition and memory. But there is an even more compelling reason. Namely, God’s Word dramatically recommends that all believing families cultivate both spiritual memory and spiritual traditions to commemorate and celebrate God’s goodness (Kent and Barbara Hughes).
Disciplines of a Godly Family, Crossway Books, 2004, p. 44. Get this book!
We need to use common sense in regard to memory and tradition. Neither will happen unless there is a disciplined resolve to do something about it. Our human, sinful tendency is to forget God’s benefits. And if we make no disciplined effort, we will not fully celebrate God’s goodness (Kent and Barbara Hughes).
Disciplines of a Godly Family, Crossway Books, 2004, p. 53. Get this book!
Jesus is right. It is not the Christian doctrine of heaven that is a myth, but the humanistic dream of utopia (Roy Clements).
Introducing Jesus, Kingsway, 1986, p. 103.
Many of us cannot reach the mission fields on our feet, but we can reach them on our knees (Thomas Bach).
Quoted by Curtis C. Thomas, Practical Wisdom for Pastors, Crossway Books, 2001, p. 182.
Most men are not satisfied with the permanent output of their lives. Nothing can wholly satisfy the life of Christ within His followers except the adoption of Christ’s purpose toward the world He came to redeem. Fame, pleasure and riches are but husks and ashes in contrast with the boundless and abiding joy of working with God for the fulfillment of His eternal plans. The men who are putting everything into Christ’s undertaking are getting out of life its sweetest and most priceless rewards (John Campbell White).
The Laymen’s Missionary Movement, 1909.
The gospel by itself does not save, but God through the gospel saves a person in Christ (Friedrich Grosheide).
1 Corinthians, Eerdmans, 1953, p. 347.
Kent and Barbara Hughes suggest the following to built family affection:
1. “The best possible foundation for building affection: love for God…We are able to love God and others through the reception of God’s love. Loving God is what makes other loves endure. This discipline, the day-to-day empowerment to live out this love for people who aren’t always “lovable,” is what fosters the ongoing growth of affection.”
2. “It is essential, then, if a family is to develop the bonds of affection, that the children have the assurance of their parents’ love for one another.”
3. “An obvious place to enhance family affection is at the dinner table. That is the single best daily opportunity families have for all gathering together…We encourage you never to surrender that choice time, for it is an unsurpassed opportunity to build family life.”
4. “Family vacations were at the heart of building the Hughes clan’s affections…we made disciplined investment in family vacations…Sometimes brief, spontaneous mini-vacations can (also) have important results in developing family unity and affection.”
5. “Mutual interests builds affection…Wise parents know this and look for a common interest or adopt their children’s interests as their own.”
6. “Families that learn to appreciate their points of uniqueness and to chuckle at their idiosyncrasies pull together in affection rather than apart in irritation.”
7. “The home is the place to be sentimental, corny, even weird for the sake of affection.”
8. “Wise parents who wish to enhance familial bonds will do their best to keep up the communication with grandparents and spent time with them if possible. Few things can be more elevating to family than loving affection extended across generations.” (Kent and Barbara Hughes).
Kent and Barbara Hughes Disciplines of a Godly Family, Crossway, 2004, p. 30-42. Get this book!
When God’s Word is being preached, you’re not merely receiving information about God. God Himself is addressing you through His Word Jeff Purswell).
Quoted in: Stop Dating the Church by Joshua Harris, p. 111.
Secularized self-esteem promotes self-deception regarding one’s spiritual needs, which can then lead to eternal self-destruction (Kent and Barbara Hughes).
Disciplines of a Godly Family, Crossway Books, 2004, p. 99. Get this book!
Jesus is not to us as Christmas is to the world, here today and gone tomorrow.
Ours is an undisciplined age. The old disciplines are breaking down… Above all, the discipline of divine grace is derided as legalism or is entirely unknown to a generation that is largely illiterate in the Scriptures. We need the rugged strength of Christian character that can come only from discipline (Victor Edman).
The Disciplines of Life.