We must not talk to our congregations as if we were half asleep. Our preaching must not be articulate snoring. There must be power, life, energy, vigour. We must throw our whole selves into it, and show that the zeal of God's house has eaten us up.Lectures to my Students
Let us beware of despising preaching. In every age of the Church, it has been God's principal instrument for the awakening of sinners and the edifying of saints. The days when there has been little or no preaching have been days when there has been little or no good done in the Church. Let us hear sermons in a prayerful and reverent frame of mind, and remember that they are the principal engines which Christ Himself employed when He was upon earth. Not least, let us pray daily for a continual supply of faithful preachers of God's Word. According to the state of the pulpit will always be the state of a congregation and of a Church.Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke volume 1, (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1986) 128, 129
Avoid trivial pursuits. You are a child of God, destined for glory, and called to do great things in His Name. Do not waste your life on hobbies, sports, and other recreational pursuits. Do not throw away the precious moments of your life on entertainment, movies, and video games. Though some of these things can properly have a 'small place' in the Christian's life, we must be careful not to give undue attention to temporal and fruitless activities. Do not waste your life. Employ the time of your youth in developing the character and skills necessary to be a useful servant of God.
it is common for modern preachers to use the proverbial "we" in an effort to place themselves, humbly it is thought, within the mass of those needing the same message. Although there is a nugget of truth to this modern approach, it nevertheless undermines the basic essence of preaching--the prophetic.Deep Discipleship, 24
How could we have such a low view of the gospel of Jesus Christ that we have to manipulate men psychologically to get them to come down and pray a prayer? ...How many times have I heard evangelists say, "It'll only take five minutes."? No my dear friend, it will take your life-all of it! "We're just trying to attract people and then we'll gradually bring them in further and further." That is what the cults do, that's not what Jesus did. Notice that in the gospels every time a great crowd is following Jesus, he turns around and says something so radical to them that most of them walk away. Of course Jesus probably would not get invited to teach evangelism
Do you wonder about the trials in your life? Well let me just let you know the purpose of them is to cut away everything in your life, so that Jesus does become your life, and it's worth it.
It makes me so angry, when men treat the glorious gospel of Christ as though it was a first step into Christianity, that takes ten minutes of counselling, and then you go onto greater stuff.
You need grace! But someone says if you throw that much grace around it will be a liscence for sin. Only among the unconverted Church members. Oh they will take it as an excuse for sin. The genuinely converted will say this, if grace be such. If it be so large and so wide... depths I cannot sound. Then oh let me be holy! Unknown
False teachers are God's judgment on people who don't want God but in the name of religion plan on getting everything their carnal heart desires. That's why a Joel Osteen is raised up. Those people who sit under him are not victims of him, he is the judgment of God upon them, because they want exactly what he wants, and it's not God. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWMrKcFKqzk
The goal of the Christian life is the pursuit of an intimate knowledge of God that leads to a greater estimation of His worth, a greater satisfaction and joy in His person, and a greater giving of oneself for His glory.
I am very glad to see pastors wake up to the antinomian overcorrections of the "gospel-centered" movement.
Every sermon had to be:
The Bible says to do X.
You can't do X.
Jesus did X for you.
End of sermon.
But you don't believe the Gospel rightly until you obey Jesus.https://twitter.com/Brian_Sauve/status/1744192523592196597
The word trinity comes from the Latin word trinitas, which means threefold or three in one. The Bible affirms that the one true God exists as a Trinity: the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit. They are three distinct persons who are distinguishable from one another, and yet they share the same divine nature or essence and relate to one another in unbroken fellowship. It is important to note that the word trinity is not found in the Scriptures, but was first employed by Tertullian, one of the early Church Fathers, to describe what the Bible teaches about the triune nature of God.One True God, 12