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Awesome Quotes

How to preach to our kids like Tim Keller 

Tim Kellers'  homiletical method follows three steps: he explains the text, applies the text by allowing his hearers to feel the weight of the text, and finally reveals Christ as the fulfillment or the answer of the text. In this final step, Keller consistently expounds the meaning of the gospel as the substitutional and gracious death of Christ on the cross. While expressing the grace of God in the cross, he reveals how this gospel serves as the foundation for Christian living by motivating believers to holiness. Along with being a motivation, Keller reveals the gospel as the pattern for Christian living in every area of life.

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THOUGHT I SAW A CROSS

 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

Galatians 6.14

You know, as I was last night turning over this text in my mind, I shut my eyes and saw — for you see a great deal more with your eyes shut than with them open sometimes — as I looked I thought I saw a cross before me, and it began to grow. I saw it as I had never seen it before. It grew upon me — grew every moment. I saw it go downward, into the earth, and as its foot descended graves began to open — for resurrection comes from the cross — and hell itself began to tremble, for nothing shakes the infernal kingdom like the cross. Then I looked up, and the cross had been growing till it reached up to heaven, bearing with it tens of thousands of souls redeemed,

I turned my eye lower, and I saw its transverse beams, and these began to stretch to the east and to the west, and they took away the sins of all God's people and carried them into the place of forgetfulness, where they never shall be found;

And then the picture changed, and I saw before me the whole earth, as it now looks without rain, and it was all parched and browned, and seemed ready to be burned, and the plants hung down their heads, and the flowers seemed to be pining for the tears of the angels to drop down on them from heaven, but nothing came.

And while I thought, I saw before me a caravan, and there were camels, and hundreds of men, the drivers of the camels, and they were all hot, and panting, and fainting. They went to the well and rolled away the stone, but they found no water there. So they went onward, ready to drop at every step. Before them they thought they saw a cooling stream, but it was a mirage, and they were mocked. But I thought I saw them suddenly halt at the foot of the cross, and just at the bottom of it there sprang up a clear and crystal spring, and each one drank, and went on his way refreshed. And what are the sons of men, but a great caravan on the way to realms unknown, and where is there water for so much as one of them, except at the cross-foot? If they drink there, they live; if they drink not there, there is for them naught beside.

Adapted from C. H. Spurgeon

What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus?

What is it to be Missional? "Jesus told us to go into all the world and be his

ambassadors, but many churches today have inadvertently changed the "go and be" command to a "come and see" appeal. We have grown attached to buildings, programs, staff and a wide variety of goods and services designed to attract and entertain people.

"Missional is a helpful term used to describe what happens when you and I replace the "come to us" invitations with a "go to them" life. A life where "the way of Jesus" informs and radically transforms our existence to one wholly focused on sacrificially living

for him and others and where we adopt a missionary stance in relation to our culture. It speaks of the very nature of the Jesus follower."

Rick Meigs

Eugene Peterson in his book Run with the Horses: The Quest for Life at Its Best.iii

There is no living the life of faith, whether by prophet or person, without some kind of sustaining vision. At some deep level we need to be convinced, and in some way or other we need periodic reminders, that no words are mere words. In particular, God's words are not mere words. They are promises that lead to fulfillments. God performs what He announces. God does what He says.

“The cross is the blazing fire at which the flame of our love is kindled, but we have to get near enough to it for its sparks to fall on us.”

John Stott

“Reminding ourselves of the gospel is the most important daily habit we can establish. If the gospel is the most vital news in the world, and if salvation by grace is the defining truth of our existence, we should create ways to immerse ourselves in these truths every day. No days off.”

C.J. Mahaney in , The Cross Centered Life

Jesus rearranged His life for us, and it is imperative that we rearrange our lives for the people he died for.

(Harvie Conn & Manuel Ortiz, Urban Ministry)

"DECIDE FOR CHRIST"      By Martyn Lloyd Jones

     I assert that no sinner ever really "decides for Christ." That term "decides" has always seemed to me quite wrong. I have often heard people use expressions which have disturbed me and made me feel very unhappy. They have generally done so in ignorance and with the best intentions. I can think of an old man who often used the following expression: "You know friends, I decided for Christ forty years ago, and I have never regretted it." What a terrible thing to say! "Never regretted it!" But that is the kind of thing people say who have been brought up under this teaching and approach. A sinner does not "decide" for Christ, the sinner FLIES TO CHRIST in utter helplessness and despair, saying: "Foul, I to the fountain fly, wash me Saviour, or I die!"
     No man truly comes to Christ unless he flies to Him as his only refuge and hope, his only way of escape from the accusations of conscience and condemnation of God's holy law. Nothing else is satisfactory. If a man says that, "having thought about the matter and having considered all sides," he has on the whole "decided for Christ," and if he has done so without any emotion or feeling, I cannot regard him as a man who has been regenerated.
     The convicted sinner no more "decides for Christ" than the poor drowning man decides to take hold of the rope that is thrown him and suddenly provides him the only means of escape. The tenn is entirely inappropriate!

“God creates out of nothing. Therefore until a man is nothing, God can make nothing out of him.”                                      

  Martin Luther

LOOKING TO CHRIST

1. Faith is looking to Christ, not to how much faith I have. It is not faith that saves, but it is Christ who saves.
2. Faith is looking to Christ and not to my prayers, my worship, nor my meditations.
3. Faith is looking to Christ and not to the name I wear nor the doctrines I hold. It is not what but whom we believe.
4. Faith is looking to Christ, not to the law. The law wounds but never heals; it kills but never gives life.
5. Faith is looking to Christ and not to his mother, nor his apostles, nor to a cross. There is one God and one mediator.
6. Faith is looking to Christ, and not to the brethren; neither the best nor the worst of them-no confidence in the flesh.
7. Faith is looking to Christ, not to my strength nor to my weakness. All grace or strength we have is by His grace; and when I am weak, then am I strong.
8. Faith is looking to Christ, not to my works! Without Him our righteousness is filthy rags.
9. Faith is looking to Christ yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
10. Faith is looking to Christ at all times; and we never stop coming, looking, resting, trusting, believing, depending nor leaning on the Lord Jesus Christ.
      And when "clouds of death around me roll and angels come for my soul, no need to remind me of His grace, I will then be looking to Christ face to face!"                                

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 “Everything in a church ought to be done by pastor and people in love, meekness and with mutual consent, with each seeking the glory of Christ and the good of all (Phil. 2:3-8; Rom. 12:3, 10:1; 1 Cor. 4:6,7).”

Pastor Henry Mahan

THINGS THAT PROMOTE PEACE

 By Henry Mahan

     "Let us therefore follow after the things which promote peace, and things wherewith one may edify another" (Rom. 14:19).

1. Be careful to LOVE one another with a true heart. "Love covers a  multitude of failures.
2. Avoid a spirit of ARGUMENT AND DEBATE. One may win an argument and lose a friend.
3. Beware of JEALOUSY. Jealousy destroys happiness and builds suspicion.
4. Beware of ENVY. Let us learn to rejoice in another's gifts, blessings, and  happiness. God gives as HE will!
5. Do not MEDDLE in the private lives and domestic affairs of others.
6. Guard against a TOUCHY TEMPER."For every trifling thing to take offense  Shows either great pride or little sense."
7. Learn to KEEP A CONFIDENCE. "He that repeateth a matter separateth  very friends."
8. Strive to HEAL DIFFERENCES. "Blessed are the peacemakers."
9. Be always ready to FORGIVE ANYTHING. "Forgive us our sins AS we forgive those who sin against us."

THE GOALS OF PREACHING

       The true Gospel preacher has a four-fold goal in preaching: (1) to glorify God; (2) to exalt Christ; (3) see lost sinners brought to faith in Christ and true repentance; and (4) to encourage, edify, and comfort the people of God.
      Two things I want to avoid as your pastor in my preaching are: (1)  giving false professors false assurance and peace, and (2) wounding  Christ's sheep, upsetting them, causing undo anxiety, legal fear, and unbelief. As I prepare messages to preach in our worship services, I have become keenly aware that I am not responsible for HOW you hear what I preach. But I am  responsible for WHAT I preach. Our Lord commanded us to take heed WHAT we hear and HOW we hear (cf. Mark 4:24; Luke 8:18).                      

     In the Bible, and in our own experience, we see many different false gospels, but they all basically fall under two types: (1) peace with God when there is no peace (Jer. 6:13-14; 14:13-15; Isa. 28:14-15), and (2) anxiety, legal fear, and unbelief when there ought to be peace, assurance, and faith in Christ (Gal. 1:6-9; 3:1-3).
      When I stand before you to preach the Word of God, my prayer is that our sovereign Lord will use the message to convict and drive lost sinners out of their false refuges, whatever they are, and to Christ, and to drive saved sinners to find perfect peace and assurance in Christ. As one man wrote, "We need the whole Bible's doctrine of assurance which neither consoles the hypocrite
nor overthrows the child of God whose faith is young or weak or whose conscience is very tender."               

Bill Parker 

C. L. Sawyer — 1931-2004

In 1966, when I was a sixteen year old boy, I met C. L. (Charles) Sawyer, a man who had a profound influence on my life. He was a tall, strong, quiet man, but a man of firm conviction. Occasionally, he taught a teenage Sunday School class I had just begun to attend. Shortly after we met, the Lord was pleased to reveal Christ to me; and Charles took an interest in me. Though he was almost twenty years my senior, we became good friends.

            In those earliest days of my pilgrimage Charles Sawyer had a profound and lasting effect upon my life, for which I am ever his debtor. He set before a teenage boy an example of devotion, gentleness, and conviction, and effortlessly displayed the joy and peace that comes to those who take Christ’s yoke upon themselves. I can clearly see his broad smile and beaming eyes, as I write. In fact, that was the first thing about my friend that caught my attention. The first time I saw him I thought to myself, “I wonder what makes that man so happy.”

            Throughout my high school and college years, Charles was a constant example and encouragement. The difference in our ages allowed us only brief social contact on a day by day basis; but we saw one another several times a week. I was never in his company without profit to my soul.

            After college, I did not see or hear from Charles for twenty-five years. Then, in October 1995 I was asked to preach for a few days in Newport News, VA. Much to my delight and surprise, shortly after Shelby and I checked into our motel room someone knocked at the door. When I opened the door, there stood that man, with the same broad smile and beaming eyes I had seen in my mind for all those years, for whom I had often given thanks to God.

            We never lost contact again. Charles graciously proofed some of my manuscripts. We corresponded with one another periodically, and talked occasionally, but only saw one another one more time, when he and his wife, Helen, came to Danville for a conference. I received a note from Helen this week telling me that the Lord took my beloved friend home to glory. Immediately, I asked the Lord to grant me the grace possessed by Charles to exemplify to others the blessedness of faith in Christ that my friend exemplified before me. Today, my friend’s eyes are sparkling brighter and his smile is broader than can be imagined. He is ravished with the Christ; and Christ is ravished with him! How I envy him! 

Don Fortner

Oh, how changed a man is he now!         (

"Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new  creature; old things have passed away; behold,  all things are become new!" 2 Corinthians 5:17

Originally shaped in iniquity, and conceived in sin--the love of sin and the hatred of holiness are born with us. But when by the Holy Spirit we are born again, this original and natural love of sin and hatred of holiness are reversed! A new and heavenly principle is implanted which leads the regenerate to hate sin and love holiness. Now, it is in this divine principle that the love of holiness in the believer is implanted--and a power in antagonism to sin is implanted in his heart. What a reverse now transpires! The regenerate now love what they once hated--and hate what they once loved! We loved sin, lived in sin, in some of its many forms . . . intellectual sin,  gross sin,  refined sin,  open sin, secret sin, the lust of the flesh,  the lust of the eye,  the pride of life,  the power of Mammon,  the fascination of the world, the idolatry of the creature,  the love of SELF. Some, or all these forms of sin maintained the supremacy, and held their unbroken, undisputed rule. Oh, how changed a man is he now!  The sins which he once committed, the objects which he once loved, the tastes which he once cultivated, the sensualities in which he once indulged, have lost their power . . .  to fascinate, to please,  to enthrall.

Octavius Winslow

See the old man rise and fume

We must have . . . our idols exposed,   our lusts dragged forth from their holes,   our carnal religion made loathsome in our eyes,  our own righteousness shown to be filthy rags. Heart-searching preaching, where it does not convince, is sure to offend. Nothing is so cutting to an unrenewed  heart, especially when there is a decent outside, as to have its rottenness exposed, its refuge of lies swept away, and the pillow of 'forms' whereon it was sleeping removed from under its head. Whoever attempts this, must expect to see the old man rise and fume.

(author unknown)

The Idolatry Trap

When you lock your eyes on an idol i.e desiring something or someone above God you are really looking for God. For an adventurous, eternal relationship with him, but you're looking in the wrong place. All sin is a matter of not being satisfied in God and looking, for satisfaction outside of God and outside of his way. The built-in desire for God is so strong that if it latches onto something less than God, it becomes slavery and addiction to that thing. Jesus said, "Everyone who sins is a slave to sin" (John 8:34). People without any relationship to God can be trapped by their idolatries, and so can some Christians who have real faith and have tasted something of God's grace, but still have misdirected desires. To be free of the idolatry trap, they need to find fuller satisfaction in God.

Adapted – David  Feddes