Quotable Thursdays

The seldom-stated truth is that many of us have a longing for God and an aversion to God. Some of us seek Him and flee Him at the same time. We may scrupulously observe the Ten Commandments and rarely miss church on a Sunday morning, but a love affair with Jesus is just not our cup of tea.
Brennan Manning
The Furious Longing of God

Also I make a decree that if anyone alters this edict, a beam shall be pulled out of his house, and he shall be impaled on it, and his house shall be made a dunghill.
Darius’ Zero Tolerance Policy
Ezra 6:11 (English Standard Version)

A man can’t be always defending the truth; there must be a time to feed on it.
CS Lewis

I would guess that of the sermons I’ve heard in the last twenty-five years, 15 percent had a discernible point; I could say, ‘The sermon was about X.’ Of those 15 percent, however, less than 10 percent demonstrably based the point on the text read. That is, no competent effort was made to persuade the hearer that God’s Word required a particular thing; it was simply asserted….Ministers have found it entirely too convenient and self-serving to dismiss congregational disinterest on the basis of attenuated attention spans or spiritual indifference. In most cases, the inattentiveness in the congregation is due to poor preaching—preaching that does not reward an energetic, conscientious listening. When attentive listeners are not rewarded for their energetic attentiveness, they eventually become inattentive.
T. David Gordon
Why Johnny Can’t Preach
via Challies.com

Wondering about Closed Doors Conversations

Every once in a while, my wife and I will have a closed door conversation. We will stay in the car for a while or sit on the back porch or send the kids to the other side of the house. Usually it is no big deal, just stuff that doesn't really pertain at that moment to anyone else but my wife and I.

In Galatians chapter one Paul hints at some closed door conversations. His emphasis in this opening chapter is that the Gospel that he preaches came from God, not from man. It is not a human philosophy or mortal theology, but the revelation of Jesus Christ. Who he spoke to and what he spoke about does not pertain to the subjects at hand.

But he does mention two people he did have conversations with...Peter and James the brother of Jesus. But he does not say what they spoke about.

Closed doors or not, this inquiring mind wants to know. Oh, to have been a fly on the wall.

With James, he may have asked, "what was it like to grow up with the only sinless person in history...and not notice!" Paul, devout student of the Scriptures, who so vigorously persecuted the church and sought to destroy the name of Jesus must have commiserated with another who really should have known better.

And with Peter he must have certainly wanted to know the inside scoop of Jesus earthly ministry. What was it like to be with Him on the Mount, in the sea and on the road? What was it like to hear Him teach, to see Him heal, to have Him wash your feet?

Most importantly, what was it like to be forgiven for your greatest failures?

We obviously cannot know what they discussed, nor are we supposed to. It doesn’t really pertain to us. But it did to Paul. As much as he relied on the intimacy of his walk with Jesus, he turned to these two to grow him and encourage him.

To whom do you turn to in order to be sharpened in your faith these days?

May you have a brother, may you be a brother with whom you can close the doors and have your faith and ministry strengthened.

Quotable Thursdays

Government: If you think the problems we create are bad, just wait until you see our solutions.

Eddie Hastings status bar on Facebook

People know what is sin; they just don't believe in it anymore. We mix up happiness and holiness, and God is no longer the reference point.

Michael Horton

Westminster Seminary

USA Today article

Without an idea of sin, Easter is meaningless.

Mark Driscoll

Mars Hill, Seattle

USA Today article

We began to put so much emphasis on how our way of doing church affected the lost, we failed to notice how it was affecting the saved.

Dr. Chuck Kelley

New Orleans Baptist Seminary

blaming a breakdown in discipleship for our evangelistic downturn

Our task is not to mirrow our culture but to convert it, and the cross calls us to do that in the most radical of ways.

Derek Tibball

The Message of the Cross

Quotable Thursdays

Death be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so.
John Donne

Eewh, Satan is bad. Really bad.
Susan Moffett

More matter, with less art.
William Shakespeare (Hamlet)
A one sentence homilitics course.

Observe how the character of the Holy One, blessed be He, differs from that of flesh and blood. A mortal can put something into an empty vessel, but a into a full one. But the Holy One, blessed be He, is not so; He puts more into a full vessel, but not an empty one.
Traditional Rabbinic saying
quoted in Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary

This is a dream I've had since lunch, I'm not giving up on it.
Michael Scott

More than Musing About the Resurrection

As I prepare for Resurrection Sunday, I have been look at some old messages. Here are some themes I have used to mark the Resurrection.

2000 What Difference Does Easter Make? (Matthew 28:1-7)

2002 Meeting Jesus Outside an Empty Tomb (John 20:1-18)
Mary Magdalene

2003 Resurrection as the Central Message of the Early Church (Selections from Acts)

2004 Transformed by the Resurrection (Mary, John, Thomas and Peter)

2005 Heavenly Words -- What an Angel Says to You Today (Matthew 28:1-10)

2005 Why I Believe (John 20)
speaking to skeptics, believers with doubts and believers with a mission

2006 Resurrection Significance -- A Sermon in Stereo (Ephesians 1:15-23 and 1 Peter 1:3-6)

2007 Dealing with Doubt -- Luke 24:1-35

2008 Is the Resurrection Believable? (1 Corinthians 15:1-11)


I found a statistic in a message from a couple of years ago that stated that 75% of nonChristians claim to believer the Biblical account of the resurrection. That may be the most troubling polling data I have ever seen.

My goal on this day is to shake folks free of a polite assent to the resurrection. It happened and it changes EVERYTHING!