Bill Johnson on the Tragedy of a Narrow Vision

"Vision starts with identity and purpose. Through a revolution in our identity, we can think with divine purpose. Such a change begins with a revelation of Him.

One of the tragedies of a weakened identity is how it affects our approach to Scripture. Many, if not most, theologians, make the mistake of taking all the good stuff contained in the prophets and sweeping it under that mysterious rug called, the Millenium... The mistaken idea is this: if it is good, it can't be for now.

A cornerstone of this theology is that the condition of the Church will always be getting worse and worse; therefore, tragedy in the church is just another sign of being in the last days. We are so entrenched in unbelief that anything contrary to this worldview is thought to be of the devil...

We are often more convinced of our unworthiness than we are of His worth. Our inability takes on greater focus that does His ability. But the same One who called fearful Gideon a Valiant Warrior and unstable Peter a Rock has called us the Body of His Beloved Son on earth."

Bill Johnson - When Heaven Invades Earth - Destiny Image - 2003 - p 34.

Dave Campbell on Manifestations of the Spirit

The quote was part of a sermon which covered the way in which people have criticised some of the physical manifestations that can take place when people are filled with the Holy Spirit.

"God is totally convinced He is God. So He can do what He likes, when He likes, if He likes, how He likes... whatever we like. We say 'that can't be God.' But what we are really thinking is 'if I were God I wouldn't do that.'

In case we didn't know, the job of God has already been taken! All applications for the post of God are closed... He is God!!"

Dave Campbell - Life in the Spirit 2008 - "Imparting the Anointing of the Spirit" - 27 February 2008

Bill Johnson on the Normal Christian Life

"It is abnormal for a Christian not to have an appetite for the impossible. It has been written into our spiritual DNA to hunger for the impossibilities around us to bow at the name of Jesus."

Bill Johnson - When Heaven Invades Earth - Destiny Image - 2003 - p 25.

Rob Rufus on God's view of sickness

"God hates sickness as much as He hates sin because He dealt with both at the same place."

Rob Rufus - "Session 1" - Grace and Glory Conference Dubai - 29 January 2008

Bob Kauflin on why All SGM Worship Leaders are Men

"However, in Sovereign Grace churches, given the importance of congregational singing, our worship leaders are fulfilling a very important role. They aren't simply leading "music"-we desire them to direct people's hearts, minds, and wills to the truths that they're singing. Their role includes elements that involve a degree of teaching, leading, and pastoring, which we believe the Bible says are male roles in the church. For that reason, all our worship leaders are men".

Bob Kauflin - "Can a Woman Lead Worship?" - Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood website - October 10, 2007 (accessed Friday 22nd February 2008).

Rob Rufus on Church without Apostles and Prophets

"But the church won't tolerate prophets and apostles - the church wants to stone them! Without apostles and prophets the church goes into weakness. The church goes into the absence of the miraculous - the church goes into church programmes that can grow churches into the thousands but no one is coming out of wheelchairs and deaf ears aren't opening and blind eyes aren't opening and it is seen as success but it has got NOTHING to do with the Book of Acts church that has got the power of God and signs and wonders. We cannot settle for anything so subnormal!"

Rob Rufus - "Invading the Impossible - Part 5" - City Church International, Hong Kong - 17th February 2008.

Jonathan Edwards on Exodus 9:21 (the POWER of the Holy Spirit)

"The idol of the children of Israel is ground to powder and the dust of it is cast into this brook, to signify that tis by God's Spirit that God consumes idols and destroys the kingdom of Satan".

Jonathan Edwards - "The Blank Bible" - Yale University Press, Illinois (2006) - (p292).

Rob Rufus on Christians and the Supernatural

"The majority of Christians in the world today do not operate in the supernatural and in signs and wonders on the level of the book of Acts. Why? Because they have been taught WRONG that these things have passed away or because they tried and were disappointed and out of their disappointment let the things they don't understand rob them of the things they do understand".

Rob Rufus - "Invading the Impossible - Part 5" - City Church International, Hong Kong - Sunday 17th February 2008.

Rob Rufus on the Purpose of Apostles and Prophets

"Apostolic/prophetic ministries need to be embraced and received with great joy but with fear because before they come, you can still hide in darkness but when they come they will explode life and light".

Rob Rufus - "Urgency of the Elijah Anointing - 1" - City Church International, Hong Kong - Sunday 21st May 2006.

Rob Rufus on Mark Driscoll

Mark Driscoll said: "Guys like David are well known for their ability to slaughter other men. I think these guys were dudes you know. Heterosexual, win-a-fight, punch-you-in-the-nose dudes and the problem in the church today is that it's just a bunch of nice, soft, tender, womified church boys".

Rob Rufus said: "We are not in this Old Covenant thing of killing and smashing! All these people - let's show them grace!".

Rob Rufus - "Session 3" - Glory and Grace Conference - Dubai - 31st January 2008.

Rob Rufus on How to Deal with Pharisees

"Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever and you know, the Pharisees are the same yesterday, today and forever. Their cousins and descendants come among us today still. You will never make the Pharisees happy - don't try. Don't get nervous about them or intimadated by their witchcraft. Just love them, forgive them and then take a whip and crack it over their heads".

Rob Rufus - "Session 3" - Grace and Glory Conference in Dubai - 31st January 2008.

Jonathan Edwards on Song of Solomon 8:8-12

"Who can doubt whether these four verses are of mystical signification and that therefore this song is designed as a mystical song, and not a mere human love song? What should lead earthly lovers in singing of each other's beauty and love, to take notice of such things as these?

If we suppose the song to be mystical and that 'tis concerning Christ and His Church, a good account can be given of these passages, a very natural interpretation analogous to other Scriptures. By the "little sister" we may suppose is meant the same as the younger brother in the parable of the prodigal and by Solomon's vineyard, the same with Christ's vineyard so often spoken of in Scripture and by the "keepers" the same with the keeper of the vineyard and labourers in the harvest in Christ's parable who partake of the fruit of their labours with Christ".

Jonathan Edwards - "The Blank Bible" - Yale University Press, Illinois (2006) - (p627).

Rob Rufus on Total Grace

"The gospel is not balanced; it's insane, it's radical, it is a scandal. The Holy God of Israel justifies freely sinners - that's a scandal.

The New Covenant is radical; it cannot be balanced. You cannot balance love with hate, you cannot balance cruelty with kindness, you cannot balance law with grace - they do not mix.

Jesus plus anything equals nothing. Jesus plus nothing equals everything."

Rob Rufus - "Pharisees and Legalists" - "Grace and Glory Conference" - Hong Kong, Wednesday 24th October 2007.

Rob Rufus on Acts

"The book of Acts is the lowest level and we are going to another level in these days... If you lose heart you will sell out and you will try to lower the Word of God down to the level of your experience but God wants us to trust Him to raise the level of our experience up to the promises of the Word of God.

If you sell out to the voice of reason and the voice of theology that says cessationism and that God's not moving at the same level, if you sell out to those lying spirits, you will develop theologies that rationalise and legitimise abnormal, subnormal Christianity. On the planet today the normal is rare but it's becoming more and more known on the earth."

Rob Rufus - "Pharisees and Legalists" - "Grace and Glory Conference" - Hong Kong, Wednesday 24th October 2007.

Rob Rufus on the New Testament

"The New Testament is a love letter from Jesus. The New Testament is not a prescription on how you should live; it is a description of what happens to people when the Spirit of God fills their lives.

If you try and live up to the New Testament as a prescription and not a description then you are going to be more under bondage than if you just lived under the old covenant. They only had 10 laws. But if you try and make the New Testament something you've got to live up to as a prescription you're finished, you're absolutely finished. And when the New Testament is being preached as a prescription of how we should live... - no it's not a prescription, it's a description of the result, the fruit, of not sowing to the flesh but sowing to the Spirit.

And when you walk in the Spirit and live in the Spirit you won't satisfy the desire of human effort, the flesh. You will come into rest and you will manifest the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit."

Rob Rufus - "Pharisees and Legalists" - "Grace and Glory Conference" - Hong Kong, Wednesday 24th October 2007.

Rob Rufus on the vital need for the supernatural in the church

"If you don't feed people they will eat even poison."

Rob Rufus - "Pharisees and Legalists" - "Grace and Glory Conference" - Hong Kong, Wednesday 24th October 2007.

Rob Rufus on the Spirit of God UPON You

"You can have the Spirit of God living inside you in fullness and do no miracles ... It is the Holy Spirit coming upon you for the manifestation of the operation, the demonstration and the administration of the power of God".

Rob Rufus - "Session 3" - Grace and Glory Conference, Dubai - 31st January 2008.

Rob Rufus on the Good News

"It doesn't matter if it sounds too good to be true - it IS so good because it IS so true!"

Rob Rufus - "Session 3" - Glory and Grace Conferecne Dubai - 31st January 2008.

Jonathan Edwards on the Song of Solomon

"In his commentary on Canticles or the Song of Solomon, Edwards joined the long line of expositors who have addressed the question of the nature of the song. He left no ambiguity in his answer. It is "no common love song or epithalamium" - a judgement he also rendered about Psalm 45. On the contrary he asserted Canticles is a "song of love between Christ and the church or the assembly of the saints" who are "spiritual virgins".

Introduction to Jonathan Edwards - "The Blank Bible" - (2006) - Yale University Press, Michigan - (p39).

Terry Virgo on Knowing Him and Knowing about Him

"An inadequate submission to Biblical truth can rob us of knowing Him in a dynamic way and experiencing Him in all His fullness".

Terry Virgo - "Knowing Him and Knowing About Him" - Terry Virgo's Blog - February 7th, 2008.

Rob Rufus on Loss of Joy

"Loss of joy is a sign that we have allowed the activity of the Holy Spirit's power and anointing in our lives and we have allowed the spirit of demonic witchcraft and the spirit of heaviness to have influence over our lives".

Rob Rufus - "Invading the Impossible - Part 4" - City Church International, Hong Kong - Sunday 3rd February 2008.

Rob Rufus on the Power of Disappointment

"What is the power of disappointment? The power of disappointment is that the power of the things you DON'T understand robs you of the things you DO understand".

Rob Rufus - "Invading the Impossible - Part 4" - City Church International, Hong Kong - Sunday 3rd February 2008.

Rob Rufus on the Spirit IN you and ON you.

"Every person born again has the Spirit of God fully inside of you! Romans 8 says every believer has the Spirit within you - but that doesn't mean to say He is ON you. There is a big difference between the Spirit being IN you and ON you. The Bible refers to the Spirit IN us about fruit - but ON us about power. Jesus got the Spirit IN Him when He was born. But at the age of 30 He looked up and saw the Spirit coming UPON Him like a dove ...The Spirit IN you? Wonderful but no demonstration of power. The Spirit ON you - that is when the demonstrations of power begin. All Christians have the Spirit inside them. Very few have the power of the Lord upon them".

Rob Rufus - "Invading the Impossible - Part 3" - City Church International, Hong Kong - Sunday 27th January.

Rob Rufus on Why the Holy Spirit has Come on You

"The Holy Spirit has come upon every one of you without measure to position you to shape the course of human history".

Rob Rufus - "Invading the Impossible - Part 3" - City Church International, Hong Kong - Sunday 27th January 2008.

Rob Rufus on Power and Fear of God

"You will never have the full measure of power if you do not have the full measure of the power of God".

Rob Rufus - "Invading the Impossible - Part 3" - City Church International, Hong Kong - Sunday 27th January 2008.

Rob Rufus on the Vital Power of a Right World View

"We are not talking about an earth getting worse and worse and worse and the Church being so weak and pathetic that we will have to escape to heaven one day. No we are talking about the earth getting BETTER and BETTER and BETTER and the government of God's peace breaking into the earth and evil being toppled and God's Kingdom invading this earth and manifesting God's Kingdom on earth!

The Anti-Christ and the Beast are not going to invade the earth and take it over. Read your Book of Revelation! The Church does! The power of God takes over the earth! And when you see this as your world-view and your vision for life of where the world is going then you understand why you need more than just a little anointing to survive a little life - you need a measure to enforce impossibilities to bow their knee and the hungry will be fed and orphans cared for!"

Rob Rufus - "Invading the Impossible - Part 3" - City Church International, Hong Kong - Sunday 28th January 2008.

Rob Rufus on Why Jesus Did Miracles

"When Jesus did miracles on this earth, He did not do them to show us what God could do. He did them to show us what ordinary human beings could do through being rightly related to God".

Rob Rufus - "Invading the Impossible - Part 3" - City Church International, Hong Kong - Sunday 27th January 2008.

Rob Rufus on Defining Revelation

"For revelation is an invitation to a divine encounter to empower you to do what has been revealed to you. Revelation is something that is hidden but is now no longer hidden. As soon as you see it, you have an anointing to access it".

Rob Rufus - "Invading the Impossible 3" - City Church International, Hong Kong - Sunday 27th January 2008.

Rob Rufus on Discerning True Messages of Grace

"In the church today, we can hear messages that do not convey the true grace of God ... we can discern a message by the fruits of that message. If it's an authentic message from our Father, the living God, the fruit of that message will be a desire to draw closer to Jesus. It will put zeal and creativity and joy in our hearts ... If those fruits don't come into our lives when we hear preaching, we must judge that word as a mixed message that does not contain grace from God".

Rob Rufus - "Living in the Grace of God" - Authentic Media - (1997) - (p25).

Terry Virgo on being free from performance

"You don't have to justify yourself. You don't have to impress others. You don't even have to impress God. In putting all your trust in Jesus and his cross you are saying that you have found one who has already impressed God on your behalf!"

Terry Virgo, God's Lavish Grace, Monarch, 2004, p67

Rob Rufus on Missing the Presence of God

"It is profoundly nerve-wracking and frightening when the manifest Presence of God isn't there".

Rob Rufus - "Invading the Impossible - Part 2" - City Church International, Hong Kong - Sunday 13th January 2008.

Terry Virgo on Orthodoxy

"You don't get points for getting it "right" ... if we are "right" then we should be doing it better!".

Terry Virgo - "Session 3 - Playing to Our Strengths" - "Half Time Team Talk Series" in Switzerland Newfrontiers Conference 2003.

Ram Babu on Relationship and Anointing

"The man who has a relationship with God is the man who can see the hand of God on his life ... I learned that the key for the anointing is a relationship with God".

Ram Babu - "Main Session 2" - "Faith for Healing Conference" - CCK, Brighton - Saturday 17th November 2007.

Ram Babu on Asking Questions

"I said; "God if I preach you, I don't want to preach you with mere words. I want You to back me up with miracles - I want You to come and show Yourself alive!". When I was born again I didn't have any mentors, spiritual fathers, Christian books, tapes, CDs, video cassettes and no preachers or teachers to train me. All I had was a Bible in my hand. And I said; "God - You did it! If not then - why not now in my life?". We need to say; "God if You are the same God then WHERE are the miracles? If my God does not change and His word does not change then WHERE are the miracles?".

Ram Babu - "Main Session 2" - "Faith for Healing Conference" - CCK, Brighton - Saturday 17th November 2007.

Ram Babu on Impartation

"Impartation brings Multiplication".

Ram Babu - "Main Session 2" - "Faith for Healing Conference" - CCK, Brighton - Saturday 17th November 2007.

John Piper on Defining Justification

"Justification is the act by which God says, “I no longer count you guilty. I count you as righteous with the righteousness of my son.”

John Piper - "Interview with John Piper About The Future of Justification: A Response to N. T. Wright" - Desiring God website - downloaded 1st February 2008.

Compare with Rob Rufus - "Definition of Justification".

John Piper on D A Carson

"I go out of my way to listen to Don Carson any chance I get so one reason (it's not the decisive reason) is that he is an amazing person. He is a scholar of the first rank. He is a pastoral scholar with a love for the Church. He is an evangelist who does what he calls "missions" at universities where he is arguing for the cause of Christ and leading people out of their unbelief. He is reformed and loves the sovereignity of God and the doctrines of grace. He is a family man and - although I don't have a lot of personal experience of this - he can do just about anything evidently!

He can build things with his hands so I admire men like that. There aren't many of them around. He is clear and he is articulate. He says things and you understand when he says them. But the decisive thing for the conference was that he lost his dad too. His dad ran a church in Canada and I knew he wanted to publish a book about his dad just like I want to write something about my dad".

John Piper - "Why Did You Invite Don Carson?" - 2008 Pastors Conference - Desiring God website - downloaded 1st February 2008.