Sir Winston Churchill on Totalitarian Leadership

Sir Winston Churchill was making this statement against government - but it could just as easily apply to wrong and legalistic church leadership;

"The power of the Executive to cast a man into prison without formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him the judgment of his peers, is in the highest degree odious and is the foundation of all totalitarian government whether Nazi or Communist."

Sir Winston Churchill - "Quotes from Sir Winston Churchill" - Date: November 21, 1943

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones - A Warning to Cessationists!

"If your doctrine of the Holy Spirit does not leave any room for revival, then you cannot expect this kind of thing. If you say the baptism of the Spirit was once and for all on Pentecost and all who are regenerated are just made partakers of that, then there is no room left for this objective coming, this repetition, this falling of the Holy Spirit in power and authority on a church. But thank God - there IS room left! The teaching of Scripture plus the long history of the Christian church shows this so clearly".

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones - "Joy Unspeakable" - Kingsway Books, Eastbourne (2000) - (p44o).

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones on the Purpose of Spiritual Gifts

"The purpose of the gifts is to call attention to the Lord ... The second object of the gifts is evangelistic ... We must test anything that claims to be a movement of the Spirit in terms of it's evangelistic power ... God's way has been to revive His people and then because they are revived, His power is manifested in their preaching, their witness, their testimony and in the whole of their lives".

Dr Martyn Ll0yd-Jones - "Joy Unspeakable" - Kingsway Books, Eastbourne (2000) - (p256).

Ern Baxter on the Church's Great Mandate

"Where we in the Church have failed throughout history has been in losing our vision and a sense of our mandate. Rather than working towards the vision of Kingdom culture - God's government in it's ultimate form, we have been taken up with lesser things and have been satisfied with incomplete emphases".

Ern Baxter - "Kingdom Culture: Rediscovering our Biblical Mandate" - New Wine Magazine - September 1981 - page 15.

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and Division

"Many people at the present time say; "You mustn't touch (the baptism of the Holy Spirit) this subject, because it is only producing strife and division among Christian people". This I find really pathetic; that is the charge that has always been brought".

Dr Martyn Ll0yd-Jones - "Joy Unspeakable" - Kingsway Books, Eastbourne (2000) - p173

David Pawson on the Song of Solomon

"The love between a man and a woman is like the love between God and human beings. Both are real and the former helps explain the latter".

David Pawson - "Unlocking the Bible" - Collins (2003) - (p373).

C H Spurgeon on Hebrews 12 & God's "Punishment"

"God's people can never by any possibility be punished for their sins. God has punished them already in the person of Christ, Christ, their substitute, has endured the full penalty for all their guilt, and neither the justice nor the love of God can ever exact again that which Christ has paid. Punishment can never happen to a child of God in the judicial sense".

C H Spurgeon - "Chastisement" - New Park Street Pulpit - delivered on Sabbath Morning, October 28, 1855

Homer Simpson on Maturity

"Oh Lisa ... when I was young I used to believe in things too".

Homer Simpson to Lisa after she had kidnapped a pig from his BBQ trying to promote her belief in vegetarianism.

Ryan Rufus on God's Master Plan - Relationship!

"God’s grand master plan is that He would have and create a people that would not relate to Him and have relationship with Him on the basis of their righteousness but He would create a people that would relate to God and have relationship with God on the basis of Christ’s righteousness".

Ryan Rufus - "God's Eternal Covenant" - City Church International, Hong Kong - Sunday 28th October 2008.

Ryan Rufus on God's Master Plan

"What is God’s grand master plan? To have a people clothed in His righteousness. His people – with revelation so that they can come before Him in perfect standing based on what He has done in His glory and His pleasure".

Ryan Rufus - "“God’s Eternal Grace Covenant” – City Church International, Hong Kong – Sunday 27th October 2008.

Dr Stanley Jebb on Covenant Theology

"The emphasis should not be on “the covenant” as there are many, but on the God of the covenants and the blessings of the NEW covenant".

Dr Stanley Jebb - "Federal Vision" - Alethinos Reflections - July 28, 2009

Terry Virgo on the True Glory of the Church

"Paul wrote to the Philippians, ‘My brothers, my beloved, my longed-for, my joy, my crown’ (Phil. 4:1). Will he ever stop? How many more words will tumble out to express his love and delight in the church that he has helped to bring to birth? How he expresses something of Christ’s heart to his beloved church.How far removed from the ‘hire ‘em’ and ‘fire ‘em’ atmosphere which sometimes prevails in the modern church".

Terry Virgo - "Firstline" - Newfrontiers Magazine - July-September 2009 issue.

Rob Rufus on God's Plans for Good for US!!

"He is never trying to reduce or diminish or dwarf my world – He is always summoning me to expanding horizons of new encounters and experiences of influence for the Kingdom of Heaven".

Rob Rufus - "We are God's Workmanship" - City Church International, Hong Kong - Sunday 24th May 2009.

Rob Rufus on the True Equality of Sin and Gospel

"When we are free from the law and the insanity of performance and trying to impress one another with ourselves and we find grace and the mercy and kindness and grace of God and the majesty of the gospel then it breaks down the dividing walls of prejudice and helps us see that the drunk in the street and the prostitute down the road is loved equally by God and we are as sinful as they are because there is only one standard and it is absolute perfection and anything below it is absolute imperfection. So who wants to be the best sinner?! Because the best sinner in hell is not a great rating to have. No one will get to heaven except by perfection".

Rob Rufus - "We Are God's Workmanship" - City Church International, Hong Kong - Sunday 24th May 2009.

Lydia on Genuine Relationship with God!

"Genuine relationship starts when we see that the Father wants us desperately regardless of our choices in life. Regardless of our behavior. When we see His love is greater than our mistakes, we will trust Him. We won't fear Him because His love is perfect. And we know that perfect love casts out fear".

Lydia Joy - "Today's Musings ..." - A Joy to Be Me - Monday 22nd June 2009.

John Piper on the Cost of the Great Commission

"The Great Commission is not child's play. It is costly. Very costly. The coddled Western world will sooner or later give way to great affliction. And when it does, whose vision of God will hold? Where are Christians being prepared for great global sorrows? Where is the Christian mind and soul being prepared for the horrors to come? Christians in the West are weakened by wimpy worldviews. And wimpy worldviews make wimpy Christians. God is weightless in our lives. He is not terrifyingly magnificent. His sovereignity is secondary (at best) to His sensitivity".

John Piper - "Spectacular Sins and Their Global Purpose in the Glory of Christ" - Crossway Books (2008) - (p13).

Dave Bish on the Song of Solomon

"I turned to Song of Songs and didn't follow the popular line taken by the likes of MacArthur, Mahaney and Driscoll. I'm happy to derive lessons for marriage from the Song but convinced that firstly we must read it about Christ and his bride, the church".

Dave Bish - "Song of Songs 3:6-5:1 (Reading Family Church)" - The Blue Fish Project - Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Terry Virgo and the Challenge of Faith

"The challenge is to make sure that faith remains faith even when we experience delay. We must not slip the car into neutral and begin to coast. We must keep the gear of faith fully engaged, especially when we encounter unexpected curves in the road".

Terry Virgo - "Faith to inherit – Part 2" - Terry Virgo's Blog - June 15th, 2009

John Piper on the Song of Solomon

"It is no accident that centuries of biblical scholars construed the Song of Solomon as a story about Christ and the church ... they were not wrong in seeing that the ultimate meaning of marital sex is about the final delight between Christ and His Church".

John Piper - "This Momentary Marriage - a Parable of Permamence" - IVP, Leicester (2009) - (p128).

Don Carson on the True Joy and Power of the Gospel

"If you and I, whether we are ministers of churches, simply talking to a neighbour over the fence, leading a choir or teaching a Sunday School Class, lose the joy of our salvation, we have bastardized the gospel. If ever we want simply the power of the gospel, but no longer delight in the simple and profound truth that before the heavens were formed our names were written down in the Lamb's book of life; if ever we want the power of the gospel and the unction of the Spirit of God but do not delight that our sins are forgiven, that endless eons into eternity still we will be trusting the Christ who shed His blood on our behalf - not cut off, not condemned, not confined to eternal perdition, but forgiven, transformed, renewed by the love of God in Christ Jesus - then the proclamation of the gospel degenerates to mere game".

Don Carson - “Rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven" - The Gospel Witness 61:7 (June 17, 1982): 6–7, 26–27.

Don Carson on the Puritans

"Their works are not infallible, and in terms of scholarly criticism and modern exegetical tools, their tomes are strangely dated. Nevertheless it is impossible to read them without feeling the fire burn within, without being humbled by their almost fantastic grasp of Scripture, of theology. Indeed, it is a little disturbing to testify how difficult it is to find areas in which the Puritans may be faulted. Such an apparent scarcity of defects is likely to reduce the credibility of a historical account. If God by matchless grace has worked to to produce an abundant fruit of superior quality in centuries past, let us lay on Him with the importunate cries of faith to perform in men once again the good work done in those whom history dubs "the Puritans".

D A Carson - "THE PURITANS: WHAT THEY HAVE THAT THE MODERNS HAVE NOT" - Northwest Journal of Theology 1 (1972): 75–92.

Dr Stanley Jebb on Ezekiel 37 (Word and Spirit)

"A doctrinalist may be very sincere, or he may not, he may be a religious hypocrite ... This is illustrated by Ezekiel’s vision in Ezekiel 37, the valley of dry bones. The bones are like doctrine. When they came together in proper order they were like a good systematic theology! But very dry. They needed flesh and sinews in order to live, move, act. In other words, the flesh, muscle, can illustrate living the life.

The flesh is shaped by the skeleton beneath it, and supported by it. Without the skeleton the muscle and sinew would be a heap on the ground. But those reconstituted bodies needed the life, the Spirit blowing through them. Only when all three were together did they become a living army. The skeleton alone (doctrinalism) is not enough. But the flesh and the Spirit without the skeleton becomes a writhing mass on the ground. We need sound doctrine, lived out in godly lives, empowered by the Holy Spirit".

Dr Stanley Jebb - "Beware of Doctrinalism" - Alethinos Reflections - June 9, 2009.

Don Carson on the Balance Between Intellect and Emotion

"Biblical warnings about how knowledge puffs up but love builds up (e.g., 1 Cor 8) do not condone anti-intellectualism; conversely, biblical mandates to love God with our minds do not grant scholarship an elevated status that exempts it from adoration, faith, obedience, and love. At some level, scholarship without humility and obedience is arrogant; talk of knowing and loving God without scholarship is ignorant".

Don Carson - "The Scholar as Pastor" - Carl F. H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School - Thursday, April 23, 2009.

Kathryn Kuhlman on Why God Sometimes Doesn't Heal

"Most of us have our own personal interpretations of how God should run the universe - based on our own limited personal experiences. Kathryn on the other hand, defied all tradition. She defied the boxes men tried to fit her into. When asked why many who were sick left her service unhealed, she would just shake her head and say; "I don't know - I just don't know". In fact she once said that the very first question she wanted to ask Jesus when she got to heaven was, "Why were some not healed?".

The theologians had answers. Hundreds of them. But the theologians never saw miracles. Kathryn, who was one of the greatest instruments of the miracle power of the Holy Spirit had no answers. "I have no healing virtue", she said over and over again. "I cannot heal a single person. All I do is preach faith. God does the healing. Whom He heals and whom He chooses not to heal is His business. I am, but His handmaiden".

Jamie Buckingham - "Daughter of Destiny - The Only Authorised Biography of Kathryn Kuhlman" - Bridge-Logos, Florida (2008 - 6th edition) - (p48).

Joel Virgo on the Presence of God in Church

"A central idea of Paul’s is that each member of the gathered church shares the privilege of carrying and conducting the presence of God and his many gifts. This adds enormous potential to what happens when we gather".

Joel Virgo - "1 Corinthians 14:1-25 Gifts and Ministries of the Holy Spirit Part III" - CCK Blog - June 1st, 2009.

John Hosier on the Word of God

"Scripture doesn't tell us everything we want to know but it tells us all we need to know for living a godly life".

John Hosier cited in Terry Virgo - "Farewell to John & Sue Hosier" - CCK Blog - May 22nd, 2009.

Terry Virgo on MY Kind of Church!!

"Independent individuals retain their personal devotions, do their personal evangelism and sustain their personal walk with God, but where is the family? Where is the intimacy? New converts need to encounter not simply a series of meetings and events but a family dwelling together in love and light where grace is not simply ‘in the air’, but in personal relationships which communicate life, support and strength".

Terry Virgo - "The Family of God – part 2" - Terry Virgo's Blog - May 28th, 2009

Rob Rufus on the Number 1 Cause of Stress and Anxiety

"The number one ultimate reason for living with stress and worry and anxiety in your life - and I got this revelation by worry and stress in my life and learning over years! - is not lists that you get in books but it is simply this (and I say this tenderly and without judgement) - stubborn, arrogant pride and a refusal to trust the awesomeness of God".

Rob Rufus - "Stress-Free Living" - City Church International, Hong Kong - Sunday 17th May 2009.

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones on the Possible "Abuse" of Grace

"The true preaching of the gospel of salvation by grace alone always leads to the possibility of this charge being brought against it. There is no better way to test as to whether a man is really preaching the New Testament gospel of salvation than this, that some people might misunderstand it and misinterpret it to mean that because you are saved by grace alone it does not matter at all what you do; you can go on sinning as much as you like because it will rebound all the more to the glory of grace".

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones - "Romans; An Exposition of Chapter 6; The New Man" - Banner of Truth Trust, Edinburgh (1972) - (p8).

Jerry Bridges on the "Danger" of License

"Paul realised that his unqualified presentation of the grace of God left him open to being misunderstood. Paul himself knew that his insistence on the pure grace of God without any admixture of commitment or discipline or obedience on our part could cause us to misunderstand him. He knew his readers could respond with this attitude; "Well if that's true, let's go out and sin all we want. The more we sin, the more we cause God's grace to abound".

This type of response is always a possibility. In fact if our concept of grace does not expose us to that possible misunderstanding then we do not throughly understand grace. I believe it is because we are afraid of this attitude that we often change the doctrine of grace into a doctrine of works".

Jerry Bridges - "Transforming Grace - Living Confidently in God's Unfailing Love" - Navpress (1991) - (p74).

Jerry Bridges on Praying Our Needs to God

"Think now of what you feel your greatest needs are, both spiritually and temporally. As you bring those needs to God in prayer, which would you rather present to Him as a consideration for meeting those needs; your spiritual disciplines, your obedience and your sacrifice imperfect as they are; or the infinite and perfect merit of Jesus? To ask the question is to answer it - is it not?".

Jerry Bridges - "Transforming Grace - Living Confidently in God's Unfailing Love" - Navpress (1991) - (p72).

Jerry Bridges on the Promises of God

"The Bible is full of God's promises to provide for us spiritually and materially, to never forsake us, to give us peace in times of difficult circumstances, to cause all circumstances to work together for our good and finally to bring us safely home to glory. Not one of those promises is dependent on our performance. They are all dependent on the grace of God given to us through Jesus Christ".

Jerry Bridges - "Transforming Grace - Living Confidently in God's Unfailing Love" - Navpress (1991) - (p71).

Jerry Bridges on the Operative Kingdom Principle

"In the Kingdom of heaven the operative principle is not merit but grace".

Jerry Bridges - "Transforming Grace - Living Confidently in God's Unfailing Love" - Navpress (1991) - (p62).

R C Sproul on Relying on God's Grace

"Perhaps the most difficult task for us to perform is to rely on God's grace and God's grace alone for our salvation. It is difficult for pride to rest on grace. Grace is for other people - for beggars. We don't want to live by a heavenly welfare system. We want to earn our own way and atone for our own sins. We like to think that we will go to heaven because we deserve to be there".

R C Sproul - "Suffering and Merit?" - Tabletalk Magazine - Volume 13 - No 1 - (February 1989) - Ligonier Ministries - Orlando, Florida - (p5).

Jerry Bridges on Experiencing God's Grace (or Not)

"Perhaps the larger reason why we do not experience more of God's grace is our misconception that, having been saved by grace, we must now at least to some degree, "pay our own way" and earn God's blessings in our daily lives ... In fact this misconception that we must pay our own way is more than a mistaken theological notion. It actually springs from the perverse disposition of our hearts - the disposition of pride".

Jerry Bridges - "Transforming Grace - Living Confidently in God's Unfailing Love" - Navpress (1991) - (p58).

Jerry Bridges on the Superabundance of God's Grace

"Because we do not comprehend the superabundance of God's grace and generosity, we ask Him for paltry blessings, the fifty-cent variety, when we could be drawing on the abundance of His riches".

Jerry Bridges - "Transforming Grace - Living Confidently in God's Unfailing Love" - Navpress (1991) - (p58).

Terry Virgo on God's Attitude Towards Us

"Is that how it is with you? Do you obey because you are thoroughly persuaded that God can be trusted? When you know that God plans for you in love and that He is indeed totally for you, why should you not completely trust Him and therefore do what He says?".

Terry Virgo - "Do I have to? (Continued)" - Terry Virgo's Blog - May 15th, 2009

Terry Virgo on Victory Through Promises

"Your giants will hurl cruel taunts at you: ‘You’re stupid and feeble!’ ‘You weren’t wanted in the first place.’ ‘You’re a nobody and no one cares about you.’ You feel the wounds and despise yourself – but you needn’t trail off dejected and despairing. God has given you his stones, his promises. He wants you to lift up your head, pick up those promises and fling the truth at the enemy: ‘God has called me by name. He loves me. I’m chosen and precious and I have a glorious inheritance! I’m going to move on with Jesus. I’ve lived with these negative feelings for years but I’m not going to put up with them any more. From now on I’m going to use the Word of God to overcome. I’m going to step out into the freedom and victory that Jesus has won for me!".

Terry Virgo - "His precious and magnificent promises" - Terry Virgo's Blog - May 6th, 2009.

Terry Virgo on the Spirit of Revelation

"We must not simply learn the jargon, praising the view when all we’ve seen is a cloud-obscured mountain, leaving us to wonder what else there is to experience. No. Like Paul, we must get on our knees and pray, ‘Lord, open our eyes to see what you’re really like.’ Then God can reveal to us his glory; then we will be changed people and then all our Goliaths will have to step aside".

Terry Virgo - "The Spirit of revelation to open your eyes" - Terry Virgo Blog - April 28th, 2009

Tim Keller on Reaching Unbelievers

"We tend as Christians not to know what to do with non-Christians other than to say; "You're wrong". There are an awful lot of sermons that go like that. Here's how the sermon goes; "We believe this and this. You out there in the world around us don't believe this and this. We are right. You are nowhere near right. Let us pray. And we pray that the Holy Spirit will convict you through my words as negative and as blunt as they are".

There's another way to go here! Every culture has got some things that they appreciate about Christianity and some things they hate about Christianity. The attractive parts are A-Doctrines and the unattractive doctrines are B-Doctrines. Both are true. If you want to preach B-Doctrines in a way that is disarming and engaging then you have got to float the B-Doctrines on a raft of A-Doctrines. If you put the stones together in a river they will sink".

Tim Keller - "Preaching the Gospel" - Newfrontiers Leaders Conference at Westminster Chapel - Wednesday 25th February 2009.

Dr Stanley Jebb on Humour and Jokes in the Pulpit

"A minister needs to preserve a measure of dignity consistent with the importance of the message he proclaims. “Familiarity breeds contempt”. It does not help the cause of the Gospel if the man of God is just one of the lads, always telling jokes and fooling about. That is not to say that a minister will never tell a funny story. There is great value in humour in the right place and at the right time. But if that is what he is mainly known for there is something wrong. Incidentally it goes without saying that a minister should never tell shady or off-colour jokes, nor should he enjoy them when others tell them!".

Dr Stanley Jebb - "Approachability" - Alethinos Reflections - accessed April 27th 2009.

Dr Stanley Jebb on the Approachability of the Pastor

"Some men keep themselves so aloof that the church members feel they cannot get near him. That is a sad situation. The shepherd must know his sheep. On the other hand, a minister needs to preserve a measure of dignity consistent with the importance of the message he proclaims. “Familiarity breeds contempt”. It does not help the cause of the Gospel if the man of God is just one of the lads, always telling jokes and fooling about. That is not to say that a minister will never tell a funny story. There is great value in humour in the right place and at the right time. But if that is what he is mainly known for there is something wrong. Incidentally it goes without saying that a minister should never tell shady or off-colour jokes, nor should he enjoy them when others tell them!"

Dr Stanley Jebb - "Approachability" - Alethinos Reflections - accessed April 27th 2009.

Dr Stanley Jebb on the Authority of the Pastor

"Strictly speaking, the only authority a pastor has is the spiritual authority inherent in the message he preaches ... One thing, however, is clear, and that is that a minister should never be a dictator. Autocracy is quite out of place in the pastoral office".

Dr Stanley Jebb - "Authority" - Alethinos Reflections - accessed April 27th 2009.

Mark Driscoll on Singles and the Song of Solomon

"Sex in the Song of Solomon ... (this) is my favorite part of the Bible. If you are single, I apologize in advance. This will be a very unpleasant sermon for you, because the Bible says to not merely listen to the Word but do what it says. And you can’t".

Mark Driscoll - "“Sex, a Study of the Good Bits from Song of Solomon” - Preached in Edinburgh, Scotland on a Sunday morning [at a 12:00 service] on November 18, 2007.

Rob Rufus on Law and Sin

"The law didn't make you a sinner. Sinning was a condition you were born in from first Adam".

Rob Rufus - "Self-Righteousness vs the Gift of Righteousness" - City Church International, Hong Kong - Sunday 9th December 2007.

Douglas Moo on the Place of Law

"The entire Mosaic Law comes to fulfillment in Christ and this fulfillment means that this law is no longer a direct and immediate source of, or judge of the conduct of God's people. Christian behaviour rather is now guided directly by the "law of Christ". This "law" does not consist of legal prescriptions and ordinances, but of the teaching and example of Jesus and the apostles, the central demand of love and the guiding influence of the Holy Spirit".

Douglas Moo - "The Law of Christ as the Fulfillment of the Law of Moses" - in "Five Views on Law and Gospel" - Stanley Gundry (ed) - Zondervan (1999) - (p343).

David Holden on the Holy Spirit and Evangelism

"The Holy Spirit is a great evangelist! Why are we shutting Him out of our meetings just because unbelievers are there?".

David Holden - "Ministers of the Spirit" - "Together on a Mission" Leadership Conference - Brighton - 2006.

David Holden on Charismatic Life in Church

"We must model charismatic life HOWEVER big the church is!".

David Holden - "Ministers of the Spirit" - "Together on a Mission" Leadership Conference - Brighton - 2006.

John G Lake on a Passion for Healing

"A great cry to God, such as had never before come from my soul, went up to God. She must not die! I would not have it! Had not Christ died for her? … No words of mine can convey to another soul the cry that was in my heart and the flame of hatred for death and sickness that the Spirit of God had stirred within me. The very wrath of God seemed to possess my soul!".

John G. Lake - "Adventures in God" - p50-51 cited in Phil Moore - "A Healthy Theology of Healing" - Newfrontiers Theological Papers - 2008 - p15.

Terry Virgo on the FULL Gospel!

"If the church becomes a static establishment it loses its raison d’être. It ceases to function in line with its God-given calling. We must not forget that we are not only witnesses to his resurrection but are also ourselves resurrected people, co-raised with Christ and seated with him in the heavenlies.

The resurrected and enthroned Christ poured out his Holy Spirit, raising a people from death to life. The dead bones have come alive and come together as a mighty army going to the ends of the earth.
The church, the fulfilment of God’s great plan, is an extraordinary people in the Messiah called from among Jews and Gentiles and going to all the nations. We are the true children of Abraham, a pilgrim people, called to bless all the families of the earth".

Terry Virgo - "Easter meditations (conclusion)" - Terry Virgo's Blog - April 14th, 2009.

Mark Dever on the Song of Songs

Pah ...

"It seems to me that it is best to understand Song of Songs as a song or collection of sings that are, well, basically human love poems. This seems like the natural and literal meaning of the text doesn't it? ... In This way lovers are lovers and desire is desire. We might be embarrassed - at least in a sermon - by all the talk about breasts and kisses and embracing arms, but we understand it ... Song of Songs is certainly an important book about marital love".

Mark Dever - "Song of Songs: Wisdom for the Married" - in "The Message of the Old Testament" - Crossway Books, Illinois (2006) - (p553-554)

John Piper on the "Debtors Ethic"

"The debtors ethic says; "Because you have done something good for me, I feel indebted to do something good for you" ... God meant gratitude to be a spontaneous expression of pleasure in the gift and the good will of another. He did not mean it to be an impulse to return favors. If gratitude is twisted into a sense of debt, it gives birth to the debtor’s ethic—and the effect is to nullify grace".

John Piper - "Future Grace" - Multnomah Publications, US - (p32).

Dan Bowen on Glorious Grace!

"The scope of grace is as glorious as the stars that God flung into space. No matter how often we stare at it, we still haven't quite covered it or even begun to see all aspects of it!"

Terry Virgo on Despising Prophecy

"We didn't fight for the gifts of the Spirit to then ignore the gifts of the Spirit! That is despising prophecy, that is quenching prophecy".

Terry Virgo - "Talk 2- Play to Your Strengths" - "Half-Time Team Talk" - Together for the Future Conference in Switzerland - 2003.

Pope Leo XIII on the Holy Spirit

" At least there are certainly many who are very deficient in their religious practices, but their faith is involved in much darkness. Wherefore all preachers and those having care of souls should remember that it is their duty to instruct their people more diligently and more fully about the Holy Ghost - avoiding, however, difficult and subtle controversies, and eschewing the dangerous folly of those who rashly endeavour to pry into divine mysteries. What should be chiefly dwelt upon and clearly explained is the multitude and greatness of the benefits which have been bestowed, and are constantly bestowed, upon us by this Divine Giver, so that errors and ignorance concerning matters of such moment may be entirely dispelled, as unworthy of "the children of light." ".

Pope Leo XIII - "Encyclical Divinum Illud Munus" - May 9, 1897 - 1987

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones on Why the World Doesn't Come

"We are so decorous, we are so controlled, we do everything with such decency and order that there is no life, no power, no warmth and it isn't New Testament Christianity! That's why the world is outside!".

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones - "Quenching The Spirit (1)" - Martyn Lloyd-Jones Recording Trust CD.

Luther on Grace and Peace

"These two words, grace and peace, do contain in them the whole sum of Christianity. Grace containeth the remission of sins; peace a quiet and joyful conscience. For peace of conscience can never be had, unless sin first be forgiven. But sin is not forgiven for the fulfilling of the law; for no man is able to satisfy the law. The law doth rather show sin, accuse and terrify the conscience, declare the wrath of God, and drive to desperation. Much less is sin taken away by the works and inventions of men, but sin is rather increased by works. So there is no means to take away sin, but grace alone. Therefore Paul in all the greetings of his epistles, sets grace and peace against sin and an evil conscience."

Martin Luther - "Commentary on Galatians" - Kregel (1979) - p6.

Bill Johnson and Kris Vallotton on Sin Conciousness

"Religion rubs our noses in the past to keep us humble. Reviewing the sinfulness of our past in order to become humble is a perversion. It actually creates shame and shame is a poor counterfeit of humility. Shame is the fruit of humiliation that works against the truth. To maintain conciousness of our sinful past to help us become more humble is the cruelty of a religious spirit; it requires us to keep something in our minds that isn't in God's. In reality it is much more humbling to live in the liberty of unearned forgiveness. When we are forgiven the King gives us permission to live as though we had never sinned".

Bill Johnson and Kris Vallotton - "The Supernatural Ways of Royalty - Discovering your rights and privilidges of being a son or daughter of God" - Destiny Image Publication (2006) - (p52).

Isi de Gersigny on the Spirit of Breakthrough

"A few weeks ago Isi saw the spirit of breakthrough - stood tall - like a Masaui warrior with a sword - the sword of breakthrough. He comes to give people breakthrough - breakthrough in their finances, in their relationships, physical breakthrough. God is sending His angels and He is giving His prophetic seers the ability to see them".

Fini de Gersigny - "On Worship" - NCMI T.V - accessed Thursday 26th March 2009.

Rob Rufus on City Church International

"This is not a place where we count sins against you".

Rob Rufus - "Sunday Morning Session" - City Church International - Hong Kong - Sunday 22nd June 2008.

David Wilkerson on "Cut Them Off"

"When Jesus says, “Pluck it out—cut it off,” he’s talking to Jewish listeners first about their confidence in their own good works. The hand, foot and eye all represent flesh—instruments of independence, by which man goes his own way, relying on self-will and human effort to rid himself of sinful bondages. Christ is saying to such a person, “Your eye is focused on the wrong thing. You’re looking at your own ability and power. Therefore, pluck out your eye. You have to rid your body, mind and heart of all such evil thinking. Renounce it, surgically remove it. Cut off all hope of offering to God anything of your own merit or goodness. Lust and offences must be cut off—but not by your hands. It is the work of the Spirit.

“Then simply run into my arms. Humble yourself like a child by embracing my victory on the cross. Commit to a life of total devotion and dependence on me. Because of my work at Calvary, you are no longer your own. I have bought you. My Spirit will fulfill my demand for holiness in you.”

David Wilkerson - "CUT THEM OFF" - David Wilkerson Today blog - Wednesday, March 25, 2009

C J Mahaney and Larry Tomczak on What the Church Should Be

"God could have taken the stars and illuminated the sky by spelling out "Jesus is alive!". Instead He left the responsibility to us ... to illuminate this area with our corporate life. Unbelievers see Jesus in His fullness through the collective life of His people practically joined together by His Spirit - the mystical (invisible) Body of Christ becomes visible for all to see.

In the early church, a kind of rhythm of life was evident in which Christians gathered together daily to love, serve, instruct, pray and personally care for one another. Then they would go out into the world again to let the warmth and glow of their love-filled lives overflow into a spontaneous Christian witness that draw love-starved unbelievers.

The concern of Christians for each other left the doubting world drooling with envy. It prompted the much-quoted remark of a pagan writer, "How these Christians love one another".

Larry Tomczak and C J Mahaney - "Gathering of Believers Family News" - July 1977.

Jerry Bridges on Salvation Grace and Living Grace

"My observation of Christendom is that most of us tend to base our personal relationship with God on our performance instead of on His grace. If we've performed well - whatever "well" is in our opinion - then we expect God to bless us. If we haven't done so well, our expectations are reduced accordingly. In this sense we live by works rather than by grace. We are saved by grace but we are living by the "sweat" of our own performance".

Jerry Bridges - "Transforming Grace - Living Confidently in God's Unfailing Love" - NavPress (2008) - (pp 9-10).

John Piper on the Good News of the Gospel!

"The gospel is a message about the good things that are now true about us as the achievement of the cross is applied to us in Christ - that God is only merciful to us now instead of wrathful (propitation); that we are counted righteous in Christ now (justification); that we are freed from the guilt and power of sin (redemption); that we are positionally and progressively made holy (sanctification) - all of which summons us to open these glorious realities for our people week after week with thorough exposition of texts".

John Piper - "Preaching the Cross" - Crossway Books, Illinois (2007) - (p115).

R C Sproul on Imputed Righteousness

"Imputation is more than central; it's essential to the New Testament gospel. Friends, I beg you never to negotiate the concept of the imputed righteousness of Christ. That's the article upon which we stand and fall because without His righteousness all we have to offer God is filthy rags ... The righteousness by which we are justified is an alien righteousness - a foreign righteousness. If this expression is unclear to you, know that Luther also described justification as a righteousness that is outside of us, apart from us.

The only righteousness that will justify us is the righteousness of Christ. We are naked and helpless without the cloak of His righteousness covering us. We are foul in God's sight until He imputes to us the righteousness of Christ".

R C Sproul - "Preaching the Cross" - Crossway Books, Illinois (2007) - (p97-98).

Al Mohler on Defining Expository Preaching

"I define expository preaching as that mode of Christian preaching which takes as it's central purpose the presentation and application of the text of the Bible. All other issues and concerns are subordinated to the central task of presenting the biblical text. As the Word of God, the text of Scripture has the right to establish both the substance and the structure of the sermon. Genuine exposition takes place when the preacher sets forth the meaning and message of the biblical text and makes clear how the Word of God establishes the identity and worldview of the church as the people of God".

Al Mohler - "Preaching the Cross" - Crossway Books, Illinois (2oo7) - (p66).

Mark Dever on John Piper

"While too many of us are saying a lot of things quickly and running onto the next, John stops and stands and stares at God's Word. Sometimes he stares at something that seems so obvious but he keeps staring until it begins to expand and fill the horizon of his sight. It becomes rich and detailed and lucious and intricate and full and demanding and hope-giving and life-affirming and sin-denying and sacrifice-requiring - and adjective adding".

Mark Dever - "Preaching the Cross" - Crossway Books, Illinois (2007) - (p15).

Terry Virgo on Effective Prayer

"Kings have power downward and priests have power upward prevailing with God. It is through our priestly prayer ministry that we reign with Christ. Without a powerful priestly ministry, ruling is mere ambition. The priority is to reach God, then people – not the reverse".

Terry Virgo - "What a Calvinist can learn from Finney" - Terry Virgo's Blog - Monday, February 23rd, 2009 at 11:24 am.

John Piper on Sin's Promise

"The power of sin comes from it's promise of pleasure and God means it to be defeated by a superior promise".

John Piper - "A God-Entranced Vision of All Things: Why We Need Jonathan Edwards 300 Years Later" - Session 1 - "A God-Entrance Vision of all Things" Conference - Desiring God - 2003.

B M Palmer on the Best Form of Conversion

"The best way to reach the unregenerate is to show them the happiness of the Christian".

B M Palmer - cited by Iain Murray in "Speaker Interviews - Session 1" - from "A God-Entranced Vision of All Things" Conference - Desiring God Ministries - 2003.

Rob Rufus on Defining "A Righteous Man"

"What is a righteous man? A righteous man in the New Covenant is someone that believes that the nature of God is to bless you".

Rob Rufus - "Established in the Gift of Righteousness - Part 3" - "The Law is Not Based on Faith" - City Church International Hong Kong - Sunday 18th January 2009.

Rob Rufus on the Glorious Church!

"There is coming a Church around the world that will not just come out of slavery but will go into promised inheritance and possess the land at this age".

Rob Rufus - "The Grace-Hating Spirit – Part 2” - City Church International, Hong Kong - 25th August 2004

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones on the Evidence of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit

"There are many, many evidences of the descent of the Holy Spirit - the baptism of the Holy Spirit upon a man or woman. It is not necessarily speaking in tongues; people can be baptised with the Holy Spirit who never speak with tongues. But it is obvious that they have been baptised with the Holy Spirit, you can see the difference in them".

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones - "Exposition of Romans 14:1-17 - Liberty and Conscience" - Banner of Truth, Edinburgh (2007) - (p64).

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones on Sanctification

"You see, Christians 'do righteousness' because they are righteous. That is the right way to put it. You do not make yourself righteous by what you do, but you are first made righteous. And then the appeal comes to show your righteousness in your behaviour".

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones - "Exposition of Chapter 14:1-17 - Liberty and Conscience" - Banner of Truth, Edinburgh (2007) - (p256).

Rob Rufus on the REAL Cross-Centred Life

"I've read the whole of Isaiah 53 many times but what is the obvious clear message of what happened on the Cross?

Simply this - that Jesus was crushed so that God would never crush you. Jesus was pierced so that God will never ever pierce you with sorrows or with sickness or with poverty. Jesus was punished so it is a guarantee that God will never ever punish you! Jesus was made a guilt offering by God so you will never feel guilty".

Rob Rufus - "Established in the Gift of Righteousness - Part 1" - City Church International, Hong Kong - Sunday 4th January 2009.

Rob Rufus on Receiving New Covenant Promises

"If you have got a condition in your heart of the years of the traditions of men being taught to you that mix law and grace up and put you under condemnation and guilt - that make you think that God is angry with you and God's not very happy with you anymore because of your sin, then your heart has very limited capacity for the seeds of the promises of the New Covenant to germinate and give fruit to".

Rob Rufus - "Being Established In The Gift Of Righteousness" - City Church International, Hong Kong - Sunday 4th January 2009.

John Piper on our One Hope

"There was only one hope for us - that the infinite wisdom of God might make a way for the love of God to satisfy the wrath of God so that I might become a son of God".

John Piper (foreword) - "Pierced for Our Transgressions - Rediscovering the Glory of Penal Substitution" - IVP, Leicester (2007) - (p14).

Ryan Rufus on Position vs Practice

"We don't preach obedience, we don't preach holiness, we don't preach performance - we preach position in Christ because as you have a revelation of that righteousness will flow from your spirit, obedience will flow from your spirit, holiness will flow from your spirit".

Ryan Rufus - "4 Things That Will Happen in 2009" - City Church International, Hong Kong - Sunday 28th December 2008.

Rob Rufus on the Promises of God

"Every promise God has made is yes and amen in Christ! So every promise - it's His absolute will for you to live in the benefits and fullness of New Covenant promises! Yet most Christians hardly live in any of them. What's the reason? The condition for all the promises to work is not you being more obedient or more holy or fasting or coming back under the law. The way you are going to come into every promise being fulfilled is that you get established in righteousness as a gift".

Rob Rufus - "Being Established In The Gift Of Righteousness" - City Church International, Hong Kong - Sunday 4th January 2009,

Rob Rufus on the Power of Sin vs the Power of Grace

"If your sin can stop the favour of God filling your life then your sin is more powerful than God's grace".

Rob Rufus - "Two Different Glorys" - Tuesday 23rd October 2007 - Glory and Grace Conference - Hong Kong.

Isi de Gersigny on the Measure of Unbelief and Faith

"The measure of your unbelief is how far away you think the Father is from you. And the measure of your faith is how close you think He is to you and how quickly He hears you".

Isi de Gersigny - "Receiving like children" - Tuesday 23rd October 2007 - Glory and Grace Conference - Hong Kong.

Joseph Prince on Confessing Sin

"Confessing your sins all the time will only make you more sin-concious. But knowing you are under Jesus' waterfall of forgiveness will keep you forgiveness-concious. And knowing that you are forgiven of all your sins will give you the power to reign over every destructive habit and live a life of victory!".

Joseph Prince - "Destined To Reign" - Harrison House Publishers, Tulsa (2007) - (p109).

Joseph Prince on the Purpose of Calvary

"Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin" - What does "shall not impute sin" mean? Does it mean that you shall never sin again? Did Jesus die on the Cross to free us from committing sinful actions or harbouring sinful thoughts? If He did then allow me to conclude with reverence that He failed. You and I know fairly well that we can still be tempted with sinful thoughts and tempted to commit sinful actions and there will still be times when we fail.

When David described the blessed man as one to whom the Lord will not impute sin, he meant that even when this man sins, God will not count his sin against him nor punish him for his iniquity. Too good to be true? That is why David defined this man as a blessed man! And this blessed man is you and me!".

Joseph Prince - "Destined To Reign" - Harrison House Publishers, Tulsa (2007) - (p16).

Joseph Prince on the Purpose of the Law

"God gave the law for one purpose and that is by the law, the world would have the knowledge of sin and recognize their need for a Saviour".

Joseph Prince - "Destined To Reign" - Harrison House Publishers, Tulsa (2007) - (p16).

Greg Haslam on His Presence = Joy!

"Yet the great need of the hour is for thousands of men and women in this generation to encounter God in the way that Isaiah did and be overwhelmed with God's glory as a result. Only this will result in the kind of Church we all long to see and only this will produce the kind of joy, lasting happiness and peace that the world so craves but is never able to manufacture. Real joy - the God kind - doesn't come in a bottle, can't be swallowed in pill form, can't be injected and won't be found in any thrill-seeking endeavour anywhere in the world. Pure joy is only found in the Presence of God".

Greg Haslam - "A Radical Encounter with God" - New Wine Books, West Sussex (2007) - p28.

Greg Haslam on Needing an Encounter with God!

"We need to experience the real, authentic joy of God that comes as a result of encountering God, seeing His power at work, hearing His voice speaking into our lives and have a spiritual reawakening. The greatest thing that could happen to any of us, ever, in our whole lifetime is that we have a mighty encounter with Him".

Greg Haslam - "A Radical Encounter with God" - New Wine Books, West Sussex (2007) - p24.

Greg Haslam on the Presence of God

"Without a real encounter with God we soon slip into a mechanical form of Christianity ... in short what many Christians have is a kind of synthetic spirituality and a synthetic joy. From time to time it looks like the real thing but it manifestly isn't. The real thing is something that draws God's powerful Presence and arouses a watching world either to total hatred or total surrender to the God we love and serve".

Greg Haslam - "A Radical Encounter with God" - New Wine Books, West Sussex (2007) - p22-23.

Greg Haslam on the Church's Need

"The bottom line is this; if the Church is to become the centre of renewal and world change that Isaiah said she would (see Isaiah 2:1-4) then we need a fresh encounter with Isaiah's God".

Greg Haslam - "A Radical Encounter with God" - New Wine Books, West Sussex (2007) - p18.

Greg Haslam on God's Work in the Nations Today

"I believe God is busy raising up men and women just like Isaiah today - people who have experienced the glory of Christ and will speak prophetically to our nation. God will grant them access to the highest places and most influential people in the land so they can testify to His glory".

Greg Haslam - "A Radical Encounter with God" - New Wine Books, West Sussex (2007) - p14.

Greg Haslam on Encountering God

"I believe that we can encounter God in much the same way as Isaiah did, at least in degree. We can hear His voice and know His commission on our lives just as the prophet did".

Greg Haslam - "A Radical Encounter with God" - New Wine Books, West Sussex (2007) - p14.

Rob Rufus on the Main Reason Why Jesus Died

"If the main reason for Jesus dying on the Cross was to stop us sinning then He failed but if the main reason for Him dying on the Cross was so that your sins will never be imputed to you again because they have already been charged to Him - if the main reason He died was so that your sinning and sin can never again seperate you from the love of God then Jesus utterly succeeded in what He did".

Rob Rufus - "Being Established In The Gift Of Righteousness" - City Church International, Hong Kong - 4th January 2009

Rob Rufus on Misuse of the Cross

"Today the Cross is used as a lever of manipulation to stop people sinning and it doesn't work".

Rob Rufus - "Being Established In The Gift Of Righteousness" - City Church International, Hong Kong - 4th January 2009

Rob Rufus on 2009

"There will be some religious spirits that will stay antagonistic and legalistic and they will even get more intense in their anger against grace preachers. They will write lots of articles and go on websites and run them down but God said this to me (very audibly in my spirit) - He said that in 2009 those religious spirits and those religious congregations and leaders - their influence will decline and they will not have the ability to put fear and confusion on people the way they have had in the past".

Rob Rufus - "Being Established In The Gift Of Righteousness" - City Church International, Hong Kong - 4th January 2009

Julie Morris on the TRUE Gospel!!

"God is not and never will be angry with you ever again, any preacher who even hints otherwise (if you believe in Jesus for your salvation) is a liar perpetuating the agenda of demons".

Julie Morris - "Breaking Free From Fear, Control, Spiritual Abuse, Shame, and Guilt Manipulation" - Voice of Grace blog - Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Terry Virgo on 2009!!

"It is particularly extraordinary to notice that three commentaries on the book of Galatians will be published this year – one by DA Carson, one by Thomas Schreiner and one by Douglas Moo. One can hardly wait! This should be a hard year for legalists!".

Terry Virgo - "Welcome to 2009" - Terry Virgo's blog - January 6th, 2009

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones Prophesying!!

"I prophesied - I am old enough to say this sort of thing now! - I spent many years before the last war saying that the League of Nations would be a complete failure and it was. I say the same thing about the United Nations. Men and women will never solve this problem - never. Never! You must start with God".

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones - "Authentic Christianity - Volume 5" - Banner of Truth, Edinburgh (2006) - p113.

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones on Institutionalism

"The second characteristic of false religion is that it is always very keen on what we must call "institutionalism". I mean something like this: these people in the Sanhedrin actually worship the temple ... they are putting temple worship against Christianity ... to these leaders the temple is everything, that is their whole trouble. The temple has become an idol. And that is always a characteristic of false religion.

God had allowed the people to build the temple - but as the record tells us - He had never asked them to do so ...

Men and women always want to institutionalize everything, they are never happier than when they are organizing and they do so supremely in the church by turning it into an institution. They harden, they petrify everything; they turn the spirit into stone and into buildings. They think this is marvellous and they tend to worship what they have made".

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones - "Authentic Christianity - Volume 5" - Banner of Truth, Edinburgh (2006) - p251.