Stephen Dempster on the Song of Solomon

"Shorn of it's literary context, the song could almost be pornographic. But the context of the canon both restricts the context ... and expands it to include the relationship between Yahweh and Israel. When reading this text, the reader hears ... of the passionate and fiery love that Yahweh has for His people".

Stephen G Dempster - "Dominion and Dynasty - a theology of the Hebrew Bible" - New Studies in Bible Theology (ed: D A Carson) - Apollo (2003) - (p207).

Alex Buchanan on Quenching the Spirit

"I believe that some of the most extreme critics of charismatic things are in danger of their lives because they have attributed the work of the Holy Spirit to demons".

Alex Buchanan - "Burnham" - "Grace, Grit and Glory" - published on Alex Buchanan website - downloaded Tuesday 6th September 2011.

Dave Harvey on Mimicking Heroes

Very important advice for SGM - a family of churches that perhaps have been guilty in the past of particularly copying C J Mahaney's mannerisms, vocabulary, hair cut etc.

"A pastor is not called to be a template ... we have to be careful not to create a culture where people feel obligated to mimic their pastors or any leader in the church. In the past there has been some of that - certainly not explicitly taught by any pastors that I am aware of but has somehow been assumed".

Dave Harvey - "Answering Your Questions" - SGM Blog - 28th August 2011.

Dave Harvey on Apostles Today

An interesting quote from the acting President of SGM on apostles today;

"That is one reason why we have refrained from using the term "apostle" for those who serve as Sovereign Grace Ministries regional representatives to our churches - see, as our understanding of polity has matured, we have become cautious of conveying any type of authority to SGM leaders that no one has today - an authority that is reserved for the first generation apostles. See - authority is never in a man, it's in the Word of God".

Dave Harvey - "Answering Your Questions" - SGM Blog - August 28th 2011.

Brent Detweiler on Sin and Forgiveness

"It is easy to meet and forgive when sins are biblically expressed".

Brent Detweiler - "A Final Appeal" - 2011 - (p4).

Kelly Kapic on John Owen and the Song of Solomon

"We should not let a neo-platonic fear of the physical lead us to neglect this natural reading of the text".

Kelly M Kapic and Justin Taylor (ed); "Communion with the Triune God - John Owen" - Crossway Books (2007) - (p34).

C J Mahaney on Pride in a Church

“Pride also undermines unity and can ultimately divide a church. Show me a church where this is division, where there is quarreling, and I’ll show you a church where there is pride.”

C J Mahaney - "Humility" - Crossway Books, USA (2006) - p34.

Rob Rufus on Apostles

"The primary ministry of an apostle is government of grace and laying foundations and the primary sign of an apostle is signs, wonders and miracles. Apostles equip the church for miracles as do evangelists!".

Rob Rufus - "The Flow of the Anointing" - Grace and Glory Conference - the Phillipines

Terry Virgo on the Growth of Church History

"Church history does not grow by gradual evolution but by divine intervention".

Terry Virgo - "Main Session 1" - Stoneleigh Bible Week 1998 - audiotape.

Ern Baxter on the Christian and Community

"There is no such thing in the New Testament as a Christian out of community".

Ern Baxter - "A Crisis Beginning - 1" - (Where Are We Going? Series) - Dales Bible Week 1976 - audiotape.

Terry Virgo on the Vital Need for ALL Ephesians 4 Ministries

"The Lord Jesus ascended on high and gave gifts to men. He appointed apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. If the church is to arrive at full maturity, become a functioning body and fulfil its glorious destiny, it must derive the benefit that comes from embracing all of these promised ministries. Without them we inevitably fail to benefit from all that was in God’s heart in making provision of them".

Terry Virgo - "Fathering Leaders - Motivating Mission" - Terry Virgo's Blog - June 21st 2011

Terry Virgo on Apostles Laying Foundations

"Clearly the planting of churches was foundational to the task of world mission, and apostles played a very significant part in that process. They presented a clear body of doctrine centred in the coming of Christ, his life, death, resurrection and ascension, and the promised outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which led to the formation of an international people of God".

Terry Virgo - "Fathering Churches - Motivating Missions" - Terry Virgo's Blog - June 21st 2011

Terry Virgo on the Myth that Apostles Must Write Scripture

"The frequently held view that apostles functioned only in the first century and that their primary task was the writing of the New Testament Scriptures. Of the original Twelve only three made any contribution to the New Testament while Luke, who was never regarded as an apostle, wrote more of the New Testament than any other.

While the stance that apostles were essentially Scripture-writers has been maintained the vital work of an apostle as described in the New Testament has been almost entirely overlooked. Paul writing to the Corinthian church said that as a wise master builder he had laid a foundation in that particular church. As an apostle he had a task which was related to the formation of local churches".

Terry Virgo - "Fathering Leaders - Motivating Mission" - Terry Virgo's Blog - June 21st 2011

Anthony Hopkins on Exorcism

"Does a burglar turn on the lights? No - he prefers you to know that he isn't there. Just so with demons ... Choosing not to believe in the devil won't protect you from him".

Anthony Hopkins - "The Rite" - 2011.

Ern Baxter on Hope

"Now the Word of God says that we are to entertain this as a hope. In the New Testament when the Holy Spirit uses the word “hope” – He doesn’t use it in the sense of the word “wish for”. Hope in the New Testament is that which God has declared will be and that toward which we move with certainty".

Dr Ern Baxter - "Crisis Beginning" - ("Where Are We Going" series) - Dales Bible Week 1976 - audiotape 1.

Terry Virgo on Sovereign Grace Ministries

True?

"This is a loving group of churches - no one is here to beat anyone else up".

Terry Virgo - "Grace to Say No" - Celebration Mid-South 2001 - audiotape.

Ern Baxter on the Effects of the Anointing

"When the anointing is upon you, it has physical effect".

Dr Ern Baxter - "The Ephod" (Priestly Garments Series) - Anglia Bible Week 1984 - video cassette.

Terry Virgo on Church Growth

"Churches can sometimes become obsessed with numbers so that members feel that they are merely the means to an end and not particularly valued for themselves. Growth can be measured purely in terms of the body count on Sundays while spiritual growth and developing maturity can be marginalized or go unnoticed".

Terry Virgo - "The Spirit-Filled Church" - Monarch Books, London (2011) - p139

C J Mahaney on the Doctrine of Sin

"If we do not unveil and apply grace, our emphasis on the doctrine of sin will leave the members of our churches devoid of hope, without joy and aware only of their sin and not of the grace of Christ".

C J Mahaney - "The Pastor and the Trinity" in "For the Fame of God's Name" (Storms and Taylor ed) - Crossway Books (2010) - p393.

C J Mahaney on the Error of Preaching the Gospel

"The other error, one to which many of us are prone, is to teach and apply the doctrine of sin while neglecting grace".

C J Mahaney - "The Pastor and the Trinity" in "For the Fame of God's Name" (Storms and Taylor ed) - Crossway Books (2010) - p392

Terry Virgo on Falling from Grace

"Falling from grace"(Gal 5:4) is not about backsliding; it's about trusting in your law keeping skills".

Reference: Terry Virgo - Twitter - @TerryVirgo - 15th June 2011

Phil Wilthew on New Testament Prophets

"A New Testament prophet’s job is not actually to do all of the prophesying, but rather to empower others to hear God for themselves (Eph. 4:12)".

Phil Wilthew - "Creating Prophetic Cultures" - Newfrontiers Magazine - Apr-June 2011.

Terry Virgo on Law and Sanctification/Justification

"All evangelicals know that they can never be justified by the law, but what they often fail to realise is that they cannot be sanctified by it either. The law ALWAYS condemns".

Terry Virgo - "The Spirit-Filled Church" - Monarch Books, Oxford (2011) - p59.

Ryan Rufus on Mortifying Sin

From the recent "Glory and Grace Conference" in the Philippines;

"To say that focusing on your past sin helps you to fight temptation is a lie from the pit of hell. What right to we have to focus on sin that God has declared He will not remember? Focusing on your past sin will simply cause an increase in the law in your life, and resulting in further sin and self-righteousness - guilt and pride".

Gordon Fee on the Experience of the Holy Spirit

"For Paul, the Spirit was an experienced, empowering reality. Paul would not have understood most historic Protestantism. I know that sounds unkind but it is true. The reason he would not have understood it is because he would not have understood a Christian life in which the experienced life of the Spirit was not the key to every dimension of that life".

Gordon Fee - speaking at Holy Trinity Brompton 1996 - cited by Greg Haslam - "Be filled with the Spirit" - Preach the Word! (Ed. Greg Haslam) - Sovereign World, London (2006) - p606.

Greg Haslam on Being Filled with the Spirit

"In explaining this matter of being filled with the Spirit, we are sometimes urged to seek a "second blessing". But this might imply that we could end our spiritual quest right there, on the ground that we have now "had it". The New Testament never urges us to settle for the first time we were baptised in the Holy Spirit as if that was the sum total of His power and Presence that we would ever need. The truth is, we need the Lord to pour out on us a continual effulgence of the Spirit's life and power so that we will be filled with joy, victorious over temptation, bold in witness and maturing in all our relationships".

Greg Haslam - "Be Filled with the Spirit" - Preach the Word! (Ed. Greg Haslam) - Sovereign Books, London (2006) - p600.

Philip Greenslade on Ephesians 4 Ministries

"Without the prophet, the church becomes a spiritless organisation in which even apostolic work hardens into a new form of religious bureaucrac, and without the prophetic thrust - the teaching ministry perpetuates cycles of timeless truth but is deaf to what the Spirit is saying now to the churches. Without a prophetic voice challenging God's people to lay down their lives for the world, pastoral nuture can easily degenerate. Evangelism too, desperately needs to hear the prophet if it's methods are to be as godly as it's message and if it is to avoid giving stereotyped answers to questions people are not asking".

Philip Greenslade - "Leadership: Reflections on Biblical Leadership Today" - CWR.

Greg Haslam on Ephesians 4 Ministries

"We cannot omit any of these dimensions of ministry of the Word without suffering loss. If we delete apostolic and prophetic ministry, we are missing two-fifths of Christ's Word-ministry to His Church. If they are operating and being received well, all five of these ministries 'prepare God's people for works of service'; they are equippers of the saints".

Greg Haslam - "Prophetic Preaching" - in "Preach the Word!" (ed. Greg Haslam) - Sovereign World, London (2006) - p428

Ryan Rufus on Asking Forgiveness for Sin

"As a New Covenant born again believer, to now go and ask forgiveness after you have sinned - is a sin. It is the sin of unbelief. You don't believe in the finished work of the Cross. You are trying to do something and don't realise it is already done!".

Ryan Rufus - "Totally Forgiven! Totally United! Totally Filled!" - Grace and Glory Conference - The Philippines - Tuesday 26th April 2011.

Ben White on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit

"So what of baptism in (or with) the Holy Spirit? To me, it is a work of God distinct from the new birth by which we are empowered for service and endowed with spiritual gifts".

Ben White - "A Taste of Revival" - Kingsway Publishing, Eastbourne (1997) - p20.

David Holden on Relational Apostles

"To be "amongst the churches” and not just with the elders, makes apostolic ministry a lot more accessible and meaningful. May apostles never become distant figures at conferences or too busy to relate. We need to find creative and workable ways to ensure that apostolic input stays close, real, ongoing and non-professional".

Dave Holden - "Relational Apostolic Input" - Dave Holden's Blog - 5th February 2010.

Gordon Fee on the Radical Balance of Glossolalia

"Paul does not damn tongues with faint praise (as some have said) nor does he stand in awe of the phenomenon as apparently the Corinthians had done and some later Pentecostals/charismatics as well".

Gordon Fee - "A Theology of Glossolalia" - Regent College, Vancouver.

Rob Rufus on the Cross and the Power of the Gospel

"When the Cross of Christ is not central to all we preach, the power of God stops moving in the church and through the church".

Rob Rufus - "Glory and Grace Conference - Session 2" - Glory and Grace Conference, Hong Kong - Sunday 23rd October 2010.

Terry Virgo on the Recovery of Word and Spirit

"How I long for a recovery of true biblical Christianity, where the apostle Paul, who wrote the book of Romans, also raised the dead! It seems that profound theology and great signs and wonders happily cohabited in Paul’s life and ministry".

Terry Virgo - "Guest Post from Terry Virgo on the Word and Spirit" - Adrian Warnock.com - May 15th 2011.

Rob Rufus on Encounters with God and Mission

"You will not make it unless you regularly encounter God. We are so much about mission - and I believe in mission! We are on a mission. You cannot get just one in-breaking of the power of God on you and then run on mission for the rest of your life. You won't make five years - you will dry up and get disillusioned. The power of God is not enough - you have got to know the Person of God, the glory of God - Who God is. Everyone of you who is a New Covenant believer ought to hear the inward audible voice of God yourself!".

Rob Rufus - "Mobilise Main Session" - Together on a Mission 2007.

Terry Virgo on the danger of Word over Spirit

"Sadly, some Christians have developed such a love and respect for the word itself that simply to hear it faithfully expounded can become an end in itself. Delighting in “sitting under” good teaching, we can be in danger of becoming like Ezekiel’s hearers – that is, those who love to hear a love song sung well, or an instrument played well (Ezekiel 33:32). The fact is that Paul’s gospel was with word and power. He reminded the Corinthians, “my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God” (1 Corinthians 2:4–5)".

Terry Virgo - "Guest Post from Terry Virgo on the Word and Spirit" - Adrian Warnock.com - May 15th 2011

Gordon Fee on the Vital Presence of the Spirit

"Whatever else the Spirit was experienced in the Pauline churches".

So why isn't He today in cessationist churches (and many so-called charismatic churches)?

Gordon Fee - "The Theology of Glossolalia" - Regents College, Vancouver.

Gordon Fee (and the apostle Paul's) answer to Cessationism!

"The evidence for example from 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 and 1 Corinthians 12-14 and Romans 12:6 and especially Galatians 3:2-5 - with it's matter of fact appeal to the continuing presence of miracles in the churches - makes it certain that Pauline churches were charismatic in the sense that a dynamic Presence of the Spirit was manifested in their gatherings".

Gordon Fee - "The Theology of Glossolalia" - Regents College, Vancouver.

Matthew Hosier on Grace-Approach to Sin

"By staying in the course of grace, we can build churches that are a witness to the world. We can be theologically conservative while culturally liberal, yet radical in our pursuit of holiness. We can be that apparently paradoxical thing - a community intolerant of sin, but so breathtakingly honest that sin is confessed and lovingly dealt with".

Matthew Hosier - "Grace based purity in the church" - Newfrontiers Magazine - January to March 2011.

Stef Liston on Fighting for the Charismatic

"We need to challenge the missional movements such as Acts 29. Our gatherings are not primarily for the unbeliever - they are for the Lord. It is not good enough - rather it is insulting - to be simply "open" to the gifts". We need, want, desire, long for the Presence of the Holy Spirit with His gifts. If you as a leader communicate one element of caution about the gifts of the Spirit, you will kill in a moment what has taken years to build. What is the church without the activity of the Holy Spirit? Simply Acts 1".

Stef Liston - "Fighting for the Charismatic in our Churches" - Training Track - Together on a Mission 2010 - Newfrontiers Brighton

Stef Liston on Being Charismatic

"The big deal about this is not that we are charismatic but that we are biblical".

Stef Liston - "Fighting for Charismatic Life in the Churches" - Together on a Mission 2010 - Newfrontiers Brighton.

Rob Rufus on Disappointment and Theology

"I want to say today that disappointment is a very dangerous and disastrous father of theology. If we develop our theology out of our disappointments, we will lower the Word of God down to the level of our current experience of the supernatural rather than allowing God to elevate our experience up to the levels in His Word".

Rob Rufus - "Main Session" - Together on a Mission 2006 - Newfrontiers Conference Brighton.

C J Mahaney on Theological Books

"These are the individuals - dead and alive - who serve me. They are my friends, my teachers, my mentors and reading the volumes present here has made all the difference in my soul ... these are not just books, they are treasures".

C J Mahaney - "Study Tour (T4G 2010)" - Together for the Gospel You-Tube video.

Terry Virgo on God's Ultimate Purpose

"God's eye was always on the whole earth. His purpose is not simply to take us to heaven but to recover His creation and win all the nations for His Son, Israel's Messiah" -

Terry Virgo - "Book Review: The Mission of God by Christopher Wright" - Newfrontiers Magazine - July-September 2007.

Bill Johnson on Victory and Vision

"The area of our greatest loss is an invitation to the area of our greatest victory".

Bill Johnson - "The Renewed Mind" - Morningstar Teaching DVD.

Bill Johnson on the Purpose of the Holy Spirit

"The Holy Spirit is within you but He wants out! He is a river - not a lake".

Bill Johnson - "Renewing Your Mind" - Morningstar Teaching DVD.

Terry Virgo on Water Baptism

Simon Virgo: "So is water baptism optional?".

Terry Virgo: "It's optional if you don't take the Bible seriously".

4a. Baptism into Christ and the Holy Spirit from Terry Virgo on Vimeo.