Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones on Christian Experience

"The essence of the Christian position is experience - experience of God! It is not a mere intellectual awareness or apprehension of truth. That can be of the devil ... If the experience is not an experience of the living God through His Son who has come to live and to die again in order to give it; if it is not through the Holy Spirit, it is not a true Christian experience".

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones - "Ephesians Chapter 6:10-13 - The Christian Warfare" - Banner of Truth, Edinburgh (1976) - (p197).

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.

Iain Murray on Dr Lloyd-Jones and Word and Spirit

"There should be an awareness that Christianity is both a body of truth and doctrine - and a life to be experienced. If balance is lost between these things, either in direction of the over-intellectual or the over-experimental, a departure from the New Testament will follow".

Iain Murray - "Lloyd-Jones - Messenger of Grace" - Banner of Truth, Edinburgh (2008) - p50.

David Holden on New Testament Reality and Experience

"All that God has for us is to be experienced but it will only become a reality when we mix what we hear with faith. In other words it is possible to hear a lot of things but not experience them because when we hear them - we are not combining them with faith in our hearts".

Dave Holden - "Mixing It With Faith" - Newfrontiers Europe Conference - 10th May 2008.

Tom Schreiner on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit

"When human beings receive the baptism of the Spirit, a new reality will intervene. Jesus will immerse them with the Spirit so that the hearts of His people will be purified".

Thomas R Schreiner - "New Testament Theology - Magnifying God in Christ" - Apollos, Nottingham (2008) - (p439).

Rob Rufus on Responding to the Touch of God

"The depth of the touch will determine the depth of the response and evidentially many Christians haven't been touched by His response because they are sitting in pews Sunday after Sunday and hindering the flow of the Spirit with their religious attitudes!".

Rob Rufus - "Sunday Morning - Miracle Healing Weekend" - City Church International, Hong Kong - Sunday 22nd June 2008.

Bill Johnson on Theology and Experience

"In the absence of experience, bad theology is formed".

Bill Johnson - "Face to Face with God - The Ultimate Quest to Experience His Presence" - Charisma House Publishing (2007) - (p185).

Terry Virgo on Knowing God

"I want to know as much about God as He is pleased to reveal and I also have a real thirst to know Him experientially".

Terry Virgo - "Firstline" - Newfrontiers Magazine - April - June 2008.

J Rodman Williams on Terminology of the Baptism of the Spirit

"Whatever the expression - "baptism" or "outpouring" or otherwise - reference is thereby made to a dynamic movement of the Holy Spirit which results in a new sense of God's Presence and power, various charismata becoming manifest and the emergance of a different style of life. These things are possible only through the event of the Spirit".

J Rodman Williams - "The Pentecostal Reality" - 1972 - Logos - (p14).

J Rodman Williams on How the Spirit Comes

"The Spirit comes from without and with mighty impact"

J Rodman Williams - "The Pentecostal Reality" - 1972 - Logos - (p14).

Dr Lloyd-Jones on John Flavel and the Baptism of the Spirit

"John Flavel says that during the greater part of the day he did not know where he was, he was so enjoying a visitation of God that he even forgot his wife and children in his ecstasy. Is it therefore correct to say that we have not been sealed with the Spirit until we have had some such overwhelming experience?".

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones - "Ephesians: God's Ultimate Purpose (Ephesians 1)" - Banner of Truth Trust, Edinburgh (1978) - (p286).

Dr Lloyd-Jones on the Concious Experience of the Baptism of the Spirit

"Not concious! The Apostles were as men who appeared to be filled with new wine; they were in a state of ecstasy. They were rejoicing, they were praising God; they were moved, their hearts were ravished; they experienced things which they had never felt or known before. They were transformed and were so different that you can scarcely recognise them as the same Peter and James and John and the rest as they once were. Not experimental! Nothing can be more experimental; it is the height of Christian experience!".

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones - "Ephesians: God's Ultimate Purpose (Ephesians 1)" - Banner of Truth Trust, Edinburgh (1978).

Dr Lloyd-Jones on Results of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit

"God then as we are told here, provides this amazing chariot for us which takes us to the very heavens and gives us this glorious experience of the reality of the Son of God, the manifestation of Christ according to His promise, which moves us and grips us to the depths of our being and we are lost in a sense of wonder, love and praise".

Dr Lloyd-Jones - "Great Doctrines of the Bible - Volume 2" - Crossway Books, Wheaton (2003) - (p254).

Rob Rufus on Definining a Manifestation of God

"What is a manifestation of God? It means God turns up! The loveliness of Who He is is revealed! He manifests Who He is and people experience it!".

Rob Rufus - "There is a Flood of Glory Coming!!" - City Church International, Hong Kong - Sunday 13th April 2008.

John Hosier on the Holy Spirit Exalting Jesus Christ

"Sometimes churches that put an emphasis on the work of the Holy Spirit are accused of being casual in their exaltation of Jesus, being more taken up with sensational experiences of the Spirit. But over the years we have found that nothing could be further from the truth. Experiencing the Spirit removes us from a dull academic approach to theology, and stokes our passion and love for Jesus himself".

John Hosier - "God the Holy Spirit" - Newfrontiers Magazine - Volume 3, Issue 7
April - June 2008.

Bill Johnson on the Baptism of the Spirit and Scripture

"The best ground for us to stand on when considering the baptism of the Spirit is the Scriptures. Much of the confusion and debate that has arisen over this issue derives from people evaluating it on the basis of their experience or lack of experience, rather than inviting the Holy Spirit to bring their level of experience into alignment with what He has already declared. Those who intentionally ignore elements of Scripture that are outside of their experience betray a lack of trust in the God who wrote it".

Bill Johnson - "Face to Face Intimacy with God" - Charisma House Publishing, Florida (2007) - p81

Rob Rufus on a Visitation from God

"I had what I can only describe as a visitation from God - and God likes doing that because He likes me and He enjoys me so He came and visited me!".

Rob Rufus - "Invading the Impossible 10" - City Church International - 15th March 2008

Rob Rufus on the Purpose of the New Covenant

"The primary purpose of the New Covenant was that every believer will know God experientially".

Rob Rufus - "Invading the Impossible 10" - City Church International - 15th March 2008

Rob Rufus on what the Kingdom of God is about

"Your Kingdom is not about knowing concepts and bible academics and cerebral information but Your Kingdom is about divine encounters that translate into doing the ministry of the Lord Jesus".

Rob Rufus - "Knowing the Person and Work of the Holy Spirit" - City Church International, Hong Kong - Sunday September 23rd 2007.

Joel Beeke on Defining Puritanism

"Doctrinally Puritanism was a kind of vigorous Calvinism; experientially it was warm and contagious, evangelistically it was aggressive yet tender, ecclesiastically it was theocentric and worshipful, politically it aimed to be scripturally balanced and bound by conscience before God in the relations of kings, Parliament and subjects".

Joel R Beeke and Randall J Pederson - "Meet the Puritans" - RHB, Grand Rapids, Michigan (2006) - (pxviii).