Dave Harvey (SGM) on C J Mahaney

This comes from the Brent Detwiler documents.  No matter what motive they may assign to this line (the "Desperate Housevives)  they may be some use for you.  Consider his acceptance speech;

“To correct CJ, or to challenge his own self-perception, was to experience a reaction through emails, consistent disagreement (without seeking to sufficiently understand), a lack of sufficient follow-up and occasionally, relational withdrawal. Along with this, CJ was poor in volunteering areas of sin, temptation or weakness in himself.” - email to Brent Detwiler - October 8th - 2010.

The recent infamous report from Ambassadors of Reconciliation comment of SGM's (and C J Mahaney's) "apostle" (watch this space).

Rob Rufus on True Marks of Apostolic Ministry

"Apostles will safeguard the Church against legalism, denominationalism, popery and institutionalism.  If they're not safeguarding the Church, they're not operating as apostles".


Rob Rufus - "The 10 Ugly Faces of the Grace-Hating Spirit" - from "Living Grace" (2012) - New Nature Publications, Hong Kong

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.

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.

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.

Joseph Prince on "Falling from Grace"

"The rejection of God's grace is to fall from grace back into works. Contrary to popular belief, falling from grace does not mean falling into sin. According to the Bible, falling from grace is to fall back into works and into the old covenant of law".

Joseph Prince - "Unmerited Favour" - Charisma House Publications Florida (2010) - (p223).

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

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.

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 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 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).

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).

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).