Quote: Upon A Life I Did Not Live

‎Upon a life I did not live,

Upon a death I did not die;

Another's life, another's death,

I stake my whole eternity.

Horatius Bonar

Quote: The Honour A Gospel Worker Recieves

Quote: Our Helplessness and God's Blessing

Wherever God’s people have been truly humbled before him, and have been brought deeply to feel their own impotence, and have been willing to be used as mere instruments, and to let him have all the glory, there you will find that a rich blessing has usually been bestowed.

William B. Sprague

Quote: For Those Who Teach

You are required to believe, to preach, and to teach what the Bible says is true, not what you want the Bible to say is true.

R. C. Sproul

Quote: Satisfaction

The enjoyment of God is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here.

Jonathan Edwards

Quote: Worthy

God did not choose us because we were worthy, but by choosing us He makes us worthy.

Thomas Watson, "All Things For Good"

Quote: The Chief of Our Affections

God, who is the chief of our happiness, must have the chief of our affections.

Thomas Watson, "All Things For Good"

Quote: No Sacrifice Can Be Too Great

If Jesus Christ be God, and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.

C. T. Studd

Quote: "Strike Me Dumb"

In his excellent little book on Christian ministry called "The Art of Manfishing", Thomas Boston has these challenging words to say about preaching:

Lord, rather strike me dumb, than suffer me to preach unconcerned for the good of souls.

Quote: Only One Life

Only one life,

' twill soon be past,

Only what's done for Christ will last.

Quote: Rutherford on Christian Ministry

Here's what the Scottish Puritan Samuel Rutherford had to say about the nature of Christian ministry:

Suffering is the other half of our ministry, howbeit the hardest.

Quote: the Simple Preaching of the Gospel

This is what Charles Spurgeon had to say about the importance of preaching:

I do not look for any other means of converting men beyond the simple preaching of the gospel and the opening of men's ears to hear it. The moment the

Church of God shall despise the pulpit, God will despise her. It has been through the ministry [i.e. the public preaching of the gospel] that the Lord has always been pleased to revive and bless His Churches.

Quote: He is No Fool

On October 28th 1949, the missionary Jim Elliot wrote these words in his journal:

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.

"The End Itself"

On Friday 21st of July 1843 the Scottish minister Andrew Bonar wrote these words in his diary:

I see plainly that fellowship with God is not means to an end, but is to be the end itself. I am not to use it as a preparation for study or for Sabbath labour; but as my chiefest end, the likest thing to heaven.

Knowing God through the Lord Jesus is not a means to a greater end, it is the greatest end. We are not to see knowing God as a means to the joy of being part of the new heavens and new earth. No, the fulless of joy that we shall have in the new creation shall be the joy of knowing God, of seeinng Him as He is (1 John 3:2). There is no higher end. Knowing Christ Jesus is of "surpassing worth" (Philippians 3:8).

Quote: The best of men

J.C. Ryle gives a helpful reminder of something we need to bear in mind as we think about those people to whom we look up to. It is something that is well worth remembering to keep us from turning those whom we respect into idols:

The best of men are men at best.

Quotable Quotes: Calvin on the Holy Spirit

Here Calvin is helping us to grasp the vital importance of the Spirit's role in uniting us to Christ, he says;

"Until our minds become intent upon the Spirit, Christ lies idle because we coldly contemplate him as outside ourselves - indeed, far from us."

Institutes Book III, Ch 1

Quote: The Blazing Fire

The cross is the blazing fire at which the flame of our love is kindled, but we have to get near enough for its sparks to fall on us.

John Stott.

Quote: Good Preaching

Good preaching both
comforts the disturbed,
and disturbs the comfortable.

Quote: One Thief

J. C. Ryle, addressing those who say that they'll put off thinking about repenting and trusting in Jesus until the deathbed, says these words:

Luke's Gospel reminds us that one dying thief next to Jesus on the cross was saved. This one was saved that men might not despair, but only one - that none might presume.

Taken from 'Sickness' by J. C. Ryle, published by Matthias Media.

Quote: Derek Kidner on Psalm 2:12

Derek Kidner in his excellent Tyndale commentary on the Psalms, commenting on Psalm 2:12, says this about Jesus:

There is no refuge from him, only in him.