Thewatchman's Comments

Today, the pressure to fill auditoriums and services has driven many pastors to place the felt needs, or tastes, of the people above their duty to Christ. On every hand we hear of the Gospel being molded into a non-confrontative message intended to meet felt needs and impress the sinful heart. And, by most standards, this new philosophy of church life is working, as more and more auditoriums are filled with people hungry for a message that will affirm that they are actually on fairly good terms with the Almighty. But the biblical message is the message of the cross. It cuts right across the grain of the modern age's preoccupation with pride, tearing down the façade and exposing the wretchedness of the human heart… Unfortunately, while the modern “un-gospel” may fill seats, it is the true gospel of sin and grace that is “the power of God unto salvation” (Rom. 1:16).

Reference:  Appointed to Preach, Christian Focus Publications, 1999, p. 46

~David Hegg~

Amen

It is easier to find a score of men wise enough to discover the truth than to find one intrepid enough, in the face of opposition, to stand up for it.

~A.A. Hodge~

"Prayer is never an acceptable substitute for obedience.  The sovereign Lord accepts no offering from His creatures that is not accompanied by obedience.  To pray for revival while ignoring or actually flouting the plain precept laid down in the Scriptures is to waste a lot of words and get nothing for our trouble." - A.W. Tozer, Of God and Men, 52.

There was no “easy believism” in Paul's presentation of the Gospel. Decision was to be accompanied and followed by devotion. Jesus Christ IS Lord and, therefore, MUST be Lord in our lives.

~Stephen Olford~

Just as water seeks to fill the lowest places, so God fills you with His glory and power when He finds you empty and abased.

~Andrew Murray~

A preoccupation with psychological theory has in many cases eroded confidence in the Scriptures. When the essence of the human predicament is redefined in terms of lack of self-esteem, it is almost inevitable that people will be directed toward a couch but not a cross, a psychologist but not a Savior.

Reference:   Preaching for God’s Glory, Crossway, 1999, p. 19-20.

~Alistair Begg~

The chief danger of the Church today is that it is trying to get on the same side as the world, instead of turning the world upside down. Our Master expects us to accomplish results, even if they bring opposition and conflict. Anything is better than compromise, apathy, and paralysis. God, give to us an intense cry for the old-time power of the Gospel and the Holy Ghost!

~A.B. Simpson~

IMO most people do not get this simple truth.

To 'Evangelize'....does not mean to win converts...but simply to announce the Good News, irrespective of the results.

~John Stott~

Don’t think such heavenly mindedness makes us pilgrims no earthly good. Don’t pooh-pooh it as looking at the world through pie-in-the-sky, rose-colored glasses. Sojourners who think the most of the next world are usually those who are doing the highest good in this one. It is the person whose mind is only on earthly things who, when it comes to earth, does little good.

Reference:  Heaven: Your Real Home, Zondervan, www.Zondervan.com, 1995, p. 110

~Joni Eareckson Tada~

Self pity is the response of pride to suffering.

~Unknown Author~

Unction is the sweetest exhalation of the Holy Spirit. It carries the Word like dynamite, like salt, like sugar; makes the Word a soother, an accuser, a revealer, a searcher; makes the hearer a culprit or a saint, makes him weep like a child and live like a giant; opens his heart and his purse as gently, yet as strongly as the spring opens the leaves. This unction is not the gift of genius. It is not found in the hall of learning. No eloquence can woo it. No industry can win it. It is the gift of God - the signet set to His own messengers. It is heaven’s knighthood given to the chosen true and brave ones who have sought this anointed honor through many an hour of tearful, wrestling prayer. Earnestness is good and impressive; genius is gifted and great. Thought kindles and inspires, but it takes a diviner endowment, a more powerful energy than earnestness or genius or thought to break the chains of sin, to win estranged and depraved hearts to God, to repair the breaches and restore the church to her old ways of purity and power. Nothing but holy unction can do this.

~E.M. Bounds~

Ten steps to becoming a "Pragmatic Church" 1. "Easy-believism" gospel. 2. Place emphasis on some "work" for salvation and not the need to recognize and approach a holy God. 3. Teach half-truths. 4. Teach that grace replaces (instead of produces) holiness. 5. Teach that love and truth are opposed and obedience is legalism or optional. 6. Use fleshly things to attract unbelievers for evangelism and teach them that carnal, worldly lifestyles are acceptable. 7. Avoid the Biblical teachings that create humility in man and exalt God. 8. Teach the means of grace are optional. 9. Be "seeker-friendly" and avoid being "offensive." 10. Place being "relatable" above "biblical accuracy."

Reference:   Does the Truth Matter Anymore? Video Tape Series.

~John MacArthur~

If they had a social gospel in the days of the prodigal son, somebody would have given him a bed and a sandwich and he never would have gone home.  ~Vance Havner~

You can end up in grave sin by thinking it is very important to be nice to people.  How easy it is to practice a gutless compassion that never wants to offend anyone, that equates niceness with love and thereby ignores God's law and essentially despises His holiness.  We do not necessarily seek God's honor when we spare human feelings.

Reference:  1 Samuel, Christian Focus Publications, 1 Samuel, p. 36-37.

~Dale Ralph Davis~

Were all human beings suddenly to become blind, still the sun would shine by day and the stars by night, for these owe nothing to the millions who benefit from their light. So, were every man on earth to become an atheist, it could not affect God in any way. He is what He is in Himself without regard to any other. To believe in Him adds nothing to His perfections; to doubt Him takes nothing away.

Reference:   Secret Church 2008.

~A.W. Tozer~

The new birth is very much more than simply shedding a few tears due to a temporary remorse over sin. It is far more than changing our course of life, the leaving off of bad habits and the substituting of good ones. It is something different from the mere cherishing and practicing of noble ideals. It goes infinitely deeper than coming forward to take some popular evangelist by the hand, signing a pledge-card, or "joining a church." The new birth is no mere turning over a new leaf, but is the inception and reception of a new life. It is no mere reformation but a complete transformation. In short, the new birth is a miracle, the result of the supernatural operation of God. It is radical, revolutionary, lasting.

Reference:   The Sovereignty of God, p. 79.

~A.W. Pink~