When the gospel is at stake, everything is at stake.
The Christian gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me.
The intensity of our desire to share the gospel is a great indicator of the extent of our personal conversion.
The Gospel is ‘Good News’, not ‘Good History’, because when it’s preached, it happens.
To quote from another gospel, DUNE by Frank Herbert, 'Fear is the mind-killer. '. . . Jesus was the original Muad'dib.
In our own storms in life the Savior is our solace and our sanctuary. If we seek peace, we must come unto Him, the Man who suffered for mankind, who committed His life to healing the sick and comforting the disconsolate, is mindful of your sufferings, doubts, and heartaches. Living the gospel does not mean the storms of life will pass us by, but we will be better prepared to face them with serenity and peace.
The gospel cannot be truly preached without offense and tumult.
When you are giving people the gospel, you are giving them something to believe, and you have to set the stage for that. You don't just drive up and dump the truck and drive off.
If the Bible teaches the equality of women, why does the church refuse to ordain women to preach the gospel, to fill the offices of deacons and elders, and to administer the Sacraments. . . ?
I have known some good men who have been so addicted to their study, that they have thought the last day of the week sufficient to prepare for their ministry, though they employ all the rest of the week in other studies. But your business is to trade with your spiritual abilities. . . . A man may preach a very good sermon, who is otherwise himself; but he will never make a good minister of Jesus Christ, whose mind and heart are not always in the work. Spiritual gifts will require continual ruminating on the things of the Gospel in our minds.
If the devil were wise enough and would stand by in silence and let the gospel be preached, he would suffer less harm. For when there is no battle for the gospel it rusts and it finds no cause and no occasion to show its vigor and power. Therefore, nothing better can befall the gospel than that the world should fight it with force and cunning.
By and large, the gospel of grace is neither proclaimed, understood, nor lived.
The gospel destroys pride because it tells us we are so lost that Jesus had to die for us.
Your task, O preacher, is to make sure that you are faithful to the text, that you are faithful to the proclamation of that gospel, that you are faithful to set forth the whole counsel of God, and then step back and let it happen.
Without gospel truths, man's efforts to reach his goals are like the northbound explorer who drove his dog sled feverishly northward on an ice pack that was flowing southward - only to find himself farther from his destination at the end of a hard day's journey than he had been at dawn!
I would have every minister of the gospel address his audience with the zeal of a friend, with the generous energy of a father, and with the exuberant affection of a mother.
One man's gospel truth is another man's blasphemous lie. The dangerous thing about people is the way we'll try to kill anyone whose truth doesn't agree with ours.
Sometimes we overcomplicate living the gospel.
I don't think we've got the gospel right yet. I don't think the liberals have it right. But I don't think we have it right either. None of us has arrived at orthodoxy.
Faith and repentance are as much benefits of the covenant of grace as justification. . . . faith and repentance themselves. . . . are components of the gospel, not the workings or fruits of the law.