“What will He not do for us now?” by John Chrysostom (A.D. 347-407)

“The wonder is not only that God the Father gave His Son but that He did so in this way, by sacrificing the one He loved. It is astonishing that He gave the Beloved for those who hated Him. See how highly He honors us. If even when we hated Him and were enemies He gave the Beloved, what will He not do for us now?”

–John Chrysostom, “Homily on Ephesians I.I.8.” in Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, Vol. 8, Ed. Mark J. Edwards (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1999), 114.

“A plain Christ” by Charles H. Spurgeon

“A plain Christ is forever the loveliest Christ. Dress Him up, and you have deformed Him and defamed Him. Bring Him out just as He is, the Christ of God, nothing else but Christ and Him crucified.”

–Charles H. Spurgeon, “The Chief Office of the Holy Spirit” in Spurgeon on the Holy Spirit (New Kensington, PA: Whitaker House, 2000), 61.

“Greater glory among the oxen” by Charles H. Spurgeon

“Think for a minute of Christ’s person as revealed to us by the Holy Spirit. What can more glorify Him than for us to see His person, very God of very God, and yet as truly man? What a wondrous being, as human as ourselves, but as divine as God! Was there ever another like Him? Never.

Think of His incarnation, His birth at Bethlehem. There was greater glory among the oxen in the stall than ever was seen where those born in marble halls were swathed in purple and fine linen. Was there ever another baby like Christ? Never. I am not surprised that the wise men fell down to worship Him.”

–Charles H. Spurgeon, “The Chief Office of the Holy Spirit” in Spurgeon on the Holy Spirit (New Kensington, PA: Whitaker House, 2000), 61.

“The glory of Christ lies in Himself” by Charles H. Spurgeon

“The things that glorify Christ are all in Christ. The Holy Spirit brings nothing from abroad, but He takes of the things of Christ and shows them to us. The glory of kings lies in their silver and gold, their silk and gems, but the glory of Christ lies in Himself.”

–Charles H. Spurgeon, “The Chief Office of the Holy Spirit” in Spurgeon on the Holy Spirit (New Kensington, PA: Whitaker House, 2000), 63.

“Defined by the worship of God” N.T. Wright

“Christians are not defined by skin colour, by gender, by geographical location, or even, shockingly, by their good behaviour. Nor are they defined by the particular type of religious feelings they may have. They are defined in terms of the God they worship.

That’s why we say the Creed at the heart of our regular liturgies: we are defined as the people who believe in this God. All other definitions of the church are open to distortion.

We need theology, we need doctrine, because if we don’t have it something else will come in to take its place. And any other defining marks of the church will move us in the direction of idolatry.”

–N. T. Wright, For All God’s Worth: True Worship and the Calling of the Church (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1997), 28.

“The meaning of the Pentateuch” by John H. Sailhamer

“The big idea of the Pentateuch is the importance of living by faith.”

–John H. Sailhamer, The Meaning of the Pentateuch (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2009), 22.

“The dearest place on earth” by Charles H. Spurgeon

“Give yourself to the Church. You that are members of the Church have not found it perfect and I hope that you feel almost glad that you have not. If I had never joined a Church till I had found one that was perfect, I would never have joined one at all! And the moment I did join it, if I had found one, I should have spoiled it, for it would not have been a perfect Church after I had become a member of it.

Still, imperfect as it is, it is the dearest place on earth to us… All who have first given themselves to the Lord, should, as speedily as possible, also give themselves to the Lord’s people. How else is there to be a Church on the earth? If it is right for anyone to refrain from membership in the Church, it is right for everyone, and then the testimony for God would be lost to the world!

As I have already said, the Church is faulty, but that is no excuse for your not joining it, if you are the Lord’s. Nor need your own faults keep you back, for the Church is not an institution for perfect people, but a sanctuary for sinners saved by grace, who, though they are saved, are still sinners and need all the help they can derive from the sympathy and guidance of their fellow believers.

The Church is the nursery for God’s weak children where they are nourished and grow strong. It is the fold for Christ’s sheep—the home for Christ’s family.”

–Charles H. Spurgeon, “The Best Donation,” (No. 2234), in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Vol. 37,  an exposition of 2 Corinthians 8:5 preached at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, England, on April 5, 1891.

“The life of the disciple is not for the timid” by Kris Lundgaard

“The life of the disciple is not for the timid. Most would rather give in to sin than go through the painful work of picking up a cross and nailing their flesh to it.”

–Kris Lundgaard, The Enemy Within (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 1998), 31.

“Higher critics can’t preach” by Brevard S. Childs

“In my judgment, there is no greater indictment of the critical method than the theological bankruptcy of its homiletical model.”

–Brevard S. Childs, Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1979), 409.

“The supreme mystery” by J.I. Packer

“The really staggering Christian claim is that Jesus of Nazareth was God made man– that the second person of the Godhead became the ’second man’ (1 Cor. 15:47), determining human destiny, the second representative head of the race, and that He took humanity without loss of deity, so that Jesus of Nazareth was as truly and fully divine as He was human…

It is here, in the thing that happened at the first Christmas, that the profoundest and most unfathomable depths of the Christian revelation lie. ‘The Word became flesh’ (John 1:14); God became man; the divine Son became a Jew; the Almighty appeared on earth as a helpless human baby, unable to do more than lie and stare and wriggle and make noises, needing to be fed and changed and taught to talk like any other child.

And there was no illusion or deception in this: the babyhood of the Son of God was a reality. The more you think about it, the more staggering it gets. Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as is this truth of the Incarnation.”

–J.I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1973), 53.

“Where sin can’t breathe” by Kris Lundgaard

“We worship a tender Father as well as a ‘consuming fire’ (Hebrews 12:28-29). Sin can’t breath in an atmosphere of fear and reverence before God. It suffocates. Can you imagine your lust cheery and prosperous when you are on your face before a holy God?”

–Kris Lundgaard, The Enemy Within (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 1998), 131.

“Indwelling sin is our Judas” by Kris Lundgaard

“Dante found Brutus, Cassius, and Judas in the deepest pit of hell. Those who are traitors, who win the trust of their friends and then betray from the inside, are the most wicked of all. Indwelling sin is our Judas.”

–Kris Lundgaard, The Enemy Within (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 1998), 31.

“Be always praying” by Thomas Brooks

“A Christian must not only pray, but hold on in prayer, until he hath got the heavenly prize. We are daily in want, and therefore we have need to be praying daily. The world is always alluring, therefore we have need to be always praying.

Satan is always tempting, therefore we have need to be always praying. And we are always sinning, and therefore we have need to be always praying. And we are in danger always, and therefore we have need to be praying always.”

–Thomas Brooks, “The Privy Key of Heaven, Or Twenty Arguments For Closet Prayer” in The Complete Works of Thomas Brooks (Edinburgh: James Nichol, 1866), 2:199.

“Rise and Fall” by Daniel Renstrom

“Rise and Fall”
By Daniel Renstrom, 2009

The dawn of the light
Is breaking tonight
At the birth of this dangerous boy.

And shepherds and kings
Bow down and sing
At the birth of this dangerous boy.

Many will rise and fall
At the birth of this King, the birth of this King.
Many will rise and fall
At the birth of this King, the birth of this King.

Those who oppose
Stumble on this Stone
At the birth of this dangerous King

But many will hear
Believing in fear
Will hope in this dangerous King.

–Daniel Renstrom, “Rise and Fall,” On The Incarnation. Catapult, 2009.

“Heaven is a world of singing” by Jonathan Edwards

“The best, most beautiful, and most perfect way that we have of expressing a sweet concord of mind to each other, is by music. When I form in my mind an idea of a society in the highest degree of happiness, I think of them as expressing their love, their joy, and the inward concord and harmony and spiritual beauty of their souls by sweetly singing to each other.”

–Jonathan Edwards, “188. HEAVEN” in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Volume 13, The “Miscellanies:” Entry Nos. a–z, aa–zz, 1–500, ed. Thomas A. Schafer (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994), 331.