Some preachers ought to put more fire into their sermons or more
sermons into the fire.
– Vance Havner –
We Need the Church on Fire – Samuel M. Zwemer
A man set on fire is an apostle of his age …Tell me, is your ministry a burning and shining light, or a smoking wick, slowly dying out to ashes? … We need the dynamic of a flaming ministry that will set the Church on fire.
– Samuel M. Zwemer –
How Powerful is the Gospel? – David Griffin
Is the Gospel really dynamite, or does it need all sorts of human institutions and money? Much of the work we have done in the name of Jesus Christ has been, not to perform miracles of the Holy Ghost, but miracles of gold.
– David Griffin –
Born of the Spirit and Washed in the Blood – AW Tozer
I am convinced that many evangelicals are not truly and soundly converted. Among the evangelicals it is entirely possible to come into membership, to ooze in by osmosis, to leak through the cells of the church and never know what it means to be born of the Spirit and washed in the blood. A great deal that passes for the deeper life is nothing more or less than basic Christianity.
– AW Tozer –
Destitute of Fire? – Samuel Chadwick
Truth without enthusiasm, morality without emotion, ritual without soul, are things Christ unsparingly condemned. Destitute of fire, they are nothing more than a godless philosophy, an ethical system, and a superstition.
– Samuel Chadwick –
Form of Religion Without the Power – John Wesley
I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease to exist either in Europe or America. But I am afraid lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having the form of religion without the power. And this undoubtedly will be the case unless they hold fast both the doctrine, spirit, and discipline with which they first set out.
– John Wesley –
Close Communion with God – Robert Murray M’Cheyne
Oh, for closest communion with God, till soul and body, head, face, and heart—shine with Divine brilliancy! But oh! for a holy ignorance of our shining!
– Robert Murray M’Cheyne –
The Power of Prevailing Prayer – Samuel Chadwick
There is no power like that of prevailing prayer, of Abraham pleading for Sodom, Jacob wrestling in the stillness of the night, Moses standing in the breach, Hannah intoxicated with sorrow, David heartbroken with remorse and grief, Jesus in sweat of blood. Add to this list from the records of the church your personal observation and experience, and always there is the cost of passion unto blood. Such prayer prevails. It turns ordinary mortals into men of power. It brings power. It brings fire. It brings rain. It brings life. It brings God.
– Samuel Chadwick –
We Need People Who Walk With God and Before God – JC Ryle
We want more men and women who walk with God and before God, like Enoch and Abraham. Though our numbers at this date far exceed those of our evangelical forefathers, I believe we fall far short of them in our standard of Christian practice. Where is the self-denial, the redemption of time, the absence of luxury and self-indulgence, the unmistakable separation from earthly things, the manifest air of being always about our Master’s business, the singleness of eye, the simplicity of home life, the high tone of conversation in society, the patience, the humility, the universal courtesy, which marked so many of our forerunners seventy or eighty years ago? Yes: where is it indeed? We have inherited their principles, and we wear their armour, but I fear we have not inherited their practice. The Holy Ghost sees it, and is grieved; and the world sees it, and despises us. The world sees it, and cares little for our testimony. It is life, life–a heavenly, godly, Christ-like life–depend on it, which influences the world. Let us resolve, by God’s blessing, to shake off this reproach. Let us awake to a clear view of what the times require of us in this matter. Let us aim at a much higher standard of practice. Let the time past suffice us to have been content with a half-and-half holiness. For the time to come, let us endeavour to walk with God, to be ‘thorough’ and unmistakable in our daily life, and to silence, if we cannot convert, a sneering world.
– JC Ryle –