Sermons and Biblical Studies

I just want to make the observation that many of the preachers in our day are adept with the old-fashioned custom of the pacifier, the sugar nipple. They think it will result in more people coming to their churches. They think it will result in bigger offerings. They think that they will be more likely … Continue reading “CHURCH:
NUMBERS; PREACHING: WATERED DOWN”

The devotees of this doctrine [“we must get the message out” regardless of how we go about it] appear to be more concerned with quantity than with quality. They seem burned up with desire to “bring the people in” even if they have not much to offer them after they are in. They take inexcusable … Continue reading “CHURCH:
NUMBERS; GROWTH EMPHASIS; PREACHING: WATERED DOWN”

Time may show that one of the greatest weaknesses in our modern civilization has been the acceptance of quantity rather than quality as the goal after which to strive.… Christianity is resting under the blight of degraded values. And it all stems from a too-eager desire to impress, to gain fleeting attention, to appear well … Continue reading “CHURCH:
NUMBERS; GROWTH EMPHASIS; PASTORAL MINISTRY: EXPECTATIONS”

The emphasis today in Christian circles appears to be on quantity, with a corresponding lack of emphasis on quality. Numbers, size and amount seem to be very nearly all that matters even among evangelicals. The size of the crowd, the number of converts, the size of the budget, the amount of the weekly collections: if … Continue reading “CHURCH:
NUMBERS; GROWTH EMPHASIS”

To God quality is vastly important and size matters little. When set in opposition to size, quality is everything and size nothing.… Man’s moral fall has clouded his vision, confused his thinking and rendered him subject to delusion. One evidence of this is his all but incurable proneness to confuse values and put size before … Continue reading “CHURCH:
NUMBERS”

All else being equal, the individual Christian will find in the communion of a local church the most perfect atmosphere for the fullest development of his spiritual life. There also he will find the best arena for the largest exercise of those gifts and powers with which God may have endowed him. The religious solitary … Continue reading “CHURCH:
NECESSITY OF”

I would like to see a church become so godly, so Spirit-filled that it would have a spiritual influence on all of the churches in the entire area. Paul told some of his people, “you became a model to all the believers” and “your faith in God has become known everywhere” (1 Thessalonians 1:7, 8). … Continue reading “CHURCH:
MODELING”

Well, we have great churches and we have beautiful sanctuaries and we join in the chorus, “We have need of nothing.” But there is every indication that we are in need of worshipers. We have a lot of men willing to sit on our church boards who have no desire for spiritual joy and radiance … Continue reading “CHURCH:
LEADERSHIP; LEADERS: SPIRITUAL NEED; WORSHIP: MISSING IN CHURCHES”

I believe that it might be accepted as a fairly reliable rule of thumb that the man who is ambitious to lead is disqualified as a leader. The Church of the Firstborn is no place for the demagogue or the petty religious dictator. The true leader will have no wish to lord it over God’s … Continue reading “CHURCH:
LEADERSHIP; CHURCH: GOVERNMENT; LEADERS: SPIRITUAL NEED”

You cannot deny that the life and vitality of the Christian church lie in the spiritual leadership of men anointed of the Holy Ghost. I dare to tell you that there is danger in too much democracy in the life of the church. I am sure that some of you with a strong Baptist background … Continue reading “CHURCH:
LEADERSHIP; CHURCH: GOVERNMENT”