Teach the Truth of Hell

"I must feel the truth of hell - that it exists and is terrible and horrible beyond imagining forever and ever. I must feel the truth that once I was as close to hell as I am to the chair I am sitting on - even closer. I must feel the truth that God's wrath was my head. I must feel in my heart that all the righteousness in the universe was on the side of God and against me. I say to you, on the authority of Scripture, remember, remember, remember the horrid condition of being separated from Christ, without hope and without God, on the brink of hell. When the heart no longer feels the truth of hell, the gospel passes from good news to simply news. The intensity of joy is blunted and the heart-spring of love is dried up."

- John Piper

Source: Brothers, We're NOT Professionals: A Plea to Pastors for Radical Ministry. Piper, John. B&H Publishing. Nashville, TN. 2002. 114-116.

Thankfulness

"As a cure for the sour, faultfinding attitude I recommend the cultivation of the habit of thankfulness. Thanksgiving has great curative powers. A thankful heart cannot be cynical. "

- A. W. Tozer

Source: Tozer, A. W. Gems from Tozer: Selections from the Writings of A. W. Tozer. Camp Hill: Send the Light Trust Christian Publications, 1969. p 78.

More Than Apologetics

"Apologetics had to be about much more than answering questions - it had to focus on questioning the questions and clarifying truth claims."

- Ravi Zacharias

Source: Zacharias, Ravi, and Scott Sawyer. Walking from East to West. Zondervan Publishing Company, 2006. Print. P198

The Universe is about God's Glory

"The created universe is all about glory. The deepest longing of the human heart and the deepest meaning of heaven and earth are summed up in this: the glory of God. The universe was made to show it, and we were made to see and savor it. Nothing less will do. "

- John Piper

Source: Piper, John. Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2004. 13.

The Manipulation of the Media

"Today's media, especially television, seeks to define reality for us. It wants to tell us how to think about sex, about marriage, about our desires, about sin. The danger of not bringing God's standards to bear in what you watch isn't only that you might see a naked body, but that the values of a sinful world will shape what you're living for."

- Joshua Harris

Source: Harris, Joshua. Sex is not the Problem (lust is): Sexual Purity in a Lust-Saturated World. Colorado Springs: Multnomah, 2003. 117. Print.

The Need for Truth

"The world of personal ministry is rooted in three principles: First, we were created with the need for truth outside ourselves to live life properly. Secondly, many interpretive voices compete with God's Word for our hearts' attention. Third, the power of sin has been broken, but the blinding presence of sin remains. Therefore, we need to live in humble, honest community with one another, where personal ministry is part of the daily culture."

- Paul David Tripp

Source: Tripp, Paul David.  Instruments the Redeemer's Hands: People In Need of Change Helping People In Need of Change. P&R Publishing. Phillipsburg, NJ. 2002. 54-55.

The Blessed News!

"The blessed news is that the God who needs no one has in sovereign condescension stooped to work by and in and through His obedient children."

- A. W. Tozer

Source: Tozer, A. W. Gems from Tozer: Selections from the Writings of A. W. Tozer. Camp Hill: Send the Light Trust Christian Publications, 1969. p 72.

How is God Shaping You?

"God can shape us in any way he pleases. He raised Moses in a palace in order to use him in a desert; he raised Joseph in a desert in order to use him in a palace."

- Ravi Zacharias

Source: Zacharias, Ravi, and Scott Sawyer. Walking from East to West. Zondervan Publishing Company, 2006. Print. P229

Truth Leads to Comfort

"If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end: if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth—only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin with and, in the end, despair."

-C.S. Lewis

Source: Lewis, C.S. Mere Christianity. New York: HarperOne, 1980. 32. Print.

Food for Thought...Literally

"Many people ask for God's blessing before they partake of a meal, but the Jews were instructed also to give thanks after the meal was eaten. 'When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you' (Deuteronomy 8:10). Why? The answer is in Deuteronomy 6:11-12: 'Then when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the Lord.' When our blessings are more meaningful to us than the God who gave them, we've taken the first step toward idolatry. It delights the heart of God when His children are thankful for the Giver, and not just the gifts."

- Warren W. Wiersbe

Source: Wiersbe, Warren W. Bless You: Receiving and Sharing the Blessings of the Lord. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008. 16. Print.

Preach the Truth!

"No gore, no grace, no glory. All religions that deny the cross nullify the grace of God and lead people to perpetual ruin. Preaching that (nullified) truth ill-fits today's professionalism (among evangelicals). Beware of replacing real truth-based tolerance with spurious professional tolerance."

- John Piper

Source: Brothers, We're NOT Professionals: A Plea to Pastors for Radical Ministry. Piper, John. B&H Publishing. Nashville, TN. 2002. xi.

Dangers of the Deeply Religious

"The farther we push into the sanctuary the greater becomes the danger of self-deception. The deeply religious man is far more vulnerable than the easy-going fellow who takes his religion lightly. This latter may be deceived but he is not likely to be self-deceived."

- A. W. Tozer

Source: Tozer, A. W. Gems from Tozer: Selections from the Writings of A. W. Tozer. Camp Hill: Send the Light Trust Christian Publications, 1969. p 62-63

Feelings Should Lead to Truth

"Feelings follow belief; belief, then, should follow truth."

- Ravi Zacharias

Source: Zacharias, Ravi, and Scott Sawyer. Walking from East to West. Zondervan Publishing Company, 2006. Print.

Heavenly Perspective

"When I stand before the Throne,
Dressed in beauty not my own
When I see Thee as Thou art
Love Thee with unsinning heart
Then, Lord, shall I fully know-
Not till then- how much I owe"

-Robert Murray M'Cheyne

Source: Loane, Marcus. They Were Pilgrims. East Peoria, IL: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2006. 138. Print.

Our Pleasure and Treasure

"Christ is praised by being prized. He is magnified as a glorious treasure when He becomes our unrivaled pleasure."

- John Piper

Source: Piper, John. The Dangerous Duty of Delight: the Glorified God and the Satisfied Soul. Colorado Springs: Multnomah Publishers, 2001. 27. Print.

Defense of Truth

"If I speak what is false, I must answer for it; if truth, it will answer for me."

- Thomas Fuller

Source: A Puritan Golden Treasury, I.D.E. Thomas. Banner of Truth. Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 300.

Faith

"Without faith it is impossible to please God, but not all faith pleases God....For it is not enough that we believe; we must believe the right thing about the right One....Faith in faith is faith astray. To hope for heaven by means of such faith is to drive in the dark across a deep chasm on a bridge that does not quite reach the other side."

- A. W. Tozer

Source: Tozer, A. W. Gems from Tozer: Selections from the Writings of A. W. Tozer. Camp Hill: Send the Light Trust Christian Publications, 1969. p 54-55