Quotes About Church

Sola scriptura means at least this: that the church's proclamation is always subject to potential correction from the canon. It is for this reason that we resist simply collapsing the text into the tradition of its interpretation and performance.

In sum: the church exists to be a living exhibit of the reality of the gospel.

the twenty-first-century evangelical church is on the verge of selling its Protestant birthright, sola scriptura, for a mess of pottage, sola cultura.

The church has become the theater of the gospel, and in this theater, there are no passive spectators, only engaged participants, acting out what is in Christ.

The church is biblical, therefore, when it seeks to embody the words in the power of the Spirit and so become a living commentary.

The theory-practice dichotomy that still bedevils many a theological curriculum serves neither seminary nor church. There is a debilitating dichotomy between what Christians believe (doctrine) and how they live their lives (discipleship).

Doctrine forms disciples when it helps the church to act out its new life in Christ.

Public theology is first and foremost a reaction against the tendency to privatize the faith, restricting it to the question of an individual's salvation. As we shall see in later chapters, the church is not a collection of saved individuals but the culmination of the plan of salvation: to create a people of God.

Christian doctrine is what the church believes, teaches, and confesses as it prays and suffers, serves and obeys, celebrates and awaits the coming of the kingdom of God. —Jaroslav Pelikan

the church, like television, is always educating; the only question is, What is it teaching?

The church is biblical, therefore, when it seeks to embody the words in the power of the Spirit and so become a living commentary. The church is thus not only the "people of the book" but also "the (lived) interpretation of the book.

when the church responds to the word of God as it ought, the church demonstrates the love of God and the mind of Christ, in word and in deed. Just as the church comes to understand the love of God by attending to the story of Jesus and getting caught up in the gospel story, so the church in turn renders that story intelligible when it lives out the truth of the gospel.

The distinct experiential end in question in the church, communion with God and others, neither justifies nor fits many marketing means. The increase of the kingdom of God owes more to the work of the Spirit than to Madison Avenue.

Make no mistake Pastor, if the Holy Spirit is moving powerfully in your church, souls are being saved, and believers are being equipped for the work of the ministry, the devil will send false brethren, people who pretend to be that which they are not, to stir up trouble with the intent to thwart that which the Lord is doing in your church.

False brethren don't show up at your church to be helped, they come to devour the flock. They are wolves. Wolves like to feed on lambs. You don't negotiate with a wolf. You don't counsel a wolf. You don't pray with a wolf. Read this carefully, the only thing you can do with a wolf is take them out, drive them out, and drive them away from your flock! This is what the leadership at Ephesus did, and Jesus commended them for it.

Diversity is not an accident or a problem ; it is a sign of God's providence and promise. If the church gets this wrong, it is not just getting race and ethnic difference wrong. It is getting the gospel wrong . We cannot obey the Great Commission without celebrating the glory of the new humanity only Christ can create.

The pastor at Pittsburgh's Trinity Lutheran Church agreed, calling the sermon competition "a concentrated and remarkable contribution to the cause of freedom.

John Knox's dying words were, 'Lord, grant true pastors to Thy kirk.' Such was the last prayer of a great man without whom there would have been no America, no Puritans, no Pilgrims, no Scottish covenanters, no Presbyterians, no Patrick Henry, no Samuel Adams, no George Washington. Could it have been so simple? John Knox's agenda was far from political. All he wanted were more pastors and elders. This is our agenda. Lord grant true pastors to Thy church!

The loss of psalmody in the church is one of the early indicators of the loss of faith.

She had the right church, but the wrong pew.

I only attend church for hatches, matches, and dispatches.

When people are uncertain about the future and afraid of what might come to pass, dispensationalists assure them that when things go from bad to worse, the church will be raptured from the earth and Christians will not be around to experience the great tribulation or the wrath of the Antichrist. In this way, dispensationalists offer comforting answers to painful questions.

Why did Paul warn us about heresy and false teaching if he saw a golden age ahead for the church in which the peril of false teaching is eliminated until a brief period of apostasy? He gave us this warning because he expected heresy and false teaching to plague Christ's church until the end of the age. We must be on our guard until the day of Christ Jesus.

You be 'memberin' what the Good Book says 'bout how we is to love. Seems to me there be a verse 'bout a man lovin' his woman the way Jesus loves the church. Would Jesus be a-hollerin' right now or would He be tender?