“Why is this power missing in our preaching? I strongly suspect that the main reason is our pride. In order to be filled with the Spirit, we must first acknowledge our own emptiness.”
Stott, The Challenge of Preaching, p. 98
Maybe Most of It
“As if in evidence of this, she came in still humming a Celtic version of Psalm 84. Her singing voice was several notches above the one that Trevor had fallen in love with on the phone, and when he heard her singing her solo part on this one at the end-of-term concert, he was going to augur in. Even was a little bit more than dimly aware of the effect she was having on him, but she didn’t mind. Some of it was on purpose”
Elijah Built the Altar Before the Fire Fell
“They should not imagine that even God-given talents can bring people to Christ without the addition of God-given blessing.”
Stott, The Challenge of Preaching, p. 98
All the Way to the Right Tremolo Levels
“‘So you are saying that this was not you?’ The incredulity in Rollins’ voice had already gotten to tremolo levels.”
That’s Actually Pretty Clever
“No man can bear witness to Christ and to himself at the same time. No man can give the impression that he himself is clever and that Christ is mighty to save.”
James Denney, as quoted in Stott, The Challenge of Preaching, p. 96
Maybe Two Drag Shows
“Dr. Rollins carried more envy around inside his rib cage than you could find at a drag show in San Francisco. And on this occasion, as Jake walked into Tom’s office, you didn’t need to be spiritually sensitive to notice it. You could set your iPhone out on the desk, and it would charge all by itself.”
With an Eye on the End of the Furrow
“Christians preachers are to be neither inventors of new doctrines nor editors who delete old doctrines. Rather, they are to be stewards, faithfully handing out scriptural truths to God’s household. Nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else”
Stott, The Challenge of Preaching, p. 96
The Importance of Prepositions
“They were both stellar students in a stellar theological program (if you don’t count all the unbelief and apostasy), but there were striking differences between the two men. A first-rate education had done into Dr. Tom’s head, while it had apparently gone straight to Dr. Jake’s.”
The Real Move
“The preacher with a humble mind will refuse to manipulate the biblical text in order to make it more acceptable to our day and age. Any attempt to make it more acceptable is really about making ourselves more acceptable or popular.”
Stott, The Challenge of Preaching, p. 95
Make That a Stick of Warm Butter
“In short, they were not prepared at all for battle. The wedge of young radicals went through the middle of the crowd like a meat cleaver going sideways through a stick of butter”