“The highest service that a man may attain to on earth is to preach the word of God.”
John Wycliffe, as quoted in Stott, The Challenge of Preaching, p. 107
With Rust Up and Down the Blades
“This photoshop work must have been done with scissors stolen from a kindergartner, along with some library paste taken from the teacher lady. And while I am on the general subject, that Pledge of Allegiance edit job at KMOZ must have been done with a pair of hedge clippers that hadn’t been oiled for six years.”
Who Is Sufficient?
“The privilege is great, the responsibility heavy, the temptations many and the standards high.”
Stott, The Challenge of Preaching, p. 101
If Hipsters Were Eagles
“His name was Montaine Jacobs, which usually embarrassed him, and so he just went by Em. He was up in his office, which was high in the rafters of an old Portland warehouse. He got to it by means of a rope ladder he bought off an old fishing trawler that he found one time in a maritime salvage yard. There was a catwalk around the edges of the warehouse for the less adventurous secretaries. He liked it up there. If hipsters had eyries, his would be the one at the very tippy top. Better than Gwaihir’s.”
Must Be Something Else
“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.”