“We have gotten to the point where we define vile behavior as any behavior that provokes someone else into behaving in a vile fashion. We look at rioters and blame the people who never riot.”
Mines of Difficulty, pp. 29-30
A Sly Spin
“Notice that there are two elements here that Paul is concerned about. The first is the trial itself, and the second is the devil’s interpretation of it. Having a toothache is bad enough, but the suggestion that it is happening because God hates you is much worse. The deeper concern is the second one, the spin the devil puts on any trial.”
Mines of Difficulty, p. 29
A Fifteen-Dollar Yard Sale Violin
“Sermons are not sacraments, but I think it is fair to say that they are sacramentals. A sermon is not a lecture, or a talk. It is not a chat about the things of God. It is a declaration. But unless Christ picks it up and uses it for His intended purposes, a sermon makes the hollowest sound any mortal has ever heard. Christ speaks with authority, and not as the scribes (Matt. 7:29). But He has so much authority that he can even pick up a scribe and do wonderful things through him. Every mortal preacher is in this position, and needs to keep it in mind at all times. Remember how Paul once cried out in a holy despair: ‘Who is sufficient for these things?’ (2 Cor. 2:6). The best preacher in the world is nothing more than a fifteen-dollar yard sale violin. But when Christ picks that thing up, He still astonishes the world with the music He can make.”
Mines of Difficulty, pp. 24-25
On Not Flexing in the Pulpit
“The ministry is not to be used as a means of impressing the girls.”
Mines of Difficulty, p. 18
The Big Three
“When ministries go astray, it is very common for the problem to be located in one of three areas: glory, gold, and girls. And because sins are like grapes—they come in bunches—it is not unusual to find some ministries that shipwreck because of all three.”
Mines of Difficulty, p. 17
Not As Ignorant As We Pretend
“Given how the Almighty is going to judge us at the last day, we need to come to grips with the fact that we all know more than we think we do.”
Mines of Difficulty, p. 13
The Beginning
“The first stair step of knowing anything rightly is to know God rightly, and to fear Him. To hate knowledge is the same thing as not choosing the fear of the Lord. And knowledge of the holy is the foundation of all understanding.”
Mines of Difficulty, p. 12
The Divide in the Heart of Man
“This tells us that the fundamental law/gospel divide is not to found in the text of Scripture. It is found in the difference between regenerate and unregenerate man. For the regenerate, everything from God is sweeter than the honeycomb. All of it is grace. For the unregenerate, the whole thing is the stench of death, including the good news of Christ on the cross. All of it is law and condemnation.”
Convex and Concave
“The world’s approach to sex is demented, but it is a demented caricature of certain creational realities. Men and women are convex and concave in their desires. Men want to possess and women want to be possessed. Men want to want and women want to be wanted. We reject the world’s approach to sex by embracing God’s approach.”
Mines of Difficulty, p. 5
Not Legalism
“In other words, while there is real legalism out there, we want to make sure that we don’t define a legalist as someone who loves Jesus more than we do.”