Those who bemoan the moral and social disinter-gration of American culture are often right.  But when they speak to us in such a way as to stir up fear and panic in our hearts, they are wrong.  Our God reigns, and therefore we need not—we must not—be afraid as we exercise our civic responsibilities, no matter what seems to be going on around us.  - Charles Drew

Many seek the face of a ruler, but it is from the Lord that a man gets justice. - Proverbs 29:26

“What makes the temptation of power so seemingly irresistible?  Maybe it is that power offers an easy substitute for the hard task of love.  It seems easier to be God than to love God, easier to control people than to love people, easier to own life than to love life.”   – Henri Nouwen

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.  This is good and pleases God our Savior… – 1 Timothy 2:1-3

First, there will be in it the saint’s pure joy in the Savior’s glory. In the condition of sainthood that will come first. The soul will rejoice for Christ before it rejoices for itself. The first use it makes of its crown will be to cast it at His feet. It will test its harp by striking it to his praise. As the first cry of the successful child is that the father will be pleased, of the successful scholar that the teacher will be honored, of the successful soldier that his country will be saved, so the saved Christian’s first delight is not, as we are sometimes told, to find that he is safe, but to know that Christ has triumphed and is glorified.

And what will that glorification be? The ends of the earth shall have been gathered in. The enemies shall all have been subdued. Peace will brood like a great, deep, loving atmosphere over a whole harmonized creation. The plans of Eternity will be accomplished. The rounded and finished purposes of that wonderful Life and Death shall be all returned and held fast in the Savior’s hands. His work shall not have returned unto Him void, but shall have prospered to complete success in the thing whereto He sent it.

–Phillips Brooks (A sermon preached in 1867). This pastor-poet is the author of “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”

The following quotations are from Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, available in our library:

Godliness requires that we discipline ourselves for the practice of evangelism.

I think the seriousness of evangelism is the main reason it frightens us. We realize that in talking with someone about Christ, heaven and hell are at stake.

If God does not use people like these – like us! – as His witnesses, there will be no human witnesses. Since there are no perfect people, there are no perfect witnesses.

We need to realize that sharing the gospel is successful evangelism. We ought to have an obsession for souls, and tearfully plead with God to see more people converted, but conversions are fruit that only God can give.
In this regard we are like the postal service. Success is measured by the careful and accurate delivery of the message, not by the response of the recipient.

Will you believe God can use your words in the salvation of others?

In times of trouble, then, when our sin has brought misery into our lives, all of us need to be reminded of the hope of the gospel.
- Jay Adams

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ, the solid rock, I stand; all other ground is sinking sand!
- Edward Mote

The hope of the final victory is so much the more vivid because of the unshakably firm conviction that the battle that decides the victory has already taken place.
- Oscar Cullman, referring to Christ’s decisive victory on the cross

Our God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come:
O be our guard while troubles last, and our eternal home!
- Isaac Watts

“The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us.”
- Romans 8:18

Breath in me, O Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may all be holy. Act in me, O Holy Spirit, that my work, too, may be holy. Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit, that I love but what is holy. Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit, to defend all that is holy. Guard me, then, O Holy Spirit, that I always may be holy.
- Augustine

If we follow his impulse, the Holy Spirit will always lead us to pray. When we allow him to work freely, he will always bring the Church to extensive praying. Conversely, when the Spirit is absent, we will find excuses not to pray. We may say, “God understands. He knows I love him. But I’m tired . . . I’m so busy . . . It’s just not convenient now . . .” When the Spirit is absent, our excuses always seem right, but in the presence of the Spirit our excuses fade away.
- R. T. Kendall

Trying to do the Lord’s work in your own strength is the most confusing, exhausting, and tedious of all work. But when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, then the ministry of Jesus just flows out of you.
- Corrie ten Boom

“Be filled with the Holy Spirit…” – Ephesians 5:18

We do not “make” Christ Lord; He is Lord! Those who will not receive Him as Lord are guilty of rejecting Him. “Faith” that rejects His sovereign authority is really unbelief.
- John MacArthur

[As a Christian] you are now the sworn foe of the legions of hell. Have no delusions about their reality or their hostility. But do not fear them. The God inside you terrifies them. They cannot touch you, let alone hurt you. But they can still seduce you and they will try. They will also oppose you if you obey Christ. If you play it cool and decide not to be fanatic about Christianity, you will have no trouble from them. But if you are serious about Christ being your Lord and God, you can expect opposition.”
- John White

Though he was undiminished deity, Jesus quoted Scriptures He had memorized as a man, learning them from childhood in the same kinds of ways people like ourselves can. … And those who are becoming more like Jesus will, over time, live more and more “by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”
- Donald Whitney

Breath in me, O Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may all be holy. Act in me, O Holy Spirit, that my work, too, may be holy. Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit, that I love but what is holy. Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit, to defend all that is holy. Guard me, then, O Holy Spirit, that I always may be holy.
- Augustine

If we follow his impulse, the Holy Spirit will always lead us to pray. When we allow him to work freely, he will always bring the Church to extensive praying. Conversely, when the Spirit is absent, we will find excuses not to pray. We may say, “God understands. He knows I love him. But I’m tired . . . I’m so busy . . . It’s just not convenient now . . .” When the Spirit is absent, our excuses always seem right, but in the presence of the Spirit our excuses fade away.
- R. T. Kendall

Trying to do the Lord’s work in your own strength is the most confusing, exhausting, and tedious of all work. But when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, then the ministry of Jesus just flows out of you.
- Corrie ten Boom

“Be filled with the Holy Spirit…” – Ephesians 5:18

1 Peter 3:18

“He who understands the cross aright … understands the Bible, he understands Jesus Christ.”

Emil Brunner, The Mediator

The world’s major religions direct attention primarily to the teachings of their human founder or leader.  While not neglecting Jesus’ important teachings, Christianity uniquely focuses on the life Christ lived and the death he died on the cross as interpreted by the Scriptures.  The apostle Paul upheld the focal importance of Christ’s passion with his overstatement to the church at Corinth, “I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except for Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2, cf. 1:18; Gal. 1:14).  For solid Biblical reasons the cross of Christ is the central symbol of the Christian faith.

Bruce Demarest,  The Cross and Salvation

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

Romans 5:6

Dr. E.V. Rieu was a classical scholar and translator for many years.  He rendered Homer into very modern English for the Penguin Classics.  Rieu was sixty years old and a life-long agnostic when the same firm invited him to translate the Gospels.  His son remarked:  “It will be interesting to see what Father makes of the four Gospels.  It will be even more interesting to see what the four Gospels make of Father.”  The answer was soon forthcoming.  A year later, Rieu, convinced and converted, joined the Church of England.

In an interview with J.B. Phillips, Rieu confessed that he had undertaken the task of translation because of “an intense desire to satisfy himself as to the authenticity and spiritual content of the Gospels.”  He was determined to approach the documents as if they were newly discovered Greek manuscripts.  “Did you not get the feeling,” asked Canon Phillips, “that the whole material was extraordinarily alive?”  The classical scholar agreed.  “I got the deepest feeling,” he replied.  “My work changed me.  I came to the conclusion that these words bear the seal of the Son of Man and God.”      J.B. Phillips, The Ring of Truth

“Sing to him; sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works!” Psalm 105:2

Scripture plainly teaches that God’s people are not only to speak, but also to sing, the truth of God.   - John Frame

In the hymnbooks I know, up to half the songs express praise and love for Jesus in an explicit way.  Weaving them into my prayers moves my heart in the desired direction.  Love of great hymns…has many good effects, and the zeal for the glory of Christ that you catch from them is one of the best helps to holiness that I know.   - J. I. Packer

My heart, which is so full to overflowing, has often been solaced and refreshed by music when sick and weary.   - Martin Luther

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”  Colossians 3:16