Notable Quotables

Along with around 300 others including our interns Bill and Jason, I attended the Banner of Truth Conference at Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania, last week. The Banner has been publishing Puritan literature for over fifty years now, and offers this conference to minsters, elders and theological students to refresh them, which it did for me. I thought I would offer several of the quote-worthy insights I heard last week that stimulated my heart and mind. Some are from saints of long ago that perhaps I had heard before and rejoiced in their remembrance; others were fresh words from the ministers who spoke at the conference. They are in no particular order.

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I long for love (for Christ) without any coldness.
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Like a calvary officer keeps his blade clean, so God uses a holy minister as a sword.
It is not great talents God blesses, but likeness to Jesus.
A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of the Lord.
Robert Murray McCheyne

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Be killing sin or it will be killing you.
John Owen

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A spark starts an entire combustion engine and puts it into motion.
Cannot the Spirit of God, sought in prayer, spark great life in us?
Craig Troxel

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If you need a sign hanging on your forehead saying "Holy to the Lord,"
then there is reason to doubt that he possesses his own sufficient holiness.
Richard Phillips (speaking of the high priest's sinfulness in comparison to Christ's perfection)

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Remember the children.
David Campbell (on preaching to the entire congregation)

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For eight-six years I have served Him and He has never done me wrong as my King.
Shall I now blaspheme Him?
Polycarp (speaking of Christ before his martyrdom)

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Yes, Jesus did say to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan."
But it could have been worse.
He could have said, "Get behind Me, Peter."
Ian Hamilton

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We are all unbelieving believers.
Thomas Hooker

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Without the anointing of the Spirit, the ministry of the word is as dry as a bone.
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Do not see what you cannot change (in the church).
Iain Murray

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Calvinism is simply Christianity on it knees.
B.B. Warfield

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