Inspirational Quotes by Michael S. Horton

“In many ways, it’s more fun to be part of movements than churches. We can express our own individuality, pick our favorite leaders, and be swept off our feet at conferences. We can be anonymous. Although encouraged by like-minded believers, we are not bound up with them so that we should feel compelled to bear their burdens or suffer their rebukes. Yet this movement mentality keeps us restless and makes ordinary life in and submission to an actual church seem intolerably confining.”

“Then the “teenager” was invented as a unique demographic in society. As a result, the youth group was created, offering adolescent-friendly versions of church. “In the second stage, a new adulthood emerged that looked a lot like the old adolescence. Fewer and fewer people outgrew the adolescent Christian spiritualities they had learned in youth groups; instead, churches began to cater to them.” Eventually, churches became them.18”

“I suspect that for me, getting up and doing the dishes when I’m short on sleep and patience is far more costly and necessitates more of a revolution in my heart than some of the more outwardly risky ways I’ve lived in the past. And so this is what I need now: the courage to face an ordinary day — an afternoon with a colicky baby where I’m probably going to snap at my two-year old and get annoyed with my noisy neighbor — without despair, the bravery it takes to believe that a small life is still a meaningful life, and the grace to know that even when I’ve done nothing that is powerful or bold or even interesting that the Lord notices me and is fond of me and that that is enough.”

“The Internet is the quarry from which younger generations craft their own selves and then advertise a desired persona on Facebook.”

“This burden of extraordinary impact weighs heavily, first, on the shoulders of pastors. But here is the good news: it is not your ministry, church, or people. You do not have to create and protect a personal legacy, but simply to distribute and guard Christ's legacy entrusted to his apostles. You don't have to bind Satan and storm the gates of hell. Christ has already done this. We're just sweeping in behind him to unlock the prison doors.”

“We all want to live for ourselves and yet be cared for, to have authority without responsibility, to be beneficiaries of the gift exchange without being benefactors. There’s nothing new there. What is somewhat new is that this consummate hubris is seen increasingly not as an evil to be repented of, but a basic human right.”

“Finney himself wondered if this endless craving for ever-greater experiences might lead to spiritual exhaustion.42 In fact, his worries were justified. The area where Finney’s revivals were especially dominant is now referred to by historians as the “burned-over district,” a seedbed of both disillusionment and the proliferation of esoteric sects.43”

“CNN will not be showing up at a church that is simply trusting God to do extraordinary things through his ordinary means of grace delivered by ordinary servants. But God will. Week after week. These means of grace and the ordinary fellowship of the saints that nurtures and guides us throughout our life may seem frail, but they are jars that carry a rich treasure: Christ with all of his saving benefits. Whatever gifts may spill over into other activities and venues, it is by sharing in the ordinary service of Christ to his people each week that we become heirs of eternal life and draw others into his everlasting kingdom. Christ is the host and the chef. It is his event. His ministers are simply waiters delivering to his guests some savory morsels of the Lamb’s everlasting wedding feast.”

“The gospel is truly radical: “the power of God for salvation” (Rom 1:16). Through this gospel, the Holy Spirit creates the faith to embrace Christ with all of his benefits. We are delivered from condemnation and are made part of the new creation in Christ. Filled with grateful hearts, we look for ways to glorify God and to love and serve our neighbors. We are eager to grow. Fueled by gratitude, we look for opportunities to glorify God and to love and serve others. Yet it is easy to take the gospel for granted. Then we find ourselves running out of that high-octane fuel, running out of gas in the middle of the busy highway of myriad calls to get in the fast lane. In the zeal created by the gospel itself, we can leave the gospel behind as we gravitate toward various calls to “something more.”

“the tendency of the evangelical movement has always been to prioritize extraordinary methods and demands over the ordinary means that Christ instituted for sustainable mission.”

“One of the prominent Christian “traditions” today is nondenominational evangelicalism. To deny that this is a tradition is to cut off the possibility of internal evaluation, critique, and reform. Ironically, it tends to create the most resistant sort of traditionalism.”

“La iglesia local es un grupo de cristianos que se reúne regularmente en el nombre de Jesús para confirmar y supervisar oficialmente la membresía mutua en Jesucristo y en su Reino a través de la predicación del evangelio y la práctica de los sacramentos”.”

“¿Ejercerá la iglesia local las llaves perfectamente? No. Cometerá errores igual que cualquier otra autoridad establecida por Jesús comete errores. Como tal, la iglesia local es una representación imperfecta de la asamblea de Cristo del final de los tiempos.”

“Cuando se trata de un discipulado cristiano con Cristo, la iglesia local es la autoridad cristiana más alta en la tierra.”

“a covenant is a solemn agreement with oaths and/or promises, which imply certain sanctions or legality.”

“no theology is worth believing that cannot be preached standing in front of the gates of Auschwitz.”

“From the bruised heel of Genesis (3:15) to the reigning lamb of Revelation (22:1), the Bible is a redemptive story of a crucified Messiah who will accomplish a royal victory through atoning suffering.”

“The glory of the cross is most explicit in the gospel of John when Jesus, speaking of his death, says, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (John 12:23). He continues, revealing that the glorification is also exaltation: “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (12:32). Although such language initially sounds more fitting for the ascension or session, in the next verse Jesus makes it clear that he is referring to being “lifted up” in his death.”

“Preaching should be viewed as one of the main tasks of the shepherd, not something that defines you.”

“Preachers are heralds, who in representing their King proclaim a message with such clarity and integrity that those who hear will hopefully be transformed by its truth, goodness, and beauty. Preaching, then, is proclaiming God’s desire to take hearers from where they are to where God wants them to be through the gospel.”