Bavinck on Justification

Of all God's benefits given in the covenant of grace, first place belongs to justification, to forgiveness of sins. All joy and peace, all certainty of communion with God, rests on this forgiveness, a benefit no mind can fully comprehend or believe.

Baxter on Preaching Heaven and Hell

O sirs, how plainly, how closely, how earnestly, should we deliver a message of such moment as ours. . . .

In the name of God, brethren, labour to awaken your own hearts, before you go to the pulpit, that you may be fit to awaken the hearts of sinners. Remember they must be awakened or damned, and . . . a sleepy preacher will hardly awaken drowsy sinners. Though you give the holy things of God the highest praise in words, yet, if you do it coldly, you will seem by your manner to unsay what you said in the matter. . . .

Though I move you not to constant loudness in your delivery (for that will make your fervency contemptible), yet see that you have a constant seriousness; and when the matter requireth it (as it should do, in the application at least), then lift up your voice, and spare not your spirits. Speak to your people as to men that must be awakened, either here or in hell. Look around upon them with the eye of faith, and with compassion, and think in what a state of joy or torment they must all be for ever; and then, methinks, it will make you earnest, and melt your heart to a sense of their condition.

Oh, speak not one cold or careless word about so great a business as heaven or hell.

A Real God

To minimize God's wrath is to minimize God's love. One grows, and wanes, with the other.

Religion cannot be made joyful simply by looking on the bright side of God. For a one-sided God is not a real God, and it is the real God alone who can satisfy the longing of our soul.

This is why liberalism is so dangerous!

Preaching Under Pressure

If ridiculous deadlines knot your gut and give you tunnel vision causing you to miss even basic errors, this is for you. But even if you're an adrenaline junkie, needing the pressure to perform, it'll help you, too, because it's all about process.
Clear, familiar processes are lifesavers when you're under pressure and not thinking straight. So, as pilots practice emergency drills until they're second nature, try to internalize the process below - print it, look at it daily, use it often - so that when you're under the pump you'll do it automatically.
Here's a summary of the first four steps of the process:
1.Objective: Clarify what you want to achieve. "Begin with the end in mind" (Stephen Covey).
2.Readers: Stand in their shoes. If you were them, what would interest you about this?
3.Dump: Do a brain dump. Quickly jot down your points as bullets, in any order.
4.Signpost: Next, highlight your major points and write snappy subheads above them.

MLJ on Revival

Lloyd-Jones, preaching on Mark 9:29 ('And he said to them, "This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer"').

We must become utterly and absolutely convinced of our need.

We must cease to have so much confidence in ourselves, and in all our methods and organizations, and in all our slickness.

We have got to realize that we must be filled with God's Spirit. And we must be equally certain that God can fill us with his Spirit.

We have got to realise that however great 'this kind' is, the power of God is infinitely greater, that what we need is not more knowledge, more understanding, more apologetics . . . no, we need a power that can enter into the souls of men and break them and smash them and humble them and then make them anew.

And that is the power of the living God. And we must be confident that God has this power as much today as he had one hundred years ago, and two hundred years ago, and so we must begin to seek the power and to pray for it. We must begin to plead and yearn for it. 'This kind' needs prayer.

Aragorn on Beginnings

There are some things that are better to begin than refuse, though the end be dark.

MLJ on the Presence of God

Make it the central thing of your life to gaze upon God, to arrive at a knowledge of Him that will be intimate and personal, a communion with Him that will ravish your heart and cause your soul to rise up to Him. Seek His face, and go on seeking it.