My goal is GOD HIMSELF. Not joy, not peace, not even blessing but HIMSELF...my GOD.
Leonard RavenhillRead
The early Church was married to poverty, prisons and persecutions. Today, the church is married to prosperity, personality, and popularity.
Interpretation
The quote contrasts the early Church's struggles with the modern Church's focus on wealth and popularity.
Leonard Ravenhill's quote reflects on the evolution of the Church from one that embraced hardship and sacrifice in the face of persecution to a contemporary institution that often prioritizes wealth, fame, and public approval. This shift suggests a departure from foundational values and raises questions about the true mission and priorities of religious institutions today.
In practice
In a sermon discussing the values of modern faith, use this quote to highlight the need for authenticity in belief.
My goal is GOD HIMSELF. Not joy, not peace, not even blessing but HIMSELF...my GOD.
Prayer is not a preparation for the battle; it is the battle!
Everyone recognizes that Stephen was Spirit-filled when he was performing wonders. Yet, he was just as Spirit-filled when he was being stoned to death.
I find it most intriguing to contemplate the fact that while men are considering what place to give Jesus Christ in history, He has already decided what place to give them in eternity.
The tragedy in our colleges and seminaries right now is that we turn men out who know the word of God. That is never going to turn the world._x000D_ The question is not whether they know the Word of God...._x000D_ The question is......Do they know the God of the Word?
Some women will spend thirty minutes to an hour preparing for church externally (putting on special clothes and makeup, etc.). What would happen if we all spent the same amount of time preparing internally for church—with prayer and meditation?
Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle.
Organs, faculties, powers, capacities, or whatever else we call them; grow by use and diminish from disuse, it is inferred that they will continue to do so. And if this inference is unquestionable, then is the one above deduced from it-that humanity must in the end become completely adapted to its conditions-unquestionable also. Progress, therefore, is not an accident, but a necessity.
Now, at times this issue has tended to degenerate into an 'either-or' type of debate. Either we protect our people from terror or we protect our most cherished principles. But that is a false choice. It asks too little of us and assumes too little about America.
Great God! What have I turned into? What right have you people to clutter up my life, steal my time, probe my soul, suckle my thoughts, have me for your companion, confidant, and information bureau? What do you take me for? Am I an entertainer on salary, required every evening to play an intellectual farce under your stupid noses? Am I a slave, bought and paid for, to crawl on my belly in front of you idlers and lay at your feet all that I do and all that I know?
O life! An age to the miserable, a moment to the happy.
Spiritual power is the eternal guide, in this life and the life after, for man ranks supreme among all creatures. Led forward by spiritual power, man can reach the summit destined for him by the Great Creator.
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