I'm so thankful for the active obedience of Christ. No hope without it.
John Gresham MachenRead
Vastly more important than all questions with regard to methods of preaching is the root question as to what it is that shall be preached.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The essence of preaching lies not in the methods used but in the core message being conveyed.
John Gresham Machen emphasizes that the heart of effective preaching is the substance of the message rather than the techniques employed in delivering it. This assertion encourages a focus on the truth and significance of what is being communicated, suggesting that the content is paramount in any form of teaching or preaching.
Themes
PreachingMessageContentImportanceMethods
In practice
Example use cases
In a sermon discussing the importance of faith, you could cite this quote to highlight the need for a strong core message.
More from John Gresham Machen
All quotes βFaith is indeed intellectual; it involves an apprehension of certain things as facts; and vain is the modern effort to divorce faith from knowledge. But although faith is intellectual, it is not only intellectual. You cannot have faith without having knowledge; but you will not have faith if you have only knowledge.
John Gresham MachenRead
What I need first of all is not exhortation, but a gospel, not directions for saving myself but knowledge of how God has saved me. Have you any good news? That is the question that I ask of you. I know your exhortations will not help me. But if anything has been done to save me, will you not tell me the facts?
John Gresham MachenRead
The more we know of God, the more unreservedly we will trust him; the greater our progress in theology, the simpler and more child-like will be our faith
John Gresham MachenRead
I see with greater and greater clearness that consistent Christianity is the easiest Christianity to defend
John Gresham MachenRead
Christ died"--that is history; "Christ died for our sins"--that is doctrine. Without these two elements, joined in an absolutely indissoluble union, there is no Christianity.
John Gresham MachenRead
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