SILENCE

 

 

 "Thought on the way to work... The reason we keep silent about Jesus is not because we are scared of a no. We are used to no. No ends the conversation. What we are truly scared of is a yes." - Daniel Murray, ministerial student posting on Facebook

TRUSTING IN LOVE

"How glorious the splendor of a human heart that trusts that it is loved." -Brennan Manning

LIVING THE FAITH

"We must make good people wish that the Christian faith were true, and then show that it is.” ~ Blaise Pascal

AN INVITATION TO MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN CHRIST

Two and a half years ago I was teaching a class in our School of Evangelism called "Internet Evangelism and Social Networking Tools." As part of the class I was teaching pastors and others the basics of setting up a blog on one of the free services. The students asked me to "show" them how create a blog, so this one was created one afternoon in a meeting room in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. We made it very simple, calling "Quotations" and within a few minutes a new blog was born. That first quote on February 19, 2011 came from my morning devotional: "Truth is a person." - Henry Blackaby Once you create a blog you can't just erase it (at least you couldn't in those days) without wasting the web address. So I kept and kept the blog, without a real audience--periodically posting quotes, hoping someone would read them. Often great quotes come to me on the internet, many times via Facebook. But then I am sure that's true of you. I could decommission this blog and lose what it has already produced or I could give it a new focus. So here it is. I am inviting the readers to join me in sharing words of wisdom from our historic faith--quotes from its past to its emerging present--that might inform or inspire others to follow Jesus. No theological treatises or diatribes: just words that the Holy Spirit can use to mature and motivate Christ's followers. SO SEND ME WHAT YOU DISCOVER. Send it to my Facebook page STEPHEN L. DUNN or email me at sdunnpastor@gmail.com. I will give you credit for helping people grow in Christ. I will be intrigued at what the Holy Spirit shows you and then us.

THE MYTH OF CONTROL

“Whatever controls us is our lord. The person who seeks power is controlled by power. The person who seeks acceptance is controlled by acceptance. We do not control ourselves. We are controlled by the lord of our lives.”
― Rebecca Manley Pippert, Out of the Saltshaker and Into the World

OUR CALLING

"Jesus didn't call us to be magnificent chandeliers for people to admire. He called us to be a single bulb in a back hall to keep people from breaking their necks when they go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. He called us to make a difference in the darkness, for doing so makes us significant and gives us impact." ~ Haddon Robinson

PEACE IS ....

"Peace is not the absence of trouble but the presence of God." - Martin Krick

THE JOB OF THE CHURCH

“If the Church is not Making Disciples, then all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible, are a waste of time.” ~ C.S. Lewis

APATHY

"The biggest barrier to a relationship with Christ is not disbelief, but rather apathy. - Blaise Pascal

THE SOURCE OF JOY

Augustine writes of God, "You yourself are their joy.  Happiness is to rejoice in you and for you and because of you."

FORGIVENESS

C.S. Lewis: “Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive.”

THEOLOGY

HOW TO DEFEND THE FAITH

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If Christianity should happen to be true -- that is to say, if its God is the real God of the universe -- then defending it may mean talking about anything and everything.
                                                            - G.K. Chesterton

ACTIVELY DOING GOD'S WILL

"Being a Christian is less about cautiously avoiding sin than about courageously and actively doing God's will.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

IS THERE ROOM?

DEALING WITH THE WORLD

John Wesley

‎""The early Christians did not say in dismay: 'look what the world has come to,' but in delight, 'look what has come to the world.”