A Brief Book Notice from Books At a Glance
Table of Contents
1 Christianity on the Down-Grade
2 The User-Friendly Church?
3 Gimme That Show-Time Religion
4 All Things to All Men
5 The Foolishness of God
6 The Power of God unto Salvation
7 Paul on Mars’ Hill
8 The Sovereignty of God in Salvation
9 I Will Build My Church
10 Epilogue
Appendix 1: Spurgeon and the Down-Grade Controversy
Appendix 2: Charles Finney and American Evangelical Pragmatism
Appendix 3: Carnal vs. Spiritual Wisdom
Selected Quotes
- “Unfortunately, that perfectly sums up the predominant attitude behind much of modern ministry. Bad doctrine is tolerable; a long sermon most certainly is not.” (xii)
- “Obviously, excellent ministers cannot be those who yearn for earthly applause. Neither can they be lovers of earthly comfort. The life of ministry is not a life of leisure.” (38)
- “If we concern ourselves with the depth of our ministry, God will see to the breadth of it. If we minister for spiritual growth, numerical growth will be what God chooses it to be.” (74)
- “[Paul] never adapted his ministry to pander to worldly lusts or sinful selfishness.” (99)
- “In contrast to Paul, contemporary evangelicalism has elevated human opinion and worldly, fleshly wisdom to an undue level…Multitudes have thus been drawn away from singular devotion to biblical doctrine to embrace human wisdom.” (110)
- “The simple reality is that one cannot follow a market-driven strategy and remain faithful to Scripture. Preachers who concern themselves with user-friendliness cannot fearlessly proclaim the whole counsel of God.” (121)
- “Paul equates the gospel itself with God’s almighty power! No wonder he says he is not ashamed of the gospel.” (127)
- “I have to confess that if one desires to be faithful to Christ and His Word, there is no technique or system that will guarantee a large church.” (173)