“Grace is the pleasure of God to magnify the worth of God by giving sinners the right and power to delight in God without obscuring the glory of God.”
— John Piper
The uniqueness of the scandal of the Christian religion rests on the mediation of revelation through historical events. Christianity is not just a code for living or a philosophy of religion. It is rooted in real events of history. To some people this is scandalous because it means that the truth of Christianity is inexplicably bound up with the truth of certain historical facts. And if those facts should be disproved, Christianity would be false. This, however, is what makes Christianity unique because, unlike other world religions, modern man has a means of actually verifying Christianity’s truth by historical evidence.
–George Ladd
“John has provided us with the best evidence he can muster to persuade us that belief is not only a reasonable choice, but a necessary decision if we are going to follow Jesus. Jesus is not an idea whose ongoing validity finds a home in our ideas or our ethics. Jesus is a person—he is God incarnate in human history—and in coming into history, he has left marks that we can see and measure and trust. The resurrection is the capstone event in Jesus’ career, which demonstrates the reality of what has happened since the moment of his incarnation” and demands our belief in him.
— Gary Burge
Thomas, “the most outrageous doubter of the resurrection of Jesus, utters the greatest confession of the Lord who rose from the dead.”
— G. R. Beasely-Murry
The resurrection has personal implications, but that does not exhaust its significance. Jesus’ vision is not of a multitude of inspired individuals each acting independently out of his or her personal encounter with the risen One. The fruit of his exaltation is a community, bound together by their common participation in the Spirit, sent forth to gather his “other sheep” from every corner of the world.
— Bruce Milne
Order of Worship • Kids' Guide
John 20 is a beautifully dramatic portrayal of the problem of faith, this time in believing Jesus’ promises about his resurrection from the dead. There are four successive vignettes, and in each of them the problem of faith becomes greater, from the beloved disciple’s natural faith to Mary’s sorrow, the disciples’ fear, and Thomas’s doubt. Yet in each case, Jesus meets their need, turns their life around, and guides them into their mission, with the results becoming greater in each scene.
— Grant Osborne
We affirm that the mission of the church is the Great Commission: “Make disciples of all nations” by baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and by teaching them to observe everything that Jesus commands us. God has commissioned local churches, acting corporately, to teach everything Jesus commanded and to equip saints for their various ministries. While Christians care about alleviating present earthly suffering, we care especially about alleviating eternal suffering by verbally proclaiming Jesus as Savior and Lord and calling all to repent and believe.
–Bethlehem Baptist Church Elders, “Ethnic Harmony Affirmations & Denials”
The death of Jesus is the pivotal event of human history, and everything needs to be understood in light of that.
— Alistair Begg
On the cross, Christ wins through losing, triumphs through defeat, achieves power through weakness and service, comes to wealth through giving all away.
— Tim Keller
Order of Worship • Kids' Guide
[Jesus] took our place, he was condemned for us! He is our representative man. He died, “the righteous for the unrighteous,” that he might “bring you to God” (1 Pet. 3:18). But because he took our place at the judgment, and faced our charges, and bore our judgment, we can go free.
— Bruce Milne
The Lord puts a special honour upon baptism, and it would be ill for us to neglect that which he so evidently esteems. Do not make any mistake, and imagine that immersion in water can wash away sin; but do remember that if the Lord puts this outward profession side by side with the washing away of sins it is not a trifling matter.
— C. H. Spurgeon
Be careful to make a good improvement of precious time.
— David Brainerd
I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them have never happened.
— Mark Twain
Thou art coming to a King,
Large petitions with thee bring;
For His grace and power are such,
None can ever ask too much;
None can ever ask too much
— John Newton
A Bible that’s falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t.
— Attributed to Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Order of Worship • Kids' Guide
The nature of the Christian life is corporate, because the body of Christ is a corporate entity. While our individual walks are crucial, we are impoverished in our personal pursuit of God if we do not avail ourselves of the help that is available through mutually edifying relationships in our covenant church family. . . . The corporate life of the congregation should be central to the life of the individual believer. . . . We can't live the Christian life alone. We are saved individually from our sins, yet we are not saved into a vacuum. We're saved into a mutually edifying community of believers who are building each other up and spurring each other on to love and good deeds.
— Mark Dever and Paul Alexander
Order of Worship • Kids' Guide