Quotable Blog Quotes #11

Quotable Quotes From Around the Blogosphere

Pastoral Meanderings
Pastor Larry Peters

…Where His name is, there is He. This is not some mere formulaic "We are here in the name of..." but our acknowledgement of where He has placed His name and for what purpose He has placed His name. Where He has placed His name is not in feelings but in water, bread, and wine. So when Jesus says "Where two or three are gathered in My name..." Jesus is Himself referring to the gathered guests around the Word and Table of the Lord. We call this worship or the Divine Service or the Liturgy or the Mass. This is where He is, where His name is, and where He has made Himself accessible to us. This is where the fruits of His righteous life, life-giving death, and tomb rending resurrection are made available to us.


Stand Firm
Comment by Dennis Peskey

At one time, the LC-MS had a clear flight plan: Get the message straight; Get the message out. Since our synod.inc abandoned first getting the message out, getting the message straight is failing as well.

Its Time for a new pilot - Its Time to roll out the Welcome-Matt!


Weedon’s Blog
Pastor Wil Weedon

I was recently asked if I could recommend any books for elder training. I thought about it for a few days and my mind really didn't change. There are two:

Concordia: A Reader's Edition of the Book of Concord
Treasury of Daily Prayer

Let every elder read, study, and know his church's Confession. Let every elder be a man of prayer and daily in the Word of God. THAT'S the best training there is.


Dan at Necessary Roughness

It has been implied by someone in the current administration that focusing on keeping doctrine pure leaves people out of church. This is not true. Keeping doctrine as pure we can does not exclude people from the church; in fact, it adds them, by keeping us informed of what God has revealed in His Word. To allow people to engage in false doctrine is akin to letting children play in traffic. Would you not try to inform the parent who’s putting his or her children at risk? The only way focusing on doctrine leaves people out of the church is if the doctrine itself is not scriptural.



Preachrblog
Pastor Tom Chryst

Our sinful nature loves the law - in a way. And so anytime we can migrate to it, dwell upon it, our Old Adam is happy. But it's usually a warped law. A law that leaves us with a false sense of security. A law created in our own fashion just so that we can fulfill its demands. We convince ourselves, like the rich young man, "all these I have kept from my youth".

But a true view of the law leaves us in despair. It pulls our spiritual pants down and embarrasses us with our total helplessness. We can't save ourselves. We can't do anything right. We sin ALL THE TIME. Poor, miserable sinners.

And then, and only then, are we ready for the true Gospel. What unspeakable joy to go from the depths of the Law's despair to the heights of the Gospel's grand promises. We've all heard about people who have a close shave with death, or a terrible disease from which they recover. They have a "new lease on life". That's what happens, in spiritual terms, with Law and Gospel. Only when brought low by the Law can we be raised by the Gospel.


Pastor Sullivan’s Blog
Pastor Josh Sullivan

Too often we make evangelism too difficult. We think we need to go knock on the doors of strangers. We think we need to have some winsome conversation under girded by an extensive knowledge of the entire Scripture. We think we need to shock and awe the community with great events and programs. But all this makes evangelism much too difficult for the average person (let alone the average pastor). Evangelism is vocation and vocation is evangelism. We don’t need to meet new people to speak with them about the Gospel, for we already know many in our lives who do not regularly hear the Gospel. We don’t need to have all the answers, we just need to love the Gospel which has saved us and wants to save others. We don’t need flashy gimmicks, programs or mission paradigms; our every day life is the harvest field.


Theologia Crucis
Jack Kilcrease

Atheists claim that the existence of evil contradicts God's existence. This is itself a contradiction and an absurdity. If God doesn't exist, there is no eternal standard of good and evil, to judge something as evil. Consequently, no evil exists that can contradict God's existence. Ultimately all Atheists are saying then is something very banal and irrational: things I don't like exist (because what more can evil be then "stuff I don't like" in a Godless universe) and so God doesn't exist. Because existed, he would only allow realities that I like. How childish.


Weedon’s Blog
Pastor Wil Weedon

If anyone tells you they have the key to unlocking Luther, you can almost stop the conversation right there. The amazing thing about Luther is that he is utterly unboxinable. Yes, that's a word. I just made it up. But it fits. Anyone can find almost anything in his writing, and so construct a Luther to fit one's own notions. After having tried this a time or two, and having Luther himself in other writings bring the whole thing down, I've finally decided to give up trying to box him in. He just won't stay put, I don't care how carefully you build the box [early Luther? late Luther? Hang it up!]. Better instead to delight in the truth he confesses in a given situation and always remember that that truth may not be his final word on a given subject if the context changes


92nd & State
Pastor Kurt Onken

This is good for some goofy fun. My friend Lora Horn, a.k.a. The Rebellious Pastor's Wife, posted this on her Facebook page. It's a riot.

Call the Nestle Crunch Hotline at 1-800-295-0051. When you are asked if you want to continue in English or Spanish, just wait quietly for about 10 seconds and you will smile. Promise! (if you comment on this status after listening, don't give away the surprise...) keep going and press 4 it gets even better.... Try it (keep trying if it's busy. You will be glad you did!)