One of the things I do, when reading, is highlight that passages, illustrations and quotes and catch my attention; and which I would like to remember for later. Just going back over these quotes now are both encouraging and challenging. These are my favorite quotes from "Vertical Church" by James McDonald. I pick up where I left off with the last post:
Chapter 3: A Common Access: Church
"The glory of God is revealed in Jesus Christ." - p.98
"We are all either grace or truth people by nature and greatly in need of this powerful pairing. Churches tend to align themselves with one to the neglect of the other." - p.100
"God's glory is such that it will not displace the adoration humans heap upon themselves, and it will not wash away our preoccupation with exalting one another." - p.103
"How often in ministry have we dealt with those who cannot see the glory of what God is doing? They have their religious systems; they have their historic convictions and their ancient experiences, but no room for Christ to reveal His glory in fresh ways in the hearts of the people they claim to serve."- p.105
"There is only one place on the face of the earth where God has promised to reveal the glory of His great Son, Jesus Christ, and that is the church." - p.112
"The metric for measuring what God wants to do in your church and mine is not our ability but His, not our power but His. That reality makes me feel a lot smaller even about the awesome things God is doing." - p.113
Chapter 4: An Epic Failure: Ichabod
"Vertical Church is about faithfulness and fruitfulness; it's about passionate worship, biblical proclamation, fervent prayer, and effective outreach that flows into every avenue of compassion for those in need." - p.128
"We should not prefer or protect what churches did in 1975 or 975 or AD 75 unless prescribed by the Word of God." - p.135
"Sunday school or ushers in suits or pompous pastoral prayers must be evaluated by a single question: Do they advance our goal of the manifest presence of God in church? Don't let anything that isn't in the Scripture be required of your ministry." - p.136
"A Vertical Church gets after stubborn sheep and refuses to fall into shallow service that dishonors God...I challenge every pastor and church leader to stand up to stubborn sheep and refuse to offer God shallow service that costs you nothing...God is not a respecter of persons, and you must not withhold correction from those who think they are beyond it, thereby risking the loss of God's favor. A church with no conflict is likely a church that is manufacturing peace in a way that prohibits glory." - p.147
"In a Vertical Church, evangelism and discipleship are equal in priority because both bring more glory to God. First, we pursue better disciples, which brings more glory to God, and in turn better disciple are more effective evangelists where they live." - p.150
"It's self-deception to believe there is a true faithfulness apart from visible fruit; a barren tree is not an upgrade t trees with bad fruit." - p.152
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