We must be global Christians with a global vision because our God is a global God.
John StottRead
As a body without breath is a corpse, so the church without the Spirit is dead.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the essential role of the Holy Spirit in giving life to the church, similar to how breath is vital for a body.
John Stott emphasizes that just as a body is lifeless without breath, a church is without purpose and vitality if it lacks the presence of the Holy Spirit. This serves as a metaphorical warning that spiritual life and guidance are essential for the church to thrive and fulfill its mission.
In practice
In a sermon discussing the importance of spiritual vitality in congregations.
We must be global Christians with a global vision because our God is a global God.
Mission arises from the heart of God Himself and is communicated from His heart to ours. Mission is the global outreach of the global people of a global God.
An unchurched christian is a grotesque anomaly. The New Testament knows nothing of such a person. For the church lies at the very center of the eternal purpose of God. It is not a divine afterthought. It is not an accident of history. On the contrary, the church is God's new community.
Saving faith is resting faith, the trust which relies entirely on the Savior.
It is a great comfort to know that our judge will be none other than our savior.
To encounter Christ is to touch reality and experience transcendence. He gives us a sense of self-worth or personal significance, because He assures us of God's love for us. He sets us free from guilt because He died for us and from paralyzing fear because He reigns. He gives meaning to marriage and home, work and leisure, personhood and citizenship.
It is as impossible for man to demonstrate the existence of God as it would be for even Sherlock Holmes to demonstrate the existence of Arthur Conan Doyle.
It is hard not to see into the future, faced with today's blind architecture - a thousand times more stupid and more revolting than that of other ages. How bored we shall be inside!
Flee the country where a lone man holds all power: It is a nation of slaves.
The thing about being autistic is that you gradually get less and less autistic, because you keep learning, you keep learning how to behave. It's like being in a play; I'm always in a play.
Either we must speak as we dress, or dress as we speak. Why do we profess one thing and display another? The tongue talks of chastity, but the whole body reveals impurity.
When human affairs are so ordered that there is no recognition of God, there is a belittling of man. That is why, in the final analysis, worship and law cannot be completely separated from each other. God has a right to a response from man, to man himself, and where that right of God totally disappears, the order of law among men is dissolved, because there is no cornerstone to keep the whole structure together.
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