To advance the Gospel by political lobbying, by any form of pragmatism, shallow Gospel entertainment, emotional manipulation, acceptance of sin and sinners, is to cross over into the devil's work.
John MacarthurRead
I've said so often to pastors, if your sermon can't get out of your zip code throw it away. It has to be transcendent. If it can't be translated into another language then it's not a right reflection of the word of God.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Sermons should be universally understandable to be relevant and meaningful.
John Macarthur emphasizes the importance of making sermons accessible and relatable beyond local contexts. He argues that if a sermon cannot resonate with people from different backgrounds or cultures, it fails to capture the true essence of God's word, which should transcend linguistic and geographical barriers.
Themes
SermonTranscendentUnderstandableUniversalGod
In practice
Example use cases
A pastor might share this quote during a conference to encourage fellow ministers.
More from John Macarthur
All quotes →Our calling as gospel ministers is to preach the truth, confront sin, and call all men to repentance and obedience to the gospel - the good news that achieves soul conversion and saves sinners from eternal wrath.
John MacarthurRead
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