To be spiritually dead is to be diabolically alive
R. C. SproulRead
The real crisis of worship today is not that the preaching is paltry or that it's too drafty in church. It is that people have no sense of the presence of God, and if they have no sense of His presence, how can they be moved to express the deepest feelings of their souls to honor, revere, worship, and glorify God?
Interpretation
What this quote means
The true issue in worship today is a disconnection from the divine presence of God.
R. C. Sproul emphasizes that the primary problem facing worship today is not the quality of preaching or the church environment, but rather a profound lack of awareness of God's presence among the congregation. Without this awareness, individuals struggle to fully engage in genuine worship, hindering their ability to honor and glorify God authentically.
Themes
WorshipPresenceGodFeelingsSoul
In practice
Example use cases
During a sermon, a pastor might use this quote to address the congregation's approach to worship.
More from R. C. Sproul
All quotes →I’ve often wondered where Jesus would apply His hastily made whip if He were to visit our culture. My guess is that it would not be money-changing tables in the temple that would feel His wrath, but the display racks in Christian bookstores.
R. C. SproulRead
We talk about predestination because the Bible talks about predestination. If we desire to build our theology on the Bible, we run head on into this concept. We soon discover that John Calvin did not invent it.
R. C. SproulRead
Without God man has no reference point to define himself.
R. C. SproulRead
I do not want to drive across a bridge designed by an engineer who believed the numbers in structural stress models are relative truths.
R. C. SproulRead
Prayer does change things, all kinds of things. But the most important thing it changes is us. As we engage in this communion with God more deeply and come to know the One with whom we are speaking more intimately, that growing knowledge of God reveals to us all the more brilliantly who we are and our need to change in conformity to Him. Prayer changes us profoundly.
R. C. SproulRead
Similar quotes
If in my life I fail completely to heed others, solely out of a desire to be 'devout' and to perform my 'religious duties', then my relationship with God will also grow arid. It becomes merely 'proper', but loveless.
Pope Benedict XviRead
Jesus intercedes for us each day. Let us pray: Lord, have mercy on me; intercede for me!
Pope FrancisRead
The church that is man-managed instead of God-governed is doomed to failure. A ministry that is college-trained but not Spirit-filled works no miracles.
Leonard RavenhillRead
We shall not adjust our Bible to the age; but before we have done with it, by God’s grace, we shall adjust the age to the Bible.
Charles SpurgeonRead
As long as you are performing prayer, you are knocking at the door of Allah, and whoever is knocking at the door of Allah, Allah will open it for him.
Ibn Qayyim Al-JawziyyaRead
Anything so precious as the gospel of Jesus Christ is worthy of all the effort and sacrifice of time and means employed to teach it.
Gordon B. HinckleyRead