Christian Writers and Preachers

No matter how unskilled the preacher or how he feels about his sermon, the word of the Lord is never uttered in vain. It may sprout forth immediately, it may lay dormant for many years, it may simply serve to harden the soil, but it will not return empty. The Word is always working.

— Kevin DeYoung

A Christian is a walking sermon. They preach far more than a minister does — for they preach all week long!

— J.C. Ryle

The church’s greatest impact on the world comes when it is committed to faithfully preaching, teaching and living out the Word of God in the church and culture.

— Brian Brodersen

Sunday morning, before we go to hear the Word of God preached — let us not rush into God’s presence careless, reckless, and unprepared, as if it mattered not in what way such work was done. Let us carry with us faith, reverence, and prayer. If these three are our companions, we will hear with profit, and return with praise.

— J.C. Ryle

The pulpit is no place for dispassionate theologizing. Passion is a necessity in preaching. Passion in the pulpit produces passion in the pew… Preaching without passion is not preaching at all.

— John Murray

Meekness is one of the brightest graces which can adorn the Christian character.

— J.C. Ryle

The beginning of the way to Heaven—is to feel that we are on the way to Hell.

— J.C. Ryle

Preaching is the most dangerous profession on earth. It requires a man to stand between heaven and hell, between God and men, with an open Bible and a clear conscience.

— Dietrich Bonhoeffer

There are no lessons so useful as those learned in the school of affliction.

— J.C. Ryle

Live as if you thought that Christ might come at any time!

— J.C. Ryle

The foundation of all true theology is humility, for when pride takes root in a theologian, the entire system of his doctrine becomes corrupted.

— Francis Turretin

Theology must first be a conversation with God… God speaks and we listen.

— Richard Lints

Better to confess Christ 1000 times now, and be despised by men—than be disowned by Christ before God on the day of Judgment.

— J.C. Ryle

We preachers must practice in our pulpits what we believe in our theology: Christ is the grand theme, the singular message, the supreme subject of all the Bible.

— Greg Heisler

We might preach till our tongues rotted, till we should exhaust our lungs and die, but never a soul would be converted unless there were mysterious power going with it – the Holy Ghost changing the will of man.

— Charles Spurgeon

We must never reckon that we are fit for anything in God’s service, unless we have the spirit of entire dependence upon Him. If we once begin to rely upon our own ability, our own strength, or our own learning, then we shall fail in the service of God.

— C.H. Spurgeon

There are some preachers who cannot or do not preach about the blood of Jesus Christ, and I have one thing to say to you concerning them: Never go to hear them! Never listen to them!

— C.H. Spurgeon

“Notice that the preacher does not make the gospel. If he makes it, it is not worth your having. Originality in preaching, if it be originality in the statement of doctrine, is falsehood. We are not makers and inventors; we are repeaters, we tell the message we have received.”

—Charles Spurgeon

“Fallacies don’t cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.” GK Chesterton

“Love means to love that which is unlovable; or it is no virtue at all.”

— Gilbert K. Chesterton

Let me beware, lest I make Christ the minister of sin, by comforting myself too easily when any temptation has prevailed over me, with the reflection, that I have a remedy at hand; it is only to humble myself and implore pardon,and, the promises being sure, to obtain forgiveness.

—William Wilberforce

An unsanctified person may relish and taste some sweetness in the delicious promises and discoveries of the gospel, by a misapplication of them to himself. But this is like the joy of a beggar, dreaming he is a king; but he awakes and finds himself a beggar still.

—John Flavel

Strive, O my soul, to maintain and keep alive impressions, first, of the constant presence of a holy, omniscient, omnipotent, but infinitely merciful and gracious God, of Christ our almighty shepherd, of the Holy Spirit, of the evil one, and the invisible world in general.

—William Wilberforce

Since faith rests upon infallible truth, and since the contrary of a truth can never be demonstrated, it is clear that the arguments brought against faith cannot be demonstrations, but are difficulties that can be answered.

—Thomas Aquinas

Knowing God in Christ brings with it eternal life, imperturbable joy, and heavenly blessedness. These are not merely effects, but the knowing of God is itself immediately a new, eternal, and blessed life.

—Herman Bavinck

For the Holy Spirit comes in the Father’s and in the Son’s name and authority, to put the last hand to the work of our salvation, by bringing all the fruits of election and redemption home to our souls in this work.

—John Flavel

And from the time we are accepted through the Beloved, reconciled to God through His blood, He loves, and blesses, and watches over us for good, even as if we had never sinned.

—John Wesley

If I, like some people, believed that the success and the future of the Christian Church was dependent upon human ability and power and organization, if I believed that organized campaigns and so on were really going to solve the problem, I would be entirely hopeless.

—Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Oh, how I longed to be with Christ, to be employed in the glorious work of angels, and with an angel’s freedom, vigour, and delight! And yet how willing was I to stay awhile on earth, that I might do something, if the Lord pleased, for his interest in the world!

—David Brainerd

I humbly trust I have humbled myself before God and come to him through Christ and though my heart be so hard and cold and inconstant yet I will humbly trust that his mercy will be extended, even to me.

—William Wilberforce