A Battle with the Superficial

A recent conversation with an evangelist friend of mine has left me greatly grieved at the state of the American church.  So harrowing was his account that last evening I was troubled to an extent that it gave me a bit of insomnia.  He opened up his soul to me as he told me of the superficial spirituality that marks many of our churches these days.  This superficiality is marked with a “hurry up and let’s get this over with” mentality.  Worship is rushed and has little depth because of the desire to hurry and get to the next thing.  There is pressure to hurry and get to the restaurants, the game on television, the shopping excursion or some other endeavor that seeks to satiate the entertainment factor in our soul.

I was appalled when he told me that several of the churches he went to, pastors had informed him before he ever started to preach that they did not care for any sermons on hell, judgment, or any kind of conviction.  One pastor gave the recommendation that he ought to read three or four Scriptures and tell four or five stories and then conclude the sermon.  Another place he went to, he found out that the pastor was opposed to altar services that brought people to the “mourner’s bench” and was marked by tears and confession of sin.  He was told that the people needed to be given a “joyful” and “exciting” worship experience so that they could go home “happy.”  Music has also become a bit of a beast in that he noted that at multiple places, the music would get people whipped into a superficial, psychological frenzy.  The music would go on for a lengthy period of time and the preaching of the Word would be limited to a fifteen to twenty minute time slot. 

Paula Thompson - 1939-2013 - The Tape Lady

It is with great regret that I found out yesterday that Paula Thompson, the "tape lady," has passed on to her great reward.  She was very kind to me and would hand-pick some of Brother Harrell's sermons and send them on to me.  Over the years, I have given her phone number out to multiple pastors and ministers who wanted to subscribe to the sermons that Brother Harrell preached in Bridge City, Texas.

There is no way of knowing how many thousands of cassette tapes passed through her hands and later when the transition to CD's came how many of those passed through her hands.  She had a very unique knack for being able to remember the sermons that Brother Harrell preached and then recommending certain ones for what she felt like would be a help and encouragement to those who were inquiring.

Anyone who has heard Brother Harrell preach, is aware of his pulpit gifts but I do believe that he would have to say that Sister Paula was very instrumental in his preaching getting out of Bridge City to the rest of the world.  We are indebted to this faithful saint of the Lord for her years of service!!!

Top Ten Books of 2012. . . # 1 Paul David Tripp, Dangerous Calling

This book was the best book that I read in 2012!  Perhaps you have noticed that the books that stand out the most to me are the ones that probe the soul and stretch the mind.  I would venture to be as certain as I can to believe that the best books are those that cause you to lean back and seriously contemplate the message the author is working to get across to you.  Books that you cannot just zip through without any confrontation of the conscience or personal commitment are the books that will do our souls the best in the end.  This is one of those books!    

Author:  Paul David Tripp  

Title:  Dangerous Calling—Confrontingthe Unique Challenges of Pastoral Ministry

Publisher:  Crossway, 2012.

Time flies by with an amazing swiftness and I think back to a time when I had just graduated from nursing school.  A young twenty-two year old probably should not have been working night shift in a busy surgical intensive care unit that routinely was filled with trauma-victims, neurosurgical calamities, occasional gunshot wounds, and so forth.  But I did have a very good support staff around me of some veteran RNs who were very helpful in adding knowledge and skill to what I was lacking. 

Top Ten Books of 2012. . . # 2 Ken Raggio, Long Winding Road

This book comes in at the Number 2 spot of the books that I read in 2012.  I have known Ken Raggio for close to 20 years now.  My first interaction with him was when we were both on the working staff at the Alabama Crusader Camp many summers ago.  We would sit up long after all the kids had been secured for the night and talk about the Bible, preaching, and various other aspects of the ministry.  Some aspects of this book, I already knew because of our past conversations. 

I would also add that his wife, Dixie, who passed away in 2003 after a prolonged battle with cancer, was one of the noblest Christians that I have ever met.  I don’t know of any lady whose Bible was as well-used as hers was.  When I would go preach in Birmingham, the Saturday nights would often be spent at their kitchen table with Bibles open and discussion would be long into the night.  It was there that I was exposed to her Thompson Chain Reference that had multiple notes in the margins and so forth.    

Top Ten Books of 2012. . . # 3 David Platt, Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream

This book was one that I read because of several favorable book reviews that were generated from several blogs that I read.  Although I actually read it a couple of years after its initial release (2010) and it is a book that stretches you out of your comfort zone.    

Author:  David Platt

Title:  Radical:  Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream

Publisher:  Harper One, 2011.

One of the reasons that this book resonated with me was because of another book that I ran across several years ago by Randy Alcorn (SafelyHome).  It was then that I first became acquainted with the house church movement that have become prevalent in countries where there is very limited if any freedom of religion.  They go to great measures often in fear of punishment and incarceration to get to church.  When they get there it is a very subdued and quiet environment because of the fear of discovery. 

Top Ten Books of 2012. . . # 4 Eugene Peterson, The Pastor: A Memoir

I now come to the fourth best book that I read this past year, 2012.  I read more books this past year than I have ever read because of a reading contest I got into with my boys, Justin and Nathan (who aren’t boys anymore!).  By March, Nate had been left in the dust and Justin was reading text books at school.  This is the reason that I probably read books with a vengeance this year.  Some of them were mindless and nothing more than an outlet to escape but others of them were soul-impacting.  The book by Eugene Peterson fell into that category. 

Most people are familiar with Eugene Peterson because of his paraphrase of the Bible called The Message.  It is a very good devotional supplement to regular Bible reading because he has a way of using common language to come at Scripture from a little different angle. 

I must again put this disclaimer out about not just this book but all books:  Read with a discerning mind and heart and take the good and toss out the bad.  Brother Griffin used to tell us in our classes at TBC that he could learn something from every book he read and every preacher that he heard preach.  He could learn some things to do and some things not to do.  I believe that ! 

Top Ten Books of 2012. . . # 5 William Greenhill, Stop Loving the World

Moving along to the fifth best book that I read in 2012 is one that is short (73 pgs.) but packs an incredible wallop.  I am certain that the title probably stimulates a strong response that is either positive or negative.  It also is curious to note that this is a single sermon that Greenhill preached to his church.  Speaking of long sermons, this is one.  I doubt Joel Osteen will be preaching anything remotely related to this theme in 2013.  However, we who serve as pastors owe it to ourselves and to those who hear us to preach this kind of content.  I am reminded of what Paul wrote to Timothy (1 Tim. 4:16) and it is sharpened by the Amplified Version:

Look well to yourself (to your own personality), and to [your] teaching; persevere in these things—hold to them; for by doing so you will save both yourself and those who hear you. 

Author:  William Greenhill

Title:  Stop Loving theWorld

Publisher:  Reformation Heritage Books, 2011.

Top Ten Books of 2012. . . # 6 Charles R. Swindoll, Saying It Well: Touching Others with Your Words

The next book that I found to be immensely helpful in 2012 was a book about preaching by Charles Swindoll.  I always enjoy reading books that are geared toward helping a man become a better preacher.  This is a book that helps prevent one from preaching “long-horn” sermons.  You may wonder what a “long-horn” sermon is and all who preach probably have to at least privately acknowledge they have been guilty of preaching a “long-horn” sermon a time or two.  A “long-horn” sermon is one that has two points and a lot of bull in between. 

Just as physicians and other ancillary medical staff members are required to have continuing education units, I believe that preachers should fall under that same mandate.  Many times preachers who have been in one place for a long time can get stale in their preaching and praying and it will affect the church they are serving.  I am certain that Saying It Well is a book that will have a measure of inspiration for those who fall into this category.  Furthermore, this book is one of those continuing education books for those who preach.   

Top Ten Books of 2012. . . # 7 Joel C. Rosenberg, Implosion: Can America Recover From Its Economic and Spiritual Challenges in Time?

As I have been trolling through and reviewing the books that I read in 2012, it has been a bit self-revelatory concerning the books that I am now gravitating to saying were the best of 2012.  I can remember hearing various leadership gurus quote the Charlie “Tremendous” Jones thought that we will be same person we are in five years except for the books we read and the people we meet.  All of these books that I am listing in this blog series have caused me to think deeply.  In fact, most of the books that I am placing on the Top Ten are very sobering in their content.  This book by Joel Rosenberg is no different. 

Top Ten Books of 2012. . . # 8 A. W. Tozer, The Dangers of a Shallow Faith

I am continuing along with the top ten books that I read in 2012.  I purchased this book and several others in this series because of my past familiarity with the writings of A. W. Tozer.  His books are geared toward personal consecration, worship, and with a deep opposition to lukewarmness.    

Author:  A. W. Tozer (Compiled by James L. Snyder).

Title:  The Dangers of aShallow Faith

Publisher:  Regal, 2012.

The book itself is the work of A. W. Tozer but James Snyder was instrumental in compiling some of Tozer’s work after his death.  This book comes from a series of messages that Tozer preached in response to critical developments that he saw within the church.  Perhaps the primary theme of this book is the idea that the world is too much with the church.  He noted that the church is so intertwined with the world that instead of appearing as two, they really are one. 

Top Ten Books of 2012. . . # 9 Michael Holley, War Room

 

Yesterday, I started listing the top ten books that I read in 2012.  Much of the reading that I did this year was motivated by a reading contest that I got into with my boys.  The book that comes in at Number 9 was a book that I just happened to run across in a Books-A-Million in Texarkana, Texas in August.  As with many books that I have read over the years that have been very good ones were those that I wasn’t necessarily looking for.  This book fell into that category.  It actually happened to be a book that was on one of the mark-down tables when you walk in the door.  I judged the book by its title and cover and decided to read it.      

Author:  Michael Holley.

Title:  War Room

Publisher:  HarperCollins, 2011.

The book primarily is about Bill Belicheck the coach of the New England Patriots.  The book is mostly about the path the Belicheck took as a coach before ending up in New England.  I have noticed over the years that when you read books about sports figures that they have an amazing amount of discipline involved.  They are almost fanatical about the preparation process before each weekly game.  They literally give themselves to their jobs in an effort to achieve success.  As I read this book, I was challenged by the fact that my own sense of discipline as a pastor pales in comparison to what these coaches have.  Even though this was a sports book, I found myself troubled and convicted by the thought that these men who coach these teams are much more disciplined, prepared, and immersed in their pursuit of a corruptible crown than I am for an incorruptible crown.  I do believe that this book stimulated some changes in my own personal disciplines to seek excellence in what I am doing in the local church.

Top Ten Books of 2012. . . # 10 Iain Murry, John MacArthur: Servant of the Word and Flock

At the beginning of 2012, I was challenged by my two sons in a reading contest of sorts.  Nate (who likes to remind me to call him Swaggy Nate) and Justin decided they would read more books than I would in 2012.  In fact, Swaggy Nate decided that the all-out prize would be a big steak going to the winner with the losers having to ante up and foot the bill.  So now the year is finished and I have long stopped counting the books I read because it wasn’t even fair to continue keeping the score.  Some of the books I read were nothing more than books that fall into the “zone out” category and were nothing but mindless drivel.  However, other books fit into the category of helping me to climb a few rungs higher in my spiritual life. 

Coming in at the Number 10 spot is a book that provided some inspiration to me in the area of preaching and the importance of loving the Bible. 

Thoughts On Spiritual Warfare--Part 2

After starting this series on spiritual warfare yesterday, I want to continue with some more thoughts about it.  I will do my best to stop writing before you get tired of reading.  I do know that I have a tendency to over-do it sometimes and you as the reader should not be penalized for that.  I trust that you will get something worth-while out of this post today also.    

To reiterate, we are in a spiritual battle and our attendance in it is not by choice.  It will continue as long as we remain faithful to our calling and active in our walk for the Lord.  While the series may seem a bit random as they are written, I would say that these are some of my own observations on the matter of spiritual warfare that has been years in the making.  The seeming arbitrary nature of this series is due to the fact that I am using my Moleskin notebook where over the last two months I have jotted down random things about spiritual warfare as they came to me.  The challenge now becomes how to take the scribblings and turn them into something profitable. 

Thoughts On Spiritual Warfare--Part 1

I can remember more than twenty-five years ago reading both of Frank Peretti’s gripping books about spiritual warfare.  The first one was This Present Darkness (1986) and was followed by Piercing the Darkness (1988).  Both of the books are fictional but there were elements of each book that had core elements of truth about them.  As with all fads that come and go in the church world, there were some who went way overboard with their actions and started stalking demons and getting involved in all sorts of weird practices that they believed would bring spiritual authority to their lives.  On the other end of the spectrum were those who vociferously opposed any thing that remotely looked like spiritual warfare and they cautioned the church about the danger of seeing a “devil behind every bush.” 

In my youthful exuberance and inexperience, I got caught up with believing that Peretti’s books were the way to go and begin to follow some of his concepts about “prayer cover” and “binding and loosing.”  If you will remember during the late ‘80’s a lot of people fell under that sway of looking for the “warrior angels” that Peretti wrote about.  I begin to look for ten-foot tall angels too.  Their advice seemed to be helpful and wise especially if you were looking for the real power of God.  It seemed as to me that if you were real “spiritual” then you could see angels.  I longed to be in that number of spiritual folk.  If you were goofy and lukewarm there was not a chance that you would even see angel dust much less an angel.  It is funny looking back at some of it now about how much prayer and fasting I gave myself to trying to see an angel.    

The Best Books on Preaching--Part 10

Part 10—Preaching That Changes Lives, Michael Fabarez, Thomas Nelson, 2002.

Continuing with this series on the best books on preaching, we get to a book that goes into a bit of different direction than some of the others.  Michael Fabarez’s book, Preaching That Changes Lives, is a book that reaches for a couple of areas of preaching.  First, he believes that preaching can indeed change lives and then he goes into the reason that it does so.  This works around the paramount issue of application.  If there are not any areas of application that the preaching brings to the ears of the hearer, a call for change, for transformation and action, then we are just wasting our breath. 

Paul said that “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, rebuke, and instruction in righteousness” (2 Tim 3:16).  Instruction in righteousness is the task that preaching uses to help the church to see how to walk in this world.  Preaching has to be more than just the transference of facts about God that comes from an academic track, it has to be a presentation of Truth that helps us to see above the murky, humanistic, and godless views that this world touts on an hourly basis. 

Fabarez spends the first two chapters writing about the power of preaching and believing that preaching can help change lives.  In chapter 3, he will greatly provoke you by seeking to determine if the preaching is changing the preacher’s life.  He starts with three very inflaming sentences:

The Best Books on Preaching--Part 9

Part 9—Expository Preaching—The Art of Preaching Through a Book of the Bible, Harold T. Bryson, Broadman and Holman, 1995

I would like to take another book about expository preaching and review it for your consideration.  This review will not be as long as the one on yesterday which was written by John MacArthur, Jr. et al.  However, I would say that Harold Bryson’s book, Expository Preaching—TheArt of Preaching Through a Book of the Bible, is almost as good.  I have greatly benefited from this book over the years.  It is another book that you can tell how much it has been used because of the dog-eared pages, highlighted areas, and scribbles in the margins. 

Admittedly there is some overlap that Bryson and MacArthur’s books have.  This is primarily in the areas of defining what expository preaching is and is not.  Bryson’s steps are a little more defined in telling a preacher how to go about preaching through a biblical book.  He gives the following seven disciplines that are necessary for a preacher to accomplish that task.

The Best Books on Preaching--Part 8

Part 8—Rediscovering Expository Preaching, John MacArthur, Jr., Richard Mayhue—Editor & Robert L. Thomas—Associate Editor, 1992, Word.  Republished as: Preaching:  How to Preach Biblically, Reprint of original in 2005.

Perhaps I should have written a review of this book on the first or second day when I began to undertake the month long project of the best books on preaching.  I have to say that this book is probably my favorite of all the books on preaching that I have in my own personal library.  In my opinion, this book, and one other book on expository preaching by Harold Bryson have helped me the most in this area.  I never pick this book up without bringing something useful for me personally. 

My exposure to John MacArthur, Jr. came when I was at Texas Bible College and his commentary on 1 Corinthians was the textbook for that class taught by A. B. Keating.  It was through his encouragement that I began to read after JMac.  He also encouraged me to listen to Grace To You on one of the Houston radio stations.  JMac was on in the 11:30 PM time slot which was the time that I would be coming home from work from M. D. Anderson where I worked in the SICU.  Honestly, JMac did not even remotely appeal to me at the time because I found his verse-by-verse approach to be very boring; which was probably reflective of my low-level hunger for Scripture at the time.  I also had some obvious doctrinal differences with JMac which still exist to this day. 

The Best Books on Preaching--Part 7

Part 7—The Sermon Maker—Tales of a Transformed Preacher, Calvin Miller, 2002, Zondervan

There are a couple of things that I would like to do before I launch into the best books on preaching this week.  First, I would like to extend my thanks to Nate Whitley for giving me the idea for these series of posts on the best books on preaching.  This blog series started when he sent me an e-mail asking me to guest blog on his A Life of Study blog last month.  Secondly, I have ran across some more old J. T. Pugh preaching tapes and have listened to a couple of them over the last few days and find that Brother Pugh was an incredible preacher who had the ability to connect with any group that he was speaking to.  It is remarkable how timeless that his preaching really was.

Today I am going to pick up with a rather light-hearted but fun little book on preaching.  There are books that are extremely academic and technical when it comes to preaching.  Sometimes if you are not careful, you can get lost in all of the minutiae of the writer.  Obviously these kinds of books have their place.  Then there are others that are written in such a way that you are drawn because they follow a story line of a preacher with principles for effective preaching dropped all throughout the book.

The Best Books on Preaching--Part 6

Part 6—The Preacher and Preaching, Reviving the Art, Edited by Samuel T. Logan Jr., 1986, Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing

The next book that I would commend to you is actually a compilation of various subjects dealing with preaching by various authors.  It is The Preacher and Preaching—Reviving the Art.  The book is 460 plus pages and is very provoking in some of subject matter that it chooses to deal with.  As for all the books that I recommend to preachers, I trust you will understand that just because that I have recommended it does not mean that there are things that I whole-heartedly accept and approve of.  All reading should be done with a spiritually discerning filter so that you can toss the bad and keep the good. 

The introduction in itself is a very stimulating essay written by J. I. Packer answering the question of “why preach?”  He found that when we look to Scripture itself there is a very high priority placed on preaching.  It is the plan of God for the church to continue to preach until He comes back!

The Best Books on Preaching--Part 5

Part 5—Thoughts On Preaching, Classic Contributions to Homiletics, James W. Alexander, Reprint 2009, Originally Printed 1864, Solid Ground Christian Books

Marching along with our series on the best books in preaching, we come to the fifth one.  Again, these are not necessarily in an order of importance but just books that I have gained some good thoughts from over the years.  The fifth book is entitled Thoughts on Preaching, Classic Contributions to Homiletics by James Alexander.  This is a book that I purchased when I went to Solid Ground Christian books in Birmingham last fall. 

This book is very unique from all the rest of the books on preaching.  James Alexander had a desire to put together a book on homiletics but he died before he could write the book.  However, someone took it upon themselves to take the private journals of Dr. Alexander and compose them into a working order in the form of a book and have them published.  I was greatly enriched reading through the various notes and paragraphs that Dr. Alexander scribbled down in his personal journals of thoughts on preaching. 

The first chapter is a called Homiletical Paragraphs.  They are numbered individually although some of the numbers may have several paragraphs under the number while others may be just a single sentence.  Here are a few examples:

The Best Books on Preaching--Part 4

Part 4—The Preacher and His Preaching, A. P. Gibbs, Reprint 2002, Originally Printed 1939, Walterick Publishers

Progressing along with our series on the ‘best books on preaching,’ we come to another accidental find.  This book has proved to be a treasure because it is absolutely loaded with material.  It came on a recommendation from Mike Gaydosh who owns Solid Ground Christian Books just south of Birmingham, Alabama.  I had purchased the works of Thomas Manton’s that comes in a 22 volume set.  When I looked in the front of those books for the publisher, I found SGCB and was very surprised that it showed a Birmingham address.  So I called the number and discovered a very friendly and hospitable man who owned the business.    

So on my way to general conference in 2011, I stopped in to Mike’s “store.”  It is actually his home but he has taken his basement and converted it into a bookstore/publishing and it is an absolute preachers’ paradise.  His forte is reprinting massive amounts of old Puritan works that have languished in old libraries that only were available to students who had access to them.  Perhaps I will do a blog on his place at a later time. 

The Best Books on Preaching--Part 3

Part 3—Preaching With Freshness, Bruce Mawhinny, Kregel, 1997

I hope you will discover the treasure trove of books about preaching that will inspire you and help you to become better at it.  Every pastor ought to aspire to be a great preacher!  Not in the aspect of being on the conference circuit but rather to take the Bible and use it in such a way that your hearers anticipate the preaching as a very important part of worship.  Years ago, I found some good advice from H. B. London in one of his books on pastoral ministry when he said that every preacher ought to work in such a way that he literally has the knack for making the biblical characters get up and walk around in front of the congregation as he is preaching.

Reading this particular genre of books can encourage even the most tired and weary of preachers.  The first book by Lloyd-Jones was a book that addressed the soul and internal motivations of the preacher.  The second book by Rummage was a bit more technical in its approach as to planning the preaching so that you systematically cover the Word.  This next book is one that a friend of mine, Tim Kelley, recommended me to me more than ten years ago.  It actually is a very easy book to read because of the way that Bruce Mawhinney wrote it. 

The Best Books on Preaching--Part 2

Part 2—Planning Your Preaching, Stephen Nelson Rummage, 2002, Kregel

In the last post on the best books on preaching, I encouraged you to read the book written by David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preachingand Preachers.  With this post, I hope to inspire you to read a book entitled PlanningYour Preaching by Stephen Rummage.  If you have been a reader of this blog for any length of time, you will have discovered that I have been a strong supporter of expository orverse-by-verse preaching.  There is no more solid way to instruct the church and yourself in the concepts of spiritual growth than moving through the Scriptures at a steady pace.  It also encourages people to read their Bibles and it causes the minister to become adept at understanding what God has to say about things rather than our own human leanings.  If you want to know what God thinks, you have to read His Book because it is there that He has spoken! 

All of the books that I am going to review with you this month are not necessarily in an order of importance.  Also you may have to hunt them down as some of them may be older books and no longer in circulation. 

The second book was another one of those books that I just happened to run across as I was browsing through our local Family Christian bookstore in Dothan several years ago.  Periodically when I would leave the hospital early and have a space of time before picking up my kids from school, I would go to our Family Christian store because it was just around the corner from their school.  Many books that are in my personal library now came during those times when I was waiting for them.  Many books that I have greatly benefited from are those that I just happened to “accidentally” find.  Rummage’s book is such a one. 

The Best Books On Preaching--Part 1

Part 1—Preachers and Preaching, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Last month, Nate Whitley, over at A Life of Study blog, sent me an e-mail asking me about what I might consider to be the best books on preaching.  He invited me to write a guest blog for him on that subject.  Because we were in the middle of our camp schedule, I told him that I would get back to him after we had cleared all of our camps.  During that period of time, I was able to give some thought to this matter of books on preaching. 

Most men who are involved in the week-in and week-out preparation of preaching clearly understand the responsibility of reading.  I once heard J. T. Pugh make a statement during one of his messages that has stuck with me over the years.  He said that a young man approached him one time with the question of what it took to be a great preacher.  Brother Pugh’s reply to this young preacher resounds even many years after he spoke it.  “Young man, to be a great preacher, you will have to be a great reader!”  Obviously Brother Pugh took that advice to heart for his own life also.  Brother Pugh in his “Passing the Mantle” sermon at General Conference in Columbus in 2006 or so, made some reference to the fact that he still continued to go to the University of Texas/Odessa branch library on Mondays and work to expand his mind.  At that time, he was well into his eighties. 

So, most preachers understand the necessity to read material that will help them to expand their mind.  If you are not taking something in, not much will be going out.  First, I owe it to my own spiritual growth to be a man of reclusive devotion.  Not much advancement of spiritual life is accomplished when you are always around the buzz of life.  My belief in this is so much so that I believe that four hours of my day belongs directly to God in the process of sermon prep, Bible study, and writing.  Sometimes this is hindered by the obligations of other necessary things but I feel that rigorous discipline is necessary to keep me on track.  Secondly, I have a responsibility to those who are showing up every week to hear me preach.  The church deserves my highest devotion to the art and craft of preaching and it is through the very force of the Scriptures that I can inoculate them against the attacks of the devil.  Preaching is important!  In fact, I believe that solid biblical preaching can fix a lot of church problems, if a man is willing to hang in there with his task. 

The Little Foxes That Spoil the Vine - Part 7

Song of Solomon 2:15 KJV  Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.

SPIRITUAL APATHY

General Quotes

Anonymous—Apathy is the glove in which evil slips its hand.

Elie Wiesel—The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, its indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, its indifference and the opposite of life is not death, its indifference.

Martin Niemoller—First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist; Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist; Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist; Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew; Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me.

G. Bowes—One apathetic Christian may do untold harm to a whole church.  Pour a quantity of cool water into a pot that has boiling water and immediately the temperature change of the whole will sink.  Just so the contact of men who are indifferent with those who are fervent, deadens their fervor, and tends to reduce them to the same apathy.

Where Does It Start?   

Another of the little foxes that can spoil the vine is spiritual apathy.  We are all susceptible to this creeping little monster and if it moves into our lives it can be quite destructive.  In fact, if spiritual apathy ever gains a foothold it can spawn multiple other terrible conditions that greatly hinder the vineyard of our soul, our family, and our church.  Spiritual apathy allows our spiritual battles to almost eat us alive.  It opens us up to great feelings of being overwhelmed and frustrated.  Spiritual apathy causes us to coast and lean more on natural abilities instead of leaning on the provision of God. 

Spiritual apathy often starts in a subtle manner.  We are converted and it seems like we cannot get enough of the Word, positive spiritual fellowship, and corporate worship at church.  Our life seems to revolve around God and His house.  Our priorities are set according to spiritual events so that growth can take place.  Just being involved with the things of God creates a faithfulness, strength, and passion that open doors to a great walk with God.  We feel the joy of spiritual growth and can sense that the sky is the limit with what God wants to do with us.