• Don't let the fanatics in the church make a fanatic out of you.

Radical conservatives are often as subtle as an elephant. They are quick to tell the pastor what they didn't like about the sermon, and they are inclined to give an F score if he or she misses one point. Liberals, on the other hand, work more like termites. You may not hear much from them. They may even be all smiles while they eat the foundations of your house.

• The pop doctrine of self-love (self-esteem) tends to put the gospel into gridlock.

Loving ourselves comes naturally. Yet, if we are to be whole emotionally and spiritually, we must be loved by someone besides ourselves. In other words, we must know that someone loves us. The church wasn't meant to be a place where we come and hear that we shouold love ourselves. Rather, it was meant to be a place where we come to learn that God loves us and where we learn to love one another.

• We cannot find unity in diversity; we must find unity in spite of diversity.

I'm sure that the current emphasis on diversity isn't meant to be a call to weaken the church or our homes. But I am convinced that the emphasis being given to diversity is ill advised. The issue that confronts the church is not whether my group or your group is in charge, but rather, whether we recognize that Jesus is in charge and whether we will submit ourselves to His Lordship.

• If you don’t think for yourself, others will do your thinking for you.

   

  There are certainly other people who would be happy to do your thinking for you.  But, this is no time for  you to have a favorite guru.  In matters having to do with faith and morals, it is generally not safe to be a disciple of anyone.  God hasn’t put, as it were, all His eggs in one basket.  To be a reflector of one man’s thoughts is ultimately to have a narrow view of things.

   

  The apostle Paul made this clear when he wrote,

   

  While one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos: are you not carnal?  Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom you believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?  I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.  So then neither is he that planted anything, neither he that water is; but God has given the increase.  Now he that planteth and he that watereth; are one one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor.  For we are laborers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building(1Corinthians 3: 4-9).

   

  When I took the college class Education, a large part of the course consisted in learning key quotations from the book Education, I remember one quotation in particular: “It is the work of true education…to train youth to be thinkers, and not mere reflectors of other men’s thoughts.”  It has been said that when we become followers of people, we tend to follow their weaknesses rather than their strengths.  David’s life provides a good example.  We must be careful that we don’t conclude that his story proves that anything goes as long as a person is sorry afterwards.  Though there are Bible heroes, the Hero we can safely copy as Jesus.

   

• A person’s theology tends to be a reflection of their personal morality.

   

  Perhaps we can compare this statement the old question about which came first, the chicken or the egg.  Though in a sense it goes both ways, I believe, generally speaking, we are attracted to ideologies that complement or affirm our lifestyle.  This explains why if we have retained known sin in our lives (I didn’t say if we are sinners), we will be attracted to error as to be is to nectar - I am talking the sin we know we are practicing and refuse to give up.  It is the sin we excuse by saying my father did it or the people at the office do it or we read somewhere that it was okay, when the truth is we know it is wrong.

   

  On the dashboards of our cars are various gauges and lights.  These indicators communicate the temperature of the engine, the oil pressure, the engines revolutions per minute, the car’s speed, and a host of other things, such as low tires, seatbelts unfastened, or the engine needs servicing.  Considering these readings a nuisance and ignoring them can have serious consequences for both the well-being of the automobile and for that of the passengers too.

   

  God has given us a conscience as a gauge.  It comes with default calibrations.  People know when they are lying, stealing, or fooling around with someone else’s spouse.  A finely tuned conscience is essential to a victorious Christian life.  The apostle Paul said, quote herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offense toward God, and toward men” (Acts 24:16).  And in 1Timothy 4:2, he cautioned us against searing our conscience.

   

  We can keep our conscience finely tuned only by maintaining an ongoing state of repentance.  Sooner or later, unconfessed sin will blunt our ability to discern right from wrong and make us vulnerable to being deceived, either by ourselves or by others.

• Information flows down hill.

   

  One of the first things I learned when I began my ministry was that influence flows downhill.  What this means is that we all have a sphere of influence, but we have more influence on those who are accountable to us than we do on those to whom we are accountable.  For instance, as a pastor, I have more influence on my congregation than I have on the conference president.  Not only that, but I have more influence on my family than I have on my congregation.

   

  This has practical application for my success and eventual well-being, because if I spend my emotional energy trying to get my conference president to run the conference I think it ought to be run, I'll probably be wasting my emotional energy and creating ill-will with my boss.  This isn't to say that I can't express my opinions to him.  But I need to realize that by the very nature of things, he has more influence on what I do than I have on what he does.

   

  There is another old saying that probably fits here, and that is that my freedom ends where your nose begins.  Although we all have a sphere of influence, so does everyone else.  My influence will be more effective and better appreciated if I respect everyone else just as I wish to be respected.  This is important not only in professional and public relationships but especially at home.

• Are we playing by the book?

  
  "When a group of small boys, out to play ball, arrived at the play ground, they discovered that no one had brought a ball. "Forget the ball," said one impatiently. "Let's get on with the game." We are trying to play without the ball when the Church tries to evangelize before she has repented. The Church can do many things after she has repented but nothing until first she repents...
  
  The Pharisees had many good points. Our Lord said, in effect, "Do as they say." They read the Scriptures, prayed, went to God's house, tithed, and lived separated lives. They were anxious to preserve religion in Israel. Winning converts to the religion of Moses had been a good and right thing to do. But their religion had become institutionalized, and now they were propagating a dead faith, and every, new convert was a twofold child of hell, a lost heathen, and a lost proselyte. Generally, we are propagating today a degenerate brand of Christianity. Unless the church repents, and has a complete overhauling instead of a tune-up job, our evangelistic and missionary drives may add for the most part only a multitude of proselytes who are both unsaved pagans and unregenerated church members. Like produces like. Worldly churches produce more worldly church members. Churches weak or unsound in doctrine produce more of the same variety. Churches that operate in the energy of the flesh instead of by the Holy Spirit produce more of the same kind. We must improve the present quality of our churches, for converts tend to take on the qualities of the people who convert them...
  
  If God ever visits us again in real revival, there will be many red faces as churchmen and religious leaders blush and hang their heads in shame for the silly and stupid ways in which we have tried to promote the work of God in the energy of the flesh by the help of the world. Drama will be unnecessary. We may not even need great preachers! Gospel jazz will slink away, and we shall be chagrined that we ever sank so low as to tolerate it. All this will vanish in the blinding light of the holiness of God, and no flesh will glory in His presence...
  
  There is no greater hindrance to revival than a comfortable pastor settled and satisfied, coasting along until he reaches retirement, who does not want his flock disturbed or the status quo upset. He has long since lost his burden and concern for a mighty upheaval of God among the resters at ease in Zion. He resents any intrusion into the complacency of a sleeping church, and interprets the prophet's call to repentance as an indictment of his own preaching. He is determined not to get excited, assumes a philosophical tolerance of things as they are, and he may speak facetiously of the prophet's seriousness. Sometimes his own people may get under conviction, and put him to shame by a concern he does not seem to feel. This makes it exceedingly difficult for any revivalist calling Christians to repentance, but what a delight when pastor and prophet stand together! Most pastors understand that the traveling prophet can say things the pastor cannot say-that he fills a different role and follows an utterly different pattern. They complement each other. One plants, another waters, but God gives the increase. The teacher plants the seed, the pastor cultivates the crop, the evangelist gathers it, but the prophet must first break up the fallow ground. Breaking up the ground is never a pleasant, comfortable business, and churches sometimes resent the plow of plain preaching. Blessed is the pastor who knows this, and stands behind the lonely prophet who calls the church to repentance... "

   By Vance Havner

• More quotes from Vance Havner
  
  "We are the salt of the earth, mind you, not the sugar. Our ministry is to truly cleanse and not just to change the taste."
  
  "Too many churches start at eleven o'clock sharp, and end at twelve o'clock dull. You will never see revival in a comfortable church."
  
  "Plenty of church members are shaky about what they believe, while not many are shaken by what they believe."
  
  "Some preachers ought to put more fire into their sermons, or more sermons into the fire."
  
  "The church is a hospital for sinners, and not a museum for saints."
  
  "Not since Manhattan Island was sold for $24 has there been so much dirt available for so little money as now."
  
  "Civilization today reminds me of an ape with a blowtorch playing in a room full of dynamite. It looks like the monkeys are about to operate the zoo, and the inmates are taking over the asylum."
  
  "If there had been a social gospel in the days of the prodigal son, somebody would have given him a bed and a sandwich and he never would have gone home."
  
  "When your up to your ears in crocodiles, it's no time to discuss draining the swamp."
  
  "There's a price to pay to be a holy man of God. You have to buck the current because the tide's running the other way."
  
  "Sometimes your medicine bottle has on it, "Shake well before using." That is what God has to do with some of His people. He has to shake them well before they are ever usable."

• A minister who no longer believes the doctrines of the Seventh-day Adventist Church should probably resign; and the same might be said of its members.

If you have ever installed software on your home computer, you will know that, at one point in the installation process, there is a screen that spells out the terms and conditions for the use of the program. At the bottom of the page, there are two little boxes. One box says, “I agree,” and the other box says, “I disagree.” If you happen to check the box indicating that you disagree with the terms and conditions, the installation aborts.Is it asking too much to insist that a minister of this church subscribe to all of its twenty-eight fundamental beliefs? I believe it is not too much to insist, not just for spiritual reasons but for ethical reasons. In business and industry, executives and employees are required to respect the policies of their employing organizations. Should it not be the same for a religious organization?

When we became a Seventh-day Adventist, we affirmed at the time of our baptism that we subscribed to the fundamental beliefs of the church. We became members by our own free will. We were not condemned to “do time” as members of the church.  Although there are beliefs that are not classified as testing doctrines--by that we mean conditions for church membership--we have an ethical responsibility to uphold the twenty-eight doctrines of our faith.

The Nature of Christ is not included in the list of doctrines, but the Gift of Prophesy and the Investigative Judgment are. While the church does not have a Creed [meaning our doctrines are dynamic--could be changed subject to reinterpretation], there is no reason to believe that the founding mothers and fathers of our church were mistaken in these two important fundamental beliefs. A person who feels they can no longer teach with personal conviction the unique doctrines of this denomination may do well to consider the ethics of their position.

• As pastors we cannot bring a person closer to Jesus than we are ourselves.

The Kentucky-Tennessee conference is located in the region of Nashville. My father's second assignment in the ministry was to be what was then termed the Home Missionary and Sabbath School secretary of the region comprising the churches in those two states.

It was early morning and dad was driving to the office. Those were the days before freeways and going into a city was just that, street by street and traffic signal by traffic signal.

He happened to notice out of the corner of is eye a man staggering down the sidewalk. Though it was still morning the man had begun to drink early or he was yet recovering from an all night binge. He was so drunk that he was using both out-stretched arms, steadying himself along the wall of the building that faced the sidewalk on which he was staggering along.

It was in vain, because in spite of his trying to steady himself he lost his balance and scrapping his nose along the wall of the building fell to the sidewalk in a drunken stupor. Dad stopped his car and went to where the man lay.

My dad was six feet tall and a strong man. As he contemplated the man's situation he concluded that to leave him there might meant that the police would find him and take him to jail. Dad had another plan. He would put the man in the back seat of his car and take him to the office where he would leave him in the back seat to sleep off his drunk.

He followed through with his plan and left the man sleeping in the back seat of the car. He lowered the windows so that there would be fresh air. He then went up to his office and promptly forgot all about the matter until about 10:30 in the morning. Realizing that he had better check out the situation he went down to the parking lot and as he approached his car he saw that the man was just waking up. His face was red and his hair messed up. Through blood-shot eyes he saw this stranger approaching and asked, "Who are you?"

Dad replied who he was. "What am I doing here?" asked the man from the street. Dad explained what had happened and how he had thought to keep the fellow out of jail.

The man's next question was, "Why did you do that?

Dad's answer, "Because I love Jesus".

"What is Jesus like?" the man blurted out.

"Like me," replied Dad.

 The Scripture says, "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." John 1:14.

We beheld the glory of the Father in the person of the Son. Now we are called upon to reflect the beauty of our Lord in our own lives. We sometimes sing, "Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me.

Was dad arrogant to say, Like me? I don't think so. "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 2 Corthians 3:18.

• Ministers have a potential conflict of interest with God.

To put it bluntly, a pastosr may want God to bless him so that he can climb the professional ladder. It isn't fair to suggest that only ministers have this potential problem-- everyone does. Often we pray for all the right things but for all the wrong reasons. Though we may fool some of the people some of the time and ourselves all of the time, we can't fool God any time.

We're impressed by what we see and hear. Some of the world's worst despots came to power professing honorable causes. If the people had known their hearts, they never would have followed them.

One day, God sent Samuel the prophet to anoint a king for Israel . He told him that He would choose one of Jesse's sons. As the young men passed by one by one, the prophet was impressed by their appearances. But God told him something that on one hand is comforting but on the other hand can make our pretensions of no avail as far as God is concerned. "Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his statue; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7).

Our problem is that "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9). This is why the psalmist prayed, "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And seee if there bge any wicked ways in me, and lead me in the way everlasting" (Psalm 139:23, 24).

In our prayers, motive is everything. The problem of unanswered prayer is usually of our own making. I am sure that often God doesn't answers our prayers because our motives aren't at the level of what we are praying for. If God answered prayers that were motivated by pride, selfishness, or bitterness, He would, in effect, be aiding and abetting our sins.

I have found it helpful, when making a request to God, not just to pray that this or that will happen but sometimes actually to explain to God why I am making that particular request. I don't do this to help Him understand but to understand better myself. I must confess that more than once when I've finished telling Him why I want Him to do something, I end up saying, "Never mind!"

• Question: How can a person who has not made Jesus the Lord of their lives worship?

Answer: They can't. What they do will either be self-centered or pure flattery.

• The devil now speaks our language.

If you take over the language of your enemy, you make it impossible for him to communicate his ideology.

• A person once told me that if he has to choose between love and the law, he will choose love. I asked him how the will of God could be adversarial to His love?