Man, here below, lives so entirely among sensible things,
and meditates so little upon spiritual objects, that he comes
to look upon that which is spiritual as unreal, and upon
material things as the only realities. For most men, houses,
and lands, and gold are more real than God and the soul. The
former address the five senses, whereas "no man hath seen God
at any time," and the soul is not apprehensible by any sensuous
organ. Yet the invisible God is more real than any other being,
for he is the cause and ground of all other existence. It was
an invisible Mind that made the material chaos from nothing,
and brooded over it, and formed it into an orderly and
beautiful cosmos. The invisible is more firmly substantial than
the visible.- W. G. T. Shedd (1820-1894), Sermons to the Spiritual Man, New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1884, p. 177-178

The first mark of a healthy church is expositional preaching. It is not only the first mark; it is far and away the most important of them all, because if you get this one right, all of the others should follow… If you get the priority of the Word established, then you have in place the single most important aspect of the church’s life, and growing health is virtually assured, because God has decided to act by His Spirit through His Word. The congregation’s commitment to the centrality of the Word coming from the front, from the preacher, the one specially gifted by God and called to that ministry, is the most important thing you can look for in a church.- Mark Dever, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, Crossway, 2000, p. 25, 38.

No man ever enters heaven until he is first convinced that he deserves hell. -John Everett

Success is a great deodorant. It takes away all your past smells.- Elizabeth Taylor, 1932 - 2011

Victory is won not in miles but in inches. Win a little now, hold your ground, and later, win a little more.- Louis L'Amour, 1908 - 1988