Quote

As a pastor, I have the opportunity every week to share the gospel publicly in a way that most of the members sitting in our church do not. However, that doesn't absolve them of the responsibility for reaching others with the gospel.

Mark Dever

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Mark Dever
Age: 64
Born: 1960
Born: August 28
Erudite
Missionary
Pastor
Preacher
Theologian
Writer
the United States of America
Every
Sitting
Way
Week
Absolve
Share
Publicly
Responsibility
Pastor
Church
Reaching
Opportunity
Gospel
Doesn
However
Others
Members

More quotes by Mark Dever

Image
If you are not offending people, then you are not an evangelist.
Mark Dever
Image
Discipling involves instruction and imitation.
Mark Dever
Image
According to the New Testament, the church is primarily a body of people who profess and give evidence that they have been saved by God's grace alone, for His glory alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
Mark Dever
Image
What really concerns me is for Christians to understand the fundamentals of evangelism in a way that is helpful in the contemporary scene.
Mark Dever
Image
I don't have any way to control the Spirit or create revival. I pray that the Holy Spirit would move upon the church, but at the same time, I want to busy evangelizing. I am not one of those people who moan and pray for revival all the time, but do nothing.
Mark Dever
Image
Worldliness in the church is a lot more pervasive than a lack of passion for evangelism. Nevertheless, one of the results of worldliness is a waning enthusiasm for evangelism.
Mark Dever
Image
We can't know at any given time how God will bless our faithful witness. So the apparent numerical growth of the church is never a good guide to how faithful we have been in evangelism.
Mark Dever
Image
By the grace of God I am what I am
Mark Dever
Image
The truly changed, truly converted, truly Christian heart can say with John Newton, “I am not what I ought to be. I am not what I wish to be. I am not what I hope to be. Yet I can truly say, I am not what I once was. By the grace of God, I am what I am.
Mark Dever
Image
Membership is the church's corporate endorsement of a person's salvation.
Mark Dever
Image
Too often preachers want to deal with people simply at the level of publicly accessible reason. We participate with them in their own epistemology. But this is not New Testament preaching. We have a message that is not from this world it is from God. We don't know it by our own cleverness we know it because God has revealed it.
Mark Dever
Image
I think it's unhelpful to suggest that the task of evangelism is essentially the responsibility of ministers.
Mark Dever
Image
I guess I tend to see divine appointments everywhere. I am always on the alert for opportunities. So I prefer to err on the side of witnessing too often than not enough.
Mark Dever
Image
It's fine to deal with people's doubts and explain why they have good reasons to believe in Christ. But until we tell them the good news of Jesus Christ, we haven't done our job. They need a saviour that God has provided them in Christ. Once they know that, we can do as much apologetics as we need to.
Mark Dever
Image
A gospel that in no way offends the sinner has not been understood.
Mark Dever
Image
For a Christian, our fears about the future are rooted in those places where our will differs from God's will.
Mark Dever
Image
There are opportunities around. It takes time and motivation to take them.
Mark Dever
Image
We mustn't be content to just sit around pointing out the errors in others we actually need to be sharing the gospel and praying for people to be converted.
Mark Dever
Image
Testimonies are great things about what the Lord has done for us, but no-one will be offended when you talk about what God has done for you. You need to be specific about sin, about Christ's death on the cross, about others' need for a saviour, and about their need to repent and trust in Christ.
Mark Dever
Image
Most people are glad for somebody else to share their own story of how they have found spiritual help. The problems start when you begin to universalize your story - when your narrative becomes authoritative and begins affecting their lives as well.
Mark Dever