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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

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Mark Dever
Age: 64
Born: 1960
Born: August 28
Erudite
Missionary
Pastor
Preacher
Theologian
Writer
the United States of America
Good
Guide
Never
Bless
Time
Guides
Faithful
Witness
Growth
Numerical
Church
Evangelism
Given
Apparent

More quotes by Mark Dever

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I assume that normally the Lord will be bringing people to himself through the instrumentality of the preached word. However, we have to be very careful that we don't assume that if we are 'X' faithful in evangelism, then we will see 'Y' results right now. It doesn't work like that.
Mark Dever
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Correct division should be preferred over corrupt unity.
Mark Dever
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It doesn't matter whether we live in the 19th or 21st centuries we face the same basic problems that everyone who lives between the Fall and the return of Christ faces.
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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
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For a Christian, our fears about the future are rooted in those places where our will differs from God's will.
Mark Dever
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Discipling involves instruction and imitation.
Mark Dever
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Once we see more of our need and understand more of what Christ has done for us, he will become more precious to us. And this, in turn, will enable our obedience far more than sheer grunt effort.
Mark Dever
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Unbelief is like gravity, it's always pulling down on the authority of Scripture.
Mark Dever
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Today is what the Lord has prepared you for.
Mark Dever
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As long as quick numerical growth remains the primary indicator of church health, the truth will be compromised. Instead, churches must once again begin measuring success not in terms of numbers but in terms of fidelity to the Scriptures.
Mark Dever
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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
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Christians are defined not by our heritage, but by our mission not by our blood, but by His.
Mark Dever
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The church is the gospel made visible.
Mark Dever
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Evangelism is not simply looking at someone and saying, Look, you have to become a Christian. Instead, an evangelist tells us the truth about who God is, and explains where we stand as a result of that. People can ignore us - indeed, they have every legal right to do so.
Mark Dever
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Our culture is becoming more hostile to the gospel. This trend may be more established in Australia than in the USA, but it's now certainly the case that the postmodern mindset is dominant, particularly in the media. Therefore, when we start speaking in terms of certainties, we sound scary to other people.
Mark Dever
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There is simply so much reason to believe the good news of Jesus Christ in history, in Scripture, as well as in our own experience that it would take a leap of faith not to believe in the gospel.
Mark Dever
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We do not fail in our evangelism if we faithfully tell the gospel to someone who is not subsequently converted we fail only if we do not faithfully tell the gospel at all.
Mark Dever
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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
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Sadly, there are some fine Christian people who believe that the only way to advance the gospel is to pray for revival and nothing else. You don't know if they have any non-Christian friends or if they have ever shared the gospel with anybody in the last 30 years. It's depressing going to prayer meetings like that. I don't want to pray like that.
Mark Dever
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We may be sinking in the North Atlantic in the most famous ship disaster of all time, but God can still use us to reach out and save others through our witness.
Mark Dever