Perfuming the Gospel

I thought I might share this quote from Dave Doran's recent sermon, "Not in Word Only: Spirit-Empowered Preaching":

If you don't like the stench of death, you try to overcome it by perfuming the gospel so it's more attractive.

And then this one is a bonus that I bumped into at the end of the sermon:

C.H. Spurgeon never gave a public invitation--never once asked anybody to come forward, to raise their hand, to do any of that stuff. But they saw thousands converted because what they did bank on was that if God worked, it would show. That is, if God converts a soul, there's life. And so instead of picking green fruit, that is, forcing people to do something--make them make a decision or get them to do something quickly--they just kept preaching God's Word . . .

And this is just dead funny (because it's true) and deadly serious at the same time:

If we were planning a conference, we would have Jonah as the speaker--Isaiah would be an attender--because Jonah went and preached and everybody did something, so Jonah's the great guy. He saw everything happen. When Jonah was disobedient and fleshly, Isaiah was committed to God, devoted to his purposes, but God's assignment for them was different. It is entirely possible that faithful people may be put in a position where God is doing a work of judgment.