David Platt Quotations | Page 2

Making disciples by going, baptizing, and teaching people the Word of Christ and then enabling them to do the same thing in other people’s lives—this is the plan God has for each of us to impact nations for the glory of Christ

Christianity does not start with an invitation we offer to Jesus, but with an invitation Jesus offers to us.

As long as you and I understand salvation as checking off a box to get to God, we will find ourselves in the meaningless sea of world religions that actually condemn the human race by exalting our supposed ability to get to God. On the other hand, when you and I realize that we are morally evil, dead in sin and deserving of God's wrath with no way out on our own, we begin to discover our desperation for Christ.

The price of our non-discipleshi p is high for those without Christ.

The price is certainly high for people who don’t know Christ and who live in a world where Christians shrink back from self-denying faith and settle into self-indulging faith. While Christians choose to spend their lives fulfilling the American dream instead of giving their lives to proclaiming the kingdom of God, literally billions in need of the Gospel remain in the dark

Instead of imagining all the things we can accomplish, we ask God to do what only he can accomplish. Yes, we work, we plan, we organize, and we create, but we do it all while we fast, while we pray, and while we constantly confess our need for the provision of God.

We owe Christ to the world--to the least person and to the greatest person, to the richest person and to the poorest person, to the best person and to the worst person. We are in debt to the nations.

We can so easily deceive ourselves, mistaking the presence of physical bodies in a crowd for the existence of spiritual life in a community.

Our greatest need is not to try harder. Our greatest need is a new heart.

The key is realizing - and believing - that this world is not your home. If you and I ever hope to free our lives from worldly desires, worldly thinking, worldly pleasures, worldly dreams, worldly ideals, worldly values, worldly ambitions, and worldly acclaim, then we must focus our lives on another world.

The primary reward of the gospel - God himself

If we are going to accomplish the global purpose of God, it will not be primarily through giving our money, as important as that is. It will happen primarily through giving ourselvs. This is what the gospel represents and this is what the gospel requires.

There is a sense in which the danger of our lives increases in proportion to the depth of our relationship with Christ.

My life is a blank check before God... No strings attached.

The gospel beckons our sin-sick souls to simple trust in Christ, the only One who is truly radical enough.

Whereas disinfecting Christians involves isolating them and teaching them to be good, discipling Christians involves propelling Christians into the world to risk their lives for the sake of others. Now the world is our focus, and we gauge success in the church not on the hundreds or thousands whom we can get into our buildings but on the hundreds or thousands who are leaving our buildings to take on the world with the disciples they are making

And while we stand with conviction and courage, we must live with compassion. Amid a world with massive social needs around us, ranging from desperate poverty and orphan crises and millions of girls being trafficked for sex, to the degradation of marriage and the abortion of babies, we need to speak and act with selfless love on all of these issues.

We are afraid that if we stop and really look at God in his Word, we might discover that he evokes greater awe and demands deeper worship than we are ready to give him.

I believe that the gospel and the American Dream have fundamentally different starting points. The American Dream begins with self, exalts self, says you are inherently good and you have in you what it takes to be successful so do all you can, work with everything you have to make much of yourself. The gospel begins with God, the reality that we were created to exalt his name to the ends of the earth.

As I looked at material and spiritual poverty in the world around me, including approximately 2 billion people who haven't even heard the gospel, I knew that I needed to make some major changes in my life.

The gospel confronts us with the hopelessness of our sinful condition. But we don't like what we see of ourselves in the gospel, so we shrink back from it.

I always questioned if I was CALLED to adopt, but then I realized no child was ever CALLED to be an orphan.

Should it concern us that the bible never calls us to ask Jesus into our hearts. Should it concern us that the bible never mentions such a superstitious sinners prayer and yet that is exactly what we have sold to so many as salvation.

We are not the end of the gospel; God is.

We learned that orphans are easier to ignore before you know their names. They are easier to ignore before you see their faces. It is easier to pretend they’re not real before you hold them in your arms. But once you do, everything changes.

Surely the greatest social injustice is that 2 billion people haven't heard of God's love in Christ.

The dangerous assumption we unknowingly accept in the American dream is that our greatest asset is our own ability.

[...]there is no injustice in God. The injustice lies in Christians who possess the gospel and refuse to give their lives to making it known among those who haven't heard.

God blesses his people with extravagant grace so they might extend his extravagant glory to all peoples on the earth

God involves us in his missions not because He needs us, but because He loves us. And in His mercy He has invited us to be involved in His sovereign design for the spread of the gospel to the ends of the earth.

I want to move from what we let go of to whom we hold on to. I want to explore not just the gravity of what we forsake in this world, but also the greatness of the one we follow in this world.

Jesus came to live the life we could not live and to die the death we deserve to die.

We can accomplish more in one month of dependence on the Spirit than we can in 100 years of dependence on ourselves.

The more Christ fulfills the cravings of our souls, the more he changes our taste capacities from the inside out. The more we walk with him, the more we want him. The more we taste of him, the more we enjoy him. And this transforms how we live and what we live for.

The body of Christ is a multicultural citizenry of an otherworldly kingdom.

Gospel possession requires gospel proclamation.

To be a disciple of Jesus is to make disciples of Jesus.

We desperately need each other in the daily fight to follow Christ in a world that's full of sin.

Jesus is not some puny religious teacher begging for an invitation from anyone. He is the all-sovereign Lord who deserves submission from everyone.

The Word of God and the Spirit of God are enough for the people of God to enjoy and spread the worship of God.

For God to be holy does not just mean He is without error. It means He is without equal. May it not be said of any one of us that there is not respect for the author of the universe. He is sovereign over all nature, over all nations and over every single one of our lives.

Instead of trying to conquer sin by working hard to change our actions, we can conquer sin by trusting Christ to change our affections.

In every genre of biblical literature and every stage of biblical history, God is seen pouring out his grace on his people for the sake of his glory among all peoples.

Salvation now consists of a deep wrestling in our souls with the sinfulness of our hearts, the depth of our depravity, and the desperation of our need for his grace.

God actually delights in exalting our inability. He intentionally puts his people in situations where they come face to face with their need for him.

And ultimately, If you sin against an infinitely holy and eternal God, you are infinitely guilty and worthy of eternal punishment.

So the challenge for us is to live in such a way that we are radically dependent on and desperate for the power that only God can provide.

Why make disciples? Because heaven and hell exist, and the end of the world is coming.

Do you believe that Jesus is worth abandoning everything for? Do you believe him enough to obey him and to follow him wherever he leads, even when the crowds in our culture - maybe even our churches - turn the other way?

And this is why Jesus came: to endure the holy wrath of God due us.

The Bible clearly reminds us that left to ourselves, we would be lost forever.

We assume that our race simply deserves heaven; that God owes heaven to us unless we do something really bad to warrant otherwise.

What if the word of God was enough to inspire passionate worship among his people?

I could not help but think that somewhere along the way we had missed what was radical about our faith and replaced it with what is comfortable.

God's revelation is in the gospel not only reveals who He is, but it also reveals who we are.

So what is the difference between someone who willfully indulges in sexual pleasures while ignoring the Bible on moral purity and someone who willfully indulges in the selfish pursuit of more and more material possessions while ignoring the Bible on caring for the poor? The difference is that one involves a social taboo in the church and the other involves the social norm in the church.

It is impossible to be a follower of Christ while denying, disregarding, discrediting, and disbelieving the words of Christ.

The call of Christ is to deny ourselves and to let go of our lives. To relinquish control of our lives, to surrender everything we are, everything that we do, our direction our safety our security is no longer found in the things of this world. It is found in Christ. And that is great risk when it comes to the things of this world.

The very first word out of Jesus; mouth in is ministry in the New Testament is clear: repent.

And as we meet needs on earth, we are proclaiming a gospel that transforms lives for eternity. The point is not simply to meet a temporary need or change a startling statistic; the point is to exalt the glory of Christ as we express the gospel of Christ through the radical generosity of our lives.

Somewhere along the way we have subtly and tragically taken the costly command of Christ to go, baptize, and teach all nations and mutated it into a comfortable call for Christians to come, be baptized, and listen in one location.

He (Jesus) came so that we might receive new life through supernatural regeneration.

My prayer is that people will see that following Jesus costs you everything you are and everything you have. And my prayer is that people will see that Jesus is worth it.

Ultimate satisfaction is found not in making much of ourselves but in making much of God

To be a Christian is to realize that in your sin, you were separated from God's presence, and you deserved nothing but God's wrath.

We don’t go to Scripture for permission to do what we think is best, but for direction to do what He says is best.

Christianity does not begin with our pursuit of Christ, but with Christ’s pursuit of us.

We do not follow a health and wealth savior. We follow a homeless and wounded Savior.

Nothing is impossible for the people of God who trust in the power of God to accomplish the will of God.

Ask, could my gifts, education, career, or experience be used to spread the gospel where it’s needed most?

When God tells us to give extravagantly, we can trust Him to do the same in our lives. And this is really the core issue of it all. Do we trust Him? Do we trust Jesus when He tells us to give radically for the sake of the poor? Do we trust Him to provide for us when we begin using the resources He has given us to provide for others? Do we trust Him to know what is best for our lives, our families, and our financial futures?

As Christ begins to live in us, everything begins to change about us.

We can rest confident in the fact that nothing will happen to us in this world apart from the gracious will of a sovereign God. Nothing.

To be a Christian is to be loved by God, pursued by God, and found by God.

God involves us in his mission not because he needs us but because he loves us.

The message of biblical Christianity is 'God loves me so that I might make him- his ways, his salvation, his glory, and his greatness- known among all nations.' Now God is the object of our faith, and Christianity centers around him. We are not the end of the gospel; God is'

God delights in revealing Himself to you when you are bold enough to bother Him. In fact, I think He would say that the only thing that bothers Him is when you don’t come to Him.

Everything in all creation responds in obedience to the Creator... until we get to you and me. We have the audacity to look God in the face and say, "No."

On popular issues like poverty and slavery, where Christians are likely to be applauded for our social action, we are quick to stand up and speak out. Yet on controversial issues like homosexuality and abortion, where Christians are likely to be criticized for our involvement, we are content to sit down and stay quiet.

Disciple making is not a call for others to come to us to hear the gospel but a command for us to go to others to share the gospel.

Do you and I believe him (Christ) enough to obey him and to follow him wherever he leads, even when the crowds in our culture - and maybe in our churches - turn the other way?...For the sake of an increasingly marginalized and relatively ineffective church in our culture, I want to risk it all. For the sake of my life, my family, and the people who surround me, I want to risk it all.

Anyone wanting to proclaim the glory of Christ to the ends of the earth must consider not only how to declare the gospel verbally but also how to demonstrate the gospel visibly in a world where so many are urgently hungry. If I am going to address urgent spriitual need by sharing the gospel of Christ or building up the body of Christ around the world, then I cannot overlook dire physical need in the process.

There is indescribable joy, deep satisfaction and an eternal purpose in dying to ourselves and living for Christ.

God beckons storm clouds and they come. He tells the wind to blow and the rain to fall, and they obey immediately. He speaks to the mountains, 'You go there,' and He says to the seas, 'You stop here, and they do it. Everything in all creation responds in obedience to the Creator...until we get to you and me. We have the audacity to look God in the face and say, 'No.

If we want to know the Glory of God, if we want to experience the beauty of God, and if we want to be used by the hand of God, then we must LIVE in the WORD of God.

Consider the cost when Christians ignore Jesus commands to sell their possessions and give to the poor and instead choose to spend their resources on better comforts, larger homes, nicer cars, and more stuff. Consider the cost when these Christians gather in churches and choose to spend millions of dollars on nice buildings to drive up to, cushioned chairs to sit in, and endless programs to enjoy for themselves. Consider the cost for the starving multitudes who sit outside the gate of contemporary Christian affluence.

We desperately need to explore how much of our understanding of the gospel is American and how much is biblical.

While the goal of the American dream is to make much of us, the goal of the gospel is to make much of God.

My biggest fear, even now, is that I will hear Jesus' words and walk away, content to settle for less than radical obedience to Him.

God stands ready to allocate his power to all who are radically dependent on Him and radically devoted to making much of Him.

A materialistic world will not be won to Christ by a materialistic church.

Being a member of a church means realizing that we are responsible for helping the brothers and sisters around us to grow as disciples of Jesus. In the same way, they are responsible for helping us. We desperately need each other in the daily fight to follow Christ in a world that's full of sin.

No sound system. No band. No guitar. No entertainment. No cushioned chairs. No heating or air-con. Nothing but the people of God and the word of God. And strangely, that's enough. God's Word is enough for millions of believers who gather in house churches... Jungles... Rainforests, and middle-eastern cities. But is his Word enough for us?

The most glorious reason you exist is for the proclamation of the glory of God to the ends of the world. And it's more than having a nice life.

Our great need is to fall before an almighty Father day and night and to plead for him to show his radical power in and through us, enabling us to accomplish for his glory what we could never imagine in our own strength.

May even the concept of unreached peoples be totally intolerable to us.

We do not have time to waste our lives coasting out casual, comfortable Christianity.

The primary purpose of prayer is not to get something, but to know Someone.

We go wherever God leads whenever God moves us...because we love His glory more than we love our lives.

But then I realize there is never going to be a day when I stand before God and He looks at me and says, 'I wish you would have kept more for yourself.' I'm confident that God will take care of me.