Today's Expositor's Quote is another from John Stott:
A deaf church is a dead church: that is an unalterable principle. God quickens, feeds, inspires and guides his people by his Word. For whenever the Bible is truly and systematically expounded, God uses it to give his people the vision without which they perish. First, they begin to see what he wants them to be, his new society in the world. Then they go on to grasp the resources he has given them in Christ to fulfil his purpose. That is why it is only by humble and obedient listening to his voice that the Church can grow into maturity, serve the world and glorify its Lord.
John Stott, Between Two Worlds: The Art of Preaching in the Twentieth Century, (Eerdmans, 1982) p. 113-14.
[Is your preaching providing your people with God's vision for His society? Does your preaching clarify and explain the resources God provides for His people? If your local church does not hear this from you, where will they hear it? -- Coty]