The devil will let a preacher prepare a sermon if it will keep him from preparing himself.
The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps - we must step up the stairs.
God uses broken things. It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume. It is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever.
Sometimes your medicine bottle has on it, 'Shake well before using.' That is what God has to do with some of His people. He has to shake them well before they are ever usable.
Many people are in a rut and a rut is nothing but a grave - with both ends kicked out.
If they had a social gospel in the days of the prodigal son, somebody would have given him a bed and a sandwich and he never would have gone home.
