Isaac Adams > Quotes

“Scripture is not color consumed on one hand or color-blind on the other. It is color-conscious.”
― Isaac Adams, Talking about Race: Gospel Hope for Hard Conversations

“I once shared the gospel with a friend who rejected it. As we parted ways, I felt like a failure and like I dishonored God. I see now, however, that my discouragement emerged from a misunderstanding. I was approaching evangelism like a salesman: I acted as if I had to sell the gospel to my friend, and since I didn’t close the sale, I figured my boss (God) would be mad at me. And so, I was mad at myself. But friends, being rejected for sharing the gospel is normal. Didn’t Jesus tell us as much? If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. (John 15:18) Instead of making us despair, rejection should make us rejoice.”
― Isaac Adams, What If I'm Discouraged in My Evangelism?

“One reason that conversations about race are so hard is because too many American evangelicals lack thinking with biblical nuance. Sadly, when it comes to using our God-given brains, evangelicals often have only two speeds. For the evangelical, if something is not essential for salvation, it’s often regarded as unimportant. Issues, then, are either of speed 1: ultimate importance, or speed 2: no importance. Os Guinness reflects on the sin and scandal of evangelicals refusing to love the Lord with their minds: “American evangelicals therefore characteristically display an impatience with the difficult, an intolerance of complexity, and a poor appreciation of the long-term and disciplined. Correspondingly, we often demonstrate a tendency toward the simplistic, especially in the form of slogans or overly simple either/or solutions.”13 This either/or mental proclivity is why evangelicals often pit two good things against each other (e.g., evangelism versus justice, the spiritual versus the social, man’s responsibility versus God’s sovereignty, etc.). It’s why we often see those who disagree with us as a part of the faithful or as a full-blown heretic—we only have two speeds.”
― Isaac Adams, Talking about Race: Gospel Hope for Hard Conversations

“So, as we seek to love one another across racial lines, it is useful to remember that there is such a thing as asymmetry in history.”
― Isaac Adams, Talking about Race: Gospel Hope for Hard Conversations

“What are some reasons you may not be sharing the gospel? Do you expect the church staff to do it or perhaps just the extroverts in the church? Are you too busy with your plans to think about someone else’s eternal state? Are you a Christian in name but a Universalist in practice, acting as if God will simply save everyone in the end anyway? Are you ashamed of God’s justice and goodness in judging and condemning sinners? If any of these reasons describe you and your lack of evangelism, I’d like to gently say two things: First—you need to repent. Second—there’s hope for you. If you’re a discouraged evangelist, or if you feel like one, this book is for you. The good news for bad evangelists is that the same gospel we want to preach to others is the same gospel that gives us the power to obey Christ’s command to share the gospel with others.”
― Isaac Adams, What If I'm Discouraged in My Evangelism?