Top 1612 Billy Graham Quotes

It is the Holy Spirit’s job to convict, God’s job to judge and my job to love.

Remember: He WANTS your fellowship, and He has done everything possible to make it a reality. He has forgiven your sins, at the cost of His own dear Son. He has given you His Word, and the priceless privilege of prayer and worship.

Science is learning to control everything but man.

The blessing of knowledge becomes a curse when we pervert it.

If ever a generation was bequeathed the knowledge of God, we were. Yet we are throwing away this glorious heritage on our lust and passions.

Today an educated, civilized society is turning its face while thousands of unborn babies are being killed. God Himself, if not history, will judge this greater holocaust.

Much of the world in search of knowledge and fulfillment ignores God!

It is the absence of the knowledge of God and man’s refusal to obey Him that lie at the root of every problem which besets us.

We are the most informed people in the history of civilization—and yet the most confused. Though our heads are crammed with knowledge, our hearts are empty.

Joy cannot be pursued. It comes from within. It is a state of being. It does not depend on circumstances, but triumphs over circumstances. It produces a gentleness of spirit and a magnetic personality.

‎Sincerity is the biggest part of selling anything — including the Christian plan of salvation.

Some people think that going to church on Sunday and owning a dust-covered Bible makes a person a Christian. That is not true. A Christian is one in whom Christ dwells, and the person’s life will give evidence of this.

Christians are expected to carry the marks of the Lord Jesus, not adapt to the fashionable counterculture driven by marketing traps.

If you are a true Christian . . .you will reveal through your daily life the fruit of the Spirit . . .and all the other Christian virtues which round out a Christlike personality.

A born-again Christian should no more think of going back to the old life than an adult to his childhood.

Many Christians who profess Christ do not live as though they possess Him.

Within the New Testament, there is no indication that Christians should expect to be healthy, wealthy, and successful in this present age.

Many people ask about Christianity the same [way] they ask about everything else today: “What’s in it for me?” In our selfishness, we think of God as we think of everyone else. What can He contribute to us, personally?

Just because a person claims to be a Christian does not necessarily mean that he is one.

The Christian has a great obligation to be ethical and honest in all things, even sometimes at personal hazard. It is in the difficult situation that the qualities of a Christian are seen.

A baby isn’t meant to stay a baby forever, and neither is a new Christian.

The goal of a child’s life is maturity—and the goal of a Christian’s life is spiritual maturity.

Today our churches are filled, but how many are actually practicing Christianity in daily life?

My wife has said that a bitter, sour Christianis one of Satan’s greatest trophies—and she’s right.

Christians are becoming disengaged in following the Scripture that tells us not to conform to the world’s system.

Christians, saints of God, pray that the dew of heaven may fall on earth’s dry thirsty ground, and that righteousness may cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.

I like the bumper sticker that reads, “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven.” But that does not give us license to live below God’s standard.

When confronted with the world’s problems, we Christians say automatically: “Christianity is the answer.” But this is not true! It is the application of Christianity that is the answer.

We cannot inherit Christianity . . . God has no grandchildren.

A contentious, belligerent Christian isn’t living according to the Spirit but according to the flesh. When we stubbornly insist on our own way and are insensitive to others, peace is not our goal.

What makes Christians different from everyone else is that God Himself lives within them by His Holy Spirit. When we come to Christ and give our lives to Him, God actually takes up residence within us.

The feet of the Christian need to tread the narrow path that the Savior trod, keeping in step with Him.

Christians are not powerless. We have the mighty power of God available through God the Holy Spirit, even in this world.

The Christian’s journey through life isn’t a sprint but a marathon.

Tragic as it is when a child fails to develop physically or mentally, even more tragic is a Christian who fails to develop spiritually.

Christianity is not an insurance policy against life’s ills and troubles.

Christians, pray for an outpouring of God’s Spirit upon a willful, evil, unrepentant world.

As Christians we are constantly bombarded with attitudes and values which are contrary to biblical teaching.

The faithful Christian steward acknowledges that God owns all he has, and it is his responsibility to manage and dispose of his possessions in a way that is acceptable to the Lord.

I fear that so often we Christians give the idea that the truth is fiction by the way we live and by the lack of dedication to the teachings of our Lord.

Don’t be a half-Christian. There are too many of such in the world. The world has a profound respect for people who are sincere in their faith.

Too many so-called Christians are like the little chameleon which adapts its coloration to that of its surroundings. Even a critical world is quick to recognize a real Christian and just as quick to detect a counterfeit.

For the Christian, all is not hopeless unless his affections are centered on the things of this world.

There are too many professed Christians who never get “wrought up” about anything; they never get indignant with injustice, with corruption in high places, or with the godless traffics which barter away the souls and bodies of people.

Christianity is a Gospel of crisis. It proclaims unmistakably that this world’s days are numbered.

It is a tragic fact that the vast majority of Christians today are living a sub-normal Christian life.

The greatest need in the world today is for fully committed Christians.

It’s tough to be a Christian in our world. We need to be willing to take on Jesus’ unpopularity and the scorn that is often heaped on Him.

There are Christians who have never really learned the biblical truth of separation: separation from unclean thoughts and unclean habits.

Millions of professing Christians are only just that—“professing.” They have never possessed Christ. They live lives characterized by the flesh.

Christianity is not an accretion, it is not something added. It is a new total outlook which is satisfied with nothing less than penetration to the furthest corners of the mind and the understanding.

Our generation has become well versed in Christian terminology but is remiss in the actual practice of Christ’s principles and teachings. Hence, our greatest need today is not more Christianity but more true Christians.

All of Christianity is based on a person—Jesus Christ. Christ Himself is the embodiment of the Gospel.

Christianity cannot expect the world to live the truths of the Gospel until it has the life that the Gospel provides in Christ. We Christians ought to be light and salt in the society in which we live.

Christianity increases the scope and area of our lives.

Christianity is not a spectator sport, it’s something in which we become totally involved.

Affliction may be for our edification and Christian development.

In some churches and religious television programs, we see an effort to make Christianity popular and always positive. This may be a comfortable cushion for those who find the hard facts too difficult.

I believe there is an obedience to the Gospel, there is a self-denial and a bearing of the cross, if you are to be a follower of Christ. Being a Christian is a serious business.

Christianity has no shrines to visit, no dusty remains to venerate, no tombs at which to worship.

Only the Christian faith claims that its Leader died and rose again and is alive at this moment. Many gravestones carry the inscription, “Here lies . . . ,” but on Christ’s tomb are emblazoned the words, “He is not here.

Christians should be a foreign influence, a minority group in a pagan world.

The secret of the power of Christianity is not in its ethics. It is not in Christian ideas or philosophy . . .the secret of Christianity is found . . . in the Lord Jesus Christ.

If we have our eyes upon ourselves, our problems, and our pain, we cannot lift our eyes upward. A child looks up when he’s walking with his father, and the same should be true for the Christian.

To a sinner, a righteous person is an oddity and an abnormality. A Christian’s goodness is a rebuke to the wicked; his being right-side up is a reflection upon the worldling’s inverted position.

Ninety-five percent of the difficulties you will experience as a Christian can be traced to a lack of Bible study and reading.

We must have a virile, dynamic, aggressive Christian who lives Christ seven days a week, who is ready to die, if necessary, for his faith.

We can never live this [Christian] life on the highest plane unless we are continually growing and moving forward. You should be closer to God today in heart, soul, and body than at any other time so far in your life.

A great problem in America is that we have an anemic and watered-down Christianity that has produced an anemic, watered-down, and spineless Christian who is not willing to stand up and be counted on every issue.

Christianity is not primarily a matter of externals, nevertheless it does find expression in conversation, habits, recreation, emphasis, and ambitions to be noted in our daily life.

The Christian is to take his place in society with moral courage to stand up for that which is right, just, and honorable.

Christianity has become so respectable and so conventional that it is now insipid. The salt has lost its flavor.

Jesus said our souls are more valuable than all the rest of the world put together.

[God] knows that an uncontrolled life is an unhappy life, so He puts reins on our wayward souls that they may be directed into the “paths of righteousness.

My home is in Heaven. I’m just traveling through this world.

Until you actually possess true peace with God, no one can describe its wonders to you.

Most people yearn for one thing more than anything else: inner peace. Without it they have no lasting happiness or security.

I know where I’ve come from. I know why I’m here. I know where I’m going—and I have peace in my heart. His peace floods my heart and overwhelms my soul!

Your future does not hinge on the world situation, however grim it might become. It depends on what happened 2,000 years ago at the cross and your acceptance or rejection of the Prince of Peace.

For the Christian, peace is not simply the absence of conflict, or any other artificial state the world has to offer. Rather it is the deep, abiding peace only Jesus Christ brings to the heart.

When everyone does what is right in his own eyes, there is no possibility of order and peace.

Peace with God and the peace of God in a man’s heart and the joy of fellowship with Christ have in themselves a beneficial effect upon the body and mind and will lead to the development and preservation of physical and mental power.

The war that exists between you and God can be over quickly, and the peace treaty is signed in the blood of [God’s] Son Jesus Christ.

Peacemaking is a noble vocation . . . To be a peacemaker, you must know the Peace-Giver.

We’re not going to have peace—permanent peace—until the Prince of Peace comes. And He is coming.

I’m afraid many young people today have very romantic ideas about marriage—ideas that do not necessarily reflect the truth . . .Romantic feelings alone are not enough when the problems and strains come—as they inevitably do.

Too many husbands and wives enter into marriage with the idea that their spouse exists for one purpose: to make them happy.

While God’s will is that every marriage will endure, man’s sin has poisoned many relationships.

Without Ruth’s partnership and encouragement over the years, my own work would have been impossible. We were called by God as a team.

A loving God ordained monogamous marriage and the sanctity of what we call the traditional family.

It’s amazing how we can hurt others, especially those close to us . . .subtle and not-so-subtle ways in which wives belittle husbands and vice versa.

I get many letters every day from people who got married because they wanted their own selfish needs satisfied, and have only later come to realize that this does not work.

Marriage is not a reform school . . .Instead of you reforming [your spouse], [he or she] will instead influence you.

As husband and wife, to have a happy life together, you must have confidence and respect, and you must have substantial agreement in your faith.

The only really sound marriages are those based on mutual respect.

Our culture puts feelings first, but true love isn’t based on feelings. That is why there are so many divorces today. When the early romantic feelings in a marriage do not remain constant . . .many people believe divorce is the answer.

[God] can help you begin to rebuild your marriage and your life if you will let Him rule in your life.

[Ruth’s] disposition is the same all the time—very sweet and very gracious and very charming. When it comes to spiritual things, my wife has had the greatest influence on my ministry.

Every divorce represents a broken dream, a shattered hope, a ruined expectation.

Many people today have discarded the Bible’s clear teaching on sexual relations outside of marriage, simply because they are absorbed only in their own pleasures and desires.

A good marriage is not “made in heaven,” but on earth. Love is a fragile commodity which needs to be cultivated and nourished constantly.

Marriage is God’s invention, not ours! Society didn’t establish it; God did.

Satan’s first appearance in the Bible included an attack on a marriage—trying to divide Adam and Eve. His tactics have not changed. He wants our marriages to flounder and fail, because he knows that few things will discourage us more.

I know of few families today that aren’t touched to some extent by the heartache of divorce, including our own.

A marriage based only on physical attraction or romantic emotions is almost certainly doomed to failure right from the start.

[My wife] is a great student of the Bible. Her life is ruled by the Bible more than any person I’ve ever known. That’s her rule book, her compass.

Young people, look to your Bible when thinking about any matter, including getting married.

I have been asked the question, “Who do you go to for counsel, for spiritual guidance?’ My answer: My wife, Ruth. She is the only one I completely confide in.

When a husband and wife are concerned only about their own individual desires, the stage is set for conflict.

My wife often said that “a good marriage consists of two good forgivers.

Marriage is a holy bond because it permits two people to help each other work out their spiritual destinies. God declared marriage to be good.

Nothing brings more joy than a good marriage, and nothing brings more misery than a bad marriage.

Thousands of young couples go through with a loveless marriage because no one ever told them what genuine love is. If people today knew that kind of love, the divorce rate would be sharply reduced.

The perfect marriage is a uniting of three persons—a man and a woman and God. That is what makes marriage holy.

The secret of domestic happiness is to let God, the party of the third part in the marriage contract, have His rightful place in the home. Make peace with Him and then you can be a real peacemaker in the home.

If young people could only realize that a happy marriage depends not only on the present, but upon the past, they would be more reluctant to enter into loose, intimate relations with anyone and everyone.

Pleasure depends on circumstances, but Christian joy is completely independent of health, money, or surroundings.

There is nothing wrong with men possessing riches. The wrong comes when riches possess men.

God does not need our money. He owns everything, including “our” money. What He wants [us] to discover is where our central focus of worship lies. Is that focus on God or our money?

Materialism and self-centeredness are the great vices of our age.

We are only stewards of the world’s resources. They are not ours; they are God’s. When we find our security in Him, we can then give generously from what He has entrusted to us. This is our Christian duty.

We can possess nothing—no property and no person . . . It is God who owns everything, and we are but stewards of His property during the brief time we are on earth.

Can people tell from the emphasis we attach to material things whether we have set our affection on things above, or whether we are primarily attached to this world?

Many young people are building their lives on the rock of materialism. I find across the country a deep economic discontent among people in every walk of life.

Tell me what you think about money, and I will tell you what you think about God, for these two are closely related. A man’s heart is closer to his wallet than anything else.

Money represents your time, your energy, your talents, your total personality converted into currency. We usually hold on to it tenaciously, yet it is uncertain in value and we cannot take it into the next world.

The Bible warns that money cannot buy happiness! Money cannot buy true pleasure. Money cannot buy peace of heart. And money certainly cannot buy entrance into the kingdom of God.

We have tried to enthrone the false gods of money, fame, and human intelligence; but however we try, the end is always the same: “It is appointed unto men once to die” [Hebrews 9:27 KJV].

The Internal Revenue Service wants a record of how you spend your money, but that is nothing compared to the books God is keeping.

Covetousness puts money above manhood. It shackles its devotee and makes him its victim. It hardens the heart and deadens the noble impulses and destroys the vital qualities of life.

If we allow our Christian faith to be adulterated with materialism, watered down by secularism, and intermingled with a bland humanism, we cannot stand up to a system that has vowed to bury us.

Part of our problem with debt is that we have confused needs with wants. Yesterday’s luxuries are today’s necessities.

There are two ways of being rich—have a lot, or want very little. The latter way is the easier for most.

There are those who have made their fortunes on other people’s misfortune. The Bible never promised that life would be fair.

Christ . . . didn’t come to treat symptoms. He came to get at the very heart of man’s disease.

I am convinced that when a man sincerely searches for God with all his heart, God will reveal Himself in some way.

Reading the Bible has a purifying effect upon the heart and mind. As you read, the Holy Spirit will enlighten the passages for you.

A true messenger lives a burdened life. If he is the Lord’s vessel, he carries in his heart a burden for souls none can share but those who know it firsthand.

The heart of man, though small, is big enough for Christ to live in, if man will only make room for Him.

Two conflicting forces cannot exist in one human heart. When doubt reigns, faith cannot abide. Where hatred rules, love is crowded out. Where selfishness rules, there love cannot dwell.

Man himself is helpless to detach himself from the gnawing guilt of a heart weighed down with the guilt of sin. But where man has failed, God has succeeded.

Don’t ever hesitate to take to [God] whatever is on your heart. He already knows it anyway, but He doesn’t want you to bear its pain or celebrate its joy alone.

It is possible through sin to harden our hearts against God so long that we lose all desire for God. The Scripture says: “God also gave them up” [Romans 1:24 KJV].

The heart symbolizes the center of our moral, spiritual, and intellectual life. It is the seat of our conscience and life.

Understanding the consequence of sin and arrogance should motivate every Christian to pray for repentance and revival.

The Bible does not teach that sin is completely eradicated from the Christian in this life, but it does teach that sin shall no longer reign over you.

When the Christian or the church becomes popular with the unbelieving world, something is seriously wrong. Because Christ runs counter to evil and because we are Christ-owned, we must also stand against evil.

One result of family failure has been the loss of dignity. No better example can be found than in the use of language. [Language has been reduced to] a four-letter word in movies, on television, in comedy routines, and in real life.

When the family is destroyed, society eventually disintegrates.

More friction and tensions are caused in a family by tone of voice than for any other one reason.

Many times it takes just one member of a family to initiate the action to bring a family back together again.

Your own family circle knows whether Christ lives in you and through you.

We need to place God at the center of our family . . . As a family, we need to walk with God daily.

No subject is closer to my heart than the family . . . The moral foundation of our country is in danger of crumbling as families break up and parents neglect their responsibilities.

A Christian has tremendous responsibilities to his own family. He or she has a responsibility of loving each member of the family.

If people stumble, we help them get back on their feet; if they veer off course, we urge them back. On this journey we are all brothers and sisters in the same family—the family of God.

It is only the strong Christian family unit that can survive the coming world holocaust.

Rebellion, waywardness, lack of discipline, confusion, and conflict prevent happy relationships within the home. But God is interested in your family, your marriage, your children. He shows us the ideals and the goals for the family.

God knew that children grow and mature best in a stable, loving family, and this was one reason He gave marriage to us.

We have exchanged love of family and home for cyberfriends and living in constant motion that robs the soul from memories—and perhaps from that still, small voice that longs to be heard.

Not only does God give us a new relationship with Himself and make us citizens of His kingdom, but He also gives us a new family—the family of God.

Amazing things can happen when the family of God bands together.

Repent means to renounce sin . . .and by God’s grace to fill my mind with things that honor Him.

What does repentance mean? It means to change—to change your mind, change the way that you’re living—and to determine that with God’s help you will live for Christ.

I have found in my travels that those who keep heaven in view remain serene and cheerful in the darkest day. Forward-looking Christians remain optimistic and joyful, knowing that Christ someday will rule.

No matter what the climate is, what the troubles are, what the difficulties are, there is joy for the child of God, because joy is produced supernaturally by the Holy Spirit in us.

Without Him our daily routine would become tiresome and tedious, a drudgery rather than a joy.

Only the forward-looking Christian remains sincerely optimistic and joyful, knowing that Christ will win in the end.

Without dark clouds in our lives we would never know the joy of sunshine. We can become callous and unteachable if we do not learn from pain.

The ability to rejoice in any situation is a sign of spiritual maturity.

Pleasures are the things that appeal to our flesh and to our lust. But joy is something else. Joy runs deep.

We have to be tuned to God. We will never be free from discouragement and despondency until we know and walk with the very fountainhead of joy.

By the 1960s the United States had a new ruling class—the teenager!

To injure, ignore, disrespect, and violate the innocence of a child are among the greatest evils known to man.

Truth is easier for a child to handle than evasiveness.

Before the seventeenth century, a child passed directly into the adult world between the ages of five and seven . . . then came the industrial revolution . . .so the child-centered home was born.

Someday your children will leave; you can’t hold on to them or control them forever, nor should you.

Children must be taught obedience just as much as they need to be taught to read and write.

Parents need much wisdom in relating to their grown children—and much prayer. Children likewise have much to learn about relating to their parents as the years pass.

It may shock some parents to learn that we don’t own our children. God has given them to us in trust . . . however, God may transfer our children to His home at any time.

I missed the joy of seeing our children grow and change. I thank God for watching over them during those years.

Our lives speak loudly to those around us, especially the children in our home.

One of life’s mysteries is why two children growing up in the same home sometimes take radically different paths—one following Christ, the other rebellious and scornful. Yet it happens.

God gave us our children so we could prepare them to become adults.

Ruth once wrote, “Dear Journal, Never let a single day pass without saying an encouraging word to each child . . .‘More people fail for lack of encouragement,’ someone wrote, ‘than for any other reason.

Children will learn far more by watching than by just listening.

One of the worst things we can do is allow our children to grow up thinking they don’t need to keep any rules. A spoiled child becomes a spoiled adult.

Love your children—and let them know you love them. Children who experience love find it far easier to believe God loves them.

There is always the exceptional child, but the average tells us that the child is largely what the home has made him.

Children respect discipline. They want to be guided. It gives them a sense of belonging, a sense of security.

If our children grow up with no understanding of right and wrong . . .no desire to live with integrity . . . no faith in God . . .their souls will be impoverished and they will miss life’s highest good.

Children do need the guidance of their parents, and we guide them more by the example we set than by any other way. We need to be firm and sane and fair and consistent—and, above all, we need to discipline in a spirit of love.

In a decadent society the will to believe, to resist, to contend, to fight, to struggle is gone. In place of this will to resist, there is the desire to conform, to drift, to follow, to yield, and not give up.

The world does need changing, society needs changing, the nation needs changing, but we never will change it until we ourselves are changed.

The same conditions that prevailed in Rome prevail in our society. Before Rome fell, her standards were abandoned, the family disintegrated, divorce prevailed, immorality was rampant, and faith was at a low ebb.

Sickness is deep within the soul of our society—and that has always been God’s exclusive territory.

The focus on self has led our society into a fascination with pleasure, emotional and sexual stimulation, and “personal fulfillment.” America’s compulsion for “maximum personhood” is evidenced everywhere.

Are you disappointed with society? If you are,I challenge you to take the first step. I challenge you to look at yourself.

Tears shed for self are tears of weakness, but tears shed for others are a sign of strength.

Our ministries are strengthened, sometimes more than we realize, by our devotional life.

We must learn to let the Word of God feed us and strengthen us in our faith in God its author, Christ its message, and the Holy Spirit its teacher.

We shouldn’t think about ourselves and how weak we are. Instead, we should think about God and how strong He is.

God will give us the strength and resources we need to live through any situation in life that He ordains.

God takes the weak and makes them strong. He takes the vile and makes them clean. He takes the worthless and makes them worthwhile. He takes the sinful and makes them sinless.

God is in control. He may not take away trials or make detours for us, but He strengthens us through them.

Grief can kill a person emotionally and physically. If not counteracted with God’s strength and power, our personal weakness may debilitate us.

A muscle becomes weak if it is not used. To become strong, a muscle must push against something.

Why do we need to pray? Because the Christian life is a journey, and we need God’s strength and guidance along the way.

God welcomes our prayers. He is much more concerned about our hearts than our eloquence.

A friend of mine defines prayer as “a declaration of dependence.

Ask God to give you a greater hunger for Himself and a deeper desire for His fellowship. Then be honest about whatever is keeping you from prayer, and ask God to help you deal with it.

Pray because Christ died to give us access to the Father. Pray because God is worthy of our praise. Pray because we need His forgiveness, cleansing, guidance, and protection. Pray because others need our prayers.

Nothing can replace a daily time spent alone with God in prayer. We can also be in an attitude of prayer throughout the day—sitting in a car or at our desks, working in the kitchen, even talking with someone on the phone.

Prayer is speaking to God— but sometimes He uses our times of prayerful silence to speak to us in return.

Be sure that your motive in praying is to glorify God.

Jesus demonstrated the importance of prayer by His own example. His whole ministry was saturated with prayer.

We have not yet learned that we are more powerful on our knees than behind the most powerful weapons that can be developed.

A life taught in the Scriptures, and tuned in to God in prayer, produces an outflowing of grace and power.

God urges us to bring our concerns to Him—not just petitions about our own needs, but also intercessions for others. [The apostle] Paul said . . . “Brothers, pray for us” [1 Thessalonians 5:25 NIV].

Often, we try to tell God what we want Him to do—but ask Him to help you guard against this, and to seek His will instead of your own. Pray and ask God to guide you.

[God] says to pray for our enemies. How many of us have ever spent time praying for our enemies?

Prayer is the most powerful weapon we have in our spiritual arsenal to stand against the world’s greatest enemy, the one who presents himself as an angel of light [2 Corinthians 11:14].

The best way to pray is to open the Bible and pray Scripture back to the Lord, claiming His promises and asking that He strengthen and guide [us] in obeying His Word.

Prayer shouldn’t be a burden but a privilege—God wants our fellowship.

I listened to a discussion of religious leaders on how to communicate the Gospel. Not once did I hear them mention prayer. And yet I know of scores of churches that win many converts each year by prayer alone.

Prayer by itself is like a diet without protein! Prayer is important to our spiritual growth— but of even greater importance is God’s Word, the Bible.

Long after you and I are gone, God will still be at work—and many of the things we prayed for will finally come to pass.

That “the Spirit Himself intercedes” indicates that it is actually God pleading, praying, and mourning through us.

Nothing will drive us to our knees quicker than trouble.

Prayer is not just asking. It is listening for God’s orders.

It is not the posture of the body, but the attitude of the heart that counts when we pray . . . The important thing is not the position of the body but the condition of the soul.

Our prayers must be in accordance with [God’s] will. He knows better what is good for us than we know ourselves.

The Book of Psalms is the Bible’s hymnbook. It will show you what it means to walk with God in prayer and praise.

If [Jesus] felt that He had to pray, how much more do we need to pray!

As I close my eyes in prayer, let me see the faces of those who need to know You, beloved Savior.

Whether prayer changes our situation or not, one thing is certain: Prayer will change us!

Prayer is more than a plea, it is a place where we must spend time if we are to learn its power.

This should be the motto of every follower of Jesus Christ. Never stop praying no matter now dark and hopeless it may seem.

Our prayers must be in accordance with the will of God for the simple reason that God knows better what is good for us than we know ourselves.

At its deepest level, prayer is fellowship with God: enjoying His company, waiting upon His will, thanking Him for His mercies . . . listening in the silence for what He has to say to us.

Pray frequently as you read [the Bible] and you will discover a fellowship with God.

I believe we should pray that God will take possession of our lives totally and completely. We should pray that we will be emptied of self— self-love, self-will, self-ambition—and be placed completely at His disposal.

To the Son of God prayer was more important than the assembling of great throngs . . . He often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed [Luke 5:15–16].

The reason many . . . close their eyes while praying is to shut out the affairs of the world so that their minds can be completely concentrated on God . . . it certainly lends itself to the attitude of prayer.

If we are to have our prayers answered, we must give God the glory.

Prayer and Bible study are inseparably linked. Effective prayer is born out of the prompting of God’s Spirit as we read His Word.

Too often we use petty little petitions, oratorical exercises, or the words of others rather than the cries of our inmost being. When you pray, pray!

Those you know the least may need your prayers the most. Don’t let the fact that you don’t know someone keep you from praying for them.

No matter how dark and hopeless a situation might seem, never stop praying.

[Jesus] had only three years of public ministry, but He was never too hurried to spend hours in prayer . . . No day began or closed in which He was not in communion with His Father.

We must repent of our prayerlessness. We must make prayer our priority. Even our churches today have gotten away from prayer meetings.

You cannot pray for someone and hate them at the same time.

Prayer is for every moment of our lives, not just for times of suffering or joy. Prayer is really a place, a place where you meet God in genuine conversation.

Sometimes I’m asked to list the most important steps in preparing for an evangelistic mission, and my reply is always the same: prayer . . . prayer . . . prayer.

Prayers have no boundaries. They can leap miles and continents and be translated instantly into any language.

True prayer is a way of life, not just for use in cases of emergency. Make it a habit, and when the need arises you will be in practice.

Persecution, whether it is physical, social, or mental, is one of the worst types of pain, but those who persecute us are to be the objects of our prayers.

Prayer is powerful, but if our prayers are aimless, meaningless, and mingled with doubt, they will be of little hope to us.

Prayer should not be merely an act, but an attitude of life.

[Jesus] prayed briefly when He was in a crowd; He prayed a little longer when He was with His disciples; and He prayed all night when He was alone. Today, many in the ministry tend to reverse that process.

We should not pray for God to be on our side, but pray that we may be on God’s side.

If we are to depend on prayer during tough times, we should be people of prayer before the crisis hits.

Have you ever said, “Well, all we can do now is pray”? . . . When we come to the end of ourselves, we come to the beginning of God.

No matter where we are, God is as close as a prayer. He is our support and our strength. He will help us make our way up again from whatever depths we have fallen.

The most eloquent prayer is often prayed through hands that heal and bless.

When we know Him, we can be sure God hears our prayers.

When troubles come may prayer be your automatic response.

We can change the course of events if we go to our knees in believing prayer.

Someone has said, “Prayer is the highest use to which speech can be put.

Prayer is key to our effort to communicate the Gospel and win men and women to Christ.

Heaven is full of answers to prayer for which no one ever bothered to ask!

I have never met anyone who spent time in daily prayer, and in the study of the Word of God, and was strong in faith, who was ever discouraged for very long.

If there are any tears shed in heaven, they will be over the fact that we prayed so little.

In the morning, prayer is the key that opens to usthe treasures of God’s mercies and blessings; in the evening, it is the key that shuts us up under His protection and safeguard.

We cannot ask forgiveness over and over again for our sins, and then return to our sins, expecting God to forgive us. We must turn from our practice of sin as best we know how, and turn to Christ by faith as our Lord and Savior.

Christ can take the most sin-laden, selfish, evil person and bring forgiveness and new life.

Forgiveness is one of the most beautiful words in the human vocabulary. How much pain and unhappy consequences could be avoided if we all learned the meaning of this word!

When God forgives us and purifies us of our sin, He also forgets it. Forgiveness results in God dropping the charges against us.

Before asking God’s forgiveness there is something important you must do. You must repent, that is, turn from the behavior and lifestyle that [leads to sin].

When God forgives, there is an immediate andcomplete change in relationship. Instead of hostility, there is love and acceptance. Instead of enmity, there is friendship.

Repent when you fail, and immediately seek God’s forgiveness and restoration. Sin breaks our fellowship with God.

Guilt is not all bad. Without it there is nothing to drive a person toward self-examination and toward God for forgiveness.

In one bold stroke, forgiveness obliterates the past and permits us to enter the land of new beginnings.

Forgiveness does not come easily to us, especially when someone we have trusted betrays our trust. And yet if we do not learn to forgive, we will discover that we can never really rebuild trust.

God’s forgiveness is not just a casual statement; it is the complete blotting out of all dirt and degradation of our past, present, and future.

The only sin God cannot forgive is the sin of rejecting Christ. Turn to Him in repentance and faith—and He will forgive.

Truly, the world is in need of moral leadership . . .that teaches the difference between right and wrong and teaches us to forgive one another even as we are forgiven by our Father in heaven.

We make a mockery of God’s forgiveness when we deliberately engage in sin because we think He will forgive it later.

If there is something we need more than anything else during grief, it is a friend who stands with us, who doesn’t leave us. Jesus is that friend.

Often it takes that “knife in our heart” to drive us to Him. Our faith, our very lives, depend on God, and when we enter the valley of grief, we need His help or we will never climb another mountain.

When we grieve over someone who has died in Christ, we are sorrowing not for them but for ourselves. Our grief isn’t a sign of weak faith, but of great love.

Grief turns us inward, but compassion turns us outward, and that’s what we need when grief threatens to crush us. The Bible says, “Carry each other’s burdens” [Galatians 6:2 NIV].

Grief which is not dealt with properly can cause us to lose our perspective on life.

Grief comes with many losses. Whatever its cause, grief will come to all of us.

The facade of grief may be indifference, preoccupation, anger, cheerfulness, or any variety of emotions. But if we try to understand it, we may learn how to cope with it.

Our imaginations are so stilted. The very thought of being like Jesus is breathtaking.

God gives us a glimpse of what heaven will be like for the believer. It will have the characteristics of a happy home, a holy city, a glorious garden, and a beautiful bride. This staggers the imagination!

God is concerned with our imaginations, for they in a large measure determine what kind of persons we are to be.

Jesus invited us not to a picnic, but to a pilgrimage; not to a frolic, but to a fight. He offered us not an excursion, but an execution.

Never has there been a time when men tried so desperately to have fun as they do today.

We have arrived at the point where we are flippant about God. We tell jokes about Him. God’s name is used so often in profanity in the entertainment world that sometimes it is embarrassing to watch television.

A Roman soldier . . . thrust a spear into Jesus’ side and out came blood and water. Physicians say that a mixture of blood and water indicates that Jesus died of a broken heart. He poured out the last ounce of His blood to redeem us.

We should be about our Father’s business by pouring His compassionate love into aching and parched souls that have nowhere to turn, no one to love, and no one to care. Let them see Jesus in us. That is a living testimony.

What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is calledthe Christ?” (Matthew 27:22 NIV). This is the most important question that has ever been asked. It is also the question you must ask yourself.

Sin diverts some. Pleasure diverts others. Social service and “religious” activity divert others. We are told to be occupied with Jesus Christ Himself.

Jesus knows the intentions of our hearts and what we do in secret.

I trust Jesus with all my tomorrows, knowing that He will solve the mystery of life beyond the grave.

The word repentance is sadly missing today from the average pulpit. It is a very unpopular word. The first sermon Jesus ever preached was “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” [Matthew 4:17 kjv].

Jesus made everything so simple and we have made it so complicated. He spoke to the people in short sentences and everyday words, illustrating His messages with never-to-be forgotten stories.

Not everyone Jesus tried to turn back from the brink of destruction responded—nor will they with us.

Though [Jesus’] words were profound, they were plain. His words were weighty, yet they shone with a luster and simplicity of statement that staggered His enemies.

The kind of society we live in can contribute to loneliness. Mobility and constant change tend to make some individuals feel rootless and disconnected.

I am never lonely when I am praying, for this brings me into companionship with the greatest friend of all—Jesus Christ. He said, “I call you not servants; . . . but . . . friends” [John 15:15 KJV].

There are thousands of lonely people who carry heavy and difficult burdens of grief, anxiety, pain, and disappointment; but the loneliest of all is one whose life is steeped in sin.

With Christ as your Savior and constant Companion, you, although alone, need never be lonely.

I am never lonely when I am reading the Bible. Nothing dissolves loneliness like a session with God’s Word.

I am never lonely when I am sharing [Christ] with others. There is a great exhilaration in talking to others about [Him].

Loneliness is no respecter of persons. It invades the palace as well as the hut.

A suffering person does not need a lecture—he needs a listener.

[The Lord] does go with us through our sufferings, and He awaits us as we emerge on the other side of the tunnel of testing—into the light of His glorious presence to live with Him forever!

In His thirty-three years on earth, Jesus suffered with man; on the cross He suffered for man.

We enjoy the sense of God’s presence in the midst of suffering here and now. I have talked to people who are experiencing deep pain or severe difficulties, and they have said, “I feel God is so close to me.

Jesus suffered more than any other person in human history.

The book of Job does not set out to answer the problem of suffering, but to proclaim a God so great that no answer is needed.

I believe one reason that God allows poverty and suffering is so that His followers may demonstrate Christ’s love, mercy, and comfort to [others].

Being a Christian does not exempt us from tough training, which may mean suffering. If the training were easy, we would not be prepared for the tough days ahead.

May we store up the truths of God’s Word in our hearts as much as possible, so that we are prepared for whatever suffering we are called upon to endure.

We can react with bitterness and hate God, as some do, or we can accept suffering as a natural part of life and a condition that comes with living in this world. We cannot avoid suffering, but we can determine our response to it.

True faith and suffering frequently go hand-in-hand . . .Living for Christ, walking in His way, will not be an easy path.

The Bible and the history of the church both demonstrate that God’s way for the suffering of His people has not always been the way of escape, but the way of endurance.

God has prescribed the remedy for the spiritual sickness of the human race. The solution is personal faith and commitment to Jesus Christ . . .if we deliberately refuse it, we must suffer the horrible consequences.

In my years of global travels, I have seen a world in pain . . . Without God’s guidance, our response to suffering is a futile attempt to find solutions to conditions that cannot be solved.

The Bible teaches that we are to be patient in suffering. Tears become telescopes to heaven, bringing eternity a little closer.

Tens of thousands of God’s saints and sufferers through the ages have found their dark nights lightened and tortured souls strengthened because they found help from the Spirit in the Word of God.

Our sufferings may be hard to bear, but they teach us lessons which, in turn, equip and enable us to help others.

The most remarkable thing about suffering is that God can use it for our good.

Can the sin of one or a few cause suffering for many? The answer, of course, is yes, for no sin is isolated in the life of the sinner. It spreads like poison gas into every available crevice.

God is not blind. He knows about you and your problems. He knows of those who are suffering . . . and His love for His children will never leave in times of trouble.

When suffering comes, learn to trust each day into God’s hands . . . let your lips be filled with prayer and praise.

We need to encourage new believers to feed on God’s Word—it is nourishment for the soul.

Make it your goal to build strong foundations for your life—foundations constructed from prayer and the truths of God’s Word.

Why are our inner lives so important? One reason is because our thoughts determine our actions.

Jesus Christ said the gate that leads to destruction is wide and the way is broad, but the gate which leads to life is straight and the way narrow.

You can’t change the past. But with God’s help you can change the future. No matter what your life has been like so far, God wants to put your feet on a new path . . . a better path . . . His path.

[We] are not here by chance or by accident; God put us on this journey called life. We came from Him, and our greatest joy will come from giving ourselves back to Him and learning to walk with Him every day until we return to Him.

Some day our journey through this life will be over and we will embark on another journey—one that will last forever.

If we don’t know who we are, we’ll never know how we ought to live.

I am still learning, for the Christian life is one of constant growth.

Do others see something of Christ in your life? Do they see a “family resemblance” to Him by the way you live?

God’s goal isn’t just to remove the bad things in our lives; He wants to replace them with good things. His plan is to remake us from within, by His Holy Spirit.

The Christian life isn’t a playground but a battlefield.

When I received Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, I found the secret of life!

We need to know what the Bible teaches about right and wrong. Every day we are battered by messages—from the media, advertising, entertainment, celebrities, even our friends—with one underlying theme: “Live for yourself.

Sometimes we face “gray areas,” things that aren’t necessarily forbidden by the Bible but still may not belong in our lives.

Sin, like a deadly cancer, has invaded every area of our lives: our bodies, our minds, our emotions, our wills—everything.

Life [can] become unbalanced, and in the process God gets pushed to the fringes. Instead of staying at the center of our lives, Christ gradually gets relegated to the shadows. Don’t let this happen to you!

Because of the brevity of life, the Bible warns that we should be prepared to meet God at all times.

Mark my word, the day is coming when it’s going to cost to live for Jesus Christ. We are, more and more, a minority, and that’s exactly what it was like in the first century.

I’ve known the thrill of winning a tough ball game and of winning a golf match on the last hole. But to me the biggest thrill is to win the big one—the spiritual battle of life.

The light of God’s presence in our lives is a purifying flame that will draw us near to Him.

Only by a life of obedience to the voice of the Spirit, by a daily denying of self, by full dedication to Christ, and by constant fellowship with Him are we enabled to live a godly life and an influential life in this present ungodly world.

The legacy we leave is not just in our possessions, but in the quality of our lives.

I could recall countless illustrations of men and women who have encountered Jesus Christ . . .Their whole lives have been transformed.

No matter how advanced its progress, any generation that neglects its spiritual and moral life is going to disintegrate.

Instead of giving God His rightful place at the center of our lives, we have substituted the “god” of Self. Only Christ can change our hearts—and through us begin to change our world.

Walk into any bookstore and you’ll find hundreds of books telling you how to live. Don’t be misled, and don’t be deceived. Instead, build your life on the truth God has given us in His Word.

Though cultures differ and times change, the Word of our God stands forever as an unchanging source of answers to all of life’s problems.

Don’t waste your life on things that have no eternal value.

A life without God is like a boat without an anchor.

One of the most important things God wants to teach us from the Old Testament is how not to live.

Ask God to reveal hypocrisy in your life—an inconsistency between what you profess and what you practice. Then ask God to bring you so close to Christ that you won’t have any desire to live an inconsistent, deceitful life.

I believe this is one of the tests of the Spirit-filled life. Is Christ becoming more and more evident in my life? Are people seeing more of Him, and less of me?

The way we live often speaks far louder than our words.

The Bible has much to say about the brevity of life and the necessity of preparing for eternity. I am convinced that only when a man is prepared to die is he also prepared to live.

If anything has been accomplished through my life, it has been solely God’s doing, not mine, and He—not I—must get the credit.

We must learn to live triumphantly amid the traumas and pressures we face daily.

As life hits us head-on we can respond with resentment, resignation, acceptance, or welcome. We are the living examples of our responses.

Because God is the giver and source of our life, He has a legitimate claim upon our lives.

We are to be catch basins for the fullness of God. Like a freshly running spring, we are to overflow and let our lives touch the lives of those around us.

Life is a glorious opportunity if it is used to condition us for eternity.

The Bible teaches that life does not end at the cemetery. There is a future life.

Don’t be a prude, or snobbish, but let your life “glow” for Christ. We are lamps shining in the darkness.

God’s Word is not a book of human ideas . . . it is given to us by [God] to teach us how to live.

Life is sacred and given to us by God; for that reason we must never condone the deliberate, unnatural taking of life.

Sometimes life touches one person with a bouquet and another with a thorn bush, But the first may find a wasp in the flowers, and the second may discover roses among the thorns.

Many people have just enough natural religion to make them immune to the real thing.

Idolatrous beliefs have eroded the foundations of truth. Whether ancient or modern, all have posed alternatives to the biblical way of approaching God.

Men and women may devise plans to satisfy their inner longings, but in the midst of all the “religions” of the world, God’s way is available in the Bible for all who will come to Him on His terms.

Today . . . when Satan worship is increasing at an alarming rate, we had better be aware of him, his origin, his aims, his abilities, and his limitations.

Many evidences and arguments suggest God’s existence, yet the plain truth is that God cannot be proved by intellectual arguments alone. If the human mind could fully prove God, He would be no greater than the mind that proves Him!

The Bible differentiates clearly between true faith and mere religiosity.

Many Christian leaders are willing to give up some of the teachings of the Bible in order to harmonize Christianity with the other religions.

Jesus tells us not to be misled by the voices of strangers. There are so many strange voices being heard in the religious world of our day. We must compare what they say with the Word of God.

Satan has slaughtered, plundered, and bludgeoned his way through the centuries, manifesting himself in every false ideology, sect, and cult.

We want to be relevant . . . However, the more relevant we become to a sin-dominated world, the more irrelevant we actually are to God.

There is a strong movement, especially in Protestantism, to recast the Christian message in order to make it acceptable to modern man.

All false religions cut away parts of God’s revelation, add ideas of their own, and come out with various viewpoints that differ from God’s revelation in the Bible.

In this age of humanism, man is seduced by society with the lie that he can become his own god . . . the New Age movement is polluted with self and it will never bow before God—at least not until Christ returns.

Modern Western culture has become a mixture of paganism and Christianity. We are a blend of both. We talk of God, but we often act as though we are atheists.

New Agers are terrified of their own mortality, and they want to believe that somehow the soul will survive. Of course it will, but not as they imagine.

Man has naturally and universally a capacity for religion—and not only a capacity, for the vast majority of the human race practices or professes some form of religion.

I am convinced that hundreds of religious leaders throughout the world today are servants not of God, but of the Antichrist. They are wolves in sheep’s clothing; they are tares instead of wheat.

Every journey has a starting point . . . and it has an end. God meant for [life] to be filled with joy and purpose. He invites us to . . . take the rest of our journey with Him.

There comes a moment when we all must realize that life is short, and in the end the only thing that really counts is not how others see us, but how God sees us.

Nothing could be more wrong than the old cliché that says any religion will do just as long as one is sincere. In no other area of life is there so much error, deception, and charlatanism as in religion.

The one who made the Ford knew how to make it run. God made you and me, and He alone knows how to run your life and mine. We could make a complete wreck of our lives without Christ.

Sometimes we get a little tired of the burdens of life, but it is exhilarating to know that Jesus Christ will meet us at the end of life’s journey.

End your journey well. Don’t waste your life, and don’t be satisfied with anything less than God’s plan.

Many a life has come forth from the furnace of affliction more beautiful and more useful than before.

You can have religion but not know Christ. It’s having Christ that counts.

People of the West have various forms of democracy based on a belief in God as well as on a general acceptance of moral law. However, in practice we are beginning to resemble the Marxists, who have little respect for moral law or religion.

Hundreds of philosophies and scores of religions have been invented to circumvent the Word of God. Modern philosophers and psychologists are still trying to make it appear that there is some way out other than the path of Jesus.

Astrology can never give you the answers to life’s deepest questions—especially where you will spend eternity. Commit your life to Christ. It will give you joyous confidence that your future is securely in His hands—tomorrow and forever.

Students today want to know about the devil, about witchcraft, about the occult. Many people do not know they are turning to Satan. They are being deluded.

Religion can be anything! But true Christianity is God coming to man in a personal relationship.

Man suppresses the truth, mixes it with error, and develops the religions of the world.

Only God knows the future and that we are to look to Him—not to the stars or the tea leaves or the lines on the palms of our hands—for our confidence in the future.

Some Christian leaders . . . are willing to give up some of the teachings of the Bible in order to harmonize Christianity with the other religions.

Something distinguishes Christianity from all the religions of the world. Not only does it carry the truth of the redemption, by the death of our Savior for our sins on the cross, but it carries the fact that Christ rose again.

In order to compete with God for the dominion of the world, Satan, whom Christ called “the prince of this world,” was forced to go into the “religion” business.

We live in an upside-down world, in which people hate what they should love and love what they should hate.

We’re heading for a world showdown, a worldwide confrontation. If we think we can solve our problems without God, then we’re living in a fool’s paradise.

We have a mandate to speak out against “the sin that so easily entangles” [Hebrews 12:1 NIV]; for though we are not of the world, we are still in it.

The world I once knew as a boy has changed dramatically . . . I don’t even recognize the world we live in today.

The world judges the Christian by his life, not by his belief.

The world’s sewage system threatens to contaminate the stream of Christian thought. Satan will contest every hour you spend in Bible reading or prayer.

Our chaotic, confused world has no greater need than to hear the Gospel truth.

The world by its advertisements, its conversation, and its philosophy is engaged in a gigantic brainwashing task . . . The Christian is beset by secular and worldly propaganda.

The world may argue against a creed, but it cannot argue against changed lives.

While we’re looking up to see the rainbow—God’s promises—we’re ignoring floodwaters rising. While we’re looking down to see how close we can get to the edge of the world without being trapped by Satan, we’re taking our eyes off of Christ.

How do we counter the trend of worldliness? We must saturate our minds, hearts, and souls with God’s Word. The Bible says, “Train yourself to be godly” (1 Timothy 4:7).

We are never to do anything of which we are not perfectly clear and certain. If you have a doubt about that particular thing that is bothering you, as to whether it is worldly or not, the best policy is “don’t do it.

I have heard the hollow, shallow laughter of the world. I have heard the genuine laughter of the beaming young Christian. I know there is a difference.

Any Christian whose interest is directed toward himself is worldly.

When we come to Christ, God calls us out of this world’s sin and confusion. But then He sends us back into the world—not to share any longer in its sin and spiritual darkness, but to bear witness to the light of Christ.

Jesus told His disciples that the “world,” meaning the world system, the political and social order organized apart from God, will despise Christians.

It is easy for Christians to allow themselves to be squeezed into the world’s mold . . . When nonbelievers see nothing different in the lifestyle of believers, they wonder if our profession of faith is sincere.

Those who believe [in Christ] are expected to be different from the world . . . they are members of a new society.

Jesus invited us not to a picnic, but to a pilgrimage. He offered us, not an excursion, but an execution. Our Savior said that we would have to be ready to die to self, sin, and the world.

Those who have actually experienced daily fellowship with Christ know that it surpasses all worldly activities.

There are so many professing Christians who are walking hand in hand with the world that you cannot tell the difference between the Christian and the unbeliever. This should never be.

As Christians, we are not to get our worlds mixed up . . . We are not to mingle with the world, but we are to witness to the world.

Do not expect me to fall in with the evil customs and ways of the world. I am in Rome, but I will not do as Rome does. I am an alien, a stranger, and a foreigner. My citizenship is in heaven.

It is only the consecrated, Spirit-filled Christian who can have victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil. It is the Holy Spirit who will do the fighting for you.

When the Christian brings the standards of Jesus Christ to bear upon life in a material and secular world, it is often resented. Because the moral and spiritual demands of Jesus Christ are so high, they often set the Christian “apart.

Worldliness is actually a spirit, an atmosphere, an influence permeating the whole of life and human society, and it needs to be guarded against constantly and strenuously.

In the world in which we live, we give most attention to satisfying the appetites of the body and practically none to the soul . . . We become fat physically and materially, while spiritually we are lean, weak, and anemic.

Our world needs to be touched by Christians who are Spirit-filled, Spirit-led, and Spirit-empowered.

The entire world is in turmoil. We are living in a time of enormous conflict and cultural transformation. We have been stunned by shockwaves of change in nation after nation, all around the globe.

Too many people want to have one foot in the world and one foot in the kingdom of God, and it is like straddling a fence. You are not happy either way. Declare yourself for Christ.

We act as if it doesn’t matter how we live or what we think or say. We have moved in with the world, and we have allowed the world to penetrate the way we live. So the things that we used to call sin no longer seem to be sin to us.

We live in a hostile world that constantly seeks to pull us away from God.

Far too many young people coming of age today have no spiritual or emotional roots. They have been deprived of values by an agnostic and contemporary culture.

Our magazine shelves are filled with crime and sex pulp-magazines that are being read and devoured by millions of young people . . .Scores are seeing each week the trash that Hollywood produces. Truly our children are “movie mad.

Do you know what nearly all the sociologists say today in their study of young people? The greatest problem facing young people today is not sex—it is boredom.

Our youth are desperately searching for purpose and meaning in their lives. They are searching for fulfillment . . . I believe that a return to biblical conversion, faith, and conviction would have a great impact in our day.

I have found that most young people really want us to spell out a moral code. They may not accept it or believe it, but they want to hear it, clearly and without compromise.

In America we have an idolatry called the “adulation of youth.” Apparently distressed by their inability to communicate with the younger generation, many adults simply imitate it.

If we would take the traits that characterized the Pilgrims and make them our own, we could regain hope. We could recover the spiritual and moral strength that we have lost. We could offer a thrilling challenge to our young people.

All young people sin, and sin produces discord, repellent vibrations which rifle the concert of life until the strings are gutless and flat. The kicks soon lead to kickbacks.

[Young people,] dress as attractively as you can. You are an aristocrat, a child of God.

In earlier periods of history, adolescence was virtually unknown . . . Today, the span between childhood and adulthood may extend over ten years. Deferred adulthood is synonymous with deferred responsibility.

Young people are experts on leisure, water skiing, dancing, rock music, rapping, TV watching . . . by and large, chores are a thing of the past.

Wherever the Word of God is hidden or ignored, there will be certain destruction.

Young people are caught up in whatever appears to be the most bizarre. They look for truth and settle for folly. False religions and the occult are clever in reaching seekers who want to experience a rush of any kind.

Don’t rebel, but give God the opportunity to change your life and help you over the problems of youth, for they are many.

Do young people have the moral stamina to carry through in case of economic depression? . . . The real tests of the [younger] generations have not yet come, but they are on their way!

The Bible teaches that there will be a famine of the Word of God in the last days . . . spiritual starvation leads to spiritual death.

Confrontation is the special business of young people. They confront their parents, peers, society, law enforcement officers, and themselves, but primarily they confront God.

What is the most difficult word for young people to pronounce? It’s the word no. When we say no [to what is against God], He will help us to stand by it. He will give us courage.

I am in favor of hanging the Ten Commandments in every schoolroom in the country so young people can know the difference between right and wrong. They don’t know the difference and we’re seeing the evidence of that all around us every day.

It is strange that the world accepts enthusiasm in every realm but the spiritual.

We don’t live in an ideal world, but in a world dominated by sinful, selfish desires.

Worldliness is an inner attitude that puts self at the center of life instead of God.

Too many times we are concerned with how much, instead of how little, like this [world] we can become.

The saddest words I can ever imagine would be to hear the Lord say, “I never knew you. Away from Me” [Matthew 7:23 NIV].

It often takes a tragedy to open our hearts, minds, and wills to the truth of God’s Word.

While those around you are filling their minds with the bad news about man in their daily papers, steep yourself in the good news about God in His precious Word!

Don’t argue with [a professor], but test everything he says in the light of God’s Word.

We need to fortify ourselves with the Word of God.

I look upon it as a lost day when I have not had a good time over the Word of God.

Some, who doubt that the Bible is the true Word of God, doubt it because they are unwilling to ascribe to God anything they cannot themselves achieve.

[God the Spirit] will never lead you contrary to the Word of God. I hear people saying, “The Lord led me to do this . . .” I am always a little suspicious unless what the Lord has said is in keeping with His Word.

Your spiritual life needs food . . . where do you find [this]? In the Bible, the Word of God. The Bible reveals Christ, who is the Bread of Life for your hungry soul, and the Water of Life for your thirsty heart.

God has not promised to bless my thoughts, but He has promised to bless His Word.

Faith grows when it is planted in the fertile soil of God’s Word.

As Christians, we have only one authority, one compass: the Word of God.

Nothing will help us grow spiritually more than spending time alone with God every day, reading His Word and praying. Time alone with God is essential to our spiritual welfare.

The Old Testament may not seem relevant to us today—but it is, because it is part of God’s Holy Word, and He has much to teach us through its pages.

Through the written Word we discover the Living Word—Jesus Christ.

God never leads us to do anything that is contrary to His Word. But the opposite is also true: God always leads us to do everything that is in agreement with His Word.

The Word of God hidden in the heart is a stubborn voice to suppress.

Who can tell us how to get along with each other better than God? Where can we turn for wisdom better than God’s Word, the Bible?

A computer . . . has no worth unless it is programmed . . . The believer has tremendous potential, but that potential cannot be used until he is programmed with the Word of God.

The Spirit of God takes the Word of God and makes the child of God.

When I quote Scripture, I know I am quoting the very Word of God.

Scientific discoveries (not theories) are found more and more to fit into the record God has given us in His Word.

The fact that God is infinite makes the study of His Word a lifetime occupation.

I have never known a man who received Christ and ever regretted it.

The central theme of the universe is the purpose and destiny of every individual. Every person is important in God’s eyes.

In our day many people are broad but shallow. Agnosticism, anxiety, and emptiness have gripped much of our world.

Man is not growing better! Man is not climbing upward. Instead of progress in man himself there is degeneracy—degeneracy of body, mind, and spirit. Man is going downhill.

Success stories may be great motivational material for sales seminars, but we are not always successful.

Time and tide and the ravages of sin take their toll on the most noble achievements of man.

Our job in life is not to be successful, but to be faithful.

This age is interested in success, not suffering . . . Our Lord was ridiculed, insulted, persecuted, and eventually killed. In the face of opposition, He went about “doing good.

Many of the wicked are receiving their wages now. Many Christians who may not be succeeding according to the world’s standards now, will reap great rewards in heaven.

The Western world’s sole objective seems to be success, status, security, self-indulgence, pleasure, and comfort.

Success or failure cannot be measured by any human standard.

God measures people by the small dimensions of humility and not by the bigness of their achievements or the size of their capabilities.

God can take anything that happens to us—even bad things—and use it to shape us and make us into a better, more Christlike person—if we will let Him.

There are three of you. There is the person you think you are. There is the person others think you are. There is the person God knows you are and can be through Christ.

Our personalities, our intelligence, and our capabilities are gifts from [God’s] own bountiful hand. If we divert their use for our own profit, we become guilty of selfishness.

Almost nothing is as complex as the human personality, and no simple formula will ever cover every situation or every relationship.

People are little creatures with big capacities, finite beings with infinite desires, deserving nothing but demanding all. God made people with this huge capacity and desire in order that He might come in and completely satisfy that desire.

A true servant of God is someone who helps another succeed.

I am becoming aware of the truth that people change people as much as ideas change people.The power of personality is strong . . . often personality is greater than the idea.

The Bible says that God sees two classes of men. He sees the saved and the lost, those who are going to heaven and those who are going to hell.

Lying is one of the worst of all sins and can be committed by a thought, word, or deed. Anything that is intended to deceive another person is lying.

Tell me why the gardener trims and prunes his rosebushes, sometimes cutting away productive branches, and I will tell you why God’s people are afflicted. God’s hand never slips.

All around you are people who need Christ: your family, your neighbors, people you work with or go to school with every day. Are you praying for them, asking God to open the door of their hearts to His truth?

Someday all of us will give account of the way we have used the gifts God has given. The person to whom much has been given will find much required of him.

I have never met a person who didn’t have problems of some kind. This is why we need one another’s encouragement.

In our desire to achieve success quickly it is easy to get our values mixed up and call evil good and good evil.

Instead of manipulating [people] for our own purposes, we’d help them achieve what is best for them. We’d also try to see life through their eyes. Treat others the way you would want them to treat you.

If the other person would just do things my way, we could get along,” one says, when the other person is probably thinking the same about us—that leads to conflict. Our deepest problems are within ourselves.

Man boasts of his nobility, his ideals, and his progress. Man’s goal is imitation, not redemption.

Man persists in waywardness. If one institution fails [he says], try another—anything but God’s plan.

Some of the most miserable people I have ever met have been people who are very popular with the public, but down inside are empty and miserable.

Proclaiming “the whole will of God” should be the goal—and the joy—of every church and every preacher.

Our souls have a disease. It causes all the troubles and difficulties in the world. It causes all the troubles, confusions, and disillusionments in your own life. The name of the disease is . . . sin.

We spend all our time and energy pampering our bodies and minds, but if we ignore our souls, we will end up spiritually starved and malnourished.

Take care of your soul—your inner self—by feeding on the Word of God and letting His Spirit transform you from within.

Nothing can calm our souls more or better prepare us for life’s challenges than time spent alone with God.

You should no more allow sinful imaginations to accumulate in your mind and soul than you would let garbage collect in your living room.

Someday your life will be over, no matter how much attention you give to your health. Will you look back with regret, because you nourished your body but starved your soul?

Partial education throughout the world is far worse than none at all if we educate the mind but not the soul.

Unless the soul is fed and exercised daily, it becomes weak and shriveled. It remains discontented, confused, restless.

The Bible teaches that whether we are saved or lost, there is conscious and everlasting existence of the soul and personality.

May we all storm the gates of heaven for the souls of the anguished, that in their greatest time of need they will hear the gentle voice of God’s Spirit calling them to repentance.

Even in the darkest moment, before death snatches man’s last breath, God is willing to save a lost soul.

It is a time for soul-searching, a time to see if our anchor holds.

The soul actually demands as much attention as the body . . . the soul was made for God, and without God it is restless and in secret torment.

The searchlight of [God’s] Spirit will probe the inner depths of your soul and reveal things that you think you have already yielded, but you have not.

The Bible teaches whether we are saved or lost, there is an everlasting existence of the soul.

Hardship is not our choice; but if we face it bravely, it can toughen the fiber of our souls.

Our soul is that part of our being which possesses intelligence, conscience, and memory—the real personality. Your body will die, but your soul lives on. And that soul has a “sixth sense”—the ability to believe, to have faith.

Our souls set us apart from every other living creature, and that makes us unique. It also makes us fully human.

Let [Christ] transform your life so that you will have a glow on your face, a spring in your step, and joy in your soul.

Our world is obsessed with success. But how does God define success? Success in God’s eyes is faithfulness to His calling.

Regardless of our cleverness, our achievements, and our gadgets, we are spiritual paupers without God.

Preach with authority. The authority for us is the Word of God. Preach with simplicity . . . Preach with urgency . . . heaven and hell are at stake. Preach for a decision.

Thousands of pastors, Sunday school teachers, and Christian workers are powerless because they do not make the Word the source of their preaching or teaching.

When I preach—no matter where it is in the world—I can always count on five areas of human need that afflict all peoples. Emptiness, loneliness, guilt, fear of death, deep-seated insecurity.

God’s strength is made perfect in weakness. The weaker I became, the more powerful became the preaching.

Preachers are not salesmen, for they have nothing to sell. They are bearers of Good News.

I’m not a great preacher, and I don’t claim to be a great preacher . . . I’m an ordinary preacher, just communicating the Gospel in the best way I know how.

We preach Christ crucified. The cross is the focal point in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. It was no afterthought or emergency measure with God. Christ was “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” [Revelation 3:8 KJV].

As the people came to a desert place to hear John the Baptist proclaim, “Thus saith the Lord,” so [man] in his confusions, frustrations, and bewilderment will come to hear the minister who preaches with authority.

I preach a Gospel not of despair but of hope for the individual, hope for society, and hope for the world.

I am counting totally and completely on the Lord Jesus Christ, and not on Billy Graham. I am not going to heaven because I’ve read the Bible, nor because I’ve preached to a lot of people. I’m going to heaven because of what Christ did.

Many churches have their eyes on the culture instead of on Christ. Many pastors preach on common unity instead of calling the community to repent.

When we preach or teach the Scriptures, we open the door for the Holy Spirit to do His work. God has not promised to bless oratory or clever preaching. He has promised to bless His Word.

Effective preaching must be biblical preaching, whether it is the exposition of a single word in the Bible, a text, or a chapter. The Word is what the Spirit uses.

Double-mindedness means the faculty of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind and accepting both of them. We talk out of both corners of our mouths at once.

Only God knows when the alarm will sound, ending the work and ministry of evangelism as we have known it.

I’ve never seen such a hunger in people for spiritual things . . .People realize the past is gone, the future is uncertain, and the present seems to be hopeless. As a result, many [in Moscow] were open to God.

I wept more in Korea than in all the past several years put together. These experiences changed my life. I could never be quite the same again . . . I felt sadder, older. I felt as though I had gone in a boy and come out a man.

Nations and civilizations rise, flourish for a time, and then decay. Eventually each comes to an end. This, because of sin, is the decree of history and the way of life on this planet.

Each of us has a tongue and a voice. These instruments of speech can be used destructively or employed constructively.

Some of the most healing words in any language are, “I’m sorry. Will you forgive me?” How much more we need that confession to our Father in heaven.

Our daily conversation when we meet each other, whether it be in the office or on the campus or in the shop, should be concerned with the things of God.

We should say nothing that we would not wish to say in His Presence. We should do nothing that we would not do in His Presence.

You can use your tongue to slander, to gripe, to scold, to nag, and to quarrel; or you can bring it under the control of God’s Spirit and make it an instrument of blessing and praise.

Cursing, telling smutty stories, smearing the good name of another, and referring irreverently to God and the Scriptures may be considered as coming under the expression corrupt speech. Our speech is to be clean, pure, and wholesome.

I have walked down jungle trails in Africa where I met fellow Christians; and immediately we were brothers even though we were separated by language, race, and culture.

We insult God by speaking to Him with our lips while our hearts are far from Him.

The Bible teaches that a man who can control his tongue can control his whole personality.

God speaks to those who are prepared in their hearts to listen. Discern the voice from heaven above the noisy din of earth’s confusion.

Suppose there was no anger, no profanity, no lying, no grumbling or complaining; suppose there were no dirty stories told, no unjust criticism—what a different world this would be!

Pain has many faces . . .the unseen part of man is often the victim of the most debilitating of pains . . . a man can endure excruciating physical pain, and yet he can be felled by one unkind word.

Are you willing to follow [Christ] with a disciplined mind and tongue?

When worry is present, trust cannot crowd its way in.

Our worship must be directed to the One who holds the world in His hands.

The devil’s overriding goal is to block God’s work— and if he can convince you God doesn’t really love you, or that you can’t fully trust Him, then he has blocked God’s work in your life and achieved his goal.

Do your work with honesty and integrity, and don’t compromise God’s moral standards. It may be difficult, but it’s far better to do right than to do wrong. God is with you, and He will not abandon you.

Christians at work in the world are the only real spiritual light in the midst of great spiritual darkness. This places a tremendous responsibility on all of us.

Any work done by a follower of Christ to the glory of God is “gold, silver, precious stones.” But if any follower of Christ works with any self-interest or personal ambition involved, it will be “wood, hay, and stubble” and will be burned.

Worship in the truest sense takes place only when our full attention is on God—on His glory, power, majesty, love and compassion.

Learn to shut out the distractions that keep you from truly worshiping God.

We have come to worship things, status, fame, popularity, money, security. Anything that comes between God and ourselves is idolatry. Jesus demands Lordship over all such things.

Many believe that pagan worship is a thing of the past, but it is ever present—we have just given it a new name: pop culture.

The true child of God will have a hunger for worship and God’s Word.

We are to till the soil and work the land—not worship it.

God is more concerned about the attitude of our hearts than the way we express it. Worship isn’t supposed to be entertainment.

Many people who have lost jobs . . . find that this was God’s way of redirecting their lives.

Jesus used the carefree attitude of the birds to underscore the fact that worrying is unnatural. I am learning in my own life, day by day, to keep my mind centered on Christ.

Often our self-esteem is tied to our work. In our culture, men and women often define themselves by the jobs they hold . . . But a person’s job tells you nothing about a person’s character or value.

Man has always been beset by worry, and the pressures of modern life have aggravated the problem . . . Many . . . are filled with a thousand anxieties. Bring them to Jesus Christ by faith. He will bring peace to your soul and your mind.

Memorizing the Bible is most important. “Thinking God’s thoughts” will take the place of worried, anxious concerns.

Only the Holy Spirit can give us peace in the midst of the storms of restlessness and despair. We should not grieve our Guide by indulging in worry or paying undue attention to self.

Pray for wisdom to deal with whatever is worrying you. Pray that God will act to change the circumstances according to His will. He doesn’t always do what we want Him to—but He knows what’s best for us, and He can be trusted.

Some people spend so much time worrying about what might happen that they never enjoy what is happening [now] . . . Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

Ask God to help you see the world the way He sees it.

One of the great joys of my life has been to travel around the world and meet thousands of Christians in every country.

We must warn the nations of the world that they must repent and turn to God while there is yet time. We must also proclaim that there is forgiveness and peace in knowing Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

I have stood in the places where history was made. I have seen with my own eyes the part that men and women of faith have played in these earthshaking events, and I have heard with my own ears their cries for freedom.

All over the world God is opening doors of opportunity, making it possible for us to take the Gospel to millions who have never heard of Christ.

The greatest tribute a boy can give to his father is to say, “When I grow up, I want to be just like my dad.” It is a convicting responsibility for us fathers and grandfathers.

In searching for ways to bridge the generation gap, there is no doubt that we, as parents, will have to practice what we preach, by striving more to bring our conduct into line with our code of beliefs.

If ever we needed to put the Golden Rule into action, it’s with our aging parents.

Although the testimony of my mother’s life helped mold me and taught me how to live, the testimony of her last years and her death gave me insight into how to die.

What a comfort it was for me to know that no matter where I was in the world, my mother was praying for me.

If God gives you responsibility for aging parents, seek what is best for them, not what is most convenient for you. And keep contact with them!

Only God Himself fully appreciates the influence of a Christian mother in the molding of character in her children.

The influence of a mother upon the lives of her children cannot be measured. They know and absorb her example and attitudes when it comes to questions of honesty, temperance, kindness, and industry.

Many parents preach to their children but do not set good examples. Parents want the children to do as they say, not as they do.

Parenting is the most important responsibility most of us will ever face, and none of us does it perfectly.

My father-in-law . . . was a great inspiration to me both in life and in his preparation for death.

What a blessing it is for parents to believe in their children.

Parents, pray that God may crown your home with grace and mercy.

Jesus worked all His life. But the greatest work that Jesus did was not in the carpenter’s shop . . .His greatest work was achieved in those three dark hours on Calvary . . . dying for us.

Calloused hands were the badge of the pioneer, while furrowed brows are the insignia of modern man.

One of the Christian’s responsibilities in following Christ is to have a new attitude toward work. So many young people want Christ without responsibility . . . whatever work a Christian does . . . he should do his best.

Think of working forever at something you love to do, for [the] one you love with all your heart, and never getting tired! We will never know weariness in heaven.

God did not intend for us to be idle and unproductive. There is dignity in work.

Society has become so obsessed with sex that it seeps from all the pores of our national life.

The word lust [can] mean “selfish desire.” . . .It is wanting something so badly you will do anything to get it. That is one of the tricks of the devil. It is too high a price to pay.

It is a source of encouragement that many homosexuals report being transformed through the power of the Gospel.

God has not changed. His laws have not changed. He is still a God of love and mercy But He is also a God of righteousness and judgment.

God is sending forth His message of love, but you must tune in. You must be willing to listen and to receive His message and then to obey it.

A God of love must be a God of justice. It is because God loves that He is just. His justice balances His love and makes His acts of bothlove and justice meaningful.

God could not consistently love men if He did not provide for the judgment of evildoers.

[The] love of God that reaches to wherever man is, can be entirely rejected. God will not force Himself upon anyone against his will. It is your part to believe. It is your part to receive. Nobody else can do it for you.

God’s love did not begin at the cross. It began in eternity before the world was established, before the time clock of civilization began to move.

It was God’s love which knew that men were incapable of obeying His law, and it was His love which promised a Redeemer, a Savior, who would save His people from their sins.

No one can grasp the love of the God of the universe without knowing His Son.

Speak about the love of God and faces light up, but speak of God as a Judge, and our attitudes change.

There is one thing God’s love cannot do. It cannot forgive the unrepentant sinner.

Our popular music talks constantly about love, and yet divorce rates skyrocket.

God is love” means that He tries constantlyto block your route to destruction.

What relationships need strengthening in your life? Don’t wait for them to grow cold or bitter, but ask God to help you strengthen them by putting God’s love into action—begin today.

[Christians] are commanded to love our neighbors, and the first step in doing this is to show a watching world that Christ reigns within us.

Agape love is selfless love . . . the love God wants us to have isn’t just an emotion but a conscious act of the will—a deliberate decision on our part to put others ahead of ourselves. This is the kind of love God has for us.

Scripture makes it clear that our first love is always to be for our Lord.

When you truly love someone, you want to please and honor them by the way you act. How you treat someone shows whether or not you really care about them.

If we truly love Christ, we will want to please and honor Him by the way we live. Even the thought of hurting Him or bringing disgrace to His name will be abhorrent to us.

True love is an act of the will—a conscious decision to do what is best for the other person instead of ourselves.

An unbelieving world may say otherwise, but so-called “sexual liberation” is actually sexual slavery—slavery to our own lusts.

Pornography is anything that depicts lewdness in such a way as to create impure thoughts and lusts. However, the sewers continue to flow, destroying the moral fabric of our society.

The serious student of the Bible cannot dismiss homosexual behavior simply as an alternate lifestyle. Nor can it be argued that homosexuals were “born this way” or that such behavior is an illness.

The greatest waste in all of our earth is our waste of the time God has given us each day.

Philosophically, war is an extension of man’s struggle with sin and evil in the world.

There is for each man a day, an hour, a minute. The Bible talks in many places about the brevity of life, and the Bible warns that we should be prepared to meet God at all times.

God has given us a message that is not only for past times and this time, but for all time.

Every day has exactly 1,440 minutes; can’t you find even ten of them to be with your heavenly Father? Doesn’t God deserve the best minutes of your day?

God can do more with a few days of your time if given completely to Him, than He can with a whole life characterized by a half-hearted service.

Allow the resurrected Christ to allocate your time as His own . . . and have complete right-of-way throughout your being.

If ever we are to study the Scriptures, if ever we are to spend time in prayer, if ever we are to win souls for Christ, if ever we are to invest our finances for His kingdom—it must be now.

How can men boast that they control their own destiny when they cannot solve the problems of war?

Modern war is the most highly developed of all sciences. We have perfected our weapons but failed to perfect the men who use them.

The Garden of Eden was somewhere in present-day Iraq. The turmoil and war [we are witnessing] in that part of the world . . .is occurring in the land where God established the first perfect civilization.

If the human race would turn from its evil ways and return to God, putting behind its sins of disobedience, idolatry, pride, greed, and belligerence, and all the various aberrations that lead to war, the possibility of peace exists.

Scripture indicates that deception, false religions, and apostasy lead to war, and that war in turn leads to famine and pestilence.

We all have exactly the same number of minutes in a day. The question is, how will we use them? Most people today are either too busy—or not busy enough. The Bible tells us that both extremes are wrong.

War is only one facet of the larger problem of evil which has been with the human race since the beginning . . .This same evil tried to destroy the greatest human being who ever lived, nailing Him to a cross.

What is your story? Be ready to share it when the Lord gives you the opportunity.

Be a good witness by the way you live. The way we live is often more convincing than the words we say.

One faithful witness is worth a thousand mute professors of religion . . . Our faith grows by expression . . . we must share it—we must witness.

We witness in two ways: by life and by word . . . God’s purpose . . , after we have been converted is that we be witnesses to His saving grace and power. We are to be commandoes for Christ. We are to be minute-men for Him.

When brothers and sisters in Christ unite in the common bond of the Word of God and prayer, they are strengthened in their faith and witness.

The Spirit goes ahead of us when we witness— preparing the way, giving us the words, and granting us courage.

The lukewarm Christian can accomplish nothing with a whole life in which to do it. If you have lived for sin and self . . . your witness will have [a] telling effect on all who have known you.

Christians ought to carry written in our hearts the solemn truth of how short is our opportunity to witness for Christ and live for Him.

While separation does not mean disengagement from the world, there are certain activities and places that God clearly wants us to avoid not only to protect ourselves from spiritual harm but so that the witness we have will not be tarnished.

The greatest way to witness is through the life you live. Let the radiance of your Christian life be such that it will make [others] ask questions about your [faith].

I am convinced the greatest act of love we can ever perform for people is to tell them about God’s love for them in Christ.

When Christ’s love fills our hearts, it puts selfishness on the run.

The mystery of God’s love would not be a mystery if we knew all the answers.

I urge new converts to take plenty of time in Bible study and prayer before getting on a public platform to testify.

The unbelieving world should see our testimony lived out daily because it just may point them to the Savior.

We should not let a day go by without thanking God for His mercy and grace to us in Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving is recognition of a debt that cannot be paid. We express thanks, whether or not we are able otherwise to reimburse the giver.

The greatest testimony to this dark world today would be a band of crucified and risen men and women, dead to sin and alive unto God, bearing in their bodies “the marks of the Lord Jesus” [Galatians 6:17 NKJV].

The devil will try to discourage you, to divert you; he will seek to dilute your testimony; he will attempt anything to destroy your relationship to Christ and your influence upon others.

Our creativity, our inner sense of right and wrong, our ability to love and to reason—all bear witness to the fact that God created us in His image. The Bible says God “has not left himself without testimony” [Acts 14:17 NIV].

Subtle persecution may happen to you in your office, school, or social gathering. You may not be “with it,” or be “one of the crowd.” No suffering that the Christian endures for Christ is ever in vain.

We can take persecution because we know the purpose behind it. The purpose is to glorify God.

While Christians in America have worshipped without the fear or threat of physical abuse for their beliefs, thousands of their brothers in Christ throughout the world have been tortured and martyred for confessing the name of Christ.

Persecution may wear an insulting face. Insults may come as a result of a Christian’s lifestyle, which should be different from that of the secular world.

The Bible clearly says that faithfulness and persecution often go hand in hand.

A spirit of thankfulness is one of the most distinctive marks of a Christian whose heart is attuned to the Lord. Thank God in the midst of trials and every persecution.

When thanksgiving is filled with true meaning and is not just the formality of a polite “thank you,” it is the recognition of dependence.

We should not covet or expect the praise of ungodly men . . . the very fact that they are inclined to persecute us is proof that we are “not of the world.

Why should we give God thanks? Because everything we have comes from God.

Grumbling and gratitude are, for the child of God, in conflict. Be grateful and you won’t grumble. Grumble and you won’t be grateful.

As you think about the future . . . give thanks and trust God . . . Even when life may be difficult, we should thank God for all He does for us—which we do not deserve.

It is not just becoming a Christian; it is also being a Christian all the time, 24 hours a day.

We are accountable to [God] for the way we use our time.

Heaven has no clocks or calendars, and time will be no more [Revelation 10:6].

We relegate God to our spare time—but end up never having any spare time! Jesus said, “Seek first his kingdom” [Matthew 6:33 NIV].

The resurrection blasts apart the finality of death, providing an alternative to the stifling settling dust of death and opens the way to new life.

The most important events in human history were the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Without the resurrection, the cross is meaningless.

Take your eyes and your ears and your hands and your feet and your thoughts and your heart: Give them completely and unreservedly to Christ.

Because of what Jesus Christ did for us through His cross and resurrection, we know that we have hope for the future.

By [Christ’s] resurrection life, He gives us the power over the tendency to sin as we allow Him to control our lives.

Never forget that the resurrection of Christ is in many ways the central event of all history.

At the return of Christ the resurrection of believers will take place. It will take the unbelieving world by surprise.

Death has two stages, first the separation of the body from the spirit . . . for a purely spiritual existence, and second, reunion with the body and a glorious resurrection at the Second Coming of Christ.

The Bible teaches that you have three enemies . . . the devil . . . the world . . . the flesh.

Christ broke the bonds of death by His resurrection, and from that moment on, Satan was a defeated foe.

The [twentieth century] could well go down in history not so much as a century of progress but as “the century of superficiality.

You cannot build a superstructure on a cracked foundation.

Christians are to be “the light of the world” [Matthew 5:14], illuminating the darkness caused by sin and giving guidance to a world that has lost its way.

As Christians we have a responsibility toward the poor, the oppressed, the downtrodden, and the many innocent people around the world who are caught in wars, natural disasters, and situations beyond their control.

The Bible teaches that we have a Christian duty to help our neighbors in their time of need. We are called by God to bring the water of life for both soul and body. God created them both, and His purpose is to redeem them both.

May our gratitude find expression in our prayers and our service for others, and in our commitment to live wholly for Christ.

Be honest about your weaknesses and ask God to help you overcome them so you can serve Christ more effectively.

Oh God, if You want me to serve You, I will. I’ll be what You want me to be. I’ll go where You want me to go.

Many Christians would prefer to hear “What a great guy” from the crowd rather than “Well done, good and faithful servant” from the Master [Matthew 25:23].

One of Satan’s most effective ways of blocking God’s work is to convince us God can’t use us to make an impact for Christ. But it isn’t true. All around you are people no one else will ever be able to reach with the Gospel.

Jesus, by example, tells us that every true leader should be a helper, a servant, or even a bondslave. This is a command, not a suggestion, and applies with special force to leaders.

The strain of Christian service can result in sickness . . . I have known Christian workers who have risked their lives and health in serving the Lord.

Thinking of and serving with others can be an antidote to negative and unhealthy introspection.

God never calls a person [into His service] without equipping him. I know that from experience.

Every area of our lives is to be under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. And that means the searchlight of God’s Word must penetrate every corner of our lives.

Popularity and adulation are far more dangerous for the Christian than persecution. It is easy when all goes smoothly to lose our sense of balance and perspective.

There must be no discrepancy between what we say and what we do, between our walk and our talk.

You will never understand who you are until you understand who God is.

[There are] seven gifts God gives you when you commit your life to Christ: a new relationship, a new citizenship, a new family, a new purpose, a new power, a new destiny, and a new journey.

The closer you are to God, the farther you are from the devil.

Some things never change. Not the ABC’s, not the multiplication tables, not God!

When God speaks to us, He should have our full attention.

God has paid the greatest debt you will ever incur, and once you understand the incredible sacrifice He has made just for you, you will feel compelled to turn to God and to accept Jesus Christ into your heart.

Benevolent hands reach down from heaven to offer us the most hopeful warning and remedy: “Prepare to meet your God.

Authentic Christian living has its own order of priority in our lives: God first, others second, self third.

All believers are called to be holy in mind, body, and spirit (1 Peter 1:15).

If we are living according to what we believe, we may be falsely accused.

Make it your goal to become more like Christ by refusing to let sin have its way, and pursuing instead that which is pure and good in the sight of God.

We often seek to please ourselves first, instead of God. What is interesting is that when we seek to please God first, very often we discover that we end up far more pleased than we did when we put ourselves first.

I am engaged in spiritual warfare every day. I must never let down my guard—I must keep armed.

Being” is far more important than “doing.” When we are what we should be inside, we will bring forth fruit.

Submission . . . involves getting rid of everything which hinders God’s control over our lives.

Whatever is unlike Christ in conduct, speech, or disposition grieves the Spirit of grace.

To be Spirit-filled is to be controlled or dominated by the Spirit’s presence and power.

The lives of many reflect the practices and standards of this present world . . . they are more interested in imitating the world system dominated by Satan than in imitating Christ.

When we come to the end of ourselves, we come to the beginning of God.

We have been told by God that if we sin against Him and break His commandments, He will bring judgment upon the world. It is my responsibility and my duty as a minister of the Gospel to [warn] people. This is the message I must deliver.

[Our] minds are molded in many different ways— often in ways we are not aware of at the time. I am convinced that many things—the films we watch, the television we see, the music we listen to, the books we read—have a great effect on us.

The more we yield to pressure, the more easily we will yield next time.

Most of us know about God, but that is quite different from knowing God.

The wheels of [God’s] mercy and justice move quietly and silently, but they do move.

God is not bound by a body, yet He is a Person. He feels, He thinks, He loves, He forgives, He sympathizes with the problems and sorrows that we face.

If God can be fully proved by the human mind, then He is no greater than the mind that proves Him.

Talk about God can become dreary and lackluster if God isn’t in you. Church can become a drab thing and the Bible an irksome Book if the Holy Spirit does not illuminate your soul with His indwelling presence.

God is not a bargaining God. You cannot barter with Him. You must do business with Him on His own terms.

If we read the Bible as carefully and as regularly as we read the daily papers, we would be as familiar with and as well informed about God as we are about our favorite player’s batting average during baseball season!

We have a conception that God is a haphazard God with no set of rules of life and salvation. Ask the astronomer if God is a haphazard God. He will tell you that every star moves with precision in its celestial path.

If you have been trying to limit God—stop it! Don’t try to confine Him or His works to any single place or sphere. You wouldn’t try to limit the ocean.

Getting to know God and being able to call on Him is the most important step in storing up for the storms.

God began by revelation to build a bridge between Himself and people.

To live the life of God we must have the nature of God.

Your yearning for God must supersede all other desires. It must be like a gnawing hunger and a burning thirst.

Remember that “where God guides, He provides. Where He leads, He supplies all needs.

Has God designated any one person here on earth to speak with final authority about Him? No—the one Man who could do that lived two thousand years ago, and we crucified Him!

If we have no mercy toward others, that is one proof that we have never experienced God’s mercy.

If we believe in what God made and what God said, we will believe in the One whom God sent.

We must practice the Presence of God. Jesus said, “Lo, I am with you always” [Matthew 28:20]. Remember, Christ is always near us.

There are those who say that all roads lead to God. But Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” [John 14:6 KJV].

God holds every man accountable for his rejection of Christ.

Every law that God has given has been for man’s benefit. If man breaks it, he is not only rebelling against God; he is hurting himself.

God has revealed Himself in the Book called the Bible.

Man would have remained forever lost if God in His infinite mercy had not sent His Son to earth to bridge this gulf.

People do not come to hear what I have to say—they want to know what God has to say.

For centuries mankind has been on an incredible journey, taking him across every generation and through every conceivable experience in his search for God.

Many people say they do not fear death, but the process of dying. It’s not the destination, but the trip that they dread.

The word departure literally means to pull up anchor and set sail. Everything that happens prior to death is a preparation for the final voyage. Death marks the beginning, not the end. It is our journey to God.

Death for the Christian is the doorway to heaven’s glory. Because of Christ’s resurrection we can joyously say with Paul, “Where, O death, is your victory?” [1 Corinthians 15:55 NIV].

Jesus Christ was the Master Realist when He urged men to prepare for death, which was certain to come. Do not worry, said the Lord Jesus, about the death of the body, but rather concern yourself with the eternal death of the soul.

Death is not the end of the road—it is merely a gateway to eternal life beyond the grave.

For the Christian, death can be faced realistically and with victory, because he knows “that neither death nor life . . . shall be able to separate us from the love of God” [Romans 8:38–39 NKJV].

Throughout our culture we have been led to the idea that we accept death as the end of life on earth . . .Time bound as we are and goal oriented to achievements in our lifetime, we find it strange to anticipate heaven.

Sooner or later, we are going to face death; should we be making preparations while we are living?

If people paid more attention to death, eternity, and judgment, there would be more holy living on earth.

Death is said in the Bible to be a coronation for the Christian.

Death reduces all men to the same rank. It strips the rich of his millions and the poor man of his rags . . .Death knows no age limits, no partiality. It is a thing that all men fear.

One of the primary goals in life should be to prepare for death. Everything else should be secondary.

Death for [a Christian] is no accident. With God there are no accidents, no tragedies, and no catastrophes as far as His children are concerned.

When we all reach the end of our earthly journey, we will have just begun.

From the moment a child is born, the death process, and the fight against it, begins.

Christ did not die by accident. He died voluntarily in our place.

Someday this life will end, but for the Christian death also marks a beginning—the beginning of a new life with God that will last forever.

I’m not afraid to die, for I know the joys of heaven are waiting. My greatest desire is to live today in anticipation of tomorrow and be ready to be welcomed into His home for all eternity. Will you be making the journey with me?

Death carries with it a certain dread. It [is] the enemy, the great, mysterious monster that makes people quake with fear.

Someday a loving Hand will be laid upon your shoulder and this brief message will be given: “Come home.

Death of the righteous . . . is not to be feared or shunned. It is the shadowed threshold to the palace of God.

Someday you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it! I shall be more alive than I am now. I will just have changed my address. I will have gone into the presence of God.

We now have the advantage of a few years more of life, but death is still standing at the end of the road.

Cut out some of your “important social engagements,” and make your home the center of your social life. God will honor you, and your children will grow up to call you “blessed” [Proverbs 31:28].

In many homes and among so-called educated people—it has become fashionable to joke about the Bible and to regard it more as a dust-catcher than as the living Word of God.

Many homes are on the rocks today because God has been left out of the domestic picture. With the clash of personalities in a domestic pattern, there must be an integrating force, and the living God is that Force!

If there were no heaven and no hell, I would still want to be a Christian because of what it does for our homes and our own families in this life.

The world is not a permanent home, it is only a temporary dwelling.

It is far easier to live an excellent life among your friends, when you are putting your best foot forward and are conscious of public opinion, than it is to live for Christ in your home.

If you are a true Christian, you will not give way at home to bad temper, impatience, fault-finding, sarcasm, unkindness, suspicion, selfishness, or laziness.

The home only fulfills its true purpose when it is God-controlled. Leave Jesus Christ out of your home and it loses its meaning. But take Christ into your heart and the life of your family, and He will transform your home.

When we are young and restless to be free, home is the place from which we long to escape. But if there is still a home intact when trouble arises and life becomes a battlefield, home is the place to which we yearn to return.

In some ways, Christians are homeless. Our true home is waiting for us, prepared by the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Bible takes the word home with all of its tender associations and sacred memories, and applies it to the hereafter and tells us that heaven is home.

God does not want an apartment in our house. He claims our entire home from attic to cellar.

One final reason for choosing God’s path is of supreme importance: It leads us home.

Perhaps the greatest psychological, spiritual, and medical need that all people have is the need for hope.

For the believer there is hope beyond the grave, because Jesus Christ has opened the door to heaven for us by His death and resurrection.

Christ wants to give you hope for the future. He wants you to learn what it means to walk with Him every day. When you come to Christ, God gives you eternal life—which begins right now as you open your heart to Him.

Faith points us beyond our problems to the hope we have in Christ.

Christ’s second coming reminds us that ultimately our hope is not in this world and its attempts to solve its problems, but in Christ’s promise to establish His perfect rule over all the earth.

Man has no ability to repair this damaged planet. The flaw in human nature is too great. God is our only hope!

Earth’s troubles fade in the light of heaven’s hope.

My hope does not rest in the affairs of this world. It rests in Christ who is coming again.

Only because Jesus is God and we have confessed Him as Savior and Lord, can He bestow and we receive these benefits, this blessed assurance and hope (see Romans 10:9).

Our world today desperately hungers for hope, and yet uncounted people have almost given up. There is despair and hopelessness on every hand. Let us be faithful in proclaiming the hope that is in Jesus!

All mankind is sitting on Death Row. How we die or when is not the main issue, but where [we] go after death.

Someone has said that death is not a period, but a comma in the story of life.

What is heaven? It’s the home that God created and He possesses. His throne room is His headquarters from which He issues His commands, directions, and prophecies. And Jesus sits at His Father’s right hand.

The moment we take our last breath on earth, we take our first in heaven.

Heaven is a wonderful place and the benefits for the believer are out of this world!

Sometimes . . . we grow homesick for heaven. Many times in the midst of the sin, suffering, and sorrow of this life there is a tug at our soul. That is homesickness coupled with anticipation.

I [will] not go to heaven because I am a preacher. I am going to heaven entirely on the merit of the work of Christ.

My home is in heaven. I’m just passing through this world.

The Bible is clear that the Holy Spirit is God Himself.

The Holy Spirit illuminates the minds of people, makes us yearn for God, and takes spiritual truth and makes it understandable to us.

A life touched by the Holy Spirit will tolerate sin no longer.

The Father is the source of all blessing, and the Son is the channel of all blessing, [and] it is through the Holy Spirit at work in us that all truth becomes living and operative in our lives.

The Holy Spirit not only convicts of sin but also convinces men that Jesus is the righteousness of God. He shows sinners that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

The Scripture makes it clear that this planet would already be a literal hell on earth were it not for the presence of the Holy Spirit in the world.

The Holy Spirit can rejuvenate a tired Christian, captivate an indifferent believer, and empower a dry church.

If we feed our spiritual lives and allow the Holy Spirit to empower us, He will have rule over us. If we starve our spiritual natures and instead feed the old, sinful nature, the flesh will dominate.

The Holy Spirit gives liberty to the Christian, direction to the worker, discernment to the teacher, power to the Word, and fruit to faithful service. He reveals the things of Christ.

Faithfulness is produced by the Holy Spirit in a yielded Christian life.

It is never a question of how much you and I have of the Spirit, but how much He has of us.

Because [the Holy Spirit] is a spirit, [He] isn’t limited by time or space. He can be everywhere at once. He is in the midst of the largest galaxy—and the smallest atom.

Sometimes I feel so helpless and inadequate, and wonder if I have done enough to make the Gospel clear. But I also know that only the Holy Spirit can open others’ eyes to the truth.

We shouldn’t refer to the Spirit as “it”; instead we should always refer to the Spirit as “He”—because the Holy Spirit is a Person. He speaks to us, He commands us, He intercedes for us, He hears us, He guides us.

The home is basically a sacred institution . . . Faith in Christ is the most important of all principles in the building of a happy marriage and a successful home.

Home was a refuge for me, a place I could truly relax.

My wife Ruth once said, “If our children have the background of a godly, happy home and this unshakeable faith that the Bible is indeed the Word of God, they will have a foundation that the forces of hell cannot shake.

The Bible teaches that our homes should be hospitable and that those who come in and out of our homes should sense the presence of Christ.

The happiest Christian homes I know are those given to hospitality, where neighbors feel at home, where young people are welcome, where the elderly are respected, where children are loved.

The cross is the suffering love of God bearing the guilt of man’s sin, which alone is able to melt the sinner’s heart and bring him to repentance for salvation. “For he hath made him to be sin for us” [2 Corinthians 5:21 KJV].

The heart of the Christian Gospel with its incarnation and atonement is in the cross and the resurrection. Jesus was born to die.

Why is it that the cross has become the symbol of Christianity? It is because at the cross Jesus purchased our redemptionand provided a righteousness which we could not ourselves earn.

It was not the people or the Roman soldiers who put [Jesus] on the cross—it was your sins and my sins that made it necessary for Him to volunteer his death.

Two thousand years ago God invited a morally corrupt world to the foot of the cross. There God held your sins and mine to the flames until every last vestige of our guilt was consumed.

It has been said there was a cross in the heart of God long before the cross was erected at Calvary. As we think about it we will be overwhelmed at the wonder and greatness of His love for us.

When Jesus hung on the cross, a great unseen cosmic battle raged in the heavens—and in the end, Christ triumphed over all the forces of evil and death and hell.

The greatest vision of sin that a person canever receive is to look at the cross.

God’s house will be happy because Christ will be there.

Though the cross repels, it also attracts. It possesses a magnetic quality.

Once you have been to the cross, you will never be the same.

In heaven . . . the “communication gap” will be closed.

To take up your cross means to associate yourself with Christ and to share His rejection. It means you take a stand for Christ even though people make fun of you, persecute you—or even kill you!

The Bible says that as long as we are here on earth, we are strangers in a foreign land. There are enemies to be conquered before we return home. This world is not our home; our citizenship is in heaven.

Only in heaven will we know exactly what heaven is like.

We were equipped by our Creator not only to live on this earth, but also to live in touch with heaven. This was the Great Design of the Great Designer.

Only one answer will give a person the certain privilege, the joy, of entering heaven. “Because I have believed in Jesus Christ and accepted Him as my Savior.

Even when we allow our imaginations to run wild on the joys of heaven, we find that our minds are incapable of conceiving what it will be like.

What a thrilling future for those of us who know that some day we will populate the kingdom of God.

In our resurrection bodies we will know nothing of physical weakness. Limitations imposed on us on this earth are not known in heaven. We will have a habitation from God that is incorruptible, immortal, and powerful.

In heaven I’ll wish with all my heart that I could reclaim a thousandth part of the time I’ve let slip through my fingers, that I could call back those countless conversations which could have glorified my Lord—but didn’t.

Don’t let the burdens and hardships of this lifedistract you or discourage you, but keep your eyes firmly fixed on what God has promisedat the end of our journey: heaven itself.

The most thrilling thing about heaven is that Jesus Christ will be there. I will see Him face to face. Jesus Christ will meet us at the end of life’s journey.

Heavenly rest will be so refreshing that we will never feel that exhaustion of mind and body we so frequently experience now. I’m really looking forward to that.

A Christian’s citizenship may be in heaven, but he has obligations as a citizen of earth. Both living with Christ and going to be with Him in death are greatly to be desired.

If Jesus had not risen from the dead, no right-minded person would have glorified anything so hideous and repulsive as a cross stained with the blood of Jesus . . .An unopened grave would never have opened heaven.

Be willing to be sneered at than to be approved, counting the cross of Christ greater riches than all the treasures of Washington, London, Paris, or Moscow.

The law enables us to see ourselves as morally dirty and in need of cleansing. But it also points us to the place of cleansing: the cross of Christ.

The cross is the only way of salvation. And the cross gives a new purpose to life.

The cross shows the seriousness of our sin—but it also shows us the immeasurable love of God.

Jesus was born with the cross darkening His pathway . . . From the cradle to the cross, [Jesus’] purpose was to die.

Jesus Christ opened heaven’s door for us by His death on the cross.

Great crowds followed our Lord . . . as He healed the sick, raised the dead, and fed the hungry. However, the moment He started talking about the cross . . . “many . . . no longer followed him” (John 6:66 NIV).

Sin was conquered on the cross. [Christ’s] death is the foundation of our hope, the promise of our triumph!

Had Satan not set himself in opposition to God . . . there would have been no need for God to send His Son to the cross.

One-third of Matthew . . . one-third of Mark . . . one-fourth of Luke, and one-half of John are given to [Christ’s] death . . .Jesus came for the express purpose of dying for sinners. When He left heaven, He knew He was going to the cross.

Sin’s masterpiece of shame and hate became God’s masterpiece of mercy and forgiveness. Through the death of Christ upon the cross, sin itself was crucified for those who believe in Him.

The cross has become a symbol in much of the Western world, misused by many rock stars and others who do not comprehend its significance.

How do we get our values so mixed up? We look for shortcuts to happiness. Our lust for immediate pleasure prompts us to think of evil as good.

There is legitimate pleasure, which is not wrong, but we are not to become so preoccupied with its activities that it takes the place of God.

We have at our fingertips every pleasure that man is capable of enjoying, and man has abused every gift God ever gave him.

We are like a restless sea, finding a little peace here and a little pleasure there, but nothing permanent and satisfying. So the search continues!

[Mankind has] allowed worldly desires and pleasures to fill the heart and mind. Whatever the sin, we need to repent and turn to Jesus Christ in faith for forgiveness and new life.

Many of us have no appetite for spiritual things because we are absorbed in the sinful pleasures of this world. We have been eating too many of the devil’s delicacies.

Today our world is mad in its obsession with pleasure, sex, and money. Its ear is too dull to hear the truth. Most men’s eyes are blind. They do not want to see. They do not want to hear. They hurry to their doom.

Salvation is always “good news.” It is news of God’s love and forgiveness—adoption into His family—fellowship with His people—freedom from the penalty of sin—liberation from the power of sin.

Your salvation is a free gift, made possible only because God planned it . . .Christ paid for it . . . and the Holy Spirit assures you of it.

God doesn’t say to be perfect and you’ll get to heaven. He says to confess that you’re a sinner and come to the cross, and whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

The Bible is primarily concerned with the story of man’s redemption as it is in Jesus Christ. If you read Scripture and miss the story of salvation, you have missed its message and its meaning.

If Satan can’t keep you away from Christ, he will at least try to make you doubt your salvation.

Your salvation depends on what [Christ] has done for you, not on what you do for Him. It isn’t your hold on God that saves you; it’s His hold on you.

Believers in Christ owe nothing to God in payment for salvation . . . but they do owe God a life of undivided devotion and service.

God’s grace—His goodness and love toward us in spite of our sin—is the wellspring of our salvation.

The blood of Christ justifies and saves us . . .The word justification means “just as if you had never sinned.

God longs for men to be saved. God is at work to get men to stop their downward plunge in sin.

Salvation is an act of God. It is initiated by God, wrought by God, and sustained by God.

How can men boast that they control their own destiny when they cannot solve the problems of war, racism, poverty, sickness, or suffering?

Patience is the transcendent radiance of a loving and tender heart which, in its dealings with those around it, looks kindly and graciously upon them.

Patience includes perseverance—the ability to bear up under weariness, strain, and persecution when doing the work of the Lord.

Patience graciously, compassionately and with understanding, judges the faults of others without unjust criticism.

God allows difficulties, inconveniences, trials, and even suffering to come our way for a specific purpose: They help develop the right attitude for the growth of patience.

Patience is part of true Christlikeness, something we so often admire in others without demanding it of ourselves.

Patience in our lives springs from God’s power based upon our willingness to learn it.

We have some of the finest civil rights laws in the world, but they have not solved our racial problems. Why? Because we need a change of heart and attitude, Jesus said, “You must be born again” [John 3:7].

The human race has the power right now to destroy itself. Jesus Christ is going to save us from ourselves.

There is only one possible solution to the race problem and that is a vital personal experience with Jesus Christ on the part of [all] races.

God prescribes the remedy for the ills of the human race. That remedy is personal faith and commitment to Jesus Christ. The remedy is to be born again.

Patience . . . speaks of a person’s steadfastness under provocation . . .enduring ill-treatment without anger or thought of retaliation or revenge.

Only God can break down the national and racial barriers that divide men today. Only God can supply that love that we must have for our fellowman. We will never build brotherhood of man upon earth until we are believers in Christ Jesus.

Down through the ages man’s heart has remained unchanged. Whatever the color of his skin, whatever his cultural or ethnic background, he needs the Gospel of Christ.

The closer the people of all races get to Christ and His cross, the closer they will get to one another.

No personality in history stands above Jesus Christ . . .He alone is able to meet every need of the human race.

The human race is called on throughout the Bible to repent of sin and return to God.

Salvation is free! God puts no price tag on the Gift of gifts.

Our lives are to be characterized by patience, for it is important in developing the mature, stable character which God wants to produce in His people.

Salvation is not just repairing the original self. It is a new self created of God in righteousness and true holiness.

[God] holds in His omnipotent hand the priceless, precious, eternal gift of salvation, and He bids you to take it without money and without price.

Man stands on the brink of hell. The forces building up in our world are so overwhelming that man everywhere is beginning to cry out in desperation: “What must I do to be saved?

Millions today want salvation, but on their own terms. They want to come their own way, and so we have hundreds of schemes and plans devised by men to regain paradise.

There may have been a time when pride was the very center of your life. You had ambitious thoughts of yourself, your powers, desires, and aims; but now that will begin to change . . . you have been born again.

Pride consists not in wanting to be rich, but in wanting to be richer than your neighbor. It is not in wanting to be noticed but in wanting to be the most noticed. It is not in wanting to have things but in wanting more things than others.

We must not build up ourselves at the expense of others.

Pride always puts [self] above others—and cuts [itself] off from them as a result. No one likes an arrogant, prideful person.

Pride flees when we compare ourselves to God instead of [to] other people.

One of the ironies of human nature is that it often has a way of rejecting the best and accepting the worst.

Acknowledge that there is a defect in human nature, a built-in waywardness that comes from man’s rebellion against God.

Man is a rebel, and a rebel is naturally in confusion. He is in conflict with every other rebel. For a rebel by his very nature is selfish. He is seeking his own good and not the good of others.

The deepest problems of the human race are spiritual in nature. They are rooted in man’s refusal to seek God’s way for his life. The problem is the human heart, which God alone can change.

Flesh is the Bible’s word for unperfected human nature. Leaving off the “h” and spelling it in reverse, we have the word self. Flesh is the self-life: it is what we are when we are left to our own devices.

Man’s nature and destiny are revealed in the Scriptures.

Science, they say, can tap the brain of man and alter his desires. But the Bible, which has withstood the ravages of time . . . says that we are possessed of a sinful, fallen nature which wars against us.

Our worldly wisdom has made us calloused and hard. Our natural wisdom, as the Scriptures teach, comes not from God, but is earthly, sensual, and devilish.

In taking our human nature upon Himself, [Jesus] showed us what we might become, what God intended us to be.

Man cannot control himself, and if he will not be controlled by Jesus Christ, then he will be controlled by Satan.

You cannot argue with [Satan], for he is the greatest debater of all time.

The devil is alive and kicking. But if you are in Christ and follow the rules of daily Bible study, prayer, and witnessing, he has no power over you.

Satan is the illusive manipulator. He prances and dances and drinks in the adulation of his worshippers as he glimmers and shimmers, displaying all that glitters and all that attracts the shallowness of man.

Satan is masterful at using just enough of God’s truth to capture a person’s attention and then mix it with his devious potion that will lead [believers] astray.

Satan is both a fashion designer and an interior designer. He first appeals to the eye and then shouts, “Gotcha!” Then he goes to work on the “inside job.

If you don’t take your stand for Christ, you will be on the wrong side, and someday when it is too late, you’ll cry out, “I’ve taken the wrong stand!” You’ll be in the devil’s trap! You can’t lick the devil.

If your heart is not attuned to God, it will become a catch basin for every device of the devil. Yes, Satan is at work in our world. The Bible is my authority.

Satan is real and is opposed to everything God is doing.

The cross was designed to defeat Satan, who by deception had obtained squatters’ rights to the title of the earth.

Satan didn’t lose any of his beguiling ways when he became the fallen prince. He took his charm, his subtleties, and his clever plots to use on us.

Satan exalted himself above God and endeavored to get man to doubt the reliability of God’s Word.

Satan is the master of the ultimate double-talk and sophistry. He calls evil good and continues to confuse men with his cleverly disguised untruths.

Satan perverts everything good by mimicking and mocking the real thing.

Never forget: Satan’s goal is to turn us away from God.

[Satan] will create a religion without a Redeemer. He will build a church without a Christ. He will call for worship without the Word of God.

The mind is the devil’s favorite avenue of attack.

I have yet to see Satan overcome a truly joyful Christian.

Before Satan there was no sin, and before sin there was no pain.

Since the Bible is God’s Word, we shouldn’t be surprised if Satan tries to convince us otherwise.

We are living in a topsy-turvy world, where all is confusion. But you may be sure that it is confusion with a plan—Satan’s plan!

Satan will thrash about in one last burst of evil,hoping to capture as many souls as possible before his inevitable end.

The Bible teaches that Satan is the author of sin. Sin is the reason we have afflictions, including death. All of our problems and our suffering are a result of man’s rebellionagainst God. But God has provided a rescue in His Son.

We have two natures within us, both struggling for mastery. Which one will dominate us? It depends on which one we feed.

We are to feed the new nature on the Word of God constantly, and we are to starve the old nature, which craves the world and the flesh. We are told to “make not provision for the flesh” [Romans 13:14 KJV].

The greatest need in the world is the transformation of human nature. We need a new heart that will not have lust and greed and hate in it. We need a heart filled with love and peace and joy, and that is why Jesus came into the world.

Men cannot help that it is their nature to respond to the lewd, the salacious, and the vile. They will have difficulty doing otherwise until they are born again.

In John 6 we read that when great multitudes went after Him, He told them three times that unless they were willing to pay the price, they could not be His followers.

[Jesus] asked [His followers] to count the cost carefully, lest they should turn back when they met with suffering and privation. He told His followers that the world would hate them.

Don’t be deceived by Satan and his lies. Instead, stay close to Christ—because the closer you are to Him, the farther away you are from the devil.

Christ warned His followers that to believe in Him would not make them popular, and that they should be prepared to face affliction for His sake.

If [Christian leaders] do not teach Christian principles to all followers of Christ, we are not equipping them with God’s truth that willovercome worldly influence.

Following Christ has been made too easy. It is easy to follow Him when our world is safe and comfortable . . .but when that world shatters, only a secure faith will sustain us.

Learn to keep close to [Jesus], to listen to His voice, and follow Him.

By faith in [Jesus] we can be forgiven of our sins and know the joy of following Him every day.

The men who followed Jesus were unique in their generation. They turned the world upside down because their hearts had been turned right side up.

The same Book that tells us over and over again of God’s love warns us constantly of the devil who would come between us and God, the devil who is ever waiting to ensnare men’s souls.

The devil is the god of this world and he has blinded our eyes.

Satan wants to lure us into his traps, and he knows exactly what kind of “bait” will appeal to us. He knows what we’re like, and he will attack us exactly where we are the weakest.

Satan will do everything he can to divide Christians and destroy our witness. Only the Holy Spirit can subdue our old nature and overcome it with God’s love.

Don’t give Satan a foothold, but discipline yourself to stay close to God. He alone is your security.

Satan rejoices when old habits overwhelm [us] and we cave in to the pressure of the crowd . . .perhaps temptation lures [us] into sin . . .a backsliding Christian compromises their faith and causes unbelievers to mock the Gospel.

[Christians] are called to distinguish themselves as Christ followers, not community organizers.

When our minds are on Christ, Satan has little room to maneuver.

The greatest roadblock to Satan’s work is the Christian who, above all else, lives for God, walks with integrity, is filled with the Spirit, and is obedient to God’s truth.

The greatest hindrance to Satan’s destructive efforts is our standing strong in the knowledge and fear of the Lord.

Satan rejoices when we are inconsistent, because he knows that an inconsistent Christian is an ineffective Christian—or worse.

We constantly pass up the rich and beautiful and ennobling experiences and seek out the tawdry, the cheap, and the degrading. These are the works of the devil, and they flourish on every side!

The devil is a master at making us question God and His Word. Twisting Scripture . . . taking a verse out of context . . .deceiving us into thinking God is mean-spirited—these are some of Satan’s favorite tricks.

Satan does not care how much you theorize about Christianity or how much you profess to know Christ. What he opposes vigorously is the way you live Christ.

We must be constantly aware that Satan can take any human effort and twist it to serve his own purposes.

Only God can thwart the plans of Satan and his legions.

If you are not careful you will find yourself actually in the employ of the devil. He is powerful, slick, crafty, wily, and subtle.

One of the devil’s methods is to attack everyone . . . He knows that the Word of God is powerful, and he will try to keep you from it.

When we are filled with the Spirit of God, obeying God, in His will and quoting Scripture, Satan will be defeated.

Jesus did not dispute [Satan] . . . our Lord quoted Scripture, and that’s one thing the devil can’t stand! The Scripture defeats him every time.

Fear can paralyze us and keep us from believing God and stepping out in faith. The devil loves a fearful Christian!

As long as Satan is loose in the world and our hearts are dominated by his evil passions, it will never be easy or popular to be a follower of Christ.

God’s followers need to know the truth He sets forth in His Word so that we can confidently discern between His truth and Satan’s lies.

Salvation is free, but there is a price to pay in following Jesus. It is never said in Scripture that we can have “Christ and . . .”.It is always “Christ or . . .”. What is your “or”?

God—the Bible’s Author—loves you and wants you to be His child through faith in Jesus Christ.

Faith is loved and honored by God more than any other single thing.

Your faith may be just a little thread. It may be small and weak, but act on that faith. It does not matter how big your faith is, but rather, where your faith is.

Jesus Himself was the first missionary . . .He pledged His followers to be missionaries too!

The happiest people I know are separated followers of Jesus Christ.They are not dependent on artificial stimulants. They do not resort to sick, dirty jokes. They do not abuse their bodies to relax their minds.

Faith implies four things: self-renunciation, reliance with utter confidence on Christ, obedience, and a changed life.

When our faith becomes nothing more than a series of rules and regulations, joy flees and our love for Christ grows cold.

If our faith isn’t rooted in the Bible, it will wither like a plant pulled out of the soil.

Do you want your faith to grow? Then let the Bible begin to saturate your mind and soul.

Faith literally means “to give up, surrender, or commit.” Faith is complete confidence.

Happy is the person who has learned the secret of being content with whatever life brings him, and has learned to rejoice in thesimple and beautiful things around him.

Do you really want happiness? Then you will have to pay the price of humbling yourself at the foot of the cross and receiving Christ as Savior.

Christ said there is a happiness in that acknowledgement of spiritual poverty which lets God come into our souls.

It is the presence of sin that prevents man from being truly happy.

The Bible lists in Hebrews 11 the heroes of the faith . . .who were tortured, imprisoned, stoned, torn apart, and killed by the sword. They didn’t wear designer jeans but went about in animal skins, destitute and tormented.

Discouragement is the opposite of faith. It is Satan’s device to thwart the work of God in your life.

Christians who are strong in the faith grow as they accept whatever God allows to enter their lives.

Our faith can stand up to any question, but sometimes people ask questions—and keep asking questions—just to avoid facing their own spiritual needs and acknowledging who Jesus really is.

Don’t forget: Without fuel, a fire grows cold—and without the “fuel” of the Bible, prayer, and Christian fellowship, our faith grows cold.

The Bible teaches that faith is the only approach that we have to God. No man has sins forgiven, no man goes to heaven, no man has assurance of peace and happiness, until he has faith in Jesus Christ.

Faith isn’t pretending our problems don’t exist, nor is it simply blind optimism. Faith points us beyond our problems to the hope we have in Christ.

Evangelism is not a calling reserved exclusively for the clergy. I believe one of the greatest priorities of the church today is to mobilize the laity to do the work of evangelism.

Philip is the only person in the Bible who was called an evangelist, and he was a deacon!

No clergyman however brilliant, no evangelist no matter how eloquent or compelling, can bring about the revival we need. Only the Holy Spirit can do this.

The evangelistic ministry is a fight, not a frolic.

When you pick up the cross of unpopularity, wherever you may be, you will find God’s grace is there, more than sufficient to meet your every need.

Some of the most radiant Christians I have ever met were “wheelchair” saints. May God give you grace to “triumph in affliction.

We are living in an age of grace, in which God promises that “whosoever will” may come and receive His Son. But this period of grace will not go on indefinitely. We are even now living on borrowed time.

Only as we bow in contrition, confession, and repentance at the foot of the cross, can we find forgiveness. There is the grace of God!

The motive of grace is the infinite, compassionate love of a merciful God, but the work of grace was the death of Christ on the cross.

The grace of God has been tested in the crucible of human experience, and has been found to be more than an equal for the problems and sins of humanity.

Throughout Scripture we read of warnings preceding disaster. Such alerts from God are part of His grace and provision.

Christ did not suffer and die to offer cheap grace. Jesus did not willingly go to the cross so we could have an easy life or offer a faith built on easy-believism. As someone said, “Salvation is free, but not cheap.” It cost Jesus His life.

I look forward to seeing Christ and bowing before Him in praise and gratitude for all He has done for us, and for using me on this earth by His grace—just as I am.

Envy and greed always—always—exact a terrible price. I have never met an envious or greedy person who was at peace.

The Bible warns us against greed and selfishness, it does encourage frugality and thrift.

The Bible sees greed as a form of idolatry, because a greedy person worships things instead of God. Greed and envy have their roots in selfishness.

Envy and greed starve on a steady diet of thanksgiving.

Everything that we see about us that we count is our possessions only comprises a loan from God, and it is when we lose sight of this all-pervading truth that we become greedy and covetous.

Life is not a matter of dollars and cents, houses and lands, earning capacity and financial achievement. Greed must not be allowed to make man the slave of wealth.

It is not wrong to want to work and earn a decent living; in fact, God has given work to us. But this legitimate desire can very easily cross the line into greed—especially in our materialistic society.

Greed is an unreasonable or all-absorbing desire to acquire things or wealth. One test of greed is that it is never satisfied. Greed is repeatedly condemned in the Bible.

We need to be on guard against greed . . . above all we need to make sure our lives are centered in Christ and not things.

Let us always remember that Christ calls men and women not only to trust Him as Savior, but also to follow Him as Lord. That call to discipleship must be part of our message if we are to be faithful to Him.

To be a disciple is to be committed to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and committed to following Him every day. To be a disciple is also to be disciplined in our bodies, minds, and souls.

Our minds must be set always to seek the will of the Lord. Following the progressive discipline revealed through the Bible will result in a walk of obedience to God.

It is no accident that the words discipline and disciple resemble each other in the English language. The most common word in the Gospels for a Christian is disciple.

Christ never told his disciples that they would get an Academy Award for their performances, but He did tell them to expect to have troubles.

Jesus Christ spoke frankly to His disciples concerning the future . . .In unmistakable language He told them that discipleship means a life of self-denial, and the bearing of a cross.

Many Christians want the benefits of their belief, but they hesitate at the cost of discipleship.

To be a disciple of Jesus means to learn from Him, to follow Him. The cost may be high.

We are commissioned to make disciples, to bring them into the same direct relationship with Christ as those who left their nets and their fishing boats to become “fishers of men.

An evangelist is like a newscaster on television or a journalist writing for a newspaper . . . except that the evangelist’s mission is to tell the Good News that never changes.

During all my years as an evangelist,my message has always been the Gospel of Christ.It is not a Western religion, nor is it a message of one culture or political system . , .it is a message of life and hope for all the world.

Itinerant evangelists are the most important ambassadors and messengers on earth. They are a mighty army, spreading out across the world with a vision to reach their own people for Christ.

Some evangelists spend too much time thinking and even planning about how to achieve visible results. This is an easy trap to fall into.

Nowhere do the Scriptures tell us to seek results, nor do the Scriptures rebuke evangelists if the results are meager.

The evangelist cannot bring conviction of sin, righteousness, or judgment; that is the Spirit’s work. They cannot convert anyone; that is the Spirit’s work.

The Bible opens with a tragedy and ends in a triumph.

The whole world ought to know the story of the Bible.

When you are told that science has disproved the Bible, ask specifically where such is the case. True science and a true understanding of the Bible are never at variance.

The Bible is a living Book and can be trusted for its advice and direction and knowledge of God.

[God] speaks from heaven through the Bible, His written Word. This is why I use the phrase “the Bible says.” I would not have the authority to say what I do in sermons unless it was based upon the Word of God.

We should read the Bible expectantly, systematically, and obediently . . .The Bible can change our lives as we read it and obey its teachings every day.

No book ever takes the place of the Bible. It is its own best commentary.

Most of us do not understand nuclear fission, but we accept it . . . Why is it so easy to accept manmade miracles and so difficult to accept the miracles of the Bible?

The Bible is God’s gift to us. It came from God, and it points us to God.

The Bible is a guidebook, leading men [and women] to God in a personal faith. Like a map or guidebook, it will show you the way, but you must take it one step at a time.

The Bible is to your soul what bread is to your body. You need it daily. One good meal does not suffice for a lifetime.

I’m afraid most Bibles remain unopened and unread. Don’t let this be true of yours!

The vitality [of] the Bible [is] exhibited in every generation . . .Its power to transform lives is its best apologetic.

There is nothing which indicates the inspiration of the Scriptures more than the factual and faithful record of men and their failures . . .These records are for our warning and instruction. They show us how sinful man needs God.

Just as the Bible is God’s written Word, so Jesus is God’s living Word.

One can approach the Bible with a cold, rationalistic attitude, or one can do so with reverence and the desire to hear God speak.

I do not understand why reading the Bible in public should make others feel uncomfortable . . . it may be such an example that serves to remind them of the Book they have neglected.

The [Bible’s] message is concerned with earth dwellers, their origin, the reason for their existence, the cause of their misery, and the plan of redemption for a fallen race.

We are not free to pick and choose the parts of the Bible we want to believe or obey. God has given us all of it, and we should be obedient to all of it.

Psalms teaches us how to relate to God, and Proverbs teaches us how to relate to others.

The Bible is our authority in everything it touches. This means the Bible is our guide to show us how to live . . . it is our instructor.

The Bible has stood the test of time because it is divinely inspired by Almighty God, written in ink that cannot be erased by any man, religion,or belief system.

The Word does not change. The Dead Sea scrolls, archeology, modern science—they do not change the Bible; they confirm it.

Man has not changed. Man still rejects the testimony of the Scripture.

Every generation has found [the Bible’s] message indispensable, and its influence on individuals and society over the centuries has been enormous.

God’s laws for the spiritual world are found in the Bible. Whatever else there may be that tells us of God, it is more clearly told in the Bible.

The Bible will always be the center of controversy.

The only place we can find a clear, i unmistakable message is in the Word of God [the Bible].

The central theme of the Bible is salvation, and the central personality of the Bible is Christ.

The Bible is to be our basis of authority. We must “by faith” accept [Jesus] as the Son of the living God. This sounds narrow and intolerant, and in a sense it is!

People from all walks of life are searching for answers to life’s problems. I believe the Bible has the answer to man’s deepest needs.

The main “food” God has given to strengthen us is the Bible, the Word of God.

Each of us has our reference point and as a Christian the reference point by which I measure my life and thought is the Bible.

I don’t think people can live without hope. What oxygen is to the lungs, hope is to our survival in this world. And the Bible is filled with hope.

The Bible is the constant fountain for faith, conduct, and inspiration from which we drink daily.

God gave the Bible to us because He wants us to know Him and love Him and serve Him. Most of all, He gave it to us so we can become more like Christ.

Some of the strongest warnings about judgment in the Bible come from the lips of Jesus.

Man is precisely what the Bible says he is. Human nature is behaving exactly as the Bible said it would. The course of human events is flowing just as Christ predicted.

The Bible teaches that man’s chief problem is spiritual.

In the textbook of revelation, the Bible, God has spoken verbally; and this spoken word has survived every scratch of the human pen.

The Bible . . . is the only Book that offers man a redemption and points the way out of his dilemmas. It is our one sure guide in an unsure world.

When we approach the Bible as history and biography, we approach the Bible in the wrong spirit. We must read the Bible, not primarily as historians seeking information, but as men and women seeking God.

The Bible is the textbook of revelation.In God’s great classroom there are three textbooks—one called nature, one called conscience, and one named Scripture. In the written textbook of revelation—the Bible—God speaks through words.

Without the Bible, this world would indeed be a dark and frightening place, without signpost or beacon.

Those who read the Scriptures as magnificent literature, breath-taking poetry, or history and overlook the story of salvation miss the Bible’s real meaning and message.

As we cast our frightened eyes around for something that is real and true and enduring, we are turning once more to this ancient Book [the Bible] that has given consolation, comfort, and salvation to millions in the centuries past.

God never leads us to do anything that is contrary to the Bible.

The Bible stands as the supreme Constitution for all mankind, its laws applying equally to all who live under its domain, without exception or special interpretation.

I have yet to discover a source of information, practical advice, and hope that compares to the wisdom found in the Bible.

Become grounded in the Bible. As Christians, we have only one authority, one compass: the Word of God.

Before you “re-think” your faith, it may be wise to examine the critics of the Bible. In the end your faith will be even stronger.

I find something new in the Bible every time I read it . . . that can be the experience of everyone who comes to it wanting to discover more of God’s truth.

The Pilgrims had vision and hope because they lived in the dimension of eternity. Their strength of spirit was forged by a personal faith in God, by tough discipline, and by regular habits of devotion.

Our nation grew strong in an era when moral standards were emphasized, and it will grow weak when we condone that which we once condemned.

As long as we are on this earth, we possess dual citizenship. On one hand we owe allegiance to our nation and are called to be good citizens. But we are also citizens of the kingdom of God. Our supreme loyalty is to Him.

All the nations that make up the world are burdened down with riches or poverty, obesity or malnutrition, success or failure.

At the bitter end of an era of liberation—women’s lib, kids’ lib, animal lib, and everything-but-ethics lib—America has apparently been liberated from its moral foundations. But for too many, the good life has become a living hell.

The great flaw in the American economic system has finally been revealed: an unrealistic faith in the power of prosperity rather than in the ultimate power and benevolence of God.

The blood of Christ “purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9 NIV).

People reading the Bible for the first time are often surprised to discover how much human drama it contains. Almost every conceivable human dilemma and conflict is reflected in its pages.

The Bible is the only Book in the world that predicts the future. The Bible is more modern than tomorrow morning’s newspaper.

The Bible is God’s book of promises, and, unlike the books of men, it does not change or get out of date.

Let the study of the Bible become central in your life—not just so you will know it, but that you will obey it.

The sword of the Spirit—the Bible—is the weapon God has provided for us to use in this battle between truth and deception. Make it a priority to wield that sword skillfully.

I learned the importance of the Bible and came to believe with all my heart in its full inspiration. It became a sword in my hand to break open the hearts of men, to direct them to the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is man and not the Bible that needs correcting. Greater and more careful scholarship has shown that apparent contradictions were caused by incorrect translations, rather than divine inconsistencies.

Today there are more people who know the words to a television commercial than know the words in the Bible.

Every graveyard and every cemetery testify that the Bible is true.

Make the Bible part of your daily life, and ask God to engrave its truths on your soul.

The very practice of reading [the Bible] will have a purifying effect upon your mind and heart. Let nothing take the place of this daily exercise.

If I stick to the Bible and preach the principles and the teachings of the Bible, and quote the Bible, it has an impact of its own.

We can trust the Bible because it points us to the most important events in human history: the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

From one end of the Bible to the other, God assures us that He will never go back on His promises.

Come back to the Bible. Begin to read it. Study it and God will speak to you and change you—and through you perhaps history can be changed.

The Bible is actually a library of books—some long, some short—written over hundreds of years by many authors. Behind each one, however, was [the] Author: the Spirit of God.

We have so many battles going on in America today that we should be a people of prayer. Our government needs prayer. Our leaders need prayer. Our schools need prayer. Our youth need our prayers. Our families need our prayers.

America’s Declaration of Independence speaks of “the pursuit of happiness,” but nowhere in the Bible are we told to pursue this. Happiness is elusive, and we don’t find it by seeking it.

Just as America has grown and prospered within the framework of our Constitution, so Christianity has flourished and spread according to the laws set forth in the Bible.

[God] alone is perfect. Even His anger is righteous, because it is directed solely against evil.

Every destructive emotion bears its own harvest, but anger’s fruit is the most bitter of all.

Anger flees when the Spirit’s fruit fills our hearts.

On the cross Christ took upon Himself every sin we’ve ever committed—including anger.

If you have been harboring anger or bitterness or jealousy in your heart toward someone—a parent, an ex-spouse, a boss—hand it over to Christ, and ask Him to help you let it go.

There are many irritations in life. They become prime opportunities for Satan to lead us into evil passion. Keep anger clear of bitterness, spite, or hatred.

Anger makes us lash out at others, destroying relationships and revealing our true nature. The history of the human race is largely the history of its anger.

Bitterness is anger gone sour, an attitude of deep discontent that poisons our souls and destroys our peace.

Don’t let the acids of bitterness eat away inside. Learn the secret of trusting Christ in every circumstance.

America has probably been the most successful experiment in history. The American Dream was a glorious attempt. It was built on a religious foundation. Its earliest concepts came from Holy Scripture.

Don’t let hatred control you, no matter what others do that causes [anger]. You would only become guilty of the same sin that afflicts them, and nothing would be solved.

When someone hurts us, our natural instinct is to strike back—but when we do, we not only destroy any possibility of reconciliation, but we also allow anger and hate to control us.

You can put a public school and university in the middle of every block of every city in America—but you will never keep America from rotting morally by mere intellectual education.

I believe America has gone a long way down the wrong road. If we ever needed God’s help, it is now.

God honored and blessed America as few nations in history. However, in recent years the nation has been moving away from its religious heritage.

We must face honestly the toll that anger and bitterness take on our lives. They are our enemies! The Bible says, “An angry person stirs up dissension, and a hot-tempered one commits many sins.

A terrifying spiritual and moral tide of evil has already loosed us from our spiritual moorings. Monstrous new ideas that could easily destroy our freedoms are rushing into the vacuum.

Nations rise, they flourish for a time, and then they decline. Eventually every empire comes to an end; not even the greatest can last forever.

There is no doubt that nations come to an end when they have ceased to fulfill the function that God meant for them.

The secret strength of a nation is found in the faith that abides in the hearts and homes of the country.

We talk out of both corners of our mouth at once. We say we are a Christian nation, but much of our literature, our social practices, our deep interests are not Christian at all. They are totally secular.

Spiritually, we have wandered far from the faith of our fathers . . . no nation which relegates the Bible to the background, which disregards the love of God and flouts the claims of the Man of Galilee, can long survive.

No form of government has been able to establish righteousness, justice, and peace, the three elements without which we can never have continued national prosperity or international peace.

We face dangers every day of which we are not even aware. Often God intervenes on our behalf through the use of His angels.

God isn’t finished with you when you retire! When we know Christ, we never retire from His service.

Among young people . . . drinking is for getting drunk. And many go on to become alcoholics.

Drunkenness is not a new vice. Its ravages have always been a scourge on the human race . . .Alcohol is a killer, a murderer.

Thousands are killed and injured every year by teenagers driving too fast or under the influence of drugs and drink . . .others are killing [themselves] with alcohol or heroin overdoses.

Do not seek solace in alcohol. Alcohol obscures good judgment and leaves you unable to think clearly or understand what God is trying to say to you.

What began as an apparently harmless pastime has ended up as a frightening, overpowering addiction or obsession.

Some [young people] are taking pills called “heaven or hell” drugs, because you’re liable to experience either one.

Drinking and other forms of body-wrecking pleasures are signs of weakness rather than manliness. It takes a better man to live a clean life—free from the stimulants, depressants, and drugs—than to be artificially [stimulated].

There is hope for the alcoholic: God is able to deliver from this as well as any other addiction.

Old age has its compensations. More than ever I see each day as a gift from God. It is also a time to reflect back on God’s goodness over the years and an opportunity to assure others that God truly is faithful to His promises.

Many people plan financially for retirement—but not spiritually and emotionally.

Old age is Satan’s last chance to blow us off course.

One of the characteristics of some drugs (such as cocaine) is that they make a person feel strong and alert—when in fact the opposite is the case. Don’t allow yourself to be deceived.

God wants us to work (whether at home or on the job), but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong to retire. The Levites (who assisted in Israel’s worship) were required to retire at fifty.

Ask [God] to help you reflect Christ as you grow older, instead of turning sour or grumpy.

Life can grow sweeter and more rewarding as we grow older if we possess the presence of Christ. Sunsets are always glorious. It is Christ who adds colors, glory, and beauty to man’s sunsets.

Many people are trying to steady themselves by taking tranquilizers. Jesus is the greatest tranquilizer of all. He can straighten out your life and put you back on center.

Some people seem to put the devil on a par with God. Actually, Satan is a fallen angel.

[Angels] guide, comfort, and provide for the people of God in the midst of suffering and persecution.

The empire of angels is as vast as God’s creation. If you believe the Bible, you will believe in their ministry.

Whether or not we sense and feel the presence of the Holy Spirit or one of the holy angels, by faith we are certain God will never leave us or forsake us.

[Angels] crisscross the Old and New Testaments, being mentioned directly or indirectly nearly 300 times.

Just as millions of angels participated in the dazzling show when the morning stars sang together at creation, so will the innumerable hosts of heaven help bring to pass God’s prophetic declarations throughout time and into eternity.

Anger and bitterness—whatever the cause—only end up hurting us. Turn that anger over to Christ.

[God] wants to help you overcome the bitterness and anger that you feel, and He wants to encourage you . . . He knows that anger and depression will never help you deal with your problems—they only make them worse.

God’s will is for us to commit our lives to Christ and follow Him. God’s will also is that we avoid sin.

Do you want to know what God’s will is for you? It is for you to become more and more like Christ. This is spiritual maturity, and if you make this your goal, it will change your life.

Sometimes it’s best to start moving in the direction you think God may want you to go, and then trust Him to lead you—closing doors He doesn’t want you to go through and opening up others.

Each generation becomes more addicted to the sedatives of life, to dull the pain of living.

The greatest barrier to knowing God’s will is simply that we want to run our own lives. Our problem is that a battle is going on in our hearts—a battle between our wills and God’s will.

God’s will is that we would be righteous in our living. God is holy, and the whole scheme of redemption has holiness for its goal.

God wants us to know His will and He reveals it to us both through the Bible and through the guidance of His Holy Spirit. Seek God’s will when you pray, and He will help you know it.

The Bible condemns the use of any substance which alters or distorts our thinking (including alcohol, which was the most common drug in ancient times).

To know the will of God is the highest of all wisdom. Living in the center of God’s will rules out all falseness of religion and puts the stamp of true sincerity upon our service to God.

God’s holiness demands that sin be punished—but God’s love has provided the way of redemption through Christ.

God will never—never—lead you to do something that is contrary to His written Word, the Bible.

Living the Christian life means striving for holiness.

Some of the most heart-breaking letters I receive are from people who tell how alcohol or drugs have ravaged their lives and destroyed their families.

We cannot be satisfied with our goodness after beholding the holiness of God.

If you are ignorant of God’s Word, you will always be ignorant of God’s will.

When the headlines get black and foreboding, the sale of alcohol and barbiturates rises in the country, as millions try to escape from the grim realities of [such] dangers.

Many people turn to alcohol to try to drown the [cries] and longings of the soul. Others attempt to quiet the longings of their souls in other ways. Nothing but God ever completely satisfies, because the soul is made for God.

One of the most conspicuous modes of escape is alcoholism, which is now a national catastrophe.

Escapism seems to be the order of the day . . .Escape with drugs or alcohol, and the bitterness of living will be blurred . . .We can’t escape from God.

Researchers have found that peer pressure exerted within a clique has caused every one of its members to experiment with drugs, to engage in murderous gang fights, to steal autos, and to violate the seventh commandment.

Liquor is not necessary either for health or for so-called gracious living . . .It is the cause of untold sorrow, suffering, and material loss, not to mention the spiritual implications of drinking.

In Houston, Texas, a man was born again in one of our meetings. He owned a liquor store. The next morning he had a sign on the front of his door saying, “Out of business.

Drinking has become one of the most serious social problems. It is basically the result of an attempt to escape from the responsibilities and realities of life.

A senator once confided to me that the greatest need in Washington was the elimination of the cocktail party. He said: “It consumes so much of our time that we don’t have time for matters of state.

One of the bonuses of being a Christian is the glorious hope that extends out beyond the grave into the glory of God’s tomorrow.

We are so caught up with the affairs of this life we give little attention to eternity.

What you do with Christ here and now decides where you shall spend eternity.

We glorify Christ when we live for God—trusting, loving, and obeying Him.

When one bears suffering faithfully, God is glorified and honored.

What greater glory can we anticipate than to stand before the throne of God, to humble ourselves before His great and incomparable majesty.

Our voices, our service, and our abilities are to be employed, primarily, for the glory of God.

One of the joys of heaven . . . will be discovering the hidden ways that God in His sovereignty acted in our lives on earth to protect and guide us [that we might] bring glory to His name, in spite of our frailty.

Life is just a schoolroom with a glorious opportunity to prepare us for eternity.

Most people are living for today with barely a thought of eternity.

How do we prepare for that last day? Before we embark on our final trip, have we left an earthly home in a state of chaos or a condition of order?

[Multitudes] have never been born again. They will go into eternity lost—while thinking they are saved because they belong to the church, or were baptized.

A Christian funeral should be a coronation ceremony, a statement to the world about eternal life.

Where will we spend eternity—with God in that place of endless joy the Bible calls heaven, or apart from Him in that place of endless despair the Bible calls hell?

Heaven is real and hell is real, and eternity is but a breath away.

God can use the fear that grips the hearts of men today to point them to eternal truths—the truth of God’s eternal judgment, and the truth of His eternal love.

Jesus taught that there is an eternal destiny for each individual—either heaven or hell (John 5:25–29). The eternal destiny of each individual depends on a decision made in this life (Luke 16:19–31)—to be followed by a life of obedience.

Christians should seek after holiness—without which no man shall see the Lord. Let us seek ardently the kind of life that reflects the beauty of Jesus and marks us as being what saints ought to be!

What stirs God most is not physical suffering but sin. All too often we are more afraid of physical pain than of moral wrong. The cross is the standing evidence of the fact that holiness is a principle for which God would die.

As I read the Bible, I seem to find holiness to be [Christ’s] supreme attribute.

If you belong to Jesus Christ, you are called to live a life of purity and holiness. God wants your mind to be shaped by Him so that your thoughts and goals reflect Christ.

Don’t take the holiness of God lightly, for it is the very essence of His character.

Compassion is not complete in itself, but must be accompanied by inflexible justice and wrath against sin and a desire for holiness.

Disappointment and failure are not signs that God has forsaken you or stopped loving you. The devil wants you to believe God no longer loves you, but it isn’t true. God’s love for us never fails.

[While] disappointment and failure aren’t identical, they often occur together, and both can hold us back from God’s best for our lives.

Don’t be bound by the past and its failures. But don’t forget its lessons either.

The time to prepare for life’s disappointments and hurts is in advance.

Don’t let failure or disappointment cut you off from God or make you think the future is hopeless. When God closes one door, He often opens another—if we seek it.

If we who have the Holy Spirit living and working within us falter and fail, what hope is there for the rest of the world?

Many of the mysteries of God—the heartaches, trials, disappointments, tragedies, and the silence of God in the midst of suffering—will be revealed in heaven.

Peter preached about [the blood]. Paul wrote about it, and the redeemed in heaven sing about it. In a sense, the New Testament is the Book of the Blood.

Renewal is brought by the Holy Spirit. Believers will learn what it means to minister to one another and build each other up. No longer will our lives seem ordinary and indistinguishable from the rest of the world.

Sometimes we encourage someone without even being aware of it. Even the example we set by attending church may encourage someone who is searching for God.

[The Holy Spirit] will remain with every believer right to the end. This thought has encouraged me a thousand times in these dark days when satanic forces are at work.

With an old head and a young heart, you can be a source of real strength [to others] who need your cheer and encouragement.

All around you are people whose lives are filled with trouble and sorrow, and they need your compassion and encouragement.

We never gain in life by hurting others. Sometimes we try to elevate our own insecure egos by degrading and belittling those around us. Yet this produces only a false sense of self-esteem.

The Bible teaches us to be more concerned about the needs and feelings of others than our own. We are to encourage and build self-confidence in our loved ones, friends, and associates.

The journey God has set before us isn’t a freeway; we are constantly encountering forks and junctions and crossroads. Which way will we go when we meet them? Life is filled with decisions, and we can’t avoid them.

Jesus does not allow us to be neutral about Him. Jesus demands that we decide about Him.

God has a plan and the devil has a plan, and you will have to decide which plan you are going to fit into.

Men and women do make decisions wherever the Gospel is proclaimed; whether publicly or privately, some say yes, some say no, and some procrastinate. No one ever hears the Gospel proclaimed without making some kind of decision!

When we are called before God and His throne of judgment, it will be too late to reverse our decision. It is during our lifetime here on earth that we decide our eternal destiny.

Part of the human makeup which distinguishes man from other creatures is his ability to reason and make moral decisions. Man is a free moral agent.

Once God leads you to make a decision, don’t draw back. Instead, trust His leading, and believe He goes before you—because He does.

The most important decision you will ever make is the decision you make about eternity.

Some people resist the idea of a choice of any sort. They don’t want to be called “narrow.” But Jesus taught that there are two roads, and you have to choose which road you will take.

There are two masters, and you have to choose which master you are going to serve.

There is not a day that we do not have a chance to choose between the devil’s clever promises and God’s sure Word.

From the beginning of time until the present moment, man’s ungodly quest for power, his determination to use his gift of free choice for his own selfish ends, has brought him to the brink of doom.

Our families cannot choose Christ for us. Our friends cannot do it. God is a great God, but even God can’t make the decision for us . . .we have to make our own choice.

[God] created us free to choose how we would live . . . but leaves us free to pursue our own ends with tragic, natural consequences.

The Bible clearly teaches that when we turn our backs on God and choose to disregard His moral laws there are inevitable consequences. Furthermore it is not God who is to blame for the consequences, but the person who has broken His law.

The Antichrist . . . will be the embodiment of evil, and will have great power to deceive those who choose to follow him.

The destiny of your own soul is in your own hands by the choice you make.

Have you ever seen a person who was receiving a blood transfusion? The blood was precious, life-giving, and certainly not repulsive. The blood of Christ may seem to be a grim and repulsive subject . . .[but] the blood of Christ is precious.

Blood is the symbol of the life sacrificed for sin.

Once for all God made complete and perfect provision for the cure of man’s sins; without the blood of Christ, it is indeed a fatal disease.

We are called to obey Christ. He is the Master of our lives and has washed us in His blood, which cleanses our souls, our minds, and our mouths. The world is watching. What do they see and hear?

Blood is mentioned 460 times in the Bible. Fourteen times in the New Testament Jesus spoke of His own blood. Why? Because by the shedding of His blood, He accomplished the possibility of our salvation.

The distinctive feature of Christianity is blood atonement. Without it we cannot be saved. Blood is actually a symbol of the death of Christ.

[Today] there is less emphasis on redemption by the blood of Christ.

Today the idea of the shed blood of Christ is becoming old-fashioned and out of date in a lot of preaching. It is in the Bible. It is the very heart of Christianity.

Anxiety and fear are like baby tigers: The more you feed them, the stronger they grow.

Look up on a starry night, and you will see the majesty and power of an infinite Creator.

Historians will probably call our era “the age of anxiety.” Anxiety is the natural result when our hopes are centered in anything short of God and His will for us.

Hypochondriacs who have a fanciful anxiety about their health will never be well regardless of their physical condition.

Is it any wonder that fear and anxiety have become the hallmarks of our age?

Men and women who give [Christ] first place find that there is no need for anxiety about this world’s goods.

The Bible is the one book which reveals the Creator to the creature He created! No other book that man has conceived can make that statement and support it with fact.

Have we just been placed here by some unknown creator or force without any clue as to where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going? The answer is “no.” We do have a code. We do have a key . . . the Bible.

As a Christian, I believe that we are all created in the image of God. I believe that God loves the whole world . . .The life of no human being is cheap in the eyes of God, nor can it be in our own eyes.

There is no conclusive scientific evidence that man is “up from the ape.” While the animals were created “after their kind,” we are told that “God created man in His own image” [Genesis 1:27 NKJV].

There is no point of space, whether inside or outside the bounds of creation, where God is not present. That is why when we ask the question, “Who’s in control?” we can answer without equivocation, “God is!

Any theory of the universe that does not take into account the God and Creator of the universe is not worthy of serious consideration.

God is the Ruler of His mighty creation. There is no reason to despair, because He holds in His hands the whole world, while His Spirit is able to fill the void in man’s heart.

[God] has in mind a picture of what He intends to create. He breaks, cracks, chisels, and polishes until one day there emerges His vision . . . God has not yet finished with us.

By faith I accepted Him for what He claimed to be, the Son of the Living God. That simple decision changed my life—and I have seen it change the lives of countless others across the world.

You need to make the right decision—firmly and decisively—and then stick with it with God’s help.

Conscience is our wisest counselor and teacher, our most faithful and most patient friend.

You will never know the peace with God, peace of conscience, peace of mind, and peace of soul until you stand at the foot of the cross and identify yourself with Christ by faith . . . this is peace with God.

Christ can rid you of inner conflict. Man without God is always torn between two urges. His nature prompts him to do wrong, and his conscience urges him to do right.

In your own mind-darkened, will-paralyzed, conscience-dulled soul, God can make the light penetrate and turn the darkness of your own life into day, if you will let Him.

Conscience tells us in our innermost being of the presence of God and of the moral difference between good and evil; but this is a fragmentary message, in no way as distinct and comprehensive as the lessons of the Bible.

Many a criminal has finally given himself over to the authorities because the accusations of a guilty conscience were worse than prison bars.

Dishonesty is never justified. God will never approve, and even your own conscience will rise up to condemn you sooner or later.

The human conscience is often beyond the grasp of a psychiatrist . . .Humans are helpless to detach themselves from the gnawing guilt of a heart bowed down with the weight of sin. But where humans have failed, God has succeeded.

The human conscience is reliable only when it is guided by the Holy Spirit.

Some Christians have an elastic conscience when it comes to their own foibles—and an ironbound conscience when it comes to the foibles of others.

Sin also affects the conscience, until one becomes slow to detect the approach of sin.

There are storms in your own life: storms oftemptation, confusion, and difficulty . . .An uneasy conscience says, “Stop before it is too late!

As a person finds God’s will for his or her life, matters of conscience can be handled with perception from the Holy Spirit.

From a cleansed conscience emerges a changed life.

The one and only choice by which you can be converted is your choice to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as your own personal Lord and Savior. The word “conversion” means simply “turning.

In every true conversion the will of man comes into line with the will of God.

True conversion will involve the mind, the affection, and the will. There have been thousands of people who have been intellectually converted to Christ . . .but they have never been really converted to Him.

The converted person will love the good he once hated, and hate the sin he once loved.

To be a Christian is not a pious pose. It is not a long list of restrictions. Christianity flings open the windows to the real joy of living. Those who have been truly converted to Jesus Christ know the meaning of abundant living.

In order to get to heaven, Jesus said that you must be converted. I didn’t say it—Jesus said it!

It is a comfort to hear the words of God in times of stress.

God doesn’t comfort us to make us comfortable, but to make us comforters.

We should go to no place that we would not go in His Presence. But He is not with us just to judge or condemn us; He is near to comfort, protect, guide, encourage, strengthen, cleanse, and help.

There are countless opportunities to comfort others, not only in the loss of a loved one, but also in the daily distress that so often creeps into our lives.

Because tragedy happened to you, it gives you a greater sense of oneness with others who experience tragedy. Because we have been comforted through the Word of God, we in turn may be able to comfort others.

When we are a comfort and encouragement to others, we are sometimes surprised at how it comes back to us many times over.

Humanity wants comfort in its sorrow, light in its darkness, peace in its turmoil, rest in its weariness, and healing in its sickness and diseases: The Gospel gives all of this to us.

If the church is acceptable to this present ageand is not suffering reproach, then it is not the true church that our Lord founded.

The church should not reflect pop culture but portray godly attributes. The church should not seek pleasures but seek after God.

The church is blending into the community by embracing what the world enjoys and, in turn, bringing inside the church the world’s ideas and interests.

Christ’s church is a place to grow people up in the Lord, not to enhance our leisure time.

Church is not for pretenders and performers. Church is a place for pastors to preach principles of the faith in order to prepare believers to face the storms of life on the stage of an unbelieving world.

The church is in turmoil today. The church is not to reflect the world but to be a portrait of Jesus Christ.

No church is perfect, but don’t let that discourage you. Someone has said that if you ever find one that is, it will stop being perfect the minute you join!

The church should not be pampered but rather prepare for, and expect, persecution—for it is Christ’s body on earth.

We have become so tolerant and accepting of the world’s ways that it is hard for many in the church to notice the sin much less answer how it crept in. The church is to be in the world, but worldliness is not to infiltrate the church.

When the church begins to entertain the flock and respond to the cult of self—it is diminished to a mere community center.

The fiercest storm is taking place in some of our churches—the unbelief and disobedience of God’s Word.

It is vitally important for local church leaders to keep in touch with the spiritual state of their members, to discuss their level of biblical knowledge, and to teach them how to study God’s Word and pray.

God speaks to us through our conscience. This may be a “still small voice” that will not let us go until we do what we know is right . . .we must never silence that inner voice—[but] check what we think it is saying against the Scriptures.

Conscience is the detective that watches the direction of our steps and decries every conscious transgression.

Do not be content to skim through a chapter [of the Bible] merely to satisfy your conscience. Hide the Word of God in your heart.

God does communicate with those who are willing to obey Him. He penetrates the dark silence with free, life-giving discoveries in nature, the human conscience, Scripture, and the Person of Jesus Christ.

Satan] invades the Sunday school, the Bible class, and even the pulpit. He even invades the church under cover of an orthodox vocabulary, emptying sacred terms of their biblical sense.

In some churches today and on some religious television programs, we see the attempt to make Christianity popular and pleasant. We have taken the cross away and substituted cushions.

In thousands of churches [people] are led astray theologically. Thus spiritually and morally they are drifting aimlessly, without compass or guide.

The church in America has been deeply infiltrated by the “world,” and in the process it is beginning to copy and resemble the world in many of its activities.

Preaching the whole council of God involves man’s environment and physical being as well as his soul. There is no doubt that the church is in danger of getting off the main track and getting lost.

God did not ordain that the church should drift aimlessly in the seas of uncertainty without compass, captain, or crew.

The church should be setting the pace. The church should be taking its proper place of leadership in the nation . . .God help the church to wake up!

The church holds the key to revival. It is within our grasp.

America and Western Europe are on a moneymaking, pleasure-mad spree unparalleled in the history of the world. God is generally ignored or ridiculed. Church members in many cases are only halfhearted Christians. Judgment is coming.

We have been trying to solve every ill of society as though society were made up of regenerate men to whom we had an obligationto speak with Christian advice.

God’s church is a Bible-centered church, and it grows strong under persecution.

Before three thousand people were brought into the church on the day of Pentecost, the disciples had spent fifty days in prayer, fasting, and spiritual travail.

The Bible nowhere teaches that the church will ultimately convert the whole world to Jesus Christ. There has never been a generation in history, nor will there ever be generation, in which the majority of the people will believe in Christ.

Unless the church quickly recovers the authoritative biblical message, we may witness the spectacle of millions of Christians going outside the institutional church to find spiritual food.

What right does any church have even attempting to approve of lifestyles or certain acts for which God prescribed the death penalty in the Old Testament?

There are many who sit in some churches week after week, year after year, without hearing the whole Gospel and knowing what it is to be born again. They hear a gospel which is incomplete, and consequently not good news at all.

Statistics indicate that the church is rapidly losing in the population explosion. There are fewer Christians per capita every day.

The church has lost its ability to discipline members who live openly in sin. Consequently, we have lost our witness in the community.

The church is a storehouse of spiritual food whereby the inner man is fed, nourished, and developed into maturity. If it fails, it is not fulfilling its purpose as a church.

It could be said that going to church will not make one a Christian. But . . . refusing to fellowship with believers will not make you one either.

Down through the centuries the church has contributed more than any other single agency in lifting social standards to new heights.

The church isn’t just a particular building or congregation but the spiritual fellowship of all who belong to Jesus Christ. If we belong to Christ, we also belong to each other.

Many churches have molded their programs around the community—not the Word of God.

The Lord did not design the church to cater to people’s needs—the Lord breathed life into the church to proclaim His truths.

It is unbelief that shuts the door to heaven and opens it to hell. It is unbelief that rejects the Word of God and refuses Christ as Savior. It is unbelief that causes men to turn a deaf ear to the Gospel.

The subject of heaven is much easier to accept than the subject of hell. And yet the Bible teaches both.

Not one word about hell in the Bible would ever make you want to go there.

I am conscious of the fact that the subject of hell is not a very pleasant one. It is very unpopular, controversial, and misunderstood . . .As a minister I must deal with it. I cannot ignore it.

Among those Christians to whom hell means little, Calvary means less.

The Bible teaches there is hell for every person who willingly and knowingly rejects Christ as Lord and Savior. Many passages could be quoted to support that fact.

Hell has been cloaked in folklore and disguised in fiction for so long, many people deny the reality of such a place.

A seminary professor I once knew told his students, “Never preach about hell without tears in your eyes.

I would not change places with the wealthiest and most influential person in the world. I would rather be a child of the King, a joint-heir with Christ, a member of the Royal Family of heaven!

Your life is intricately woven into the lives of scores and hundreds of others around you. Consider the variety of lives that you influence in one day. Somewhere within your circle of contacts someone is being hurt. Are you aware of it?

Apart from religious influence, the family is the most important unit of society.

It doesn’t take great wealth or social influence to be faithful, but it does take obedience and endurance.

The way in which we react to hurts and disappointments influences the shaping of our personalities.

Salt and light speak of the influence Christians can exercise for good in society.

We must understand what the word believe implies. It means “commit” and “surrender.

We can hold nothing back [from God]. He must control and dominate us [wholly]. It is a surrender without any conditions attached. This surrender is a definite and conscious act on our part in obedience to the Word of God.

There is not one verse of Scripture that indicates you can be a Christian and live any kind of a life you want to. When Christ enters into the human heart, He expects to be Lord and Master. He commands complete surrender.

Faith actually means surrender and commitment to the claims of Christ. It means an acknowledgment of sin and a turning to Christ.

Jesus expects one hundred percent surrender, and when that is accomplished He rewards a thousandfold.

Surrendering to Christ is like signing your name to a blank check and letting the Lord put in the amount.

In our spiritual pilgrimage we see sins which mar our relationship with God, but beneath it is a commitment which seeks to move beyond to a higher life, based on wholehearted surrender to God.

Pentecost was the day of power of the Holy Spirit. It was the day the Christian church was born.

The word church as applied to the Christian society was first used by Jesus Himself when He told Peter, “Upon this rock I will build my church” [Matthew 16:18]. He is the foundation of all Christian experience.

The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.

If we in the church want a cause to fight, let’s fight sin. Let’s reveal its hideousness. Let’s show that Jeremiah was correct when e said: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” [Jeremiah 17:9 NKJV].

I have met men who are habitual liars. They have lied so long that they no longer can distinguish between the truth and a lie. Their sensitivity to sin has been almost completely deadened.

Movie and television stars lay down the law offashions, manners, speech, and even moral behavior. It has been proven that a movie or a television program can brainwash.

New morality is nothing more than the old immorality brought up to date.

Truth is timeless. Truth does not differ from one age to another, from one people to another, from one geographical location to another . . . the great all-prevailing Truth stands for time and eternity.

Because truth is unpopular does not mean that it should not be proclaimed.

Our emotions can lie to us, and we need to counter our emotions with truth.

Where there is truth and error there is always compromise. Within some churches there is a movement to reshape the Christian messageto make it more acceptable to man.

If our minds and hearts are not filled with God’s truth, something else will take His place: cynicism, occultism, false religions and philosophies, drugs—the list is endless.

The Holy Spirit can take God’s word of truthand minister it to our deepest needs.

It is far better to know God’s truth than to be ignorant of it.

Honesty means exactly what it says. We are honest and trustworthy in all our dealings. People can trust our word, because we refuse to lie or shade the truth.

We have changed our moral code to fit our behavior instead of changing our behavior to harmonize with God’s moral code.

We have glamorized vice and minimized virtue. We have played down gentleness, manners, and morals—while we have played up rudeness, savagery, and vice . . . and the philosophy of “might is right.

The Bible teaches that man can undergo a radical spiritual and moral change that is brought about by God Himself.

What happens when lying and stealing and immorality and murder become the norm? The result can be summarized in one word: chaos.

Moral living sometimes demands difficult choices. It requires selflessness.

The fact that immorality is rampant throughout the nation doesn’t make it right!

The Ten Commandments are just as valid today as they were when God gave them. They reflect the moral character of God, and they also provide the foundation of right living with others.

No one spoke more about hell than Jesus did, and the hell He came to save men from was not only a hell on earth . . .it was something to come.

When we all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, we will have our true motives revealed.

Being pure in conduct also includes honesty and integrity in dealing with our fellowmen. A Christian should be known in his neighborhood or place of business as an honest person.

God’s standard is expressed in the Bible, and the ultimate example of that standard is Jesus Christ. When we live by the truth, we possess integrity.

Integrity means that we are trustworthy and dependable, and our character is above reproach.

Unless men of purpose, integrity, and faith stand together in unswerving loyalty to Jesus Christ, the future of the world is dark indeed.

I believe integrity can be restored to a society one person at a time. The choice belongs to each of us.

We will be judged according to the secret motives and the character of our work. If we have done our work for selfish motives or personal gain, even if the results looked noble to our friends and family, God knows our hearts.

Hundreds of passages point to a time of judgment for every person who has ever lived—none will escape. If you took all the references to judgment out of the Bible, you would have little Bible left.

Integrity means that if our private life was suddenly exposed, we’d have no reason to be ashamed or embarrassed. Integrity means our outward life is consistent with our inner convictions.

God has already set the date [for judgment]. You may make and break appointments in this life, but this is one appointment you are going to keep.

People judge us not by what we think or believe, but by what we do—and when our lives don’t measure up, we lose their respect and they conclude our faith isn’t real.

I believe that one of the reasons for crime, perversion, and the evils of modern mankind is that we have lost belief in the certainty of God being just, holy, and righteous, and that He will judge the world.

A call for national and individual repentance is urgently needed today, or judgment is certain to fall.

God judges mankind by the standard of the only God-man who ever lived, Jesus Christ. Jesus, the innocent Lamb of God, stands between our sin and the judgment of God the Father.

God’s judgment echoes the sound of hoofbeats, but God’s love quietly convicts.

In character-building and in living the Christian life, concentration is important. The [person] who has a general interest in everything usually isn’t too good at anything.

One of the real tests of Christian character is to be found in the lives we live from day to day.

Instead of clinging to the only Lifeboat that can save, we have tossed overboard biblical truths in the name of [compromise], living on the edge of life, like the man who rides the parameter of a hurricane, daring it to sweep him away.

God promises no easy life or days without troubles, trials, difficulties, and temptations. He never promises that life will be perfect. He does not call His children to a playground, but to a battleground.

Be attractive and winsome, but do not compromise your convictions for the sake of popularity.

When Jesus was tempted, He didn’t debate the devil. He quoted Scripture: “It is written . . . It is written . . . It is written” (Matthew 4:4–10 NKJV). And each time the devil was defeated.

We can’t flee from temptation in our own strength—but God will give us the strength we need, if we’ll only seek it. A friend of mine says, “When the devil knocks, I just send Jesus to the door!

It is not the temptations you have, but the decision you make about them that counts.

Everyone has temptations but some folks entertain them . . .Get your eyes off the temptation and onto Christ!

I know that many of the things I have said from the Scriptures have offended, and I have sometimes been tempted to tone down the message. But, God helping me, I never will! I would become a false prophet. I would also betray my Lord.

Every stage of life has its own temptations and dangers, and Satan will do all he can to exploit them . . .the time to prepare is now, not when it arrives.

Be very sure that you do not deliberately place yourself in a position to be tempted.

Be sure that Satan will tempt you at your weak point, not the strong.

Many Christians give in to various temptations through peer pressure and find themselves surrendering to worldly passions, justifying pleasures the world offers.

Don’t savor temptations; don’t dwell on them or toy with them or replay them over and over in your mind. The more you think about a particular temptation, the more enticing it becomes.

All of us are not subjected to the same weaknesses and temptations.To one, alcohol may be the temptation;to another, it may be impure thoughts and acts; to another, greed and covetousness; to another, criticism and an unloving attitude.

Temptation is not a sin. It is the yielding that is sin. All temptation is from the devil.

Only a strong faith—a faith based on God’s Word—will protect us from temptation and doubt.

Temptation: Recognize it for what it is, and then reject it—immediately and without compromise.

God never directs in a way contrary to His character. When the Scriptures tell us that He will direct our paths, we can be assured that when He is in control, no matter how thorny the path, He will not tell us to jump off a cliff.

True greatness is not measured by the headlines a person commands or the wealth he or she accumulates. The inner character of a person—the undergirding moral and spiritual values and commitments—is the true measure of lasting greatness.

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and so is our character.

A godlikeness of character is the Christian’s proper heritage in this earthly walk.

Trials and difficulties may assail the life of a believer, but they also have the ability to remold his character and banish from his life those impurities which might impair growth and service.

Consistency, constancy, and undeviating diligence to maintain Christian character are a must if the older generation is to command respect, or even a hearing, from the young.

A few years ago, honesty was the hallmark of a man of good character. But it’s been set aside for an “It’s all right if you don’t get caught” philosophy.

It is unfair to attribute virtues beyond a person’s true character.

Don’t conform to those who have been overwhelmed by the tide of immorality sweeping our country!

It is a tragedy that many of God’s people have conformed themselves to the world and its thinking, rather than being transformed by the renewing of their minds.

God’s purpose for us is that we ought to beconformed to the image of His Son. The world may exert its pressure to deform us, but we are told to “be transformed” [Romans 12:2 NIV].

Pure hearts will be Christlike. It is God’s desire that we be conformed to the image of His Son.

The underlying principle of all Satan’s tactics is deception. He is a crafty and clever camouflager.

Satan’s method has often been to imitate God.Satan is still using this form of deception, and often his representatives are being disguised as ministers of righteousness.

For Satan’s deceptions to be successful, they must be so cunningly devised that his real purpose is concealed by wiles.

We see ourselves as self-sufficient, self-important, and self-sustaining. God sees us as dependent, self-centered, and self-deceived.

Our culture will stand in roaring ovations for the illusionists, escape artists, and magicians. Deception is everything opposite the truth.

If we are at peace with this world, it may be because we have sold out to it and compromised with it.

Daniel and his companions were tempted to forsake their godly heritage but they refused. They even faced a fiery furnace rather than compromise.

We are to renounce the evil influence of the world, the flesh, and the devil. There can be no parleying, bargaining, compromise, or hesitation. Christ demands total loyalty.

Too many Christian TV and radio programs have been geared to please, entertain, and gain the favor of the world. The temptation is to compromise, to make the gospel more appealing and attractive.

Christ needs people today who are made of martyr stuff! Dare to take a strong, uncompromised stand for Him.

The devil has successfully fooled many churches, convincing them to follow the world. Biblical standards have been compromised by convenient social theories.

Compromising and conforming to the world’sstandard is against God’s Word.

I have read the last page of the Bible. It isall going to turn out all right.

Bible teaching about the Second Coming of Christ was thought of as “doomsday” preaching. But not anymore. It is the only ray of hope that shines as an ever brightening beam in a darkening world.

The Bible tells us that the state of the world will grow darker as we near the end of the age.

[It] is well and good when our convictions are based upon the “Thou shalts” and the “Thou shalt nots” of Scripture rather than our own ideas.

The world is heading for another major crisis that is being called, even by the secular world, “Armageddon.

[Jesus Christ] is the Lord of history. Nothing is taking God by surprise. Events are moving rapidly toward some sort of climax . . .when His Son, Jesus Christ, returns to be rightful Ruler of the world.

We are told in Scripture that there will be signs pointing toward the return of the Lord.I believe that we see those signs in the world today. I believe that the coming of the Lord is near.

When the “evil day” comes, we do not have to be dependent upon the circumstances around us, but rather on the resources of God!

I have become more deeply aware of the enormous problems that face our world today, and the dangerous trends which seem to beleading our world to the brink of Armageddon.

A new world is coming . . . The paradise that man lost will be regained . . . One day we will live in a brand-new world.

Man seeks to excuse himself of sin, but God seeks to convict him of it and to save him from it. Sin is no amusing toy—it is a terror to be shunned! Learn, then, what constitutes sin in the eyes of God!

What a moment to take the newspaper in one hand and the Bible in the other and watch the unfolding of the great drama of the ages. This is an exciting and thrilling time to be alive. I would not want to live in any other period.

The study [of Revelation] instructs us not only about the storms to come, but how to endure and come through them with great victory.

There are those today that say we must do as others do, that we must conform to the world [to win it], that we must swim with the tide, that we must move with the crowd. But the believer should say, “No.

We see the storm clouds gathering and events taking place that herald the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Revelation is a pastor’s letter to his floundering flock, an urgent telegram bearing a brilliant battle plan for a people at war.

I believe that this world, as we know it, will come to an end . . . This is not fanciful imagination but the clear and repeated testimony of the Bible.

The book of Revelation may be difficult and demanding to read, yet it is the only biblical book whose author promises a blessing to those who read it.

God often gives us an inner conviction or prompting to confirm which way He wants us to go. This prompting comes from the Holy Spirit.

Anyone who has genuinely seen God is deeply convicted of his or her own sin.

It is the Holy Spirit who brings about conviction [of sin] . . .repentance cannot take place unless first there is a movement of the Holy Spirit in the heart and mind.

When comfort and ease and pleasure are put ahead of duty and conviction, progress is always set back.

In the end there will be people who did the work of the Lord. They were busy in the church. They had done many wonderful works. But Jesus Himself says, “I never knew you” [Matthew 7:23 NKJV].

Learn to take sin seriously—be on guard against it and resist its tug, fight its power. But most of all learn to take the Holy Spirit seriously, calling on Him to help you overcome sin’s power and live a holy and godly life.

God can break the chain of every sin that binds you if you are willing to give it up. He comes into your heart and gives you power to overcome sin.

Man got into difficulty when he lifted his will against God’s. He gets out of trouble when he bows to the divine superiority, when he repents and says humbly: “God be merciful to me a sinner.” Man’s extremity then becomes God’s opportunity.

Nothing can alter the fact that God calls perversion sin.

The tragedy of sin reached its crescendo when God in Christ became sin . . .He was offering Himself as the sacrifice required by the justice of God if man was to be redeemed.

Sin lies at the heart of chaotic world conditions as we now know them and as they have existed through the centuries.

Why did Jesus Christ leave heaven’s gloryand enter this sin-infested world? For one reason: to make our eternal salvation possible.

It would be the greatest tragedy if I didn’t tell you that unless you repent of your sins and receive Christ as your Savior, you are going to be lost.

[The Bible] warns us about “the little foxes, that spoil the vines” [Song of Solomon 2:15 KJV]. This is a picture of the way “little” sinscan destroy our fruitfulness for the Lord.

Sin has tarnished every area of life, and [Christ] wants to erase its stain everywhere.

The unpardonable sin involves the total and irrevocable rejection of Jesus Christ.

Revenge easily descends into an endless cycle of hate and violence. The Bible says never repay evil with evil.

Evil is present to cleverly disguise itself as good. Evil is present to control and deceive us.

There are many new sinners today, but there aren’t any new sins, just the old ones clothed in different rags.

Every manifestation of evil is the result of basic sin—sin that has remained unchanged since the moment it first entered the human race.

I believe a Christian can sin, but he does not have to. God never would have told us to reject evil acts if in point of fact we could not help but do them.

The Bible teaches that whosoever is born of God does not practice sin.

Sinful pleasure can ruin our appetite for the things of God.

Sin is often, if not always, the perversion of something good. In the midst of all our sinning, though, God is willing to forgive us, change us,and give us a new power to overcome that sin.

Our magazine covers frequently feature the immoral, the perverted, the psychologically sick. Sin is “in.” People don’t like to be told they are sinners.

Sooner or later we must leave our dream world and face up to the facts of God, sin, and judgment. The Bible says, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” [Romans 3:23 NIV].

We have largely lost sight of the holiness and purity of God today. This is one reason why we tolerate sin so easily.

Neither the devil nor the world, nor even our own evil heart can compel us to sin. It must be by our own consent and will.

We don’t need to be crippled any longer by the disease of sin—because God has provided the cure.

We all have a terminal disease far worse than cancer that will kill us morally and spiritually.It’s called sin.

Sin is serious—so serious it sent Jesus Christ to the cross. Flee from [sin] and stay close to Christ.

cannot come to Christ unless the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin.

Sin pierced the very heart of God. God felt every piercing nail and spear thrust. God felt the burning sun. God felt the mocking derision and the body blows.

As much as we hate to admit it, we are sinners by birth. We are also sinners by choice. We are also sinners by practice.

There is less teaching about sin, and very little warning of judgment.

Galatians 5:21 constitutes the most serious warning to those who may think they can sin that grace may abound.

Sin—plain, old-fashioned sin, the self-same sin which caused Adam’s downfall—is what we are all suffering from today, and it will do us far more harm than good to try to dress it up with a fancy, more attractive label.

True freedom consists not in the freedom to sin, but the freedom not to sin.

Be assured that there is no sin you have ever committed that the blood of Jesus Christ cannot cleanse.

Only the Holy Spirit can open our eyes. Only He can convict us of the depth of our sin, and only He can convince us of the truth of the Gospel.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not anti-intellectual. It demands the use of [the] mind, but the mind is affected by sin.

The essence of sin is self-will—placing ourselves at the center of our lives instead of Christ.

The influence of sin touches the innocent as well as the guilty.

Our relationship must be right with God before it can be right with man.

Gratitude is one of the greatest Christian virtues; ingratitude, one of the most vicious sins.

If evil were not made to appear attractive, there would be no such thing as temptation.It is in the close similarity between good and evil, right and wrong, that the danger lies.

Repentance is mentioned seventy times in the New Testament . . . the Bible says God commands repentance . . . it is a command . . .God says, “Repent! Or perish!

[Christians] are commanded to warn the nations of the world that they must repent and turn to God while there is yet time.

When something brings profit or pleasure to us, we are inclined to call evil good, even if we know it is dead wrong.

We can be convicted of sin—we can pray and confess our sin—we can repent—but the real test is our willingness to obey.

A transformed life is the greatest of all miracles. Every time a person is “born again” by repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ, the miracle of regeneration is performed.

Before one can know what is right and wrong,he must first align himself with God. Only then is one in a position to do right.

Right is right, and wrong is wrong, in small things as well as in big things.

We live in an upside-down world. People hate when they should love, quarrel when they should be friendly, fight when they should be peaceful, wound when they should heal, steal when they should share,do wrong when they should do right.

Christians need to take a stand for what is right and not let evil go unchallenged.

You and I, God’s ambassadors, are called to sound the warning, to call sinners to repentance, to point the way to peace with God and the hope that is in Christ.

There is a right way and a wrong way to make contact with God.

To find the right path, we first need to remember why we are on the wrong path. The reason can be put in one word: sin.

It is entirely possible to be deeply sorry because of the devastation which sin has wrought in our lives—and yet not repent.

When we do good—even when others are doing wrong—God will bless us.

Sin is the great clogger, and the blood of Christ is the great cleanser.

The Bible says there is a certain pleasure in sin.However, it is short-lived and fatal.

True repentance is a turning from sin . . . Humanly speaking, it is our small part in the plan of salvation. Our part is repenting. God will do the converting, the transforming, and the forgiving.

The cause of all trouble, the root of all sorrow, the dread of every man lies in this one small word—sin. It has crippled the nature of man . . .It has caused man to be caught in the devil’s trap.

Jesus Christ is God in human flesh, and the story of His life, death, and resurrection is the only Good News the world will ever hear.

I realize that my ministry would someday come to an end. I am only one in a glorious chain of men and women God has raised up through the centuries to build Christ’s church and take the Gospel everywhere.

The first hint of the Gospel comes from Genesis 3:15, this is the first promise of salvation.

The Gospel should never be dull, for it is the most exciting and relevant news we could ever receive. When we find it dull, it is a warning sign that something is going on inside us and we need to take action to correct it.

Our chaotic, confused world has no greater need than to hear the message of good news—the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

It is impossible to believe anything into existence. The Gospel did not come into being because men believed it . . .The fact always precedes the faith.

My job is to preach the Gospel, which has the power to change men’s lives from the inside out.

End of Construction. Thank you ‘for your patience. ” Inscription on Ruth Bell Graham’s grave — inspired hy a road sign she saw.

When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost.

Worship leader George Beverly Shea kidded Billy Graham that the latter would be unemployed in Heaven — while Shea would still have a job leading worship.

Heaven is full of answers for which nobody ever bothered to ask.

Self-centered indulgence, pride and a lack of shame over sin are now emblems of the American lifestyle.

Go is the first part of the word Gospel.It should be the watchword of every true follower of Christ.It should be emblazoned on the banners of the church.

The highest form or worship is the worship of unselfish Christian service. The greatest form of praise is the sound of consecrated feet seeking out the lost and helpless.

The highest form of worship is the worship of unselfish Christian service. The greatest form of praise is the sound of consecrated feet seeking out the lost and helpless.

When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened.

Comfort and prosperity have never enriched the world as much as adversity has.

The more worldly pleasure we enjoy, the less satisfied and contented we are with life.

‎I’m in a win-win playoff. ” Response of a Christian dying of cancer at thirty on the prospect of miraculous healing.

There is no such thing as a “social gospel.” It is a misnomer. There is only one Gospel. “If any man preach any other gospel unto you . . .let him be accursed” [Galatians 1:9 KJV].

It is not the body’s posture, but the heart’s attitude that counts when we pray.

If a person gets his attitude toward money straight, it will help straighten out almost every other area in his life.

‘Hope and change’ has become a cliche in our nation, and it is daunting to think that any American could hope for change from what God has blessed.

God’s mercy and grace give me hope – for myself, and for our world.

Heaven gives us hope and makes our present burdens easier to bear.

A child who is allowed to be disrespectful to his parents will not have true respect for anyone.

Nothing can bring a real sense of security into the home except true love.

God proved His love on the Cross. When Christ hung, and bled, and died, it was God saying to the world, ‘I love you.’

The only time my prayers are never answered is on the golf course.

Each life is made up of mistakes and learning, waiting and growing, practicing patience and being persistent.

No matter how prepared you think you are for the death of a loved one, it still comes as a shock, and it still hurts very deeply.

Every human being is under construction from conception to death.

Racism and injustice and violence sweep our world, bringing a tragic harvest of heartache and death.

Death wasn’t part of God’s original plan for humanity, and the Bible calls death an enemy – the last enemy to be destroyed.

When granted many years of life, growing old in age is natural, but growing old with grace is a choice. Growing older with grace is possible for all who will set their hearts and minds on the Giver of grace, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Scripture is filled with examples of men and women whom God used late in life, often with great impact – men and women who refused to use old age as an excuse to ignore what God wanted them to do.

There’s a great deal to say in the Bible about the signs we’re to watch for, and when these signs all converge at one place we can be sure that we’re close to the end of the age.

Old age may have its limitations and challenges, but in spite of them, our latter years can be some of the most rewarding and fulfilling of our lives.

God will prepare everything for our perfect happiness in heaven, and if it takes my dog being there, I believe he’ll be there.

Communism is a religion that is inspired, directed and motivated by the Devil himself who has declared war against Almighty God.

The framers of our Constitution meant we were to have freedom of religion, not freedom from religion.

No parent is perfect we all can look back and think of things we could’ve done to help our children be better prepared for adulthood. And sometimes it’s best to admit it to them and encourage them to learn from our mistakes.

I’m thankful for the incredible advances in medicine that have taken place during my lifetime. I almost certainly wouldn’t still be here if it weren’t for them.

I’m grateful for the opportunities God gave me to minister to people in high places; people in power have spiritual and personal needs like everyone else, and often they have no one to talk to.

God has given us two hands, one to receive with and the other to give with.

The Christian life is not a constant high. I have my moments of deep discouragement. I have to go to God in prayer with tears in my eyes, and say, ‘O God, forgive me,’ or ‘Help me.’

God has given us two hands – one to receive with and the other to give with. We are not cisterns made for hoarding we are channels made for sharing.

I used to read five psalms every day – that teaches me how to get along with God. Then I read a chapter of Proverbs every day and that teaches me how to get along with my fellow man.

Our society strives to avoid any possibility of offending anyone – except God.

Only the supernatural love of God through changed lives can solve the problems that we face in our world.

The wonderful news is that our Lord is a God of mercy, and He responds to repentance.

A real Christian is a person who can give his pet parrot to the town gossip.

Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened.

Believers, look up – take courage. The angels are nearer than you think.

Even the securest financial plan and the finest health coverage aren’t enough to hold us steady when the challenges come… We need something more, something deeper and unshakeable, something that will see us through life’s hard times.

I have never talked publicly or privately about the Jewish people, including conversations with President Nixon, except in the most positive terms.

As I approached my 95th birthday, I was burdened to write a book that addressed the epidemic of ‘easy believism.’ There is a mindset today that if people believe in God and do good works, they are going to Heaven.

The greatest legacy one can pass on to one’s children and grandchildren is not money or other material things accumulated in one’s life, but rather a legacy of character and faith.

I can’t prove it scientifically, that there’s a God, but I believe.

I believe the home and marriage is the foundation of our society and must be protected.

As a former resident with strong personal and ministry ties to the North Star State, I pray that the good people of Minnesota will show their support for God’s definition of marriage, between a man and a woman.

The Bible is clear – God’s definition of marriage is between a man and a woman.

Man has two great spiritual needs. One is for forgiveness. The other is for goodness.

Every year during their High Holy Days, the Jewish community reminds us all of our need for repentance and forgiveness.

I am amazed at the wonders of technology and am grateful for the ways in which we are able to use it to share the Gospel around the world.

The Oklahoma City bombing was simple technology, horribly used. The problem is not technology. The problem is the person or persons using it.

The word ‘romance,’ according to the dictionary, means excitement, adventure, and something extremely real. Romance should last a lifetime.

I kept a very full diary of my relationship with Nixon, for some strange reason, until he became president.

God is more interested in your future and your relationships than you are.

Regardless of what society says, we can’t go on much longer in the sea of immorality without judgment coming.

I haven’t been faithful to my own advice in the past. I will in the future.