Billy Graham Quotes - Page 18

[Christians] are commanded to warn the nations of the world that they must repent and turn to God while there is yet time.

Where do we get the notion that our idea of success and God’s are the same? You have written a book; you are a clever manager and promoter; you are a talented artist; you are independently wealthy; you have achieved fame and fortune. Without the gifts of intelligence, imagination, personality, and physical energy—which are all endowed by God—where would you be?

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).

Extremes should be avoided.

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.

The beginning of all pain and suffering in the world started with one act of disobedience. Christian and non-Christian alike have inherited the consequences from our common ancestors, Adam and Eve—our polluted environment and flawed human nature.

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].

No area of human life is so full of difficulties and heartaches as relationships. If you listed everything that upset you during the past week, I suspect most had to do with other people. People can be selfless and kind, but they can also be difficult, stubborn, ego-driven, thoughtless, mean, selfish, manipulative. But the problem is not just other people; it’s also ourselves.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Bible teaches that you are an immortal soul. Your soul is eternal and will live forever . . . the real you—the part of you that thinks, feels, dreams, aspires; the ego, the personality—will never die . . . your soul will live forever in one of two places—heaven or hell.

The time to prepare for life’s disappointments and hurts is in advance.

Believers in Christ owe nothing to God in payment for salvation . . . but they do owe God a life of undivided devotion and service.

Satan is real and is opposed to everything God is doing.

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

The Bible teaches that faith will manifest itself in three ways. It will manifest itself in doctrine—in what you believe. It will manifest itself in worship—your communion with God . . .It will manifest itself in morality—in the way you live and behave.

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.

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

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.

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.

Our relationship must be right with God before it can be right with man.

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.

We face a dark time in the history of God’s people . . . the forces of evil seem to be gathering for a colossal assault on the work of God in the world. In the darkest hour God can still revive His people, and by the Holy Spirit breathe new vigor and power into the body of Christ.

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

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

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.

The Bible tells us that the state of the world will grow darker as we near the end of the age.

Old age is Satan’s last chance to blow us off course.

Down through the centuries the church has contributed more than any other single agency in lifting social standards to new heights.

Patience in our lives springs from God’s power based upon our willingness to learn it.

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.

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.

Gratitude is one of the greatest Christian virtues; ingratitude, one of the most vicious sins.

There are many new sinners today, but there aren’t any new sins, just the old ones clothed in different rags.

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.

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.

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

In a country where Christians were looked upon with suspicion and disfavor, a government leader said to me with a twinkle in his eye, “Christians seem to thrive under persecution. Perhaps we should prosper them, and then they would disappear.

Sometimes I think the truly committed Christian is in conflict with society around him more than any other person. Society is going one direction, and the Christian is going in the opposite direction. This brings about friction and conflict. But God has promised, in the midst of trouble and conflict, a genuine peace, a sense of assurance and security, that the worldly person never knows.

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

America is said to have the highest per capita boredom of any spot on earth! We know that because we have the greatest variety and greatest number of artificial amusements of any country. People have become so empty that they can’t even entertain themselves.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Had Satan not set himself in opposition to God . . . there would have been no need for God to send His Son to the cross.

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.

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 chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and so is our character.

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.

God can be everywhere at once, heeding the prayers of all who call out in the name of Christ; performing the mighty miracles that keep the stars in their places, and the plants bursting up through the earth, and the fish swimming in the sea. There is no limit to God. There is no limit to His wisdom. There is no limit to His power. There is no limit to His love. There is no limit to His mercy.

Make use of this tool of communication by which God speaks to us—namely, the Bible! Read it, study it, memorize it. It will change your entire life. It is not like any other book. It is a “living” book that works its way into your heart, mind, and soul.

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

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 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.