Billy Graham Quotes - Page 26

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

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.

Someone has said that death is not a period, but a comma in the story of life.

Will a loving God send a man to hell? The answer from Jesus and His teachings of the Bible is, clearly, “Yes!” He does not send man willingly, but man condemns himself to eternal hell because . . .he refuses God’s way of salvation and the hope of eternal life with Him.

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

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].

Revenge easily descends into an endless cycle of hate and violence. The Bible says never repay evil with evil.

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

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.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not anti-intellectual. It demands the use of [the] mind, but the mind is affected by sin.

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

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

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

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

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.

We read every day about the rich, the famous, the talented who are disillusioned. Many of them are turning to the occult, or Transcendental Meditation, or Eastern religions. Some are turning to crime. The questions they thought were answered are left dangling: What is man? Where did he come from? What is his purpose on this planet? Where is he going? Is there a God who cares? If there is a God, has He revealed Himself to man?

Supporters of the [environmental] movement often appear to worship not the God of heaven, but the god of nature. This is a dangerous form of idolatry. Anytime animal life becomes more sacred in our view than human life, we have lost sight of our proper priorities.

In the textbook of revelation, the Bible, God has spoken verbally; and this spoken word has survived every scratch of the human pen.

[Christians] are called to distinguish themselves as Christ followers, not community organizers.

I never try to defend religion. Religion has spawned wars. Many so-called religious people have been characterized by prejudice, pride, and bickering . . . I would call you to a simple faith in Jesus, who said, “Love your neighbor as yourself.

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.

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.

Only a strong faith—a faith based on God’s Word—will protect us from temptation and doubt.

We face dangers every day of which we are not even aware. Often God intervenes on our behalf through the use of His angels.

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.

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.

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).

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

You cannot come to Christ unless the Spirit of God brings you. But what if you ignore His warnings? Then you are in the gravest danger, for some day God will no longer be speaking to you. Then it will be too late. Come to Christ while there is still time. Christ, God's greater Ark, stands ready to welcome you to safety today.

Millions of young people are shifting from one side to the other. They are like unguided missiles filled with energy and ambition and yet somehow not “fitting in.” Peer pressure leads them astray . . . [and] in thousands of churches they are led astray theologically.

Salvation is not just repairing the original self. It is a new self created of God in righteousness and true holiness.

Become grounded in the Bible. As Christians, we have only one authority, one compass: the Word of God.

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.

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.

We see ourselves as self-sufficient, self-important, and self-sustaining. God sees us as dependent, self-centered, and self-deceived.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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!

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.

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

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.

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

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.

I am afraid the church is trying to speak out on too many issues that really do not concern the church. There are certain issues we know to be wrong—racial injustice, crime, gambling, dishonesty, pornography. On these matters we must thunder forth as the prophets of God.

Not one word about hell in the Bible would ever make you want to go there.

The word decease literally means “exodus” or “going out.” The imagery is that of the children of Israel leaving Egypt and their former life of bondage, slavery, and hardship for the Promised Land. So death to the Christian is an exodus from the limitations, the burdens, and the bondage of this life.

No matter how hard we try, words simply cannot express the horror, the shock, and the revulsion we all feel over what took place in this nation on 9/11. My prayer today is that we will feel the loving arms of God wrapped around us, and will know in our hearts that He will never forsake us as we trust in Him.

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.

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.

Sin has tarnished every area of life, and [Christ] wants to erase its stain everywhere.

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.

Many times I have been driven to prayer. When I was in Bible school I didn’t know what to do with my life. I used to walk the streets . . . and pray, sometimes for hours at a time. In His timing, God answered those prayers, and since then prayer has been an essential part of my life.

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.

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

The television, iPod, and Internet have trespassed upon the innocence of America’s children, while preoccupied mothers and dispassionate fathers stare aghast wondering what went wrong. They don’t stop to think of their own contributions to the persuasions influencing their children. After all, where do kids as young as elementary age get money to rent rock videos and the latest rap DVDs?

Evil and suffering are real . . . They aren’t an illusion, nor are they simply an absence of good. We are fallen creatures living in a fallen world that has been twisted and corrupted by sin, and we all share in its brokenness. Most of all, we share in its tragic legacy of disease and death.

God isn’t finished with you when you retire! When we know Christ, we never retire from His service.