Billy Graham Quotes - Page 11

It is far better to know God’s truth than to be ignorant of it.

We have seen the results of unrestrained greed, corruption, and manipulation on Wall Street, financial mismanagement in the halls of government, fraud and perversion at the highest levels of both church and state. Many people sense the possibility of an even greater unraveling in the world. We are constantly confronted by the realities of new problems in this age of crisis.

When most major Protestant denominations have their annual councils, assemblies, or conventions, they make pronouncements on matters having to do with disarmament, federal aid to education, birth control, the United Nations, and any number of social and political issues. Very rarely are any resolutions passed that have to do with theredemptive witness of the Gospel.

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!

The only one who can re-create us is the One who created us in the first place. If your watch were out of order, you wouldn’t take it to a blacksmith. If your car needed overhauling, you wouldn’t go to a machine shop. Our spiritual problems can be solved only by the God who created us originally.

Men and women who give [Christ] first place find that there is no need for anxiety about this world’s goods.

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

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?

Christianity increases the scope and area of our lives.

Some evangelists spend too much time thinking and even planning about how to achieve visible results. This is an easy trap to fall into.

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!

[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.

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.

Many Christians give in to various temptations through peer pressure and find themselves surrendering to worldly passions, justifying pleasures the world offers.

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

If Satan can’t keep you away from Christ, he will at least try to make you doubt your salvation.

[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.

There are restrictions to entering heaven. The Scripture says: “Nothing impure will ever enter [heaven], nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life” [Revelation 21:27 NIV].

There is a great identity crisis among students today. Who am I? What is the purpose of life? Where did I come from? Where am I going? The Bible has a direct answer to this great big philosophical question and unless God seals the vacuum among youth today, then some other ideology will, because young people must have a faith. They must believe in something to find fulfillment in their lives.

Affliction may be for our edification and Christian development.

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.

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.

One of the most conspicuous modes of escape is alcoholism, which is now a national catastrophe.

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.

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].

Because truth is unpopular does not mean that it should not be proclaimed.

Drunkenness. This Greek word means overindulgence in alcohol. Alcohol may be used for medicine, but it can also become a terrible drug. The way it is used in our world is probably one of the great evils of our day. It is a self-inflicted impediment that springs from “a man taking a drink, a drink taking a drink, and drink taking the man.”Distilled liquors as we have them today were unknown in Bible times.12

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.

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.

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.

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.

Integrity means that we are trustworthy and dependable, and our character is above reproach.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

No Christian has the right to go around wringing his hands, wondering what we are to do in the face of the present world situation. The Scripture says that in the midst of persecution, confusion, wars, and rumors of wars, we are to comfort one another with the knowledge that Jesus Christ is coming back in triumph, glory, and majesty.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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!

Success or failure cannot be measured by any human standard.

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.

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.

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

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

The way in which we react to hurts and disappointments influences the shaping of our personalities.

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.

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

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!

Ask [God] to help you reflect Christ as you grow older, instead of turning sour or grumpy.

[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.

Statistics indicate that the church is rapidly losing in the population explosion. There are fewer Christians per capita every day.

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

The vitality [of] the Bible [is] exhibited in every generation . . .Its power to transform lives is its best apologetic.