Great Quotes 17

We are not going to move this world by criticism of it nor conformity to it, but by the combustion within it of lives ignited by the Spirit of God.

~Vance Havner

As long as London is reeking with sin, and millions are going down to hell, let us leave others to prophesy, let us go with anxious hearts to seek after souls, and see if we cannot by the Spirit’s power win sinners from going down into the pit.
- Spurgeon

When I am preaching the gospel, many may say, "Oh, he is only telling us commonplace truth.” Just so, I know that; and yet I feel within myself as if I was wheeling up God’s great cannon, which will still blow the gates of hell to pieces. "What! none of the venerable mysteries of Rome? What, none of the new philosophical discoveries?” None of the imposing ceremonies? No, brethren, not one of them, they are all wooden guns, shams and counterfeits, and if ever they are fired off they will blown to bits. This plain truth, that "God was made flesh and dwelt among us,” is God’s great battering ram against which nothing can stand. Never lose heart in the gospel, my brethren, but think that you hear the apostle calling across the ages, "Great is the mystery of godliness.” Look for nothing greater, the gospel is great enough. Keep at it, never think you have told men enough times about it. As Napoleon told his warriors at the pyramids, "A thousand ages look down upon you!” bleeding martyrs who from their graves, call to you to be faithful; confessors who ascended to heaven in fiery chariots, implore you to be steadfast. Hold fast to what you have received. Do not attempt to mend the truth, do not venture to shape it according to the fancy of the times, but proclaim it in all its native purity. By this hammer the gods of Rome and Greece were dashed to pieces, by this lever the world was turned upside down; it is this gospel which has brought glory to God, filled heaven with redeemed souls, and made hell to tremble in all its palaces of flame. Bind it about your heart, and defy the hosts of Rome or hell to unloose its folds. Wrap it about your waist in death, and hold it as a standard in both your hands in life. This simple truth, that "Jesus Christ has come to seek and to save those who were lost,” and that "whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life,” must be your jewel, your treasure, your life.
- Spurgeon

"The secret of joy is not to wait until you feel happy, but to rise, by an act of faith, out of the depression which is dragging you down and begin to praise God as an act of choice....This is what is meant--at least in part--by the sacrifice of praise. A sacrifice is that which costs us something." - A.B. Simpson

"Why should I start at the plough of my Lord, that maketh the deep furrows on my soul? I know He is no idle husbandman, He purposeth a crop." - Samuel Rutherford

SALVATION IN JESUS & IN JESUS ONLY
Charles Spurgeon (19 June 1834 ”“ 31 January 1892)
"I trust that sorrowful penitence does still exist, though I have not heard much about it lately. People seem to jump into faith very quickly nowadays. . . . I hope my old friend repentance is not dead. I am desperately in love with repentance; it seems to be the twin sister of faith.

"I do not myself understand much about dry-eyed faith; I know that I came to Christ by the way of weeping-cross. . . . When I came to Calvary by faith, it was with great weeping and supplication, confessing my transgressions, and desiring to find salvation in Jesus, and in Jesus only."

2 Corinthians 6:2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)

"The questions that matter in life are remarkably few, and they are all answered by these words, 'Come unto Me.'" - Oswald Chambers

With God’s sovereignty as basis, God’s glory as goal, and God’s will as motive, the missionary enterprise today can face the most difficult of all missionary tasks ”” the evangelization of the Moslem world.
- Samuel Zwemer

"I guarantee that most of Preachers when you went to bed last night there wasn't a demon in hell afraid of you.! They say He's been asleep all day anyhow. Let him sleep all night."

Leonard Ravenhill- where is the fire?

"We put men in pulpits today based on how many degrees they have. But you can have 32 of them and still be frozen." Leonard Ravenhill.

Man judges you by your accomplishments, but God judges you by your obedience.(Matt 7:23)'- Rolfe Barnard.

There are two things to do with the Gospel: Believe it and behave it- Leonard Ravenhill

I'm convinced in my spirit that the reason the world goes to hell fire is because the church has lost Holy Ghost fire.- Leonard Ravenhill

"There is no moral virtue in obedience unless there is a recognition of a higher authority in the one who dictates." - Oswald Chambers

"The way in which you listen to others gives you clues about the ways in which you listen to God.”
- Ignatius of Loyola

"As I was walking in the desert, I saw a lion in the distance, but I decided to keep walking. As I got closer, I saw it was a man, so I kept walking toward him. As I got still closer, I saw it was my brother.”

"I wish, in America, that we were as concerned about the separation of church and sin as we are the separation of church and state. " Leonard Ravenhill.

"You have a bumper sticker on your car that says God is love, God is love. Sloppy Evangelism! Will you remind people of the goodness and the severity of God? Will you remind them that there is a day where mercy is cut off forever. Will youl remind them that people pray in hell but no one ever answers? " Leonard Ravenhill

"Do not leave people to their own blunt sense of right and wrong, but let them admire the finer edge of your scalpel, while you shred up evil into morsels they can hardly see."
-Ignatius of Loyola
Doesn't quite sound christian to me...

"The bedrock in Jesus Christ’s kingdom is poverty, not possession; not decisions for Jesus Christ, but a sense of absolute futility ”“ I cannot begin to do it." - Oswald Chambers

" The only thing most of today 's church wants to be raptured away from is their responsibility. "Leonard Ravenhill.

"A Praying man is as bold as a Lion, there is no demon in hell that can stop him. " David Wilkerson.

"Faith is to believe what we do not see, and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe." - St. Augustine

God has promised forgiveness to your repentance, but He has not promised tomorrow to your procrastination. St Augustine

"I will not judge a person to be spiritually dead whom I have judged formerly to have had spiritual life, though I see him at present in a swoon (faint)as to all evidences of the spiritual life. And the reason why I will not judge him so is this -- because if you judge a person dead, you neglect him, you leave him; but if you judge him in a swoon,(faint) though never so dangerous, you use all means for the retrieving of his life."
- John Owen

Don't let the devil take the dirty Laundry of your yesterday and hang it on the clothesline of your future. - Rev. Phil Kidd.

"True believers MUST wake up, sound the alarm to other christians about the ecumenical takeover, stop sitting on the fence, stop trying to build little empires, and trying to please everybody, and get into the battle to win souls. You will either sell out and join Rome's forces to avoid the heat, or give total commitment to Christ and His teachings, and start to hate sin by living separated, holy lives."
-Jack Chick

"I am born for God only. Christ is nearer to me than father or mother or sister”“a nearer relative, a more intimate friend; and I rejoice to follow Him and to love Him."
-Henry Martyn

"When you are witnessing to sinners, stop asking them if they want to go to heaven. The question isn't whether they want to go to heaven but rather are they willing to repent and turn from their sin. Everyone wants to go to heaven, they just don't want God to be there." Paul Washer

"In order to be forgiven, sin must be forsaken!" A.W. Tozer

I ask young people all the time, what do you talk about the most? There is your God. What do you think about the most? There is your God. What is your Passion and what drives you? There is your God. - Paul Washer

" Is Christ the Lord of your life, or just a part of your theology?" Leonard Ravenhill

"I'm tired of hearing people say this is such a busy, fast paced generation, we don't have time to pray today. You know, its not a lack of time, but a lack of desire. You make time for what you really want to do." David Wilkerson.

"I don't hit people, I hit the devil. If they get in the way I can't help it. "

~Smith Wigglesworth

"Part time Christians can't defeat full time devils." Unknown. Very rich though.

I'm astounded, bewildered, confused, baffled when people tell me there are 75 million people in America that are filled with the Holy Ghost and we're the most rotten nation on earth. ~ Leonard Ravenhill

"The secret to my newfound strength has been in recognizing my flesh every morning, battling the lies I'm tempted to believe, and stepping out in obedience to the Word of God. It's not in your background, your finances, or the people you know. It is entirely related to how much you are willing to die to yourself and allow the Spirit to take control of your life."

- Naghmeh Abedini, wife of pastor Saeed Abedini who is in Iran's most dangerous prison for his faith.

Every time you ask for faith, you will be asked to commit yourself to it. The hearing of the word, the continuation and development in the hearing of truth, will depend upon your commitment and conduct to the last expression of truth. The church [or the believer] can stop the flow of revelation simply through disobedience. In Noah’s case it would have been obvious if he didn’t listen, if he did not commit himself to do what the Lord had told him; he would have drowned with the rest. ”“Des Evans

(I added the brackets because he was not just talking about churches but also individual believers, like Noah, so it applies to both.)

Prayer is our strength, it generates vision. How do you learn to pray? Well, how do you learn to swim? Do you learn to swim sitting in a chair and drinking coke? You get in the water and fight, and struggle. - Leonard Ravenhill

We need to be those who know the reality of both reformation and revival, so that this poor dark world may have an exhibition of a portion of the church returned to both pure doctrine and Spirit-filled life.

-Francis Schaeffer

"Resolution 1: Live for God. Resolution 2: If no one else does, I will live for God." Jonathan Edwards.

"People today believe in a phrase. I believe Jesus is the Son of the God. So a man will go to the altar and say I believe Jesus is the Son of God, I believe He died and God brought him back to life. I believe He is at the right hand of the Father, but I am not sorry for what I have done. True repentance is turning away from sin.

My Dad and pastor yesterday morning.

"A man stopped me in the aisle of a church one night, and said, preacher I need you to pray for me, there is a sin in my life that I can't help doing. I told him, " you are going to have to stop lying before anybody can help you boy. Whatever your problem is, you did it. If its smoking that cigarette didn't jump out of your pocket and light itself up. You willfully did it and you can will not to do it if you belong to God."

B.H. Clendennen "Soldier."

"The great majority of the Christian world is still weeping at the foot of the cross. The consciousness of man is fixed on the Christ who died, not on the Christ who lives. They are looking back to the Redeemer who was, not the Redeemer who is." - John G. Lake

"The true measure of spirituality is not how angry we become toward sinners, but how Christlike. Our mission is not to see evil men destroyed, but to see them redeemed." (Francis Frangipane)

Modern gospel christians are parrots, not eagles, and rather than sail out and up to the illimitable ranges of the kingdom of God they are content to sit safe on their familiar perches and repeat in a bright falsetto religious words and phrases the meaning of which they hardly understand at all. Another generation or two of this and what is now Evangelicalism will be Liberalism. No living thing can subsist on its yesterdays.
-A. W. Tozer

"There are just sometimes when you're having so much fun or so much fear, and you're so concentrated on the fun or fear that you forget that God exists."
-Ethan my 10 year old son

When you live your life by principles, most of your decisions have already been made before you encounter them.

From Facebook, some wise person.

"As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work where I have called them.” .... Maybe if we would heed the command to fast and pray, we could hear more of the second, "the Holy Ghost said…” ~ J.G. Morrison

ALL flesh is grass, its glory like a flower. The human dilemma is that we are self-conscious grass.

"flesh" seeks pleasure, but it's more than individual sin. Flesh forms institutions and cultivates habits to maximize pleasure.

Many people have no problem believing in God. Their problem is believing we must obey Him.

The thief on the cross never prayed a sinners prayer, was never baptized, never spoke in tongues, never read the Bible or went to church...

Common weaknesses and temptations of the flesh will not be resolved by rote memory, or by formulas created by a man’s philosophy and principles, but by a right relationship with our almighty and indwelling God. ~Recovering Grace

Remember that when you kill time, it has no resurrection. A.W. Tozer

From prayer that asks that I may be
Sheltered from winds that beat on Thee,
From fearing when I should aspire,
From faltering when I should climb higher
From silken self, O Captain, free
Thy soldier who would follow Thee.

From subtle love of softening things,
From easy choices, weakenings,
(Not thus are spirits fortified,
Not this way went the Crucified)
From all that dims Thy Calvary
O Lamb of God, deliver me.

How much could you hate someone, to believe that eternal life is possible and not tell them?- unknown

"You say so often, I wonder why God doesn't burden me. You know why? Because He can't trust you that's why. Your not strong enough to carry the burden. A lot of you here this morning don't need more light, that will only make it worse on you at the judgment. What you need is more obedience."

Leonard Ravenhill, "Agony."

"A man or woman who is long hidden in God’s quiver is the arrow He selects and suddenly shoots into the heart of His enemy like a bolt of lightning. Only those who continue to abide under the shadow of God’s hand will become this kind of weaponry." - Allan Halton

"Preach the Gospel, not anti-Buddhism." - Adoniram Judson

Help, Lord; for the godly man ceaseth;
for the faithful fail from among the children of men.
They speak vanity every one with his neighbour:
with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.
(Psalms”¬ ”­12”¬:”­1-2”¬)

To know the will of God, we need an open Bible and an open map.

- William Carey

"If we are not seeking His face, then we are in no position to receive His blessings."-David Wilkerson

It is good for us to keep some account of our prayers, that we may not unsay them in our practice. ~Matthew Henry

"It's the presence of God's Spirit in your life that takes away your frustrated soul-thirst for ever and turns you into a person who overflows with life for others instead of sucking up other people's life like sandy soil." - John Piper

The principle of the world is "self-glorification," and the principle of the Christian is "self-crucifixion." The principle of the world is "exalt yourself," and the principle of the Christian is "crucify yourself." - Alan Redpath

You will find that as we grow mature in Divine Grace, we love the Psalms more. Many young Believers are most fond of the doctrinal parts of Scripture, and I admire that holy curiosity which leads them to desire to understand all the Revelation of God in the Doctrine of Grace. Practical Christians are often more fond of studying the Evangelists and Proverbs, but I find that the gray-headed veterans, the sorely troubled Christians, those who have done business on great waters””while they love the Doctrines, while they delight in the practices set forth in the life of Christ””yet somehow or other the Psalms of the sweet Singer of Israel yield them savory meat such as their soul loves! And they are made in the Psalms to "lie down in green pastures” of tender grass.
- Spurgeon

"How can Jesus be God?” "How can God become man?”
These questions are often asked by Muslims as they ponder Jesus and his identity. But those are the wrong questions to ask. The question is, do they think God can have the characteristics that Jesus had? Is God for the poor, the blind, the irreligious? Is God willing to be humbled and take up a cross for his love for the people of the world?

George Mueller:

"The Church of God is not aroused to see God as the beautiful and lovable One He is, and hence the littleness of blessedness. Oh, beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, seek to learn for yourselves, for I cannot tell you the blessedness! In the darkest moments I am able to confide in Him, for I know what a beautiful and kind and lovable Being He is, and, if it be the will of God to put us in the furnace, let Him do it, so that we may acquaint ourselves with Him as He will reveal Himself, and that we may know Him better. We come then to the conclusion that God is a lovable Being, and we are satisfied with Him, and say: ‘It is my Father, let Him do as He pleases.'”

"Christians are to live selflessly in a selfie world." ~Bro. Tom Gearin

To make a good soldier, put him in the front of the battle, a good seaman, let him have the stern. So with the Christian.- R.C. Chapman

Persecution is a negative reaction by government, ideologies, society and family to the presence of Christ, incarnated through a positive witness by believing individuals and communities. Persecution’s goal is to silence witness.

And so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build on another man's foundation, but as it is written: "To whom He was not announced, they shall see; And those who have not heard shall understand."
Romans 15:20-21

I will open Africa up to the gospel or die trying."
Rowland Bingham (1872-1942), founder of SIM

"I want to remind the committee that within six months they will probably hear that one of us is dead. But when that news comes, do not be cast down, but send someone else immediately to take the vacant place."
Alexander Mackay (1849 ”“1890) missionary to Uganda

"Though many missionaries may fall in the fight, yet the survivors will pass over the slain into the trenches and take this great African fortress for the Lord."
- Johan Krapf, missionary to East Africa, lost his wife and two children within months of arriving in Africa.

"The way I see it, we ought to be willing to die. In the military, we were taught that to obtain our objectives we had to be willing to be expendable. Missionaries must face that same expendability."
- Nate Saint, missionary pilot, martyred along with four others evangelizing the Huaorani of Ecuador.

An effective missionary needs to be a person who diligently studies the Bible to discover God’s Will and who is determined to obey it. Obedience is the best commentary on the Bible. As Martin Luther said, "I rather obey than work miracles!"

From this foundation of prayerful study of God’s Word needs to develop true Christian character. This cannot be hastily done. Steadfast Christian character is the product of years of prayer and Bible study and the cultivated habit of responding to God’s Word in repentance, faith and obedience.

It involves a teachable heart and a willingness to accept rebuke and discipline. This is absolutely essential in missionary service because of the difficult tasks required, in the often harsh climates and inhospitable terrains, with the inevitable cross-cultural confusions and misunderstandings ”“ mistakes and failures are inevitable. Resolving inter-personal disputes, overcoming obstacles and enduring criticisms are all part of the job description.

The measure of a person’s real character is how he works when no-one is watching. If you choose an act, you create a habit, if you create a habit, you shape a character. If you shape a character, You determine a destiny. As D L Moody said: "If I take care of my character, my reputation will take care of itself."

And one of the marks of Christian character is integrity ”“ the unshakeable commitment to be true to one’s word. This is important because missions are built upon relationships of trust. We have a sacred trust to honour ”“ with God, the churches and supporters who send us out and those to whom we are sent. There must never be any doubt that you as a Christian missionary will be true to your word, keep your promises and fulfill all your obligations.

Finally, willingness to go. Gladys Aylward, missionary to China, expressed it this way:
"I wasn’t God’s first choice for what I’ve done for China . . . I don’t know who it was . . . It must have been a man . . . a well-educated man. I don’t know what happened. Perhaps he wasn’t willing . . . And God looked down . . . and saw Gladys Aylward . . . And God said ”“ ‘Well, she’s willing!’"

"Prayer is a moment-by-moment example of the reality of the validity of choice. God Himself has given us this communication for a diversity of reasons. One is that our calling upon the Father in Jesus' name, and in the power of the Holy Spirit, is time after time a slap in Satan's face, that proves the victory of Christ's death to defeat the primary purpose of Satan's temptation and the resultant separation of Adam and Eve, human beings, people, from communication with God."
- Edith Schaeffer, The Tapestry, p. 420.

Even our sacrifices and self-denials may be selfish. Self can get up and pray, and sit down and say, "What a lovely prayer!" Self can preach a sermon and save souls and go home, pat itself on the back and say, or let the devil say through him, "You did splendidly; what a useful man you are!" Self can be burned to death and be proud of its fortitude. Yes, we can have religious selfishness as well as carnal selfishness.
A. B. Simpson

As we discover the many ways in which Christ, ‘lifted up from the earth, draws everyone to himself’ (John 12:32), we are struck by the extraordinary variety of the ways in which people, finding new faith in Him, discover their new identity: they are changed and yet the same. And we know that this diversity is only a small part of God’s infinite skill in leading us to His house where Unity will combine with the fulfilment of each person's originality.
Jean-Marie Gaudeul

For it is not ultimately about how to define the 'unreached,' but how can we enter into life-on-life relationships in which the gospel can be shared and lived out in the 'everydayness' of life, and in which the transformative process of discipleship can take root. Prayaer, spiritual vitality and spiritual resilience are critical if we are to reach into the hard places.
- Dr. Joshua Bogunjoko, SIM International Director

"Yes, you may get trampled in this, just make sure that it's the fragrance of the Rose of Sharon that is diffused in the process" - Al Whittinghill

"He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love” - Ephesians 4:16

Christ is the object of all the senses. Beloved, he is not only beauty to the eye, but sweetness to the smell, and to the taste. The presence of Christ is delectable as spices and flowers.
-Richard Sibbes