Here are the books I read and reviewed in 2015. Click a title to read the review…
A Sketch of the Life of George Whitefield
The Surprising Imagination of C.S. Lewis
Here are my book reviews for 2011.
Here are my book reviews for 2012.
Here are my book reviews for 2013.
Here are my book reviews for 2014.
I recently shared 15 quotes from The Quotable Billy Graham that fit nicely into Twitter. I saw lots of those quotes appearing in other places, so here are 15 more tweetable quotes from Dr. Graham…
“Without God, the best man in the world is capable of the most terrifying crimes.”
“We have become so accustomed to immorality that it no longer seems to us to be immoral.”
“One of the best ways to get a boy to say ‘I do’ at the marriage altar is for the girl to say ‘No’ before marriage.”
“One of the worst sins we can commit is that of ingratitude.”
“I beg you not to squander life. I beseech you to take the long view. Do not live for the world only.”
“All mankind is searching for ideal conditions in a world that is anything but ideal.”
“A religion which is full of pretense is nothing but religious addiction.”
“Crisis times are the times when Christ should be proclaimed.”
“Only if Christ is a partner in the home and in the hearts of the two people will romance continue.”
“Self-respect is a wonderful thing so long as it is not produced by self-deception.”
“It has always been the mark of decaying civilizations to become obsessed with sex.”
“The three chief consequences of sin are: estrangement from God; bondage to self; disharmony with others.”
“The verb of the world is ‘get.’ The verb of the Christian is ‘give.’”
“Any philosophy which deals only with the here and now is not adequate for man.”
“Everyone meets temptations, but some folks entertain them.”
You can read my review of this book here. And check out some longer quotes from Billy Graham here and here.
Although The Quotable Billy Graham was compiled nearly 50 years ago, all of this godly man’s wisdom still rings true today. Here are some of his quotes that fit nicely into Twitter—15 tweetable quotes from Billy Graham…
“Our faith grows by expression. If we want to keep our faith, we must share it. We must act.”
“The neglect of older people is becoming an increasing sin in America.”
“The ethical and moral concepts of Christianity are found all the way through the Declaration of Independence.”
“Anxiety is the natural result when our hopes are centered in anything short of God and His will for us.”
“The world has never seen such a manifestation of selfless love as was demonstrated upon Calvary.”
“We have not practiced applied Christianity. We have restricted it to a Sunday affair.”
“Many persons today insist on coming into the church head first rather than heart first.”
“Hot heads and cold hearts never solved anything.”
“Those who stand by the Cross are those who changed the course of history.”
“Salvation is free, but discipleship costs everything we have.”
“The further we get from the fact of the Resurrection, the closer we get to the reality of distraction.”
“It is very strange that the world accepts enthusiasm in every realm but the spiritual.”
“Faith is not anti-intellectual. It is an act of man that reaches beyond the limits of our five senses.”
“Once man denies the existence of God, he can stoop to anything.”
“If you gossip in front of your children, they are going to grow up to be gossipers.”
Previously I shared some of Billy Graham’s quotes on faith and on the church.
If you would like to check out my review of The Quotable Billy Graham, please click here.
I recently read The Quotable Billy Graham (you can read my book review here), and I was struck by how relevant his words are, even 50 years after they were spoken. Here are a few quotes on faith.
“I wonder if the church has not failed this generation of young people by failing to make the Christian faith the thrilling, joyful, triumphant experience that it really is.”
“You best demonstrate your faith in a bank by putting your money in it. You best show your faith in the doctor by trusting him in times of illness. You best prove your faith in a boat by getting aboard. You best demonstrate your faith in Christ by trusting Him with your life and receiving Him unconditionally as your Savior.”
“One of the differences I have with some theologians is that they try to reduce the whole content of the Christian faith to an intellectual gymnastic exercise. Christianity cannot be reduced to reason alone.”
“We are rich in the things that perish, but poor and the things of the spirit. We are rich in gadgets, but poor in faith. We are rich in goods, but poor in grace. We are rich in know-how, but poor in character. We are rich in words, but poor in deeds.”
“If you are a Christian, there is no excuse for not having daily victory in your life by renouncing sin and by faith letting the Spirit of God have control of your life.”
One man … 452 topics … 1000 quotes. All of this coming from a man who has lived his message with integrity through nine decades. The Quotable Billy Graham is a delight to read!
The thing that most amazed me was the wisdom of this godly man. This book of quotes was compiled nearly 50 years ago, and yet the insight with which Dr. Graham spoke and wrote has stood the test of time. All of these quotes are just as relevant today as they were a half-century ago.
What a remarkable book!
(Obviously I will be sharing several of these quotes with you over the next few weeks.)
“Many persons today insist on coming into the church head first rather than heart first.”
“I am afraid that we in the church are making a great mistake by trying to make Christianity popular and pleasant. We have taken the Cross away and substituted cushions.”
“I wonder if the church has not failed this generation of young people by failing to make the Christian faith the thrilling, joyful, triumphant experience that it really is.”
“The greatest need in the church today is a spiritual revival that will drive her back to her knees and will cause her earnestly to contend for the faith once delivered.”
“There is a viewpoint prevailing in some areas of the church that its function is to change social structures, through political power and political pressure. In my opinion, this is not supported from the Bible. I think the biblical approach is to change men and men themselves will change society for the better.”
“I am convinced that if the church went back to its main task of preaching the Gospel and getting people converted to Christ it would have far more impact on the social structure of the nation than it can have in any other thing it could possibly do.”
All quotes from The Quotable Billy Graham (1966)
“From the beginning of the Bible to the end, God warns that any nation which departs from Him is going to suffer judgment. America has been given more spiritual and moral light than any nation in the history of the world, and yet this great nation has departed from Him and stands in peril of His judgment.” —Billy Graham
“Belief is not faith without evidence but commitment without reservation.” —Leighton Ford
Documented proof of Planned Parenthood breaking the law. They even allowed a high school coach, who impregnated a 14-year-old girl, to sign-off on her abortion without informing the parents nor reporting this as statutory rape!!
Eric Metaxas debunks some of Planned Parenthood’s old lies.
Scientific studies show that forgiving people helps you physically and psychologically.
Tim Elmore always has great insights into the youth culture. Here are his 6 defining characteristics of Generation Z.
[VIDEO] John Maxwell talks about the right attitude to handle rejection, and what it can do to move us forward—
“People in the unbelieving world have witnessed a good bit of hypocrisy, shallowness, disingenuousness, dishonesty, and corruption among the members of the Church. Many of them have installed a spam filter on their brains which automatically blocks anyone calling himself a Christian as having anything meaningful or significant to say. The only way to remove that filter is through a credible life of goodness, sincerity, and love. … Our credible lives, by themselves, won’t lead anyone to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. For this, we must be bold to make God’s Good News known, and to make it make sense.” —T.M. Moore
A related post: 5 Big Things We Get Wrong When Talking To Atheists About God.
“God is a mountain spring, not a watering trough. A mountain spring is self-replenishing. It constantly overflows and supplies others. But a watering trough needs to be filled with a pump or bucket brigade. If you want to glorify the worth of a watering trough you work hard to keep it full and useful. But if you want to glorify the worth of a spring you do it by getting down on your hands and knees and drinking to your heart’s satisfaction, until you have the refreshment and strength to go back down in the valley and tell people what you’ve found. My hope as a desperate sinner hangs on this biblical truth: that God is the kind of God Who will be pleased with the one thing I have to offer—my thirst. That is why the sovereign freedom and self-sufficiency of God are so precious to me: they are the foundation of my hope that God is delighted not by the resourcefulness of bucket brigades, but by the bending down of broken sinners to drink at the fountain of grace.” —John Piper
Pornography destroys lives! Here are 5 ways porn devastates lives.
In his battle against pornography and gluttony, Jimmy Needham wrote, “Real freedom came for me when I began, by God’s grace, to see that my cravings were for more than just food or sex. All my appetites were, at root, for an all-satisfying God.” Read more in his post Our Odyssey Against Sexual Temptation.
“If America is to survive, we must elect…individuals who will seek Divine guidance in the affairs of state.” —Billy Graham
“God commands you to choose for rulers, just men who will rule in the fear of God. The preservation of a republican government depends on the faithful discharge of this duty; if the citizens neglect their duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted.” —Noah Webster
[VIDEO] John Maxwell shares one of my favorite anecdotes to make a good point about efficiency—
Billy Graham is a man who has lived a life of integrity. And he’s done it in a highly public setting too. A Legacy Of Faith is a collection of quotes from this wise man. You can read my full book review by clicking here, but below are a few quotes I especially liked.
“We are not here by chance. God put us here for a purpose, and our lives are never fulfilled and complete until His purpose becomes the foundation and center of our lives.”
“Unless the soul is fed and exercised daily, it becomes weak and shriveled. It remains discontented, confused, restless.”
“Tears shed for self are tears of weakness, but tears shed for others are a sign of strength.”
“Everybody needs some friends around him who will say, ‘You are wrong!’ And that includes me. I really value the friendship of people who’ll just tell it to me like it is.”
“Although Christians do not always agree … what is most needed in the church today is for us to show an unbelieving world that we love one another.”
“satan would like nothing better than to have us stop our ministry and start answering critics, tracking down wretched lies and malicious stories. By God’s grace I shall continue to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and not stoop to mudslinging, name-calling, and petty little fights over nonessentials.”
“Like it or not, money is an essential part of any ministry, and safeguards must be put in place to avoid abuses or misunderstandings and to handle all finances with integrity and openness.”
“Preaching… involves us in a spiritual battle with the forces of evil. I am always deeply conscious that I am absolutely helpless and that only the Holy Spirit can penetrate the minds and hearts of those who are without Christ.”
“All of us in Christian ministry need to live and work with integrity. By integrity, I mean the moral value that makes people the same on the inside as they are on the outside—with no discrepancy between what they say and what they do, between their walk and their talk.”
“As long as there is one man in the world who hates another man because of the color of his skin or the shape of his nose or for some other reason, you have the possibility of war—as long as you have men in the world greedy for power, there is potential conflict. I believe that the Gospel of Christ is the only power in the world that can transform the heart of man and make it love instead of hate.”
“Suffering is part of the human condition, and it comes to us all. The key is how we react to it, either turning away from God in anger and bitterness or growing closer to Him in trust and confidence.” (On enduring Parkinson’s disease)
“I’m not a great man. I just have a great message.”
“The Psalms teach you how to get along with God; Proverbs teaches you how to get along with people.”
“Every day I have to renew my heart before God and ask for His grace and strength. I take time each day in the morning and evening to read passages of Scripture and ask the Lord to speak to me through them—apart from any preparations of sermon material.”
“When wealth is lost, nothing is lost. When health is lost, something is lost. When character is lost, everything is lost.”
“Hot heads and cold hearts never solved anything.”
“I was called by God to do this, and I don’t read anyplace in the Bible where any of His servants retired.”
It sometimes distresses me to see great men and women who stumble later in life. But one man who has lived a life full of integrity is Billy Graham. If anyone can speak about “legacy” with the full support of his life’s message, it is Rev. Graham!
In the same format as Zig Ziglar’s Inspire To Be Great, and John Wooden’s Winning With Principle, A Legacy Of Faith is a collect of noteworthy quotes from Billy Graham. Time and time again I was impressed with Dr. Graham’s words, but more impressed that he lived them out so publicly for all to see.
If you haven’t read any of Billy Graham’s sermons or books, this book is a good place to start. Even if you are familiar with his works, this is still an excellent resource for his wise quotes.
What a great read!
Craig T. Owens 