We ministers have undoubtedly failed to connect and apply Christianity to the practical everyday problems of the average man. In this, we have failed to follow in Christ's footsteps. For the religion which He taught and revealed in His own life and ministry was an intensely practical and down-to-earth affair.
— Peter Marshall
The true minister is in his pulpit not because he has chosen that profession as an easy means of livelihood, but because he could not help it, because he has obeyed an imperious summons that will not be denied.
I am growing more and more aware that all too often we preachers aim at nothing and hit it.
Church members in too many cases are like deep sea divers, encased in the suits designed for many fathoms deep, marching bravely to pull out plugs in bathtubs.
When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure.
Teach us, O Lord, the disciplines of patience, for to wait is often harder than to work.
God will not permit any troubles to come upon us, unless He has a specific plan by which great blessing can come out of the difficulty.
Give to us clear vision that we may know where to stand and what to stand for - because unless we stand for something, we shall fall for anything.
Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned.
Sometimes this going out in obedience to God's command is more dramatic than at other times... sometimes more spectacular... sometimes more brave... but always it is a venture into the unknown.
I could never describe it to anyone how I knew, but there was no mistaking it. One moment, I was walking along undecided - and the next moment, I knew that it was God's will for me to go to America. I don't think I could describe it any more accurately.
God hasn't given up on you. He can still do great things for you, in you, and through you. God is ready and waiting and able.
A man walks on through life - with the external call ringing in his ears but with no response stirring in his heart, and then suddenly, without any warning, the Spirit taps him on the shoulder. What happens? He turns 'round. The word 'repentance' means 'turning 'round.' He repents and believes and is saved.
If you hug to yourself any resentment against anybody else, you destroy the bridge by which God would come to you.
If you don't stand for something you will fall for anything.
Most of us know perfectly well what we ought to do; our trouble is that we do not want to do it.
It is better to fail in a cause that will ultimately succeed than to succeed in a cause that will ultimately fail.
Human nature must be changed if we are ever to have an end to war or to correct the wrong situations that make our lives uneasy and our hearts sore. Now Christianity, the power of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit of God, is the only force that can change people for good.
I know that no business contract, no order or commercial consideration can ever be worth the happiness of one's home or the peace of one's mind.
This is a day of little faith - of few convictions - a day when men seem to have no great causes and no great passions. So in frustration, in disappointment, they are inclined to say, 'You can't change human nature.' It is true that we cannot change human nature. But God can.
Out of profound gratitude for my adopted country, I can only say that I would like in this land to live and die, and while I live to help other people as much as possible, believing that only in service to other people can I possibly express my gratitude for all that America has done for me.
May we think of freedom, not as the right to do as we please, but as the opportunity to do what is right.
The measure of life is not its duration, but its donation.
A different world cannot be built by indifferent people.
Lord, where we are wrong, make us willing to change; where we are right, make us easy to live with.
