The preacher who is concerned with gaining a reputation, rising in his profession, is always in bondage. The itch for bigness is a dangerous thing. It has made a castaway of many a man whom God once richly blessed. A man should desire to be neither larger nor smaller than pleases God. Better than that, he should not bother at all about how large or how small but rather how faithful he shall be.
Vance HavnerThe devil will let a preacher prepare a sermon if it will keep him from preparing himself.
Vance HavnerAdam tried to hide behind the trees in the garden. There is only one tree that can hide us from Him and that is the tree of the cross.
Vance HavnerPeople get so used to the dark that they think it's growing brighter. It's possible to fraternize with unbelievers until false doctrine becomes less and less objectionable.
Vance HavnerIt is a matter of whether one wants to get rich or be rich. We can be rich in Christ Jesus or perhaps get rich in Egypt, but we cannot do both.
Vance HavnerWe need to take down our "Do not disturb" signs... snap out of our stupor and come out of our coma and awake from our apathy.
Vance HavnerOur Lord sent His disciples out as sheep among wolves; now the wolves are being invited into the sheepfold.
Vance HavnerPeople used to blush when they were ashamed. Now they are ashamed if they blush. Modesty has disappeared and a brazen generation with no fear of God before its eyes mocks at sin. We are so fond of being called tolerant and broadminded that we wink at sin when we ought to weep.
Vance HavnerThe devil is in constant conspiracy against a preacher who really prays, for it has been said that what a minister is in his prayer closet is what he is, no more, no less.
Vance HavnerIt is not our responsibility to make it acceptable; it is our duty to make it available.
Vance HavnerWhat our Lord said about cross-bearing and obedience is not in fine type. It is in bold print on the face of the contract.
Vance HavnerIf the Lord tarries, there may yet be a grass-roots awakening that will overflow all sectarian barriers. There are a host of good people... who long for a visitation from heaven in old-time power. The kindling wood is scattered all round in all the churches. May God help us to rake off the ashes, uncover the live coals and may He blow upon us with the breath of His Spirit!
Vance HavnerThe real test of your Christianity is not how pious you look at the Lord's table on Sunday, but how you act at the breakfast table at home. If it takes two cups of coffee to make you fit to live with, you had better go to the mourner's bench.
Vance HavnerOne of the greatest errors in the church today is the artificial distinction we have created between accepting Christ as Savior and confessing Him as Lord. We have made two experiences of it, but the New Testament makes them one.
Vance HavnerChristmas is based on an exchange of gifts, the gift of God to man - His unspeakable gift of His Son, and the gift of man to God - when we present our bodies a living sacrifice.
Vance HavnerSimply wait upon Him. So doing, we shall be directed, supplied, protected, corrected, and rewarded.
Vance HavnerI can conceive of no greater, more romantic and interesting adventure than to undertake to live like Jesus in this complicated day.
Vance HavnerOur Lord approved neither idol worship or idle worship but ideal worship in Spirit and truth.
Vance HavnerPaul was not ignorant of Satan's devices, but we are not so wise. Among his most successful devices today are these: exalting tolerance above truth; emphasizing the head more than the heart; making size more important than sort; stressing the positive to the neglect of the negative; putting happiness above holiness; majoring on this world instead of the next.
Vance HavnerNo man can be a Christian by knowingly and willfully taking Christ on the installment plan, as Savior now, and Lord later.
Vance HavnerWe are not bearing our crosses every time we have a headache; an aspirin tablet will take care of that. What is meant is the trouble we would not have if we were not Christians.
Vance HavnerNothing is needed so much as a holy indignation against sin. It is true that there is not enough love for God, and one sign of it is that there is not enough hatred for sin.
Vance HavnerIf you are what you've always been, you are not a Christian. A Christian is a new creation.
Vance HavnerChrist is most concerned with the direction in which you habitually are going and not with a spasmodic eruption either good or bad.
Vance HavnerI'm tied of hearing about temperance instead of abstinence, in order to please the cocktail crowd in church congregations.
Vance HavnerBeware of being a religious poseur, trying to live up to a dramatized version of yourself.
Vance HavnerWe have suffered from the preaching of cheap grace. Grace is free, but it is not cheap. People will take anything that is free, but they are not interested in discipleship. They will take Christ as Savior but not as Lord.
Vance HavnerIf I had only one sermon to preach it would be on the Lordship of Christ. When we get right on that point we are right all down the line. God honors the exaltation of His Son.
Vance HavnerOne man with a genuine experience with God is worth more than a library full of arguments.
Vance HavnerSalt seasons, purifies, preserves. But somebody ought to remind us that salt also irritates. Real living Christianity rubs this world the wrong way.
Vance HavnerJesus is all we have; he is all we need and all we want. We are shipwrecked on God and stranded on omnipotence!
Vance HavnerJesus Christ demands more complete allegiance than any dictator who ever lived. The difference is, He has a right to it.
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