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Change - Human Instruments vs. the Holy Spirit

"Human instruments, apart from the Holy Spirit, cannot change dead hearts, obstinate wills, evil imaginations, perverted understandings, and biased judgments." - J.B. Lawrence, The Holy Spirit In Missions (64). 

Quoted in J.D. Payne's Discovering Church Planting (68)

Persecution - Richard Wurmbrand

"Persecution has always produced a better Christian - a witnessing Christian, a soul-winning Christian. Communist persecution has backfired and produced serious, dedicated Christians such as are rarely seen in free lands. These people cannot understand how anyone can be a Christian and not want to win every soul they meet."


Richard Wurmbrand

Billy Graham - Q & A Interview

Billy Graham just conducted an insightful interview with Christianity Today on the following questions.
  • What advice would you give to people who are aging?
  • What would you say to children who have aging parents?
  • If you could, would you go back and do anything differently?
  • What are the most important issues facing evangelicals today?
Here are some of my favorite quotes from the article...

On aging:
  • But God has a reason for keeping us here (even if we don't always understand it), and we need to recover the Bible's understanding of life and longevity as gifts from God—and therefore as something good. ... So part of my advice is to learn to be content, and that only comes as we accept each day as a gift from God and commit it into his hands. Paul's words are true at every stage of life, but especially as we grow older: 'Godliness with contentment is great gain' (1 Tim. 6:6)."
  • "As we grow older we should focus not only on the present, but more and more on Heaven. ... If we know Christ, we know we have 'an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you' (1 Pet. 1:4). ... Heaven gives us hope, and makes our present burdens easier to bear."
  • "So the first thing I'd say to those whose parents are growing older is to be prepared for it, and to accept whatever responsibilities it brings you.  Then be patient with them."
On ministry and evangelism:
  • "I'd spend more time at home with my family, and I'd study more and preach less. I wouldn't have taken so many speaking engagements, including some of the things I did over the years that I probably didn't really need to do... Whenever I counsel someone who feels called to be an evangelist, I always urge them to guard their time and not feel like they have to do everything."
  • "I also would have steered clear of politics. ... looking back I know I sometimes crossed the line, and I wouldn't do that now."
  • "But the most important issue we face today is the same the church has faced in every century: Will we reach our world for Christ? In other words, will we give priority to Christ's command to go into all the world and preach the gospel? Or will we turn increasingly inward, caught up in our own internal affairs or controversies, or simply becoming more and more comfortable with the status quo? Will we become inner-directed or outer-directed? The central issues of our time aren't economic or political or social, important as these are. The central issues of our time are moral and spiritual in nature, and our calling is to declare Christ's forgiveness and hope and transforming power to a world that does not know him or follow him. May we never forget this."


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