Vance Havner Quotes

God uses broken things. It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume. It is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever.

If you are a Christian, you are not a citizen of this world trying to get to heaven; you are a citizen of heaven making your way through this world.

The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps, we must step up the stairs.

A soft and sheltered Christianity, afraid to be lean and lone, unwilling to face the storms and brave the heights, will end up fat and foul in the cages of conformity.

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.

We are suffering today from a species of Christianity as dry as dust, as cold as ice, as pale as a corpse, and as dead as King Tut. We are suffering not from a lack of correct heads but of consumed hearts.

It is better to wake up five hundred Christians than to convert five hundred sinners, for if five hundred Christians really wake up, they will win more than five hundred sinners.

Let it never be forgotten that, although we may do nothing about the Word we hear, the Word will do something to us. The same sun melts ice and hardens clay, and the Word of God humbles or hardens the human heart.

Worry is like a rocking chair. It will give you something to do, but it won't get you anywhere.

When the Lord's sheep are a dirty grey, all black sheep are more comfortable.

Where are the marks of the cross in your life? Are there any points of identification with your Lord? Alas, too many Christians wear medals but carry no scars

I believe in the Church and in loyalty to a local church. I am not in favour of that view of the invisible church that makes one invisible at church on Sunday morning.

The temple of truth has never suffered so much from woodpeckers on the outside as from termites within.

There are two omnipotences with Him: ‘With God all things are possible”: “All things are possible to him that believeth.

It used to be called the Lord's Day, now it is the weekend and if we group all holidays on weekends the devil will have scored another move against Sunday worship.

The alternative to discipline is disaster. VANCE HAVNER

The Bible has a lot to say about our mouths, our lips, our tongues, for our speech betrays us. What is down in the well will come up in the bucket. –VANCE HAVNER

Sometimes your medicine bottle has on it, "Shake well before using." That is what God has to do with some of His people. He has to shake them well before they are ever usable.” ~Vance Havner

A lot of dear folks today are either in a state of cholera morbus or St. Vitus's dance [ the twitching nerve disorder chorea]. We need to get going for God. Faith in itself has no value unless it connects you with God. The Bible is constantly trying to wake us up: "Stir up the gift of God" (2 Tim. 1:6); "Break up your fallow ground" (Hos. 10:12); "Gird up the loins of your mind" (1 Peter 1:13). We need to take ourselves by the nape of the neck and make ourselves do what we know we ought to do, whether we feel like it or not. Some

those who are desperate enough to know Him, seek Him, and obey Him will find themselves enjoying a richer and fuller life in Christ.

I don’t believe God is going to fill anybody with the Holy Spirit until the purpose of their heart is to glorify Jesus and to glorify God.

Nothing under the sun can be as dry and flat and tedious and exhausting as religious work without the wonder.

A church may have the bones of organization and sound theology.  It may have the body of a large membership.  But, if the breath of the Holy Spirit is not on it and in it, then it is only Sardis, having a name to be alive but dead.

Teddy Roosevelt, during the First World War, used to talk about hyphenated Americans. He was talking about German-Americans who had a divided allegiance, and he said, “If you’re an American and something else, you’re not an American.

Junior bit the meter man, Junior kicked the cook; junior is anti-social now, according to the book.  Junior smashed the clock and lamp; Junior hacked the tree. Destructive trends are treated in chapters two and three.  Junior threw his milk at mom; Junior screamed for more. Notes on self-assertiveness are found in chapter four. Junior tossed his shoes and socks out into the rain; negation that, and normal. Disregard the stain. Junior got in Grandpop’s room, tore up his fishing line. That’s the inattention, see page 89. But, Grandpop seized the slipper and yanked Junior ‘cross his knee, ‘cause Grandpop hadn’t read a book since 1893.

Sometimes old ministers grow bitter and sour. They started out brightly enough, but they saw so much of the evil of men's hearts, that they were disappointed in men they once trusted; they had the Spirit quenched within them, until they became human wet blankets, saying to every young enthusiast, "Yes, I used to feel that way; you'll get over it!

We are suffering today from a species of Christianity as dry as dust, as cold as ice, as pale as a corpse, and as dead as King Tut. We are suffering not from a lack of correct heads but of consumed hearts. —VANCE HAVNER

Vance Havner wrote about the soul’s need for rest: “If you don’t come apart for a while, you will come apart in a while.

We are suffering today from a species of Christianity as dry as dust, as cold as ice, as pale as a corpse, and as dead as King Tut. We are suffering not from a lack of correct heads but of consumed hearts. —VANCE HAVNER T

I love how the late evangelist Vance Havner wrote about the soul’s need for rest: “If you don’t come apart for a while, you will come apart in a while.

Vance Havner, a Baptist preacher of years gone by, used to say, “Preaching is supposed to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.

LIGHTING THE PATH Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalm 119:105 NKJV Are you a woman who trusts God’s Word without reservation? Hopefully so, because the Bible is unlike any other book—it is a guidebook for life here on earth and for life eternal. The Psalmist describes God’s word as, “a light to my path.” Is the Bible your lamp? If not, you are depriving yourself of a priceless gift from the Creator. Vance Havner observed, “It takes calm, thoughtful, prayerful meditation on the Word to extract its deepest nourishment.” How true. God’s Word can be a light to guide your steps. Claim it as your light today, tomorrow, and every day of your life—and then walk confidently in the footsteps of God’s only begotten Son. Light is stronger than darkness—darkness cannot “comprehend” or “overcome” it. Anne Graham Lotz God’s leading will never be contrary to His word. Vonette Bright A TIMELY TIP Trust God’s Word: Charles Swindoll writes, “There are four words I wish we would never forget, and they are, ‘God keeps his word.’” And remember: When it comes to studying God’s Word, school is always in session.

God uses broken things. It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume. It is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever.” —Vance Havner

The Saturday Review is not a church paper. It’s a secular paper. But, the other day, it said, “The desensitization of 20th century man is more than a danger to the general safety. There are some things we have no business ever getting used to.

A Christian is not a depository of the truth; he’s a dispenser of the truth.

We must be careful not to be so scared of getting out on a limb that we never get up the tree.

When I stand at the judgment seat of Christ, and He shows me His plan for me, the plan of my life as it might have been had He had His way, and I see how I blocked Him here and I checked Him there, and I would not yield my will, will there be grief in my Savior’s eyes, grief, though he loves me still? He would have me rich, and I stand there poor, stripped of all but His grace while memory runs like a hunted thing down the path I cannot retrace. Then my desolate heart will well nigh break with the tears that I cannot shed. I shall cover my face with my empty hands. I shall bow my inclined head. Lord of the years that are left to me, I give them to Thy hands. Take me and break me and mold me to the pattern Thou hast planned.

Look at Matthew 11:16-19, “But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, and saying, we have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented. For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil. The son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners.  But wisdom is justified of her children.” What a description of this generation! John the Baptist came fasting, and Jesus came feasting, and they called John a demoniac and Jesus a glutton. Nothing suited them. They were like spoiled children who’ve had too many toys.  Today, our churches are filled with spoiled "adults." They’ve been petted and pampered and no kind of preaching pleases them. If the wrath of God is preached, the minister is too severe. If the love of God is proclaimed, he’s too sentimental. If he speaks in a low tone of voice, he’s dull. If he speaks in a loud voice, he’s deafening. If he stands still, he’s a statue. If he moves around, he’s a sensationalist. That used to bother me a lot until I learned how to identify these children of the marketplace. They play, they pipe, they play a wedding, they mourn, they play funeral; and it looks real, but it’s all make-believe.  And we play church just like that. I was invited to Fremont Temple in Boston some time ago for an evangelistic conference, and the pastor said, “We're so worried about playing church.” Well, I’ve heard that many times before, but what a common thing it is today to play at it and our Lord called it play acting, hypocrisy: spiritual babies who won’t grow up. The Apostle Paul experienced the same problem in the church in his day. He said, "And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able," (I Cor.3:1-2). We have overgrown babies who have become such as have need of milk but not of meat, 150 and 200 pound church babies who keep the pastor busy running around with a milk bottle when they ought to have been on meat a long time ago. And, then when they call a new pastor, they say, “I don’t like him. He changed my formula.” Ah, they’re a headache and a heartache to any pastor, pouting and selfish to whom John the Baptist would be only a demoniac and Jesus a glutton.

We sing the little chorus, “Christ Is All I Need.” Dr. Vance Havner said, “You may say Christ is all you need, but He is not really all you need until you come to the place where He is all you have. When He is really all you have, then you recognize He is really all you need.

Evangelist Vance Havner once quipped, “When I was a boy, preachers used to talk about ‘holding a revival.’ What we really need is somebody who will turn a revival loose.

Reavivamento é a renovação do amor da igreja por Jesus Cristo', escreveu Vance Havner.

there’s where faith comes in, receive it just like you did for salvation, according to God’s word, according to God’s will, according to your need, and according to your faith. God will answer any prayer that’s according to those four.

Somebody said there are three kinds of lies: black lies, white lies, and statistics.

Revival is falling in love with Jesus all over again.

Revival is falling in love with Jesus all over again;