This collection of quotations is primarily designed for preachers, but we believe will be of benefit to new Christians, those involved in personal evangelism and all servants of our Lord Jesus Christ who need the help and encouragement which such tools can bring.
Some quotes or illustrations are great statements (even one-liners) from the Puritan fathers; others are up-to-date stories with a message.
Francis Dixon often used quotes and illustrations in his preaching, but was careful only to do so if they helped to press home a point, rather than over-stretching a spiritual application.
New quotes will appear regularly. We have tried to give credit where the source is known. We trust you will find them a blessing and a help.
David and Mary Tucker
PRAYER
“We look on prayer as a means of getting things for ourselves: the Bible’s idea of prayer is that we may get to know God himself.”
Oswald Chambers
ABORTION
It is a sad reflection on our society that, when a woman chooses to have an abortion purely for social reasons, a child must die so that she can live as she pleases.
(Anon)
ADOPTION
Adoption gives us the privilege of sons, regeneration the nature of sons.
(Stephen Charnock)
ADULTERY
A little boy had just learned the 10 Commandments in Sunday School, and he asked his father, “Daddy, what does it mean when the Bible says that ‘You shall not commit agriculture?’ The father quickly replied, “It means that you are not to plough another man’s field.” That is a good definition of adultery.
ASSURANCE
(Romans 8:17)
If anybody ever comes along to you and says that there’s a chance that you might lose your salvation, ask them this question: Is there any chance that Jesus could lose His place with the Father? Ask them: could Jesus be dislodged from the Godhead? … Every Christian is made a joint-heir with Christ.
(R. T. Kendall)
ASSURANCE
If one really believes his affairs are in God’s hands, every event, no matter whether joyous or tragic, will be taken as part of God’s plan. To know beyond doubt that He does all for our welfare is to be led into a wide area of peace and quietness and strength for every situation.
(Phillip Keller)
ASSURANCE
Past deliverances minister to present trust and assure us of future joy.
(C. H. Spurgeon)
ASSURANCE
Faith is our seal; assurance of faith is God’s seal.
(Christopher Nesse)
BELIEF
(Romans 10:9-10)
George Whitefield, the great British evangelist, was speaking to a man about his soul. He asked the man,
“Sir, what do you believe?”
“I believe what my church believes,” the man replied respectfully.
“And what does your church believe?”
“The same thing I believe.”
“And what do both of you believe?” the preacher enquired again.
“We both believe the same thing,” was the only reply he could get.
A man is not saved by assenting to a church creed. He is saved by trusting Jesus Christ and bearing witness to his faith.
BIBLE
If you believe what you like in the gospel, and reject what you dislike, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself.
(Augustine)
CHILDREN
(Luke 15:11-32)
Little did the Prodigal Son realise, all the time he was away from his home and his father, that he was a forgiven man. (Phillip Keller)
CHILDREN
Your ‘difficult’ child may be a child of destiny; that’s why he encounters more difficulties than your other children. He has an assignment the Enemy has discerned.
CHILDREN
(Matthew 19:14)
I was speaking at a meeting to a group of parents to ‘bring your little ones to the Lord Jesus’. He has said, “Let the children come to me; the kingdom of God is theirs”. Then I told how I made a decision for Jesus when I was 5 years old. After that talk I left the platform and went into a small room in the building, where I found a father with two little boys, all on their knees. The father had an arm around both of those boys, and I moved back quietly while the man told the boys tenderly that they were not too young to ask Jesus to come into their hearts.
What a wonderful heritage those boys have, to know that their father cared enough about them to lead them to a knowledge of their heavenly Father!
(Corrie ten Boom)
CHRISTIANS
A real Christian is an odd number …He feels supreme love for One whom he has never seen, talks familiarly every day to Someone he cannot see, expects to go to heaven on the virtue of Another, empties himself in order to be full, admits he is wrong so he can be declared right, goes down in order to get up, is strongest when he is weakest, richest when he is poorest, and happiest when he feels worst. He dies so he can live, forsakes in order to have, gives away so he can keep, sees the invisible, hears the inaudible, and knows that which passeth knowledge.
(A. W. Tozer)
CHRIST-LIKENESS
If washed in Jesus’ blood
Then bear His likeness too!
And as you onward press
Ask – ‘What would Jesus do?’
Give with a full, free hand;
God freely gives to you!
And check each selfish thought
With – ‘What would Jesus do?
(Frances Ridley Havergal)
CHRIST-LIKENESS
A Christian is not one who believes differently from others, but who is different.
(Fred Mitchell)
CITIZENSHIP
Christians have a dual citizenship – on earth and in heaven – and our citizenship in heaven ought to make us better people here on earth.
(Warren W. Wiersbe)
CLEVER MEN
The worst sort of clever men are those who know better than the Bible, and are so learned that they believe the world has no Maker, and that men are only monkeys with their tails rubbed off!
(C. H. Spurgeon)
COMMUNION WITH JESUS
The stars shine over the earth,
The stars shine over the sea,
The stars look up to the Mighty God,
The stars look down on me;
The stars will live for a million years,
For a million years and a day!
But Christ and I shall live and love
When the stars have passed away.
(Anon)
CONFESSION
Many blush to confess their faults, who never blush to commit them.
(William Secker)