Quotes: Insight From Billy Graham

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Someday you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive than I am now. I will just have changed my address. I will have gone into the presence of God. (quoting from D.L.Moody)

"God will prepare everything for our perfect happiness in heaven, and if it takes my dog being there, I believe he'll be there."

"The moment we take our last breath on earth, we take our first in heaven."

"Christ not only died for all: he died for each."

“We say to our children, 'Act like grown-ups,' but Jesus said to the grown-ups, 'Be like children.'"

“Without the resurrection, the cross is meaningless.”

“The cross shows us the seriousness of our sin—but it also shows us the immeasurable love of God.”

“God never takes away something from your life without replacing it with something better.”

“Take one day at a time. Today, after all, is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.”

"God has given us two hands, one to receive with and the other to give with."

 “I've read the last page of the Bible, it's all going to turn out all right.”

“There is nothing wrong with men possessing riches. The wrong comes when riches possess men.”

“The only time my prayers are never answered is on the golf course.”

“When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost.”

“Knowing we will be with Christ forever far outweighs our burdens today! Keep your eyes on eternity!”

“World events are moving very rapidly now. I pick up the Bible in one hand, and I pick up the newspaper in the other. And I read almost the same words in the newspaper as I read in the Bible. It’s being fulfilled every day round about us.” 

“It is the Holy Spirit's job to convict, God's job to judge and my job to love.”

“A real Christian is the one who can give his pet parrot to the town gossip.”

“Sin is the second most powerful force in the universe, for it sent Jesus to the cross. Only one force is greater—the love of God.”

“The framers of our Constitution meant we were to have freedom of religion, not freedom from religion.”

“They asked her (Ruth Graham) did she ever think about divorce and she said, ‘No, I’ve never thought of divorce in all these 35 years of marriage, but,’ she said, ‘I did think of murder a few times.’”

“Our society strives to avoid any possibility of offending anyone – except God.”

“We are the Bibles the world is reading; we are the creeds the world is needing; we are the sermons the world is heeding.”

“I have never known anyone to accept Christ’s redemption and later regret it.”

“Tears shed for self are tears of weakness, but tears shed for others are a sign of strength.”

“Being a Christian is more than just an instantaneous conversion – it is a daily process whereby you grow to be more and more like Christ.”

"The message I preach hasn't changed. Circumstances have changed. Problems have changed, but deep inside man has not changed, and the gospel hasn't changed."

“When we come to the end of ourselves, we come to the beginning of God."

"Suffering is part of the human condition, and it comes to us all. The key is how we react to it, either turning away from God in anger and bitterness or growing closer to him in trust and confidence.”

“Believers, look up – take courage. The angels are nearer than you think.”

“Quit beating yourself up. We all live under grace and do the best we can.”

"Just as I am."

"All is grace."

Many churches of all persuasions are hiring research agencies to poll neighborhoods, asking what kind of church they prefer. Then the local churches design themselves to fit the desires of the people. True faith in God that demands selflessness is being replaced by trendy religion that serves the selfish.

Nothing can bring a real sense of security into the home except true love.

Scripture is filled with examples of men and women whom God used late in life, often with great impact - men and women who refused to use old age as an excuse to ignore what God wanted them to do.

I used to read five psalms every day - that teaches me how to get along with God. Then I read a chapter of Proverbs every day and that teaches me how to get along with my fellow man.

Those outside the church expect followers of Christ to live differently, yet today many in church are chasing after the world - not to win them, but to be like them.

What really matters is how God sees me. He isn't concerned with labels; he is concerned about the state of man's soul.

Evangelicals can't be closely identified with any particular party or person. We have to stand in the middle, to preach to all the people, right and left.

The one badge of Christian discipleship is not orthodoxy but love.

Man has two great spiritual needs. One is for forgiveness. The other is for goodness.

I'm going to Heaven just like the thief on the cross who said in that last moment: 'Lord, remember me.'

Each generation faces different issues and challenges, but our standard must always be measured by God's word.

Death wasn't part of God's original plan for humanity, and the Bible calls death an enemy - the last enemy to be destroyed.

Everybody has a little bit of Watergate in him.

I have never changed my message. I preach the Bible, and I preach it with authority.

I just want to lobby for God.

The older I get, the more important the eternal becomes to me personally.

I can barely walk, but it's a privilege to be able to move at all.

It seems the only way to gain attention today is to organize a march and protest something.

There is no scriptural basis for segregation.

Seemingly, man has learned to live without God, preoccupied and indifferent toward Him and concerned only about material security and pleasure.

Traveling around the world and preaching for over 70 years did not give much time for reflection.

“I feel sorry for the man who has never known the bracing thrill of taking a stand and sticking to it fearlessly. Moral courage has rewards that timidity can never imagine. Like a shot of adrenaline, it floods the spirit with vitality”

“Joy cannot be pursued. It comes from within. It is a state of being. It does not depend on circumstances, but triumphs over circumstances. It produces a gentleness of spirit and a magnetic personality.” 

“I want to hear one person say something nice about me, and that’s the Lord, when I face him. I want him to say to me, ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant.’ I am not sure I am going to, but that’s what I’d like to hear.”

More on Rev. Billy Graham here.