There are a few men whose writings I like to read over and over again. Vance Havner {1901-1986} is one of those men. His insights seem timeless and his wisdom is practical and down to earth. I’d like to share a few of his quotes in this Excavator.
“…Just when I am stretched out and resting on some good verse, some expositor shows up like a policeman to order me off private property and tell me that this verse is reserved for the Jew and that for the Kingdom Age. I have heard of a man without a country and I had almost decided once that these Word-Dividers were going to leave me a preacher without a Bible, and I began to wonder, ‘Is this the communion of the saints or the confusion of tongues?’ Finally, I took refuge in the text: ‘Let God be true, but every man a liar.” {emphasis mine}
“Many a preacher has spent an hour in the pulpit airing his pet grievances under the impression that he was speaking for God”
“Some sing, “I’ll go where you want me to go, dear Lord,” but they are not willing to stay where He wants them to stay. A radio preacher tells of receiving a letter from a young lady who was sure that she could do great things for the Lord if she could move to Pittsburgh, but was sure she could do nothing in the small town where she was. It developed that she refused to work in the small tasks in her home church because she felt too big for it. We have plenty of “Pittsburgh Christians,” or eagles on hummingbird nests, always too big for where they are.”
“We preach a Gospel that is God’s dynamite and we live firecracker lives.”
“The Word of God knows nothing of that strange variety of Christian willing to take Christ as Saviour but unwilling to confess Him as Lord. He is not only Saviour of the soul, He is Lord of the life”
“There was a time when sin shocked us. But as the brainwashing progresses, what once amazed us only amuses us. We laugh at the shady joke; tragedy becomes comedy; we learn to speak the language of Vanity Fair.” Above quotes are from the book The Best of Vance Havner
Moments of Decision – Vance Havner
Crowded to Christ – L.E. Maxwell
Recommended Listening:
Jesus is Lord – Vance Havner
The Christian Excavator 