Throughout his life, Billy Graham preached thousands of times to millions of people all over the world. He authored more than 30 books and was known for his simple, clear Gospel message. Here’s some of the direction he had to offer for living a Christian life.
Love
“God didn’t make Adam and Eve because He was lonely or because He needed someone to love Him in return. God is complete in Himself; He lacks nothing. God’s love compelled Him to create [humanity]. His love was expressed in the creation of the human race.”
“‘God is love’ means that He tries constantly to block your route to destruction.”
Christianity
“We aren’t only called to become Christians; we are also called to be Christians.”
“Most of us know about God, but that is quite different from knowing God.”
Repentance
“The word repentance is sadly missing today from the average pulpit. It is a very unpopular word. The first sermon Jesus ever preached was ‘Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”
“What does repentance mean? It means to change—to change your mind, change the way that you’re living—and to determine that with God’s help you will live for Christ.”
“The unpardonable sin involves the total and irrevocable rejection of Jesus Christ. … [The Bible] warns that when we repeatedly turn away from God, we can reach a point of no return. The reason isn’t because God won’t forgive us, but because our hearts have grown so cold and hardened because of sin. God still calls us but we are too insensitive to hear His voice.”
Salvation
“Your salvation depends on what [Christ] has done for you, not on what you do for Him.”
“I have never known a man who received Christ and ever regretted it.”
“There are thousands of people who have had some form of emotional experience that they refer to as conversion but who have never been truly converted to Christ. Christ demands a change in the way you live—and if your life does not conform to your experience, then you have every reason to doubt your experience!”
The Bible
“The Bible is not an option; it is a necessity. You cannot grow spiritually strong without it.”
Home
“If you are a true Christian, you will not give way at home to bad temper, impatience, fault-finding, sarcasm, unkindness, suspicion, selfishness, or laziness.”
“Amazing things happen when the family of God bands together.”
Entertainment
“All transgressions begin with sinful thinking. … Guard against the pictures of lewdness and sensuality that Satan flashes upon the screen of your imagination, select with care the books you read, choose discerningly the kind of entertainment you attend, the kind of associates with whom you mingle, and the kind of environment in which you place yourself.”
Life
“Without dark clouds in our lives, we would never know the joy of sunshine. We can become callous and unteachable if we do not learn from pain.”
“Sometimes life touches one person with a bouquet and another with a thorn bush. But the first may find a wasp in the flowers, and the second may discover roses among the thorns.”
Time
“Every day has exactly 1,440 minutes; can’t you find even 10 of them to be with your heavenly Father? Doesn’t God deserve the best minutes of your day?”
“Heaven is full of answers to prayer for which no one ever bothered to ask!”
Heaven
“Death for the Christian is the doorway to heaven’s glory. Because of Christ’s resurrection we can joyously say with Paul, ‘Where, O death, is your victory?’” (1 Corinthians 15:55).
“I am not going to heaven because I’ve read the Bible, nor because I’ve preached to a lot of people. I’m going to heaven because of what Christ did.”
“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.”
“When we all reach the end of our earthly journey, we will have just begun.”
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Read more about Billy Graham’s life and legacy.
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