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Most church members live so far below the standard, you would have to backslide to be in fellowship with them.

Vance Havner

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Vance Havner
Age: 77 †
Born: 1886
Born: February 16
Died: 1963
Died: May 2
Clergyman
Literary Critic
Literary Historian
Plainfield
New Jersey
Church
Live
Would
Backslide
Fellowship
Standard
Standards
Members

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No amount of facts in his head can compensate for the lack of fire on his lips.
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The devil will let a preacher prepare a sermon if it will keep him from preparing himself.
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There was a time when ministers spoke forthrightly and named things. We don't name anything anymore. Finney had a sermon on How to Preach so as to Convert Nobody. He said 'Preach on sin but never mention any of the sins of your congregation - that will do it.'
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The first step towards the evangelizing of the world is the christianizing of the church.
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The detour is always rougher than the main road
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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.
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The devil is in constant conspiracy against a preacher who really prays, for it has been said that what a minister is in his prayer closet is what he is, no more, no less.
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You can't preach it like it is if you don't believe it like it was.
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One cannot help the evil thoughts that come, but it is the thoughts we cultivate that make the difference between good or evil. We don't have to open the door to the devil and say, Make yourself at home.
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The preacher who jests and jokes with his people all week will soon find that he cannot stand in his pulpit on Sunday with power to reprove, rebuke and exhort. He may be the life of the party but it will be the death of the prophet.
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Beware of being a religious poseur, trying to live up to a dramatized version of yourself.
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We have suffered from the preaching of cheap grace. Grace is free, but it is not cheap. People will take anything that is free, but they are not interested in discipleship. They will take Christ as Savior but not as Lord.
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When we sin, we are often upset, not because we have grieved the Spirit but because our pride has been injured.
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I suspect that much of our praying to be used is selfish, and underneath it is the sneaking desire to make our mark and be recognized.
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Salt seasons, purifies, preserves. But somebody ought to remind us that salt also irritates. Real living Christianity rubs this world the wrong way.
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The church is so subnormal that if it ever got back to the New Testament normal it would seem to people to be abnormal.
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The middle of the road is a poor place to walk. It is a poor place to drive. It is a poor place to live.
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I know that some are always studying the meaning of the fourth toe of the right foot of some beast in prophecy and have never used either foot to go and bring men to Christ. I do not know who the 666 is in Revelation but I know the world is sick, sick, sick and the best way to speed the Lord's return is to win more souls for Him.
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We are the salt of the earth, mind you, not the sugar. Our ministry is to truly cleanse and not just to change the taste.
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The gospel is for lifeboats, not showboats, and a man must make up his mind which boat he is going to operate.
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