Prayer - Vance Havner

Most of us appreciate but do not appropriate what we have in Christ. We carry checks on the bank of heaven and never cash them at the window of prayer. We are Bible window-shoppers: we stroll up and down through the show-windows of God's Word and never possess what we perceive. God, who spared not His Son, shall with Him also freely give us all things. ~Vance Havner, Jesus Only/What Christ Means to Me

Faith - Vance Havner

By Him faith consists.  It is not the quantity or the quality but the object of our faith that matters.  Saving faith is faith in Christ, not merely believing things about Christ.  The man with the best nerves is the man least conscious of his nerves, and the man with the best faith is the man least conscious of his faith but most conscious of his Christ.  ~Vance Havner; “By Him All Things Consist”

Time for Judgment - Vance Havner

We are entering upon the last days and God is sifting His people.  There is beginning right now a separation between the great crowd of Sunday-morning church goers and those who really mean business with God.  On one hand, we have the mass of nominal Christians who belong to church because the family does or because it is the nice thing to do, who draw nigh to God with their mouths and honor Him with their lips, while their hearts are far from Him.  These will soon be shown up in their true colors:  they will trim their sail to catch the breeze and end up in one great apostate aggregation in league with the powers that be, the world, the flesh and the devil.  On the other hand, is the faithful remnant who hear the Lord and speak often to one another, saints from all the church bodies, drawn together by a common love for Christ.  These will be melted together in fires of testing with a comradeship like that at the early Christians in the catacombs of Rome.  ~Vance Havner, “Time for Judgment” (1 Peter 4:17-18)

Must I Live?

“To live is Christ,” Paul said and even that makes dying a paying proposition.   “To live is Christ and to die is gain.”  That’s the only way I know you can do that.  But you do that when you can say “I live for Christ”.  Anything that compromises that all out devotion is to be refused and turned down flatly at any cost.  Now that little pinch of incense may have seemed very insignificant.  You’ve seen the great paintings of some being led away to be killed because they wouldn’t put into the altar that little insignificant bit of an offering.  It may have looked innocent, but to them it was anathema.  Because he only knew one God and he would not by life or lip pay even a gesture to another.  If belonging to your pagan guild compromises your views on Jesus Christ; lose your job first.  You don’t have to eat: you only have to be faithful.  You say that is radical.  I know its radical – turned the world upside down one time.  No use quibbling about it.  You can’t untie these knots these days, you have to cut them.  And that’s radical treatment sometimes, but it’s better than cutting off the dog’s tail off by inches which is slow business and hard on the dog besides.  ~Vance Havner, “Must I Live?” 

Vance Havner One-Liners

It’s about time we quit playing church in these services that start at eleven o’clock sharp and end at twelve o’clock dull.  ~Vance Havner, sermon, It’s About Time

It’s better to die with a conviction than to live with a compromise.  ~Vance Havner, “Must I Live?”

Too many sermons are bedtime stories to lull the saints to sleep instead of morning reveilles to wake them up! ~Vance Havner, “Time for Judgment” (1 Peter 4:17-18)

Birthdays tell you how long you’ve been on the road, but not how long you’ve traveled.  ~Vance Havner, Old Time Religion

We’ve been saved out of this world

But we’re still in the world

But we’re not of the world

But we’ve been saved out of this world

To go right back in to this world

To win people out of this world

That’s the only business we have in this world

~Vance Havner, Forget Not His Benefits, 1 John 4:17

Some time ago, two Indians who had been watching a lighthouse go up came over to see the thing open on the big day.  It was all set up with the lights and the bell and the horn; but the day it was due to open, the worst fog of all fogs came in.

One Indian said to the other, “Light shine, bell ring, horn blow, but fog come in just the same.”

We’ve never had more lights shining, and bells ringing and horns blowing in the church than we have today.  We’ve never had more fog. ~Vance Havner, sermon, On This Rock I Stand

We’re afraid to shock the world today with a miraculous Christianity.  We’ve developed a brand of religion as much like the world as possible so the worldlings won’t feel embarrassed when they join the church; there isn’t enough difference to embarrass them.  They are almost good enough.  They don’t need a miracle.  They just need to join the church.  ~Vance Havner, sermon: Showdown on Mount Carmel, collection: On This Rock I Stand, p 56

Ministers Not Mimics! - Vance Havner

There is not only something back of us, there is SOMETHING BEFORE US: "all the world." And we also have SOMEONE WITH US: "Lo, I am with you." And let us not forget that our message is Christ Himself. We try to match the world's wit and cleverness. We try to meet it on its own ground and amuse it and entertain it. We give it a glorified hash, a religious mulligan stew of ethics and psychology and philosophy. We forget that what we have that the world doesn't have is Jesus. There is no point in trying to meet it with something it already has. We are ministers, not mimics; apostles, not apes. We are to let our light shine, and that light is Christ. It is a glow, not a glare, and we do not shine it, we let it shine.  ~Vance Havner, Jesus Only/Our Threefold Commission

Vance Havner

I believe with all my soul that when we quit depending on our gadgets and gimmicks and stand on nothing but the promises of God, risking our reputation and future on it, staking everything on a miracle instead of on men and machinery and mere money, the fire will fall.  We are not here to demonstrate what we can do for God, because the eyes of the Lord run to and fro to show Him strong in our behalf, to show how strong we are in His behalf.  ~Vance Havner, sermon: Showdown on Mount Carmel, collection: On This Rock I Stand, p 58

“Nobody ever broke the law of God.  You can break yourself against the law of God.  You might as well attack Gibraltar with a popgun as to go up against the law of God in your own little weak self.  You can’t do it.  You can’t jump over a skyscraper.  You don’t break the law of gravity.  You can break your neck—but break the law of gravity?  And there are those today who think they can be immoral and escape the consequences.  There are some very clever ways of escaping some of the results, but none for escaping the consequences.  ~Vance Havner, sermon: “It’s About Time”, collection: When God Breaks Through, p 42 

Vance Havner

The Christian life is not a glorified St. Vitus’ dance. We are to be willing disciples, not whirling dervishes. Elijah ate and slept. When we cannot do that we are not worth much to God or man. ~Vance Havner; “What Doest Thou Here” (1 Kings 19:9)

Only one "Must"

The Christian has only one ‘must’ in this world; he must be faithful to Jesus Christ. Come what may, live or die, there are no ifs, no reservations, no alibis. . . you don’t have live, you only have to be true. We must obey God rather than men. ~Vance Havner, “Must I Live?”

Vance Havner

The world is not stunned at the power of the church today. They’re making fun of us. You can build a great church without the Holy Spirit, put up big buildings, raise a lot of money, and take in a lot of members. But we must learn, beloved that they who are in the flesh cannot please God no matter how cultured or religious or sincere. ~Vance Havner, sermon: Showdown on Mount Carmel, On This Rock I Stand, p 55

Vance Havner

Holy boldness, however, calls attention to the Lord and not to the preacher. They took knowledge of Peter and John, not that they were bold, but that they had been with Jesus. Boldness is prayed down, not worked up. The early church prayed for boldness and got it (Acts 4:29-31). It is not mere recklessness nor ordinary courage. The torch of the Spirit must be upon it. ~Vance Havner, sermon: The Man God Uses, On This Rock I Stand, p 104

Vance Havner

When the young prophet (Elisha) asked where the axe head fell he knew the place to get back in God’s will is the place where you got out. Have you ever shown God the place? He knows where it is, but have you ever dealt specifically with where you lost the power? “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy” (Prov 28:13) ~Vance Havner, sermon: Alas, On This Rock I Stand, p 93

Vance Havner

Too many church members have been starched and ironed without being washed. The cleaning process was never started right. ~Vance Havner, sermon: When God Gets Fed Up, On This Rock I Stand, p 70

Vance Havner on Revival

The tragedy of the hour is that the situation is desperate, but the saints are not. If they were, we would have revival. But, as in the days of Jeremiah, we have too many lullaby crooners and not enough prophets. ~Vance Havner, sermon: Wake Up And Get Up, On This Rock I Stand, p 78

Vance Havner

"I used to say that civilization was going to the dogs, but I've quit that out of respect for the canine kingdom."  ~Vance Havner