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Roger Babson, an American historian, was visiting the president of Argentina about one hundred years ago when the president said to him: “You are a student of history, Will you please tell me why it is that South America, with her unlimited resources, and having been settled earlier than North America, has nevertheless made much slower progress in civilization and material prosperity?”

Mr. Babson threw the question back upon the president by saying, “Mr. President, you evidently have studied this question yourself, and I would be interested to know your answer to it.

“A young man whose father is a carpenter grows up working in his father’s shop. He has no formal education. He owns no property of any kind. One day he puts down his tools and walks out of his father’s shop. He starts preaching on street corners and in the nearby countryside. Walking from place to place preaching all the while even though he is in no way an ordained minister he never gets farther than an area perhaps 100 miles wide at the most.

George Stott, a one-legged school teacher from Scotland, volunteered for missionary service in China. When asked why he with only one leg thought of going to China, he said, “I do not see those with two legs going, so I must.” Thus began his more than twenty years of missionary work in China.

Source: Twenty-six Years of Missionary Work in China, Grace Stott

“I’m against sin. I’ll kick it as long as I’ve got a foot, and I’ll fight it as long as I’ve got a fist. I’ll butt it as long as I’ve got a head. I’ll bite it as long as I’ve got a tooth. When I’m old and fistless and footless and toothless, I’ll gum it till I go home to Glory and it goes home to perdition.”—Billy Sunday

Source: Great Preaching on the Deity of Christ, Curtis Hutson

In George Foreman’s book, God in My Corner, the former heavyweight boxing champion writes: “In 1974, before I went to Africa to fight Muhammad Ali, a friend gave me a Bible to take along on my trip. He said, ‘George, keep this with you for good luck.’ I believed the Bible was just a shepherd’s handbook, probably because the only verse I knew was ‘the Lord is my shepherd.’ But I was always looking for luck, so I carried that Bible with me. I had lucky pennies and good luck charms, so now I added the ‘lucky’ Bible to my collection of superstitious items.

“The life of Christianity consists of possessive pronouns. It is one thing to say, ‘Christ is a Saviour’; it is quite another thing to say, ‘He is my Saviour and my Lord.’ The devil can say the first; the true Christian alone can say the second.”—Martin Luther

Source: Annotations upon Popular Hymns, Charles Seymour Robinson

Kreisler, the famous violinist, said, “Narrow is the road that leads to the life of a violinist. Hour after hour, day after day, and week after week, for years, I lived with my violin. There were so many things that I wanted to do that I had to leave undone; there were so many places I wanted to go that I had to miss if I was to master the violin.”

Source: Zondervan 2011 Pastor’s Annual, T. T. Crabtree

Submitted by the homiletics class of West Coast Baptist College

Benjamin Spock led the way among child rearing professionals in instructing parents not to discipline their children. He said that doing so would damage children’s ego. Later in his life he realized that he had made a mistake and said:

The Puritan John Brown wrote, “Many Christians are like children; they would sow and reap the same day.” It is easy to become tired of sowing and be anxious for the harvest.

If our faith be worth anything, it will stand the test. Gilt is afraid of fire, but gold is not: the paste gem dreads to be touched by the diamond, but the true jewel fears no test. It is a poor faith which can only trust God when friends are true, the body full of health, and the business profitable; but that is true faith which holds by the Lord’s faithfulness when friends are gone, when the body is sick, when spirits are depressed, and the light of our Father’s countenance is hidden.

From July 26 to August 7, 1971, the eyes of millions of Americans were on the Apollo 15 moon mission. You may remember the astronauts David R. Scott and James B. Irwin, who landed on the moon and spent eighteen of their sixty-six hours there outside the spacecraft. They covered over seventeen miles of the surface in a specialized vehicle people dubbed the “moon buggy.”

Evangelist Gypsy Smith, was asked what the secret of revival is. He said, “Go home. Take a piece of chalk. Draw a circle around yourself. Then pray, ‘O Lord, revive everything inside this circle.’”

Source: Personal Revival, S. J. Hill

Submitted by the homiletics class of West Coast Baptist College

At age nineteen, these resolutions were adopted by Dr. James Clement Furman who became the first president of Furman University:

Resolved, never to speak ill of an individual but to call to mind my own sins and imperfections and be silent.

Resolved, when my heart feels cold and languid, to strive earnestly in prayer to God for deliverance from such a state and for the abiding influence of His Holy Spirit; and to inquire into the causes which have produced this effect upon me and to guard against them in the future.

David Livingstone was a pioneer missionary to Africa, who walked over 29,000 miles. His wife died early in their ministry and he faced stiff opposition from his Scottish brethren.

He prayed, “Send me anywhere, only go with me. Lay any burden on me, only sustain me. Sever any ties but the tie that binds me to Your service and to Your heart.”

Source: The Grand Weaver, Ravi Zacharias

Submitted by the homiletics class of West Coast Baptist College

When D.L. Moody was just starting in the ministry, he heard a preacher make this statement, “the world has yet to see what God can do with one man fully surrendered to Him.” Moody that night said, “By God’s grace, I’ll be that man!”

Source: Living Beyond Your Capacity, Paul Chappell

Submitted by the homiletics class of West Coast Baptist College

Here are excerpts from all fifty state constitutions:

Alabama
“We the people of the State of Alabama, invoking the favor and guidance of Almighty God, do ordain and establish the following Constitution.”

Alaska
“We, the people of Alaska, grateful to God and to those who founded our nation and pioneered this great land…”

Arizona
“We, the people of the State of Arizona, grateful to Almighty God for our liberties, do ordain this Constitution.”

“There is a marvelous medicinal power in joy. Most medicines are distasteful; but this, which is the best of all medicines, is sweet to the taste, and comforting to the heart. This blessed joy is very contagious. One dolorous spirit brings a kind of plague into the house; one person who is wretched seems to stop all the birds from singing wherever he goes . . . [But] the grace of joy is contagious. Holy joy will oil the wheels of your life’s machinery. Holy joy will strengthen you for your daily labor.

“I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.”—Helen Keller

“The highest reward for a man’s toil is not what he gets for it, but what he becomes by it.”—John Ruskin

“You can measure what you would do for the Lord by what you do.”—T. C. Horton, quoted in Christian Life

"A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you, and were helped by you will remember you. Carve your name on hearts, not marble."—Charles Spurgeon

“If I take care of my character, my reputation will take care of itself.”—D. L. Moody

"No man can climb beyond the limitations of his own character.”—John Morley

"Character is doing what's right when nobody's looking."—J. C. Watts Jr.

“The test of a man’s character is what it takes to stop him.”—Bob Jones Sr.

Not in unbelief, Voltaire was an infidel of the most pronounced type. He wrote: “I wish I had never been born.”

Not in pleasure, Lord Byron lived a life of pleasure if anyone did. He wrote: “The worm, the canker, and grief are mine alone.”

Not in money, Jay Gould, the American millionaire, had plenty of that. When dying, he said: “I suppose I am the most miserable man on earth.”

Not in position and fame, Lord Beaconsfield enjoyed more than his share of both. He wrote: “Youth is a mistake; manhood a struggle; old age a regret.”