Billy Graham's Quotes
The Bible
The 99-year-old evangelist lived by the words in the Bible. He knew what it said, and he lived by it. He wanted others to do the same.
“World events are moving very rapidly now. I pick up the Bible in one hand, and I pick up the newspaper in the other. And I read almost the same words in the newspaper as I read in the Bible. It’s being fulfilled every day round about us.”
“I've read the last page of the Bible, it's all going to turn out all right.”
About Christianity
The Rev. Billy Graham believed that being a Christian is more than just an instantaneous conversion. He said Christianity is a daily process whereby people grow to be more and more like Christ.
Dying
Graham was not afraid of dying. He often spoke about being with his heavenly father. In order to do that, he knew he had to die.
"I know that soon my life will be over. I thank God for it, and for all He has given me in this life. But I look forward to heaven."
A quote has gone viral on social media giving Graham, the most prominent preacher and evangelist of the 20th-century credit for making the following quote. Actually, Graham adapted it from Dwight L. Moody who was the most prominent preacher and evangelist of the 19th century. The quote is so appropriate for both prominent preachers.
Here is the quote about death that is so appropriate for a time such as this.
"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."
Heaven
Heaven was always on Billy Graham's mind. He thought about heaven a lot. He said he didn't expect to go to heaven because of all the preaching he had done to so many great crowds or how many times he had read the Bible. He concluded that he knew he was going to heaven because he was like the thief on the cross who said in that last moment, "Lord, remember me."
Here are just a few other things Graham said about heaven.
“The moment we take our last breath on earth, we take our first in heaven.”
“My home is in Heaven. I'm just traveling through this world.”
“Heaven doesn’t make this life less important; it makes it more important.”
“The Bible says that as long as we are here on Earth, we are strangers in a foreign land. There are enemies to be conquered before we return home. This world is not our home; our citizenship is in heaven.”
Sermon Preached at the Charlotte Crusade on September 21, 1958
Billy Graham preached that there are three things you have to do to get to heaven and have your sins forgiven.
- First, you must repent of your sins.
- Secondly, you must receive Christ by faith.
- The third thing you must do: You must obey Christ.
Love
No preacher could not preach as many sermons as Billy Graham did if he did not love people. This was demonstrated by him being heard in 185 of the 195 countries and six continents over the world. He preached over 400 crusades. Once he preached every night for 16 consecutive weeks. That was because he loved people and he wanted them to know that God loved them too.
“God proved His love on the Cross. When Christ hung, and bled, and died, it was God saying to the world, 'I love you.”
"I am a sinner and you are a sinner. Every one of us is a sinner in God's sight. But the Bible also tells us that God is a God of love."
“When we come to the end of ourselves, we come to the beginning of God."
Suffering
Toward the end of Billy Graham's life, he suffered from conditions that affect a lot of people. Yet, he did not complain because he knew suffering is a part of life. He acknowledged his condition and had these things to say about his own suffering.
“Someone asked me recently if I didn’t think God was unfair, allowing me to have Parkinson’s and other medical problems when I have tried to serve him faithfully. I replied that I did not see it that way at all. Suffering is part of the human condition, and it comes to us all. The key is how we react to it, either turning away from God in anger and bitterness or growing closer to him in trust and confidence.”
"Some of you today are going through heartache and grief so intense that you wonder if it will ever go away. But I want to tell you that our God cares for you and for your family and for your city. For God loves you, and he shares in your suffering."
Today
From the time he was only 16 years old, the Rev. Billy Graham began to love and trust God. If God had not been in his life, Graham would have been unable to do what he did over six decades in ministry. He made the following quotes that helped him carry on. Perhaps they will help others as well.
“The will of God will not take us where the grace of God cannot sustain us.”
“God never takes away something from your life without replacing it with something better.”
“Take one day at a time. Today, after all, is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.”
