John R. Rice Quotes of the Week

The sacrifice of Christ ought to let you know how God feels about it. He sent His Son to die. And on the cross God turned His face away and let Jesus die. Hanging there in the blistering sun for three hours and then a midnight darkness covered the earth and God turned His face away. Jesus said so we would understand it (He did not say it because He didn't understand it, but a hypothetical question for us), "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" He wanted you and me to notice it. God forsook Jesus so that we might be forgiven and that our debt could be paid. I am just saying, a Christian who doesn't win souls misses the point of what Christ came for and the whole thing He should do. - John R. Rice

I know what is wrong with the Christian who doesn't win souls. You have a cold heart.
You say, "I don't feel impressed. . . ."
You have the heart that doesn't let God impress you. You ought to be impressed by what He has already said in the Bible. You don't ever need to pray and ask God "if" about soul winning. You ask God "where" and "how," but you don't ask God "if." He has already told you what to do about that. And so a Christian ought to win souls. And you are not a good Christian if you don't. - John R. Rice

You say, "Oh, I pray God will make me a soul winner." He won't unless you get to working at it. Suppose you sat at home and said, "O Lord, I want to catch a lot of fish." You won't catch them unless you go fishing. Well, then, go fishing. It's all right to pray about it. It is all right to use the right bait and go to the right places, but if you don't work at it, you won't catch fish. - John R. Rice

Oh, the reason you don't win people is that you don't care enough to go after them. If you work at it, you can win somebody. You may stumble, but any honest effort to get somebody saved is better than a fellow who doesn't try at all. - John R. Rice

When I was a young college student I went with my pastor - a country pastor, an earnest soul winner - to a number of revivals in the summer. He invited me to be with him in seven weeks of revival services in seven country and small-town churches. I went. It wasn't long until he was sending me on ahead to start the revival. I didn't think I was called to preach. I didn't go out there to preach; I went to lead the singing. But it was not long until he pushed me out. I tried to argue. "I'm not the preacher."
He would say, "Then tell them you are not a preacher."
I said, "But I don't have any sermons."
He said, "You are an intercollegiate debater. You have a scholarship in oratory, and are out raising money, speaking for the Red Cross and all that, and you can't preach! That's a funny way to treat Jesus."
And - bless his heart - he outtalked me! You couldn't run long with him without being a preacher. So you can't run with Jesus without learning to win souls. That is the dearest thing to the heart of God.- John R. Rice

The fruit of a Christian is another Christian. The fruit of a woman's womb is a baby. The fruit of an apple tree is an apple. The fruit of a melon vine is a melon. And the fruit of a Christian is another Christian. - John R. Rice

All who have known well this editor and author in fifty-four years of ministry [written in 1976], know that I do not seek to propagate a denominational viewpoint. Most denominational leaders and, as far as I know, all denominational colleges and seminaries in the great Southern Baptist denomination in which I grew up and was trained and began my ministry, were post-millennial or amillennial. But earnestly following the Bible, I came to believe in the premillennial return of Christ and associate doctrines. I take the Bible literally where they often did not. - John R. Rice