JOHN R. RICE QUOTES OF THE WEEK

 Later they [the disciples] said, "There is a storm at sea." They said, "Jesus, wake up! We are about to sink! Don't you care if we perish?" He said, "But where is your faith?" Do you think that boat can go down with the Creator of Heaven and earth in it? Do you THINK any storm can get Jesus? If you do, you have another THINK coming. Where is your faith? The one thing that would decide whether you are scared or not more than everything else put together would be your faith. Oh, how we must grieve Him with no faith! "Have faith in God." - John R. Rice [Ten Messages That Changed Ten Thousand Lives, pg. 153]

A woman wrote me: "I have read your book on Prayer. I have read others of your books and I know you are a man of faith. I am asking you to pray about. . . ." and she named what she wanted me to pray about. I write a book on Prayer and so somebody says, "Oh, I see that you have a pull with God." I didn't write a book to say what a great pray-er I am; I wrote a book to show what a great answer-er to prayer God is. You may not believe it, but God would as willingly answer your prayers as those of George Muller, Elijah, D. L. Moody, or anybody else. "O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come," says Psalm 65:2. All right, then "whosoever"--all flesh-- is to come in prayer. - John R. Rice [Ten Messages That Changed Ten Thousand Lives, pg. 153-154]

Remember the demon-possessed boy? Jesus came down form the Mount of Transfiguration and with Him were Peter, James and John. And as the mobs and commotion grew, Jesus said, "What is going on?" A man said, "It's my boy! My poor boy! The old Devil throws him in the water and the fire and tries to kill him. He can't talk. He is devil-possessed. I brought him to the disciples and they couldn't do anything. Maybe you can't either."

Jesus said, "You've got the 'if' in the wrong place. If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth" (Mark 9:23). He said, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me" (Matt. 17:17), He healed the boy and gave him to his father. - John R. Rice [Ten Messages That Changed Ten Thousand Lives, pg. 176]

When you come out of the water, picturing new life, you didn't get that new life in the water. It is an object lesson picturing the new life. You can go into the water a dry sinner and come up a wet sinner. Baptism ought to picture something that has happened already. Do not think that baptism secures salvation. It does not. Baptism pictures salvation. - John R. Rice [Ten Messages That Changed Ten Thousand Lives, pg.196]

Baptism pictures salvation. It not only ought to picture that this old man is now dead to sin but also that he is alive to newness of life. New life. New power. Walking like Jesus. Wanting what Jesus wants. Going in His power. Jesus lived and died to save sinners; so that must be the Christian's aim. - John R. Rice [Ten Messages That Changed Ten Thousand Lives, pg.196]

Let me tell you, this pussyfooting generation has scholarship but not the power of God. This pussyfooting generation says the only real vital issue is love. Love everybody, pat the Devil's crowd on the back and tell them how nice they are. That is not New Testament Christianity. New Testament Christianity is bold against sin, bold to attack it, bold to expect the hand of God to intervene to save sinners. So our great lack is the fullness of the Spirit, which gives boldness to our testimony. - John R. Rice [Ten Messages That Changed Ten Thousand Lives, pg. 203]

I was saved in a Baptist church, and I grew up to love Baptist people. And I suspect I absorbed a lot of Baptist prejudice. Not that it is wrong to be a Baptist, but it is wrong to believe that Baptists are the only people in the world going to Heaven. It ought to be Jesus and the Bible first.

I believe one ought to be baptized by immersion. I believe one ought not be baptized until he is saved. I believe nobody should be a member of the church but saved people. I believe it is wrong to sprinkle babies. I believe when Jesus saves us, we are saved forever. All that is Baptist doctrine. So I am a Baptist.

But some people foolishly claim that it means more than that. Some claim it is loyalty to the denomination, that Baptists are THE people, etc. I do not believe one's loyalty should be to a denomination but to Christ and the Bible. - John R. Rice [Ten Messages That Changed Ten Thousand Lives, pg. 230]