John R. Rice Quotes of the Week

 Can Christians make good soldiers? Or to put it the other way around, Can a soldier in war be a good Christian? That answer is that he certainly can if his heart is right with God and if he is in obedience to his government in a good cause. John R. Rice

In West Texas a farmer deacon said to me sadly, "Brother Rice, I am afraid many of the preachers around here are not called to preach. They never have any tears. They never win souls. The services are so dead." But I answered, "Most likely they really are called, but are not anointed to preach." Many a man is called to preach and yet his ministry is dead because he does not have the fire of God in his bones, because he does not have the anointing of God upon him. Or in the language of Jeremiah, the Word has not become a burning fire in his heart, so that he is compelled to speak. - John R. Rice [Great Truths for Soul Winners, pg. 297]

Note that they said [in Acts 1], "THIS SAME JESUS." The Jesus in Heaven is not another but the same. The Jesus who will return for His saints is not another but the same. When He comes again to Jerusalem, Jews will look on Him whom they have pierced (Zech. 12:10). They will ask, "What are these wounds in thine hands?" He will answer, "Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends" (Zech. 13:6). His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives (Zech. 14:4). Jesus now has hands and feet, the same with which He went away, hands and feet with the marks of nails! And this same Jesus now abides in Heaven with a physical body. I tell you, Heaven must be and is a real, literal, physical place! ― John R. Rice, Bible Facts About Heaven

The God of creation and the God of salvation is likewise the God of judgment. It is only a Bible-denying, fact-ignoring fool who will deny that a just and holy God must punish unrepentant sinners. May wicked sinners everywhere be warned to repent of their sins and seek the mercy of God before His wrath falls, as the book of Revelation foretells that it will. - John R. Rice [The Bible Garden, pg. 116-117]

Listen, the dear Lord wants you. You say, "Brother Rice, I am not ready." Then you had better get ready. Somebody says, "Well, there are hypocrites in the church." Yes, and there are hypocrites at ball games and hypocrites in the supermarkets and hypocrites in the business offices, and hypocrites at the banks. That doesn't keep you from going on doing business with them. Why cut off your nose to spite your face? Are you going to Hell because of somebody you don't like? That is a dishonest and insincere kind of excuse. - John R. Rice [Luke 13, 14; pg. 19-20]

I suggest that you go over your prayer list. Criticize and weigh carefully each item. Are you asking this for a personal, selfish reason? Is it according to the written Word of God? And does the Holy Spirit specially lead you out in prayer for this? If you have given up your own will and if it stands the test of the last two points, then you may with holy boldness storm the gates of Heaven to get the answer to your prayer, and say like Jacob, "I will not let thee go, except thou bless me!" (Gen. 32:26) - John R. Rice [How to Get Things from God, pg. 44]

The natural mind is a stranger from God and is not interested in the Bible. And the carnal or undeveloped and untaught and unspiritual Christian is likely to have no taste for the Word of God. A state of disinterestedness in the Bible is an unspiritual state, a state of backsliding and sin. - John R. Rice [Hindrances to Prayer, page 28]