Francis Chan Quotations

Due to our consumer mindset, people are prone to jump from church to church, which weakens the church overall.

Even in my own church I heard the words, 'Francis Chan' more than I heard the words, 'Holy Spirit.'

As a culture, we're so worried about what's going to happen to us 30 years from now that we are not taking care of our brothers and sisters who need help today.

Our culture is all about shallow relationships. But that doesn't mean we should stop looking each other in the eye and having deep conversations.

Truth is, I think, if God just gave us our daily bread, many of us would be angry. 'That's all you're going to give me? You're just going to give me enough to sustain me for today? What about tomorrow or next year or 10, 20, 30 years from now? I want to know that I'm set up.' And yet Jesus says just pray for your daily provisions.

If you really want to experience God, go and make disciples.

A key to everything is surrender - to really come before the Lord and say, 'I will literally stay here as long as you want me to stay' or 'God, I will really go anywhere on the earth.'

When I read the statements of Christ, there seems to be this urgency and intensity. I guess that's what I get out of it when I read the tone of the Scriptures, which is very different from the tone of our culture.

For a person to be truly discipled and growing in their faith, they need more than one person discipling them.

I want to help people understand how to study the Scriptures with other people, to give them an overview of Scripture and assume that by understanding the Scriptures better, the Holy Spirit will bring to mind the right stories, the right teachings.

Churchgoers in America are notorious for jumping into movements, even ideas that are hard to listen to. But when they actually have to change their lifestyle and do something about it, it rarely translates into action.

Honestly, when I read the Scriptures, I really believe the Lord puts a heart in us when we become believers.

I want the joy of knowing that I am doing something with my life, the joy of battle,

One of my biggest fears - maybe my biggest weakness as a Christian - is that I have a hard time going up to a stranger and talking to them about Jesus.

Our God listens to us. Our God is a living God. He's not a block of wood you made up that's not going to answer you. My God listens to me. He answers me.

I could fill my whole time doing interviews, speaking to crowds, and there's this natural human tendency because of our culture to think that the more people I talk to, the bigger the impact I'll have, and yet Jesus didn't spend His time just speaking to the masses. He spent the bulk of his time with a small group of people.

It's easy to write for God and about God, because what a thrill to remind the church that the Holy Spirit of God is in you. What a rush! What an amazing blessing!

Every year in my life, I trust fewer and fewer people.

I could be wrong about salvation. I could be wrong about a lot of things.

I've never felt a need to really respond to someone else's writing.

There are just certain times I sense the Lord is wanting me to write, and so I write.

When I don't think biblically, I go nuts. I just go, 'This is crazy.'

Being around a church culture, even leading a gathering of believers, I've gotten pretty good at predicting what's going to happen in a church service.

When you read the New Testament, you see the Holy Spirit was supposed to change everything so that this gathering of people who call themselves Christians had this supernatural element about them.

There are periods that we forget that in the pursuit of fruit, that if we just abide in Him, then fruitfulness is a guarantee.

Churches we build only by our own efforts and not in the strength of the Spirit will quickly collapse when we don't push and prod people along.

With my natural communication abilities, I could probably gather a crowd even without the Spirit.

If I have a script, I tend to stick to it even if God may be leading me elsewhere in the moment.

Parents are supposed to instruct their kids. It doesn't mean they necessarily have that gift of teaching.

Because I want to get a lot done, I can sometimes do that in the flesh. If I don't rest in the Lord, and enjoy him as I should, my action doesn't spring from my identity and enjoyment of Christ. When that happens, I end up getting the glory rather than Jesus.

I love staring out toward the ocean and away from anything manmade.

It's a pretty crazy task to try to describe God "quickly." Everything starts with a healthy fear of Him.

God is so clear in spelling out His attributes in scripture in order that others would know what He is really like.

We live in a world where people say that you can believe anything you want about God.

I had come out of a church that was filled with petty arguments and hatred. I just wanted to meet with some friends and worship with them.

I was raised Christian after age 5, but I didn't really understand it until high school. A friend of mine invited me to his youth group. There I heard the gospel, understood it, and accepted it.

People see only my actions. Instead, if I focus on Christ with thanksgiving, people see Him.

If life is a river, then pursuing Christ requires swimming upstream. When we stop swimming, or actively following Him, we automatically begin to be swept downstream.

It struck me that many Christians flash around their 'no trans fat' label, trying to convince everyone they are healthy and good. Yet they have no substantive or healthful elements to their faith. It's like the Laodiceans, who thought they had everything until Christ told them they were poor and wretched.

God is compassionate and just, loving and holy, wrathful and forgiving. WE can't sideline His more difficult attributes to make room for the palatable ones.

...if God is truly the greatest good on this earth, would He be loving us if He didn't draw us toward what is best for us (even if that happens to be Himself)?

When loving Him becomes obligation, one of the many things we have to do, we end up focusing even more on ourselves.

Without action and fruit, all the theology in the world has little meaning.

Nothing compares to being truly, exuberantly wanted by your children.

We are loaded down with too many good things, more than we could ever need, while others are desperate for a small loaf. The good things we cling to are more than money; we hoard our resources, our gifts, our time, our families, out friends....how ludicrous it is to hold on to the abundance God has given us and merely repeat the words 'thank you'.

God's presence is all that matters.

But hey, if that’s too much to ask, tell them to just become Christians—you know, the people who get to go to heaven without having to commit to anything

If I were Satan and my ultimate goal was to thwart God's kingdom and purposes, one of my main strategies would be to get churchgoers to ignore the Holy Spirit.

Lukewarm people give money to charity and to the church....as long as it doesn't impinge on their standard of living. If they have a little extra and it is easy and safe to give, they do so. After all, God loves a cheerful giver, right?

People accuse me of going overboard preparing for my first ten million years in eternity; in my opinion, people go overboard in worrying about their last ten on earth.

The way we live out our days is the way we will live our lives.

If one person “wastes” away his day by spending hours connecting with God, and the other person believes he is too busy or has better things to do than worship the Creator and Sustainer, who is the crazy one?

In the midst of our failed attempts at loving Jesus, His grace covers us.

Yes, it is God who works in you. And, yes, there is work for you to do. Yes, the Spirit empowers you to do the work. And, yes, you do the work.

Allow God to be as creative with you as He is with each of us.

We have got to make disciples. Fun nights and pizza nights are not going to sustain us.

The concept of downsizing so that others might upgrade is biblical, beautiful...and nearly unheard of. We either close the gap or don't take the words of the Bible literally.

Marriage is one of the most humbling, sanctifying journeys you will ever be a part of. It forces us to wrestle with our selfishness and pride. But it also gives us a platform to display love and commitment.

Heavenly Father, thank You so much for Your grace. Your forgiveness is SO good that I struggle with believing it at times. Thank You for rescuing me from myself and giving me Your Holy Spirit. Your love is better than life.

It's pride, plain and simple, that keeps me from giving God all the glory and keeping some of it for myself. It is a battle we all fight in some form or another, some of us daily or even hourly.

In my desire to distance myself from sadistic Christians who revel in the idea of wrath and punishment, I may have crossed a line. Refusing to teach a passage of Scripture is just as wrong as abusing it.I really believe it's time for some of us to stop apologizing for God and start apologizing to Him for being embarrassed by the ways He has chosen to reveal Himself.

Lukewarm people think about life on earth much more often than eternity in heaven.

Do you want to see God more than you desire security?

There will be people who will teach for the sake of greed or for the sake of ego. So watch their lives. Do they look and act like Jesus?

We have to learn how to control our minds. We have to learn self-control.

Christ can come back at any time so the one thing you want to have in your life is a focused prayer time.

The enemy just hates our prayers.

Jesus' call to commitment is clear: He wants all or nothing.

...we'll first address our inaccurate view of God and, consequently of ourselves.

You find that the things you let go of while following Jesus were the things that were going to destroy you in the end.

We should be so joyful from God's grace that others would respond by saying, 'I wish I had your God.

Only the Holy Spirit can give you the power to not think about yourself, to set you free from yourself.

The stress that some of us feel - it's a lack of faith, it really is.

If God cared only about religious activities, then the Pharisees would have been heroes of the faith.

Salvation is all about the grace of God. There is absolutely nothing that you can do to save yourself or earn God's favor.

...I don't think my church's teachings were incorrect, just incomplete.

This book is written for those who want more Jesus. It is for those who are bored with what American Christianity offers. It is for those who don't want to plateau, those who would rather die before their convictions do.

What makes worship amazing is the object of our worship.

This could all end at any moment...Therefore, be self-controlled.

We are so used to multi-tasking. 2014 was probably the most productive year of my life...But I noticed during the last couple of months when I would get alone with God it was hard to do one thing at a time.

There's no sense in improving your marriage until you are secure with God.

I don't want to lose the awe we get to help another human being.

I've grown up in a generation that questions God for setting boundaries. Does He have the right to set boundaries? I've grown up in a generation that thinks where meeting with a God is an ordinary thing.

Some people say I would love to take a selfie with Moses. Do you understand the gap between Moses and God?

You have access to the Tent Of Meeting.

You and I are not allowed to tell Him how much He can hate it (sin).

Multi-tasking is keeping me from whole-hearted worship.

Lukewarm people will serve God and others, but there are limits to how far they will go or how much time, money, and energy they are willing to give.

God gave me the same power He gave Jesus. I ask myself daily, Why do I waste such a priceless gift?

The disciples obey because that's what people do when someone rises from the dead and gives instructions.

Obsessed people are more concerned with obeying God than doing what is expected or fulfilling the status quo. A person who is obsessed with Jesus will do things that don't always make sense in terms of success or wealth on this earth.

People who are obsessed with Jesus live lives that connect them with the poor in some way or another. Obsessed people believe that Jesus talked about money and the poor so often because it was really important to Him.

God wants to change us so much that it intrigues others.

Whatever God's reasons for such diversity, creativity, and sophistication in the universe, on earth, and in our own bodies, the point of it all is His glory. God's art speaks of Himself, reflecting who He is and what He is like.

Why is it that we believe God's promises of blessing but not his promises of punishment?

Following Jesus is not about diligently keeping a set of rules or conjuring up the moral fortitude to lead good lives. It's about loving God and enjoying Him

We have control over our prayer life, our relationship with Jesus.

Jesus didn't say that if you wanted to follow Him you could do it in a lukewarm manner. He said, 'Take up your cross and follow Me.'

I want to train my kids so where they are the only believers they can stand on their own two feet and teach others.

God my Creator said, 'Go and make disciples.' So I don't want to sit and make excuses.