Sentence Sermons

Some people are like fences—they run around a lot without getting anywhere.

Flowers that bend toward the sun do so even on cloudy days.

The way to endure change is to find something that never changes.

To be helped, one must be willing to be helped.

Two of the greatest personality handicaps are regret and self-reproach.

Keep both feet on the ground and you won’t have far to fall.

A long life might be a good life, but a good life is certainly a long life, regardless of the number of years.

A shallow thinker never leaves a deep impression.

Mature persons take disappointments in stride.

The men who have moved the world have been men that the world could not move.

Wouldn’t it be nice to be as sure of anything as some people are of everything?

He who minds his own business has a very good mind and a very good business.

A handful of common sense is worth an armload of learning.

People who are the most difficult to please are often the least worth pleasing.

The old leaves come off the tree when the new ones come in.

Most people have five senses: sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing. The successful have two more: horse and common.

A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them.

Don’t be afraid of having too many irons in the fire if the fire is hot.

To stand right with Christ, one must learn to walk with Christ.

Better be a poor man and a rich Christian than a rich man and a poor Christian.

Don’t be yourself—be what you ought to be.

A fault recognized is half corrected.

Those who live on the mountaintop have a longer day than those who live in the valley.

A great oak is only a little nut that held its ground.

To lift others, you must be on higher ground yourself.

When you come to the end of your rope, tie a prayer-knot and hang on.

No power on earth or under earth can make a man do wrong without his consent.

When you are average, you are as close to the bottom as you are to the top.

If you feel you have no faults—that makes another one.

There are no detours along the straight and narrow path.

Being first is not as important as being right.

A cheerful loser is always a winner.

If we live up to the best in ourselves, it will be easy to find the best in others.

A good archer is not known for his arrows but for his aim.

Better to beg one’s bread with Lazarus here than beg water with the rich man hereafter.

While looking for the obvious, it’s easy to overlook the significant.

The glory is not in never falling but in rising every time you fall.

If we are strong enough from within, there is nothing from without that can do us harm.

Advice is like mushrooms—the wrong kind can prove fatal.

God helped to start you in life; He helped to get you where you are; He won’t forsake you now.

Keep your feet on the ground even though friends flatter you.

You can tell you are on the right track—it’s usually uphill.

Be like a duck—keep calm and unruffled on the surface, but paddle with all your might under the water.

People are like foghorns—they toot loudest when in fog.

Poverty is often a state of mind induced by a neighbor’s new car.

You have to know the ropes in your work, or you’ll get all tied up in knots.

Tears shed for self are tears of weakness, but tears shed for others are a sign of strength.

To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved.

Don’t worry about knowing people—just make yourself worth knowing.

There is perfect freedom for people who do the work they want to do and live by that work.

Rough paths often lead to desirable destinations.

Many a man would reach a greater height if he had more depth.

Courage is like a kite—a contrary winds causes it to rise.

Too many Christians are pillows when the Lord wants them to be pillars.

Christ didn’t take the people out of the slums—He took the slums out of the people.

A real Christian is one who can speak well of those who speak ill of him.

A hypocrite is one who is not himself on Sunday.

When two quarrel, both are in the wrong.

Horse sense naturally comes from a stable mind.

Greatness does not come from favoritism but by fitness.

No cloud could cast a dark shadow if the sun were not behind it.

Jump to conclusions and you will suffer contusions.

God can stand with us only as we stand firm.

Christians may tremble on the Rock of Ages, but the Rock will never tremble under them.

The true Christian is one who is right-side-up in an upside-down world.

We can only appreciate the miracle of a sunrise if we have waited in the darkness.

Prepare and prevent instead of repair and repent.

Whatever impedes a man and doesn’t stop him is progress.

If you don’t know where you’re going, you may miss it when you get there.

Carve your name on hearts, not upon marble.

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The most important part about Christmas is the first six letters.

Unless we see the cross overshadow the cradle, we will have lost the real meaning of Christ’s birth.

At Christmas consider not so much the gift of a friend but the friendship of the giver.

It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air.

The Christmas bells some like best are on the cash registers.

Your greatest Christmas cheer comes when you dispense cheer.

Don’t be so wrapped up in God’s gifts that you forget the Giver.

Christmas is a time when everyone wants his past forgotten and the present remembered.

You will never truly enjoy Christmas until you look into the face of the Father and tell Him you have received His Christmas gift.

Take Christ out of Christmas and all you have is “mas.”

Christmas holidays—anticipation, preparation, recreation, prostration, and recuperation.

The best news that the world ever had came from a graveyard near Jerusalem—Jesus is alive!

Some folks are like Easter eggs—ornamented on the outside and hard-boiled on the inside.

Every sunrise is God’s Easter greeting.

Joseph’s tomb was not a tomb at all—it was just a stopping place for Christ on His way to heaven.

Our Lord has written the promise of the Resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.

A lot of people mistake Easter Sunday for Decoration Day!

The resurrection of Christ in the past gives the believer bright hope of the future.

The risen life is the best testimony to a risen Christ.

The one word that makes a difference between Christianity and all religions is the word resurrection.

The empty cross and the empty tomb spell a full salvation.

The Victim of Calvary became the Victor of Easter.

Christ’s resurrection brightens the tomb of every believer.

The stone at Christ’s tomb was a pebble to The Rock of Ages.

The Resurrection assures what Calvary secures.

Christ’s resurrection is the “bud of promise”–our resurrection is the “flower of fulfillment.”

What the new year brings us depends a great deal on what we bring to the new year.

A New Year’s Eve party is where you meet the high and the mighty high.

New Year’s resolutions are like crying babies in the church—they need to be carried out.

The worst thing about New Year’s resolutions is that they come in one year and go out the other.

You can reuse last year’s list of resolutions—it’s probably about as good as new.

Serious trouble comes when the New Year’s resolutions collide with the old year’s habits.

If you kept every resolution you made last year, you would probably be skinny, smart, healthy, rich—and bored.

Let us not let the old year die without burying any old grudges.

Don’t face the new year or any day without facing Christ.

Summer is the season that bugs us.

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Smiles never go up in price nor down in value.

A smile is mightier than a grin.

People all over the world smile in the same language.

You might as well laugh at yourself once in a while; everybody else does.

If there is a smile in your heart, your face will show it.

God gives us faces; we create our own expressions.

Smiles and frowns cost nothing, but the difference in effect is enormous.

A smile is a wrinkle that shouldn’t be removed.

Wear a smile and have friends; wear a scowl and have wrinkles.

Consider yourself improperly clothed unless you are wearing a smile.

You have grown up the day you have learned to laugh at yourself.

A smile is the whisper of a laugh.

When you crack a smile your personality improves.

Definition of cheerfulness: the act of concealing your true feelings.

The person who is smart enough to keep smiling usually winds up with something good enough to smile about.

Some people grin and bear it—others smile and change it.

A smile will go a long way, but you will have to start it on its journey.

Your smile is more important than anything else you wear.

A smile is the lighting system of the face and the heating system of the heart.

It is hard to tell if some people are cheerful or just proud of their teeth.

It may happen that some people are too tired to smile, so give them one of yours.

The whole world is a camera—smile please.

Laugh and the whole world laughs with you—frown and see who cares.

It always pays to smile in the morning because later in the day you may not feel like it.

You should not only smile from “ear to ear” but from “year to year.”

A smile adds face value.

Never be afraid to be gracious—look what a little polish can do for scuffed shoes.

A smile is a curve that can set a lot of things straight.

A smile is a very inexpensive way to improve your looks.

You will never offend a person by returning a smile.

I would sooner wear a phony smile than a sincere frown.

Blessed is the man who can laugh at himself because he’ll never cease to be amused.

No smile is as beautiful as the one that struggles through tears.

A cheerful countenance has a lot of face value.

Did you realize that laughter can be heard farther than weeping?

Smile a while and give your frown a rest.

Some people wear two-hundred-dollar suits but wear ten-cent expressions on their faces.

If you want to spoil the day of a chronic grouch, give him a smile.

People who smile when something goes wrong have probably just thought of someone they can blame it on.

Laughter is the shock absorber that softens and minimizes the bumps of life.

A smile is a light in the window of your face that shows that your heart is at home.

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Sin is not judged by the way we see it but by the way God sees it.

The cross is a symbol of God’s heartbreak over a world that has gone astray.

One may go wrong in many directions, but right in only one.

Hatred of sin should not keep us from loving the sinner.

We gain the victory when we give up sin’s pleasure in exchange for Christ’s power.

The sin of one person often brings tragedy to many.

Weep more for the lives of the bad than for the deaths of the good.

There are no amendments to the Ten Commandments.

Our sense of sin will always be in proportion to our nearness to God.

To sin is human; to persist in it is idiocy.

A little sin will add to your trouble, subtract from your energy, and multiply your difficulties.

You can choose your sin, but you can’t choose the consequences.

Sin causes the cup of joy to spring a leak.

Think of your own sins, and you will be more understanding of the sins of others.

If we be ruled by sin, we shall inevitably be ruined by it.

True repentance means not only a heart broken for sin but also from sin.

If Christ is kept outside, something must be wrong inside.

The harvest of judgment is sure as soon as the seed of sin is sown.

Sin is not hurtful because it is forbidden—but is forbidden because it is hurtful.

Crime doesn’t pay—it costs.

Christ became a curse for us to remove sin’s curse from us.

Christ was delivered for our sins that we might be delivered from our sins.

He does not love what is good who does not hate what is evil.

A strong security against sin is to be shocked by it.

Making sin legal does not make it harmless.

Sin puts hell into the soul and the soul into hell.

No sin is little, for it is against an infinite God.

Spring in the sprouting season, but wild oats grow all year round.

Because Christ died for sin, we can die to sin.

You cannot put your sins behind you until you are willing to face them.

The Holy Spirit cannot apply the blood to unconfessed sin.

Prices may rise and fall, but the price of sin remains the same: death.

Flirtation with sin can lead to romance with Satan.

Sin is not in the deed; it is in the doer of the deed.

Sin would have few takers if its results occurred immediately.

The most expensive things in the world is sin.

Sin is a short word, and it often makes short work of its victims.

He that thinks of sin has never though much of God.

The pleasures of sin are for a season, but its wages are for eternity.

The trouble with little sins is that they don’t stay little.

The wages of sin have never been reduced.

He who has slight thoughts of sin never had great thoughts of God.

Sin always starts out as being fun.

Sin was once called sin—now it is an alternate lifestyle.

All sin springs from the taproot of self-will.

If we walk close enough to God, there will be no room for sin to come between us.

All man’s problems can be traced directly or indirectly to sin, Satan, or self.

Sinner will take more pains to go to hell than saints to go to heaven.

A lot of people spend six days sowing wild oats, then go to church on Sunday praying for crop failure.

The wages of sin are paid on time.

When a man is ready to confess his sins, God is always ready to cover them with His blood.

Moderation in sin is no more possible than moderation in hanging.

The Christian has not lost the power to sin but the desire to sin.

Four words with a message: sin now, pay later.

Sin deceives, defiles, deadens, and destroys.

Some would think water tasted better if it were a sin to drink it.

A few people are led into temptation, but most are able to find their own way.

To “be angry and sin not” means to be angry only at sin.

The more a person is addicted to vice, the less he cares for advice.

The only right time to get angry is when you get angry at sin.

The only thing that is improved by breaking is the sinner’s heart.

Two big sins—giving the wrong impressions and drawing wrong conclusions.

The wages of sin is death; let’s quit before payday.

There are many new sinners, but there are no new sins.

The path of the world seems pleasant enough if you don’t stop to think where you’re going.

Wickedness never goes unpunished; righteousness never goes unrewarded.

Beware of the high cost of low living.

If you do not want the fruit of sin, stay out of the orchard.

The way of a transgressor is hard, but it is not lonely.

Wild oats need no fertilizer.

Believers are not sinless, but they should sin less.

Worldly values are a poor investment—they never pay what they promise.

We may whitewash sin, but only Jesus’ blood can truly wash it white.

Grace does not offer freedom to sin; it offers freedom from sin.

Sin blinds our eyes; grace opens them.

We always pay for the pleasure of sin with the coin of sorrow.

Playing with sin is toying with judgment.

Eventually secret sins make the headlines.

Sin must be dealt with in one of two way—punishment or pardon.

It’s the sins we cover up that eventually bring us down.

Sin brings fear—confession brings freedom.

Adultery is a guilt-edged invitation to tragedy.

At Calvary, Christ crossed out our sins.

Confess your sins, not your neighbor’s.

Not even in this world does sin pay its servant good wages.

God is not against you for your sin, but against you because of your sin.

Only fools fool with sin.

Few are willing to deny that they are sinners, but few are willing to admit they are sinning.

The chains of sin are too light to be felt until they are so strong you cannot break them.

Sinners hate Christians because they make them conscious of their sin.

The sinfulness of sin depends on our appreciation of what is evil and what is good.

It’s remarkable the way preaching sounds personal when it begins to deal with the matter of sin.

Unconfessed sin pollutes the Christian’s tongue.

Man calls sin infirmity; God calls it iniquity.

He who cannot be angry at evil lacks enthusiasm for good.

There is nothing as tragic as combining high mentality with low morality.

The curse for sin finds its only remedy in the cross of Christ.

Christ’s cleansing power can remove the most stubborn stain of sin.

Sin is the greatest of all detectives—be sure your sins will find you out.

Destroy the sin in your life or it will destroy you.

The greatest sinners are those who feel sin least of all.

The most expensive thing in the world is sin.

Little sins are the pioneers of hell.

To love a small sin is a great sin.

Your hatred of sin depends upon your degree of love toward God.

No small sin is small because all sin opposes God.

Sinners who imagine they are hard-boiled are really only half-baked.

The nearer we are to God, the more conscious we become of sin.

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It is so much easier to tell a person what to do with his problems than to stand with him in his pain.

No matter what scales we use, we can never know the weight of another person’s burden.

The debt we owe to God is payable to man.

How much I’m willing to sacrifice is the measure of my love.

God’s part we cannot do; our part He will not do.

Time in Christ’s service requires time out for renewal.

Train your heart up to give sympathy and your hand to give help.

Nothing costs as much as caring—except not caring.

A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle.

A Christian shows what he is by what he does with what he has.

God cares for people through people.

The boy in the Bible who gave up his loaves and fishes didn’t have to go hungry.

A Christian cares when the world despairs.

When it comes to doing things for others, some people stop at nothing.

One measure of our likeness to Christ is our sensitivity to the sufferings of others.

It is better to suffer for the cause of Christ than for the cause of Christ to suffer.

The highest reward a man can receive for his toil is not what he gets for it, but what he becomes by it.

Good received blesses much; good imparted blesses more.

We are not cisterns made for hoarding but channels made for sharing.

A blessing that is shared is not halved but doubled.

The only people you should try to get even with are those who helped you.

The best exercise on earth is to reach down and pull a person up.

When you help someone up the hill, you find yourself closer to the top.

It seems that heads, hearts, and hands would settle the world’s trouble much better than arms.

The test of courage comes when we are in the minority; the test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority.

Give your best to the world and the best will come back to you.

He who receives a blessing should not forget it—he who gives it should not remember it.

Don’t hoard ideas—the more you radiate the more you germinate.

There is nothing so taking as generous giving.

He who gives when he is asked has waited too long.

To touch the heart of another, use your heart.

We die by living to ourselves; we live by dying to ourselves.

The best goodness is habitual goodness.

The biggest step you can take is the one you take when you meet the other person half way.

When you help others to grow, you grow yourself.

If you wish your merit to be known, acknowledge that of others.

Money can’t buy happiness—unless you spend it on somebody else.

A little encouragement can spark a great endeavor.

We show who we love by what we do with what we have.

Our job is not to see through one another but to see one another through.

The ultimate miracle of love is this—that love is given to us to give to one another.

How much one knows is not as important as what he does with what he knows.

What we give determines our wealth—not what we get.

He who sees a need and waits to be asked for help is as unkind as if he had refused it.

Realize that every material thing you have isn’t owned but loaned to you from God.

The man who collects knowledge without passing it on to others is like a fruit tree in the desert.

The best way to forget your own problems is to help someone else to solve his.

If your Christianity is worth having, it’s worth sharing.

A selfish heart loves for what it can get; a Christian heart loves for what it can give.

Porcupine Christians—they have many good points, but you cannot get close to them.

Those who give most are least concerned about returns.

If you share another’s burden, both of you will walk straighter.

The things you do for nothing are often the most revealing.

Everybody should have some secret sorrows; don’t tell others all your troubles.

Whatever we possess becomes double value when we share it with others.

In this world it is not what we take up, but what we give up, that makes us rich.

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Service can never become slavery to one who loves.

Want the best? Give your best.

No one can help everybody, but everybody can help somebody.

God chose the poor and the few to do His work because the rich and the many, being preoccupied, refused Him.

Grant that the heat in my heart will melt the lead in my feet.

God tends to use the one nearest Him.

It is so much easier to tell a person what to do with his problem than to stand with him in pain.

It is better to do one thing for God than to promise to do forty things you can’t do.

If the world seems cold to you, kindle fires to warm it.

Many of the debts we owe are payable to man.

Forget yourself for others, and others will not forget you.

God measures our service, not by our ability, but by our willingness.

God has called us to play the game, not to keep the score.

Don’t despise little things; a lantern can do what the sun can never do—shine at night.

The Christian’s place is on the front line, not on the sideline.

Mend your nets with prayer, cast them in faith, and draw them in love.

Greatness lies not in trying to be somebody, but in trying to help somebody.

The best way to find good in thyself is to begin to look for good in others.

Whatever you do, do it well and then some. That “then some” is what counts.

Do your best—angels can do no more.

To be successful all you need is to follow the advice you give to others.

When you dig another out of his troubles, you find a place to bury your own.

Assist in all the things that need assistance, and resist all the things that need resistance.

You will never become dizzy doing good turns.

Jesus went about doing good; many just go about.

Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned.

A dewdrop does God’s will as much as a thunderstorm.

This is the true greatness: to serve unnoticed and work unseen.

Greatness is not measured by how many servants you have but by how many people you serve.

You cannot change human nature, but perhaps you can improve it.

It’s hard to keep a chip on the shoulder if you take a bow from time to time.

Pray until the tears come; work till the sweat comes; give till it hurts.

Count your life by deeds—not years.

The best exercise for the heart is to bend down several times during the day to help someone.

The gospel does not shrink our lives—it expands them.

A heart enlarged by sympathy never killed anyone.

God does not comfort His people to make them comfortable, but to make them comforters.

The more you do what you like, the less you like what you do.

Some folks with a sympathetic disposition sure waste a lot of it on themselves.

It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can do only a little.

We should employ our passions in the service of life, not spend life in the service of our passions.

We are pardoned from sin, but we are not excused from service.

God didn’t call you into the vineyard to eat grapes, but to get busy and hoe.

What you do for Christ is the test of your service—what we suffer for Christ is our test of love.

We’ve no time for muddling when we must be ministering.

Facing duty in service is easier than running away.

We make a living by getting, but we make lives by giving.

A man’s reward is what he becomes—not what he gets.

Do your best—the forest would be very quiet if no birds sang except the best singers.

True wealth is the satisfaction of talent used in Christian service.

When you help a person up the hill, you find yourself closer to the top.

Ability is wonderful, but God is more interested in your availability.

It’s better to attempt to do something and fail than to attempt to do nothing and succeed.

The crowns we wear in heaven must all be won on earth.

We are saved to serve; but we cannot serve to be saved.

Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others cannot keep it themselves.

Service is love dressed in work clothes.

Circumstances don’t make a man—they serve him.

A person may rate himself good, if he rates himself by the things others have not done.

He who cares will share.

It is better to fill a little place right than a big place wrong.

The highest bidder for the crown of glory is the lowest wearer of the cross of self-denial.

Some people spend time counting the cost when they should consider the cost for not following Him.

Satan selects his helpers from the idle—Christ from those who are busy.

The only time we should look down on our neighbor is when we are bending over to help him.

Service is the rent we pay in life for the space we occupy.

A man can do more than he thinks he can, but he usually does less than he thinks he does.

True fame is founded in labors for the happiness of mankind.

It’s not a shame having just one talent—the shame is not using it.

Christians should be channels, not chalices.

Every toiler who is true to his task is honorable in God’s sight.

The Lord is less concerned about those who make mistakes than he is about those who don’t try.

Some people cast a stale crust on the waters and expect chocolate cake in return.

It’s not what you gain but what you give that measures the worth of the life you live.

The best way to forget your problems is to help someone else to solve his.

The Lord is more interested in people than in things.

It is far better that we should err in action than completely refuse to perform.

Independence is not always a virtue.

The greatest pleasure in life is to do a good turn and have it discovered by accident.

It is not the hours you put in but what you put in the hours.

We are on earth to love, to live, and to serve, not to grab, growl, and get.

Our aim should be to serve—not to be successful.

You have not really lived until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.

The truly busy person is so busy that he has no time to think how busy he really is.

Life itself can’t give you joy unless you really will it.

Life just gives you time and space—it’s up to you to fill it.

Nothing worth having is secured by sin.

Nothing worth keeping is lost in serving God.

It isn’t the age—it’s the mileage that counts.

When you don’t know what to do, do the most helpful things.

Some people spell service, “serve us.”

God’s requirements are met by God’s enablings.

The believer’s talents are not to be laid up for self—they are to be laid out for service.

A Christian can do great things for God by doing small things for others.

Your life is God’s gift to you; what you do with it is your gift to God.

Our likeness of Christ is measured by our sensitivity to the sufferings of others.

The greatest joy man can experience is to be needed by just one person.

A leader does not begin to serve until he puts serving into his leadership.

Time in Christ’s service requires time out for renewal.

Serving Christ under law is a duty; under love it’s a delight.

People are seldom too busy to stop and tell you how busy they are.

Not where we serve but whether we serve is most important.

We have heard of many people who did little for God, but did you ever hear of anyone doing too much for God?

God doesn’t measure success in units of silver, but in units of service.

The glory of life is love—not to be loved; to give—not to get; to serve—not to be served.

A determined man with a rusty wrench can do much more than a loafer with all the tools in the machine shop.

Christian service is not optional—it’s a command.

He lives not who lives not in earnest.

Ten ways to get rid of the blues: Go out and do something for someone else—then repeat nine times.

God isn’t interested in how many talents we have—He’s interested in how we are using the talent we have.

Rewards are usually anticlimactic—the fun is in doing.

People will be happy in about the same degree that they are helpful.

I would rather be a faithful watchdog than an indifferent shepherd.

A useful life can’t be entirely peaceful and carefree.

Very few people are fast enough to keep up with all their good intentions.

Many Christians suffer from loneliness because they are sitting instead of serving.

The only way to keep the good will and high esteem of the people you work with is to deserve it.

A humble talent that is used is worth more than one of a genius that is idle.

A servant works—a king speaks.

We tire of those pleasures which we receive but never of those we give.

Nobody really lives till he finds something big enough to give himself to.

Be of use to people and you will learn to love them.

The Lord uses those who are little in their own eyes; for the smaller we are, the more room there is for God to work.

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Selfishness makes Christmas a burden; love makes it a delight.

Americans used to say, “Give me liberty.” Today they just say, “Give me.”

The perfect gift for the person who has everything—a burglar alarm.

A bore is a person who spends so much time talking about himself that you can’t talk about yourself.

Too many people live cafeteria style—self-service.

No one is so empty as when he is filled with thoughts of himself.

There is little chance for people to get together as long as most of us want to be in the back of the church, the front of the bus, and the middle of the road.

A selfish heart loves for what it can get—a Christlike heart loves for what it can give.

Some people use their religion like a bus—they ride on it only when it is going their way.

A Scotsman wrote the editor of a magazine saying if they didn’t quit publishing Scottish jokes, he would quit borrowing the magazine.

Some people are so narrow-minded they have to stack their prejudices vertically.

The man who has a good opinion of himself is usually a poor judge.

We might be more eager to accept advice if it didn’t continually interfere with our plans.

If we want an increase of Christ, there must be a decrease of self.

The worst thing about self is that it is the smallest business in the world to be engaged in.

The man who lives for himself lives for the meanest mortal known.

Time spent pitying oneself is worse than a waste of time.

Many people do not cast their bread upon the water until it is stale.

This would be a better world if everyone were as good as he wishes his neighbor was.

People always get into trouble when they think they can handle life without God.

He who builds a fence always fences more out than he fences in.

One of the hardest things about business is minding your own.

The more you do what you life, the less you like what you do.

Some folks with a sympathetic disposition sure waste a lot of it on themselves.

It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can do only a little.

Most of us like straightforward people who come right out and say what they think—provided, of course, they agree with us.

Most people will agree with you if you’ll just keep quiet.

Jacob wrestled with an angel. Most of us wrestle with just plain self.

A miser is a person who will catch a cold just to use up the cough medicine.

We tire of those pleasures we take, but never of those we give.

Most of us prefer living in luxury to the luxury of living.

The fanatic is one who increases his speed after he loses his way.

Most Christians need to say, “What must I do?” instead of “I want nothing to do.”

How empty is a life that is filled with nothing but things.

Half of our trouble comes from wanting our way—the other half comes from having it.

Blowing out the other fellow’s candle won’t make yours shine any brighter.

Overstuffed bodies and underfed souls make a pretty poor combination.

Of all the four-lettered words, self is the worst.

Selfishness is the essence of sin.

Everyone wants the world changed, but few are willing to change themselves.

When you are wrapped up in yourself, you are overdressed.

At the end of life we’ll find that the only things we’ve lost were those we tried to keep.

We do not always see things as they are; we usually see things as we are.

The only sympathy that is wasted is when it is used on self.

We should lay aside self, or God will lay us aside.

God send no one away empty except those who are full of themselves.

He who fall in love with himself will have no rivals.

Envy provides the mud that failure throws at success.

Every time you turn green with envy, you are ripe for trouble.

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To get rid of our cross is easy—die upon it.

It is not what we take up but what we give that makes us rich.

You cannot make it into heaven without bearing your cross on earth.

Joining the Red Cross will not take the place of bearing your cross.

Church members wear a cross; a Christian bears a cross.

Fellowship with Christ’s suffering is the qualification for sharing His dignity.

The crosses we fear are heavier than the crosses we bear.

They who receive scars for Christ will wear stars with Christ.

What we have given up for Christ is not forfeited but transferred.

The cross is easier to him who takes it up than to him who drags it along.

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There are three hard things: steel, a diamond, and to know one’s self.

The most difficult thing in life is to know yourself.

The easiest person to deceive is yourself.

If you are looking for perfection, don’t look in the mirror.

Some people think they are in the groove when they are really only in a rut.

The worst of all frauds is to cheat yourself.

The man who goes through life looking for something soft can only find it under the hat.

Life would be so simple if our biggest problems came when we were fresh out of high school and knew everything.

You don’t need to know where you are going provided you know who you are following.

Don’t spend the last half of your life regretting the first half.

Confidence and respect are things you can’t buy—you’ve got to earn them.

There is one thing for which you can be thankful—only you and God have all the facts about yourself.

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Avoid Satan as a lion, dread him as a serpent, and fear him as an angel of light.

Satan’s ploys are no match for the Savior’s power.

The devil would rather put a long face on a saint than throw down a high church steeple.

Don’t let Satan deceive you into thinking that when you plan carefully to sin secretly, you will not be harmed.

When the devil brings up your past, bring up his future.

When we do wrong, the devil is tempting us; when we do nothing, we are tempting him.

The man who is fully surrendered to the Lord will never deliberately surrender to the Enemy.

When adversity is most ready to strike us, God is most ready to strengthen us.

The devil will extend plenty of credit, but think of the payment.

Christians fight evil on two fronts: sin from within and Satan from without.

You can’t run with the devil and expect to reign with the Lord later.

One of the devil’s temptations is to occupy our minds with the past and future so as to neglect the present.

The devil is an equal opportunity employer—all who work for him will go to hell.

Flirtation with sin can lead to romance with Satan.

Be critical of Satan, but keep in mind that he is a hustler.

It’s risky when the devil is driving.

Some people desire to please God—as long as it doesn’t offend the devil.

The devil doesn’t bother some Christians—he joins them.

If you don’t believe in the devil’s existence, try working for God for a while.

The devil promises you the whole world, but he doesn’t own a grain of sand.

Some denounce the devil openly but agree with him secretly.

The devil is never too busy to rock the cradle of a sleeping backslider.

When the shepherd speaks well of the wolf, the sheep are in trouble.

As long as we tolerate even the slightest sin and inconsistency in our life, the devil has a toehold.

The devil lives in the realm of feeling, but saints live in the realm of faith.

Christ will not live in the parlor of our hearts if we entertain the devil in the cellar of our thoughts.

The Lord adds and multiplies; the devil subtracts and divides.

Don’t permit Satan to remind you of what God has already forgotten.

You may be through with the devil, but the devil is never through with you.

You cannot wait on the Lord and run with the devil at the same time.

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