Stuart Briscoe > Quotes

“To believe in God starts with a conclusion about Him, develops into confidence in Him, and then matures into a conversation with Him.”
― Stuart Briscoe

“Christianity stands or falls on this tenet of the faith. If Christ is risen, he is all he said he was—the Messiah, the Son of God, the eternal king. If he isn’t risen, he’s dead—and irrelevant. Either way, we don’t need more signs. We need to choose to believe what the evidence clearly shows.”
― Stuart Briscoe, The One Year Devotions for Men

“The enemies of our soul are real and not to be underestimated, they are to be engaged and not avoided, and they are to be countered using the five smooth stones of Scripture, prayer, fellowship, worship, and discipline. Like David, we must develop our skills in handling our own smooth stones in the power of the Lord. The results will be stunning.”
― Stuart Briscoe, The One Year Devotions for Men

“Paul’s claim to apostleship was that he had seen the risen Christ (1 Cor. 9:1). His calling had come directly from Christ, not from men nor through man (Gal. 1:1). He was commissioned as an ambassador of Christ (2 Cor. 5:20).”
― Stuart Briscoe, The Preacher's Commentary, Complete 35-Volume Set: Genesis – Revelation

“I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be; But by the grace of God I am not what I was.1”
― Stuart Briscoe, Improving with Age: God’s Plan for Getting Older and Better

“the”
― Stuart Briscoe, What Works When Life Doesn't

“Thomas Merton asked, “What am I?” and answered, “I am myself a word spoken by God.” How we perceive ourselves, who we think ourselves to be, determines the direction of our lives and shapes our relationships. To”
― Stuart Briscoe, The Preacher's Commentary, Complete 35-Volume Set: Genesis – Revelation

“The organizing theme of 1 Corinthians is how to live as a Christian in an increasingly secular world.”
― Stuart Briscoe, The Preacher's Commentary, Complete 35-Volume Set: Genesis – Revelation

“Love is never passive. It is the very nature of love to give the best and not hold back. And the gift is unique, “the only begotten.” The greater the object of love, the more costly the gift. “Any old thing” is not good enough. That would not be love.”
― Stuart Briscoe, The Preacher's Commentary, Complete 35-Volume Set: Genesis – Revelation

“Paul also reminds the Roman believers that “we have peace through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1). Foerster helpfully writes, “The basic feature of the Greek concept of ‘eirene’ is that the word does not primarily denote a relationship between several people, or an attitude, but a state, i.e., ‘time of peace’ or ‘state of peace’ originally conceived of purely as an interlude in the everlasting state of war.”
― Stuart Briscoe, The Preacher's Commentary, Complete 35-Volume Set: Genesis – Revelation

“Paul teaches us many things in his letter to Philemon. Two of them are that we should take time to develop deep friendships and that we should write letters to communicate in an in-depth manner with our friends. These are two more things we can do to make leisure productive!”
― Stuart Briscoe, Improving with Age: God’s Plan for Getting Older and Better

“Beyond earth, however, is heaven. Beyond time is eternity. Beyond change is the changeless promise of God. Thus”
― Stuart Briscoe, The Preacher's Commentary, Complete 35-Volume Set: Genesis – Revelation

“God can be trusted to give us what we need when we need it. He does not guarantee to meet our wants. He meets our needs! He does not promise a stocked fridge—just today’s food. Daily we learn to trust and we discover contentment. Sadly, if, like the Israelites, we don’t listen, our manna may turn to maggots (16:20).”
― Stuart Briscoe, The One Year Devotions for Men

“The sheer power of emotional response to situations when the mind is put out of gear can lead a life on a reckless uncontrolled journey to disaster. For”
― Stuart Briscoe, The Preacher's Commentary, Complete 35-Volume Set: Genesis – Revelation

“Paul was convinced that God had a plan for his life. Are you? Like”
― Stuart Briscoe, The Preacher's Commentary, Complete 35-Volume Set: Genesis – Revelation

“Grace is God’s stance of giving, loving, blessing. The Greek word for grace (claris) means favor and gift and blessing. In”
― Stuart Briscoe, The Preacher's Commentary, Complete 35-Volume Set: Genesis – Revelation

“advanced technology is converting many industries into factories full of robots raises questions about work, leisure, and meaning for life. The proliferation of nuclear weapons creates a morbid fear of the destruction of the human race which undermines the moral and ethical foundations of our society.”
― Stuart Briscoe, The Preacher's Commentary, Complete 35-Volume Set: Genesis – Revelation

“Holy” in Greek always had in it the idea of difference and separation. The Christian is to be distinctly different—set apart by God for His purposes. The church has often mistaken the meaning of this. The separation is not from the world, but a difference expressed in the world.”
― Stuart Briscoe, The Preacher's Commentary, Complete 35-Volume Set: Genesis – Revelation

“Paul never thought of himself as having chosen God—it was the other way: God had chosen him. This”
― Stuart Briscoe, The Preacher's Commentary, Complete 35-Volume Set: Genesis – Revelation

“To bear the name, to be with Jesus, marks them as aliens in the world. And this provokes trouble; for when they are faithful to the word Jesus has given them, the world reacts with hostility.”
― Stuart Briscoe, The Preacher's Commentary, Complete 35-Volume Set: Genesis – Revelation

“It is right and proper that Christian men should rejoice in whatever manner they feel is compatible with their experience of Christ and the wishes of the Christian community to which they belong.”
― Stuart Briscoe, The Preacher's Commentary, Complete 35-Volume Set: Genesis – Revelation

“TO READ: Exodus 14:5-31 STAND STILL AND GET MOVING But Moses told the people, “Don’t be afraid. Just stand where you are and watch the LORD rescue you. The Egyptians that you see today will never be seen again. The LORD himself will fight for you. You won’t have to lift a finger in your defense!” Then the LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the people to get moving!” EXODUS 14:13-15 It’s amazing how quickly men forget! Only a few days after begging the Israelites to leave, following the dreadful disaster of the death of the firstborn, Pharaoh and his men regretted the decision. “ ‘What have we done, letting all these slaves get away?’ they asked” (Exod. 14:5). So the Egyptians mobilized the army and took off after the escaping slaves. Meanwhile, when the Israelites realized the Egyptian armies were coming after them, they turned on Moses and accused him of leading them into the wilderness against their will, asserting that “Egyptian slavery was far better than dying out here in the wilderness!” (14:12). With remarkable faith and confidence, Moses told the panicking people, “Don’t be afraid. Just stand where you are and watch the Lord rescue you” (14:13). So that is precisely what the people did—probably while paralyzed with fear. But then the Lord commanded Moses, “Tell the people to get moving!” (14:15). So Moses, having just told them to stand still, now told them to get moving! When Moses told the people to stand still, he was stressing that “the Lord himself will fight for you. You won’t have to lift a finger in your defense” (14:14). As things turned out, he was quite right! But at the same time, in order for them to see what God would do, it was necessary for them to move through the opened waters to the other side of the sea. There are things in life that only God can handle and situations in daily experience for which no man has an answer. But God has the answers. Recognition of this sometimes leads a man to “stand still” and see what God can and will do. It is a matter of trust, of faith. At the same time, while man cannot solve his problems, God may tell him to get moving so that God can solve them. Then it is a matter of obedience. In fact, all spiritual experience is about faith and obedience. The two are not incompatible. The power to obey becomes available as we trust God to act. Without faith, there will be no obedience, and without obedience there is evidently no faith. So, as the old hymn says, “trust and obey.” Or, if you prefer, stand still and get moving.”
― Stuart Briscoe, The One Year Devotions for Men