The Francis Chan Collection Quotes

“Are you willing to say to God that He can have whatever He wants? Do you believe that wholehearted commitment to Him is more important than any other thing or person in your life? Do you know that nothing you do in this life will ever matter, unless it is about loving God and loving the people He has made?”
― Francis Chan, The Francis Chan Collection: Crazy Love, Forgotten God, Erasing Hell, and Multiply

“Even our church growth can happen without Him. Let’s be honest: If you combine a charismatic speaker, a talented worship band, and some hip, creative events, people will attend your church. Yet this does not mean that the Holy Spirit of God is actively working and moving in the lives of the people who are coming. It simply means that you have created a space that is appealing enough to draw people in for an hour or two on Sunday.”
― Francis Chan, The Francis Chan Collection: Crazy Love, Forgotten God, Erasing Hell, and Multiply

“Both worry and stress reek of arrogance. They declare our tendency to forget that we’ve been forgiven, that our lives here are brief, that we are headed to a place where we won’t be lonely, afraid, or hurt ever again, and that in the context of God’s strength, our problems are small, indeed.”
― Francis Chan, The Francis Chan Collection: Crazy Love, Forgotten God, Erasing Hell, and Multiply

“Our greatest fear as individuals and as a church should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.”
― Francis Chan, The Francis Chan Collection: Crazy Love, Forgotten God, Erasing Hell, and Multiply

“An inwardly focused church is an unhealthy church. It is a dying church. Biblically, a church that fails to look at the world around it is no church at all.”
― Francis Chan, The Francis Chan Collection: Crazy Love, Forgotten God, Erasing Hell, and Multiply

“There is much more to God and following in the Way of Jesus than getting a bunch of talented people together to hold a church service.”
― Francis Chan, The Francis Chan Collection: Crazy Love, Forgotten God, Erasing Hell, and Multiply

“But the intent and purpose of feelings came from God. Since He created emotions, why is it difficult to believe that He Himself has emotions?”
― Francis Chan, The Francis Chan Collection: Crazy Love, Forgotten God, Erasing Hell, and Multiply

“God is holy. In heaven exists a Being who decides whether or not I take another breath. This holy God deserves excellence, the very best I have.”
― Francis Chan, The Francis Chan Collection: Crazy Love, Forgotten God, Erasing Hell, and Multiply

“As I see it, a lukewarm Christian is an oxymoron; there’s no such thing. To put it plainly, churchgoers who are “lukewarm” are not Christians. We will not see them in heaven.”
― Francis Chan, The Francis Chan Collection: Crazy Love, Forgotten God, Erasing Hell, and Multiply

“God never excuses sin. And He is always consistent with that ethic. Whenever we start to question whether God really hates sin, we have only to think of the cross, where His Son was tortured, mocked, and beaten because of sin. Our sin.”
― Francis Chan, The Francis Chan Collection: Crazy Love, Forgotten God, Erasing Hell, and Multiply

“But when I am living in a way that requires me to depend on the Holy Spirit, people respond by praising my Father in heaven.”
― Francis Chan, The Francis Chan Collection: Crazy Love, Forgotten God, Erasing Hell, and Multiply

“The Holy Spirit will not—cannot—lead you into sin. If the Holy Spirit is in you, as a believer, then when you sin you are not listening to the Spirit’s leading.”
― Francis Chan, The Francis Chan Collection: Crazy Love, Forgotten God, Erasing Hell, and Multiply

“Do not assume you are good soil. Has your relationship with God actually changed the way you live? Do you see evidence of God’s kingdom in your life? Or are you choking it out slowly by spending too much time, energy, money, and thought on the things of this world? Are you satisfied being “godly enough” to get yourself to heaven, or to look good in comparison to others? Or can you say with Paul that you “want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death” (Phil. 3:10)?”
― Francis Chan, The Francis Chan Collection: Crazy Love, Forgotten God, Erasing Hell, and Multiply

“Deep down in the heart of every person is a hidden desire to reinterpret Jesus in light of our own culture, political bent, or favorite theological belief.”
― Francis Chan, The Francis Chan Collection: Crazy Love, Forgotten God, Erasing Hell, and Multiply

“When will we simply respond to the truth we have heard and then work through our questions from there?”
― Francis Chan, The Francis Chan Collection: Crazy Love, Forgotten God, Erasing Hell, and Multiply

“The irony is that while God doesn’t need us but still wants us, we desperately need God but don’t really want Him most of the time. He treasures us and anticipates our departure from this earth to be with Him—and we wonder, indifferently, how much we have to do for Him to get by.”
― Francis Chan, The Francis Chan Collection: Crazy Love, Forgotten God, Erasing Hell, and Multiply

“One of the worst things you can do is teach truths that you are not applying. We call this hypocrisy, and it’s the most common criticism of Christians in America.”
― Francis Chan, The Francis Chan Collection: Crazy Love, Forgotten God, Erasing Hell, and Multiply

“God wants you to view the other Christians in your life as partners in ministry. God has not called you to make disciples in isolation; He has placed you in the context of a church body so that you can be encouraged and challenged by the people around you. And you are called to encourage and challenge them in return.”
― Francis Chan, The Francis Chan Collection: Crazy Love, Forgotten God, Erasing Hell, and Multiply

“And like our Savior, who poured out His life and blood so we have reason to rejoice, we were made to lay down our lives and give until it hurts. We are most alive when we are loving and actively giving of ourselves because we were made to do these things. It is when we live like this that the Spirit of God moves and acts in and through us in ways that on our own we are not capable of. This is our purpose for living. This is our hope.”
― Francis Chan, The Francis Chan Collection: Crazy Love, Forgotten God, Erasing Hell, and Multiply

“Paul writes that even if “I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing” (1 Cor. 13:2–3 ESV). Wow. Those are strong and unmistakable words. According to God, we are here to love. Not much else really matters. So God assesses our lives based on how we love. But the word love is so overused and worn out. What does God mean by love? He tells us, Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.… faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. —1 Corinthians 13:4–8, 13 ESV”
― Francis Chan, The Francis Chan Collection: Crazy Love, Forgotten God, Erasing Hell, and Multiply

“The wildest part is that Jesus doesn’t have to love us. His being is utterly complete and perfect, apart from humanity. He doesn’t need me or you. Yet He wants us, chooses us, even considers us His inheritance (Eph. 1:18). The greatest knowledge we can ever have is knowing God treasures us.”
― Francis Chan, The Francis Chan Collection: Crazy Love, Forgotten God, Erasing Hell, and Multiply

“Through this experience, I came to understand that my desire for my children is only a faint echo of God’s great love for me and for every person He made. I am just an earthly, sinful father, and I love my kids so much it hurts. How could I not trust a heavenly, perfect Father who loves me infinitely more than I will ever love my kids? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! —Matthew 7:11”
― Francis Chan, The Francis Chan Collection: Crazy Love, Forgotten God, Erasing Hell, and Multiply

“LUKEWARM PEOPLE do not live by faith; their lives are structured so they never have to. They don’t have to trust God if something unexpected happens—they have their savings account. They don’t need God to help them—they have their retirement plan in place. They don’t genuinely seek out what life God would have them live—they have life figured and mapped out. They don’t depend on God on a daily basis—their refrigerators are full and, for the most part, they are in good health. The truth is, their lives wouldn’t look much different if they suddenly stopped believing in God.”
― Francis Chan, The Francis Chan Collection: Crazy Love, Forgotten God, Erasing Hell, and Multiply

“LUKEWARM PEOPLE gauge their morality or “goodness” by comparing themselves to the secular world. They feel satisfied that while they aren’t as hard-core for Jesus as so-and-so, they are nowhere as horrible as the guy down the street. “The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get’” (Luke 18:11–12).”
― Francis Chan, The Francis Chan Collection: Crazy Love, Forgotten God, Erasing Hell, and Multiply

“Perhaps it’s not theology we’re missing, but rather theological integrity. Many have the knowledge but lack the courage to admit the discrepancy between what we know and how we live.”
― Francis Chan, The Francis Chan Collection: Crazy Love, Forgotten God, Erasing Hell, and Multiply

“Don’t kid yourself—true religion is not about what you know, it’s about putting what you know about God and His Word into practice.”
― Francis Chan, The Francis Chan Collection: Crazy Love, Forgotten God, Erasing Hell, and Multiply

“It is a remarkable cycle: Our prayers for more love result in love, which naturally causes us to pray more, which results in more love….”
― Francis Chan, The Francis Chan Collection: Crazy Love, Forgotten God, Erasing Hell, and Multiply