Billy Graham – in his own words

BILLY GRAHAM

1918 — 2018

IN HIS OWN WORDS

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“All that I have been able to do, I owe to Jesus Christ. When you honor me, you are really honoring Him. Any honors I have received, I accept with a sense of inadequacy and humility, and I will reserve the right to hand all of these someday to Christ, when I see Him face-to-face.”
—Upon receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, February 23, 1983

“So many people think that somehow I carry a revival around in a suitcase, and they just announce me and something happens—but that’s not true. This is the work of God, and the Bible warns that God will not share His glory with another. All the publicity that we receive sometimes frightens me because I feel that therein lies a great danger. If God should take His hand off me, I would have no more spiritual power. The whole secret of the success of our meetings is spiritual—it’s God answering prayer. I cannot take credit for any of it.”

“I’m counting totally and completely on the Lord Jesus Christ, and not on Billy Graham. I’m not going to Heaven because I’ve read the Bible, nor because I’ve preached to a lot of people. I’m going to Heaven because of what Christ did.”

“There comes a moment when we all must realize that life is short, and in the end the only thing that really counts is not how others see us, but how God sees us.”
—Speaking at the funeral for President Richard Nixon

“FOR THE SON OF MAN (JESUS CHRIST) IS COME TO SEEK AND TO SAVE THAT WHICH WAS LOST.” (LUKE 19:10 KJV)

“Someone asked me recently if I didn’t think God was unfair, allowing me to have medical problems when I have tried to serve Him faithfully. I replied that I did not see it that way at all. Suffering is part of the human condition, and it comes to us all. The key is how we react to it, either turning away from God in anger and bitterness or growing closer to Him in trust and confidence.”

“I have been asked hundreds of times in my life why God allows tragedy and suffering. I have to confess that I really do not know the answer totally, even to my own satisfaction. I have to accept, by faith, that God is sovereign, and He’s a God of love and mercy and compassion in the midst of suffering.”
—Speaking for the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance, September 14, 2001

“I have had the privilege of preaching the Gospel … in most of the countries of the world. And I have found that when I present the simple message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, with authority, quoting from the very Word of God—He takes that message and drives it supernaturally into the human heart.”

“I am not a great preacher, and I don’t claim to be a great preacher. I’ve heard great preaching many times and wished I was one of these great preachers. I’m an ordinary preacher, just communicating the Gospel in the best way I know how.”

“The greatest need in the world is the transformation of human nature. We need a new heart that will not have lust and greed and hate in it. We need a heart filled with love and peace and joy, and that is why Jesus came into the world. He died on the cross to make peace between us and God and to change us from within by His Spirit. He can change you, if you will turn to Him in repentance and faith.”

“The real story of the Crusades is not in the great choirs, the thousands in attendance, nor the hundreds of inquirers who are counseled. The real story is in the changes that have taken place in the hearts and lives of people.”

“I am convinced the greatest act of love we can ever perform for people is to tell them about God’s love for them in Christ.”

“I am a member of the human race. I am a world citizen. I have a responsibility to my fellow humans, whatever their religion. And I am convinced that only Christ can meet the deepest needs of our world and our hearts. Christ alone can bring lasting peace—peace with God, peace among men and nations, and peace within our hearts. He transcends the political and social boundaries of our world.”

“As Christians we have a responsibility toward the poor, the oppressed, the downtrodden, and the many innocent people around the world who are caught in wars, natural disasters, and situations beyond their control.”

“During all my years as an evangelist, my message has always been the Gospel of Christ. It is not a Western religion, nor is it a message of one culture or political system. … It is a message of life and hope for all the world.”“The most segregated hour of the week in America is the eleven o’clock Sunday morning Christian church service. It is natural for churches to organize and function along ethnic and nationalistic lines. … The sin comes when a church becomes exclusive and certain groups are refused admission or fellowship in worship because of race or color.”
—Reader’s Digest, August 1960

“Jesus was not a white man; He was not a black man. He came from that part of the world that touches Africa and Asia and Europe. Christianity is not a white man’s religion, and don’t let anybody ever tell you that it’s white or black. Christ belongs to all people; He belongs to the whole world.”

“If we are going to touch the people of our communities, we too must know their sorrows, feel for them in their temptations, stand with them in their heartbreaks.”

“Yes, it has been a privilege to know some of the great men and women of the latter part of this century. However, most of my time has been spent with people who will never be in the public eye and yet who are just as important to God as a queen or a president.”

“When my decision for Christ was made…the direction of my life was changed. I’m not going to Heaven because I’ve read the Bible, nor because I’ve preached to a lot of people, I’m going to Heaven because of what Christ did.”

OFFICIAL OBITUARY

BILLY GRAHAM, EVANGELIST TO THE WORLD, DEAD AT AGE 99

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Feb. 21, 2018—Evangelist Billy Graham died today at 7:46 a.m. at his home in Montreat. He was 99.

Throughout his life, Billy Graham preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to some 215 million people who attended one of his more than 400 Crusades, simulcasts and evangelistic rallies in more than 185 countries and territories. He reached millions more through TV, video, film, the internet and 34 books.

Born Nov. 7, 1918, four days before the armistice ended World War I, William Franklin “Billy” Graham Jr. grew up during the Depression and developed a work ethic that would carry him through decades of ministry on six continents.

“I have one message: that Jesus Christ came, he died on a cross, he rose again, and he asked us to repent of our sins and receive him by faith as Lord and Savior, and if we do, we have forgiveness of all of our sins,” said Graham at his final Crusade in June 2005 at Flushing Meadows Corona Park in New York.

While Graham’s primary focus was to take this message to the world, he also provided spiritual counsel to presidents, championed desegregation, and was a voice of hope and guidance in times of trial. In 2001, he comforted his country and the world when he spoke at the National Cathedral in Washington, following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. At three global conferences held in Amsterdam (1983, 1986, 2000), Graham gathered some 23,000 evangelists from 208 countries and territories to train them to carry the message of Jesus Christ around the world.

During the week of his 95th birthday in 2013, Graham delivered his final message via more than 480 television stations across the U.S. and Canada. More than 26,000 churches participated in this My Hope project, making it the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s largest evangelistic outreach ever in North America.

Preferred Baseball to Religion

Graham, a country boy turned world evangelist, who prayed with every U.S. president from Harry S. Truman to Barack Obama, was raised on a dairy farm in Charlotte. Back then, “Billy Frank,” as he was called, preferred baseball to religion. “I detested going to church,” he said when recalling his youth.

But in 1934, that changed. At a revival led by traveling evangelist Mordecai Fowler Ham, 15-year-old Graham committed his life to serving Jesus Christ. No one was more surprised than Graham himself.

“I was opposed to evangelism,” he said. “But finally, I was persuaded by a friend [to go to a meeting]…and the spirit of God began to speak to me as I went back night after night. One night, when the invitation was given to accept Jesus, I just said, ‘Lord, I’m going.’ I knew I was headed in a new direction.”

Several years later, Graham’s “new direction” led him to the Florida Bible Institute (now Trinity College of Florida), and later, Wheaton College in suburban Chicago, where he met fellow student Ruth McCue Bell, the daughter of medical missionaries in China. The couple graduated and married in the summer of 1943. Mr. and Mrs. Graham and their five children made their home in the mountains of North Carolina. They were married for 64 years before Ruth’s death in 2007.

After two years of traveling as a speaker for the Youth for Christ organization, Billy Graham held his first official evangelistic Crusade in 1947; but it was his 1949 Los Angeles Crusade that captured the nation’s attention. Originally scheduled to run for three weeks, the “tent meetings” were extended for a total of eight weeks as hundreds of thousands of men, women and children gathered to hear Graham’s messages.

On the heels of this campaign, Graham started the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, which was incorporated in 1950. Since 2000, Graham’s son, Franklin, has led the Charlotte-based organization, which employs some 500 people worldwide.

Billy Graham may be best known, however, for his evangelistic missions or “Crusades.” He believed God knew no borders or nationalities. Throughout his career, Graham preached to millions in locations from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Zagorsk, Russia; and from Wellington, New Zealand to the National Cathedral in Washington. In 1973, Graham addressed more than one million people crowded into Yoido Plaza in Seoul, South Korea—the largest live audience of his Crusades.

Breaking Down Barriers

Preaching in Johannesburg in 1973, Graham said, “Christ belongs to all people. He belongs to the whole world.…I reject any creed based on hate…Christianity is not a white man’s religion, and don’t let anybody ever tell you that it’s white or black.”

Graham spoke to people of all ethnicities, creeds and backgrounds. Early in his career, he denounced racism when desegregation was not popular. Before the U.S. Supreme Court banned discrimination on a racial basis, Graham held desegregated Crusades, even in the Deep South. He declined invitations to speak in South Africa for 20 years, choosing instead to wait until the meetings could be integrated. Integration occurred in 1973, and only then did Graham make the trip to South Africa.

A 1977 trip to communist-led Hungary opened doors for Graham to conduct preaching missions in virtually every country of the former Eastern Bloc (including the Soviet Union), as well as China and North Korea.

Graham authored 34 books, including his memoir, Just As I Am (Harper Collins, 1997), which remained on TheNew York Times best-seller list for 18 weeks.

In 1996, Graham and his wife, Ruth, received the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest award Congress can bestow on a private citizen. He was also listed by Gallup as one of the “Ten Most Admired Men” 61 times—including 55 consecutive years (except 1976, when the question was not asked). Graham was cited by the George Washington Carver Memorial Institute for his contributions to race relations and by the Anti-Defamation League of the B’nai B’rith.

Throughout his life, Graham was faithful to his calling, which will be captured in the inscription to be placed on his grave marker: Preacher of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

“There were a few times when I thought I was dying, and I saw my whole life come before me…” said Graham at his Cincinnati Crusade on June 24, 2002. “I didn’t say to the Lord, ‘I’m a preacher, and I’ve preached to many people.’ I said, ‘Oh Lord, I’m a sinner, and I still need Your forgiveness. I still need the cross.’ And I asked the Lord to give me peace in my heart, and He did—a wonderful peace that hasn’t left me.”

Billy Graham is survived by his sister Jean Ford; daughters Gigi, Anne and Ruth; sons Franklin and Ned; 19 grandchildren; and numerous great-grandchildren. His wife, Ruth, died June 14, 2007, at age 87, and is buried at the Billy Graham Library. A private funeral service is planned at the Billy Graham Library, on a date to be announced. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the ongoing ministry of evangelism at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, online at BillyGraham.org or via mail, sent to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, 1 Billy Graham Parkway, Charlotte, NC 28201. Notes of remembrance can be posted at BillyGraham.org

About the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association

The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association is a nonprofit organization that directs a range of domestic and international ministries, including: Franklin Graham Festivals, Will Graham Celebrations, The Billy Graham Library, The Billy Graham Training Center at The Cove, SearchforJesus.net, the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team of crisis-trained chaplains, My Hope with Billy Graham TV ministry and others. Founded in 1950 by Billy Graham, the organization has been led by Franklin Graham since 2000. The ministry employs some 500 people worldwide and is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, with additional offices in Australia, Canada, Germany and Great Britain.

“HE WHO HEARS MY WORD AND BELIEVES IN HIM WHO SENT ME … HAS PASSED FROM DEATH INTO LIFE” (JOHN 5:24 NKJV).

See also

Christianity for Australia – evangelism in 1902 & 1959

From Hatred to Love: 10 guns to kill Billy Graham
How God transformed a brutal Australian gang leader

Power Evangelism in Short-term Missions

The Disciples’ Mission and Ministry
Chapter 2 of Jesus the Model for Short Term Supernatural Mission

The Life of Jesus – Blog
WestBow Press version – The Life of Jesus
The Life of Jesus – WestBow Press – PDF

GENERAL BLOGS INDEX  Blogs Index 1: Revivals (briefer than Revivals Index) Blogs Index 2: Mission (international stories) Blogs Index 3: Miracles (supernatural events) Blogs Index 4: Devotional (including Testimonies) Blogs index 5: Church (Christianity in action) Blogs Index 6: Chapters (Blogs from Books) Blogs Index 7: Images (Photos & Videos) Permission: you can freely reproduce and share these books and resources, including printing (just include the source) eg., uploading to your Amazon KDP, etc. BACK TO MAIN PAGE  FREE SUBSCRIPTION: for new Blogs & free offers

Koreans evangelized their own nation

South Korea: How Koreans evangelized their own nation The spread of the Gospel is usually attributed to foreign missionaries, but the story is different in the Korean peninsula. Here the Gospel was brought by Koreans themselves. The ‘Pyongyang Revival’ or ‘Korean Pentecost’ in 1907 was a seminal religious movement for Korean Protestant Christianity. “Some of you go back to John Calvin, and some of you to John Wesley, but we can go back no further than 1907 when we first really knew the Lord Jesus Christ,” Korean Christians were recorded as telling missionaries in 1913. Kil Sun-ju (1865–1935) was the central leader of the revival. As foreign powers encroached on Korea, Kil searched for a religion that was socially engaged and offered hope for the future. Kil was introduced to the Gospel by a Christian friend who asked him whether he could pray to God as father. Kil answered, “How could man call God Father?” But three days later, while praying, he heard a mysterious voice call his name three times. Kil was afraid and prostrated himself, crying out, “God the Father who loves me, forgive my sin and save my life!” After his conversion, Kil became an ardent Christian. The Pyongyang Revival broke out in Kil’s church, Jangdaehyeon Church, after Kil publicly confessed his personal sin to church members. Hundreds of others followed his example of repentance and forgiveness to save their souls. Kil and others preached across the country as the revival spread further to China and Manchuria. The religious movement also took on political overtones and became increasingly associated with Korean nationalism. Kil was one of the key leaders in the Independence Movement of March 1, 1919, against the Japanese colonization of the country.

With about 480,000 members the Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul is said to be the largest Pentecostal Christian congregation in the world.

The revival had lasting effects on Korean Christianity and on Korea. Indigenous Christian rituals such as sagyeonhoe (Bible study and the Bible-examining meetings), saebyoek gido (dawn prayer meetings), and tongseong gido (collective audible prayer) were formulated as part of Protestant practice. Korean Christian leaders led nationwide educational movements with the vision of making Korea a Christian nation. The Great Revival transformed Protestantism from a foreign religion to a new national religion, laying the foundation for the most remarkable church growth in Asia in the 20th century and positioning South Korea as a global center of the Christian faith. Christians make up more than a quarter of South Koreans and the country is responsible for one of the world’s largest missionary movements. Source: Kirsteen Kim and Hoon Ko, summarized by Joel News International GENERAL BLOGS INDEX  BLOGS INDEX 1: REVIVALS (BRIEFER THAN REVIVALS INDEX) BLOGS INDEX 2: MISSION (INTERNATIONAL STORIES) BLOGS INDEX 3: MIRACLES (SUPERNATURAL EVENTS) BLOGS INDEX 4: DEVOTIONAL (INCLUDING TESTIMONIES) BLOGS INDEX 5: CHURCH (CHRISTIANITY IN ACTION) BLOGS INDEX 6: CHAPTERS (BLOGS FROM BOOKS) BLOGS INDEX 7: IMAGES (PHOTOS AND ALBUMS) BACK TO MAIN PAGE  FREE SUBSCRIPTION: for new Blogs & free offers

Kingdom Life in Mark – Lent to Easter and Pentecost

Kingdom Life in Mark

Lent to Easter and Pentecost

New eBook – relational Bible studies from the Lectionary for 2018

Link to eBook on Kindle

READ SAMPLE

THE DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS

 

Preparation for the Passion of Jesus

1. The transfiguration                        Mark 9:2‑9
2. Baptism and temptations              Mark 1:9‑15
3. The meaning of the cross              Mark 8:31‑38
4. Teaching about the cross (1)        John 2:13‑22
5. Teaching about the cross (2)        John 3:14‑21
6. Teaching about the cross (3)        John 12:20‑33
7. Palm Sunday and the crucifixion    Mark 11:1‑11; 15:1‑39

 

Resurrection Appearances of Jesus

8. The empty tomb                           Mark 16:1‑18
9. Easter evening                              John 20:19‑31
10. Emmaus postscript                     Luke 24:35‑48

 

Observations about Jesus

11. Jesus the Good Shepherd                John 10:11‑18
12. Jesus the true vine                            John 15:1‑8
13. Jesus present among his people    John 15:9‑17
14. Jesus prays for his people               John 17:11‑19

 

The coming of the Holy Spirit

15. The day of Pentecost                      John 15:26‑27; 16:4‑15

 

Conclusion: The Godhead

16. The Trinity                                      John 3:1‑17

 

 

Readings selected from Part II of Kingdom Life in Mark, Relational Bible Studies from Mark (Year B of the Lectionary)

Blog:
https://renewaljournal.wordpress.com/2015/01/26/kingdom-life-in-mark/

Kindle – eBook: Kingdom Life in Mark
https://www.amazon.com/Kingdom-Life-Mark-Geoff-Waugh-ebook/dp/B008PCUXO8

Kingdom Life Series on Amazon

Introduction

Mark gives a vigorous, concise account of Jesus.  The narrative moves swiftly.  A brief prologue leads immediately into Jesus’ ministry as he appears proclaiming and demonstrating the kingdom of God.  Kingdom life fills the pages.

Central to that drama is the cross.  Mark has been described as a passion narrative with an introduction.  Jesus is introduced as the Son of God in the first verse.  Chapters 1‑8 reveal the mystery of the Son of God seen in Jesus’ three year ministry based in Galilee.

Then the drama shifts in chapter 8 with Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah.  Jesus immediately predicts his death and prepares his disciples for it (8:31; 9:30‑31; 10:32‑34).  The Messiah must sacrifice his life.  The way of the Son of Man is the way of the cross.  Chapters 11‑16 describe that final week in Jerusalem.

This book follows the story of Jesus using lectionary readings from the year of Mark (Year B).  The readings include passages from other gospels as well, especially John.

 

Relational Bible studies

These relational Bible studies help you explore and live kingdom life: to love God with your whole being and to love others.  At best, our love for God and for one another is but a small reflection of God’s love for us.  These studies can help that love to grow.  Choose the sections most suitable to you or your group.

You can use this book for both personal and group study:

Personal study, which may be in preparation for a group session or just for your own interest, will involve reading the Bible passages and thinking about the questions for yourself.  You may want to keep a note book or journal of your insights or discoveries.  If these readings are used in your church on Sundays you may want to reflect on the study after the Sunday and also read the next study in preparation for the following Sunday.  You may have a friend, or friends, with whom you would like to discuss some of the issues, and these studies give you plenty of ideas for doing that as well.

Group study involves you with others.  These studies invite you to relate together at the beginning, to respond to the Bible material in personal ways and to reflect on its meaning in your own lives and circumstances.

The studies help you share your ideas and discoveries as you study the Bible together.  These relational studies invite you to interact at both a content and a personal level.  You can share your pilgrimage with others.  You journey together.  You support and encourage one another.

The New International Version as well as the Revised Standard Version were used in writing these studies, so it will be helpful for group leaders to refer to those in preparing for each study.  Any versions of the Bible can be used with the studies, of course, and comparison of different translations and study notes often adds helpful insights.

Your group will be able to move more freely through each study if you all read the passages at home first.  That will make you familiar with the Bible material so that you can then interact on it together in the group.  The gospel reading is the focus.  The other readings are referred to during the study and can be included that way.

A rough time guide for each study would be to allow about 15 minutes for the Relate section, about 30 minutes for the Respond section and another 15 minutes for the Reflect section.  Sometimes you will go longer than that, especially at the end.  Allow adequate time to conclude in prayer together or in other appropriate ways.

If you have a group of more than five or six people, you will usually gain more from these studies by working in small sub‑groups of about three to five.  This can be done in many ways.  One good way is to begin in the whole group for the Relate section, read the scripture together in the whole group, and then move into small sub‑groups for the rest of the study.

Sometimes you may want to start in small sub‑groups of two or three, then study the Response section together in the whole group, and finish by following the Reflect section in smaller groups.

This Bible study book is a selection from

Kingdom Life in Mark 

 

GENERAL BLOGS INDEX  BLOGS INDEX 1: REVIVALS (BRIEFER THAN REVIVALS INDEX) BLOGS INDEX 2: MISSION (INTERNATIONAL STORIES) BLOGS INDEX 3: MIRACLES (SUPERNATURAL EVENTS) BLOGS INDEX 4: DEVOTIONAL (INCLUDING TESTIMONIES) BLOGS INDEX 5: CHURCH (CHRISTIANITY IN ACTION) BLOGS INDEX 6: CHAPTERS (BLOGS FROM BOOKS) BLOGS INDEX 7: IMAGES (PHOTOS AND ALBUMS) BACK TO MAIN PAGE  FREE SUBSCRIPTION: for new Blogs & free offers