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Philip Yancey

Philip Yancey Quotes

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Famous Philip Yancey Quotes

“I say this with care, but I wonder if a fierce, insistent desire for a miracle - even a physical healing - sometimes betrays a lack of faith rather than an abundance of it. When yearning for a miraculous resolution to a problem, do we make our loyalty to God contingent on whether he reveals himself yet again in the seen world?”

IfsWorldSometimesProblemCareDesireFaithReligiousHealingWonderMiracleLoyaltyAbundanceResolutionBetrayYearningFierceMiraculousLack Of FaithPhysical Healing
Book:Disappointment with God: Three Questions No One Asks Aloud
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“The camera follows a young woman as she makes her way through the stands to an area set aside for repentance and conversion. But Jesus' stories imply that far more may be going on out there: beyond that stadium scene, in a place concealed from all camera lenses, a great party has erupted, a gigantic celebration in the unseen world.”

WorldWayMayStoriesYoungJesusPartySceneAreasCamerasConversionRepentanceCelebrationYoung WomenUnseenLensesConcealedStadiumsCamera LensesGreat Party
Book:Disappointment with God: Three Questions No One Asks Aloud
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“Curiously, the righteous Pharisees had little historical impact, save for a brief time in a remote corner of the Roman Empire. But Jesus' disciples - an ornery, undependable, and hopelessly flawed group of men - became drunk with the power of a gospel that offered free forgiveness to the worst sinners and traitors. Those men managed to change the world.”

MenWorldLittlesJesusGroupsWorstImpactHistoricalCornersDrunkChanging The WorldEmpiresSinnerRighteousDiscipleFlawedTraitorRoman EmpirePhariseesOrnery
Book:Grace Notes
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“Christians fail to communicate to others because we ignore basic principles in relationship. When we make condescending judgments or proclaim lofty words that don't translate into action, or simply speak without first listening, we fail to love - and thus deter a thirsty world from Living Water. The good news about God's grace goes unheard.”

WorldFirstsActionChristianSpeakWaterPrinciplesGraceFailingListeningJudgmentNewsCommunicateTranslateGood NewsLoftyThirstyGod's GraceUnheardBasic PrinciplesCondescending
Author:Philip Yancey
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“Henri Nouwen says, "When we come to realize that ... only God saves, then we are free to serve, then we can live truly humble lives." Nouwen changed his approach from "selling pearls," or peddling the good news, to "hunting for the treasure" already present in those he was called to love - a shift from dispensing religion to dispensing grace. It makes all the difference in the world whether I view my neighbor as a potential convert or as someone whom God already loves.”

WorldRealizingDifferencesViewsGraceChangedApproachNewsHumbleNeighborTreasureSellingHuntingPearlsGood NewsPeddling
Author:Philip Yancey
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“We preach sermons, write books on apologetics, conduct city-wide evangelistic campaigns. For those alienated from the church, that approach no longer has the same drawing power. And for the truly needy, words alone don't satisfy; "A hungry person has no ears," as one relief worker told me. A skeptical world judges the truth of what we say by the proof of how we live.”

WorldWritingPersonsBookChurchCitiesJudgingApproachEarsWorkersWideProofDrawingCampaignsHungryReliefSermonsSkepticalNeedyApologetic
Author:Philip Yancey
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“The church works best not as a power center, rather as a countercultural community - in the world but not of it - that shows others how to live the most fulfilled and meaningful life on earth. In modern society that means rejecting the false gods of independence, success, and pleasure and replacing them with love for God and neighbor.”

WorldMeanShowsEarthCommunityChurchPleasureModernIndependenceNeighborMeaningfulGod LoveFulfilledMeaningful LifeModern SocietyRejectingFalse Gods
Author:Philip Yancey
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“Faith is not simply a private matter, or something we practice once a week at church. Rather, it should have a contagious effect on the broader world. Jesus used these images to illustrate His kingdom.: a sprinkle of yeast causing the whole loaf to rise, a pinch of salt preserving a slab of meat, the smallest seed in the garden growing into a great tree in which birds of the air come to nest.”

WorldShouldMatterWholeUsedJesusChurchPracticeGrowingAirTreeWeekEffectsBirdGardenShould HaveSeedsKingdomsMeatSaltSmallestNestsContagiousSprinklesYeastSlabs
Author:Philip Yancey
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“John Wesley taught that the gospel of Christ involved more than saving souls. It should have an impact on all of society, and his followers worked to accomplish just that. They were dispensing grace to the broader world, and in the process their spirit helped change a nation, saving it from the revolutionary chaos that had spread across Europe.”

WorldShouldSoulSpiritNationsProcessChristGraceTaughtInvolvedEuropeShould HaveImpactChaosSpreadAccomplishSavingRevolutionaryFollowersSaving Souls
Author:Philip Yancey
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“Jesus represents a point of common ground an esteemed rabbi to the Jew, a god to the Hindu, an enlightened one to the Buddhist, a great prophet to the Muslim. Even to the New Age guru, Jesus is the pinnacle of God-consciousness. At the same time, Jesus is the divider. None but Christians see Him as a member of the Godhead on an exclusive mission to repair the broken world.”

WorldAgeChristianJesusCommonConsciousnessBrokenMembersJewMissionsBuddhistProphetEnlightenedNew AgeExclusiveGuruCommon GroundRabbiPinnacleBroken World
Author:Philip Yancey
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“Christians have an important role to play in contending that no human life is "devoid of value." We can do so through courageous protest, as happened in Germany, as well, as in compassionate care for the most vulnerable members of society, as Mother Teresa did. In both approaches theology - what one believes about God and human life - matters. The world desperately needs that good news.”

WorldNeedsBelieveHumansWellsImportantMatterPlayCareChristianLife IsMotherValuesCan DoRolesHappenedMembersApproachNewsTheologyVulnerableHuman LifeGermanyProtestCourageousCompassionateGood NewsTeresaContending
Author:Philip Yancey
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“Individuals and societies are not helpless victims of heredity. We have the power to change - not by looking "down" to nature but "up" to God, who consistently calls us forward to become the people we were designed to be. A confused world urgently needs a model of what that looks like. If Christians fail to provide that model, who will?”

PeopleIfsWorldNeedsLooksChristianIndividualFailingModelsVictimConfusedConsistentlyHelplessLooking DownHeredityPower To ChangeIndividuals And Society
Author:Philip Yancey
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“Politics deals with externals: borders, wealth, crimes. Authentic forgiveness deals with the evil in a persons heart, something for which politics has no cure. Virulent evil (racism, ethnic hatred) spreads through society like an airborne disease, one cough infects a whole busload. When moments of grace do occur, the world must pause, fall silent, and acknowledge that indeed forgiveness offers a kind of cure. There will be no escape from wars, from hunger, from misery, from rancid discrimination, from denial of human rights, if our hearts aren't changed.”

IfsWorldHumansHeartKindPersonsWarWholeMomentsFallEvilWealthDealsGraceRightsCrimeChangedOffersDiseaseRacismHatredMiserySilentHungerHuman RightsSpreadDiscriminationCuresDenialAcknowledgeBordersPausesAirborne
Author:Philip Yancey
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“prayer, and only prayer, restores my vision to one that more resembles God's. i awake from blindness to see that wealth lurks as a terrible danger, not a goal worth striving for; that value depends not on race or status but on the image of God every person bears; that no amount of effort to improve physical beauty has much relevance for the world beyond.”

WorldPersonsValuesGoalWealthPrayerEffortRaceVisionDangerDependsBearsAmountTerribleStriveAwakeBlindnessRelevanceGod ImagePhysical Beauty
Book:Prayer
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“As I look around on Sunday morning at the people populating the pews, I see the risk that God has assumed. For whatever reason, God now reveals himself in the world not through a pillar of smoke and fire, not even through the physical body of his Son in Galilee, but through the mongrel collection that comprises my local church and every other such gathering in God’s name. (p. 68, Church: Why Bother?)”

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Author:Philip Yancey
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“God reproduces and lives out His image in millions of ordinary people like us. It is a supreme mystery. We are called to bear that image as a Body because any one of us taken individually would present an incomplete image, one partly false and always distorted, like a single glass chip hacked from a mirror. But collectively, in all our diversity, we can come together as a community of believers to restore the image of God in the world.”

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Author:Philip Yancey
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