Erwin W. Lutzer famous quotes

You become stronger only when you become weaker. When you surrender your will to God, you discover the resources to do what God requires.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Stronger #Surrender #Resources

Generally, the arguments for same-sex marriage go along these lines: 'I have a civil right.' What the homosexual movement wants to do is to hitch their agenda to the civil rights movement, but I point out that this is illegitimate for a number of reasons. Number one, no black person has ever left his black-ness or changed his black-ness, but plenty of people have come out of the homosexual movement. What we need to do is distinguish between race and behavior.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Sex #Numbers #Rights

If we haven't learned to be worshipers it doesn't really matter how well we do anything else. Worship changes us or it has not been worship. To stand before the Holy One of eternity is to change. Worship begins in holy expectancy, it ends in holy obedience.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Matter #Worship #Eternity

People do not have a constitutional right to be married any more than we could say that someone has a constitutional right to a driver's license. You either meet the requirements or you don't. In the case of marriage, homosexuals do not meet the requirements of marriage.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#People #Requirements #Married

There is more grace in God's heart than there is sin in your past.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Heart #Past #Grace

I think that as Christians we need to walk the delicate balance between standing in opposition to same-sex marriages and yet showing that we can do that without becoming angry or hateful.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Christian #Sex #Thinking

When the mask of self-righteousness has been torn from us and we stand stripped of all our accustomed defenses, we are candidates for God's generous grace.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Self #Grace #Defense

Children who are brought up with one parent or another parent or shared parenthood, when there has been a divorce and hatred within families, it breeds a tremendous amount of instability in the life of a child. And many of these children end up in the homosexual movement. Even if they don't, they take so much baggage into their marriages, that they are unable sometimes, at least theoretically unable, to stand against all of the cultural forces that would disrupt them and their families.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Children #Divorce #Hatred

Keep in mind that when sin is viewed superficially, it is dealt with superficially.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Mind #Sin

We must distinguish between genes that cause physical characteristics, like the color of your eyes or hair, over which you have no control, and what we could call 'behavioral dispositions'. We are responsible for our behavior, no matter what those dispositions are.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Eye #Hair #Color

Those who have failed miserably are often the first to see God's formula for success.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Religion #Firsts #Formulas

To those who say that they are Christian and gay, what we must keep in mind is that absent in that kind of lifestyle is a call to holiness, a call to celibacy and integrity. Obviously, it is a capitulation toward one's desires and the sexual sins that the Bible so strongly condemns.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Christian #Integrity #Gay

I thank God for the way he made you, distinct, special and unique. You were not made from a common mold.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Real #Unique #Special

We need a broad-based coalition that is way beyond the bounds of Christianity to be able to help people to understand that there is a groundswell of support for the marriage amendment and for opposition to same-sex marriages.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Sex #People #Support

Those who give much without sacrifice are reckoned as having given little.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Christian #Sacrifice #Giving

Within evangelicalism is a distressing drift toward accepting a Christianity that does not demand a life-changing walk with God. Many evangelicals (today) do not realize that the church has always been an island of righteousness in a sea of paganism, but as a result they turned the world upside-down.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Life Changing #Islands #Sea

Don't ever think that there are many ways to the Divine. Jesus is the one qualified mediator, the only qualified sacrifice, and the only qualified savior.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Jesus #Sacrifice #Thinking

Worship is not an external activity precipitated by the right environment. To worship in spirit is to draw near to God with an undivided heart. We must come in full agreement without hiding anything or disregarding His will.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Heart #Agreement #Spirit

There’s no such thing as a bitter person who keeps the bitterness to himself.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Christian Inspirational #Bitterness #Bitter

Christianity demands a level of caring that transcends human inclinations.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Caring #Levels #Demand

It is not enough to do God's work; it must be done in His way and for His credit.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Credit #Done #Way

Prayer, desperate prayer, seems so simple, but it’s a step rarely taken by those in family conflict.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Prayer #Taken #Simple

Someone has said that the marks of a strong church are wet eyes, bent knees, and a broken heart. We'll never be powerful until we let God be God and jealously guard His honor.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Christian #Letting Go #Strong

Satan exploits pain by making it the central focus of the man’s (or woman’s) thoughts and attitudes.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Pain #Attitude #Men

To make sure our convictions, views, and assumptions about our Creator stay based on biblical truth and not on popular consensus, we must continually check what we believe against the Scriptures.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Believe #Biblical #Views

Money is emphasized in Scripture simply because our temptation to love it is inexplicably powerful.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Christian #Powerful #Temptation

We must worship in truth. Worship is not just an emotional exercise but a response of the heart built on truth about God. "The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth" (Psm. 145:18). Worship that is not based on God's Word is but an emotional encounter with oneself.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Heart #Exercise #Emotional

Better to love God and die unknown than to love the world and be a hero.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Christian #Hero #World

Thanksgiving for God’s faithfulness in our pain is the indisputable proof that we believe God is a part of our pain.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Pain #Believe

The work that God does in us when we wait is usually more important than the thing for which we wait!
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Patience #Christian Inspirational #Waiting

Forgiveness is always free. But that doesn't mean that confession is always easy. Sometimes it is hard. Incredibly hard. It is painful to admit our sins and entrust ourselves to God's care.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Mean #Care #Sometimes

Every time we love, we increase our capacity to be hurt.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Hurt #Increase #Capacity

If there is one single reason why good people turn evil, it is because they fail to recognize God’s ownership over their kingdom, their vocation, their resources, their abilities, and above all their lives.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#People #Evil #Christian Inspirational

God in His sovereign goodness often uses the painful and at times debilitating injury of a spear thrower to make us readier for His service. ... One thing you discover about spear throwers is that though it’s not necessary for them to be good, it’s essential for them to appear good.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Essentials #Use #Sovereign

There are no shortcuts to spiritual maturity. It takes time to be holy.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Spiritual #Wisdom #Maturity

Worship is not just an emotional exercise but a response of the heart built on truth about God.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Heart #Exercise #Emotional

Christmas can be transformed into a celebration more attuned to honoring the One whose birthday we celebrate.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Christmas #Celebration #Celebrate

The activities we do for God are secondary. God is looking for people who long for communication with Him.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Christian #Communication #Long

At death we cross from one territory to another, but we'll have no trouble with visas. Our representative is already there, preparing for our arrival. As citizens of heaven, our entrance is incontestable.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Heaven #Citizens #Territory

The ability to make judgments lies at the heart of Christian living. Unless we are able to judge doctrine, lifestyles, and entertainment, unless we are able to distinguish between outer appearance and inner character, we just might miss the purpose for which God placed us on this earth. We might end up accepting a stone for bread and a snake for a fish.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Christian #Lying #Heart

Only eternal values can give meaning to temporal ones. Time must be the servant of eternity.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Giving #Eternity #Servant

The most important part of us is the part that no one ever sees.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Inspirational Life #Important

Our brothers and sisters in Muslim countries can't celebrate Christmas-or any aspect of their faith-openly for fear of persecution and death. And yet we, with all our freedoms, often choose to make Christmas a celebration of commercialism!
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Christmas #Country #Brother

Only those who see themselves as utterly destitute can fully appreciate the grace of God.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Christian #Appreciate #Grace

A Christian life based on feeling is headed for a gigantic collapse.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Christian #Feelings #Christian Life

In salvation, God both declares us guilty and pays our debt. Only he can satisfy his own requirements. A savior less than God would be disqualified; God must do it himself.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#God #Would Be #Debt

Better to love God and die unknown than to love the world and bea hero; better to be content with poverty than to die a slave towealth; better to have taken some risks and lost than to havedone nothing and succeeded at it.
-- Erwin W. Lutzer

#Taken #Hero #Risk