Richard Stearns > Quotes

“What has God given you? Moses had a stick, David had a slingshot, and Paul had a pen. Mother
Teresa possessed a love for the poor; Billy Graham, a gift for preaching; and Joni Eareckson
Tada, a disability. What did they have in common? A willingness to let God use whatever they
had, even when it didn't seem very useful. If you will assess what you have to offer in terms
of your time, your treasure, and your talents, you will have a better understanding of how you
might uniquely serve.”
― Richard Stearns, The Hole in Our Gospel: What Does God Expect of Us?

“For I was hungry, while you had all you needed. I was thirsty, but you drank bottled water. I was a stranger, and you wanted me deported. I needed clothes, but you needed more clothes. I was sick, and you pointed out the behaviors that led to my sickness. I was in prison, and you said I was getting what I deserved. (RESV - Richard E. Stearns Version)”
― Richard Stearns, The Hole in Our Gospel: What Does God Expect of Us?

“We must move beyond an anemic view of our faith as something only personal and private, with no public dimension, and instead see it as the source of power that can change the world. ”
― Richard Stearns, The Hole in Our Gospel: What Does God Expect of Us?

“A church that's lost it's voice for justice is a church that's lost it's relevance in the world.”
― Richard Stearns, The Hole in Our Gospel: What Does God Expect of Us?

“God never asks us to give what we do not have . . . But he cannot use what we will not give.”
― Richard Stearns, The Hole in Our Gospel: What Does God Expect of Us?

“It’s not what you believe that counts; it’s what you believe enough to do.”
― Richard Stearns, The Hole in Our Gospel 10th Anniversary Edition: What Does God Expect of Us? The Answer That Changed My Life and Might Just Change the World

“And when we go to church, read our Bibles, have our quiet times, and go to Christian conferences, we too can build some impressive spiritual muscles, but unless we use those spiritual muscles to change our lives, build the church, love our neighbors, and care for the sick and the poor, we...are just posers. Let us not take God's truth for granted.”
― Richard Stearns, He Walks Among Us: Encounters with Christ in a Broken World

“Christ has no body on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which Christ’s compassion for the world is to look out; yours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good; and yours are the hands with which He is to bless us now. —SAINT TERESA OF AVILA”
― Richard Stearns, The Hole in Our Gospel Special Edition: What Does God Expect of Us? The Answer That Changed My Life and Might Just Change the World

“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. —DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.”
― Richard Stearns, The Hole in Our Gospel 10th Anniversary Edition: What Does God Expect of Us? The Answer That Changed My Life and Might Just Change the World

“Our Christian habit is to bewail the world's deteriorating standards with an air of rather self-righteous dismay. We criticize its violence, dishonesty, immorality, disregard for human life, and materialistic greed.

"The world is going down the drain," we say with a shrug. But whose fault is it? Who is to blame? Let me put it like this. If the house is dark when nightfall comes, there is no sense in blaming the house; that is what happens when the sun goes down. The question to ask is "Where is the light?"

Similarly, if the meat goes bad and becomes inedible, there is no sense in blaming the meat; that is what happens when bacteria are left alone to breed. The question to ask is "Where is the salt?"

Just so, if society deteriorates and its standards decline until it becomes like a dark night or a stinking fish, there is no sense in blaming society; that is what happens when fallen men and women are left to themselves, and human selfishness is unchecked.

The question to ask is "Where is the Church? Why are the salt and light of Jesus Christ not permeating and changing our society?" It is sheer hypocrisy on our part to raise our eyebrows, shrug our shoulders, or wring our hands. The Lord Jesus told us to be the world's salt and light. If therefore darkness and rottenness abound, it is largely our fault and we must accept the blame.--John Stott (Human Rights and Human Wrongs)”
― Richard Stearns, The Hole in Our Gospel: What Does God Expect of Us?

“God’s love was intended to be demonstrated, not dictated.”
― Richard Stearns, The Hole in Our Gospel Special Edition: What Does God Expect of Us? The Answer That Changed My Life and Might Just Change the World

“We have not been promised rescue from this world; we have been commanded to go and take back this world. The Great Commission is Jesus' call to storm the gates of hell and to liberate his children, establishing his kingdom.”
― Richard Stearns, UNfinished: Believing Is Only the Beginning

“Saint Francis of Assisi understood the power of faith put into action to change the human heart, for it was he who said, “Preach the gospel always; when necessary use words.” We had not yet spoken a word in their language, but the village elders had already “heard” the gospel.”
― Richard Stearns, The Hole in Our Gospel Special Edition: What Does God Expect of Us? The Answer That Changed My Life and Might Just Change the World

“So many people are crying out to God for His help. Might you be the answer to one of their prayers?”
― Richard Stearns

“God,unashamedly and extremely LOVES the Poor but their Poverty,He HATES!

If this is not so,I believe there wouldn't have been a provision/exchange made by Jesus Christ,who though was rich,but for the sake of the love He has for the Poor, He became poor that through His poverty,the poor might become rich- 2Cor8:9.

DO NOT LOVE WHAT GOD HATES and HATE WHAT HE LOVES!”
― Richard Stearns

“But I want to be clear that this does not mean we are saved by piling up enough good works to satisfy God. No, it means that any authentic and genuine commitment to Christ will be accompanied by demonstrable evidence of a transformed life.”
― Richard Stearns, The Hole in Our Gospel 10th Anniversary Edition: What Does God Expect of Us? The Answer That Changed My Life and Might Just Change the World

“One of the sure signs that we have been co-opted by our culture is that, like frogs in the proverbial kettle, we have grown comfortable with things that should shock us and mobilize us to action. We no longer feel the heat of outrage against things that anger God. We have so embraced the American dream that we can no longer see or feel the world's nightmare of poverty, suffering, and hopelessness.”
― Richard Stearns

“Every act of kindness, each moment spent in prayer, and every expression of love in the name of Christ pierces the heart of the enemy and sends him into retreat. These are the gentle weapons of the kingdom.”
― Richard Stearns, UNfinished: Believing Is Only the Beginning

“Embedded somewhere deeply in our Christian consciousness is the sense that bad things shouldn’t happen to good people. But in Romans 8, Paul taught exactly the opposite: he clearly stated that hardship, famine, persecution, and danger will most certainly prey upon believers. Yet Paul’s comfort to us in light of that harsh reality is the life-giving reality that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.”
― Richard Stearns, He Walks Among Us: Encounters with Christ in a Broken World

“beggar”
― Richard Stearns, The Hole in Our Gospel Special Edition: What Does God Expect of Us? The Answer That Changed My Life and Might Just Change the World

“To even be Christians, we must first believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. That in itself is no small idea. If it is true, it changes everything because if Christ is God, then all that he said and did is deeply significant to how we live our lives. So we believe. But God expects more.”
― Richard Stearns, The Hole in Our Gospel Special Edition: What Does God Expect of Us? The Answer That Changed My Life and Might Just Change the World

“The year of Jubilee was God’s way of protecting against the rich getting too rich and the poor getting too poor.”
― Richard Stearns, The Hole in Our Gospel Special Edition: What Does God Expect of Us? The Answer That Changed My Life and Might Just Change the World

“it also signified the coming of God’s kingdom on earth. This”
― Richard Stearns, The Hole in Our Gospel Special Edition: What Does God Expect of Us? The Answer That Changed My Life and Might Just Change the World

“is a misunderstanding we often have”
― Richard Stearns, He Walks Among Us: Encounters with Christ in a Broken World

“Kindness has converted more sinners than zeal, eloquence, or learning. —FREDERICK W. FABER”
― Richard Stearns, The Hole in Our Gospel Special Edition: What Does God Expect of Us? The Answer That Changed My Life and Might Just Change the World

“The Bible devotes twice as many verses to money as it does to faith and prayer combined, and fully 15 percent of Jesus' recorded words dealth with money, more than He said about heaven and hell combined.

Jesus understood that our relationship to our money and possessions is an indicator of our spiritual condition: "For where your treasure is," He said, "there your heart will be also" (Luke 12:34).”
― Richard Stearns, The Hole in Our Gospel: What Does God Expect of Us?

“Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? (vv. 3–5) Yes, God was wise to Israel’s superficiality.”
― Richard Stearns, The Hole in Our Gospel Special Edition: What Does God Expect of Us? The Answer That Changed My Life and Might Just Change the World

“Jesus compares the growth of the kingdom of God to the germination of a seed: “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come” (Mark 4:26-29). In other words, the farmer faithfully does his work, but he really has no understanding of just how God will ultimately transform his efforts into a harvest. The real magic happens after the seeds have been scattered. Our job, like the farmer’s, is to faithfully scatter those seeds as we represent Christ, but it is God who ultimately brings the harvest. And the real harvest is something we may never see, as God works in the lives of the people we interact with every day.”
― Richard Stearns, Lead Like It Matters to God: Values-Driven Leadership in a Success-Driven World