Byron Forrest Yawn > Quotes

“The great evangelist George Whitefield once received a letter in which he was brutally criticized by a peer. He was called everything but a preacher. Whitefield, with impeccable clarity, penned the best response to criticism I’ve ever encountered. He wrote his assassin a brief reply: “Thank you sir for your criticism. If you knew about me what I know about me, you would have written a longer letter.”
― Byron Forrest Yawn, What Every Man Wishes His Father Had Told Him

“Sin is intentional and irrational at the same time.”
― Byron Forrest Yawn, What Every Man Wishes His Father Had Told Him

“Consider contemporary Christian radio for a moment. No doubt you’ve preset a few of your dials to your local contemporary Christian stations. A sad and tattered promotion for churches shows up on the radio in every city in America. We’ve all heard it. It goes something like this. Are you tired of traditional church? Do you feel out of place when you attend? Do the messages make you feel guilty? Are you looking for something positive? Are you looking for messages that are relevant? Are you looking for a place where you can belong? You’re not alone in your frustration. Church does not have to be boring. Church does not have to be complicated. Come and join us at the Suburban Church, where you can come as you are. It’s a church designed with you in mind. We have six service times, including two on Saturday night. Or you can stay home and watch in your pajamas. This stuff is like catnip for suburban evangelical Christians. It drives me crazy. It makes me shout at my steering wheel. Seriously, it’s absurd. Unrelenting offers like this make up the bizarre Christian subculture I’m describing. This ad is opposed to a biblical view of the church in every possible way. You should not find it appealing. You should find it offensive. Just think through it. Consider the logic of removing a sense of conviction from church. It’s convoluted. The only way a church can avoid causing feelings of conviction is to avoid the gospel all together.”
― Byron Forrest Yawn, Suburbianity: What Have We Done to the Gospel? Can We Find Our Way Back to Biblical Christianity?

“Most men are controlled by what others think of them.”
― Byron Forrest Yawn, What Every Man Wishes His Father Had Told Him

“Humble godly men are the devil’s worst enemy.”
― Byron Forrest Yawn, What Every Man Wishes His Father Had Told Him

“When we fail to live up to our own expectations, we’ll despair. When we fail to live up to the expectations of others, we’ll become resentful.”
― Byron Forrest Yawn, What Every Man Wishes His Father Had Told Him

“Finding your purpose in life is not the most important thing you can do. Christians’ first priority is to commit their lives to God’s glory. The purpose He may have for them is a matter of His righteous will. To assume that God’s greatest concern is to reveal our purpose in life is to greatly diminish the person and nature of God as revealed in the Bible. It also greatly inflates our importance in the eternal scheme of things. In many instances, such ideas are merely code for discontented suburbanites. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the great and foremost commandment (Matthew 22:37-38”
― Byron Forrest Yawn, Suburbianity: What Have We Done to the Gospel? Can We Find Our Way Back to Biblical Christianity?

“Parenting is about addressing heart issues. Only the power of God through the gospel has the power to change your children’s hearts.”
― Byron Forrest Yawn, What Every Man Wishes His Father Had Told Him

“Someone once wrote that our best friends are those who make us most afraid to sin.”
― Byron Forrest Yawn, What Every Man Wishes His Father Had Told Him

“Sons have an instinct to cover their fathers’ failures. Sons love their dads even when their dads did not love them. It’s part of being a son. It’s also a sign of how sons are doomed to mimic their fathers’ primary failure—denial.”
― Byron Forrest Yawn, What Every Man Wishes His Father Had Told Him

“True joy and fulfillment is found in service to others, not using others.”
― Byron Forrest Yawn, What Every Man Wishes His Father Had Told Him

“We have to help them understand who they are before they can understand what they should do.”
― Byron Forrest Yawn, What Every Man Wishes His Father Had Told Him