"If they had a social gospel in the days of the prodigal son, somebody would have given him a bed and a sandwich and he never would have gone home." "The church is a hospital for sinners, and not a museum for saints." "The church is so subnormal that if it ever got back to the New Testament normal it would seem to people to be abnormal." Who hasn't heard a Vance Havner quote? Vance Havner was arguably the most quoted preacher of the 20th century. His sermons were always filled with much meat for the saints, calling for revival everywhere he preached. And the Lord used him greatly. This book...

This collection of sermons, some of which have appeared, in slightly different form, in several Christian publications, is sent out to exalt Him whose Name the title bears. It has been a joy to give them from the pulpit and platform and microphone to audiences all over the land. May their appearance in book form lead many more to know Him and make Him known.

Riverby Memorial Church was both imposing and important, with a liberal sprinkling of lawyers, doctors, retailers and politicians. Its pastor was highly educated, an excellent speaker, and surpassed every area minister in the art of pleasing all the church members. Everyone spoke well of their pastor. Memorial Church was a peaceful place to be-but it was the peace of a cemetery All that changed when Stephen Lynn came to town. Lynn was not a pastor, but he was a Christian through and through. He took Christ and his words seriously. He not only talked the talk; he walked the walk. Through...

IN presenting a second set of sermons to our readers, we are endeavoring to gather up chiefly from several Christian magazines, a number of our messages which the Lord has blessed to His glory. In His Name we offer them with the prayer that they may fulfill in some measure the prophet's responsibility to speak to edification and exhortation and comfort (I Corinthians 14:3).

These messages have been given all over the land and some have appeared in various Christian publications. They endeavor to strike the same note the writer has tried to sound through the years, and it is hoped that at no point will the trumpet give an uncertain sound, for it is high time that every soldier of Christ prepare himself for the battle. It is an age of itching ears. What we need is burning hearts. We need a heart-warming Greensboro, N. C. V. H.

EVER since I wrote By the Still Waters, while a country pastor, I have longed to write more in the same vein. Friends who say they were blessed by those rustic sketches have encouraged me to write a companion volume, but a city pastorate of five years and many preaching journeys over the land have not provided a suitable setting for rural reflections. One cannot write of these things in a hotel room. It has become possible through circumstances, evidently the Lord's leading, to spend a few autumn weeks in the old home in the hills. No sooner had this opportunity opened before me than I felt...

IN these sermons on the times, the reader will discover that I am not entering into the intricacies of interpreting prophecy. Rather, these awful days through which we are passing are viewed in the light of those Scriptures which reveal the broad, general trend of God's purposes as revealed in His Word. The main burden of the book is God's call to revival among His people.

When we enter the life of the early Church, we find them eating their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God. We follow Paul from prison to prison, but his shout is, "Rejoice in the Lord alway; and again I say, Rejoice" Evidently emotion had not been outlawed among the saints in those days. Today the same church member who yells like a Comanche Indian at a football game sits like a wooden Indian in the house of God on Sunday. When David danced before the returning ark his wife despised him and was smitten with barrenness. Today happy Christians are frowned upon by those...

Updated typos Here - for each day of the year - is inspiring journey into the Bible. With his customary penetration skill, Vance Havner tears away tinted draperies with which old temptations come under new forms, challenges the Pharisee in pulpit and pew, scorns the commercialization of the Church, and reminds us that, under the whatever mask evil hides itself, the commands of God and the teachings of Jesus are as authoritative today as they were when Jesus walked among men. Each of the selections includes a tough provoking topic, a Scripture verse, and a devotional meditation to help you...