Bryan Chapell Quotes & Sayings

Grace becomes not only the means by which God once justified us, it is also the means by which we are continually encouraged and enabled to serve him with undiminished delight. — Bryan Chapell

His mercy, not our merits, make[s] us his. — Bryan Chapell

We sin not because we do not love Christ at all but because we don't love him above all. — Bryan Chapell

John Calvin said he constantly studied to be simple. — Bryan Chapell

Somehow proper prayer must put more trust in God's will than in human wants; otherwise failure to get the things we want will force us to doubt either the power of prayer or the ability of God. — Bryan Chapell

It was said of Charles Spurgeon that he "addressed two thousand people as though he were speaking personally to one man. — Bryan Chapell

Jesus loves us not because we are good but because he is. — Bryan Chapell

Faith results in being faithful despite what comes, not telling God what should come. — Bryan Chapell

Paul preaches without shame in his delivery skills because he trusts that the Spirit of God will use the Word the apostle proclaims to shatter the hardness of the human heart in ways no stage technique or philosophical construct can rival. — Bryan Chapell

Belief in God's sovereignty coupled with his promises to reward those who diligently seek him (Heb. 11:6) provides even more powerful incentive to pray. — Bryan Chapell

The reality of the ordinary progress of Christian understanding should not escape our notice: early believers "know no answers"; immature believers "know all the answers"; and mature believers "know the limits of our answers. — Bryan Chapell

We know our skills are insufficient for an activity with such vast consequences. We recognize that our hearts are too lacking in purity to lead others to holiness. Honest evaluation inevitably causes us to conclude that we do not have sufficient eloquence, wisdom, or character to be capable of turning others from spiritual death to eternal life. — Bryan Chapell

Love for him compels us to live for him. — Bryan Chapell

By preserving a person named Daniel, God was preserving a nation called Israel in order to send a Savior named Jesus to save persons like us and ten thousand times ten thousand more of the same. Daniel's willingness to risk everything to make that redeeming God powerfully known expresses how great and precious is the incomparable grace of God toward those who will trust in him. — Bryan Chapell

I do not stop being a child of God because I am a problem child. — Bryan Chapell

What a difference it makes in my life and yours when we believe that the trials as well as the accomplishments, the difficulties as well as the joys, are not simply the products of brute forces in the universe but actually are all part of God's eternal plan for his glory and our good. Do we have any assurance that such astounding truths do apply to us? Yes. — Bryan Chapell

Bitterness is the acid that eats its own container. — Bryan Chapell

To do anything in the Lord's name means to do it for his purposes. When we pray in Jesus' name, we are petitioning God to bring glory to Jesus and we are asking for his will to be done in everything so that he will be honored above all. — Bryan Chapell

The efficacy of the truths in God's message rather than any virtue in the messenger transforms hearts. — Bryan Chapell

Jesus does not love any child (young or old) because the child is good. Jesus loves his children because he is good. — Bryan Chapell

I asked God for strength, that I might achieve. I was made weak, that I might humbly learn to obey. I asked for health, that I might do greater things. I was given infirmity, that I might do better things. I asked for riches, that I might be happy. I was given poverty, that I might be wise. I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men. I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God. I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life. I was given life, that I might enjoy all things. I got nothing that I asked for, but everything that I hoped for. Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered. I among all men am most richly blessed.[1] — Bryan Chapell

Repetition of a sin is no reason to abandon confession. — Bryan Chapell

Forgiveness is the ocean that already surrounds us when we launch our prayers of repentance to God. We do not manufacture the ocean by our repentance; we sail in the peace its boundless waters provide. — Bryan Chapell

Prayer. Praying in Jesus' name is automatically a confession of our unworthiness and a proclamation of his worthiness. — Bryan Chapell

Why should we take care to maintain focus on the gospel of grace in our interpretations of Daniel? The first reason is to keep our messages Christian. We are not Jews, Muslims, or Hindus whose followers may believe our status with God is determined by our performance. We believe that Christ's finished work is our only hope. To make Daniel simply an example of one who fulfills God's moral imperatives and thus earns his blessing is essentially an unchristian message. Apart from God's justifying, enabling, and preserving grace, no human can do what God requires to be done. Jesus said, "Apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). Interpretations of Daniel devoid of the enabling grace of Christ - even in its Old Testament forms of unmerited divine provision - implicitly deny the necessity of Christ. — Bryan Chapell

God does not intend for us to predict outcomes as much as he intends for us to trust him in all circumstances. — Bryan Chapell

God's care precedes his commands. — Bryan Chapell

Because of Christ's resurrection power at work in us, greater is he that is in us than the Evil One who tempts us (1 John 4:4). — Bryan Chapell

God has given his law so that we will experience, not earn, the good he intends for our lives. — Bryan Chapell

Jesus designed the Lord's prayer to reveal His desire to give us more fully, graciously, and suitably the very things we most want but seek elsewhere. He does not want to deny us our desires but helps remove the false objects of our affections so that we will have the greater blessings he longs to lavish on us. — Bryan Chapell

God says that despite knowing that sin makes you impure before him, and that to cleanse you he would have to sacrifice his Son, and to equip you he would have to provide his Spirit, nonetheless it gives him pleasure to reveal to you the mystery of Jesus. When there was no goodness or ability in us, God loved us and enabled us to know his love. This too is a precious mystery that even a child can know. — Bryan Chapell

Grace overwhelms us with God's love, and as a result our heart resonates with the desires of God: His purposes become our own. — Bryan Chapell

Biblical preaching moves from exegetical commentary and doctrinal exposition to life instruction. Such preaching exhorts as well as expounds because it recognizes that Scripture's own goal is not merely to share information about God but to conform his people to the likeness of Jesus Christ. Preaching without application may serve the mind, but preaching with application results in service to Christ. Application makes Jesus the source and the objective of a sermon's exhortation as well as the focus of its explanation. — Bryan Chapell

Yet when our eyes see the full rainbow in Scripture - the completeness of God's plan - and know by faith that our lives are a part of God's design no matter what happens, then we can take whatever comes because we know that we are for the praise of his glory. — Bryan Chapell

To believe Daniel is writing prophecy, as he claims, and not history, as the level of detail would seem to suggest, would require belief that what is written was supernaturally inspired. And if God has thus spoken, then his Word has far more authority over our lives than we may wish, and his far-reaching knowledge is far more real than we may want on the days that we want to go our own way. — Bryan Chapell

Not only do our prayers please God, the Holy Spirit uses them to accomplish heaven's purpose on earth. — Bryan Chapell

Grace is never out of view. Grace secures our relationship with God despite our sin. Grace maintains our forgiveness despite the inadequacies of our repentance. Grace filters the consequences of sin in order to protect us from spiritual harm. When this grace captures our hearts, it compels us to love and serve the God who provides its lavish, loving, and lasting provisions. — Bryan Chapell

When we face real people with eternal souls balanced between heaven and hell, the nobility of preaching both awes us and makes us more aware of our inadequacies (cf. 1 Cor. 2:3). — Bryan Chapell

We are not to mimic witches spicing their caldrons with a little eye of newt and tail of squirrel when we add Jesus' name to our prayers. — Bryan Chapell

Sin gains power over us not by its indomitable force but by our divided heart. — Bryan Chapell

The love we show is the love we know. — Bryan Chapell

We know that God's will is to make us more Christlike (1 Thess. 4:3). But apart from this goal, we can rarely (if ever) know God's desires precisely. Were we with Joseph, we would have prayed for his rescue from his brothers' plot to sell him into slavery. Had we been with Mary and Martha, we would have asked God not to let Lazarus die the first time. Were we at the foot of the cross, we would have cried for God to send his angels to the rescue. In each case, the Lord knew better how to accomplish his will for his ultimate purposes. — Bryan Chapell

Grace unfolds on every page [of Scripture]: God's long march through the history of human rebellion and ruin to reach us with the love of his Son; the Savior's humble service, sinless life, sacrificial death, victorious resurrection, and promised return; the Holy Spirit's indwelling witness, power, and advocacy - all unswerving despite our wayward ways and hard hearts. — Bryan Chapell

We also use the name of Jesus in our prayers to acknowledge what he is doing now. Not only does Christ give us his holy status — Bryan Chapell

Knowledge of our unchanging relationship grants us the will to fight and to reenter the fray when we have fallen, — Bryan Chapell

By praying in Jesus' name, we petition God to make our life shine for Christ's glory and eternity's purposes. — Bryan Chapell

Repentance is not about earning grace but entering it; not about quenching his wrath but quieting the accusations of our hearts; not about unlocking his mercy but releasing our sin-sick sorrow to the Savior, who already rejoices to receive it. — Bryan Chapell