Quotes from Walter A. Henrichsen

If you cannot forgive because of hurt inflicted by others, you will be unwilling to be vulnerable for fear of being hurt again. Because people are sinners, you cannot love and you cannot minister without getting hurt.

The disciple is one who in every area of His life determines from the Bible what is right and lives it consistently rather than allowing circumstances to shape his conduct.

Develop convictions from your understanding of revelation, but take them no further; do not make absolute what the Bible dos not make absolute.

How do you demonstrate a love for God and others in the heat of a contract negotiation in which you perceive the other party to be unreasonable? The Bible gives you no clear-cut answer. God designed the ambiguity in which you are forced to live in order to keep you trusting in Him.

You worship a God who is holy, transcendent, and eternal. The miracle is, He is willing to have a relationship with you, a sinner, bound by the limitations of being a creature, and incapable of initiating a relationship with your Creator. Never lose your awe of it all.

To the degree that you know what God's expectations of you look like, you do not need Him. Seeking to apply positive commandments forces you into a posture of dependence upon God, which is right where He wants you.

God will forget your sin and iniquity in the sense that it will not adversely affect your relationship with Him. His acceptance of you is total; He will never taunt you with a past transgression or allow it to influence adversely His relationship with you. Nor are you on probation in the Christian life. The Lord's acceptance of you is based on perfect knowledge; you may disappoint Him, but you will never surprise Him.

When people observe that your life is in harmony with the message, they may not believe, but they know in their conscience that they have met truth.

This does not mean, however, that you will not stand before the judgment bar of God and give an account for how you lived the life God gave you. He will remember every thought, motive, word, and deed in your life, and you will be judged accordingly. Your relationship with Him will not be under consideration, but your eternal fruit will.

Learn two things from Solomon's example: You cannot run fast enough to stay ahead of sin, and you cannot foresee or anticipate the consequences of your disobedience.

God did not give you the Bible to make you a smarter sinner, but rather a holy saint. Application, not knowledge, pleases God.

Jesus did not die for man's sin against man, only for man's sin against God. God decides how we are to treat one another, and therefore when we sin against others we sin against God. David said, "in thy sight," knowing that God looks on. Nothing escapes His notice. One of the marks of regeneration is an awareness that God is watching.

You will carry into eternity the product of your investment in this life. Life is too short and the stakes too high to live mediocre lives.

Whenever you conclude that God is unjust, you can know that you err biblically. Behind your misconception you will find the beautiful, gracious work of God.

Confrontation is one of the highest expressions of love. When done in love and compassion, confrontation is one the kindest things you can do for another person. A refusal to confront when needed, is one of the most selfish things you can do.

Your vocation is your pulpit. For this reason, you have no biblical ground for wanting to retire. Most believers who do want to retire, want a little bit of heaven this side of the grave. Such may be possible for the Philistines, but definitely not for the serious follower of Christ.

The desire to retire is an expression of despair. It means that you have lost your rudder and do not know why you are here or where you are going.

Thus it is easy to see how your awareness of your indebtedness to God influences the totality of your life. When you acknowledge that God is good in all that He does, and you affirm His goodness by a life of gratitude, it appreciably influences your ability to get along with others, mitigates your propensity to anger, and fills your life with contentment.

The sun melts butter and hardens clay. Blessed are the troubled who allow their tribulation to soften their heart to repentance. Notice how often God uses our children to get our attention. Christianity is a religion of rescue. It is designed for the desperate.

Death is at work in every person. It is the natural progression of life. Paul realized this and elected to participate willingly by purposely putting himself to death by spending his life on others.

You cannot have a clean conscience without satisfying justice, and this Christ did when He died on the cross.

Illegitimate self-justification takes place when you know you are guilty and seek to hide the fact. Few sins carry the profound ramifications that self-justification does.

Repentance is the key to reconciliation, and the key to repentance is an admission of wrong.

God makes you an incredible offer:You can give your life in exchange for the same thing for which Jesus spent His life – people. People last forever. For good or bad, they are eternal. Spend your life helping them prepare for their eternity. Don't give your life to mediocrity. Life is too short and the issues of eternity too significant.