Vance Havner
1901-1986

      Vance Havner started preaching at 14, and didn't stop 'til he went to glory!

      That alone is a great legacy. He was the most homespun of country preachers, possessing a southern charm that always belied his great intellect and persuasive power.

      A preacher once said that: "Old Vance was half Charles Spurgeon and half Billy Sunday with the voice of Will Rogers."

Showing 1 to 17 of 17 items.

Are We Playing by the Book?
      When a group of small boys, out to play ball, arrived at the play ground, they discovered that no one had brought a ball. "Forget the ball," said one impatiently. "Let's get on with the game." We are trying to play without the ball when the Church tries to evangelize before she has repented. The Church can do many things after she has repented but ...read

By Him All Things Consist
      When Paul declared in Ephesians that "Christ filleth all in all" and in Colossians that "Christ is all and in all," he was not merely giving us pious phrases to roll under our tongues; he was stating the fixed and fundamental fact of the Allness of Jesus Christ. Christ was everything to Paul. To the Corinthians he had written, "I determined not to ...read

Doing Something About It
      "They hear thy words but they will not do them." - EZEKIEL 33:31. "But be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves." - JAMES 1:22. The prophet Ezekiel ministered in an evil time. It was his lot to prophesy to a generation that listened after a fashion, likened him unto one having a pleasant voice, told others about his ...read

Down From Above
      "And he said unto them, You are from beneath; I am from above: you are of this world; I am not of this world." - JOHN 8:23. From beginning to end, the Bible teaches that God works down from above, not up from below. This, of course, is contrary to human reasoning. Man teaches that we are on our way from the bottom to the top, that we started as ...read

Gathering With Christ
      "Blessed is he who keeps from stumbling over me" (MATTHEW 11:6). We are familiar with the beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount. We are also acquainted with other beatitudes of our Lord, such as "Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he comes shall find so doing"; "Blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it." But here is a ...read

Jesus Only
      I would like to begin with a personal testimony. My own spiritual experience has gone through three stages. I was converted at the age of ten. The next year I became a preacher and for some years thereafter preached a simple Gospel message. Later I moved into a more liberal position. It was during these halcyon days just after the first World W ...read

Many Still Lack the Fire!
      It is true that Pentecost, historically, took place once for all. So did Calvary. But each individual must personally appropriate the blood by faith and so must each believer receive by faith the Spirit for power. The promise of the Spirit is received by faith (Gal. 3: 14). It is an experience of spiritual thirst, then coming to Christ, drinking of ...read

Missing Notes In the Modern Church
      It is very fashionable nowadays to ask, "What is wrong with the Church?" It is no new subject. There has always been something or other wrong with the professing church, and there have always been speakers aplenty to discuss it. Unfortunately, their speaking usually relieves only the speaker and not the situation. One is reminded of the soap-box or ...read

Our Threefold Commission
      I revel in the story of our Lord's appearances during those forty wonderful days after His resurrection. How I would have enjoyed being there! Think of it! You might meet Jesus risen from the dead around any bend of the road! Then I remember that He appeared only to believers. Why didn't He go to Herod or Pilate and say, "Look! You thought you ...read

Sunrise Tomorrow
      There has always been a peculiar charm about sunrise. It has been the theme of many popular songs like "The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise" and that wedding favorite, "At Dawning." Poems aplenty have been written about sunsets, but there is a different beauty that belongs to sunrise. Probably not many of us see enough sunrises to enter into their ...read

The Forgotten Beatitude
      "Blessed is he who keeps from stumbling over me" (MATTHEW 11:6). We are familiar with the beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount. We are also acquainted with other beatitudes of our Lord, such as "Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he comes shall find so doing"; "Blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it." But here is a ...read

This Is That
      "What does this mean?" - ACTS 2:12 "This is that..." - ACTS 2:16 "What shall we do?" - ACTS 2:37 It was Sunday morning in the little village where I was vacationing. I attended the local church, the usual morning service typical of most village church services over the land. I sat, a stranger in the congregation, and looked over the gat ...read

Time for Judgement
      "For the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God; and if it first begin with us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?" 1Peter 4:17,18 Peter wrote his letters to Christians in a day of testing and suffering to build ...read

We Still Have Jesus
      "And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one, except Jesus." - MATTHEW 17:8. Peter wanted to build three tabernacles to house his mountain-top experience. That didn't work, but when the glorious experience had passed he still had Jesus. I remember how, years ago, I felt that I needed a deeper experience. I was growing dull and s ...read

What Christ Means To Me
      It is a privilege to speak to my friends in the name of Him who has called us His friends if we do the things which He commands us. Someone asked Charles Kingsley, "What is the secret of your beautiful life?" He answered, "I had a friend." And I have often thought that if this life of mine ever approaches the beautiful and true it will be because ...read

What Doest Thou Here?
      Elijah had come out of a big day on Carmel. He had prayed down fire and water and had become the outstanding man of his generation. It was a red-letter day for the prophet. But the next day after a big day may be a very bad day. From His baptism our Lord moved into His temptation. In the same chapter that tells us of Paul's third heaven experience ...read