Top 30 Oswald J. Smith Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “The heart of the human problem, is the problem of the human heart.”

— Oswald J. Smith

Featured in: Human Nature Quotes, Deep Quotes, Quotes About Heart

2. “The mission of the church is missions.”

— Oswald J. Smith

3. “We talk of the second coming, half the world has never heard of the first.”

— Oswald J. Smith

Featured in: Firsts Quotes

4. “The church that does not evangelize will fossilize.”

— Oswald J. Smith

5. “No one has the right to hear the gospel twice, while there remains someone who has not heard it once.”

— Oswald J. Smith

6. “The light that shines the farthest will shine the brightest at home.”

— Oswald J. Smith

7. “Oh my friends, we are loaded with countless church activities, while the real work of the church, that of evangelizing and winning the lost is almost entirely neglected.”

— Oswald J. Smith

Featured in: Real Quotes

8. “There can be no prevailing in prayer without travailing in prayer.”

— Oswald J. Smith

9. “Any church that is not seriously involved in helping fulfill the Great Commission has forfeited its biblical right to exist.”

— Oswald J. Smith

10. “The supreme task of the Church is the evangelization of the world.”

— Oswald J. Smith

11. “The fulness of the Spirit is not a question of our getting more of the Holy Spirit, but rather of the Holy Spirit getting more of us.”

— Oswald J. Smith

12. “Our work is to preach the gospel and we must not be sidetracked.”

— Oswald J. Smith

13. “The Lord did not tell us to build beautiful churches, but to evangelize the world.”

— Oswald J. Smith

14. “If God wills the evangelization of the world, and you refuse to support missions, then you are opposed to the will of God.”

— Oswald J. Smith

15. “He who would preach powerfully must pray effectively.”

— Oswald J. Smith

16. “You must go or send a substitute.”

— Oswald J. Smith

17. “We all want to do the will of God, and we know that there is nothing nearer to His heart than the evangelization of the world.”

— Oswald J. Smith

18. “The only generation that can reach this generation is our generation.”

— Oswald J. Smith

19. “The supreme task of the church is the evangelization of the world. No one has the right to hear the gospel twice until everyone has had an opportunity to hear it at least once.”

— Oswald J. Smith

20. “I am perfectly confident that the man who does not spend hours alone with God will never know the anointing of the Holy Spirit.”

— Oswald J. Smith

21. “The world does not need sermons; it needs a message. You can go to seminary and learn how to preach sermons, but you will have to go to God to get messages.”

— Oswald J. Smith

22. “If God is going to use us for His honor and glory, if His power is going to rest upon us, if He is going to bless our soul-winning ministry, then our lives must be places absolutely at His disposal.”

— Oswald J. Smith

23. “I have seen the vision and for self I cannot live; Life is less than worthless till my all I give.”

— Oswald J. Smith

24. “This last month I have felt the burden of a city. Its great sorrow has pressed in on my soul. Its vice and sin have bowed me upon my knees in tears.”

— Oswald J. Smith

25. “Those who have been used of God had to pay a terrific price.”

— Oswald J. Smith

26. “It is even possible to be a martyr for the Faith and yet not love Jesus Christ.”

— Oswald J. Smith

27. “The Bible distinguishes between “having” the Holy Spirit, which is true of all believers, and being “filled” with the Holy Spirit, which is true of very few.”

— Oswald J. Smith

28. “Only those who spend much time in HIs presence will ever become like Him.”

— Oswald J. Smith

29. “This, then is to be our vision. Not the duplicating of existing missionary agencies; rather we are to work in places still untouched. “Unoccupied areas,” “where Christ has not been named,” “the regions beyond,” “farther, still farther into the night,” “the neglected fields.” These are our watch- words, this our glorious mission.2.”

— Oswald J. Smith

30. “To be a Christian for ten year and to be no more like Jesus then than at the time of conversion, is a tragedy.”

— Oswald J. Smith

31. “A divided heart can never bring complete satisfaction. The man of mingled interests will seldom make a success of anything. If he would succeed in business he must give the major portion of his time and the best of his thought to his business... The very same is true of the man who would be used of God, only to a far greater degree. The work alone must claim his whole attention. He has no room for other things.”

— Oswald J. Smith