Tag: Finney

Finney: Communicating the Gospel Effectively

Charles Finney often went against the conventions of the day in his teaching and preaching. Some of his most vociferous critics were fellow ministers who had been formally trained in the colleges. Finney had been largely self-taught and was therefore thought to be ignorant of the proper manner of speaking. Yet he had results where others did not. In his autobiography, he provides some detail on this controversy: All through the earlier part of my ministry especially, I used to… Read more »

Finney: Truth & Prayer

Personal confession time: sometimes reading Charles Finney makes me extremely uncomfortable. He seems to have a knack for pointing out my weaknesses. Perhaps this is because some weaknesses are more widespread than others and focusing on them brings conviction to a large audience. Whatever the reason, when he writes about prayer vs. simply bringing truth into people’s lives, I see myself far too much. Here’s what Finney says in his Revival Lectures: Some have zealously used truth to convert men,… Read more »

Finney: Discerning the Intent of the Heart

Our outward actions are extremely important, but when the Lord looks at those actions, He goes deeper and sees the intent of the heart. Sometimes, the outward actions of two individuals may be exactly the same, but the intent of the heart completely different. One may be honoring God by his actions while someone else doing the very same thing may be sinning. Here’s how Charles Finney explains it further: A student labors to get wages, to purchase books, to… Read more »

Finney: The Danger of False Security

Many people, I fear, have a false sense of security when it comes to their relationship with God. They convince themselves that they are in good standing, yet they’ve never confronted their sins, made a complete repentance, and had a change of heart and life. Charles Finney often comments in his autobiography about such persons. Here’s one particular narrative that’s rather striking: My attention was called to a sick woman in the community, who had been a member of a… Read more »

Finney: Break Up the Fallow Ground

One of Charles Finney’s themes in speaking and writing was the need for everyone to undergo a merciless self-examination. By this, he didn’t mean some self-centered ego trip, but an honest assessment of where we stand before God. Those outside the family of God have to start there, of course, but he believed it is just as essential for those who have entered into the faith. He called it “breaking up the fallow ground” of the heart. In his Revival… Read more »

Finney: Directness

Charles Finney was a very direct preacher. He didn’t hold back on anything. If he believed the congregation to which he was speaking was resisting God, he said so. To do that kind of thing nowadays would be to invite open rebellion and loss of pulpit in most places. Yet Finney’s approach led to numerous awakenings of solid Biblical faith. Wherever he went, controversy followed. One story from his autobiography I find both amusing and sad at the same time:… Read more »

Finney: God Looks at the Heart

God always goes beyond our actions to see what’s in our hearts. The intent of the heart is a key to God’s judgment of our actions. Charles Finney has an excellent commentary on that in his Systematic Theology: It is a saying as common as men are, and as true as common, that men are to be judged by their motives, that is, by their designs, intentions. It is impossible for us not to assent to this truth. If a… Read more »