Steven K. Scott - The Greatest Words Ever Spoken: Everything Jesus Said about You, Your Life, and Everything Else

CONTENTS

1 The Greatest Words Ever Spoken About Jesus
What Christ Tells Us About Himself

2 The Greatest Words Ever Spoken About God the Father
What Christ Tells Us About His Father in Heaven

3 The Greatest Words Ever Spoken About the Holy Spirit
What Christ Tells Us About the Third Person of the Trinity

4 The Greatest Words Ever Spoken About Eternity
Life After Death, Heaven and Hell, Forgiveness, and Other Crucial Eternal Matters

5 The Greatest Words Ever Spoken to Jesus Followers
What Jesus Said to Those Who Believe in Him

6 The Greatest Words Ever Spoken About Humanity
What Jesus Said About Our Nature, Our Struggles, and Our Future

7 The Greatest Words Ever Spoken About God Reaching Out to Us
What Jesus Said About Gods Tireless Efforts to Save Humanity

8 The Greatest Words Ever Spoken About How to Know God
What Jesus Told Us About Starting and Deepening a Relationship with God

9 The Greatest Words Ever Spoken About Personal Relationships
What Jesus Said About Succeeding with Others

Dedicated

To my family:

To my sweet wife, Shannon, whose love and life are daily demonstrations of the love of Christ and shining examples of how the Lord wants me to be.

To my children, Hallie, Sean, Ryan, Devin, Zach, Mark, and Carol, and my grandchildren, Maddy, Julia, Gracie, and Ian. May the lamp of Gods Word illuminate your way and guide you through each day of your lives. And may the words of the Lord Jesus Christ lead you into an intimate knowledge of and fellowship with God.

To the men and women who have made
Gods Word come alive to me:

Dr. Jim Borror, my pastor at Scottsdale Bible Church during my high school and college years. Dr. John MacArthur and Pastor Al Martin. Elmer Lappen, the former director of Campus Crusade for Christ at Arizona State University. My best friends in life, Jim and Patty Shaughnessy, Gary and Norma Smalley, and Tom and Marlene Delnoce. My brother-in-law, Dr. David Heinze, and my sister, Sandy. Herb and Helen Selby and Wayne and Mary Shuart.

Rev. Ron Patty (Sandis dad), Jon Braun, Dr. Bill Bright, and Dr. Billy Grahamto whom I am so very grateful for his lifelong ministry to me, our nation, and the world.

To others, with my gratitude:

Larry and Shawn King: your kindness, encouragement, and awesome interviews have enabled me to share my message and my heart with your millions of viewers. I owe you more thanks than I could ever express.

James and Betty Robison, Bruce Jacobson, and the folks at Life Today: for helping me get the message of my last book and this book into the hands of so many Christians.

FOREWORD

AN IMPORTANT WORD FROM GARY SMALLEY

Steve Scott has been one of my best friends for more than thirty years. He coauthored and published my first two books, which enabled me to launch my ministry in 1979. Eight years later Steve produced and distributed our Hidden Keys to Loving Relationships video series, which helped millions of couples throughout the world improve their marriages.

Since I have known him, Steve has undertaken scores of projects. The companies he has created with his business partners have blessed the lives of millions of people. He also has authored a number of international bestsellers on personal achievement. But two years ago he told me about something that he considered the most important project of his life. He said he was gathering all the statements of Jesus Christ and organizing them by topic.

At the time Steve had already organized all the Lords statements from the gospels of John and Mark, but he hadnt yet started Luke and Matthew. I asked about his publisher, and his answer surprised me. Gary, I dont even know if Im going to publish itIm doing this one for me.

Steve told me that based on his reading of John 8:31-32 and Matthew 7:21-25, he wanted the words of Christ to form the concrete foundation of his beliefs on every subject and issue of life and to do that he needed to put everything the Lord said on every subject into an easily accessible format. Once he had the foundation of Christs words on any given subject, he could then build everything else pertaining to that subject securely upon the foundation of Christs teachings.

I asked if I could look at what he had so far, and he pulled out his manuscript. I quickly found a topic that meant a lot to me, and as I read the Lords words, I was overcome with emotion. I looked at Steve and said, This is the most powerful thing I have ever read. You see, even though I had read every one of the verses on that subject dozens of times throughout my life, I had never read them together. The authority, clarity, and power of all the Lords teachings on that subject impacted me in a way that the piecemeal reading never had. My heart was melted by an intense love that I felt from the Lord.

As I read one particular topic, it was like each statement Jesus made penetrated deeper and deeper and deeper into my soul. Ive never felt anything as powerful. This is what the disciples must have felt as He intimately answered their greatest questions.

Steve told me he had felt the same kind of impact. He said that bringing all of Christs statements together on a given subject was like bringing all the individual pieces of a jigsaw puzzle together. Separately, every piece has color, meaning, and beautybut you never see the full picture until the pieces are brought together. Steve then said something Ill never forget: Gary, its like having a personal appointment with the Lord, where you can ask Him about anything you want, and He then tells you everything He taught about that subject when He was on earth. You say, Lord, tell me about forgiveness, and He then tells you everything He taught on forgiveness.

I told Steve he had to get this book publishedand promised that I would promote it all over the world. He later told me that my encouragement was timed perfectly, because his efforts to categorize the Lords statements had been the hardest thing he had ever done, and he had been on the verge of quitting.

I have now had the completed manuscript for several months, and its everything I hoped it would be, and more. Its not only perfect for study; its wonderful for your devotional time as well. You prayerfully ask questions that are on your heart, and Jesus gives the answers. And because most of the verses are quoted from the New International Version (and a few from the New King James Version and the New American Standard Bible), its just as readable for children as it is for adults. This book is going to be my Christmas gift to each of my children, their spouses, and their children, because Im convinced that each one of them should have their own copy.

And heres something I wasnt expecting. Steve divided all the topics into nine general categories that make up the nine chapters of the book. He has written short chapter introductions that are extremely enlightening and compelling to non-Christians. Steve said he did this so he could give the book to his skeptical friends who have no interest in church or religion. His goal is to enable them to take a fresh look at the person of Christ, judging Him not on what anyone else has said or done but solely on what Christ said. So many people have misconceptions about Jesus that when they simply read what He said, those misconceptions are eliminated.