He Chose the Nails: What God Did to Win Your Heart

by Max Lucado

Linger on the hill of Calvary.

Rub a finger on the timber and press the nail into your hand.

Taste the tinge of cheap wine and feel the scrape of a thorn on your brow.

Touch the velvet dirt, moist with the blood of God.

Allow the tools of torture to tell their story.

Listen as they tell you what God did to win your heart.

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Paperback, 215 pages

Published February 1st 2006 by Thomas Nelson US (first published January 1st 2000)

tags: theology, spirituality, faith, christianity, christian non fiction, religion, inspirational, nonfiction, christian living, christian

Book Quotes

“What did the torn curtain mean? For the Jews it meant no more barrier between them and the Holy of Holies. No more priests to go between them and God. No more animal sacrifices to atone for their sins.”

― Max Lucado

“And for us? What did the torn curtain signify for us? We are welcome to enter into God’s presence—any day, any time. God has removed the barrier that separates us from him. The barrier of sin? Down. He has removed the curtain.”

― Max Lucado

“And sometimes, no, oftentimes, we allow those mistakes to keep us from God. Our guilty conscience becomes a curtain that separates us from God. As a result we hide from our Master.”

― Max Lucado

“As far back as the son of Adam, worshipers knew “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Heb. 9:22 NIV). How Abel”

― Max Lucado

“After Christ’s sacrifice there would be no more need to shed blood. He “once for all took blood into that inner room, the Holy of Holies, and sprinkled it on the mercy seat; but it was not the blood of goats and calves. No, he took his own blood, and with it he, by himself, made sure of our eternal salvation” (Heb. 9:12 TLB).”

― Max Lucado

“Practically put, we love our neighbor and refrain from gossip. We refuse to cheat on taxes and spouses and do our best to love people who are tough to love. Do we do this in order to be saved? No. These are “the good things that result from being saved.”

― Max Lucado

“Some accept the blood but forget the water. They want to be saved but don’t want to be changed. Others accept the water but forget the blood. They are busy for Christ but never at peace in Christ.”

― Max Lucado

“Why is the cross the symbol of our faith? To find the answer look no farther than the cross itself. Its design couldn’t be simpler. One beam horizontal—the other vertical. One reaches out—like God’s love. The other reaches up—as does God’s holiness. One represents the width of his love; the other reflects the height of his holiness. The cross is the intersection. The cross is where God forgave his children without lowering his standards.”

― Max Lucado

“Besides, consider what he did. He gave his Son. His only Son. Would you do that? Would you offer the life of your child for someone else? I wouldn’t. There are those for whom I would give my life. But ask me to make a list of those for whom I would kill my daughter? The sheet will be blank. I don’t need a pencil. The list has no names.”

― Max Lucado

“God can turn any tragedy into a triumph, if only you will wait and watch.”

― Max Lucado

“To others, Jesus was a miracle worker. To others, Jesus was a master teacher. To others, Jesus was the hope of Israel. But to John, he was all of these and more. To John, Jesus was a friend. You don’t abandon a friend—not even when that friend is dead. John stayed close to Jesus.”

― Max Lucado

“The fruit of sin is thorns—spiny, prickly, cutting thorns. I emphasize the “point” of the thorns to suggest a point you may have never considered: if the fruit of sin is thorns, isn’t the thorny crown on Christ’s brow a picture of the fruit of our sin that pierced his heart?”

― Max Lucado

“If so, don’t pretend nothing is wrong. Don’t pretend you don’t fall. Don’t try to get back in the game. Go first to God. The first step after a stumble must be in the direction of the cross. “If we confess our sins to God, he can always be trusted to forgive us and take our sins away” (1 John 1:9 CEV).”

― Max Lucado

“But that was before the curse, before the shadow fell across the garden of Adam, before the shadow fell across the heart of Adam. And ever since the curse, we’ve been different. Beastly. Ugly. Defiant. Angry. We do things we know we shouldn’t do and wonder why we did them.”

― Max Lucado

“You’ve already learned, haven’t you, that a promise made is not always a promise kept? Just because someone is called your dad, that doesn’t mean he will act like your dad. Even though they said “yes” on the altar, they may say “no” in the marriage.”

― Max Lucado

“The hand squeezing the handle was not a Roman infantryman. The force behind the hammer was not an angry mob. The verdict behind the death was not decided by jealous Jews. Jesus himself chose the nails.”

― Max Lucado

“You and I are commanded—not urged, commanded—to keep no list of wrongs.”

― Max Lucado

“How we treat others is how we treat Jesus.”

― Max Lucado

“It is not that we can’t do good. We do. It’s just that we can’t keep from doing bad. In theological terms, we are “totally depraved.” Though made in God’s image, we have fallen. We’re corrupt at the core. The very center of our being is selfish and perverse. David said, “I was born a sinner—yes, from the moment my mother conceived me” (Ps. 51:5 NLT).”

― Max Lucado

“There is no man so good, who, were he to submit all his thoughts and actions to the laws, would not deserve hanging ten times in his life.”1 Our deeds are ugly. Our actions are harsh. We don’t do what we want to do, we don’t like what we do, and what’s worse—yes, there is something worse—we can’t change.”

― Max Lucado

Max Lucado

Max Lucado ( - )

Max Lucado is a preacher with a storyteller’s gift—a pastor’s heart and a poet’s pen. Max’s sermons begin at home with the congregation at Oak Hills Church, which he has led for more than two decades. It is in this setting that his stories are first told, from a pastor’s heart. Eventually some of these sermons and stories are refined and fashioned into books that are shared far beyond the walls of Oak Hills and the city limits of San Antonio, Texas. Max’s words have traveled around the world in more than 41 languages via more than 100 million individual products.

Max Lucado’s first book, On the Anvil, was published in 1985. 2013 brings the release of Max’s 30th trade book, You’ll Get Through This (September), which beautifully illustrates Lucado’s ongoing mission to encourage the brokenhearted and to remind all readers of the healing love of God. Max and family moved back to Texas in 1988, and Max has been a minister at Oak Hills Church ever since. Max and Denalyn have three grown daughters, two in ministry, one in publishing, and one son-in-law, also serving in ministry.

Max Lucado is a best-selling Christian author and minister of writing and preaching at Oak Hills Church (formerly the Oak Hills Church of Christ) in San Antonio, Texas. Lucado has written more than 50 books with 28 million copies in print.

After serving as the pulpit minister for 20 years, Lucado announced in early 2007 that he was stepping down due to health concerns related to atrial fibrillation. Lucado has since assumed the ministry role of writing and preaching at Oak Hills. He co-pastors the church with one of Willow Creek's former teaching pastors, Randy Frazee.

Lucado was named "America's Pastor" by Christianity Today magazine and in 2005 was named by Reader's Digest as "The Best Preacher in America." He has been featured on The Fox News Channel, NBC Nightly News, Larry King Live, and USA Today. His books are regularly on the New York Times Best Seller List. He has been featured speaker at the National Prayer Breakfast.
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He Chose the Nails: What God Did to Win Your Heart

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Book Quotes

Max Lucado

Max Lucado ( - )

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