October 8
George Whitfield (1714-1770), who was used by God to spread the Great Awakening, became perhaps the best-known preacher in Britain and America in the 18th century. In May of 1750, after hearing Whitfield preach, John Thorpe and three friends attended a local “Hell-Fire Club,” an atheists’ gathering. To amuse his friends, with amazing accuracy Thorpe recited the sermon he had just heard Whitfield preach. With remarkable tone and clever mimicry, John Thorpe presented the preacher’s message until, suddenly, he slumped into a chair and cradled his weeping face in his hands. With a self-inflicted...
Read MoreOctober 7
No man is greater than his prayer life. The preacher who is not praying is playing; the people who are not praying are straying. The pulpit can be the shop window to display one’s talents; the prayer closet allows for no showing off. Poverty-stricken as the Church is today in many things, she is most stricken here, in the place of prayer. We have many organizers, but few agonizers; many players and payers, but few pray-ers; many singers, few clingers; much fashion, little passion. Failing here, we fail everywhere. The two prerequisites to successful Christian living are vision and passion,...
Read MoreOctober 6
William Williams, in his fascinating account of pioneer work in Venezuela, called It Can Be Done, tells how it was done, how a handful of missionaries, in a country one sixth the size of the U.S., carried the gospel to every city, town, and village in one generation. Facing strong opposition from the priests, long horseback rides over treacherous mountain paths, carrying loads of Bibles, books, and tracts so heavy that they often had to walk leading their mounts, with poor food and accommodations, unhealthy conditions and disease, they just kept at it, sowing the seed of God’s Word until it...
Read MoreOctober 5
What are the most positive and most negative sentences in the NT? The first reads, “God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every (lit. all) good work” (2 Cor 9:8). In the Greek, the root word for “all” occurs five times in this one sentence. The most negative verse is Hebrews 13:5, “He Himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Erich Sauer writes: “This sentence contains a five-fold negation, as if the text should read: ‘Not will I fail thee! Nevermore! No! Never and by no means will I forsake...
Read MoreOctober 4
I was standing with some Christians in a small antiquities shop hard by the ancient pool of Siloam. The clerk, a Muslim, had been spoken to about the Lord Jesus, and in defense had launched into his own “personal testimony” of his conversion to Islam, a borrowed rendition from previous Christians who had witnessed to him. “Come, come,” I said. “You were born a Muslim, weren’t you? You had no choice in the matter.” He smiled his confession, having been found out. As we continued our discussion, my son stood listening. When there was a lull in the conversation, he thanked the clerk for the...
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