“…The Spirit said to me, I can’t trust you with My power because you want to share in the Glory. My disappointment turned to dismay, God is not willing to share His Glory with another and others went un-helped because I could not be trusted. That incident has happened a few years ago now, but it has been supplemented by other lessons through the years that have shown me that I don’t live to make much of God.
I don’t.
But I want to.
I want to live a life that makes MUCH of God!
I want to live CONSUMED for His glory and here I am Lord with Isaiah undone, glimpsing again at Your GREATNESS ashamed in my smallness, here I am Lord with all that I’m not, here I am wicked, but loved and forgiven, is it possible Lord that You could take my small life and make MUCH of Yourself?
This is the plan of the God who loves you:
MAKE MUCH OF HIM!
MAKE MUCH OF JESUS!
LIVE TO MAKE HIM FAMOUS!
LIVE TO PROCLAIM THE UNSEARCHABLE RICHES OF CHRIST!
You may have been sexually abused… you may be Miss. Goodie-too-shoes- it doesn’t matter! You and I are both disgusting before God, we have soiled ourselves before others have soiled us, but Jesus swallowed God’s wrath we are now ACCEPTED, we are now COVERED, we are CARED FOR IN THE BELOVED. Therefore lets live to make MUCH of God!!!
And this is why missions is so vital for us all: a world under the wrath of God, men and women in rebellion, from every tribe and every tongue… man hates Almighty God… to see their poverty and their pain and their needs and longings is important, but senseless if you don’t see their rebellion, their God hating hearts. They stand under the wrath of God about to perish.
Who will warn them?
Who will value them enough?
Who will shout out the good news of The Wrath Swallower?
Who will plead: turn from your wicked ways, escape the wrath to come, receive the love of Christ that times of refreshing may come?! Who will live to make MUCH of God!?!?!
Who will live to make MUCH of God?
Who will come to terms with the horror of who we are, that we might live in the wonder who Christ makes us, that I, a child of Hell, that in His image may shine!
The Comforter has come!
Who will live to make MUCH of God?!
Oswald Smith tells the story of Alexander Duff. Duff was a veteran missionary to India. He returned to Scotland to die. As he stood before the general assembly of the Presbyterian Church he made his final appeal: he wanted more missionaries to go to India. There was no response. In the midst of his appeal he fainted, was carried off the platform. The doctor bent over him and examined his heart. Presently Duff opened his eyes,“Where am I?” He cried: “Where am I?”
“Lay still “, said the doctor, “you’ve had a heartache, lay still.”
“But I haven’t finished my appeal”, exclaimed Duff, “take me back, take me back, I MUST finish my appeal.”
“Lay still”, said the doctor again, “you will go back in the peril of your life.”
Despite the protest of the physician, the old warrior struggled to his feet, with the doctor on one side and the mediator of the assembly on the other; he again mounted the steps of the pulpit platform, as he did then. The entire assembly rose to give him honor. Then when they were seated, he continues his appeal and this is what he said:
“When Queen Victoria calls for volunteers to go to India, hundreds of young men respond, but when King Jesus calls, no one goes.”
He paused. There was silence. Again he spoke:
“Is it true”, he asked, “that the fathers and mothers of Scotland have no more sons to give for India?”
He paused again. Still there was silence. “
Very well”, he concluded, “then aged though I am, I will go back to India, I can lay down by the banks of the Ganges and I can die, there by I can let the people of India know, that there was one man in Scotland who loved them enough to give his life for them.”
In a moment, young men all over the assembly rose to their feet crying: “I’ll go. I’ll go.”
He paused. There was silence. Again he spoke:
“Is it true”, he asked, “that the fathers and mothers of Scotland have no more sons to give for India?”
He paused again. Still there was silence. “
Very well”, he concluded, “then aged though I am, I will go back to India, I can lay down by the banks of the Ganges and I can die, there by I can let the people of India know, that there was one man in Scotland who loved them enough to give his life for them.”
In a moment, young men all over the assembly rose to their feet crying: “I’ll go. I’ll go.”
When the leaders and causes of our world call for volunteers thousands of young men respond. But when King Jesus calls, when God calls, it is a few brave women alone who tend to obey.
Is it true, that the churches and families of America have no more sons to give the nations?
Is it true, that Valley Forge Christian College has no more men to make MUCH of God throughout the earth?
Is it true, that there is no man in this room willing to live a life that makes MUCH of God?
Will no one here give their life to make MUCH of God in the nations?”
Will no one here give their life to make MUCH of God in the nations?”
-From sermon given to Valley Forge Christian College by Dick Brogden
(To listen to the full sermon “Confessions of a God Hater” posted on LiveDead’s website- click this link: http://live-dead.org/2011/12/live-dead-confessions-of-a-god-hater/ It’s very powerful, you will be blessed.)
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