Faithfulness

A young preacher once approached Dr. F. B. Meyer and asked how he could one day become as influential and well-known as Dr. Meyer. Dr. Meyer responded, “Don’t waste your time waiting and longing for large opportunities which may never come. But faithfully handle the little things that are always claiming your attention.”

Source: 1001 Unforgettable Quotes about God, Faith, and the Bible; Ron Rhodes

Submitted by the homiletics class of West Coast Baptist College

The Puritan John Brown wrote, “Many Christians are like children; they would sow and reap the same day.” It is easy to become tired of sowing and be anxious for the harvest.

Billy Bray was a Cornish miner who accepted Jesus Christ as his Saviour in 1823 at the age of 29. He lived a life of drunkenness and debauchery before his salvation, but he became such an outgoing witness and testimony for God that he became known as “God’s glad man.”

One time he was digging potatoes from his garden and felt the devil oppressing him. It seemed to him that the devil said, “Billy Bray, God doesn’t love you. If He did, He wouldn’t give you such puny potatoes and so few.”

At the one-hundredth anniversary of the arrival of missionaries in Zaire, Christians gathered to celebrate from that part of Zaire that was once called the Belgian Congo. Near the end of the celebration, a very old man stood to give a speech. He said that he would die soon and that he needed to tell something that no other man still living knew.

Colonel George Washington Goethals, the man responsible for the completion of the Panama Canal, had big problems with the climate and the geography. But his biggest challenge was the growing criticism back home from those who predicted he’d never finish the project. Finally, a colleague asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer these critics?”

“In time,” answered Goethals.

“When?” his partner asked.

“When the canal is finished.”

William McPherson was the superintendent for a stone quarry when a blast severely injured him. He lost his eyesight and both hands in the explosion. He was determined to read the Bible, and learned to read raised letters with the tip of his tongue. It is said that he read through the Bible four times in this manner.

Source: Annual Report of the American Bible Society, Volume 97

A preacher was in Atlanta, several years ago, and noticed in the restaurants section of the Yellow Pages, an entry for a place called Church of God Grill. The peculiar name aroused his curiosity and he dialed the number. A man answered with a cheery, “Hello! Church of God Grill!”

I don’t know why some people change churches—what difference does it make which one you stay home from?

Source: Unknown

Zach Dunlap said he feels, “Pretty good,” Just four months after the doctors almost removed his organs because he was declared brain dead.

Mr. Dunlap was pronounced dead November 19, 2007 at United Regional Healthcare System in Wichita Falls, Texas.

While family members payed their last respects just before his organs were to be given for transplant, he moved his foot and hand in reaction to a pocketknife being scraped across his foot and pressure being applied under one of his fingernails.

One stormy night, Hudson Taylor was scheduled to speak in Birmingham, England, at the Severn Street schoolroom. His hostess attempted to dissuade him from going in the torrential downpour by telling him that everyone would assume it was canceled. “But was it not announced for tonight,” Hudson Taylor asked. He then said, “I must go, even if there is no one but the doorkeeper.”

Adoniram Judson labored faithfully in Burma for eighteen years without a furlough, and for the first six years he did not have a single Burmese convert. He said that he never saw a ship leave Burma without wanting to board it and go home. When his wife became sick and had to go home for two years without him, he wrote: ”If we could find some quiet resting place on earth where we could spend the rest of our days in peace, and perform the ordinary services of religion.” But he then wrote: ”Life is short. Happiness consists not in outward circumstances.

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow—
You may succeed with another blow.

Late in his career, when the Yankees were comfortably ahead in the pennant race, Joe DiMaggio was asked why he continued to play so hard. He said, “Because there might be somebody out there who’s never seen me play.”

The Christian should live every day as if someone will see him who has never seen a Christian before.

Source: Summer of 49, David Halberstam

Pablo Casals was considered the greatest cellist to ever live. When he was 95 years old he was asked why he continued to practice 6 hours a day. He answered, “Because I think I’m making progress.”

Source: Your Road Map for Success, John Maxwell

The average pastor leaves a church over eight critics. When the pastor leaves, the problems stay. When the pastor stays, the problems leave.

Source: Unknown

There is a lightbulb in Livermore, California that has burned almost continuously since 1901. The Livermore Power and Light Company gave the bulb to the Livermore Volunteer Fire Department over a century ago and it has been burning ever since with a few short interruptions. It has not been turned off since 1976.

Just as the Livermore bulb has burned faithfully, the Christian’s light should never go out because the world is watching us around the clock.

Source: Where in The World, Helen Lee

It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again;

Cha Sa-soon became famous for her perseverance. The 68-year-old woman from South Korea passed the written exam for a driver’s license on the 950th try. Sa-soon, took her first test in April of 2005 and failed 949 times before making the minimum score necessary to pass of 60 percent in November of 2009. She spent over $4,200 in application fees. Hopefully she won’t need as much perseverance to pass the driving portion of her test.

Source: In Other Words

An old preacher was met one of his deacons, whose face wore a very resolute expression.

“I came early to meet you,” he said. “I have something on my conscience to say to you. Pastor, there must be something radically wrong in your preaching and work; there has been only one person added to the church in a whole year, and he is only a boy.”

Dr. Harry Ironside taught that salvation was like Noah inviting an unbeliever to trust God’s Word and board the ark. Some believe that salvation is like Noah putting a peg on the outside of the ark and saying, “If you just hang on through the storm, you’ll be saved.” God holds onto the Christian—not the other way around.

“My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” John 10:29

Source: Unknown