Dear Friends,
Many have heard of Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, but some may not know its founder – the Massachusetts-born evangelist Dwight Lyman Moody (D. L. Moody) (1837-1899) after whom it is named. (The next two paragraphs are a short bio which helps explain his heart, but you can skip them if you simply want to read his thoughts!)
Despite having no more than a fifth-grade education, Moody gained world renown later in life for his very successful evangelistic tours in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Midwest, and the Eastern seaboard of the United States. He had left the family farm in Northfield, Massachusetts, at the age of 17 to seek employment in Boston. There his uncle, Samuel Holton, hired him to work in his own retail shoe store. However, to keep young Moody out of trouble, his employment was conditioned upon his attendance at the Mt. Vernon Congregational Church, where he joined a Sunday school class taught by Edward Kimball. On April 21, 1855, Kimball visited the ‘Holton Shoe Store’, found Moody in a stockroom, and there spoke to him of Christ. Shortly thereafter, Moody trusted in Christ and devoted his life to serving Him.
The following year brought Moody to Chicago with dreams of making his fortune in the shoe business – a business he excelled at. Yet, as a believer he started a “Mission Sunday School” which reached slum children with little to no education, less than ideal family situations, and poor economic circumstances. Soon the Sunday School outgrew the converted saloon used as a meeting hall, and associates encouraged Moody to begin his own church. On February 28, 1864, the doors of the Illinois Street Church (now the Moody Church) opened with Moody as its pastor. Less than a decade later he ventured into his evangelistic ministry across all denominational lines. In fact, despite conflicting counsel from friends and trusted advisors, Moody traveled to Ireland during a time when Catholics and Protestants were constantly at odds with each other. Moody was different. He did not care what denomination a person claimed, he just wanted the message of Christ to be heard. So, in the 1870’s when revival broke out through his ministry in England, it swept into Ireland as well, and he won praises of both Catholics and Protestants.
Moody was winsome, down-to-earth, relevant, and Christ-focused. The following 15 quotes are from him. Enjoy.
“A man can no more take in a supply of grace for the future than he can eat enough today to last him for the next six-months; or take sufficient air into his lungs to sustain his life for the week to come. We must draw upon God’s bountiful stores of grace from day to day, as we need it.”
“I have never known the Spirit of God to work where the Lord’s people were divided.”
“I venture to say there are very many, who, if you were to ask them, ‘Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?’ would reply, ‘I don’t know what you mean by that.”
“A great many think that we need new measures, new churches, new organs, new choirs, and all these new things. That is not what the Church of God needs today. It is the old power that the apostles had. If we have that power in our churches, there will be new life.”
“Doctor (Horatius) Bonar once remarked that he could tell when a Christian was growing. In proportion to his growth in grace he would elevate his master, talk less of what he was doing, and become smaller and smaller in his own esteem, until, like the morning star, he faded away before the rising sun. Jonathan was willing to decrease that David might increase, and John the Baptist showed the same spirit of humility. ‘He must increase,’ said John, ‘I must decrease.’”
“If we only lead one soul to Jesus Christ, we may set a stream in motion that will flow on when we are dead and gone.”
“The late Professor Drummond… tells of meeting with natives in the interior of Africa who remembered David Livingstone. They could not understand a word he uttered, but they recognized the universal language of love through which he appealed to them… It is this very selfsame universal language of love – divine, Christlike love – that we must have if we are going to be used by God. The world does not understand theology or dogma, but it understands love and sympathy. A loving act may be more powerful and far-reaching than the most eloquent sermon.”
“A Scotsman was once asked how many it took to convert him.
“Two,” he replied.
“Two? How was that? Didn’t God do it all?”
“The Almighty and myself converted me,” he said.
“I did all I could against it, and the Almighty did all He could for it, and He was victorious.”
“When I pray, I talk to God, but when I read the Bible, God is talking to me… I believe we should know better how to pray if we knew our Bibles better.”
“I read of a minister traveling down South who obtained permission to preach in a local jail. A son of his host went with him. On the way back the young man (who was not a Christian) said to the minister: “I hope some of the converts were impressed. Such a sermon as that ought to do them good.” “Did it do you good?” the minister asked. “You were preaching to the convicts!” the young man answered. The minister shook his head and said: “I preached Christ, and you need Him as much as they.”
“A Scottish woman was once introduced as, “Mrs. ______, a woman of great faith.”
“No,” she said, “I am a woman of little faith, but with a great God.”
“I know of nothing that speaks louder for Christ and Christianity than to see a man or woman giving up what they call their rights for others, and ‘in honor preferring one another.”
“I have had the secret of a happy life and I found it was in making others happy.”
“I don’t care how dirty and vile your heart may be, only accept the invitation of Jesus Christ, and He will make you fit to sit down with the rest at the feast in His kingdom.”
“Faith makes all things possible… love makes all things easy.”
In the Fellowship of the Saints – past and present! Pastor Jef
Comments
Post a Comment