The Cost of Obedience to the Call
Understanding true revival ministry as a reforming message and the cost of obedience to the call.
Take a brief moment and have a look at the unique entries in this ministry journal …
“Sunday, a.m. May 5 – Preached in St. Anne’s. Was asked not to come back anymore.
Sunday, p.m. May 5 – Preached in St. Jude’s. Can’t go back there, either.
Sunday, a.m. May 19 – Preached in St. Somebody Else’s. Deacons called special meeting and said I couldn’t return.
Sunday, p.m. May 19 – Preached on street. Kicked off street.
Sunday, a.m. May 26 – Preached in meadow. Chased out of meadow as bull was turned loose during service.
Sunday, a.m. June 2 – Preached out at the edge of town. Kicked off the highway.”
Who was this ‘mad’ preacher?
Who in the world keeps such a failed record of meetings in his journal for others to read?
Well dear friends, this is a page quoted straight out of the journal of the late dear Reverend John Wesley – the famous revivalist!
John Wesley | Christian History –
In fact, to give you a little more perspective on the life of this “Famous hero” of the faith whom we love to celebrate in our day and time, let me share a few more things with you – such as the fact that Mr .Wesley could preach only six out of his last six hundred sermons, in a church!
The rest he was forced to preach on the streets!
The church did not want him! Neither did the church people want to hear him.
They openly attacked him, spitting in his face and threatening his very life for preaching what they did not tolerate and did not want to hear!
In fact, at one stage it became so bad in his own city, that Mr. Wesley was banned from preaching anywhere, and at the end resolved to use his own father’s grave site to preach from – the only piece of ‘real estate’ he had a legal claim to!
One account of his life reads as follows …
“… at times he was physically attacked by mobs. Clergy often denounced him in sermons and in print. He was criticised as a pedlar of false doctrines and religious extremism. He was branded as a fanatic, leading people astray. He was accused of spuriously claiming miraculous gifts and instating false doctrine.
John was not happy with the idea of having to conduct open-air services. He felt it was undignified. But with church pulpits closed to him, he continued to preach in the open air for the next fifty-two years! He did speak in churches on the rare occasion he was invited to do so, but mostly he preached in fields, in streets and in town halls for as long as he could do so.”
How hungry are we?
How prepared are we to go?
Our success is never measured in our level of achievement in this world but in our faithfulness to God!
Can God trust you enough to call you?
Will you be prepared to pay the price that all of his truth bearers has paid for heaven’s prize?
Revival tarries because of our weakness at the knees, our care for what others say, and our concern for our precious reputations to be upheld.
The gospel was made famous not by men of fame, but by those willing to pay the price of giving themselves to God, who feared neither men or devils – and who was willing to be counted as nothing with men, in order that god could be glorified through them in souls being rescued as burning branches plugged from the flames of hell!
God calls those whom He prepares, and He prepares those He calls to walk through fire, so they may become vessels of His Holy Spirit’s fire!
Selah.
~ Johann van der Hoven
Johann van der Hoven is in South Africa. He has been serving the Lord in ministry since 1991 and has hosted numerous apostolic revival meetings in South Africa and in South America. He also currently pioneers a organic church planting movement across South Africa. For more information about him and his ministry visit www.sonsofsovereignty.com or Revival.
Wow! This means so much!