Perhaps one of the worst errors in the Western church is the misuse of time.
I have been continually amazed that the church in the East has
the ability to mobilize a large number of people on short notice. The
first time I traveled to Romania, I preached in a major city on Sunday
but had no place to preach Monday evening. On Monday morning, the
pastor of the church where I had preached phoned a pastor in a nearby
town and arranged for me to preach that evening. I thought no one would
come on such short notice. The church was packed. People stood outside
and around the windows, listening to God's Word.
When … Rowland Taylor, rector of Hadleigh, in Suffolk
was stripped to his shirt and ready for the stake, he said with a loud
voice, "Good people, I have taught you nothing but God's Holy Word, and
those lessons that I have taken out of the Bible: and I am come hither
to seal it with my blood."
He then knelt down and prayed, a poor woman of
the parish insisting, in spite of every effort to prevent her, in
kneeling down with him. After this, he was chained to the stake, and
repeating the 51st Psalm, and crying to God, "Merciful Father, for
Jesus Christ's sake, receive my soul into Thy hands," stood quietly
amidst the flames without crying or moving, till one of the guards
dashed out his brains with a halberd. And so then this good old Suffolk
incumbent passed away. J.C. Ryle
When I became a pastor in Germany, I purposed in my heart to get to
know God intimately no matter what the price. The first Sunday morning,
I began preaching through Genesis. For close to three years, I preached
through that book. The Word of God came alive to me in a fresh way.
After approximately one year in Germany, I came to a life-changing
place in my preaching.
Within a year and a half, I returned with my family to Romania. It was
their first time to travel with me extensively in Eastern Europe. It
made a tremendous difference in the ministry. I was no longer just a
visiting preacher; I was a friend. Tex, Dave and Renee made that
difference.
