Church History

William Carey (1761-1824)

As a newly ordained minister, William Carey stood up among his Baptist counterparts and made a case for the necessity of overseas missions. An older man immediately shut him down, saying that if God wanted to save the heathen, He could do it alone. Fortunately, William Carey did not listen.

Carey believed that the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18–20 was a binding command on every generation of Christians. Eventually, he took his family from England to India. There he began to evangelize the nation. Over time Carey translated the Bible into dozens of languages for the people of India. He and his colleagues founded a college whose primary goal was to train indigenous ministers. William Carey is widely hailed to be the father of modern missions.

Why is it essential to know church history? Because God has often used obscure people to do great things in His kingdom. These people often lacked connections, finances, and education, but God was able to use them to change lives. How will you let God use you?

Take God at His Word

“Faith is believing that God means what He said.”

 7If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

John 15:7

 3Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.

Jeremiah 33:3

 Victory Action

I choose to act according to my belief that God’s Word lives in me and that He meant what He said.

Draw Close to God

“Our actions reflect our relationship with God.”

1Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. 2By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. 3For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

1 John 5:1-3

 3 Here’s how we can be sure that we’ve truly come to know God: if we keep his commands.4 If someone claims, “I have come to know God by experience,” yet doesn’t keep God’s commands, he is a phony and the truth finds no place in him. 5 But the love of God will be perfected within the one who obeys God’s Word.

1 John 2:3-5 (TPT)

Therefore become imitators of God [copy Him and follow His example], as well-beloved children [imitate their father]; 2 and walk continually in love [that is, value one another—practice empathy and compassion, unselfishly seeking the best for others], just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God [slain for you, so that it became] a sweet fragrance.

Ephesians 5:1-2 (AMP)

We become like those we spend time with. We can pick up mannerisms, habits and attitudes from people just by being with them over time. That is why our relationship with God is so important. When we spend time with Him we will start to display His character. Our faith will grow. Our words will change. Our lives will become a mirror image of Him and others will see Him in us. Who do people see when they look at you?

 Victory Decision

I will grow my relationship with God by spending time with Him today. As I do I I believe my actions will reflect His love to those around me.

Get a hold on the Word

“Standing on the Word means knowing what God said.  It means getting the Word in your spirit, and staking your life on it.”

16Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.  17If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.  18But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.  19Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated. 20And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.  21Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.  22Therefore because the king’s commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flames of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  23And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.  24Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king.  25He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.  26Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire.   28Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.

Daniel 3:16-26, 28

Victory Confession/Decision

I believe God is a miracle working God and my deliverer. I choose to put the Word of God in my heart daily so when I need to stand my faith will be strong. I trust God!

Be Organized

“Indecision will dissipate you; be organized in your spirit as well as your mind.”

 

8A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

James 1:8

 5Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6

 Victory Action

I will give the Word of God first place in my thoughts and listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, thereby organizing and training my spirit to guide me in making quality decisions.

Resurrection

(Below is an excerpt from Pastor’s book, “How to Find Life in Dead Situations”)

I have talked to many who desperately needed to change, but it just did not seem possible.  I have walked through so much with people who seemed unresponsive to God’s Word.  I just say, “Lord, I do not know what to think.  They are yours.”  Then someone else comes up and gets right in my face and looks at me and kindly says, “Thank you, I see the light.  You will never know what deposits you made in my life.”  That person has broken through to resurrection in their life.  All things are possible if we only believe.  John 11:25 says, “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life:  he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:” My paraphrase of that is: though your situation seems dead, if you believe, there will be a resurrection.  If you want to strengthen your faith remember that God is able.  That is the message that God wants us to get a grip on today – you can find life in a dead situation.  When something seems over, hopeless, helpless, you need to remember that nothing is impossible with our God.

The Time is Now

“Build your faith before the storm.”

47Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:  48He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.  49But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.

Luke 6:47-49

When the hurricane is already at your door that is not the time to try to board up the windows! We prepare BEFORE the storm. As a believer we should prepare for every circumstance daily by spending time in the presence and Word of God. If we build our faith daily, we will be strong when the storm comes. We will not panic. We will not be easily defeated. We will be victorious through God’s strength and power.

Victory Action

I will build my faith before the storm by daily obeying God’s Word.

The Strength of Your Faith

“Hope is a rope.”

24For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?  25But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Romans 8:24-25

1Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1

5-6 God, the one and only— I’ll wait as long as he says. Everything I hope for comes from Him, so why not? He’s solid rock under my feet, breathing room for my soul, An impregnable castle: I’m set for life.

Psalm 62:5-6 MSG

Hope acts like a blueprint for our faith. It helps us see the big picture of our life from God’s perspective. It does not take circumstances into account. It relies completely on the plan of God that is found in the Word of God. When we look in faith to what is unseen it will give substance to the things we are believing for. Hope is our anchor in the midst of a storm.

Victory Action

Hope is the strength of faith – the guarantee of faith.  I will use hope as a rope to strongly hold on to the Word of God for my victory.

Hold Steady

(This is an excerpt from Pastor’s book, “How To Stand When Others Fall”)

What helps you to hold steady when you get a negative report from the doctor?  What helps you to hold steady when the media is reporting bad news?  What keeps you on course?  These are very important questions because the Bible says that there were those who “went back” and “walked no more with Jesus.” There were some following Jesus who had been healed by Him, who ate the multiplied loaves and fishes, some whose lives were changed, and yet “. . . many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.” 

Think about it.  Our text details that this was such a dramatic event that Jesus turned to his inner circle and said, “Are you leaving, too?” Could you ever erase the memory of those eyes looking at you and asking if you were going to desert him? Peter responded so powerfully on that occasion saying, “…thou hast the words of eternal life.”

People often say, “If you make a disciple out of someone they will never go back.”  Well, excuse me, right here we have a mass exodus and these people were called disciples.  The truth is that loyalty and faithfulness are matters of the heart.  I do not wake up every morning and ask myself if I am going to stay with my wife Joy.  I have lived with her for many years.  I do not wake up each morning and try to make a decision about being faithful to her.  I have already made that decision.  She is the best wife (and the only wife) I have ever had.  I am going to stay with her.

Peter did not always rise to the occasion in the appropriate way, but if there was ever a time in the Scriptures he did, it was at this point.  The same Simon Peter that went to sleep in the Garden of Gethsemane, the one who cut off a man’s ear, the disciple who was not at the cross, eventually walked out this confession in John 6:68-69: “Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.  And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.”