Daily Devotion
The
Moody Views
By
Dan Betzer
Guest Writer
CBN.com
--One of the last truly effectual revivals in America took place shortly before
the Civil War. A young man gave his life to Christ in the Boston area. Shortly
after that, he moved to Chicago where God began to use him in a marvelous way.
He was not a preacher, not at first. He sold
shoes. But he was deeply moved by the revival fires spreading across America.
More and more, he found himself involved in ministry. Sunday School was a passion
to him. He built a very large Sunday School in the windy city. By the early 1870's,
he was a well-known evangelical leader in Chicago, but he was not yet nationally
known. Soon, the former shoe salesman led an
evangelistic effort in Great Britain. He found immense success in Scotland, and
when our hero returned to America, everyone seemed to know of the name Dwight
Lyman Moody. His preaching style was not the pulpit thumping of a Billy Sunday
but rather a reasoned delivery filled with illustrations. His
philosophy of ministry was simple but powerful. He said, "I look upon this world
as a wrecked vessel. God has given me a lifeboat and said to me, 'Moody, save
all that you can.'" I ask you, is that not the
purpose of every one of us who knows the Lord? Jesus said, "As my Father sent
me into the world, so send I you." To do what? To reach the lost. Our primary
reason for being is redemption. Many congregations seem to have forgotten that
truth. Pleasing the membership sometimes takes precedence over reaching the lost.
Moody's concept should speak to our reason for
being: To save all that we can.
Used with permission by author, Dan Betzer. Previously published on ByLine OnLine, copyright © 2005 Media Ministries of the Assemblies of God.
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