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September 16, 2018

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THE INFLUENCE OF A LIFE

"Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." John 7:38

An unknown preacher of a little Wesleyan Chapel in Nottingham, England, was visiting the slum homes of the city and found a young boy by the name of William. He had compassion on him and his dire needs and saw within his heart a longing to know the love of God, that was so foreign to him. Sensitive to this "occasion" of God's grace, he became the "channel" through which God used to lead this needy young boy to Jesus. His name was William Booth, whom God used to be the founder of the Salvation Army! The Influence of a Life.

An artist in Dusseldorf, Germany, was asked by a young girl to explain the picture of Christ which he had painted. She said, "You must have loved Him." Reconciled to God, he painted another picture, the thorn-crowned face of Christ, whom he had learned to love. Underneath the picture he placed these words..."All this I did for thee...What hast thou done for Me?"

One day, the proud and rich Count Zinzendorf was being escorted through the Gallery. His eyes were arrested on the piercing picture of Christ. His heart was touched and moved by the Spirit of God, and his life was transformed forever, by the grace of God. He immediately gave up the glitter of the world for the eternal gold of the Redeemer.

A band of Hussites (converts of the godly martyr John Huss) asked to camp on the land owned by Count Zinzendorf. He was struck by the simplicity and godly power of these persecuted Moravians. He cast his lot with them and became a hated, but God-fearing Hussite. Count Zinzendorf was the vessel God used to give birth to the Moravian Church. Out of this spiritual band of believers came Peter Bohler. The Influence of a Life.

John Wesley went to Georgia to convert the Indians, who later wrote, that he himself had never been converted, although an Anglican preacher. On shipboard while making his voyage across the Atlantic, they encountered a terrifying storm. John Wesley noticed a group of Moravian Christians singing and praying, while others, including the sailors, were in dreadful fear. Conversation with the Moravians convinced him they steadfastly served the Lord in a manner wholly foreign to him.

When Wesley returned to England, he became a close friend of Peter Bohler who told John Wesley about the deeper things of God. Through his influence and instruction he led both John Wesley and his brother Charles Wesley to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. John Wesley's life reads like fiction. He preached 52,000 times, rode over 200,000 miles on horseback preaching in the hamlets across America, authored more than 200 books, became the channel God used in one of the world's greatest revivals, and founded the Methodist Church. John and Charles Wesley wrote over a thousand hymns such as..."And Can It Be"..."O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing"..."Hark the Herald Angels Sing"..."Take Time to be Holy"..."Soldiers of Christ Arise" and a thousand others. Each one of these men was...INFLUENCED BY A LIFE!

What is the message that rings through these testimonies?...THE INFLUENCE OF A LIFE committed to God, used to impact others through word and life, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

God wants to use YOU, As You Are, Where You Are, as a "channel" through which He can impact others with the Gospel. You might be the "only means" through whom someone will hear the Gospel!

© 2007 by Ed Powell. Used by permission.


This page was reprinted by permission from: http://litmin.org/dare.php?date=2018-09-16


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