“Lord Jesus, I am weary in Thy work, but not weary of it”

George Whitefield (1714-1770)

One of the amazing things about being a student is long summer holidays. Time to refocus on the glory of Jesus, time to spend time with people you value and, if you’re a bit of a Church history geek like me, time to read lots of biographies about men and women who God has used to win souls, make disciples, build His church and change history. I love being challenged and inspired by those who, through surrendering to the cause of making Christ famous, laid down their lives and saw revival in their generation. There’s few things, apart from the word and the Spirit, that cause me to gain fresh vision for all my life can be for the praise of Jesus.

With a dissertation on the 18th century evangelical revival (otherwise known as the first great awakening) on the horizon, I decided to give some time this summer to read a biography and a bunch of sermons of a man who some consider to be the greatest evangelist the world has ever been graced with – George Whitefield. I have been blown away. Never have I read of such tireless and consistent zeal for preaching the gospel and winning the lost (outside of the book of Acts).

He came to Jesus after the Holy Spirit convicted him of his own sinfulness, religiosity and weakness during his time studying in Oxford. He describes his being born again beautifully. Check this out…

“God was pleased to remove the heavy load, to enable me to lay hold of His dear Son by a living faith, and by giving me the Spirit of adoption to seal me, even to the day of everlasting redemption…My joys are like a spring-tide and overflow the banks”

From that point on, Whitefield literally sacrificed the comforts of leisure, financial security, popularity and even health to make this new hope and joy he had found in Christ known. I think his radical devotion is epitomized by the fact that in the last 30 years of his life (bearing in mind he died at only 56) it is estimated that he preached more than he slept. Preaching to multitudes was actually part of his daily discipline, just like reading the bible and praying is to believers in the Western Church today (and even more so). God equipped Him with a supernaturally loud voice in order to be heard by the countless thousands who consistently gathered to hear the word of God preached by him. He desired to preach Christ more than he desired to eat, drink or rest. He actually lived out Romans 10:13-15, giving his all in obedience to the Saviour who had given His all to make Whitefield His own. Because of all this, he faced much opposition, both from within the Church and without. He was frequently mocked and sometimes beaten. He counted it all joy, getting the privilege to suffer with the Saviour.

Whitefield not only preached extensively (massive understatement), but also saw huge fruit from his ministry. The number of souls he led to Christ, by God’s grace, is innumerable. He established countless “societies” (what today would be considered as Church plants) all through England and Wales especially, as well as in America, Ireland and Scotland. He built an orphanage in America, ministered to the upper classes of the English monarchy, trained leaders and commissioned them to plant and lead churches, led mission trips and shepherded a congregation he had begun in London. On top of all of this, and in fact the underlying source of power for all of this, he faithfully maintained a devoted prayer life. Whitefield’s regular routine would include rising at 4AM to study the bible and pray for the day to come, before launching into ministry at 5AM. He loved Jesus first and foremost, and this was the motivation for his passion in telling others about Him.

He was not without his imperfections, and it is so vital to recognize that, as the bible says of Elijah, “he was a man just like us” (James 5:17). That one man could accomplish so much for the Kingdom of God in one lifetime is testimony not primarily to his own devotion and zealousness for Christ (though this was a very important factor), but rather primarily to the grace and sovereign strength of God Himself. He loves taking messed up sinners like you and me, gloriously and mercifully saving us from His own wrath through the cross of Christ, adopting us into His family as sons and daughters and using us for the advancement of His gospel and glory in the world. He loves to show those who humbly admit they have nothing that He is everything.

God has done it in the past with men like Whitefield. And it is my earnest prayer that He would do it again in my generation, in this land that so needs men and women of courage, passion and devotion who rise up and preach the gospel no matter what it takes. This is the call of Christ to His Church. Let’s be a people who give our all to fulfill it. For His praise.

Check out this quote … “The South Wales Valleys stand out on every measure of poverty and deprivation” (The Bevan Foundation). It’s got me thinking about the ministry of Revive in relation to the poor and especially how churches in Cardiff, the valleys and beyond can respond to the spiritual, economic and relational deprivation found in much of the valleys.

I’ve been reading through Galatians the last few weeks. In the midst of 6 amazing chapters unpacking how much better the gospel is than rules, Paul writes 3 words that reverberated with me when I read them. “Remember the poor” (Gal 2:10). As he speaks of how the other apostles approved of his ministry, he is keen to let the churches in Galatia know that this was the one instruction the apostles gave him at the outset of his missionary journeys. I’m sure the apostles could have told him to read more, be more strategic in who he preached to, spend hours in prayer, brush up on his systematic theology or find a wife. Those are a few things leaders may say to those emerging in Church leadership these days. But the one thing that Paul highlights is not their concern for his theology, his prayer life or his mission, but their concern for the poor. And on top of that Paul himself claims that remembering the poor was “the very thing I (Paul) was eager to do” (Gal 2:10).

Just as it was of key importance for Paul to remember the poor, so Jesus, as He began His ministry, declared the fulfillment of the words from Isaiah 61 in Himself … “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor” (Luke 4:18). The first directive of Christ’s Spirit-anointed commission for His ministry was the proclamation of the good news. Whoever we are, if we are followers of Jesus, our commission should be the same. Proclaiming the gospel in church, in family, in work, in friendships, in cities, in valleys. But notice who the good news is first addressed to. It’s good news to the poor.

This is backed up at many other points in the gospels. The sermon on the mount starts with the words “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven” (Matt 5:3). People often talk about the significance of the words “in spirit”, emphasizing that the Kingdom is not reserved to an economic class but rather to all who will acknowledge their utter depravity and desperate need for God and His grace. However, this sometimes negates the huge importance the bible & Jesus in particular puts on reaching the economically poor with the good news. He had a heart inclined towards the broken and downtrodden and forgotten.

And so should we.

As the Church, called to be Christ’s body and people, we need to care about the things He cares about. And the poor are one of these things. They need the gospel so much. And we need to take it to them in word and deed. The gospel always has been, always is and always will be GOOD NEWS TO THE POOR. We don’t need to dress it up. It simply is good news to the poor. The salvation, forgiveness, restoration, reconciliation, justification offered in the proclamation of the message of the cross is the best news the poor could ever hear.

We need to remember the poor. Pray for us at Revive as we work out what that looks like for us. But more than that, pray for churches across Wales, the UK and the nations of the world – that we may together be faithful to the commission of Jesus to preach the gospel to those in need. For His glory.

Over this Summer I’m reading ‘Joy unspeakable’ by the Welsh preaching legend of 20th century, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. I would highly recommend anyone, especially those of you involved in Revive, getting hold of it and reading it.

As I was reading it today I came across this quote which resounded in my heart as being true and timely for where the Church is in Wales in this generation…

“The greatest need at the present time is for Christians who are assured of their salvation…the thing that was so obvious about New Testament Christians was their spirit of assurance. They were so certain that they were ready to be put to death”

During the Mission we sang a lot of hymns. We realized very early on that as we were doing mission, preaching Jesus everyday, we needed a deep & steadfast assurance, hope and joy in the gospel. And the hymns did just that. I can remember after one team teaching session where Ben Franks had unpacked Colossians 1 for us, celebrating the truth that we had been reconciled to God through the blood of Christ, we sang “In Christ alone”. I’ve sung and led that song hundreds and hundreds of times and yet, after having heard the gospel, having preached the gospel and having sung of the glories of the gospel, I suddenly had an overwhelming sense of assurance that led me to genuinely abandon any sense of fear, compromise or reservation that was within me.

After that hymn I shared with the team the sentiment expressed by Lloyd-Jones in the quote above. When we see all that we’ve gained through God’s grace in the gospel (forgiveness of sins, hope of eternal life, joy through sorrow, relationship with Jesus, the Holy Spirit, a Church family & so much more), how can we not give all our life for the cause of making Jesus famous? We have nothing to lose. We have already gained everything we need in Christ. The apostle Paul consistently reveled in this truth. Just check out his soul soaring proclamation that “to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil 1:21) or his rock solid confidence that “we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” even in the midst of “tribulation, distress, persecution, nakedness, famine and sword” (Rom 8:35-37). For the early Church, the assurance of all Christ had won through the cross, resurrection and ascension led to bold and radical mission.

What Wales needs today is the same. For too long the Church has been too tame because satan and the world have robbed our sense of joyful assurance in grace. We’ve lived in too much awareness of the present and not enough awareness of the past (what Jesus has done for us, 1 Pet 1:3) and the future (what God has stored up for us, 1 Pet 1:4).

Lloyd-Jones argues that the distinctive way the early Church received this deep rooted assurance was through the infilling power and presence of the Holy Spirit. He is our great need. Because when He is poured out in power, as seen throughout the book of Acts, salvation comes, disciples are made and churches are established and strengthened in grace.

Join with me in praying for the Church throughout this nation. That God would fulfill our great need of assurance in Him through the Holy Spirit and that as a result we would see His gospel proclaimed with boldness to the ends of the earth, for the glory of God and the salvation of His chosen people.

What an amazing two weeks.

The Revive Mission has just finished and we are humbled, awestruck and overjoyed by all the Lord has done by His grace. It has been our privilege as a leadership team to serve alongside such a gospel-centered team and has been a joy and an honour to work with Blaenau Gwent Baptist Church as they fulfill God’s call on them to be a “city on a hill” (Matt 5) to the community of Abertillery.

If there’s one truth that I think has resounded throughout the mission, its that “Salvation belongs to our God” (Revelation7:10). Lost sinners have been brought from death to life as they’ve repented of their sin and put their faith in Jesus. Newly born followers of Jesus have experienced the weight of God’s grace and have been taught what it means to love God in response to the gospel. Those who have walked with Jesus for years have found fresh hope and courage in the gospel. Dozens and dozens of bibles have been handed out to people hungry for God’s word. Whole families have come back to Church for the first time in years. Rebellious teenagers have spent two weeks talking about their need for God instead of getting drunk. Over 250 kids and young people have heard the gospel. Countless others have heard the good news on the streets. Through it all the name of Jesus Christ has been glorified as the Father has delighted to send the Spirit to anoint our feeble efforts to worship Him.

As a team we spent hours everyday in worship and prayer. That really has been the foundation of all we’ve done. In our teaching we went through the book of Acts to glimpse the radical devotion of the early Church. It was phenomenal.  God has stirred our hearts to see that passion for Jesus and boldness in the Spirit restored in our generation. We once again fell in love with the glorious gospel of Christ’s incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension and glorification. There’s nothing like it. We are safe and secure to live boldly in the hold of God’s gospel. And that’s exactly what we did, taking the hope and life of Jesus to the streets, kids clubs, youth clubs, assemblies, pubs, parks, homes and the parents cafe.

He has burdened many in the team to plant churches in the valleys. The Church is God’s instrument in His mission. And the valleys desperately need new churches that will carry the gospel of Christ, the presence of the Holy Spirit and the grace of God to dark and hopeless communities. Pray that God would make disciples, raise up many leaders and establish new churches from the team that have been doing the mission.

Thank-you to everyone who has prayed for us, generously given to us or been involved in Revives ministry. Now we pray that our precious new brothers and sisters in Abertillery will fall more in love with Jesus and grow in His grace, and that God would continue to bless BGBC.

We’re excited about what the Lord is doing in Wales with this generation of students. Pray for us as we seek Him for Kingdom-strategy for Revives ministry in the months to come.