George Whitefield - God's Divine Dramatist

During the 18^th Century the most famous person throughout America and the United Kingdom was not a politician or musician, it wasn’t a war hero or sportsman it was one of God’s generals who went by the name of George Whitefield. George was mainly known for his ability and gifting to deliver powerful sermons to large crowds, this gifting was recognised by all types of people from the working class men to the President of USA, from slaves to other generals in God’s army. George’s sermons were always dramatic and passionate and it was not uncommon to hear people weeping aloud while George shared the truth of God. This man preached an estimated 18,000 times in a formal setting and 78 of his preaches were published, he travelled to America 7 times and all around the United Kingdom. George preached where ever he was even while he was travelling, on one occasion George preached over three boats while they were sailing to America. The crowds that would gather to hear this divine dramatist would be in the tens of thousands, this man had great influence, great gifting and a great love for Jesus Christ.

George’s ability to deliver a powerful and passionate sermon is the first thing that draws me to him; even the President of the United States was blown away by his gifting. George didn’t have to have a lifetime of experience to acquire this gifting, in fact he was preaching to large crowds in his early 20’s. During George’s first sermon it is reported that fifteen people went mad under the conviction of their own sin. This man had power right from the word go, he didn’t wait around for an opportunity he grab any opportunity he could. He knew Jesus and he knew his identity because of Jesus.

Having an overview of George’s life helps us see the massive influence this man had. He was one of the most famous people of the 18^th century and he wasn’t just known he was loved. He had influence with the working class because he showed them freedom and forgiveness, he had influence in the government because he was an expert in his field and had excelled in his gifting and he had influence with other generals because he was a pioneer and had such great fruit. George was taught and mentored by the Wesley brothers but he had such gifting and grew so fast that soon he was teaching the Wesley brothers how to preach in the open air and he also super seeded them by gathering crowds 10x the size of what they were gathering.

I pray that my life has influence. Influence through my love for Jesus, through immense gifting and through pioneering movements of the Holy Spirit. I pray that this influence wouldn’t just be with Christians but would actually be primarily with the unbeliever and would span all classes and generations reaching from the homeless man on the streets of Bracknell to the President of the United States.

Communication

Apparently around 5,000 text messages are sent in the UK every second!

We love to communicate, it is a natural instinct in humans to want to connect with other people. God actual gave us this desire so that we would be motivated to seek him out and find a relationship/ connection with him.

Being a Christian means that a big part of your life is communicating the truth of Jesus in your culture and setting. We need to learn how to do this properly and effectively To do that we need to look at the example of Jesus and how he communicates. I have listed below the main ways that Jesus communicated to people, read it and start trying to apply one of his methods into your life and see if makes you more effective at spreading the truth of Jesus:

Telling Stories - Luke 10:25-37
Repetition - Luke 15
Humour - Matt 7:3 (Apparently this is Jesus being funny, lol)
Being Visual - Matt 18:1-4
Shock Tactics - John 6:53 and Matt 23:33
Extended metaphors - John 15
Asking questions - Mark 10:19

Interestingly Jesus was asked 183 questions according to the bible and only directly answered 3 of them! with the rest he would answer back with a question which lead to Jesus asking 283 questions. Looks like he wanted to start a debate not end one.

Lastly and most importantly he lived it. Jesus lived out what he believed and that is the real key to communication. If we say we believe something we have to live it out. If you say you believe in Jesus you must show how it affects your life otherwise people will see no reason why it would/should affect theirs.

John 13 :1

Oh how he loves us

Last week was Rocknations. I went to Rocknations praying for two things: money and a prophecy randomly given to me by someone.

During the first meeting I prayed and prayed for these two things believing that God could get them sorted in the first night but nothing happened, I was a little disappointed but I still had faith because we still had another four days. On the second day I went to check my bank account hoping that God had given me some money, I even promised to buy someone lunch knowing full well that i had no money but I thought who needs money when you have faith! Checked bank account it said £3.19.... Oh, looks like I would have to disappoint someone. I began to think to myself during the evening meeting and came to the logical conclusion that because i hadn't tithed this month maybe God was withholding his blessings from me and also maybe I wasn't getting a prophecy because I wasn't spending enough time with him one on one.

Third day. I knew what I had to do. I got alone before God and repeated the line "Speak to me" about 50 times, then went to the meetings that day full of faith that I had done the right thing. Nothing! Over the whole day not one prophecy and I had to ask people to borrow some money because I was completely broke, I was really getting discouraged now. I never blamed God because God is good but i started to blame myself, saying things like "you should of tithed" "you cant expect God to just give you what you ask" all these types of negative things.

On the last day I had given up. I had come to the logical conclusion that I don't deserve his blessings. I was doing my duty as leader and making sure everyone was ready to go home and I was in the last few seconds of my Rocknations experience when a girl in the youth group told me she had a prophecy but didn't know who for, she had written it down on a piece of paper I opened it up and it was so accurate for me! I would explain but that would take up another blog! Just know that what was writted down only God could have told her. I was buzzing, God had spoken to me in the last seconds before Rocknations ended howver still no money.

We get back to church and at the end of the evening meeting a dad from a fantastic church family comes to me and says that during the past week God had told him to give me some money! So he did! I was buzzing. I went home so happy and realised on the drive home that Gods love for me has nothing to do with me. If I don't tithe he still loves me, if I do tithe he still loves me, if I choose to spend my time reading the bible or getting drunk it doesn't affect the love that he has for me and not only that but because I am his child he wants to bless me and he will do so regardless of my behaviour. I got home after having an amazing prayer sess in my car and walk in and found an envelope on the table by the door with my name on it...... more money! Then my dad walks in and says I have transferred you even more money without me even asking!

Oh how he loves us!