God's Generals - The Revivalists Order Printed Copy

Author: Roberts Liardon
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About the Book

"God's Generals: The Revivalists" by Roberts Liardon is a comprehensive look at the lives and ministries of some of the most influential revivalists in Christian history. The book explores the lives of figures such as John Wesley, Charles Finney, and Smith Wigglesworth, detailing their struggles, triumphs, and the impact they had on the Christian faith. Liardon delves into their unique gifts, spiritual encounters, and the powerful revivals they led, inspiring readers to pursue a deeper relationship with God and a passion for spreading the Gospel.

Charles Wesley

"O for a thousand tongues to sing / My dear Redeemer's praise / The glories of my God and King, / The triumphs of his grace!" He was said to have averaged 10 poetic lines a day for 50 years. He wrote 8,989 hymns, 10 times the volume composed by the only other candidate (Isaac Watts) who could conceivably claim to be the world's greatest hymn writer. He composed some of the most memorable and lasting hymns of the church: "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," "And Can It Be," "O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing," "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling," "Jesus, Lover of My Soul," "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today," "Soldiers of Christ, Arise," and "Rejoice! the Lord Is King!" And yet he is often referred to as the "forgotten Wesley." His brother John is considered the organizational genius behind the founding of Methodism. But without the hymns of Charles, the Methodist movement may have gone nowhere. As one historian put it, "The early Methodists were taught and led as much through [Charles's] hymns as through sermons and [John] Wesley's pamphlets." Language scholar Charles Wesley was the eighteenth of Samuel and Susannah Wesley's nineteen children (only 10 lived to maturity). He was born prematurely in December 1707 and appeared dead. He lay silent, wrapped in wool, for weeks. When older, Charles joined his siblings as each day his mother, Susannah, who knew Greek, Latin, and French, methodically taught them for six hours. Charles then spent 13 years at Westminster School, where the only language allowed in public was Latin. He added nine years at Oxford, where he received his master's degree. It was said that he could reel off the Latin poet Virgil by the half hour. It was off to Oxford University next, and to counteract the spiritual tepidity of the school, Charles formed the Holy Club, and with two or three others celebrated Communion weekly and observed a strict regimen of spiritual study. Because of the group's religious regimen, which later included early rising, Bible study, and prison ministry, members were called "methodists." In 1735 Charles joined his brother John (they were now both ordained), to become a missionary in the colony of Georgia—John as chaplain of the rough outpost and Charles as secretary to Governor Oglethorpe. Shot at, slandered, suffering sickness, shunned even by Oglethorpe, Charles could have echoed brother John's sentiments as they dejectedly returned to England the following year: "I went to America to convert the Indians, but, oh, who will convert me?" It turned out to be the Moravians. After returning to England, Charles taught English to Moravian Peter Böhler, who prompted Charles to look at the state of his soul more deeply. During May 1738, Charles began reading Martin Luther's volume on Galatians while ill. He wrote in his diary, "I labored, waited, and prayed to feel 'who loved me, and gave himself for me.'" He shortly found himself convinced, and journaled, "I now found myself at peace with God, and rejoice in hope of loving Christ." Two days later he began writing a hymn celebrating his conversion. Evangelistic preacher At evangelist George Whitefield's instigation, John and Charles eventually submitted to "be more vile" and do the unthinkable: preach outside of church buildings. In his journal entries from 1739 to 1743, Charles computed the number of those to whom he had preached. Of only those crowds for whom he stated a figure, the total during these five years comes to 149,400. From June 24 through July 8, 1738, Charles reported preaching twice to crowds of ten thousand at Moorfields, once called "that Coney Island of the eighteenth century." He preached to 20,000 at Kennington Common plus gave a sermon on justification before the University of Oxford. On a trip to Wales in 1747, the adventurous evangelist, now 40 years old, met 20-year-old Sally Gwynne, whom he soon married. By all accounts, their marriage was a happy one. Charles continued to travel and preach, sometimes creating tension with John, who complained that "I do not even know when and where you intend to go." His last nationwide trip was in 1756. After that, his health led him gradually to withdraw from itinerant ministry. He spent the remainder of his life in Bristol and London, preaching at Methodist chapels. Magnificent obsession Throughout his adult life, Charles wrote verse, predominantly hymns for use in Methodist meetings. He produced 56 volumes of hymns in 53 years, producing in his lyrics what brother John called a "distinct and full account of scriptural Christianity." The Methodists became known (and sometimes mocked) for their exuberant singing of Charles's hymns. A contemporary observer recorded, "The song of the Methodists is the most beautiful I ever heard … They sing in a proper way, with devotion, serene mind and charm." Charles Wesley quickly earned admiration for his ability to capture universal Christian experience in memorable verse. In the following century, Henry Ward Beecher declared, "I would rather have written that hymn of Wesley's, 'Jesus, Lover of My Soul,' than to have the fame of all the kings that ever sat on the earth." The compiler of the massive Dictionary of Hymnology, John Julian, concluded that "perhaps, taking quantity and quality into consideration, [Charles Wesley was] the greatest hymn-writer of all ages."

the single person’s search for intimacy

The other night, my best friend and I watched a show together from a thousand miles away. If I can’t fly to D.C. and she can’t come to Mississippi, at least we can fire up our laptops and enjoy Anne with an E at the same time, texting our commentary to each other throughout. As a child, I was always enthralled with Anne’s relationship with her best friend, Diana. The two were kindred spirits, confidants through thick and thin, always advocating for one another. I always wanted a friend like Diana, and, by God’s grace, I’ve been given several friends who fit the bill. I needed these friends as a single person, and I need them now as a wife. When I was engaged, a friend of mine pulled me aside. “You are in a love haze right now, but don’t forget your friends. You still need them.” She was right. Marriage is not a self-sufficient island of Christian community. It’s one in a network of meaningful relationships that are in the business of conforming us to the image of Christ. Made for Others God made us for community. It was not good for Adam to be alone, so God made Eve. And while the story of woman’s creation is the first love story, it’s also a story about community. Adam was not made to fulfill his mission on earth alone; he needed Eve to help him. When she did, they began populating the world and filling it with more people who were called to worship God in community with one another. “Marriage is not a self-sufficient island of Christian community.” Adam’s need for Eve is a bigger story than a man’s need for a wife. It’s the story of man’s need not to live in isolation. It’s the story of man’s need for community. We need the entire body to grow in the image of Christ — not just our spouses. Ephesians 5 paints a beautiful picture of the intimate relationship between a husband and his wife, but that relationship is couched in the context of the previous chapter: we are a body of believers called to unity (Ephesians 4:1–3; 13). We are a family. This view of community not only puts our marriages in perspective and takes undue pressure off our spouses to be everything we need all the time; it also knocks against our tendency to isolate singles from our understanding of community. Intimacy Is More Than Sex This is good news. It means that marriage is not the only biblical means for gaining intimacy. Our society often equates intimacy with sex. We tease snidely that when people are tense, it must be because they need to “get laid.” We joke — with eyes bulging — about the woman who’s gone several months (or, God forbid, several years) without sex. We are uncomfortable with the idea of friendships between men and women because friendship leads to intimacy and intimacy leads to sex. We are uncomfortable with close friendships between people of the same sex for the same reason. In fact, we side-eye David and Jonathan for loving each other a little more than we’re comfortable with men loving one another (1 Samuel 18:1). “Marriage is not the only biblical means for gaining intimacy.” In a culture that so often equates intimacy with sex, it makes sense that singles in our churches feel isolated from intimate relationships. If sex is the primary means for intimacy in a relationship, and if unmarried people in the church should not be having sex, then single folks are out of luck. This is a hopeless position for people whom God made to long for fellowship with other human beings. We All Need Each Other In his message “Five Misconceptions About Singleness,” Sam Alberry said, “We just can’t imagine that there is a kind of real intimacy that is not ultimately sexual. . . . It’s a profoundly unhealthy way to think. We’ve downgraded other forms of intimacy because we’ve put all of our intimacy eggs in the sexual and romantic relationship basket.” Marriage is not the only road towards intimacy because sexual intimacy is not the only kind of intimacy. Nor is it the most important form of intimacy. Biblical intimacy among siblings in Christ is rooted in God’s love towards us. It is rooted in the fact that we have been invited into an intimate relationship with the Son (John 10:29). When we make marriage the primary means of intimacy in the church, we do a huge disservice to the singles in our fellowship and the idea of Christian community as a whole. Marriage is not an island that we move to in order to bring glory to God; it’s just one picture (and a very prominent one) in a gigantic network of human relationships meant to deepen our understanding of Christ. We All Need Christ When we understand this, we unflatten our definition of intimacy and realize that its purpose isn’t ultimately about our own sense of self-fulfillment, but about God’s glory. Our relationships are not in the business of completing us — from marriage to friendship to fellowship — but rather, they are a tool God uses to conform us to his image (Romans 12:1). “Marriage isn’t the only road towards intimacy because sexual intimacy isn’t the only kind of intimacy.” Ultimately, the person that we need is Christ. And every other relationship in our life is designed to point us back to our need for him. Anne of Green Gables often called Diana her kindred spirit . I love that term. A kindred spirit is someone who understands you more deeply than any other person. And what better place to find those spirits than in the body of Christ, as siblings in him? What better people to remind us, single or married, that we were not made to live alone, but to partner together to spur one another on for God’s glory?