Here is a story about someone who is very, very close to me.
This is a story about someone I love and respect very much. He is, by nature, a go-getter, and an entrepreneur. In many of his ways you could compare him to Peter in the bible.
In fact, when he was just 19 years of age, he started his own business and has been running it ever since. He is now 38.
He first heard about the real Jesus at around age 20 or 21. (He grew up in a strong catholic family) This was the first time he heard that he would be eternally punished for his own sins. (Fornication, drunkenness, disrespect to parents, etc.) From the moment he heard these truths he pursued them just like he did everything else…with all that he is.
In fact, I first heard that I was on my way to hell from him.
If you wanted to describe him in today’s terms, you would have to say he was “completely sold out”.
He lived in Lancaster County, PA, and one weekend, by the providence of God and while he was in NYC, he came across Times Square Church. The ministry of this church transformed his life. He would travel every single weekend, with his wife and 6 kids, from Lancaster County to NYC, just to go to church for the entire day. (TSC has 3 different services) One of his friends that he made there began to let him and his family stay in their brownstone in Brooklyn for the weekend.
So every single Friday night, he would pack up his family and travel to NYC to spend the weekend. This gave him the opportunity to go out into the streets and preach. He would go to Brooklyn, Manhattan, into the subways, to the homeless. I used to go with him sometimes, it was very exciting and very challenging.
During the week, back in PA, he started a home bible study primarily to reach out to his family. But this bible study grew and many people started to come.
He was a very good preacher/ teacher. Some of his favorite preachers (other than his pastors David Wilkerson and Carter Conlon) were Leonard Ravenhill, Charles Finney, Charles Spurgeon, etc. He would say that he owes much of his discipleship to Mr. Ravenhill. In many of his messages he would quote him verbatim. Many times it was almost like he was quoting an entire Ravenhill message.
He was very zealous for the things of God. He had a tape ministry. (Of course this was before the internet) He would hand out tapes (David Wilkerson, Carter Conlon, Leonard Ravenhill, Keith Green, Walter Martin, etc,) to everyone and anyone.
He did not own a television. He would really only listen to Keith Green music. He never bought a Christmas tree.
He would bring homeless people from NYC to his house in PA for the holidays. He had a very large house, and for many years he would have all sorts of different people living with him and his family. He gave money to whoever needed it.
He prayed a lot. He had many a sleepless night just praying. He fasted. When he preached he would tell us that we need to sacrifice something and if sleep was the only thing we could sacrifice then we needed to sleep less and pray more.
He would tell us that we need to redeem the time because the days were evil!
He would tell us that we need to surrender everything to God. We needed to give God everything…we did not want to be “Luke Warm”.
It was up to us to make sure that we are in full obedience to God in all that we do; our thought life, our witnessing, our prayer life. He would quote from Mr. Ravenhill, “If you are not sanctified now, what will sanctify you when you die…the worms that eat you?”
At the age of 29 he was made an elder at Times Square Church. Shortly after, he was asked to teach, part-time, at Mt. Zion School of Ministry. He taught and preached in the TSC pulpit. He was head over all the men’s ministry. He taught at the TSC Friday night bible school. He went on missions trips to Africa and Jamaica. All the while living in PA with his wife and 6 kids (one of whom he adopted from NYC) He still had his business. He still had the PA home bible study. He still went into the streets and preached. He was very zealous for the things of God!
There is a lot more I could write, but I will just say that many, many people came to Jesus through his life. I am one of them!
Move ahead 7 years. He is now divorced. His children are not serving the Lord. His adopted son is in jail. His other son tried kill him. His daughters are bitter and extremely disrespectful. His wife is remarried and so his he. He is angry.
I am not criticizing this man. I love this man dearly. He is my brother.
I have the utmost respect for him; I wish that I could accomplish just half of what he has accomplished in his short life.
My point is that his Christianity was marked by what he did for God, not by who he was in Christ. He could never do enough. He could never be holy enough. He had to be like Leonard Ravenhill. He had to be like Charles Finney.
Ironically, right before his divorce, he stared to get a little free because he was starting to read men like, Charles Spurgeon and other reformed writers.
None of what my brother did was bad. He was entirely sincere, and God did use his life, but he never had any rest in his relationship with God. That is one of the reasons why he still remains far from God to this day. His relationship with God was based on what he did for God, not what God did for him.
Yes, we are to walk in obedience to Jesus. But, that obedience is defined by Jesus as Love, and I love (obey) Him because HE FIRST LOVED ME!