On this day in 1888

While Jonathan attended Knox College in Toronto preparing to go to China, Rosalind was at the Toronto School of Art, preparing to be an artist like her father.  But Rosalind was never truly satisfied with her life.  In her own words, she described the inner struggle:

From that time, and increasingly as the years passed, there seemed to be two elements contesting within me, one for art, the other—an intense longing to serve the Master to whom I had given myself.  In the early part of 1885, when still in my twentieth year, I began to pray that if the Lord wanted me to marry, He would lead to me one wholly given up to Him and to His service. I wanted no other.

But since Rosalind never found a man, she continued on her art career.  She finished her schooling in Toronto and began preparations to go to London to further her education.  But just weeks before she left, she went to a meeting at a mission to play the organ.  Here, she found a man who had a heart, commitment, and love for the Lord: Jonathan Goforth.  For the next two years, Jonathan and Rosalind spent time together and worked together at different missions across Toronto.  In the end of October of 1887, they were married.  In February, they set sail for China.

This young couple, completely sold out to God, would see God use them in a might way.  When they arrived, they made their home in the northern Henan Province,  which was to be their home for decades to come.  They faced hardships and challenges, trials and temptations, but they continued to look to the one who sent them.  Slowly, the work grew.  But all this time, the Lord was simply molding and preparing his servants for the great task that was ahead.

By the end of his life, Jonathan was leading revival meetings all over China. Often he would preach for eight hours a day, to crowds of up to 25,000 people. Thousands of sinners experienced the saving grace of Jesus Christ, and multitudes of Christians were awakened to a more vital relationship with God. The meetings were often characterized by public confession of sin and repentance.

The Goforths were some of the greatest missionaries of their time.  But they never forgot their beginning.  They knew they were really nobodies and that it was simply the spirit of God working through them.  Whenever someone would praise the work the Goforths were doing and elevate them to a high level, Jonathan would smile and tell this little story:

Friends, if you and I take glory to ourselves which belongs only to God, we are as foolish as the woodpecker about which I shall tell you. A certain woodpecker flew up to the top of a high pine tree and gave three hard pecks on the side of the tree as woodpeckers are wont to do. At that instant a bolt of lightning struck the tree, leaving it on the ground, a heap of splinters. The woodpecker had flown to a tree nearby where it clung in terror and amazement at what had taken place. There it hung expecting more to follow, but as all remained quiet it began to chuckle to itself saying, “Well, well, well. Who would have imagined that just three pecks of my beak could have such power as that!

Source:

History Makers

Wholesome Words

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Leviticus 6:13 The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out.

The fires were for the sacrifices that were being offered. They constantly burned before God and the people. God smelled a sweet smell from the sacrifices as a sign of their faith was exhibited. The people could rejoice that God heard and answered their prayers, their sins were forgiven.

Today Jesus ever lives to make intercession for us! He paid our sin debt! He is our salvation. We live, move, and have our being in Him!

I just think it is wonderful to think about how He has always made a way to get forgiveness. You can be sure your sins are forgiven. Go to Him now! Rest in what He has done. Believe and accept.

If you are saved just remember it is done not what you do! The fire never goes out!

On this day in 1888

A graduate of Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania, Hepburn received his medical degree and became a physician.  In 1840, he went to China to work as a medical missionary.  But when he arrived in the orient, he was unable to land in China.  The Opium War between England and China closed the port to all foreigners.  So for two years, he worked in Singapore.

But his time here would be the first step in a new direction for the young doctor.  While he was working at his clinics, a friend gave him a translation of the book of John.  Hepburn was so fascinated with the translation he spent hours studying it, until he finally sent it back to his Mission Board to see.

After five years in the Orient, Hepburn, due to medical problems with his wife, went back to the States and started a private practice.  He stayed here for nearly fifteen years, but he could never get over the work being done in the Orient and that little book he had studied.  When the opportunity came for Hepburns to go to Japan to work as some of the first missionaries, they jumped at it.  But this time, James decided that he wanted to spend more time on translation work instead of medical work.

Hepburn threw himself into learning the language and culture of the Japanese people.  His first project was to create a Japanese-English dictionary, which he finished eight years after he first arrived.  After this was finished, he assembled a team to work on his greatest task: the complete Japanese Bible.  For fourteen years, Hepburn and his team of Japanese and Western missionaries worked.  And finally, he could present this precious treasure to the people.  The Japanese Christians were thrilled and soon the Churches saw strong growth. The Bible Society recorded this of the Japaneses’ responce to the Bible:

In no nation in modern times has the gospel made more rapid progress than in Japan. The readiness of the people to have some share in the work of circulating the Scriptures among their own countrymen was exhibited when a firm of Japanese publishers asked and received permission to reprint the New Testament.

Hepburn worked in Japan as long as his health allowed.  But when he had to retire, he left with the knowledge that he left behind a very great gift.

Source:

Bible Society Records

Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christians

The History of the Church Missionary

On this day 1n 1726, John Roth, a Moravian missionary to the colonies of Pennsylvania and Ohio, was born.

John was born in the small village of Brandenburg, Germany to Catholic parents.  As he got older, he parents sent him out as an apprentice to a local locksmith.  But at the age of twenty-two, he heard the gospel and accepted Christ.  He left the Catholic Church and joined the Moravians.

In 1756, John and his wife, Mary, arrived in the colony of Pennsylvania to work among the Indians and colonist there.  Their work slowly lead them westward across the state, until they move the work into Ohio.  Roth wrote several religious works and manuscripts in the language of the Lenape people.  For fifteen years, Roth and his faithful wife pioneered among the tribesin the different areas.  They were some of the first settlers to live in Ohio and their son was the first white male born there.

As John got older, it became difficult for him to travel and live like he was doing.  So he moved back to the western part of Pennsylvania and started a church among the colonist.  He worked here until his death at the age of 65.

Source:

Transaction of the Moravian Historical Society

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An Overview of Hangzhou

Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang Province in East China, is one of the more modern and prosperous cities in China, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southwest of Shanghai. It sits at the southern end of the Grand Canal and is one of China’s seven ancient national capitals. A core city of the Yangtze River Delta, its position on the Hangzhou Bay gives it economic power. Moreover, it has also been one of the most renowned and prosperous cities of China for much of the last 1,000 years, due in part to its beautiful natural scenery

When Marco Polo came to Hangzhou in the 13th century, he declared it to be “the most beautiful and elegant city in the world.” There is a popular saying: “Above there is heaven, below there are Hangzhou and Suzhou.” Hangzhou’s “heavenly” beauty attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists to its exquisite West Lake (Xi Hu) area each year to enjoy the placid lake, beautiful gardens, reflecting pools, lavish temples and lakeside teahouses (source).

The native residents of Hangzhou, like those of Zhejiang and southern Jiangsu, speak a Wu dialect. However, the Wu dialect varies throughout the area where it is spoken; hence, Hangzhou’s dialect differs from regions in southern Zhejiang and southern Jiangsu. As the official language defined by China’s central government, Mandarin is the dominant spoken language (source).

Religion in Hangzhou

In Hangzhou, the most popular beliefs are Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity, and Islam (source).

Would you pray that God would send more laborers to this city and country to lift His name high?

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On this day in 1911, during a morning devotional hour at Central Texas College, an African American teacher, Eliza George, felt a sudden burden for black people in Africa. She imagined the African people passing before the judgment seat of Christ, weeping and moaning, “But no one ever told us You died for us.” Two years later, Eliza George left her teaching position and moved to Liberia as a missionary with her husband.

George faced many trials as she pursued the leading of God in her life. Certain leaders in the faith at the time told her that they had no intentions of sending a black woman to Africa. They told her that if she wanted to reach black people with the gospel, she could do so at home.

Nevertheless, George pressed on. Supported by the National Baptist Convention, she along with her husband, served as a church planter, founder of Bible Industrial Academy, and planted 27 churches in Liberia. She retired in her 90s leaving Liberians taking over the work she had started.

What a great example of someone following God’s leading in the face of opposition. How willing are we to believe in our God more than people believe in us? Eliza George faced people who did not believe in her and her work, but she believed in her God. Let us trust our God and His work, not ourselves or our own power.

On this day in 1898, a fire destroyed the Market Street Mission in New Jersey. The Market Street Mission was a ministry that provided jobs, clothing, food, and shelter for many people affected by drugs, alcohol, and poverty.

The Market Street Mission was birthed out of the Bible studies of the wife of Rev. Dr. F.W. Owen as she realized that almost all of the husbands of the ladies in her Bible study were alcoholics. Together. the Owens rented the building that would become known as the Market Street Mission to set up a residential program for alcoholics.

In the heart of a street full of bars and saloons, this ministry was supported through the South Street Presbyterian Church to reach individuals that were not regularly attending area churches.  The Mission began to hold day and night meetings for men, women, and children. At these meetings, converts would give testimony to how God saved them from a life of sin.

The day the Market Street Mission burned down, they set up temporarily across the street without missing one meeting. Eventually, they built a building of their own where they are still located to this day.

What a beautiful and practical picture of the Gospel changing lives. Birthed from being burdened for people’s souls, the Owens became burdened for people’s everyday lives. Are we willing to step out of our comfort zones to meet the dire spiritual and physical needs of the dying world around us? Let’s be ambassadors of the God we love and love the world He died for.

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Leviticus 1:3-4 If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD. 4 And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.

God made provision for sin! It was almost always through the death of a substitute. There are a couple of things that I would challenge you to notice this morning.

First, they offered the sacrifice of their own voluntary will! They chose to recognize that they had sinned. They chose to believe God’s method of accepting. They had to believe His Word and Him enough to do what He commanded.

Secondly, they were to lay their hands on the sacrifice. That was a way of acknowledging that their sin was on the animal. That the animal was dying in their place taking what they deserved. God had provided for them a substitute.

You today decide whether or not to believe and act on God’s revealed will. He has made it clear in the Scriptures. You must decide to believe, accept, and act on it.

You must realize that God’s plan is always that a substitute take our sins on Him and that substitute is Jesus. Do you believe that Jesus is God in human flesh? Do you believe that He carried your sin debt to the cross for you?

Those are the important questions today!

We are so excited about our new church directory and the chance for us to stay better connected with each other! This time we are wanting to do something a little different. We would like to include a picture of every one of you to go along with your contact information.

In order to do this, Olan Mills Portrait Studios will be set up at the church on Friday, March 16th, from 2:30-9:30 pm and Saturday, March 17th, from 9:30-2:30 pm to take your portraits. Just for participating Olan Mills will be giving you a free church directory and $25 certificate. You will have the option to purchase your portrait, but this is not necessary to receive a copy of the church directory. So mark your calendars and plan to be there to participate in this project!

A sign up sheet will be set out on Sunday, and if you have any questions, feel free to contact Trent Cornwell at 770-853-8148

On this day in 1801

As Titus grew older, his future grew clouded.  He went from being a teacher to joining to military to working in the textile industry to being a Sunday school Superintendent .  But nothing seemed to fulfill his inner drive.  He wrote of this indirection in his life:

Still I had not chosen my life-work. Four paths lay before me. My brother wished me to become his partner in the mercantile business. A good physician in Rochester, and several in other places, advised me to become a physician, offering to teach me free of charge. Some said I was made for a school teacher, and many clergymen and Christian laymen urged me to go into the Gospel ministry.

What should I do? What could I do? The subject pressed heavily upon my mind and heart. I said that teaching is pleasant in youth, but for life it would not satisfy me. As for the medical profession, I was not adapted to it, and I dared not make the trial. But how of the sacred ministry? I felt utterly unfit and unworthy—my natural talent, education, piety, were all unequal to the exalted calling. As Moses, Isaiah, and Jeremiah shrank from the offices of legislator and prophet, so I from being an ambassador of Christ, yet I was willing to work hard as a layman, and even longed to go as a servant among the heathen to help the honored missionaries.

But in 1829, while attending a revival in his home town, Titus give his life to the Lord to do whatever He desire for him to do.  Titus called this meeting the “turning point, the day of decision”.  He had the opportunity after this to spend time with Charles Finney and to attend seminary.  When the opportunity came to go to Hawaii as a missionary, Titus jumped at it.

At the age of 35, Titus arrived at the city of Hilo, on the island of Hawaii.  His assignment was to take over a small, struggling church church there that had been started by another missionary.  The church only had 23 members.    But Titus threw himself into the work with a love for the Lord and his people than few men have had since.  A friend of Titus said of him, “Love was the driving force in his life: he loved his wife, he loved Christ, and he loved his work.”

Titus would often preach three or four times a day.  “Many listened with tears, and after the preaching, when I supposed they would return to their homes and give me rest, they remained and crowded around me so earnestly, that I had no time to eat. And in places where I spent my nights they filled the house to its entire capacity, leaving scores outside who could not enter.“  People would crowd around Titus long past midnight, wanting to be taught more of the kingdom of God.

Titus traveled to cities and villages all over the island, teaching, preaching, and starting churches.  For 46 years, he labored in love.  By the time of his death, fifty-six thousand Hawaiians had become Christians—80 percent of the entire population of the island.

Source:

Gospel Truth

Life in Hawaii

On this day in 1885, Henry and Ella Appenzeller arrived at Jemulpo, Korea.

The Appenzellers were the first Methodist missionaries to Korea and were among the first of any group to go there.  In fact, their daughter would be the first American baby ever born in Korea.  They set up their mission headquarter in Seoul, but Henry found himself traveling throughout the country, preaching in different towns nearly every week.  As Henry traveled, he was disheartened to see that very few of the Koreans were being educated.  Only the rich could read, and they read Chinese.  If the Koreans were to know Christ, they would have to be able to read his word in their own language!  But how could they learn if they could  never read it?

In an attempt to fix this problem, Henry raised funds to start several schools for children who were bright and aspiring, but couldn’t afford to go to school.  His schools soon became very popular and his students grew rapidly.  He only taught the students to read Korean and their main textbook was a Korean Bible Henry had worked to translate.  Several Koran pastors and government leaders, including a future president, were graduates of Henry’s school.

Henry also discoverd that there were no books written in Korean.  They were all in Chinese.  So he built a printing press and a bookshop, so he could supply his people with books and Bibles in their own language.   Appenzeller  greatest legacy was helping the Korean people re-discover their own language.

Source:

New World Encyclopedia

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