SSMCSUNGAI WAY-SUBANGMETHODISTC H U R C H
JORY LEONG 6 MARCH 2016
The Life of
DAVID
BRAINERD1 Cor 1:27-29
Isa 55:7-9
SUPERHEROES
Captain America Steve Rogers
Spiderman Peter Parker
Batman Bruce Wayne
Ironman Tony Stark
Superman Clark Kent
Bersihman Rev Dr Ng Swee Ming
The Life of
John Wesley:
“Let every preacher
read carefully over the
Life of Brainerd”
William Carey:
“A sacred text”
John Newton:
“No book of this kind
has been more
welcome to me than the
Life of Brainerd”
1. He was weak but God was strong
Sickness
May, 1744“Rode several hours in the rain through the howling wilderness, although I was so disordered in body that little or nothing but blood came from me”
September, 1747“In the greatest distress that ever I endured having an uncommon kind of hiccough; which either strangled me or threw me into a straining to vomit”
1. He was weak but God was strong
SicknessDepression
December 16, 1744“Was so overwhelmed with dejection that I knew not how to live: I longed for death exceedingly… I was so much oppressed that my soul was in a kind of horror.”
1. He was weak but God was strong
SicknessDepressionLoneliness
May, 1743“I have no fellow Christian to whom I might lay open my spiritual sorrows, and with whom I might take sweet counsel in conversation about heavenly things.”
1. He was weak but God was strong
SicknessDepressionLonelinessHardships
May, 1743“I live poorly with regard to the comforts of life: most of my diet consists of boiled corn, hasty pudding. I lodge on a bundle of straw, and my labor is hard and extremely difficult.”
1. He was weak but God was strong
SicknessDepressionLonelinessHardships
February 21, 1746“My soul was refreshed and comforted, and I could not but bless God, who had enabled me in some good measure to be faithful in the day past.
April 17, 1747“Though my body was so feeble, & wearied …., yet I wanted to sit up all night to do something for God. To God the giver of these refreshments, be glory forever and ever. Amen.”
Kingdom Math
Trust in God
STRENGTH
x
Our Weakness
=
God delights in using the
small, poor and weak
things of this world to
extend his kingdom. He
takes seemingly
insignificant talents, acts
of service and generosity
supplied in obedient faith
and supernaturally
multiplies their effect many
times over. We call this
principle "Kingdom Math”.
27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things - and the things that are not - to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him.
1 Corinthians 1:27-29
Moses
Jonah
Jacob
Noah
Rahab
David
JeremiahSolomon
John
TimothyAbraham
Lazarus
Sarah
Naomi
Gideon
Thomas
Peter
James
John
Paul
God can use anyone.
A disciple of Christ is one who
is God-dependent, not self-
sufficient.
1. He was weak but God was strong
2. He made mistakes but God made plans
Yale, 1741 - students were fined for their evangelical zealTutor: “has no more grace than a chair”Rector: “why did you not drop down dead”
Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV)
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither
are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are
my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts
than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:7-9 (NIV)
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither
are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are
my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts
than your thoughts.
7 Let the wicked forsake their ways and the
unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the
LORD, and he will have mercy on them, and to our
God, for he will freely pardon.
1. He was weak but God was strong
2. He made mistakes but God made plans
Brainerd’s life is a vivid, powerful testimony to the truth that God can and does use weak, sick, discouraged, beat-down, lonely, struggling saints, who cry to him day and night, to accomplish amazing things for his glory.
WHEN THE DETOUR BECOMES YOUR NEW ROAD
Laura Story & Martin Elvington
May 2004
“You know, Laura, I think the detour you are on is actually the road.”
2011: No. 1 on the Billboard Christian Songs
2012: Grammy Award for
Best Contemporary Christian Music Song