Different

I am reading a biography of DL Moody, and of all his exploits and such. It tells of how he would roam the streets looking for people and talking to them and pray for them. He would then do so and be surprised when they would not be saved by the end of his prayer.

I have to tell you, this is not the way that I think. I know God can do anything, so don't give me that spiel. All I am saying is the world I live in is different.

Now, I listened to a talk by Tim Keller at a Desiring God Conference. He spoke of a Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermon about Mark 9 and the demon the disciples could not cast out. Keller states that people used to be in a state where people knew the truth, they just did not practice it. All evangelicals needed to do was to awaken them, rouse them. They needed programs and revivals and campaigns. Evangelism was fast and furious.

The whole idea of a revival is to "re-vive" something that was once alive. Now, though, we try to revive something that was never alive. They have an innoculation of Christ. Now evangelism is a long drawn out and radical process.

I am not telling most of you something you do not know. But in my church I have the older people and the younger ones. I am trying to wake some people up quickly and move others towards Christ slowly.

This is what makes pastoring so hard. That, at least here in Texas, I still have both people, and I have to do both of these things at the same time. I do one when I should do the other and vice versa.

I am weary, and I would argue with anyone that doing this is one of the hardest things anyone could do.