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D.L. Moody

Dwight Lyman Moody (1837 - 1899). American evangelist, publisher, and founder of Moody Bible Institute, born in Northfield, Massachusetts, to a poor Unitarian family. Leaving home at 17, he worked as a shoe salesman in Boston, converting to Christianity in 1855 through his Sunday school teacher. Moving to Chicago, he founded a Sunday school for street children, growing it to 1,500 attendees by 1860. Without formal ordination, he preached across the U.S. and Britain, holding campaigns with song leader Ira Sankey, drawing millions, including 130,000 in London in 1875. Moody authored books like Heaven (1880) and founded the Chicago Evangelization Society (1889), now Moody Bible Institute, training thousands of missionaries. Married to Emma Revell in 1862, they had three children. His practical, love-focused sermons bridged denominations, influencing figures like Billy Graham. He established Northfield Conferences, fostering global missions, and raised funds for Chicago’s YMCA. Moody’s tireless work, delivering over 100 sermons annually, transformed 19th-century evangelicalism. His maxim, “If this world is going to be reached, I am convinced it must be done by men and women of average talent with hearts on fire,” drives his enduring legacy.
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Sermon Summary
D.L. Moody emphasizes the importance of taking time to show sympathy and compassion to others, as exemplified by Jesus, who paused to attend to the needs of a blind beggar despite His own impending suffering. Moody encourages believers to adopt a Christlike attitude of calmness and focused attention in their ministry, rather than rushing through life and missing opportunities to serve. He highlights that true ministry involves being present for others, even amidst our own troubles, and that small acts of kindness done with love are more valuable than busy activity without purpose.
The Ministry of Sympathy
Mark 10:49 "And Jesus stood still." Do we not need, in reading the life of the great Exemplar, to note how His ministry was without haste. In these busy lives of ours, we are so apt to miss this part of sympathy in ministering to others, which is more especially Christlike. He never came across suffering, but He gave it calm, patient, concentrated attention. "He stood still" yet if ever He might have passed by or given but hurried consideration to a case of distress, surely it was then, when the weight of anticipated woe lay heavy upon Him, but He had still a heart at leisure from itself: for the need of a poor blind beggar. Let us seek to do likewise: to be able to turn from our own cares and sorrows to soothe the grief of another, to be unruffled amid plans upset and projects delayed, that we might minister a cup of cold water, as Jesus would have done it. Better be content with a small service done thus after the Master's example, than let much effort and activity so overcrowd our lives that there is no time for "standing still."
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Dwight Lyman Moody (1837 - 1899). American evangelist, publisher, and founder of Moody Bible Institute, born in Northfield, Massachusetts, to a poor Unitarian family. Leaving home at 17, he worked as a shoe salesman in Boston, converting to Christianity in 1855 through his Sunday school teacher. Moving to Chicago, he founded a Sunday school for street children, growing it to 1,500 attendees by 1860. Without formal ordination, he preached across the U.S. and Britain, holding campaigns with song leader Ira Sankey, drawing millions, including 130,000 in London in 1875. Moody authored books like Heaven (1880) and founded the Chicago Evangelization Society (1889), now Moody Bible Institute, training thousands of missionaries. Married to Emma Revell in 1862, they had three children. His practical, love-focused sermons bridged denominations, influencing figures like Billy Graham. He established Northfield Conferences, fostering global missions, and raised funds for Chicago’s YMCA. Moody’s tireless work, delivering over 100 sermons annually, transformed 19th-century evangelicalism. His maxim, “If this world is going to be reached, I am convinced it must be done by men and women of average talent with hearts on fire,” drives his enduring legacy.