A Dynamite Life

There's a quote by Vance Havner, which I can't get out of my mind. Vance Havner said, if we serve such a dynamite God, then how come so many of us are living firecracker lives? And I pose that question to us, friends. Why aren't we doing more for God in our generation? Or better yet, why isn't God doing more things through us? A lack of education isn't an excuse.

D.L. Moody didn't even finish grade school, but he did more for God than all of us put together. Moody didn't even know how to spell the word bed, yet God used Moody to shake Great Britain in powerful revival. Lack of physical attractiveness isn't an excuse.

John Song was very unimpressive physically. Yet, when you read his diary, it's like reading a chapter out of the book of Acts. The lame were made to walk and the sick were healed.

And God used John Song's preaching to shake China like a mighty earthquake. A physical handicap isn't an excuse. George Whitefield had a prominent squint in his eye, so bad, that his detractors called him Dr. Squintum.

Yet, God used Whitefield as the primary instrument of revival in the Great Awakening. Lack of physical stature isn't an excuse either. John Wesley was only five feet, six inches tall, and he weighed only a hundred and twenty pounds.

Yet, he said, Give me one hundred men who fear nothing but God and hate nothing but sin, and I will shake the gates of hell. And he did just that with the Methodist Church. Each of those men lived dynamite lives for God in their generation.

And back to our question, friend, if we serve such a dynamite God, then how come so many of us are still living firecracker lives? Meaning, living far below our potential and far short of what Christ intended for us. There has to be a reason. I know for years I fought against becoming a preacher because I didn't want to be poor.

Well, I guess what, friends? I'm a preacher, and I'm dead broke, but God uses me. But I had to come to the place of surrender to God's will in my life. I had to give up my will for his will.

I had to be made willing to be stripped of everything dear to me. That's not true for everybody, but it was in my case. When I finally gave it all to God, I lost it all.

I went through a Joe Black chapter in my life. I lost my wife. I lost my home.

I lost my money. I lost my reputation. And eventually, I lost my health through a heart attack.

Well, you might say, brother preacher, why in the world would someone want to go through all of that and risk all of that? Well, it was because I stopped living for this world, friend, and I began to live for another world, for eternity. Well, why did C.T. Studd give away his father's inheritance? Why did he separate himself from his wife, family, and friends to go on a one-way ticket to the heart of Africa in ill health and against all doctor's orders at the age of 53? Because C.T. Studd started living for eternity. What possessed Peter to get out of the boat in the midst of a storm, to go walk on the water to Jesus when the other disciples were quite content to remain in the safety of the boat? Peter caught a glimpse of eternity, and Jesus took that boastful, bumbling man, who was so full of himself, and God so emptied him, and stripped him, and reduced him to nothing, so he could stand boldly at Pentecost and preach a sermon where 3,000 got saved.

If you're living a firecracker life, friend, I can promise you there's a good reason, and that reason has to do with you. Either your stubbornness, your disobedience, or your reluctance to allow God's will in your life is the main hindrance. You'd rather do less with your life, so long as you can be in control of it, then give it all to Him and lose that control.

If you're a pastor, and your church is spiritually stagnated, it may be due more to the fact that you give your people what they want instead of what they need, because you fear your deacons, or you want to be accepted by man. It's like the story Sam Jones told about the new pastor at church. Sam Jones said, I once knew a pastor who, upon taking charge of his church, was met by a delegation of the deacons previous to delivering his inaugural sermon.

They said, now, brother, you mustn't preach about fashion, because our fashionable members will be out to hear you. You mustn't preach about dram drinking or liquor selling, because several of our members who are liquor sellers will be out to hear you. And you mustn't preach about covetousness, because several of our millionaire members will be out to hear you.

Well, what can I preach about, he asked in great perplexity, about the Mormons, replied the good deacons. Give them blazes. There won't be a Mormon out to hear you.

Listen, friend, if you want to be used of God more, then God has to have more of you. My life changed under the preaching of Dr. Stephen Olford, who kept repeating the following little poem. Only one life will soon be past.

Only what's done for Christ will last. And I had to ask myself, what am I doing with my life right now that will last for eternity? And I thought, and I thought, and I couldn't come up with a thing. God changed the course of my life that week, and began to use me when I gave him the reins to my heart.

You say, well, I was a fool because I lost it all. But in the words of the missionary martyr Jim Elliott, he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. If you want more, friend, than a firecracker life, it's there waiting for you.

When Moses was on the backside of the Midian desert, tending stinking, smelly sheep, he saw a bush burn, but it was not consumed. And the text reads, And Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. God is waiting on you to make the first move toward him.

God is rewarder to those who diligently seek him. God is looking for the one who wants to do great things for him. In 2nd Chronicles 16 9 we read, For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.

God wants you, friend, to live a dynamite life for him, to make a mark on your generation for the sake of the gospel in Christ Jesus. God is on the lookout for men like these, the Apostle Paul, Luther, Wesley, Whitefield, Knox, Edwards, Finney, Spurgeon, Moody. Each shared a common denominator, a fire in their belly.

They each were so eaten up with the gospel and thirsty for Christ and filled with the Holy Ghost that they could not stand idly by while others perished. They saw nothing but eternity, but worshiped a holy God and served a risen Christ, living not for earth, nor its gains, but living only for heaven and its rewards. Oh, when they preached, they linked the devil with sin and the cross with salvation.

They preached hell and its fire in Christ and him crucified. Not one of them feared King, Queen, or Pope, and not one of them sought the compliments of man.