Page 38 - Heros of the Faith - Textbook w videos short

And on 6 April 1763, suffering intense pain, this tireless servant of Jesus Christ could only whisper, ‘I have
nothing to do but to step out of bed into heaven. I have my foot upon the threshold already’. And so it proved.

The life of Grimshaw is a life totally given to Christ. He was a living sacrifice who laid it all down to
serve His Savior. And look what God did as a result of his faithfulness! A whole nation was brought to
their knees by this man. What could God do with your life if you would but give it all to Him?

George Whitefield 1714-1770

https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/evangelistsandapologists
/george-whitefield.html

Largely forgotten today, George Whitefield was probably the most famous religious
figure of the eighteenth century. Newspapers called him the "marvel of the age."
Whitefield was a preacher capable of commanding thousands on two continents
through the sheer power of his oratory. In his lifetime, he preached at least 18,000
times to perhaps 10 million hearers.

Born thespian
As a boy in Gloucester, England, he read plays insatiably and often skipped school to practice for his schoolboy
performances. Later in life, he repudiated the theater, but the methods he imbibed as a young man emerged in
his preaching.

He put himself through Pembroke College, Oxford, by waiting on the wealthier students. While there, he fell in
with a group of pious "Methodists"—who called themselves "the Holy Club"—led by the Wesley brothers, John
and Charles. Under their influence, he experienced a "new birth" and decided to become a missionary to the
new Georgia colony on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

When the voyage was delayed, Whitefield was ordained a deacon in the Anglican Church and began preaching
around London. He was surprised to discover that wherever he spoke, crowds materialized and hung on every
word.

These were no ordinary sermons. He portrayed the lives of biblical characters with a realism no one had seen
before. He cried, he danced, he screamed. Among the enthralled was David Garrick, then the most famous actor
in Britain. "I would give a hundred guineas," he said, "if I could say 'Oh' like Mr. Whitefield."

Once, when preaching on eternity, he suddenly stopped his message, looked around, and exclaimed, "Hark!
Methinks I hear [the saints] chanting their everlasting hallelujahs, and spending an eternal day in echoing forth
triumphant songs of joy. And do you not long, my brethren, to join this heavenly choir?"

Whitefield eventually made it to Georgia but stayed for only three months. When he returned to London, he
found many churches closed to his unconventional methods. He then experimented with outdoor,
extemporaneous preaching, where no document or wooden pulpit stood between him and his audience.

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