12. 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”
14. 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”
15. 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”
16. 1. He was weak but God
was strong
Sickness
Depression
17. 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.”
18. 1. He was weak but God
was strong
Sickness
Depression
Loneliness
19. 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.”
20. 1. He was weak but God
was strong
Sickness
Depression
Loneliness
Hardships
21. 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.”
22. 1. He was weak but God
was strong
Sickness
Depression
Loneliness
Hardships
23. 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.
24. 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.”
26. 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. 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
30. God can use anyone.
A disciple of Christ is one who
is God-dependent, not self-
sufficient.
31. 1. He was weak but God
was strong
2. He made mistakes but
God made plans
32. Yale, 1741 - students were fined
for their evangelical zeal
Tutor: “has no more grace than
a chair”
Rector: “why did you not drop
down dead”
33. 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.
34. 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.
35.
36. 1. He was weak but God
was strong
2. He made mistakes but
God made plans
37. 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.
