A Plentiful Harvest pt.4

A Plentiful Harvest!

(pt.4)

Text: John 15:1-8

Introduction

1.The Family of God 2.in Fruitful Communion 3.Brings a Plentiful Harvest.

3. Brings a ___________ Harvest (15:7,8)

A. ________-___________ Life (v.7)

B. Answered _______________ (v.7)

C. ________________ God (v.8)

D. Displayed _______________ (v.8)

GEORGE MÜLLER’S LIFE OF PRAYER • George Müller believed that God answered prayers. He prayed every day for hours about many different things and expected his prayers to be answered by the amazing God that he believed in • During his lifetime, Müller cared for over 10 000 orphans in Bristol. He never made appeals or asked for money, or did fundraising events, instead he trusted that God would provide what they needed, and he prayed for what they needed each day. • In his lifetime, he received £1,500, 000 – from gifts. This would be about $126,985,500 today. • The first orphanage opened on 21st April 1836 in Wilson Street, St. Pauls. George Müller had asked God for £1000 and the right people to run the orphanage. Within five months all that they needed had been provided. • A few years later, George had opened 5 new orphanages on land that he bought on a rural site at Ashley Down, just outside the city boundary. • Some days, it was as if God literally provided for them from hour to hour. One day they had run out of food. 300 children sat waiting for their breakfast. George prayed to God and thanked God for the breakfast that they were about to eat, confident that God would provide food for them. There was a knock at the door and the baker was standing outside with a big load of bread. He said that God had woken him up in the night and told him to bake more bread than usual and to take it to the orphanage. George said thank you for the bread and took it inside for the children. There was another knock at the door, and this time it was the milk man. A wheel on his cart had broken outside the orphanage. He didn’t want to leave the cart and go and get what he needed to fix the cart, as he said the milk would get stolen. So he had decided to give the milk to George for the children instead! So breakfast was provided! • When he was crossing the Atlantic in 1877, his ship ran into thick fog. George explained to the captain that he needed to be in Quebec by the following afternoon, but the captain said he was slowing the ship down for safety. George asked the captain if he could use the chartroom to pray for the fog to lift. The captain followed him to the room, claiming that prayer would be a waste of time. Müller prayed, and then the captain decided to pray. Müller stopped him and said, the prayer had already been answered. They went upstairs to find that the fog had lifted. The captain became a Christian not long after. • George Müller died a poor man in 1898. Bristol came to a halt when his funeral happened. Factories and businesses closed, and thousands of people came out to mourn and pay respect as the funeral procession went by. Below is a quote from the Bristol Times newspaper on the day of his funeral “he was raised up for the purpose of showing that the age of miracles is not past”.