There is no type of service any of us can undertake which is beset with so much potential as is the service of the Master. On the one hand, there is so much that is rewarding, and on the other hand, so much that is disappointing. Many are the obstacles to be overcome and many the pitfalls to be avoided. On how many occasions we have taken up a task in the name of the Lord only to withdraw, beaten, discouraged, and baffled, and yet, somehow, baffled to fight better. For every discouragement has been allowed to come to us in order that through it we may be cast in utter helplessness at the Saviour's feet. Then we return to the battle again, no longer trusting in the false and insufficient human resources which so foolishly we had taken into the battle, but now trusting in the limitless resources of our risen Lord.
Never was there a time when there was a greater need for men of passion, men of principle, men of Holy Spirit vision, in the service of the Lord. It is impossible for any of us to become any of these things unless first we have stood in the midst of the work which the Master has given to us and have seen the futility of everything that can ever come from our own imagined strength or weakness. These are lessons which most of us learn the hard way, and we learn them in a school from which we never graduate until we enter the very presence of the Master Himself.
It is my firm conviction . . . that, in choosing us in Christ before the foundation of the world, our Heavenly Father also had in His eternal plan the sphere of service with which He intended to entrust us. In doing so, surely He had in mind that through our reaction in all the testing of Christian work and through our faithfulness or lack of it in the opportunities that He is pleased to give us, we are fashioned into the likeness of His dear Son. . . .
What a day it will be when the Lord welcomes us home! Indeed, it will be worth it all when we see Jesus. We will understand then, as we can never understand now, that the very wounds which so often have been inflicted upon us have been the means of conforming us to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of making Him all the more precious to us.
Circumstances which we have resented, situations which we have found desperately difficult, have all been the means in the hands of God of driving the nails into the self-life which so easily complains. His dealing causes us to rejoice in the midst of affliction, "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2 Corinthians 4:17).
. . . . Praise God, we shall come to the heavenly Jerusalem and understand, for ". . . then shall I know even as also I am known" (1 Corinthians 13:12) (pp. 7, 8, 189-190).
O Jesus, I have promised to serve Thee to the end;
Be Thou forever near me, my Master and my Friend;
I shall not fear the battle if Thou art by my side,
Nor wander from the pathway if Thou wilt be my guide.
O Jesus, Thou hast promised to all who follow Thee,
That where Thou art in glory there shall Thy servant be;
And, Jesus, I have promised to serve Thee to the end;
O give me grace to follow, my Master and my Friend
-- John E. Bode
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Alan Redpath (1907 - 1989)
Redpath was a well-known preacher from England who pastored the famous Moody church in chicago for 7 years. He ministered at Keswick conventions and also deeper life meetings on the subject of revival, prayer, full-surrender. He spent the later years of his life ministering Capernwray bible school movement founded by Major Ian Thomas.Dr. Redpath authored six books; the first one, Victorious Christian Living, was published in 1955. Others were Victorious Prayer (1956), Victorious Christian Service (1958), The Royal Route to Heaven (1960), Blessings Out of Buffettings (1965), The Making of a Man of God (1962), and Law and Liberty and Captivity to Conquest (1978).
Alan Redpath was a well-known British evangelist, pastor and author.
Alan Redpath was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, the only son of James and Christina Redpath. He went to Durham School, and then studied to be chartered accountant in Newcastle, completing this in 1928. He then worked as the chartered accountant for ICI until 1935. In 1936, he joined the National Young Life Campaign as an evangelist, where he served until he was called to be pastor of Duke Street Baptist Church in Richmond, London in May, 1940. In 1953 he moved to the United States and became the pastor of the Moody Church in Chicago. In 1955, Redpath was elected President of Unevangelized Fields Mission in the United Kingdom. Redpath ministered at Moody Church until 1962. In 1961, Houghton College awarded Redpath an honorary Doctorate of Divinity degree.
Redpath returned to the United Kingdom in 1962 as pastor of Charlotte Baptist Chapel, Edinburgh, Scotland. While at Charlotte Baptist, he suffered a near-fatal stroke in 1964, but was able to recover, although he suffered from deep depression for a period afterwards. He preached there until 1966, when he embarked on ministry as a traveling missionary and conference speaker. In 1969, he became Field Representative for Capernwray Missionary Fellowship, and then in 1975 he was named Pastoral Dean of Capernwray Bible School. Redpath married, and had two daughters. He died March 16, 1989, in Birmingham, England.
Alan Redpath was born January 9, 1907, in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, United Kingdom, the only son of James and Christina Redpath. He attended high school at Durham School and trained as a chartered accountant in Newcastle, qualifying in 1928. From graduation year until 1935, Redpath was the chartered accountant with Imperial Chemical Industries and the following year, 1936, he joined National Young Life Campaign as an evangelist, a position he filled until May 1940. In that month, he was called to be pastor of Duke Street Baptist Church, Richmond, London, and he remained with that church until 1953, when he came to the United States as pastor of Moody Memorial Church in Chicago. He served in this position between 1953 and 1962. While at Moody Church, Houghton College awarded Redpath an honorary D.D. degree in 1961.
From Moody, Redpath returned to the British Isles in 1962 to become pastor of Charlotte Baptist Chapel, Edinburgh, Scotland, and he remained with the church until 1966. In that year, he began an itinerant conference and missionary ministry. In 1955, Redpath was elected President of Unevangelized Fields Mission in the United Kingdom. Fourteen years later, in 1969, he became Field Representative for Capernwray Missionary Fellowship and in 1975 Pastoral Dean of Capernwray Bible School. He was still serving in all three capacities in 1983.