“I am the LORD, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for Me?” (Jeremiah 32:27)
Perhaps you have heard the saying, “Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.” It came from a sermon preached by William Carey more than two centuries ago.
Carey lived in an era in which no one had attempted to reach the whole world for Christ since the first century. His supernatural dream was to see the church send missionaries in every direction around the globe.
After 17 centuries of spiritual inertia, could one man, whose formal education ended at age 12, make a difference? He could if he “expected great things from God”, and “attempted great things for Him.”
As Carey began to meet with various pastors urging them to consider sending missionaries, his words seemed to fall on deaf ears. One elderly pastor impatiently told Carey that when God wanted to reach the nations, He would do it without consulting Carey or the pastor!
Carey sought out like-minded believers. In no time he raised enough support to be able to sail to India. Sometimes he had to fight the Indian caste system; sometimes the British government. In 1812, his printing plant burned to the ground, along with years of translation work. Carey’s wife and two of his children tragically died on the mission field.
But despite the great personal costs, he never gave up.
His organization translated the Bible into 34 Asian languages, founded a college, began countless churches and mission stations, started 100 schools, many newspapers, and succeeded in tremendous social reform.
More importantly, Carey single-handedly launched a movement of world evangelism which continues today.
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Based on Supernatural Thinking , by Bill Bright.