1 Attender

Can you see yourself in that video? I tell you there is no substitute for faithfulness.

After his ordination in 1969, author and pastor Phillip Johnson received a call to serve one large church and ten smaller churches on the northern coast of Newfoundland, Canada. On the first day of his new circuit ministry, Johnson learned that in order to get to the smallest of the churches, he would have to travel 40 miles by snowmobile to a tiny village. When Johnson arrived, only one person had shown up for worship—a fisherman who had traveled about 20 miles to get there.

Johnson initially thought about just saying a prayer and calling it a day. But then he realized that together, he and the fisherman had already logged 60 miles of travel and had 60 more miles to return home. With that in mind, Johnson decided to conduct the whole service as if there were a few hundred worshipers. They did it all: the hymns, the readings, the prayers, the sermon, the Lord's Supper, and the benediction.

It was during the sermon that Johnson wondered why he had bothered. The fisherman never looked up. But when Johnson greeted the fisherman at the door and thanked him for coming, Johnson received a pleasant surprise. The fisherman said, "Reverend, I've been thinking about becoming a Christian for about 30-odd years. And today's the day!"

O listen! There’s no substitute for faithfulness! You won’t develop it after God calls you! No you won’t! O I know that’s what we think. We think we’ll get knocked down by a light like Paul did on the road to Damascus, we’ll be called to the mission field, and immediately we’ll become a faithful soul winner willing to log 90 hours a week when we won’t even show up for 3 or 4 hours on Sunday. Hear me, believer, the Christian life doesn’t work that way! Faithfulness is the character that is forged in the lonely, day-in, day-out unimportant mundane duty of the Christian life, and no one gets on God’s speed dial without it! But if we come to Christ with open hearts; If we are willing to serve wherever the need is; If we are sincere in that service, wanting only to worship God and glorify Him; and if we serve Him when its easy and when its hard, we might just find our names on God’s speed dial