“But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say to him…when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? And will not rather say to him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink?” (Luke 17:7-8).
We have no trouble at all identifying with the servant in his duty to the master. No trouble in putting on our apron and serving up the Lord a full table of praises—a good feast of worship. We love to feed our Lord! It is our greatest joy, our supreme fulfillment—to minister unto the Lord.
But we have difficulty with the last part—the Lord’s part. “And afterward, you shall eat!” That is too much for us to comprehend. We do not know how to sit down after we have served him—to allow him the same joy we experienced in serving him! We rob our Lord of the joy of ministering to us.
We think our Lord gets enough pleasure from what we do for him, but there is so much more. He responds to our faith and rejoices when we repent. He talks to the Father about us and delights in our childlike trust. But I am convinced that his greatest need is to have one-to-one communication with those he left here on earth. No angel in heaven can meet that need. Jesus wants to talk with those on the battlefield.
Where did I get such a notion that Christ is lonely and has a desperate need to speak? It’s all there in the account of Christ appearing to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Jesus had just been resurrected and that very same day two disciples were walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus. They were grieved about their departed Lord but when he drew near, they did not recognize him. He wanted to talk; he had so much to say to them.
“And it came to pass, that while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near and went with them…and beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:15, 27).
There could have been no finer experience for those disciples and they went away saying, “…Did not our hearts burn within us, while he talked with us?” We think of the joy of the disciples but what about the joy of Jesus? I see a resurrected Lord, tears streaming down his glorified cheeks, his heart filled with joy. He was fulfilled, his need had been met, and I see him overjoyed. He had ministered and in his glorified form, he had experienced his first two-way communion. He had poured out his heart but his lonely heart had been touched and his need had been met.
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David Wilkerson (1931 – 2011)
Founder of Times Square Church in New York City with over 100 different languages spoken in the congregation. Wilkerson wrote many powerful books such as: The Vision and Cross and the Switchblade. His ministry was prophetic as God called him to be a watchman to the Church in North America. He gave clear messages on repentance to the Church.Wilkerson also founded Teen Challenge where there are hundreds of centres for Christ-centered drug recovery and addiction recovery. He also organized and spoke at pastors gatherings in many countries where he gave prophetic strong messages to encourage pastors and leaders.
Recommends these books by David Wilkerson:
The Vision and Beyond, Prophecies Fulfilled and Still to Come by David Wilkerson
Knowing God by Name: Names of God That Bring Hope and Healing by David Wilkerson
God's Plan to Protect His People in the Coming Depression by David Wilkerson
David Wilkerson is an American Christian evangelist, most well-known for his book The Cross and the Switchblade. He is also the founder of Times Square Church in New York, an interdenominational church.
Wilkerson is well-known for these early years of his ministry to young drug addicts and gang members in New York City in the 1950s and 1960s. He co-authored a book about his work with the New York drug addicts, The Cross and the Switchblade, which became a best-seller, selling over 50 million copies in over thirty languages since it was published in 1963. The book was included among the 100 most important Christian books of the 20th century.
For over four decades, Wilkerson's ministry has included preaching, teaching and writing. He has authored over 30 books.
David Wilkerson is the founder and president of World Challenge, Inc., a nonprofit organization incorporated on September 22, 1971. Reverend Wilkerson, the author of over thirty inspirational books, is perhaps best known for his early days of ministry to young drug addicts and gang members in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn. His story is told in The Cross and the Switchblade, a book he co-authored which became a best-seller. (The story has been read by over 50 million people in some thirty languages and 150 countries since 1963. In 1969, a motion picture of the same title was released.)
For over four decades, Reverend Wilkerson's evangelistic ministry has included preaching, teaching and writing. Throughout that time a distinctive characteristic of his work has been his direct efforts to reach the neediest members of the population with help for both body and soul. Even now, the almost 70 year-old minister often goes out alone or sometimes with an assistant to walk through the streets of New York City, along Broadway and Eighth Avenue or down 42nd Street and nearby "Crack Alley" on 41st Street. His mission is always to seek out the lost, the disoriented, and the addicted , to tell them of the power of the risen Christ to set them free.
David Wilkerson, born in Hammond, Indiana on May 19, 1931, was married in 1953 to Gwen Carosso. The Wilkersons' two sons are ministers, and their two daughters are married to ministers. They have 11 grandchildren. The Wilkersons served small pastorates in Scottsdale and Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, until Reverend Wilkerson saw a photograph in Life magazine of several New York City teenagers charged with murder. Moved with compassion he was drawn to the city in February 1959. It was at that time he began his street ministry to what one writer called "desperate, bewildered, addicted, often violent youth.