Wednesday, November 1st | The Life of George Muller

Hello, everyone. Today is Wednesday, November the 1st. I'm Ryan Hill.

John Galantis. You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abbadon Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com. If you have any questions for Dr. Shah or suggestions for new topics, send us a text at 252-582-5028, or you can email us at contact at ClearviewTodayShow.com. That's right, and you guys can help us keep this conversation going by supporting the show. You can share it online, leave us a good review on iTunes or Spotify.

Anywhere you get your podcasting content from, we're going to leave a link in the description so you can do just that. The verse of the day today comes from Proverbs chapter 19, verse 15. Laziness casts one into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger. If you don't work, you don't eat. Wasn't that Jamestown or something like that? If you don't work, you can't eat?

I think so. You know, we sometimes think about hard work as a curse, and then sometimes we think about it as like the answer to everything in life, like hustle culture, grind culture, just work until your fingers bleed, but it's in pursuit of the money, you know, the paper, all that stuff that we think is important in life. Hard work is something that God has given to us to advance the kingdom, and so not only is the correct action required, but the correct motive. You know, you have to have the right motive, otherwise your work becomes fruitless.

Like, yeah, you'll get a lot of money, but what happens when you die and you haven't made the world a better place with all those resources you've accumulated? Right. Exactly. Dr. Shaw has said this before, and it's so true. We only get one life. We only get one go-around at this. You don't get to come back another chance and be like, oh, well, this time I'm going to do this differently, or this time I'm going to work even harder.

No, this is all we get. So why not use every moment, every opportunity, especially if you're in a ministry setting, use every opportunity to engage people and to capture the culture around you for the gospel. Sometimes when you work hard, your personality starts to shift. Some people, when they work hard, develop an alter ego of sorts. This is their work persona, and then you go home and that's your home persona. And then your work persona, you can be yourself, but then there's times where you get into a certain mode, and I think you know where I'm going with this.

Yes, I do know where you're going with this. Let's talk about Bulletin Ryan. We haven't seen Bulletin Ryan in quite some time because you don't work on the bulletins anymore, but do you want to just explain to people who Bulletin Ryan is and why we want to keep him at home? Yes, so Bulletin Ryan is sort of a Jekyll and Hyde situation in that Bulletin Ryan highlights the worst aspects of my personality, which is super neurotic, hyper detail focused, don't talk to me, don't get in my way. Bulletin Ryan is often functioning under a deadline that is encroaching rapidly. Bulletin Ryan doesn't work under stress. He is overwhelmed at all times. Maybe not overwhelmed, but he's constantly feeling the ticking clock.

Yes. And so Bulletin Ryan is very much like, if you get in front of me or if you get in my way, I'm going to run over you. I'm going to roll over you. This is your one warning. Your life is in your hands.

Because the whole train stops if I don't. Exactly. To your credit, I would much rather Bulletin Ryan than Project John. What? That is... I don't...

So mine is not the only alter ego in the studio. Let's talk about Project John. Project John is impatient. He has great ideas that need to be implemented.

They just don't need to be implemented right now. So Project John is like, hey, let's take out the cables that are underneath the broadcast room floor, run all new cables, get rid of the excess and completely streamline our broadcasting and streaming platforms. It's like, yeah, that's a great idea. And that's great. That's a great idea. Just carve out some time next month. It's like, no, that's happening today at work.

Not even that. It's like we can redo this whole thing to be so much more efficient. It's like, wow, that's a pretty good idea. It's Friday. We have a service on Saturday. We have a service in 24 hours. Let's do it. We can do it.

It's Saturday afternoon at three. But the demeanor is completely different. Project Ryan is like, don't talk to me. Don't get in front of me. Literally don't interact with me at all. Project John is positive. He's like, guys, this is going to be great.

It's going to make our lives so much easier. The only bugaboo is you are involved. Also Project Ryan, or Bulletin Ryan is like, please do not get involved. I will hurt you. Yeah. Bulletin Ryan requires nothing of you. Just stay out of my way. Project John is like, this is a really going to be a positive experience.

You just have to do a lot of work that you weren't expecting. Also though, if Bulletin Ryan, once he turns off, he's gone. Oh no.

That is true. There's no more Bulletin Ryan. There's no more anything that happened when I was Bulletin Ryan. I don't remember.

Yeah. I have no memory of that. Project John, it's like if anybody refuses Project John, like, hey, I don't think it's a good idea to do this now. Project John will remember that into regular John. Project John takes it personal. Like when I turned back into Bruce Banner, I'm still kind of a little bit angry.

You're still a little salty about it. You remember the events when you were Project John. Project John's projects, like Bulletin Ryan only needs himself to do the Bulletin. If I want to tear up the entire sound booth, I can't do that alone.

I need people to like run cables, tie them off, make them neater, do this. Let's get rid of the excess and all the mess and make it nice and clean. But it has to happen now and it has to happen.

It has to happen at an inopportune time and it has to be a team effort. But the trade off is the atmosphere is always positive. It's always, yes, we can. We can do this. I believe in you.

I trust you. This is going to be great. When we're running stuff on Sunday mornings, it's going to be awesome. So it's kind of the trade off. It's like, do I want to avoid Project, I mean, Bulletin Ryan or do I want to have to do extra work with Project John? And you said you 100 percent would rather work with Bulletin Ryan because that really hurts to hear. It's really work around Bulletin Ryan. It's really work around Bulletin Ryan. There's not really any working with Bulletin Ryan. But Bulletin Ryan is kind of dead. Like I haven't seen him in months.

Yeah, he hasn't been around in a while. When Bulletin Ryan comes out, I can still do what I need to do. When Project John comes out, everything that I had planned for the day goes down the toilet. But you would agree that the atmosphere is positive and fun?

No. Really? That hurts to hear. I always leave Project John feeling worse than I did.

Oh no, that's not what I wanted to hear. You think that you're positive because you're like, hey, we can do this. We got this.

The second that I'm like, hey, I don't think we should do this right now because we have a service in three hours. Then you're bringing me down a little. Yeah.

And then you're like, you know what? Fine. I don't need you. All right.

Yeah, I'll just do it. Was somebody else here? Was somebody talking? I don't remember that. Adam, let me get your help. Yeah. And then Adam's like, yes sir, right on it.

And he goes in. I'm like, see, see, now we get this thing done. I don't know. Well, maybe, maybe we'll see. I do have, I do have something I'm wanting to do tonight with the, with the pro presenter sync.

So maybe we can, maybe we can figure some stuff out. Let us know if you have a work persona, if you have a work personality that comes out, this is an interesting topic. And if you have a name, like we named ours, do you have a name for your work persona? You gotta name them.

You gotta name them. Because then it's not a toxic trait of your personality. It's like a fun character.

Then you can pin the blame on work persona and not on yourself. That's the important thing. Let us know, send us a text to 252-582-5028. We're going to get Dr. Shawn.

We'll be back in just a second. Hey everyone, my name's Ellie and I'm David. We want to take a minute and let you know how we can actually serve you as you're listening to Clearview today. The Bible paints an extraordinary picture of who we are as a church body. The mission of Clearview Church is to lead all people into a life changing, ever-growing relationship with Jesus Christ. A huge part of leading people is praying for them. A big reason that Christians have unanswered prayers in their life is because they're not praying.

You know, 1 John 5.15 says, and if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of him. If you're listening to the Clearview Today show, we want to know how we can pray for you as well. There's a number of ways that you can get in touch with us at Clearview and share your prayer request, but the best way is by texting us at 252-582-5028. You can also send us an email at prayer at ClearviewBC.org, or you can download the Clearview app on iTunes or Google Play. You know, on that app, there's a dedicated prayer wall that helps us to get to know what's going on in your life, how we can pray for you and how we can take any necessary steps to get you moving in the right direction. Thanks for listening.

Now let's get back to the show. Welcome back to Clear View Today with Dr. Abbadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearViewTodayShow.com. If you have any questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text to 252-582-5028.

That's right. We are back in the Clear View Today studio this afternoon with Dr. Abbadan Shah. He's a PhD in Textile Criticism. Dr. Shah, I have a project that I want to start. Just actually, if y'all want to start right now, I'll go ahead and get Dr. Shah. No, no. Please say no. What we're going to do is we're going to take the cables out from under this table and we're going to kind of reroute them around the room.

Because basically what I want to do is I want to get it to look neat. Sorry if I take a five. The answer is great. The project is great. The timing is poor. Mm-hmm. Right.

I think what's poor is latitude. The project is great. Because...

The timing is no. Dr. Shah, you value a clean, nice, efficient studio space. And I know that you do. Yes. And I've always admired that about you.

Yes. I don't know what rhyme that is. And I've always admired that about you. We had a conversation earlier, Dr. Shah, and you've probably clocked this. John and I have alternate personalities when it comes to work. When it's crunch time and there's a deadline, Ryan transforms into Bulletin Ryan.

And even though I'm not totally handling the bullet anymore, it's very much like, here's the deadline. Please don't talk to me. Don't get in my way. We're on the mission. Get this done. Here we go. Yes.

John turns into Project John. When there's free time. Wait. No, it's not when there's free time. It's when we're headed toward a service and it's like an hour and a half away from service. And John's like, I think now's a good time to completely rewire our streaming experience. It's like a Saturday afternoon.

The praise team is coming to rehearse at 5.30. It's three o'clock on a Saturday afternoon, but the broadcast room is using three too many cables. So let's dismantle it and start over. Wow.

Yeah. I don't know what to say about that. So Project would be good, but I think Dr. Shah would agree with me. Now's not the best time for a project. Right in the middle of the show. And I love that for you, but now's not the right time. Now's not the right time.

Now is the right time, however, to talk about someone very special. Today is the anniversary of George Mueller's salvation when he gave his life to Christ. That's right. I had not heard of George Mueller until we actually talked about him a couple of weeks ago in one of our adult—I want to say Sunday school, but it's our Sunday evening Bible study. Yeah. I had not heard of him until you told his story.

Yeah. He grew up in Germany and his father was a tax collector. He was not a good young man, but at a Moravian mission, he was converted at the age of 20. And it radically changed his life. And in 1829, he moved to England to do mission work and kind of sounds strange, right?

Somebody going from Germany to England to do mission work. Yeah. No, right. But that's what he did. And he worked with the Plymouth Brethren group and he made a decision which has really impacted my life, which is to completely rely on God for financial support.

Wow. So he didn't directly appeal for funds. He just trusted God. And his orphanage, which was for little children, of course, was supported and taken care of. All the needs were met at the right time in the right way. And it was just amazing. He talked to God and God met his needs.

That's incredible. And according to our standards, it's probably in the millions of dollars is how much he raised without saying much about it. God kept sending the money.

That seems like a huge step of faith for us. Was that pretty uncommon back in that day, not to appeal for any kind of funding or anything? Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Wow. Like, you know, there are other good people who did it. So it's not like appealing for funds is evil or anti-Christian.

None of that. It is great if he can do that. But he chose this route. And by the time he finished his ministry, 10,000 some little kids who grew up in that situation of being orphans were taken care of. And he himself had just barely a few hundred dollars on him. Wow. That's amazing. It's just a personal conviction of his just to not campaign for funds, just to allow God to work in that way.

I'm not going to ask and it's just going to happen. But don't just think he just sat there. But I mean, he did phenomenal work, very hard work at the same time, a life of faith, of trust in God. So it was not just like, I'm just trusting God with this and I just can't do anything. I'm just going to know that he was a solid, strong believer in Christ and his word and in prayer. I mean, his prayer life was very strong. So don't think this is just, you know, just three hands up in the air and just, it'll come somehow. You wouldn't put him in that category of the televangelists asking for money for their planes.

No, definitely not. Neither will I put him in the category of people who just sometimes are very flippant about things because all their options are kind of tapped out. So they're like, you know, I'm just, I can't do anything about it. So I'm just going to trust God with it. That's all I'm doing.

That's not George Muehl. Right, right. Kind of give up, kind of give up in a Christian way, I guess. A spiritual, spiritualized way.

No, no. He was a man who, who prayed and then had a solid walk of faith and God answered his prayers. And what a transformation.

I mean, you said earlier that he was not, maybe not the best role model as a young man, but then at 20 for his life to be changed and changed so radically that he devotes himself to God and to serving, especially orphans and stepping out of faith, trusting God to meet his needs. That's awesome. Yeah. We talked about Moravians, right?

They're more than just the cookie. So nowadays, all the people think about are the cookies, but so also John Wesley was also impacted by the Moravians, right? He was on that ship.

I think he was coming or going. I can't remember now, but he saw in the midst of a storm how these Moravians were just praising God, worshiping God and he just touched his life. And, you know, he said famously, you know, I'm going to America to convert the Indians, but who's going to convert me? Wow.

You know, I'm going to the new country to convert the Indians, but who's going to convert me? And then at Alders Gate, he, this is John Wesley, not George Mueller, is where he heard the gospel as they were reading from the introduction to the book of Galatians by Martin Luther. And that's how he heard the gospel and he got saved.

That's incredible. The example that we said, I think we talked about it Monday. Yeah, we talked about it on Monday with your dad, like the example that one person says, or that even a group of people said, we can't always see how it will ripple through different generations or through different people and the impact that God uses to spread his gospel. You know, why, talking about George Mueller, why orphanages? Was that something that he just kind of fell into? Is it, was that a deep conviction of his? Is that something that for people who don't know, I mean, I would say that's what he was most well known for is his work with orphanages. Yeah. I mean, at the time there was a big problem with that in England because of wars and things like that.

So there was a problem with the kids being on the street. So he definitely went into that ministry to take care of kids. And of course the Bible tells us, you know, what is pure and undefiled religion before God is to take care of widows and orphans and meet their needs. So that's, that should be the priority of the church. Right.

That's right. And clearly we do that. Of course, not every child we're helping is necessarily in the orphan category, but they are, they are in need. And so we are constantly doing things to meet the needs of our community. We, especially Christmas time, we have a toy chest ministry that we, we help children, parents actually come and shop for their kids. And so we, we, we, we focus on that as well. I love that so much because it's a practical opportunity for us to put in, in, uh, to, for us to put feet to, feet to our faith.

It's a chance for us to live out what we say we believe or, you know, what we say we ought to do. I think back to, you know, in addition to the toy chest, we, we do a lot with elementary schools and the students there who may or may not get Christmas, who may not have enough, their parents may not have enough to provide for them, or maybe they are actually orphans and they're staying with grandparents or whatever. And through the school system, we're provided these names. We, they're anonymous. People here in our church will get those names and they will adopt that child for Christmas, essentially. They'll go and shop and bring those gifts back. And, um, I get the chance to see the school counselors as they come and pick up the gifts as we load them and just without fail every year there's tears in their eyes because they, they know who these kids are. They know those faces.

We, to us, they're just names on a paper. But to them, I mean, this is these kids' lives being radically impacted for the sake of the gospel. I think it's easy to take for granted because we've had, how long would you say the school that we've had the Clearview School Support Ministry here? We actually began that ministry in 2011 or actually even 10 when we knew that we were coming to this location at 3485 Oxford Road when we realized that this is the place we're going to purchase. There was a church here that was sort of not able to financially take care of themselves. And so God brought that church to us and we purchased their church.

They had some back payments, they had some repair issues and all that going on. And we gave them our church building, which was our second church building. The first one is still standing on College and Peachtree Streets, built back in the mid 40s. And then in 2007, we moved to the Red Oak building and we were there for two years. And then when this church approached us, because we were growing, we decided to do a church swap where we took over their building with whatever back payments issues they were going on. TLC church swap.

Yeah. And then we paid off our building on Red Oak Road and gave it to them. All they have to do is maintain it, pay the water and electricity bills and they have the church. So it was kind of a win-win situation. And so when we moved in this location, Nicole and I were talking and we said, we're going to adopt a school in our radius of influence, in a mile radius or two miles, whatever, whatever school comes in there, we're going to adopt and do something to help them. This will be our ministry.

And we chose E.M. Rollins. And so the ministry began and we would go there and we would help them and this and that and the other. And then several years later, a couple came to our church, Donald Virginia Painter, and they wanted to do some kind of a school support ministry. And we said, we already have one.

It is not as strong as we want it to be, but we could definitely use your help. And she was already involved in helping schools and children through different schools. And she said, I would love that. And so the ministry was there, but having Ms. Virginia Painter with us enabled us to take the ministry to another level. And so we're helping hundreds of kids.

Oh, yeah. And it's easy to take for granted when it's been here since three years before I even started 10 years ago, you know, it's it's easy to take for granted that you start to think that all churches are doing this and there's not because there is such a need. And so, you know, I would say and I know, Dr. Shaw, you would you would agree that that churches you know, you should be adopting schools and you should be thinking about these kids in that way because it makes such a huge impact to the point where you almost don't even really get to see that impact.

You know what I mean? Even with, you know, George Mueller, we're talking about his salvation. He saw a need and the need was these kids on the streets because where there was war or high mortality rate among adults at the time. So parents died. What about the kids? Nobody's taking them in. So what do they do?

They just live on the streets. Yeah. Yeah.

They find an abandoned building and the band together. You know, a lot of those movies that we like Oliver Twist. I was actually thinking about earlier when you said that kids on the street like Oliver Twist is picking George Mueller's pocket. Yeah.

But the thing is, it's like that kind of makes it like when you see it in movies and stuff, it's like, oh, this kind of a cute like rowdy bunch of boys getting into misadventures. It's not like, oh, there's children living on the street. Right. Right.

And they have no one to take care of them. Yeah. And so George Mueller and others embarked on this task, which was in 1836, he and his wife began to take in the orphans and built a home for 300. And then after that, more buildings followed in Bristol. And by 1870, they had, they were housing 1700 children. That's amazing. That's a lot, isn't it?

Yes. 1700 children. That's incredible. And by the time it was all done, 10,000 some kids came through the orphanages. Wow. Being able to impact 10,000 children and especially in a situation where you're not guaranteed those funds. Yeah.

The money that it takes to house, feed, clothe 10,000 children. And it's like, I have to just have faith that this money is going to come in. I was just thinking about that.

Like the vision that he had to impact kids to make sure the orphans were taken care of. He's like, I'm going here. God has called me here.

And if he's called me here, he's going to give me what I need in order to get there. Now there's a link I sent you. I want you to read that if you can. Just bits and pieces here and there. If we have a minute or two. Is that okay? Yeah, absolutely. So this is from, it says it's from his journal, The Life of Trust. Yes. He begins and says, I stated to the brethren at the end of October 1830 that I should for the future give up having any regular salary.

Wow. After I had given my reasons for doing so, I read Philippians four and told the saints that if they still had a desire to do something towards my support by voluntary gifts, I had no objections to receive them. Though ever so small, either in money or provisions. About the same time also, my wife and I had grace given to us to take the Lord's commandment, sell that ye have and give alms, literally and to carry it out. Our staff and support in this matter were Matthew chapter six, 19 through 34. John is written in Roman numerals, so I'm reading a little slower. John 14, 13 and 14. We leaned on the arm of the Lord Jesus.

It is now 25 years since we set out in this way and we do not in the least regret the step we then took. As I have written down how the Lord has been pleased to deal with us since, I shall be able to relate some facts concerning this matter as far as they may tend to edification. And there are stories of lunchtime, there's no food in the orphanage. And Mr. Mueller, what should we do? Well, get the kids to sit. Let's sit down, have the plates raised like almost like a Peter Pan thing. And then he prays, and as he's even finishing the prayer, there's a knock on the door and there's this guy in a horse-drawn carriage has the food to feed the kids. He said, well, my master told me to send this food and they felt like you needed them today. And they're like, yeah, bring them in. That's incredible.

Good timing. We hear a story like that and we're like, oh wow, it's like magic. God did a magic trick, but he's been working in the hearts and minds of his people. Yes. I think that's something that you've shown me, particularly over these past 10 years of working with you, is that when you start to plant seeds in people's life, you don't know how that's going to come back and benefit you later in life.

Even if it never does, you trust that God is working it for good for someone else. Amen. I love that. Can I read one more thing?

Yes, please, please. So this is, this is towards the end of this entry. He says, he's making the following remarks to people.

This is the second thing that he says. He says, confidence in the Lord to whom alone I look for the supply of my temporal wants keeps me when a case of distress comes before me or when the Lord's work calls for my pecuniary aid from anxious reckoning like this. Will my salary last out? Shall I have enough myself the next month, et cetera? In this, my freedom I am by the grace of God, generally at least able to say to myself something like this, my Lord is not limited. He can again supply. He knows that this present case has been sent to me and thus this way of living so far from leading to anxiety is rather the means of keeping from it.

Wow. In a sense, we know we feel that here we're doing so much and yet we're not anxious. And there are times you feel a little bit like, okay, the shutdowns are happening or, uh, you know, the financial market is not where it needs to be. What's going to happen?

And then I have to stop and say, no, God is in control. I'm going to trust him. I'm going to do his work and money will take care of itself. And every time God has done that, like in George Mueller's life, according to some estimates, uh, in throughout his life, he raised close to 1.5 million pounds. Unbelievable. In today's money, that would be a hundred million pounds.

Wow. Without writing any letters, begging people, nothing. Without ever having to beg or to fundraise or anything. Dr. Shah, as, as you were faithful listener of the Clearview Today show, I want to help people, especially want to help children, but I don't have it in me to start an orphanage, at least not right now.

What can I do? Hey, find ministries that you can support wherever you are. Uh, look for a church that is a Bible believing church. Of course we emphasize that, but find someone who is genuinely doing things to help people.

Right. Meeting needs. Like if you're in this area, help us. We, we are, uh, we have a Kindle ministry that, uh, it's an outreach ministry where we go out and help people in need. We fix their homes. We provide our household items for them. We take care of children. We take care of senior adults. Like we take care of their needs. Uh, so Christmas is coming up. Hey, make a donation to us.

We'll be glad to, uh, uh, you partner with you in reaching, uh, our community and beyond. And just know every time we do that, we share the gospel of Jesus Christ. So this is not just, right. There's not just a hand up.

This is, uh, the nail scarred hand coming to them and saving their lives. That was pretty good. So good.

I know that's like a mic drop moment. That's good. Uh, if you guys are, if you enjoyed the today's episode, you want to learn more about George Mueller's life or you want to learn how you can get involved with what we're doing here at Clearview, send us a text to two five two five eight two five zero two eight. You can visit us online at Clearview today show.com. One of the ways you can support those ministries that we talked about is by supporting us at the Clearview today show financially. Every gift that you give goes to funding this radio show and getting the gospel out to people. You have the opportunity to do that. So we ask that you be obedient to God in doing so.

John, what's coming up on tomorrow's episode. I want to learn how to be grateful. Oh no. I want to learn how to be grateful. Only I fear that I can't.

I feel like it's too difficult. So I'm going to just sit here and ungrateful. No, I'm just, no, we're going to learn. God helps you. That's right. And we'll learn about that some more tomorrow. Love you guys. We'll see you tomorrow on Clearview today.