The importance and nature of pioneer missionary work, drawing parallels with the Apostle Paul's ambition to preach the Gospel in unreached territories. It highlights the dedication and sacrifice of pioneers like William Carey and David Livingstone, who faced immense challenges and personal hardship to spread Christianity. The core lesson is that the greatest calling is to take the Gospel to those who have never heard it, finding profound joy and fulfillment in this endeavor. The message concludes by urging listeners to pray for and support those who continue this vital work, recognizing the honorable sacrifices made by these faithful servants.
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shall very please an epistle to the Romans chapter fifteen. Romans chapter fifteen and will commence to read with verse fourteen. And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another. Nevertheless, brethren, I have written them more boldly on to you in some sort as putting you in mind, because of the grace that is given to me of God, that I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the Gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.
I have therefore whereof I might glory through Jesus Christ in those things which pertain to God. for I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not brought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient by word and deed, through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the Gospel of Christ. Yea, so have I strived. The word is ambitious. I've been ambitious. Ye so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation.
But as it is written, to whom he was not spoken of, they shall see, and they that have not heard shall understand, for which cause also I have been much hindered from coming to you, but now having no more place in these parts, and having a great desire these many years to come unto you. Whensoever I take my journey into Spain, I will come to you, for I trust to see you in my journey, and to be brought on my way to the world by you, if first I may be somewhat filled with your company. Tonight I want to speak for a little while about pioneer work.
This morning we were looking at the Acts of the Apostles and speaking about some of the great principles there concerning the Word of God. And let me repeat that the Acts of the Apostles is the missionary's handbook. It's his guidebook. And I think that anyone who's interested in the spread of the Gospel, either at home or abroad, should carefully study this lovely book. All the great principles connected with the work of God are laid out for us. And I believe that we ignore that our peril. And where you find anyone that God is blessing in the work of God, I think if you compare the work with the Acts of the Apostles, you'll find that it's there, is the secret of all blessing in the work of God.
Now in the evening, again in a very informal way, I want to look at some of the practical applications of the great principles that you find in the Acts of the Apostles. Each morning we want to look at the doctrine. And then in the evening, I want to speak very informally about how these great principles can be put into practice, and we find them in missionary work at the present time. The different things that I have in mind to speak about are about half a dozen of them. And tonight, I want to speak about pioneer work, the pioneer aspects of the work. And then this pastoral work. After the pioneer work has been done, then there's a work of building up New Testament families.
And I want to look again at the principles connected with pastoral work. That is building up the saints of God and teaching the great truths of Holy Scripture. First of all, pioneer work and then pastoral work. And then I want to look at some of the problems. I don't think that there ever was a day on the mission field where there are more problems than at the present time. When I went to Africa, fifty years ago, all that we needed at that time was a passport. You didn't even need a visa. All you needed was a valid passport. And we went out at that time and had the acceptance of the government from the country in which we intended to spend our life.
But you know those days are gone forever. under all kinds of problems, practical problems in the work of the Lord today. And I think that anyone who's interested should be informed of some of the problems that the servant of God is up against at the present time. So again, we want to look at the problems in the work of the Lord. Then I want to speak about personality. Anyone who gives an account of the Lord's work, I always listen very carefully. And if a man continually talks about himself, and never mentions its fellow workers. I always put a great big question mark after that man's name. I think that any man who's engaged in the work of the Lord should get credit where credit is due.
And if there's one thing I'm very thankful for, it says, we have had many, many beloved fellow workers. And I can't say anything too high of those with whom we have been associated in the work of the Lord. It's obvious that we want a time to go into all the different personalities that we've been in contact with, both European, American, and also our beloved African brethren. But I want to give a few examples of some of the great men of God, both those from this country and those in Africa with whom we have been associated in the work of the Lord and tell a few stories about them. That might be interesting. And then I want to speak a little bit about persecution.
We will have an opportunity in looking at the Acts of the Apostles one morning and speaking about the opposition to the church. And mind you, what the Lord said, when he used the word first of all, on this rock I will build my church. Then he said, on the gifts of hail, shall not prevail against it. But I do want to say today, if ever there was a day when the gifts of hail, are doing everything that possibly can to wreck and to destroy and undermine the work of God is at the present time. And so we want to speak a little bit about persecution, some of the things that we have seen personally in different parts of the world, and trying to point out some of the difficulties that our dear fellow servants, the servants of God, are up against in the work of God today.
On them, on the end, I want to speak about the prospects. All the prospects are bright with the promises of God, on the spite of all that hell can do, on the gifts of hell. Thank God the church is being built upon the solid rock, and God's purposes will be completely fulfilled in the evangelization of the world and in gathering out all the nations of people for God's name. Now, just for a little while tonight, again, very informally, I want to speak particularly about the pioneered aspects of the work. That is the reason I read the passage in the Acts of the Apostles, in the Epistle to the Romans. In the Epistle to the Romans, Paul said that his great ambition was to preach Christ, where his name never had been mentioned.
He had three ambitions. It would be interesting to look at them. You remember in second Corinthians chapter five, he said it was his ambition. He strived that he might be well pleasing to the Lord. I think that this is one great ambition, one great desire of every servant of God, not so much to please man. We have to get our eyes up man. But oh, what a lovely object, what a lovely motive this is to be well pleasing to the Lord. Instead of getting our eyes on our brethren or on those that would criticize, are those that would seek to tear apart the word of God, or to get our eye upon the Lord, and to try to be well-pleasing unto him. And then Paul, in writing to the Thessalonians, he said, Strive to be quiet.
Strive to be quiet. The word is the same. Be ambitious. To be quiet and do your own business. And this, again, is a lovely trade in any Christian. somebody that's continually pushing himself to the front, and continually talk, talk, talk, talk about himself, there's something about that individual, I think, that gives us a very queer feeling. But the Apostle, he said, strive to be quiet, and to do your own work, and to be pleasing to the Lord himself. And then, in the passage that we have read together, he said his great ambition was to preach Christ wherever his name never have been mentioned. You know, the Apostle Paul in the Acts was one of the greatest pioneers, I think, in church history and his life.
And the work that he did, I think, is an example to each one of us here tonight. You think that when God called us, and for a period of approximately ten years, and the amazing thing to me is that his great missionary labors only occupied a time of approximately ten years. when he was called and sent forth, commanded, in Acts chapter thirteen. And from that point up until Acts chapter twenty, where he speaks to the elders at Ephesus as if his work, his public work was finished. It was only approximately ten years. And yet in that period, he had founded New Testament churches in all the four provinces of the Roman Empire.
It's one of the great examples of a pioneer. He strived to preach Christ, for he was not named. And he said, From Jerusalem, from the starting point, Aron de Bott de Lirica. Now, if you were to look at your map, you'll see that Illyricum is the western shore of the Adriatic, looking over to Italy. And in that area, what we would call today Yugoslavia and Albania, the Balkan state, the Apostle Paul, he says, I have fully preached the Gospel of Christ. He was a real pioneer in every sense of the word. I remember years ago, I'm reading through some of Kipling's poems. There was a thing that filled my heart.
He has a poem. You may have heard it. And speaking about the pioneer, this is what he said. There's a legion that never was listed. It carries no colors in her crest. and split into thousands attachments, is breaking the road for the rest. Thank God for the pioneers. Hats off for the pioneers. The men and women that go into fresh ground and take Christ, for He never has the name. You know, this was an ambition I had, a secret ambition when I was very young. I said, Lord, I said, please give me two years. I thought if I was able to go into the place that had been laid upon my heart, away from the northern part of Angola, that was completely un-evangelized at that time, and for the languages in that area, never had been committed to writing, I thought, I would like to go there, and I said, Lord, give me two years, and I will be satisfied.
But the Lord has given me fifty years. Isn't the Lord good? He certainly is. He has given us fifty years in the Word of the Lord. And we have nothing but praise and thanksgiving and gratitude in our hearts to our good God for what He has done and giving us the privilege of going in among people who have never heard the gospel. You know, sometimes young people today, they're looking for a thrill. You know, I can't imagine any greater thrill than to go into a little village. for the name of Jesus never has been heard, and gather the people together and sit down beside a fire, and give them the simple gospel of the grace of God. There's not a single fill on earth to compare with it.
I don't care what it is, but to take the gospel of the grace of God into a place where the name of Jesus never has been mentioned. And then to see a little word done. later on an assembly built up and to see the work spread on these great principles that we find of the Word of God being carried out. Now I thought tonight I would like to speak about half a dozen pioneers and then at the end of the meeting just give one or two little personal experiences that we have had in this type of work. Every time I think of a pioneer in modern times I always think of William Cherry. He came from a very humble background in England.
I think he was the first pioneer evangelical missionary, at least that I can think of. He came from a very humble mother's background. He belonged to a little Baptist community in the city of Nottingham in England. And the Lord had laid upon his heart to go out to India and take the gospel to people there who had never heard the gospel. He got up in a little meeting one night. And he asked the brethren if they would give them any encouragement in going out to India to take the gospel there. Now, he had no formal education at all. And when he spoke to the brethren about it, there was an old gentleman that got up and he said, Young man, Saddam. And he threw a bucket of cold water on him.
And William Careley Saddam. But a law, he was discouraged, and a law, nobody given any encouragement, whatever, that didn't dampen the feeling. I believe it was the Holy Spirit of God who put the desire in his heart to take the gospel over to India. And so after a time, the brethren changed their mind. And as he was leaving, to go to India, he said, brethren, he said, I'm willing, he said, to go down into the depths of heathenism, but he said, I do need somebody to hold the ropes. He said, I'll go down, but he said, if you would please hold the ropes. Now, what he meant by that, he wanted them to pray for him. If you have never read a biography of William Carey, you've missed something.
I think it was one of the greatest men in the history of missions on record today. Now, after a long life, of more than forty years in india that man who had no formal education at all had done one of the greatest works in translation from that day to this i understand that he was engaged in translation work in about thirty different languages and dialects now that is a record that ever has been equal I believe he was a man that God raised up for that particular work. On some of the most difficult languages in India, he seemed to have that facility in learning them and doing translation work.
Now, at the end of his life, he was sitting at the Viceroy's table in Delhi, in India, and some of the greatest of the land were sitting around the table. and the old gentleman coming to the end of his life, and these different men sitting around the table, there was a military officer, a high-ranking military officer on the other side of the table, and he thought he would like to take Mr. Carey down. You know, you'll always find people like that. And he spoke across the table to him in the presence of the Viceroy. He said, Mr. Carey, he said, I understand in your early life you used to be a shoemaker. And the dear old gentleman smiled. He said, oh, no, no, no. He said, nothing so great as that.
He said, I wasn't a shoemaker. He said, I was only a cobbler. But I said, I want to tell you this. He said, my business was to preach the gospel of Christ. And he said, I cobbled shoes to pay expenses. And I said, I'm not ashamed of that. Neither should any man be. He had a son called Felix. And of course, at the end of his days, the whole family were well known. And Felix carried. by the British government was made the British ambassador to Burma. And his father, William Carey, when he heard that Felix had become the ambassador of the court of St. James over to Burma, he wrote a letter to some of his friends, and this is what he said. He said, poor Felix, he has shriveled, he said, from a missionary into an ambassador.
He has shriveled from a missionary into an ambassador. Oh, thank God for men who think like that. This is the world turned upside down. And thank God for a man who realized that the greatest vocation on earth is the man who takes the gospel to those who have never heard it. So here we get William Carey. Now just for a minute or two, I want you to think of the pioneers in Africa. It was William Carey in India, the man who opened the subcontinent to the gospel. There are many, many things about him. Some of it's fellow workers. I'd love to talk about tonight, but we just want to leave it there. David Livingstone, too, came from a very humble home.
Some years ago I was over in Scotland and I went to Blantyre. I saw the place where David Livingstone was born. It's what they call in Scotland a button of end. And I went in and I saw it there in Blantyre. Lovely little home. And the wag at the wall clock and all the different furniture that was in the room, it's still there and it has been preserved. by the Historical Society in Scotland as a memorial to David Livingstone. When he was young, he used to start work at six o'clock in the morning as a weaver. But he had a Latin grammar propped up on the loom, and while the shuttle was moving backwards and forwards, he was learning his Latin verb.
And after some time, he graduated, went to Glasgow University and became a doctor. He first of all wanted to go to China. But at that time the China-Opium war was going on and he wasn't able to go there. And so instead of that, he went to Africa. And I believe that God directed the dear man's steps. When he was leaving home, his father, an old man, he walked with him from Blantyre to Glasgow. In those days there wasn't the means of transport that we had today. But the two together, the dear old gentleman with his son, They walked together side by side to Glasgow. And the old gentleman bid his son goodbye.
He never saw him again. But David Livingstone went over to Africa to Robert Moffat. And while he was in South Africa, he took a journey up north. He was living at a place called Cura Man. But he went up north and standing upon a mountain top on a hill. He tells her he saw the smoke of one thousand temp fires going up to heaven. in a place where the Gospel never had been, and aspired the ambition in his heart to take the Gospel to those people. At that time, he was a member of the London Missionary Society. He wrote to the headquarters of the Society in London and asked their permission to leave Cure a Man and take the Gospel up Nora.
And the reply he got was this. They said, You are a servant of the London Missionary Society, and you just stay where you are on the Bay Order. And you know, when David Livingstone got that letter, he wrote back to them. They said, I am no man's servant. He said, God has sent me here, and I believe God is calling me to take the gospel to these people up north. I have seen the country, I have seen the smoke of those campfires going up to heaven, and I said, I believe that God is calling me to go there. He severed his connection with the London Missionary Society on stepping out in simple faith and trust in God. He was up north, and the result we all know.
He first of all discovered the sources of the Zambezi, and then during a long life, with weary footsteps, he traced the cross, nor... east and west, north and south and east and west. On two of his major journeys, it traced across, right across Central Africa. The story is well known, and I don't want to repeat it here tonight or occupy time in talking about it, but to me it was a thrilling experience just a little while ago to pick up a book that I had been looking for for years. It's called David Livingstone's Last Journey. And you know, it's a book I can't imagine anybody reading it without the tears coming from their eyes.
His last journey he undertook was to try to discover the sources of the Nile. He never discovered them. But one day after a long, weary day, disheartened, discouraged, all his goods had been plundered, and things that had been sent up from the coast, from the East Coast to him had been plundered by robbers. On the dear man without medicine or proper food, and weary with those long journeys, he went into a little hut in a place called Chittamball, and what today is called Zambia. He went into the hut, and he lay down on a little bed raised about six inches off the floor. and they lay down there for a while.
He had four faithful men that were carrying his load. And they made this last meal outside. And after they'd cooked the meal, they brought it to the door of the little hut. And as the boy, as he stood down and looked in, he saw that David Livingstone was sitting on his knees with his two elbows on a little low bed, and he was praying. And the boy, he reverently withdrew it. He waited for a little while, sat down at the farm, waited for a little while, and then he went back in again. And this time as he went in, he found that his master was dead. He had slumped over, and upon his knees beside that little bed, committing his soul to God, the Lord took him home.
Now those men, they must have been very intelligent and very wise. It was difficult, hostile country. But they brought David Livingstone's body outside. They drained all the blood and the water from the body. And then making a little rack, they took his body and placed it on that rack. Before doing that, they took out the inward parts of his body, stomach, liver, intestines, heart. And they buried them underneath a tree in that little village. And they made a mark on the tree where they buried that part of his body. But the main part of his body, they put on the little rack, and dried it out in the sun until it was thoroughly dry, and then pushing his knees up to his chin, and tying the body with tread cloth, that has guided it as a log.
And those four faithful men, with the body of David Livingstone, tied to a stick, they carried it out to the east coast, a journey of over two thousand miles. And when they reached there, his body was placed on a British destroyer, a British warship that was on the harbour in Zanzibar. And then it was brought home. I met one of the men many, many years ago that examined David Livingstone's remains when it arrived in England. It must be over fifty years ago when I met him. He was a medical doctor. And he was one of the men who identified David Livingstone's body when it arrived home. The old gentleman, this medical doctor, was over ninety at the time.
But he was one of the men who examined him. And after they were absolutely sure it was David Livingstone's body. He was taken and buried in the most prominent place in Westminster Abbey. Anytime I go to London, I never would think of passing Westminster Abbey by. But I walk up the aisle, and looking at the floor, in the most prominent place on the abbey, you'll see the admirals on the one side, the poets on the other, and the great men of history, buried all around, and right in the center. of the Isle is the weaver's son, David Livingstone, the pioneer. Oh, what a wonderful thing it is to think of a man who spent his life in taking the gospel to people who had never heard it, and a man who died upon his knees in the middle of Africa.
You know, there's some people today that call themselves the NAR generation, and to say, we have nothing to learn from history. I feel awfully sorry when people talk like that. We have an awful lot to learn from history. And from these dear men who have given their lives and have pioneered with the gospel in different parts of the world, I believe that we should learn from them. And not only that, but take some inspiration from the work that they did. Now, following David Livingstone, most of you know that the next man to go out to Central Africa was Frederick Stanley Arnett. He was a man from the Assembly, twenty-one years of age. and he came from practically the same place that David Livingstone did.
Under twenty-one years of age, he went out to Durban in East Africa, and then taking a long, long journey, he went right into the heart of the continent to follow up the work that David Livingstone had done. Now this morning, we described a little bit about his arrival in Garen Genzi. By the way, that word garanganzai, it's not often used today. But actually, in the native language, it means a little bit further in. A little bit further in. If you would speak to a man in B.A. or in Chokri Lang or in the Luwena country, in Angola, the further you go into the interior, if you say, where is Bunkaya? They say garanganzai.
A little bit further in. It was right on the heart of the continent at that time. You know that Fred Stanley Arnett was the first white man after David Livingstone in the heart of the country, and there were two things that David Livingstone, that Fred Stanley Arnett used. And the first one was that in the grab for Africa at that time, he had the opportunity of influencing the chief in handing over that country to the British government. There was a British officer at the time on the way in to take it over. and Fred Stanley Arnett could easily have influenced Mushidi, the hand over the country, to the British government, and said it to the Belgian government, but he was determined that it would have absolutely nothing but ever to do with political intrigue, and he kept out of it completely.
Now the second thing, he was the first man who ever knew of the tremendous mineral wealth in Central Africa, and particularly on the Copper Belt, and if he had light, After he had learned what was there, he could have come home, and he could have floated a country, and he could have become a multi-millionaire. But he deliberately turned his back on these things. His great ambition was to form a chain of stations from the west coast of Africa. right into Guernsey and right out to the east coast on that great ambition that Mr. Arnott had, it was realized. We do thank God for men like this, men who are not interested in politics, men who are not interested in material things, but men who are out for the glory of Christ on the spread of the gospel.
And certainly, dear Fred Stanley Arnott, That was his ambition. I went into a little hut one day in Angola, and I found a book. And to me, it's one of the greatest treasures that I have. It was covered with anthill dirt. It had been partially eaten by white ants, by termites. It was a copy of Thomas Newbury's exposition of the temple and the tabernacle with some beautiful plates. And when I cleaned it off and opened it on the fly leaf of the book is the name Fred Stanley Arnott. I could hardly believe my eye. I might as well have discovered a diamond. I still have it.
And it's one of the most precious things that I have today in my library, that boot that belongs with that dear man of God. He loved his Bible, and he loved to expound the good things of God. He too was one of the pioneers. Now, it would be impossible to go into detail about some of the others. I would love to talk about Mr. Charles Swan. a man I knew intimately. I spent a year with him in nineteen twenty-three in Portugal when we were studying the Portuguese language. I would love to talk about Mr. Fred Lane, a man who is a sergeant detective in Scotland Yard, but who went out with Mr. Arnott and spent his life in opening up the work.
It was to him that I went out first of all. I'd love to talk about some of the other men, but just a word, about the man who pioneered the work in Chokri Land. His name was Cuthbert Taylor. As a matter of fact, his wife, up until quite recently, lived in Victoria in British Columbia. He was one of the best men that we have ever had in the work in Central Africa. The first forty-three hymns that were translated into the Chokwe language right at the very commencement of the work were translated by Cuthbert Taylor under the best hymns that we have today. He must have been a genius. The way he was able to pick up the, not only the language, but the idiom and the rhyme and the rhythm, and these beautiful hymns, some of them are even more beautiful in the African language than we have in our own beautiful English language today.
But Cuthbert Taylor went in there, and after a number of years he got blackwater fever. He had seven attacks of blackwater, and he died in the seventh one. Mr. Fred Alford was sitting by his side when he died. And as he went in, it took his hand, and that dear man, just before he passed into the presence of the Lord, he started to weep. And Mr. Alford said to him, Why are you weeping? Oh, he said, I was thinking of that little hymn. Must I go on empty-handed? Thus, my dear Redeemer me, not one soul with which to greet him. must I meet my Savior Saul. He hadn't seen a single soul saved among the Chalk we tried, but he was a pioneer.
He was the man who lived the foundation. And I want to tell you tonight that we have over two hundred assemblies today speaking the Chopra language. I believe that God will reward that dear man in the coming day. When he died, before he died, he said this. He said, I have lived here and I have given my life for these people. And they said, bury me just like an African. He was buried without a coffin. They wrapped his body in bark, bark cloth. And they dug the grave. And at the side of the grave, they made a little alcohol. And Mr. Taylor's body was lowered into the grave and then put into the little alcove, the little niche, cut at the side of the grave.
And then some sticks put in there to hold it in. The Africans, when a person is buried, if they haven't come to the meridian of life, the face, it faces towards the east. But a person who's over fifty years of age, the face points towards the west. But as Mr. Taylor's body was lowered into the grave, they faced his face through the east, the place of the sunrise, and then the grave was filled in. Oh, many a time I have gone to that site on the banks of the Luma River and the Kasai, and I have taken off my hat, and I have stood and bowed my head, and thanked God for a man like that. Hats off to the pioneers.
We thank God for them. Now, just a word about South America. You may know that the first man to go to South America with the gospel was Alan Gardner. We know that there are many others who came after. He was a British naval officer. And Alan Gardner, he had been to Patagonia. in the service in the british navy and he had seen the condition of the people there and he determined that he would when he resigned from the navy or when his service was over that he would go over there and give the people the gospel truly born again man a thorough evangelical well now he went but before he went Those that commanded them to send them out, they said that they would send supplies afterward.
But he went there on the ship that was coming out with reinforcements and supplies was wrecked on the way. And the result was that from the next reinforcements came along. They found his body underneath a boat on the shore. He had died of starvation, but from the rent to him they found that his Bible was open. at Revelation chapter seven. And the singer was on that verse in Revelation chapter seven. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light upon them, nor any heat. You know what a wonderful thing that is. Do you think it's possible for a man to die of starvation, being sent by God?
Well, the Lord allowed that dear man to do that. He died on the shore and not in hospice shore in Patagonia. And he died of starvation. But there was many who came afterwards. And anyone who has been to South America today in Argentina. And in Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, and all these different countries, the Latin Republics of South America, thank God for the work that has been done. But all the pioneers, the men that have gone there and given their lives for the Lord, we do thank God for them, every one. I just want to mention an African in Angola. I landed there in And in those days the Ovimbundo, the tribe that lived in B.A., were the great pioneers to go into the interior.
I remember the first meeting I was at. It was at Chalanda. And the little room in which the meeting was held, there was just some lamps, oil-burning lamps hanging from the ceiling. I was twenty-one years of age at the time. And the missionary who was there at the time was Mr. Edward Sandler. He spent fifty years, again a pioneer. But I sat down beside Mr. Sanders, and the man who was to take the meeting that night was an African called Von Gula. And when he passed me to get up on the platform to preach, I noticed he was in his bare feet, and he was wearing an old pair of pajamas. And behind the fact that he didn't have a shirt, he had the pajamas folded across his chest and flattened to the safety pin.
His hair was white. His face was black and it was top marked. But the thing that I noticed, when he got up on the platform and when he passed me in his bare feet, there were great big thick calluses about three-quarters of an inch thick on his heels, and they were black and they were cracked. And as I looked at his feet, I could see that underneath his feet, there were these big, hard calluses on the soles of his feet. And I started to smile. And Mr. Sanders noticed me. And after the meeting, I said to him, I said, where did Von Gula get those calluses on his feet? Or he says, brother, don't smile. He said, those are honorable calluses. He said, I want to tell you that that man has walked, and I mean walked.
He has walked thousands of miles backwards and forwards across Central Africa, preaching the Gospel of Christ in places where the name of Christ never had the name. Honorable calluses. I couldn't help but think of that verse. In Isaiah chapter fifty-two, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that preach of the gospel of peace. Notice in Isaiah fifty-two, it's singular, the feet of him, for that's those beautiful feet of our Lord, the feet of him. But in Romans chapter ten, where it's quoted, the apostle, he uses the plural, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of them. that preached the gospel of faith.
And every time I think of Von Gula, the man with the big chalices upon his feet, they were honorable chalices, beautiful feet, beautiful feet. I got to know him very, very well afterwards when I learned the umbunda language and was able to converse with him freely. And sometimes I used to see him coming back from a long journey. And he had a staff in his hand. And the staff was covered with knicks from top to bottom. When he went off on his journey sometimes, two thousand miles, twenty miles a day, sleeping on the ground at night, going to little villages and preaching the gospel. And when he came back again, he had this long staff, just like a shepherd's staff, and have discovered with nicks that he had made with the mice in the staff.
And I said to him, Von Gulen, I said, what do those nicks mean in your staff? Well, he says, Gannon, you know, he said, when I used to be a hunter, and he said, I had my gun. Every time I killed an animal, he said, in the middle of Nick, on the shaft of the gun, or else he said, I took a little piece of, a little piece of the skin, and I tied it on the gun. But he said, I determined that when I went out to preach the gospel, that every time I saw a soul saved, I would make a Nick and my staff. And when he came back again, the staff from top to bottom, it was covered with Nick. I wonder how many we have on our staff. You ever had that joy of taking the gospel where it was never named?
Beloved brethren, I think this is the greatest vocation in life to be able to preach the gospel where Christ was never named. I think my time is gone. We're not going to talk about ourselves tonight. But all I want to say is that we always had this ambition. And I can honestly say that during the years that we were over there, the greatest joy that we have had in life, and we've had it again and again and again and again, more times than I could have had. My wife and I, in her early twenties, and by the way, it cost me a walk of nine hundred miles to get my wife. On the day that we were married, on the twenty-third of June, nineteen-twenty-seven, we've had our forty-six, coming up to our forty-sixth wedding anniversary.
The day that we stood up to repeat our marriage, Bob, in Angola. We started off immediately afterwards on a two hundred and fifty mile walk. That was thirteen days. We walked, a pair of us in our early twenties, sleeping on the ground at night with a bunch of African carriers carrying all our earthly possessions. And from that time on, after we finished that journey, took us thirteen days to do it, away up into the north of Angola. We found a people whose language never had been committed to writing. There wasn't a single Christian in the whole country. Our nearest Christian, nearest mission, was hundreds of miles away. There wasn't a hospital. There wasn't a nurse.
There wasn't a doctor. Our three children were born in Angola. And all I can say is this. During the sixteen years that we spent pioneering the Sangu tribe, learning their language and seeing a little bit of God's hand working, it's the happiest years of our life. We had our difficulties, of course. We had an experience with malaria, and then we had an experience with black water fever, and we had all kinds of experiences. But I wouldn't have exchanged that for anything that the world has to give. And I can honestly say tonight, if I were back at twenty-one years of age, and if anyone was to say, what would you want to do with yourself, I would do exactly the same thing over again.
No regrets about that, and all the joy. the great joy and the privilege and the honor of being a pioneer and taking the gospel where it has never yet been. May the Lord stir up our heart. I know that most of us who are here tonight are in the sunset years of life, but oh do please pray for those that are carrying on this work, seeking to make the gospel known for Christ in the name of Jesus. Never has been heard. Thank God those that do, none day will hear that well done. good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of that love. I shall be praying. Our God and Father, we do thank you for the gospel of thy grace.
We thank you that it ever reached us in this land. We thank you that we ever heard the good news of salvation. And our Father, what peace and joy have brought to our hearts. And we do thank you for the privilege that thou hast given us for a little while down here to seek to make the gospel known. And whether it's on the mission field or whether it's right here among our own dear people. Our Father, we pray that thou will help us in every opportunity to make Christ known. We ask that you to remember those that are doing this work today. We thank you for so many in practically every country in the world that are doing this work. And our Father, we pray thy rich blessing.
upon them as they seek to do. We ask it in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen. So, Thank you.