Latest / Reformed Thinking / Afflicted Yet Unstoppable: The Missionary Fire of David Brainerd | John Piper

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Afflicted Yet Unstoppable: The Missionary Fire of David Brainerd | John Piper · Reformed Thinking

• 0:00
  Welcome back to the Deep dive Glad.
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  To be here. You are listening to the
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  Reformed Thinking Edition. That's right.
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  And today we are opening a file that, well, quite frankly, it
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  challenged me more than almost anything we have looked at
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  recently. Oh, without a doubt it is heavy.
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  It's not the kind of history that makes you feel warm and
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  fuzzy about your own spiritual discipline.
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  No, definitely not. We are looking at historical
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  figure who embodies a very specific, very biblical paradox,
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  the idea that God's strength is made perfect in weakness.
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  It is a concept we say we believe, right?
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  I mean, it is on the coffee mugs.
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  It is on the wall art. Yeah, if your bookstores are
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  full of it. Right.
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  But in practice we usually prefer strength made perfect in,
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  well, strength or success, success, health, visible growth.
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  We want the victory part of the Christian life without the
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  crushing defeat that often precedes it.
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  Yeah, but the subject of our discussion today had almost none
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  of those things, at least not by the metrics of the world.
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  We are talking about David Brainerd.
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  Yes. Now, for those of you in our
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  audience who know church history, the name is iconic.
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  Absolutely legendary. But if you strip away the legend
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  and just look at the raw resume. Just the facts.
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  Right, without the spiritual lens, it reads like a tragedy.
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  It really does. I mean, he died at 29.
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  So young. He only spent four years as a
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  missionary. He battled severe, crushing
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  depression his entire life. And, and this is the kicker, he
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  was kicked out of College in disgrace.
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  And yet this man, this supposed failure by the standards of the
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  18th century, and certainly by the efficiency metrics of our
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  modern. World Oh today he wouldn't even
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  get a church planting residency. Not a chance.
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  Yeah, but he became the primary catalyst for the modern
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  missionary movement. Yeah.
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  That's why. You physically cannot tell the
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  story of William Carey or Henry Martin or Jamelliot without
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  starting with David Brainerd. And that is our mission for this
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  deep dive. We are not just recounting a
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  biography for you today. No, we need to understand the
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  mechanics of this. Right.
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  How God used this specific man? What was it about his misery and
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  his mission to Barrow a phrase from John Piper in our source
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  material that sparked such a fire?
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  We are drawing heavily from Piper's work, The Hidden Smile
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  of God. Along with Brainerd's own
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  journals. And Jonathan Edwards commentary
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  on his life. Right.
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  So to really get this, we have to anchor him in time.
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  That set the stage. David Brainerd was born on April
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  20th, 1718 in Haddam. And just to triangulate that for
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  you, that same year, 1718, John Wesley and Jonathan Edwards
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  turned 14. Benjamin Franklin was 12.
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  So he is part of that powerhouse generation.
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  But he is on the tail end of it. Correct, He is right on the cusp
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  of the Great Awakening. The Great Awakening is the storm
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  gathering just over the horizon. Brainerd is going to live
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  through those massive tectonic shifts of revival in the 1730s
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  and 40s. But while the world was getting
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  ready for revival, his personal world was just falling apart.
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  It was. Let's look at that start
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  section. One of our notes is titled A
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  Heritage of Frailty and Sorrow. Which honestly feels like an
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  understatement. It does.
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  His father, Hezekiah Brainard, was a Connecticut legislator,
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  and the sources describe him as a rigorous Puritan.
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  Yeah. What does that actually mean in
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  a domestic context? It means high standards, strict
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  views on authority and intense personal holiness.
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  Very intense. We have records of Hezekiah
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  fasting for days just to promote the spiritual welfare of his
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  family. Wow.
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  He was a man who took the Westminster Catechism seriously,
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  not just as a theological document but as a total
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  lifestyle. But he died when David was only
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  nine years old. Yeah, 9.
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  Piper makes a really specific point in the text about that
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  age. He does.
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  He suggests that judging by his own experience raising sons, 9
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  might be the absolute hardest age to lose a father.
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  It makes sense you are old enough to feel the weight of the
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  loss, to understand the permanence of death.
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  But you are too young to have the emotional tools to stabilize
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  yourself. It is a totally destabilizing
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  event. You just lose you're bearing.
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  But the tragedy did not stop there.
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  David was the 6th child. His mother, Dorothy, was left
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  with a house full of kids. And then five years later.
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  Just as David was turning 14. Another critical developmental
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  window. His mother died as well.
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  So by 14 he is an orphan. He moves in with his sister
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  Jerusha. And this is where we start to
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  see that his struggles were not just circumstantial.
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  Right. It wasn't just grief over losing
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  his parents, though that was massive.
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  There was something internal, something biological going on.
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  The source material refers to it as a constitutional weakness.
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  Today we might call it a genetic predisposition, right there was
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  a strain of what they called morbid depression running
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  through the entire Brainerd line.
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  It is startling when you look at the family statistics.
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  His brother Nehemiah died at 32. His brother Israel died at 23.
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  His sister Jerusha, who was like a second mother to him, died at
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  34. And David, as we said, died at
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  29. There is a quote here from a
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  descendant of the family, writing much later in 1865.
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  What did he say? He wrote In the whole Brainerd
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  family for 200 years, there has been a tendency to a morbid
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  depression akin to hypochondria. Now we need to clarify that
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  term, don't we? Yes, because hypochondria means
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  something entirely different to us today.
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  Right today, think of a hypochondriac as someone who
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  thinks they are sick when they are actually fine.
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  BEB. MD syndrome.
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  Well yes, spot on, but in the 19th century sense it meant a
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  black dejection, A gloom, a fixation on ones own misery and
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  internal state. Brainerd did not just suffer
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  because bad things happened to him.
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  He fought a battle with his own biology and temperament.
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  Right from his youth, he. Described himself in his own
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  diary as inclined rather to melancholy that.
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  Is such a vital piece of context for you, the listener I think
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  sometimes we read these spiritual biographies and assume
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  these men were made of steel that.
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  Their faith made them immune to mental anguish.
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  But Brainerd was incredibly fragile.
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  He was fighting his own mind long before he ever fought a
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  spiritual battle. And.
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  That fragility played directly into his conversion struggle,
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  which is the next major beat in his life.
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  Because for a long time, Brainerd was religious.
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  Obsessively so, but. He was not a Christian.
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  No, he calls it careful and serious religion.
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  He. Admitted later he had no true
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  grace at that time this. Is the classic struggle of the
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  legalist. Doing the duties, but the heart
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  is completely cold. But it goes even deeper than
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  just duty. He was actually fighting against
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  reformed doctrine itself. He fought against the idea of
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  original sin. He fought against.
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  God's sovereignty he hated. The idea that he could not earn
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  his standing before God, he. Wanted to be the architect of
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  his own salvation. There was.
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  This vivid image he uses to describe his prayers during this
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  time, the. Water analogy, yes.
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  He realized his prayers were like paddling with my hands in
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  the water it. Is a brilliant analogy when you
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  really picture it. Think.
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  About it When you paddle with your hands, you are working so
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  hard. You are.
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  Splashing. You are making noise, you are
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  exhausted. You.
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  Are not really going anywhere and.
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  More importantly, you are doing it for yourself.
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  He realized he was not praying for God's glory.
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  He was. Praying for his own safety.
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  He was trying. To manipulate God into saving
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  him. He says I never once intended
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  his honor and glory, I never once acted for God in all my
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  devotions that. Is a terrifying realization for
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  a highly religious person to have to.
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  Realize all your supposed goodness is just self
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  preservation. Wearing a mask it.
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  Is the realization of total depravity yes.
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  As outlined in the Westminster Confession, he.
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  Saw that his absolute best works were stained with sin because
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  the root motive was self, not God.
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  He was. At the end of his rope, but.
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  That is precisely where God meets him.
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  Come to July 12th, 1739, the turning point.
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  He is 21 years old it. Is a Sunday evening half an?
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  Hour before sunset, he. Is walking in a dark, thick
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  Grove and. This is where the light breaks
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  in He. Describes it as unspeakable
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  glory. Now we need to be very specific
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  here because people get confused about religious experiences
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  they. Do they assume mysticism?
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  Right, he says explicitly. It was not a vision he did.
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  Not see a bearded man in the sky or a physical beam of light he.
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  Saw the Divine glory and splendor of God's character it.
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  Was an intellectual and spiritual apprehension of who
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  God actually is. I love how he describes this
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  shift in his focus. He.
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  Says he was swallowed up in God's Excellency he.
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  Stopped worrying about his own salvation, he.
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  Writes. I had no thought, as I remember
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  at first, about my own salvation or scarce, that there was such a
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  creature as I. That is the mark of true
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  regeneration, He. Went from being obsessed with
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  his own safety to being completely obsessed with God's
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  beauty. He entered a new world, as he
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  put it, his. Desire was now to exalt God as
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  king, regardless of what happened to David Brainard.
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  So. He is converted he.
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  Has this new heart? Two months later, he enters Yale
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  College to prepare for the ministry and.
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  If this were a typical movie script you would think OK now
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  the heroes race begins He. Is going to be a top theologian,
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  graduate with honors and change the world.
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  And he actually was the top scholar he was at.
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  The head of his class academically.
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  But the timing of his arrival at Yale is explosive.
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  He. Arrives in 1739 to 1740.
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  This is the absolute height of the Great Awakening.
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  We really. Have to set the scene on campus
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  for you because it is hard for us to imagine a university being
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  a spiritual battleground in this specific way today, you.
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  Had the new lights the. Students who were pro revival
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  very. Zealous following George
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  Whitefield and. You had the old lights, the.
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  Faculty and trustee who were deeply suspicious of all this
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  emotional enthusiasm. It was.
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  A complete powder keg. Whitefield had come through and
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  stirred everyone up then. You had Gilbert Tennant
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  preaching fiery sermons about unconverted ministers.
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  Basically telling people that if their pastor was not visibly on
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  fire for the Lord, he might be leading them straight to hell.
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  The. Students started looking at
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  their tutors and wondering, does this guy actually know the Lord
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  or? Is he just a dusty dead
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  academic? The trustees were terrified of
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  losing control. They.
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  Passed just a strict new rule they.
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  Said that if any student called a faculty member carnal or
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  unconverted, they could be expelled A. 0 Tolerance policy
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  for spiritual criticism. And Brainerd in his youthful
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  zeal. And let's be honest, perhaps a
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  bit of spiritual arrogance, right?
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  He walked right into it it. Is the famous chair comment he?
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  Is in a private conversation with two or three friends in a
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  hall. He is not preaching a public
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  sermon. He is talking about one of the
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  tutors, Chauncey Whittlesey, who had just finished praying.
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  And Brainerd says he has no more grace than a chair.
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  Which, to be fair, is a devastating insult.
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  He. Is saying the man is an
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  inanimate object spiritually he. Also made a comment wondering
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  why the rector did not drop down dead for finding zealous
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  students. Someone overheard the chair
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  comment, snitched to the faculty and the trustees made an example
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  of him. He was.
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  Summarily expelled this. Is not just a slap on the wrist
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  it. Wasn't go home home for a
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  semester and think about what you did this.
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  Destroyed his entire life plan in.
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  Connecticut. At that time, you could not be a
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  minister without a degree from Yale, Harvard or European
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  University. He was.
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  Effectively blacklisted from his calling, he.
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  Tried so hard to get back in he. Apologized repeatedly.
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  Jonathan Edwards even tried to intervene on his behalf.
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  But the trustees would not budget Piper.
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  Calls this the great lesson 1. Careless word 8 wrong words.
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  He has no more grace than a chair.
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  And it ruined his career path. But this is where the reformed
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  thinking aspect really shines for us.
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  Because we look at that and say what a massive waste of
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  potential, but. The expert analysis in our
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  source material suggests this was a Providence in disguise.
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  Without a doubt, Think about it if.
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  Brainerd had stayed at Yale. He would have graduated, taken a
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  nice, quiet pastorate in a comfortable New England town.
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  He. Probably would have dealt with
• 12:14
  his depression in private, preached solid sermons and died
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  completely unknown the. Expulsion forced him into the
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  wilderness. They cut.
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  Off the path to comfort and left only the path to the mission
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  field and. There is a historical twist here
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  that is just staggering. Brainerd's expulsion actually
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  led to the founding of two major universities it.
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  Is a supreme irony. Jonathan Dickinson and Aaron
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  Burr the. Father of the famous Aaron Burr,
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  right they. Were so upset by how Yale
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  treated Brainerd that it catalyzed them to start the
• 12:45
  College in New Jersey, which. We know today as Princeton so.
• 12:49
  Brainerd was technically the very first student of Princeton.
• 12:51
  In a spiritual and historical sense, yes.
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  The whole institution was basically formed because he
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  needed a place that wouldn't reject him, though he never
• 13:00
  formally enrolled before heading to the mission field.
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  And it did not stop there, no. Eliezer Wheelock was inspired by
• 13:07
  Brainerd's journals later on. And he started a school for
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  Indians, which eventually became Dartmouth College.
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  So the student expelled for enthusiasm inspired the founding
• 13:17
  of 2 Ivy League schools. God really does move in
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  mysterious ways. He.
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  Does. But let's follow Brainerd into
• 13:24
  that wilderness, because it was not a romantic adventure.
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  Not. At all he was assigned to the
• 13:29
  Konomic Indians near Stockbridge, MA and.
• 13:32
  Later to the forks of the Delaware and Pennsylvania, the.
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  Conditions were absolutely brutal.
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  We are. Talking about the 1740s on the
• 13:38
  frontier, he. Is living in a Hut he built
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  himself he. Describes his diet as hasty
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  Pudding and boiled corn. He.
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  Is sleeping on a bundle of straw and.
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  Remember, he is sick. He.
• 13:49
  Has tuberculosis. Or consumption, as they called
• 13:52
  it back then the. Descriptions in the sources are
• 13:54
  incredibly graphic. He.
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  Talks about riding through the rain and spitting blood there.
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  Is a diary entry where he says he was in the extremity of pain
• 14:02
  that almost bereaved him of his reason he.
• 14:05
  Would be in his Hut and the smoke from the fire would be so
• 14:08
  thick he could not breathe so. He would have to go outside into
• 14:11
  the freezing cold just to get air, Which.
• 14:13
  Then made his fever even worse it.
• 14:15
  Sounds like an absolute nightmare, but.
• 14:18
  The sources highlight that the physical suffering was actually
• 14:20
  secondary to the mental and spiritual suffering he was.
• 14:23
  Incredibly lonely, that. Loneliness is palpable when you
• 14:26
  read his writings. He.
• 14:27
  Talks about hearing the profane talk of strangers or languages
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  he did not understand and just. Aching for his soul companion,
• 14:35
  he. Desperately wanted someone to
• 14:37
  talk to about the things of God and there was no one and.
• 14:40
  Then there was the darkness. We talked about his depression
• 14:42
  earlier, but the source material makes a clear distinction
• 14:46
  between his physical melancholy and spiritual desertion.
• 14:49
  This. Is a nuance we often miss today.
• 14:51
  Brainard knew he was physically prone to depression.
• 14:55
  But he also experienced times where he felt God had totally
• 14:58
  withdrawn his presence there. Is a terrifying entry where he
• 15:02
  describes feeling like a criminal at the I.
• 15:04
  Have that quote right here. He says he felt like a criminal
• 15:07
  waiting for a sentence. But the scary part is his
• 15:10
  reaction, right? He did not care.
• 15:12
  He says the fear of hell was taken away and the desire for
• 15:15
  heaven was gone. He felt.
• 15:17
  Holy, destitute of any happiness, that.
• 15:19
  Is the numbness of deep clinical depression?
• 15:22
  It is. Not just sadness, it is.
• 15:24
  The complete flattening of effect he.
• 15:26
  Could not feel love for God. He could not feel fear of
• 15:29
  judgement. He just.
• 15:30
  Existed in this awful void he. Said he felt unfit to exist it.
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  Really contradicts the highly curated version of Christianity
• 15:37
  we see today where holy people are always happy and feeling
• 15:41
  blessed. Brainerd was a giant of the
• 15:43
  faith, and yet he spent days feeling like he was already dead
• 15:47
  and. That is why his journals have
• 15:49
  been such a massive comfort to millions of believers.
• 15:52
  Because if David Brainerd, the man who prayed for hours in the
• 15:56
  snow, could feel that way, then. Maybe my darkness does not mean
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  I am not saved it. Proves that faith exists
• 16:03
  independent of our fluctuating feelings, however.
• 16:06
  Our source material does point out a flaw in Brainerd's outlook
• 16:09
  or. At least a significant blind
• 16:11
  spot compared to someone like Jonathan Edwards.
• 16:13
  This is a. Fascinating contrast, Jonathan.
• 16:15
  Edwards saw the glory of God in absolutely everything he would.
• 16:19
  Look at a thunderstorm or a blue sky or a flower and he would see
• 16:23
  a direct revelation of God's majesty nature.
• 16:26
  Was a theater of of God's glory for Edwards but.
• 16:29
  For Brainerd. Brainerd almost never mentions
• 16:32
  the beauty of nature to him. It was a howling wilderness, he
• 16:35
  was. A bleak enemy, he.
• 16:36
  Never writes about a sunset or majestic landscape in his
• 16:39
  journals. Piper.
• 16:40
  Suggests this was a costly blind spot for him he.
• 16:43
  Missed God's natural antidote to depression?
• 16:46
  General revelation. The beauty of the created order.
• 16:49
  Charles Spurgeon had a great take on this and.
• 16:52
  Spurgeon struggled with massive depression too.
• 16:54
  He. Said that a mouthful of sea air
• 16:56
  or a stiff walk in the wind does not give you saving grace, but
• 17:00
  it. Gives you oxygen, which.
• 17:02
  Is the next best thing that? Is such a practical theology it?
• 17:06
  Is Brainerd's illness certainly made it harder to appreciate
• 17:09
  nature? I mean it is hard to enjoy a
• 17:11
  nice view when you are coughing up blood, but.
• 17:14
  Theologically, we should not imitate his blindness to
• 17:17
  creation. We can.
• 17:18
  Admire his sheer endurance without adopting his inability
• 17:21
  to consider the lilies speaking. Of endurance.
• 17:24
  Let's talk about how he actually survived out there.
• 17:27
  Section. Six of our notes calls it the
• 17:29
  pleasing pain of discipline that.
• 17:31
  Phrase pleasing pain really stuck out to me in the reading
• 17:35
  it. Is an oxymoron that perfectly
• 17:36
  describes the Christian life it. Is the insatiable thirst for
• 17:39
  holiness it? Hurts because you were never
• 17:42
  fully satisfied in this life but.
• 17:43
  It is a good hurt because it continuously drives you to God
• 17:46
  His. Discipline was intense.
• 17:48
  He spent entire days in prayer. He.
• 17:50
  Talks about wrestling with God until he wanted to sit up all
• 17:53
  night despite being completely exhausted them the.
• 17:56
  Fasting this. Man was done of consumption.
• 17:59
  He had almost no food to begin with and.
• 18:02
  Yet he would set aside days for fasting.
• 18:04
  He. Fasted for guidance, he fasted
• 18:06
  for holiness on his. 25th birthday.
• 18:09
  Instead of celebrating, he spent the entire day in the woods
• 18:13
  pouring. Out complaints to God about his
• 18:15
  own barrenness and lack of fruit.
• 18:17
  And he wrote. He wrote constantly by.
• 18:20
  Candlelight until his bodily strength literally failed.
• 18:23
  Why was the writing so critical to him it.
• 18:26
  Was not just record keeping for posterity, writing was a
• 18:29
  spiritual discipline for. Him.
• 18:30
  It brought clarity to his mind and intensity to his affections.
• 18:34
  He. Wrote to keep his soul from
• 18:35
  shriveling up in that extreme isolation if he had.
• 18:38
  Not written. He might have lost his mind
• 18:39
  completely. He.
• 18:40
  Also sacrificed comfort at every single turn.
• 18:44
  We mentioned he refused the easy path earlier.
• 18:46
  He was. Actually offered a pastorate at
• 18:48
  East Hampton on Long Island, which was.
• 18:50
  A wealthy, very pleasant town it.
• 18:52
  Would have been the perfect escape from the cold and the
• 18:55
  pain, but he. Turned it down flat.
• 18:57
  He said he could have no freedom in the thought of any other
• 19:00
  business than the conversion of the heathen.
• 19:02
  He. Deliberately chose the wigwam
• 19:04
  over the Manor house and. For a long time, that choice
• 19:08
  seemed to yield absolutely 0 results.
• 19:11
  He. Labored for years with almost no
• 19:13
  fruit to show for he. Even struggled to love the
• 19:16
  people he was serving that. Is another incredibly honest
• 19:19
  admission in his journals, he. Admits there were days he felt
• 19:22
  no desires for the Indians and dreaded preaching to them.
• 19:25
  He did not. Always feel a supernatural
• 19:26
  overflow of love but. He obeyed anyway, and.
• 19:29
  Then at Cross Week sung in New Jersey, the dam finally broke.
• 19:33
  It really did. After years of that paddle in
• 19:36
  the water, feeling, suddenly the wind of the Spirit blew in.
• 19:39
  One year, from 1745 to 1746, he saw an absolute explosion of
• 19:45
  grace One. 130 persons joined the assembly of believers they.
• 19:49
  Even moved to Cranberry, New Jersey to build a
• 19:50
  self-sustaining Christian village it.
• 19:52
  Was a genuine historic revival. And it happened just as
• 19:57
  Brainerd's body was finally giving out it.
• 19:59
  Is as if he was a candle that flared up brilliantly right
• 20:02
  before it was extinguished. For effort, Let's.
• 20:04
  Move to the end Section 7. He's.
• 20:07
  Dying he. Travels to Jonathan Edwards
• 20:09
  house in Northampton in 1747. He.
• 20:13
  Is only 29 years old. The.
• 20:15
  Tuberculosis has completely destroyed his lungs.
• 20:17
  The. Final weeks were sheer agony.
• 20:20
  He. Describes an uncommon kind of
• 20:22
  hiccup that was basically strangling him.
• 20:25
  He had. Distress in his chest that he
• 20:27
  called insupportable. And there is a tragic yet
• 20:31
  beautiful figure in the background of this final scene,
• 20:35
  Jerusha Edwards. Jonathan Edwards 17 year old
• 20:38
  daughter she. Nursed Brainerd for those final
• 20:40
  19 weeks there. Is a lot of historical
• 20:42
  speculation that they were in love or at least deeply attached
• 20:45
  to each other but. The cost of her care was
• 20:47
  staggeringly high. Incredibly high Jerusha
• 20:50
  contracted tuberculosis from Brainerd She.
• 20:52
  Died just four months after him. She was.
• 20:53
  Only 18. And yet Jonathan Edwards, the
• 20:57
  father who lost his teenage daughter because of this, calls
• 21:01
  Brainerd's presence A gracious dispensation of Providence.
• 21:05
  That shows the sheer depth of Edwards theology.
• 21:08
  He. Believed that having Brainerd in
• 21:09
  his home, see him and I so well, so full of faith was worth the
• 21:14
  terrible cost. He saw the big picture of God's
• 21:17
  glory. And that leads us to the ripple
• 21:19
  effect. Because Brainerd died, he was
• 21:22
  buried that. Really should have been the end
• 21:24
  of it, but. Edwards did something that
• 21:26
  changed history. He published Brainerd's Diaries,
• 21:29
  the. Life of Brainerd, published in
• 21:31
  1749 it. Has never been out of print.
• 21:34
  Think about that for a second, A.
• 21:35
  Diary of a depressed, sick missionary who worked for a mere
• 21:39
  4 years became a bestseller and. Look at who read it, John.
• 21:43
  Wesley said let every preacher read carefully over the life of
• 21:46
  David Brainerd. Henry Martin, the great
• 21:48
  missionary to India and Persia, read it and resolved to imitate
• 21:52
  him. William.
• 21:53
  Carey, the father of modern missions, regarded the book as
• 21:56
  holy and. In the 20th century, Jim
• 21:58
  Elliott. Before he went to Ecuador and
• 22:00
  was martyred by the AKA Indians, he read Brainerd He.
• 22:04
  Looked at that life of sacrifice and said, Lord, let me burn out
• 22:07
  for you like that. This is the hidden smile
• 22:09
  referenced in our source title. God frowned on Brainerd's
• 22:12
  physical life. He gave him pain, sickness,
• 22:15
  failure at Yale. But behind that frowning
• 22:18
  Providence, God was hiding a smiling face.
• 22:21
  He. Used that broken weak vessel to
• 22:24
  launch a movement that saved millions.
• 22:26
  It brings up a provocative question about the value of a
• 22:28
  single human soul. Piper argues that even if
• 22:31
  Brainerd only saved a few 100 Indians, it was worth all the
• 22:35
  hardship it. Is the mathematics of eternity
• 22:37
  if you. Believe in the reality of hell,
• 22:39
  the weeping and gnashing of teeth, and the.
• 22:41
  Reality of eternal joy with Christ then.
• 22:43
  Any amount of temporal suffering is a price worth paying for one
• 22:47
  soul. Brainerd believed that he.
• 22:49
  Lived it out to his last breath. So as we wrap up this deep dive,
• 22:53
  we have to look at ourselves. You listening right now?
• 22:56
  We. Live in an age of unbelievable
• 22:58
  comfort we have. Antibiotics.
• 23:00
  We have climate control. We have endless entertainment.
• 23:03
  And Brainerd viewed his life as a heavenly journey.
• 23:07
  He dared not loiter on he. Was terrified of wasting time.
• 23:10
  That is the challenge I want to leave with you, the listener.
• 23:13
  Are we loitering? We're.
• 23:14
  Comfortable, sure, but are we walking with a purpose?
• 23:18
  Brainerd's life asked us a very pointed question.
• 23:21
  Would you trade a long, comfortable, safe life for a
• 23:25
  short one that leaves a ripple effect for centuries?
• 23:29
  Would. You be willing to be a failure
• 23:31
  in the eyes of the world, like a student expelled from Yale, if
• 23:35
  it meant you were a hero in the Kingdom of heaven it.
• 23:37
  Is a question that makes you uncomfortable, but in the best
• 23:41
  possible way, David. Brainard, the man who struggled
• 23:44
  for every single breath, breaths the challenge into US. 300 years
• 23:47
  later, he. Certainly does, and the
• 23:50
  challenge is simply this. Make your life count for the
• 23:53
  glory of God. Amen to that.
• 23:55
  Thank you for. Joining us on reformed thinking,
• 23:57
  we hope this deep dive moves you not just to think, but to act.
• 24:01
  Until next time.