John G.Paton (1824-1907), Scottish missionary to the New Hebrides Islands (Vanuatu)

On Saturday, Elsie Orr is going to help me with the Little Bereans class. She is going to tell them the story of John Paton. When I was hunting around in the Web for colouring pages and other things, I came across an article called Characters of True and False Disciples by John Macarthur (click here to get to the article).

The following story of John Paton is used as an illustration, and what an illustration it is:

The first time I ever preached in this church, long time ago, I told you a story about a missionary that is perhaps the greatest illustration of obedience in my recollection. John Payton was his name and he was a young student in England. And he didn’t exactly know where God wanted him to go but he felt a call to the mission field and he was a student in seminary at the time. He’s just recently been married. And God began to lead him in the area of the New Hebrides islands and the New Hebrides islands were inhabited by man-eating cannibals. And in those days it was a severe test of a man to go to the mission field.

Now Payton didn’t argue. Took his little bride, got on a ship and they took off for the New Hebrides. No questions asked.

Father GB’s song: Ini Oru Bodhe-u Baiyam Veyndaam

[My father, feeling that Tamil hymns and lyrics, generally, do not have the depth that English hymns have, has for his church hymnal, identified some good hymns, translated many hymns and choruses from English, and composed some lyrics. He has recorded the accompaniment for all the songs in the hymnal, and these are available in MP3 format. I will try to showcase some of them in this blog from time to time. All recordings have been done at home using very simple equipment. These songs may not be copied without permission.]

 

Song composed by Gnana Bhaktamitran in August 2004

(Hymn 109 in our hymnal)

Here is a recording of this song Ini Oru Bodhe-u Baiyam Veyndaam sung by Mrs. Rani George and accompanied by GB himself.

To fear and not to fear

Godly women must not be fearful:
1 Peter 3:6 like Sarah, . . . You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear. As women after the Lord’s heart, we must trust in Him and not fear people, circumstances, or the future.

And yet, we must fear the Lord with holy reverence:
Proverbs 31:30 . . . but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.