John Piper's book "Filling Up the Afflictions of Christ" which features the stories of William Tyndale, Adoniram Judson and John Paton. It is the fifth book in his "The Swans are Not Silent" series drawn from his biographical sermons. If you've never read these books or heard Piper's sermons on great saints from church history, I highly recommend them. They're also available online to read or listen to for free. I found the following story from the life of missionary John Paton compelling.
[When Paton declared his intention to take the gospel to the New Hebrides islands] a Mr. Dickson exploded, "The cannibals! You will be eaten by cannibals!" The memory of Williams and Harris on Erromanga was only 19 years old. But to this Paton responded: Mr. Dickson, you are advanced in years now, and your own prospect is soon to be laid in the grave, there to be eaten by worms; I confess to you, that if I can but live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by Cannibals or by worms; and in the Great Day my Resurrection body will rise as fair as yours in the likeness of our risen Redeemer.
This is the kind of in-your-face spiritual moxie that would mark Paton's whole life. It's a big part of what makes reading his story so invigorating.
May God raise up a new generation of Christians with this kind of "spiritual moxie" and zeal for the gospel! Read the full sermon or Listen online.
HT: Joshua Harris
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