March 2, 2015 (Monday)
Yesterday Dale Pogue preached at Bethel Baptist Church, Ingleside. I have had laryngitis all week and decided to give my voice a rest. Dale preached a wonderful sermon on the subject, “Biblical Rivers.” He named and told Bible stories that involved the rivers: Nile, Euphrates, and Jordan. He closed the message by asking the congregation to join him in singing hymns about Biblical rivers. What a message! It was wonderful.
I never preached a sermon on that subject. It was totally an original message, inspired by Dale’s trip to the Colorado river earlier in the week. I don’t think I would have ever thought about doing a sermon on that subject. I’m so glad Dale preached it; I was blessed by it.
This was an original sermon, composed in the last few days, never preached before. Dale is 82, but the Lord is still giving him sermons. I remember when Clarence Walstad, retired chaplain and pastor, sat in my office one day and said the Lord was still feeding sermons into his heart and soul.
If a man is called to preach, God gives him sermons. I recall at my ordination, E. S. Hutcherson presented me with a Bible, as part of the ceremony. I’ll never forget his words, after eloquently speaking of the place of Scripture in the ministry, he said, “There’ll be times when you think there are no more sermons in this book, but the greatest inspiration for a Sunday morning sermon is the setting of the Saturday evening sun.” Of course, it was a light-hearted remark, but preachers everywhere have found it occasionally to be an honest assessment of the situation.
From time to time people who have heard me preach will quote my words back to me. It may have been many years since I said it, and in most instances I don’t remember saying it, but it was a message from the Lord to that person through his preacher, which happened to be me at that time. The word, “apostle,” in the Bible’s original language is defined as, “one sent with a message.” What a great feeling it is to know that God has spoken to someone’s spiritual needs through you. If you know that to be true in your life, then at that moment you were an “apostle.”
Dr. Gordon Clinard, my preaching professor in the Seminary, taught us preachers to preach from the Bible, but also to speak our message in the present tense. That one principle guided me to preach that way, and it literally revolutionized and revitalized my preaching. I don’t know of anything that brings as much joy to a preacher as knowing that God has spoken to real needs of real people through his telling them what the Bible has to say about their needs. Dale did that Sunday. May the Lord continue to use the two of us in His service, even in our 80’s.