YOU and GOD

On November 19, 1942, in the small southeast Iowa community of Douds, my mother, having called “Doc Pollock,” gave birth to her fourth of five children, a son, whom she and dad would name Anthony Lee. The doc had come to our house and spent the night waiting for my “breech” arrival. I was the second son. Two sisters had preceded me, and one would yet follow in a couple of years. The family was poor, living in a large frame house just yards from the Des Moines River. It would flood in June of 1947, causing us to load into a rescue boat sent to deliver us from the rising waters.

We were poor, but not because Dad was not willing to work. He delivered eggs, worked on farms and in a rock quarry, and did any other job that he could find to support his family. We had “outdoor” plumbing and took a bath once a week in a tub filled by pumping the well—in short, all the that goes with a family of six that was just able to squeak by. Then, in 1947, my father was hired on at John Deere in Ottumwa, Iowa. We moved there and, from then on, enjoyed a modest living. Dad retired at the age of 62, having been in supervision for several years, and he and Mom enjoyed life together until he passed away at the age of 94. He drew a pension check from John Deere for more years than he was employed by them.

Just on top of the hill, also mere yards from our house, there was a Methodist church that our family attended on occasion. At some point earlier in their lives, Dad and Mom had attended a revival meeting and had professed Christ as Savior. Dad said that they seldom heard the gospel at the local Methodist church, and they did not grow spiritually during those years.

Then came August of 1947. It was a hot summer day in the sleepy little town of Douds, and some of our cousins who lived on a farm, not far from town, asked if my older brother, Teddy, and sister, Nancy, could spend the night with them. After much pleading, Mom said yes against her better judgment, so Teddy and Nancy got on their bikes and followed their cousins to the farm. It was there that one of the boys asked Teddy if he could swim; if so, he said, there was a creek running through the farm that they could “take a dip” in to cool off. I doubt that Teddy ever had the opportunity to learn to swim, but he ended up going to the creek and jumping in with his cousin. Sadly, Teddy—who had just one functioning lung due to diseases and complications at birth—got caught in a swift current that he was unable to get out of. With Nancy on the creek bank screaming for help—help that the cousin was not able to render—Teddy drowned.

That afternoon was life-changing for our family. We soon moved to Ottumwa, where Dad was employed; and our parents, having lost their child, had enough sense to know that it was not just an “accident,” but that God was trying to get their attention. They began to seek God, trying church after church—all kinds of churches—where they could learn more of God and His plan for their lives.  One Sunday afternoon, a neighbor knocked on our door and invited our family to attend the evening church service with them. My parents accepted the invitation, and when they entered the doors of the church, it was like they had found what they were seeking. It was an independent, Baptist church, where a faithful pastor opened the Bible every service and preached “the whole counsel of God.” This was home. It was not long before, on a Sunday evening, I knew that I needed to be saved. And so, responding to the invitation, I went forward and was led to Christ by this good pastor, who later baptized me. The whole family was one in Christ before long, and this church became our church home for the next several years. God had, through the death of a child, gotten the undivided attention of our parents, and He was not ignored. They soon found the answers to their questions. From that time on, they became devoted followers of Christ, consistent in their walk with Him. I grew up, then, in a Christian home.

In about ten years, sadly, we had to leave the church. I share this because of a spiritual lesson that I believe is so very important. As I said, we had to leave that church, the church that we loved and grew spiritually in for years. The reason was that my parents, who dearly loved the pastor, sensed that he needed some rest—as in a vacation. The pastor got wind of that idea and thought they were spearheading a movement to get rid of him. Nothing could have been further from the truth. But, not convinced, the dear man of God called a special business meeting for the purpose of having my parents “churched.” They were voted out of the membership.

Thankfully, though, they did not lose their standing in His body. Another independent Baptist church lovingly received them and our family, where we all attended, growing in the faith, as long as we lived there. I wanted to share this painful chapter of our lives for this reason: As long as my parents were alive, I never heard the first disparaging word out of their mouths about the pastor who led his church to disfellowship them. They knew they were not guilty of trying to bring any harm to this dear man of God; they loved him and learned a great deal from his adroit Bible teaching. He just totally misunderstood their motives and acted upon that. I repeat—never, not one time in the many years to follow, did I hear one word of criticism about that pastor, the church, or his preaching. I share this because, had that experience tainted my parents’ view of pastors or churches, I doubt I would have pursued the ministry. After the call from God to preach, I attribute their loving response—sans any hint of bitterness—to my being in the ministry today.

More to follow….

“But by the grace of God I am what I am: and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain….” (I Cor.15:10)

There are no doubt pros and cons that a retiring pastor considers when contemplating whether he should move away from where he pastored, or whether he can remain active, supporting the ministry of his successor. For sure, there will be no shortage of advice offered, all free of charge.

We chose to remain at the church I pastored here in Indianapolis for 40 years, living in the same house that we have lived in, adjacent to the church, for more than 44 years. It is not the purpose of this post to discuss the pros and cons of this arrangement (we are grateful for it!), but rather to focus on one aspect of the life of a “retired” pastor who remains in the community/church in which he fulfilled a long-time pastorate.

Strangely, I suppose, I want to talk about the memories that I carry with me every hour of every day. The faces, the service, the love, the stresses, the losses and gains, and on and on.

Last week I was sure I saw Clovus Wayman. Clovus has been in heaven for 25 years, at least. But, as I was waiting in a line to pick up an online order, there he was, next up at the register. Now, what I was looking at was the back of a man’s head, and the form of the frame of his body—shoulders, stance, bent of head, etc. I knew of course that this particular person was not the real Clovus Wayman, a dear faithful friend and member of our church from the time I arrived in 1979 to the time God called him to glory. Clovus and his wife Hazel went to Florida every winter, but the day they returned—always about this time of the year—they would drive by the church to give me a hug (well, Hazel did, not Clovus) and to let me know they were back. They lived half a mile from the church and were always quiet, supportive, faithful. I will never forget the face of my dear friend, Clovus. It was etched with multiple deep, deep wrinkles which made him look very old; but one never saw him without his flashing a faint smile. Very few words. One time, though, I think at a seniors luncheon, Clovus opened up and said something that really startled me; it was sometime in the month of May and for a full month, in Indianapolis, all you hear about is the “greatest spectacle in racing”—the Indianapolis 500. Clovus said, “I have lived in Indianapolis all my life and I have never once seen the 500 race track.” Matter of fact like! He had to have been in his 80’s when he said that. The 500 track was no more than a 20 minute drive from where he lived. Every May, 300,000 plus people come from all over the world to see 33 Indy race cars on the oval track, their teams poised and their drivers patiently waiting for the “Gentlemen, Start Your Engines.” Clovus lived next door to it for almost a century and never laid his eyes on it! 

Here is another factor that is unique to pastors who retire from a long-term ministry and remain in the same church and live in the same place: almost everywhere you go—to the grocery store, to the gas station, to a restaurant, to the doctor’s office or hospital—you will drive by streets or neighborhoods where your church members, most of them now with Jesus, lived and where on many occasions you sat down in their living rooms to visit with them, read scripture, and pray. Their faces, names, likes and dislikes, the apartment or little framed house that they lived in, the name of the street they lived on, and much more will come to your mind about them, including who their best friends were and much more. A fast, mental bio of these people races through your mind and you whisper a prayer to God thanking Him that you had the honor, the privilege, to be their pastor, sharing their joys, griefs, victories, defeats, sorrow—ministering to them, in some cases, for decades, and becoming like a family member. Visits to the hospital when they were sick, and memories of their passing and memorial services, ending with a comital of their mortal remains at a local cemetery will, at random, flash through your heart, head, soul. All as you drive by a certain street on your way to drop off some laundry!

For the most part, these memories are pleasant, not painful. And, it should be noted that I am not living in the past. But, there are certain people, places, and personalities that cannot be erased from a pastor’s heart and mind because of the sheep-shepherd relationship that was once between them. To be sure, there are a few memories that are unpleasant and unwise to dwell upon; but, by far, most of the remembrances are joyful and result in a whispered prayer of thanksgiving to God for allowing Ellen and myself to have shared in their lives, loves, losses. And, it is a reminder that, “over yonder,” when our life’s work is ended and the bright and glorious morning we shall see, not only shall we know Him and worship Him, we shall know them and worship Him with them. And “it will be worth it all, when we see Jesus!” Selah.

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.” (Hebs. 12:1)

On August 31, 1986, in the evening service from the Thompson Road Baptist Church pulpit in Indianapolis, I began the message with these words: “It happened 18 months ago here in the heart of America—a 20^th-century moving of the Holy Spirit of God—what one man who was an eye witness described as ‘the most remarkable manifestation of His power that I have seen in many years.’ Here is what a few folk who were part of what many called a “genuine revival” said of it:

• “For the first time in 20 years, my mother and I have a peace and freedom in the Lord.”
• “Our church was very cold. There were a lot of bitter feelings. Some of us were not speaking. Sunday night we ended up in tears, hugging one another.”
• “Our marriage has been refreshed—it’s like a second honeymoon.”
• “God has taken away all the hate and anger I had for my wife. He stopped a divorce. He has replaced the pride and bitterness and stubbornness with a love and peace.”
• “God turned our school upside down.”
• “Praise the Lord—I now have that heart relationship that for 40 years was missing in my life.”
• “I have seen many ‘mercy drops’ in over 30 years of ministry, but nothing like this ‘shower of blessing!’”

And there were many more. It was a protracted revival meeting in some western Indiana communities that changed lives, homes, and churches as evidenced by a broad swath of personal testimonies.

We do not hear too much about “revival meetings” today, but God has not changed, and none would argue that there is—in our sophisticated, 21^st century, high-tech oriented worship gatherings—no longer a need for such a moving of the Holy Spirit. The question is not, “Can God still give revival?” The question is, “When will God revive His church, His people?”

1. The preparation for revival

A.T. Pierson said, “There has never been a spiritual awakening in any country or locality that did not begin in prayer.”

Charles Finney said, “Revival is no more a miracle than a crop of wheat. Revival comes from heaven when heroic souls enter the conflict determined to win or die—or, if need be, to win and die!”

        2.  The price of revival

            > Confession

            > Contrition

            > Restitution

            > Consecration

Milton Kerr, in his newsletter, quoted George Sweeting on “Practical Steps To Revival: (1) Be dissatisfied with yourself—your spiritual posture; (2) Ask God to transform your life; be as determined for the blessing as Jacob was when wrestling with God; (3) Put yourself in the way of blessing, not neglecting prayer; (4) Do a thorough job of repenting: ‘Create within me a clean heart,’ David sobbed; (5) Make restitution whenever possible; if you owe a debt, pay it. (6) Develop a seriousness of purpose; keep off the detours; (7) Deliberately narrow your interests. The Christian life requires specialists—Jesus said in effect, ‘Be a one-eyed man,’ and Paul said, ‘This one thing I do.’”

        3.  The product of revival

            > Reconciliation

            > Rejoicing

            > Restored love

            > Revitalized power

            > Renewed freedom

I began this post with a brief reference to an area-wide revival in the mid-1980s in west-central Indiana. I close with an except of a testimony from one man transformed by that revival: “I was doing great and enjoying the revival immensely until the night Del (Fehsenfeld of Life Action) preached on holiness. That night God began to pull the cover off of some sins I had suppressed for years. During the next few days, as I listened to the messages on clear conscience and bitterness, I was under deep conviction. But there was something wrong in my life I could not put my finger on. One night I went home and fell on my face before God. I fell asleep….with still no answer. The next thing I realized the dog was barking. I got up to let him in, and as I did I noticed that it was 3 a.m. I remembered during the revival, God had been waking many people about this time, so I started praying. No sooner had I hit the couch in prayer than God gave seven names of people from whom I needed to ask forgiveness.

“I awakened my wife and told her that God had shown me what I needed to do to clear up my sin. I decided I would wait until morning, but as I walked back to the couch, God’s Holy Spirit said, ‘Do it now.’ He told me to start driving and He would show me where to go. At 3:45 a.m., I was in the car headed for I-74. On the list was my mother-in-law, my father-in-law, my wife’s sister, a pastor, my brother, and his wife.  At 6 a.m. I drove by my in-law’s trailer. It was so dark I went to a motel to call them so I wouldn’t scare them.”

I am not going to have space for all of this testimony, but here is the final paragraph: “Since that day my life, which I thought was ok,  has changed radically. My conscience is clear; my spirit is free, and Christ is living His life through me.”

“Oh Lord, revive Thy work in the midst of the years…Wilt Thou not revive us again that Thy people may rejoice in Thee?” (Hab.3:2; Ps.85:6)

One of the most unusual deaths in all of recorded history is that of Israel’s great emancipator, Moses.

In fact, the record of it—as given in Deuteronomy 34—is singularly strange in itself. For if we believe that Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible, it seems that Moses pre-recorded the facts of his burial. That is not impossible, for God’s Holy Spirit is the author of all scripture. But no one would argue that it is not unusual! It is more probable, though, that Joshua later added the account of the death and burial of Moses.

His death is unusual in other respects. God buried him, we are told. Then, Jesus’s brother Jude informs us in his epistle that the Devil and Michael, the archangel, fought over the body of Moses. Why they fought is not known. Some conjecture that it had to do with the appearance of Moses with Elijah at the Mt. of Transfiguration. (Matt.17) But there is some truth in the assessment by one writer that “there is a special secret and mystery regarding the burial of Moses that would be a profanity to disturb.”

Without disturbing that mystery now, consider with me what we can know about his death:

1) The disqualification of Moses: The greatest leader this side of heaven that Israel has ever known was denied setting foot into the “Promised Land” because he “sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel.” (Deut. 32:51) Plain and simple, it was a matter of disobedience in striking the rock for water rather than speaking to it as God commanded. It harkens to what Samuel the prophet said to the disobedient King Saul later on in the history of God’s people: “Wherefore then dost thou not obey the voice of the Lord?” (I Sam. 15:19)

To obey is better than sacrifice. Disobedience in both cases came with a terrible price. Moses could view the promised land from afar but could not set foot onto it; Saul was rejected as King. Not only was the sin of disobedience in play here, but also the root cause of all disobedience—the sin of disbelief. When Moses—who had been told by God to speak to the rock—smote it with the rod in his hand, God said: “Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel…therefore ye shall not bring this people into the land which I have given them.” (Num. 20:8-12) Some centuries later, the Apostle to the Gentiles would share that he constantly gave attention to keeping “under my body and bring it into subjection—lest that by any means when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” (I Cor. 9:27) Disobedience, the offspring of disbelief, comes with a horrendous price-tag—and that price is often disqualification.

2) Consider with me also the disappointment of Moses. God took him to the top of Mt. Nebo and showed him all the land of Gilead, then said to the great leader: “This is the land which I sware unto Abraham…I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither. So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab.” (Deut. 34:4,5) Do you think that Moses said (to himself), “That’s all right—at least I got to see the land, and my successor, Joshua, will get to go in and set foot there, and I am so happy for him!” Not on your life! Moses had to have been sorely disappointed when he died! His dream of a lifetime would not be fully realized! His place as the leader was forsaken; his plans of going into the long anticipated land were abandoned; and his privileges as the Lord’s guide in this most thrilling last leg of the 40-year journey were forfeited.

3) Finally, we come to the death of Moses—a death mandated by God as to its time and place. We each have a time and place to die—for our times are in His hands. The prophet’s eyes were not dimmed, nor was his natural force abated. He was not crippled nor hard of hearing. One poet said that God “kissed him, withdrew his breath, and took him.” His passing was followed by weeping and mourning for thirty days. Moses had lived 120 years. He was buried in a valley of Moab and succeeded by his protégé and hand-picked successor, Joshua.

So, there is sweet sorrow in reading of the last days of this larger-than-life figure out of the pages of Old Testament history. His life was such a saga of greatness; yet one definable act of disobedience brought about the sorrow surrounding his death—buried by God, yes, but buried in the plains of Moab, the land of a people that perpetually hated Moses and his kind. A story strangely, sweetly kind.

Something surely can be learned here. No matter what mountain peaks you have trekked in through life’s journey, you have not gotten so far up that disobedience to God will not bring you down. You can be forgiven; but the awful price of sin, with its unalterable consequences, will still need to be dealt with. “And there arose not a prophet since in all Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.”(Numbers 34:10)

“Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.” (I Sam. 15:22)

It is a “law” that is not encoded or inscripturated, such as “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” But it is a “law” nonetheless, written with indelible ink in the crucible of life on a long line of lives throughout history. It is the “law” of unintended consequences. One is reminded of it in the words of Solomon: “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” (Proverbs 16:25)

The law stated: “Sometimes actions or plans of action that seem right have undesirable consequences that were unintended.”

The law illustrated: Sarah, Abraham and Hagar, Gen. 16:5; both Abraham and Isaac, representing their wives as sisters when in Egypt and Gerar (Gen. 12 & 26); Lot’s daughters with their father, Gen. 19:34; Saul’s sparing the best of the sheep and oxen (I Sam. 15); King David’s numbering of the people. (I Chr. 21:1ff.)

These are just a few familiar examples from scripture of how this law played out in the lives of those whose records were preserved for our learning and admonition. I did not expand on any of them, as I believe most will readily recognize the biblical accounts; or, if not, can read them with the references provided.

The law applied:

(1) A church leader agrees to counsel a woman alone—without her husband present—in order to comfort and guide her through a difficult marriage crisis. Before long, the counselor and counselee find that an emotional bond has developed between the two of them. They “fall in love,” and both leave their spouses against the pleading of their friends, pastors, and others.
(2) A woman takes a job outside the home to supplement the family income; she does well and is promoted. Her boss compliments her work and personal qualities—something her husband hardly ever does. Over time, the two develop an unhealthy relationship with each other, which leads to the dissolution of each of their marriages.
(3) A couple with two pre-teens feels they need a church with a better youth program for their kids; they leave the church where they had been members for several years, and where dedicated teachers and faithful pastors had diligently taught their youth. They join a bigger church, with a more active program for young people, only to discover—too late—that the church they joined has a carnal youth program with few standards.
(4) A Christian husband and wife become disenchanted with their pastor and, over the course of months, they become bitter. They openly and frequently criticize him in front of their children; yet, because of friends—and their loyalty to the church they had attended for years—they choose not to leave the church, nor to meet with the pastor personally. They fail to see the impact of their actions until their children are grown and married—and neither of them attends a church.
(5) You desire to spend just $1 a week on buying a lottery ticket. You could use the jackpot money to get out of debt. Within a few months, you are spending $5 a week, then $20. You’ve eventually spent thousands of dollars—before realizing the foolish error of wasting money that could have been spent to meet real family needs, or to assist others who were genuinely needy.
(6) Your boss wants you to work Wednesday nights; it’s optional but it’s also time-and-a-half. You will hate to miss prayer meeting, but the bigger paycheck is tempting, so you agree to it for a limited time. More than two years later, you are still working Wednesday nights—but now it’s Sunday nights as well.
(7) A man on a business trip decides he is far enough away from home that he can go with his buddies to a nightclub, just for a Coke, and ignore the surroundings. While there he accepts a challenge to take a drink of liquor. One leads to two, and you can guess the outcome. He loses his head, his good sense, and his testimony that night.
(8) A young couple yields to their passions, and they do what they had promised themselves they would never do until they became one in marriage. They feel disgusted, guilty, and unclean the first time. The second time, the feeling of guilt is there again, but their uneasiness does not last as long. Before long, the couple is regularly violating God’s moral standards of purity. Nothing really bad has happened to them and, after all, they “love” each other. Everything seems to go well until one day the girl awakes from a fitful night of sleep “very, very sick….”
(9) Distraught with public schools, you pull your children out of the public school system and put them in a Christian school. Before long, your children tell you horror stories about the behavior and after-school lifestyle of some of their Christian school class-mates. Your teenager wants to attend some of the parties and dances with friends in the Christian school—kids whose parents are teachers and church leaders. You debate what to do: pull your student out of the Christian school and re-enroll him/her in the public school—or leave them in the Christian school, reasoning that it is at least better than the public school, not realizing that leaving them in a watered-down Christian school may well produce adults that will be “watered-down” Christians.

Any similarities in these scenarios to people you know (or have known) is strictly coincidental. These are solely hypothetical situations, designed to stimulate one’s thinking about the unwritten “law of unintended consequences.” Selah.

“There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” (Proverbs 14:12)

*I preached the above message (once only) in the pulpit of Thompson Road Baptist Church in Indianapolis more than 30 years ago.

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The late Robert Delnay was a master teacher in Bible colleges and seminaries in fundamental circles for several decades, teaching various courses. I was privileged to sit under his tutelage when I pursued an M.Div. degree at Central Baptist Theological Seminary in the mid-1960s. He also published articles that were helpful to those in ministry. One such series on preaching appeared in Piedmont Bible College’s Daybreak publication in the early 1980s. I saved these excellent articles and want to share some of what Dr. Delnay advised preachers when he wrote them—as he was, at that time, serving as the Dean of Denver Baptist Theological Seminary. Were he still living, I would surely ask him for permission to share his wisdom. I know he would consent. So, just know that none of the following is original from me. It is from Dr. Delnay, who reported some of his class’s responses to the question, “What turns you off?” Here is what he found:

1. Organization: “He loses me. He has us turn to passages all over the Bible. I can’t follow his transitions.” Delnay: “Comments of this sort speak for themselves, but the faults are hard to correct. To preach from one passage ought to be easy, especially if the preacher has truly mastered it. The more time he spends on a given chapter the more riches he ought to find, and the less impulse to use his concordance to find numerous other passages for people to find.”

2. Explanation: “All explanation; not enough concrete examples.” Delnay: “Over-explanation is especially a problem with young preachers. They need to go back to the rule of thumb of using about as many illustrations as subheads.”

3. Manner of Delivery: “Too loud—uses amplifier but doesn’t need it.” “Can’t hear him; lack of enthusiasm, no fire.” Delnay: “Both sets of problems ought to show up on tape, but only in extreme cases…but if a man has become comfortable with his mistakes, the audition will give him little help.”

“Talks down to us. Scolds. Parades Greek words.” Delnay: “Since a sermon may serve as an ego trip, these problems are easy to justify to oneself…at each point we need to examine our heart and motive. I never heard of a congregation that liked to hear foreign words worked in. To them the original Greek is less information than self-congratulation. The wise preacher simply explains the Greek without quoting it.”

“Repeats almost everything he says.” Delnay: “There is such a thing as a calculated repetition…for most of us, however, repeating is an indication of either lack of preparation or a feeling that our phrasing is weak.”

“Articulates pauses.” Delnay: “The practice is a common one, best dealt with by determining to quit, and by better preparation of our remarks.”

4.  Mannerisms. Delnay: “Here I received an extensive list of such things as pacing, fiddling with glasses, forced gestures, too much movement, or too little. Some remarked about bad grammar or coarse choice of words. At this point, however, another factor begins to emerge. If a congregation loves and respects its pastor, it will forgive and overlook a great deal. If on the other hand it doubts his sincerity, it will tend to magnify the faults it would forgive in someone else. But such mannerisms do annoy people. To this list I would add a few more: (1) The affected delicacy that makes ‘paddle’ come out ‘pattle.’ (2) Such expressions as ‘now in closing,’ or ‘I must hurry on.’ It is better just to close. (3) The ministerial ‘we’ as in ‘Tonight we will be preaching on the subject….’ (4) Preaching in the prayer. (5) Betraying confidences from the pulpit. As a former pastor of mine remarked, during a long pastorate, your best illustrations are the ones you can’t use. The pastor who yields to the temptation to discuss confidences, even if he disguises some of the circumstances, must pay a terrible hidden charge for his little luxury: loss of trust, even loss of members.”

As Paul said in II Corinthians 6:3: “Giving no offense in anything, that the ministry be not blamed.”

So, preacher (teacher) friends, there you have some instruction given almost half a century ago by a teacher wholly dedicated to making preachers better communicators. One might say that the world of 21^st technology has changed the “playing field” entirely. But has it? There are some fundamentals in effective communication that will never change. We who handle God’s Word regularly as we proclaim “Thus saith the Lord” need to make sure—just as any seasoned athlete or artist would—that we still respect the fundamentals of our trade. Interested audiences are too hard to come by today. Selah

A final note: Remember, that the above material is from the heart and lectern of Dr. Robert Delnay, who, in his day, was esteemed most highly for his ability to teach with success.

“For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” (1 Cor. 1:21)

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An enthusiastic new convert declared his determination to “give it all” to God, saying to his pastor, “If I had 50 pigs, I’d give 25 of them to the Lord!” “That’s good,” said the pastor. “If you had 30 would you give 15 to the Lord?” “Of course, I would,” said the new Christian. “If you had 10 would you give the Lord 5 of them?” asked the pastor. “You know I would,” he answered. Then the pastor said, “If you had two, would you give one to God?” “Now, Pastor, don’t ask me that. You know I only have two pigs.”

Most every Christian wants to give. We have received EVERYTHING, beginning with life itself. When God’s love takes up residence in our hearts, it causes us to want to respond by giving.

That’s what II Cor. 8 and 9 are all about. From the earliest days of the church, God’s people have been a giving people. In the very infant days, every believer sold his possessions and brought them to the church for common distribution to the saints and the poor. (Acts 2:42-47)

A person who claims to be saved but is stingy is a contradiction. Having received of God’s free grace, the most natural thing in the world is to want to mimic our Master, who gives to all who will receive it the “unspeakable gift” of eternal life. Believers love to give and to give freely.

But how do we do it? What with taxes, inflation, healthcare, and living necessities, how does one find anything with which to bless others? In II Corinthians, chapters 8 and 9, Paul sets forth some biblical guidelines for New Testament giving:

1. Give bountifully, II Cor. 9:6 (note, too, verse 5). This literally means “with blessing.” It has to do with attitude more than amount. Some synonyms for “bountifully” are “freely, abundantly, without restraint; generously.” Solomon said that “He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed.” (Prov. 22:9)

2. Give purposefully, II Cor. 9:7a: Giving that is preceded with forethought and preparation. Literally, “as he hath made up his mind.” The church I pastored gave a well-known evangelist a love offering that we had collected weeks before our “revival meeting” began. We never passed a plate during the special meeting. I am not sure whether the evangelist appreciated our method of collecting a love offering, but he didn’t turn it down—and it was a fair amount, probably as much as if we had passed plates when he was there. It was, though, a “one-time” experiment!

3. Give cheerfully, II Cor. 9: 7b: The word is “hilariously,” from a root word that means with mercy. It is giving that is characterized by “promptness, gladness, cheerfulness—free of any grudging with grief.” “The heart and the hand must be one.”

4. Give with trust, II Cor. 9:8:  Trusting that God’s grace will be sufficient for your needs; trusting that He will take care of you. Personal testimony: our son was weeks away from attending his first semester of college, out of state. One night in Indianapolis, the local Triple-A baseball franchise had a “used car night.” Theo and a friend went to the game to enjoy a ball game—with no thought given to the special giveaway. But, in the middle of the 7^th inning, the announcer asked everyone to check the backside of their tickets as he read off a string of numbers, one of which was on Theo’s ticket. He went, as instructed, to the pick-up place and was given the keys and title to a 1984 Ford Escort “stick-shift.” That was in 1988, and he drove that car for four years of undergrad studies and two more years of graduate studies. We had not really given any thought as to how he would manage to work out his college transportation needs, but our God had!

5. Give with thankfulness, II Cor. 9:9ff. Dr. Lee Roberson told of how Highland Park Baptist Church, when he assumed the pastorate there in Chattanooga, supported one missionary. He just began preaching, and the blessings of God began pouring in, with people getting saved and half of all the church offerings going to missions so that others could hear the good news. Here is what he testified: “During my fortieth year at Highland Park (1982) we were giving support to 565 missionaries in all parts of the world. People were happy and the blessings of God were upon us. Obedience brings manifold blessings.”

Our song-leader at TRBC in years past had a testimony that I have never forgotten: “I shovel it out to God’s missionaries (faith promise giving to missions), and He shovels it back to me; only thing is—His shovel is a lot bigger than mine!”

These are only a few of the biblical guidelines for New Testament grace giving. II Corinthians 8 and 9 are full of rich instructions on how to give and how to support ministry. Again, quoting Dr. Roberson: “Obey God! Don’t question! Don’t procrastinate! Don’t quibble!”

“Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.” (Jesus: Luke 6:38)

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