Tomorrow, I will be privileged to preach God’s Word at Homecoming services at Oakley Baptist Church. This is coming home for Marilyn and me. She grew up in that church, and after we were married, I joined there.
It was on another Homecoming Sunday, 47 years ago that I yielded to God’s call to preach, would preach my first sermon the following week, and have been at it ever since.
Preaching was not my choice, but God’s choice—and He has made it my compulsion. Since 1976, I have been a preacher. I have also been a student, a salesclerk, an expediter, a construction worker, a pastor, and now a mission strategist, during these 47 years, but foremost—A PREACHER. I have preached in North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, Indiana, Vermont, Alaska, Brazil, India, Albania, and soon in Armenia.
If you hear rumors that I have retired, it is not true. I have redeployed. So long as God gives me a brain and body that will work, I intend to keep preaching. I have files full of sermons, outlines written in Bibles, messages shared on social media, more on the computer, and thoughts in my head that will surpass my time on earth. Many of them I have preached, but I know some I will never get around to preaching. Lord willing, they will be left for another generation when I am gone to read and reflect on in preparation for their messages to a people, places, and a time I will not see.
When I die and they stretch me out in a coffin for the funeral, I want to have a Bible in my hand. What grace God has given me to serve Him!
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