Saturday, February 28, 2009

His Moment in Time

It was wonderful to hear that familiar voice reverberating through the sanctuary during The 50 Years of Valley Church commemoration. His words were once a significant portion of our corporate witness to the world.1 As others today have shared, here are some of my fondest memories:

I remember a pastor who labored among us with preparations consistent with such words as wisdom; doctrine; discernment. He would construct each phrase with theological precision, and expound each verse in context, i.e., in context of all of Scripture. He even used a stopwatch to time the allotted time, but as he stood before us each Lord’s Day morning, he would forget his notes and the Spirit would simply overflow. That joy returned each evening, as he soon forgot the hour... Did I say, “expound each verse”? That is so cold a word, rather the Spirit within gave each one life.

He once told of a child in a garden “helping” his mother, and of the rose bud he brought her with all its delicate layers prematurely unfolded. He warned of the evangelical exuberance that attempts to force some soul before his time rather than just sowing seed and relinquishing to the unseen power of the Spirit: “…So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how” (Mark 4:26-27).

For those committing children to the Lord, he always seemed to find some Godly virtue in every name. And there was always that letter not to be opened until a thirteenth birthday; a “time capsule” containing spiritual admonition to a maturing child, but perhaps more important, a subtle reminder of a parent’s vow.

Undercharged at a store, most would have been on their way, but he went back begging to repay. The clerk essentially said it was no big deal, but for him it was. Then he had the manager involved; it was not just a matter of a dollar, but of a witness, perhaps the eternal destiny of a soul, or perhaps compromise in the eyes of a watching child.

Upon receiving a significant opportunity to serve the Lord in another church, he immediately brought the matter before us for prayer… for His will and glory.

He loved basketball and playing it with his fellow workers in the Truth, but for some unexplained reason he felt convicted. Most would not have given a second thought. But “transgressing” conventional “Christian” wisdom, he opted for a still small voice.

And how fervently he encouraged us to love His first love Israel whose covenants he taught were the very “fingerprints of God.”

When personally convicted in a trivial matter regarding 1 Timothy 3:4, he did not compromise, but tendered his resignation.

When things done in secret caused ignominy to descend upon the church, these things were confronted in the presence of all… but with love and tears and the humbling realization: if the Apostle Paul regarded himself the “chief” of sinners “then who am I”?

In the final days of his affliction when a friend came to console, our brother coveted assurance that His little "AWANA" ones would continue to receive His Word.

And like the man for whom he was named, he fought the good fight, he finished the course, he kept the faith. “And he was not; for God took him.”

I remember him testifying that for each of us there is an opportune moment in history, a moment in eternity, to bring glory to the Living God. I remember how he used his opportune moment. How during our frequent times together, he would forget the lectern and perched on the edge of the platform, seeming to curl his toes around it, attempting to get closer still. And in messages filled with excitement and joy, he shared his most recent discoveries from the Word. In his words: “There is nothing in this world more exciting … then to know and do God’s will”!

1 Have long regretted the loss of this man’s witness to The Valley Church and the world i.e., the thousands of recorded messages purposed for salvation of the lost, maturing of the faith, and a tribulation witness to a world spiraling into the ultimate apostasy. Have long prayed that some remnant of this, our corporate witness, would one day be restored. Preparing this remembrance, I was overjoyed to learn that some messages have eluded loss:

http://www.sermonaudio.com/source_detail.asp?sourceid=hilltopaudio