If you are curious about the world of Evangelical preaching, here is an excerpt from my book Salvation Heights, A Preachers Story available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and several other locations. John waited a few moments to allow all in the audience to find the verse. There was a slight murmur in the crowd as some who saw the verse thought that he may have misspoke. How could he preach on this message, saying it was second only to John 3:16? Did he give them the wrong verse? Jesus wept. John read the verse, slowly and with emphasis on the word wept. He stopped for a moment, and repeated the verse once more, Jesus wept. This shortest verse in the bible, is the most poignant, most heart wrenching, most stirring phrase recorded in the bible! Jesus, our Lord and Saviour, cried! Not for himself, brothers and sisters, No! He cried for us! The bible states in the verses prior to this, that Lazarus, the Lords friend, had died. He had been sick, and that Jesus had been called to come and save him, like he had saved so many others before. But the bible tells us that Jesus tarried, he did not come right away, and now we see that he has come, and those that have been with him throughout his ministry, those that had seen his miracles, heard him preach, FELT his presence, they were looking at him, questioning him, ACCUSING him of not caring! How could he let his friend die? When he could have saved him?! John was filled with the Holy Spirit. It was overwhelming him completely. When this moment came, John let the Spirit take control of his preaching, he stepped aside, and let Him have his whole being. It was the power of the Evangelist, the gift that can only come from God himself! Jesus heard them, he saw their despair, he saw their UNBELIEF! These companions, these disciples, those that had seen what He had done already! Mary and Martha, who had been present when he had done the miraculous, most likely they were amongst the crowd who had witnessed him heal those that had been diseased, and had other infirmities. Those that had come to know the awesome power of God, and his desire to have His children with Him! Those that had been there and had been his friends and companions, these same people were now accusing Him of not caring, not loving or having compassion! Just for a moment, my brothers and sisters, think how this must have impacted, must have broken the heart of our Lord and Saviour! Once more, he was faced by those of little faith. The storms of doubt and unbelief are always present, even when God is standing in our midst! John fell silent. Tears were running down his face, so strong was the conviction of the Spirit in him, so strong was his desire to express to the world the love of Christ that he had within himself, and to let others know that they could have this wonderful relationship. When John preached a message, it was not solely for those that heard it, it was also for himself too. That was the secret to a true Preachers gift. God did the message, the Preacher was just the messenger. Jesus wept. The bible says that those around Him said, Look, he cries for his friend, He loved him so much. That is what they thought, sadly, too many in the world today, the Christian world today, read this verse and think the same thing. Oh, my Brothers and Sisters, how much we have missed if that is the case! Yes, our Lord loved Lazarus, but He wasnt crying for him dying! No! Christ was crying for those around Him, ALL of them, that even after hearing Him speak, and after seeing His miracles, they STILL didnt believe! He was crying for the world that hears, but does not receive! He was crying for ALL of mankind, from that moment until today, and for those beyond us, for all of mankind that hears and does not believe until the day He comes back! Jesus wept for our salvation! He wept for us, maybe even some here today, who have heard Him, witnessed Him, some who may have even preached His gospel, yet still have not BELIEVED Him! My Brothers and Sisters, I pray that you hear Him today! I pray that you weep, weep in your hearts, your souls, weep with conviction that from this moment forward, you will not only BELIEVE in our Lords love and gift of salvation, but that you will weep with the conviction to tell others of His love, and will demonstrate His love in your words and deeds! John was preaching from all ends of the stage, his notes long-forgotten, as the Power of the Holy Spirit had taken full control of all he said and did. The preaching was the end result of letting the Lord use him as an empty vessel. Few men of God had the ability to completely empty themselves in such a way. It was not because they werent trained or taught, its because it isnt something that CAN be trained or taught. Complete surrender to your Lord is a personal, committed decision that one has to purposefully do, and it only comes with absolute belief in the Truth of the Word. John was surrendered, totally. Jesus wept. Friends, keep this in your heart, always. So when the day comes that you meet your Lord and Saviour, He will look you in the eye, and with tears of joy, not grief, He will say, Well done, thou good and faithful servant. John closed his eyes for a few moments, and then picked up his notes and walked off the stage. The auditorium was silent, yet it was on fire! The feeling and power of the presence of God in the room was electrifying! For a person who just walked in, they would not know how it happened, but they would have felt a tingling, a sense of rightness in the air. That is the way those that were there that day were able to describe it. Power, Righteousness, Gods presence. These were the words that were used to describe the moment. That day, the beginnings of a great preacher, a great Man of God, was witnessed by all in the room. Professor Jordan saw what he knew was the makings of what should surely be one of this generations, if not all to comes, great preachers. He knew that John Hammel was special, and sitting in the fifth row of the auditorium that day, another person saw and knew that she was witnessing greatness to come. June Langley watched John walking off the stage, and decided that his future was going to be part of hers, and from that moment forward, she started planning on how to make it so.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Sep 2014 19:51:40 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015