With Good Teaching From God's Word

I have always thought that the faces of turtles look like little old men:

Yesterday, two of my sons and I nervously went to a nearby church where a friendly old man greeted us at the door. I normally wouldn't have thought much about it because most churches these days have greeters, but this man was different. When he looked at me, he looked directly into my eyes and didn't quickly draw his eyes away to look elsewhere like most greeters. I was taken aback because at that moment I no longer saw an old man. Instead I saw the eyes of Jesus. My first thought was, "Who is this man?" Part of me wanted to turn around and run out, and the other part wanted to stay and find out. I stayed and so did my skeptical sons.

Then when the worship service ended and it was time for the message, it was this old man who got up to preach. He is eighty-one years old, was a missionary in South Africa for thirty-eight years, and is the Associate Pastor of this church. His son is the Senior Pastor.

This elderly man began his sermon by saying, "I know people have come here not to hear a man preach, but to hear Jesus preach, so I will read from Scripture." Then he opened up his Bible and read his first text, John 15:1-17, followed by many, many more Scripture verses. (I can't tell you how many sermons I've heard in the last few years whose supporting references were mostly Internet and popular sources, with only one or two Scripture verses to introduce the topic.)

Yesterday's Bible message was about how important it is for Christians to remain in Christ and to bear good fruit. I will be honest and say I was a little worried about how this man was going to approach the subject. My first thought was: "Oh wow! Is he going to be one of those screaming, fire-and-brimstone preachers whom I have never personally heard but have seen imitated on television?"

Well, I can say in all honestly that there wasn't even the slightest bit of condemnation in the man's speech, only the deepest of concern. He never raised his voice or cracked jokes. He spoke seriously and calmly the message of God.

My sons and I indeed went to Church yesterday to hear Jesus preach, and that is exactly what we heard. The eighty-one-year-old servant of God, with the Spirit of Christ in him, fulfilled this verse.

"Preach the Word of God.

Be prepared,

whether the time is favourable or not.

Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage

your people with good teaching."

2 Timothy 4:2 (NLT)