I got saved and was so happy to be a part of the Body of Messiah. I thought, if the camaraderie I had with my unsaved friends was good, this was going to be great. It made sense to me that if a bunch of unsaved people could get excited about doing drugs, surely the Church folks would be even more so about the Saviour.
Well …
Shortly after that I was off to Bible College. This was going to be great. If ever there was to be a place on the planet where a group of folks would be excited about all things God and His Word it would be there.
Well …
I began wondering what I had gotten myself into. Was all this really real? Did this “salvation” thing really happen to me? It seemed to me that, at Church and now at College, many of the saved folks weren’t a whole lot different than the unsaved folks I had been around. As a matter of fact, it seemed the group I had just gotten saved out of had more camaraderie and love for the things they thought were important than the Christians did.
But then something wonderful happened to me my first year at Bible College …
I heard Lester Roloff preach in chapel. When he stepped up to the pulpit to preach, it was amazing. As I sat there listening to him I thought: There’s the Apostle Paul; this “salvation” stuff IS real; it’s all real to him just like I thought it should be in the life of a believer. — I was so swept away with the reality of his faith I wept and wept and wept. It was joyous!
For several days afterwards I would talk to some of the folks on campus about Lester. I expressed my exhilaration at seeing and hearing him. I expressed that he had the dynamic faith that I wanted in my own life. It was all I wanted to talk about.
Well …
Not everyone was as excited as I was about hearing this Man of God. I was shell shocked. How could that be? What was wrong with them? What was wrong with me? Didn’t we just see and hear a modern day “Apostle Paul”?
Well …
I realized then that all believers aren’t on the same page, spiritually speaking. Not all believers have the same eyes of faith. Not all believers have the same hunger and thirst after righteousness as the Lester Roloffs of the world do.
I also began to realize it was the same in relation to Yeshua, Paul, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and others in the Bible. Why was it that everyone wasn’t falling all over themselves to hear these men? How was it that not everyone who came in contact with them wanted to get immersed in their preaching and teaching? It just doesn’t make sense to me at all.
It may be incorrect of me to say but, I want to believe if I had been alive and heard these men I would have grabbed on to their tzitzit and not let go for dear life. Why do I think that? Because I am, after 45 years of salvation, still drawn to the words of these men. I still latch onto what they said and still can’t get enough. I want to be united with them in their teaching. I want to be a living demonstration of their very words. Their lives attract me like no others do.
My point?
Heres my shameless plug.
Luke and I don’t come anywhere near to the caliber of those I’ve mentioned. But, we are both passionately committed to the Word of God and have a strong desire to preach it truthfully and unapologetically — as best we can.
I’ve gone back and listened online to some of my messages and Luke’s. I did so in order to critique us in hopes of improving where necessary. It’s a humbling thing to listen to yourself. You sound horrible to yourself. Almost embarrassingly so.
But something unexpected happened. I found myself not listening to “me” but rather to that “guy” who was speaking. Also, I wasn’t listening to my “son” Luke but rather to that “young man” who was preaching. And I found myself (as an “anonymous” online listener) concluding : “I want to go to that congregation!”
And you know why? Because I’m (as well as Luke) still preaching the old time faith once delivered to the saints — just like Lester did.
No, I’m not saying Luke and I are the next best thing to sliced bread. But what I am saying is that we have something to say that is worth hearing.
So did Lester, Yeshua, Paul, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and others. But interestingly, they didn’t attract a whole lot of followers. The populace didn’t run and embrace them. As Jeremiah stated, they sat alone.
At times Luke and I wonder: “What’s wrong with us? Are we really that pitiful as preachers of the Word? What do we need to do?” Perhaps those I just mentioned might have wondered the same things too. Interestingly, even Yeshua had so many leave Him that He turned and asked those closest to Him if they were going to leave Him too. Can you imagine that? I can’t.
Hence, the reason for my listening to our messages. I needed to honestly stand back to see what I thought.
But you know what? I came away, not embarrassed too much. (Other than at times I think I sound like Mr. Snuffleupagus.) What I mean is this. We have a desire to preach as best we can: Thus saith the Lord. That is what motivates us each-and-every Shabbat. We don’t want to do anything other than preach the Word.
In our preaching, Luke and I want to do those men proud that I’ve mentioned in this blog. Especially, and above all, our Saviour Yeshua. Perhaps He’d even give an Amen or two at our preaching. I’d like to think so.
PS: Perhaps a message you might be interested in is —The Mystery of Divine Relationship (from Song of Solomon)