I
chose this week's "thought" for the sheer honesty
and transparency evidenced in the heart of the pastor who penned it. It
is a personal testimony that comes from, Dr. A. C. Dixon (1854-1925), pastor of
the Baptist Church in Chapel Hill North Carolina, and then later pastor at the
Ruggles Street Baptist Church in Boston. His testimony speaks for itself.
Enjoy.
"The
hand of the Lord was upon him."
Ezekiel
1:3
"While
I was pastor at the Baptist Church in Chapel Hill, the university town of North
Carolina, I was made to realize that, as a preacher, I was a dismal
failure.
Parents
all over the state wrote to me and requested that I look after the spiritual
welfare of their sons in the university. I prepared sermons with the students
in mind and was glad to see that they showed their appreciation by attending
our Sunday services in large numbers. At one point we appointed a week of
prayer and preaching with the single purpose of winning them to Christ, and
they attended the evening meetings.
About
the middle of the week their interest seemed to turn into opposition. The
spirit of mischief possessed them. One night they tried to put out the lights.
As I walked through the grove around the university buildings, I sometimes
heard my voice coming from behind a tree. A bright student had caught a part of
my sermon the night before, and he was mimicking me in thought and tone for the
benefit of his fellow students who showed their appreciation by applause and laughter. As
I walked by an open window I heard my voice being mimicked in prayer and
floating out. I felt defeated and seriously considered resigning from the
pastorate. No one had been saved.
After
a restless night I took my Bible and went into the grove and remained there
until three o'clock in the afternoon. As I read I asked God to show me what was
the matter, and the Word of God searched me through and through giving me a
deep sense of sin and helplessness, such as I had never had before...
That evening the students listened reverently, and at the close two pews were
filled with those who had responded to the invitation. The revival continued
day after day until more than seventy of the students had confessed Christ.
Now
the practical question is: "What did it?" Certainly not
I; I fear it was the "I" that kept God from doing it for a long time.
There came to me out of the day's experience a clear-cut distinction between
[human] influence and [divine] power. Influence is made up of many things
-- intellect, education, money, social position, personality, organization --
all of which ought to be used for Christ. But power is God Himself
at work unhindered by our unbelief and other sins.
The
word "influence" occurs but once in the Bible, and that in Job, where
Jehovah speaks to the old patriarch of the "sweet influences of the
Pleiades" (one of the nearest star clusters to the earth) -- a good text
for a young minister to preach on in the springtime, but not sufficient in
dealing with a group of mocking university students. The New Testament word
"power" holds the secret, and the power from on high was no other
than God the Holy Spirit touching the soul through the living Word and giving
it birth from above. I had been trusting and testing many other good things,
only to fail. The touch of God did in a minute what all my best efforts
could not do."
His
testimony speaks for itself. People may mock and laugh at and easily resist all
our efforts. But when the power of the Spirit attends what we say, even
our feeblest human efforts can be used of God to melt the most hardened heart.
We may (by our innate natural gifts) be able to influence people in some small
and temporary way (and many pastors have been content with that), but only God
(by the working of His mighty power) can change a hard heart permanently for
all eternally. Therefore, it should be our earnest desire to seek the
assistance of this power, and not be content until our spirit is bathed in it
and our efforts are attended by it.
In
The Service of the Gospel, Pastor Jeff
