Book Recommendation -- Horse Soldiers -- Doug Stanton

If you enjoy summer reading, you are in for some good recommendations here in the next several days. Stories about the war on terror are beginning to surface by various soldiers who have been actively involved in the battle in Iraq and Afghanistan. A new book that has just come out is entitled Horse Soldiers by Doug Stanton. It is a very, very interesting book about the role the Special Forces played in the very early days of the American attack on the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The Special Forces faced overwhelming odds in getting their high-tech equipment up and down the sides of the mountains on horseback. The word pictures that Stanton uses to describe the 6-foot, two-hundred pound plus warriors riding horses that were meant for 130 pounders, is almost hilarious. You will almost picture an adult trying to ride a three-year olds’ tricycle, knees to chin sort of thing. His account of the SF having to ride their horses on rain-soaked trails that had cavernous drop-offs of thousands of feet will make you consider the dangers they endured that were not combat related.

Finally, the description of the use of GPS to work with the jet bombers and missiles was quite intriguing. For those involved in ministry, you are going to find a number of illustrations to pull from these books and actively use them in sermons.

The Powerful Pull of Perfection

If you have never known it, I pray that you will at some point find it or rather that it will find you. You must understand that the desire for perfection also has some ominous undercurrents because the demands it has are only embraced by a hearty few. It has collapsed many who could not withstand the gnawing, relentless passion that hunger for perfection created. But that noble few who believed it, sought it, pursued it, and disciplined themselves to it, perfection crowned them in the end.

Perfection presses and pushes to such an extent that it can cause great calamities of defeat and disappointment. But it is in those precious moments of calamity and disappointment that the great souls are born. It is bewildering and mysterious, to say the least, of how calamity and disappointment can crown the man who pursues perfection with all of his heart. The difference is that the great souls just keep on stretching toward that shining. They do so in spite of those who believe the worst of you and can never see you embracing the best.

Raymond Damadian is a name that few recognize and yet his story and his achievements changed the world. In the early 1970’s politicians started looking toward a problem that faced not just the American nation but the world at large. It was an ominous challenge called cancer. The money started flowing in the direction of companies involved in research that was searching for a cure. But Raymond Damadian was a man who had no funding, no support, but had an indomitable will to do something worthy of his calling in the field of medicine.

He gave himself to the task of finding a way to detect cancer in its earliest stages. He believed that one could see into the human body in a cross-sectional way (as one would slice a deli ham) with very fine detail. He believed that all of the internal organs could be seen in such a way. His real clincher was that it could be done without the use of x-rays. People laughed him out of town. It can’t be done, they said. Others mocked saying “You are a dreamer.” But he worked on deep into the long nights and would be back up again early in the mornings. Working on a shoe-string budget, he pushed himself and his students relentlessly to come up with a system that could do this.

He tinkered with magnetic fields because in his mind he thought that if a strong enough magnetic field was created it would make all the atoms in the body to line up like toy soldiers. He believed the atoms would respond and align themselves with the positive on one end and the negative on the other end. Through many flops and failures over time this is exactly what he did. He built a machine that created a magnetic force that would create data that could be fed into a computer to form an exact replica of what was inside the human body. The computer would take the data and form images that highly skilled radiologists could interpret and diagnose disease processes within the human body.

Because he was working basically as a solo inventor, he did not nearly have the resources that the huge corporations had in their coffers. Because he lacked financial backing, he had to resort to some unorthodox means to make money. So he ended up taking his invention to county and state fairs and would charge people to see the machine that would change the whole world of medicine. While you probably do not know Raymond Damadian, you do know about his machine called Magnetic Resonance Imaging or MRI. The MRI is one of the savviest tools that a physician has at his hands to make a diagnosis.

This is a great example of the pursuit of perfection. It is a pressing on despite the challenges, the hindrances, the ridicule, the weariness, and the set-backs. You do not become perfect simply because you want it but rather because you pursue it and never back away from the heights of the mountains that other think are un-scalable.

It takes remarkable courage to trudge on where no other person has ever been before. While most people applaud Dr. Damadian now, he had very, very few who were cheering him on during the times when he needed it the most. That is where the hunger for perfection or excellence keys into the equation. Every person that I have ever met who hungered for perfection or had a desire for excellence also had an accompanying passion for what they were doing. That passion fueled their dreams but it also drove them when they were weary and discouraged along the way. They simply trudged on regardless of what their critics told them or what their own mind told them. This is the reach for perfection. . . .

Matthew 5:48 KJV Be ye therefore perfect. . . .

Insufficiently Prepared? ? ? . . . . Probably Not. . .

Yesterday spelled out another important lesson for me as I was riding my bike. It is amazing how many little lessons of life a man can get on the road particularly if you mix it with a bit of Scripture. With the time change allowing me a little more daylight and the weather change allowing me a reprieve from the cold grips of winter, I have gotten back into getting in shape again. One of the drawbacks with bike riding is that during the short days of winter, the bike is relegated to hanging from its ceiling hook in the garage. During this time of inactivity, the bike and the rider generally begin to deteriorate. The changes with the bike are far more subtle than the changes in the rider. The rider reflects the inactivity with slowly increasing weight and rapidly decreasing lung capacity so that when the bike is finally engaged again it takes a bit for the weight to come off and the breath to return.

Although a little weight is starting to drop and the breath is coming back, I am still not in the shape that I was at the end of the summer a couple of years ago. But in time, I have all intentions of being back at that weight and shape that I was a few summers ago.

Yesterday around mile 17 or so, I was pressing along at a pretty good pace through some of the rural farmland around Wicksburg when things got incredibly exciting. I had just climbed a long, long hill of at least ½ a mile and had leveled off and was just getting my speed up to around 19-20 mph on a flat when a large surprise came bounding out of a yard. I was just past a nice brick house that had a long driveway but to my great dismay, the gate was open. A large (as in huge) Doberman Pinscher was running that driveway for all he was worth and just about 5 yards behind him was a German Shepherd that was only a bit smaller than the Doberman. Both of them were barking and yowling and sincerely thought they were about to chew on some part of my soft anatomy.

My heart-rate went through the roof and adrenaline began to pour from everywhere as suddenly the threat of these dogs gripped me. I begin to try and get my foot out of the clip-in pedals that I use but I could not get my foot loose. With bike wobbling all over the road because I was jerking my foot to get it dislodged, the Doberman is gaining on me in all of his hideousness. I determine that I am not going to get my foot out so I reach down and pull my water bottle from its holder and squeeze off a jet of green Gatorade in the direction of this huge beast. I am utterly amazed at the results! The Doberman puts on his brakes and screeches to a stop because apparently he is afraid of my little water bottle filled with Gatorade.

With my overactive imagination, I had already seen the outcome of the matter. I was going to go down because I couldn’t get my feet out of the clip-ins and two dogs were going to devour me while I twitched in the road. They were going to tear me from stem to stern and all sorts of blood, bone, muscle, and gristle would be for their taking. That was what happened in my mind all in a racing stretch of about 25-30 yards that they chased me. However, my little water-bottle, a .99 cent job from Walmart kept the beast at bay furthermore it kept him off of me for the day. Amazing how such a simple solution was at my fingertips and I was trying my best to figure out how to defend against something that was threatening me.

Far too often both in physical and spiritual life, we are prone to look for the huge and complicated solutions to help us with our dilemmas when in actuality all it takes is a .99 cent water-bottle. Far too often men are constantly looking over the proverbial fences at the greener grass on the other side. It is a myth that the greener grass is always on the other side of the fence.

What happens is that a whole lot of life gets lost because of our belief that we are insufficiently prepared to do what God has called us to do. I have to confess that on yesterday I thought of several solutions for me and the dog for our next go around. Pepper spray or mace or a few other things that could be added to my arsenal to help me when the fact is that on yesterday I had exactly what I needed to get the job done.

I encourage you to believe that you are exactly where God wants you to be. If you weren’t then God is big enough to move us to where He wants us to be and He can get you “there” if He needs to. Otherwise, let the joy of contentment bring great blessing to your life and start believing that you are sufficiently prepared by the grace of God to fulfill exactly His will.

• If you don’t have much to spend, then spend well what you have.
• If you don’t have many books, read what you have and master them.
• If you aren’t where you want to be spiritually, physically, and so forth, spend a day writing down some goals of where you would like to be this time next year.
• Learn the value of borrowing (and returning) resources that will make you a better man.
• Re-read your books, your sermons, your Bible studies and take notes from them there is still much to harvest from them as they grow.
• Re-pray your prayers, your visions, your dreams, your desires, and let faith rise in your heart.
• Don’t let what you may not have ruin what you do have! Look for opportunities to be great in the challenges of life be they miserable conditions, resistant people, or rocky roads.
• Study your soul for it is the most difficult study you will ever undertake.
• For those in ministry, look for the older men to convey wisdom and experience to you. Just listen to them. Look for the younger men so you may add something to their experience with God.
• Don’t let the interruptions frustrate you, take them and use them to help your soul to grow. Far too many allow a “stepping-stone” mentality cause them to miss out on the day because they are so focused on the journey.
• Look for ways to express appreciation, to accomplish great things, and outrun the dogs that will do their best to bring you down.

Go ride and don’t let the Doberman’s of life fill you with fear that you are not sufficiently prepared to do the will of God.

Book Recommendation -- Chaim Potok, The Chosen

One of the marks of a great book is for the author to be able to reach out to the world beyond the pages and pull the reader into the pages of the tale he is telling. Louis L’Amour is one such writer that has the ability to put the reader on a horse with him or in the middle of a range war with bad hombres. A. J. Cronin is another such writer who with books such as The Citadel and The Keys of the Kingdom forces the reader to live out the depth of emotions of his main characters.

Another author whom I was only recently connected with is Chaim Potok. Both Jason Calhoun and Ben Weeks were flabbergasted that I had never read any of his books. I was encouraged to begin with The Chosen which actually was written in 1967. The actual setting of the book is Brooklyn, New York in a very highly concentrated neighborhood of Jews. It is here that the worlds of Reuven Malter and Danny Saunders collide. Reuven’s father is a Jewish scholar who is encouraging the Zionist movement to find a homeland and form a nation. Danny’s father is a very revered Hasidic rabbi who has a powerful devotion to extreme conservatism among the Jews. Although the story surrounds the boys, you should read this book simply to acquaint yourself with the rigors and disciplined training that the Jewish rabbis go through to be set aside in their calling. I was both amazed and motivated by the disciplines of mind and spirit that I found Chaim Potok describing in his narrative.

The book starts off with a bang with Reuven experiencing a very serious (nearly fatal?) injury at the hands of Danny. (I don’t want to spoil the details so I will be vague with the storyline.) As the book tracks their immense feelings of agitation between the two, they ultimately become the closest of friends and it is through this friendship that Potok gives us the ability to see the best of both worlds.

The book also brings the reader to taste events of world history as they were unfolding in the late 1940’s. Roosevelt’s death, the Holocaust, and the development of the nation of Israel all serve as a backdrop to this intensely emotional story. If you are given to thinking, there will be times that you will find yourself putting the book down and contemplating the varying themes that develop in the characters of this story. This book explores areas like commitment, honor, valor, suffering, and the dilemmas that involve the heart and the mind.

In addition, if you are a minister who is involved in the ministry of the Word, I have a feeling that when you read this book that you will discover that very little discipline is in your life concerning study. These Jewish rabbis and scholars are so entirely given to study and prayer it is remarkable. One the remarkable scenes that I really found very interesting was when Danny went on the initial visit to Reb Saunders study and the description that Potok gives to this. I found a lot of motivation to seek a greater depth of life through disciplined study as a I read this book.

I am thinking that if you start with this work of Potok’s, you will invest your time in reading all this author has written.

A Tale of Three Kings

I was tired, weary, and defeated just to sum up a few of the massive dark feelings of the soul that night. To that point in my life, I am not sure that I had ever faced the dilemma quite like the one I was now staring down. My heart was dark and my feelings were very spiritually unhealthy to say the least. It would have been very easy to give in to defeat, pack up the tent and go in another direction with my life.

Looking back it was almost thirteen years ago on a late Wednesday night in October 1996. I had come from home from mid-week prayer and Bible study and it seemed as if the world of darkness was doing everything possible to choke the life out of me. What was so strange is that in January 1996, a very distinct directive from the Lord had told me that I would be on the current assignment for four more years. I expected a lot of great things but instead I was grappling with a storm that threatened to overpower me. A blinding and quite unforeseen trial had broadsided me and what little Christian character I had was being eroded by a lot of very carnal emotions to say the least.

I can still remember almost the exact time on that memorable Wednesday night as sometime around 10:35 or so. The house was finally quiet as Teresa and I had gotten the kids down for the night and she was in the back of the house and I was in my study in the front. I leaned back in my chair and propped my feet up on my desk and begin to encourage a dark and brooding stream of emotions. In retrospect and hopefully with an eye toward a little more spiritual maturity, I can see now that it was a shaping process of the soul that God was using to my own benefit. Spiritual growth is very necessary in all of our lives but most of the time it is very painful because it involves a pruning of the soul. But how that pruning is so conducive to greater fruitfulness!

Somehow my eyes flitted to the top of the bookshelf. Tucked in between all of the other inspirational books written by Gordon MacDonald, Charles Swindoll, Max Lucado, and a few others, I spied a little paperback that I had owned for at least 3 years. Numerous preachers had told me that I had to read Gene Edwards’ A Tale of Three Kings. I took half of their advice and bought it but never read it. In fact, as I think about it now, I can think of at least ten good men who told me that I needed to read this book. I didn’t ignore their advice it just wasn’t in God’s timing for me to read the book just yet. No doubt when I purchased the book, God knew there would come a time that I would need to read this book. I am of the opinion that this was one of the types of books that Paul encouraged Timothy to bring to him before winter (2 Tim. 4:13).

So at 10:35, I picked up that book and it mesmerized me until shortly after midnight. The impact of this little book (a little over 80 pages) has remained with me to this day. For those of you who have not read it, I won’t give you any details that will spoil it. For those who have read it before, you might want to pick it back up again! It is a tale for the ages because it exposes the fact that within every one of us is either a mad king who worships himself or there is a broken king who worships God. . . . . . and only the pain of trials can reveal what kind of man that we are. . . .

The Discipline of Study -- John Carroll

I continue our series on the discipline of study with a John Kerryesque sort of statement, “I knew John Carroll before I knew John Carroll.” A number of years ago, a friend of mine told me that I should visit an internet forum that was sort of a discussion ground for a lot of disgruntled Pentecostals who spent much time and energy trying to tear down some of the core doctrines and traditions that have been long held. When I ventured into this very weary land (I quit going very shortly thereafter), I kept noting a person who was commenting who went by the name “Coonskinner.” This “Coonskinner” and one other person (of whom I have since learned his identity also) would have about 50 people piling on with all sorts of rude comments and ridiculous innuendo concerning their defense of the faith. I did my best to post and agree with the “Coonskinner” and his valiant friend but because the forum required a special login and registration (to which I tried to gain but never could), I could never post my remarks in agreement with them.

Years passed and about 3 years ago, I was relating to a friend of mine, Scott Phillips, how that I always agreed with what “Coonskinner” had to say on this other far-out forum. When I told him this, Scott began to laugh heartily and told me that the “Coonskinner” was one of his best friends. It was through that friendship that I came to know a very good man who possesses an excellent spirit. About three years ago, I was introduced to the world of John Carroll and I am a much better man for it having come to pass. He pastors in Salina, Kansas but he hails from Oklahoma.

When John Carroll was eleven years, sitting in a rocking chair in his grandmother’s house, he was reading in the book of Acts, specifically chapter 2, when he heard the audible voice of God. He was told “One day you will be preaching about this!” He was so unnerved by this event that he missed supper that night and although his grandmother was aware that something was amiss, he did not tell her what had happened. It was at this very early and tender age that the seed was planted about the future God had planned for him. He would be 19 before he actually preached his first sermon. He has now been preaching almost 20 years.

As with all of these previous men, there are influencers who marked the direction that his life took in ministry.

Loyd Jones -- The pastor of his formative years was not really a world-class preacher, just a faithful man who watched his flock. However he did provide some excellent advice to him in the early days of his ministry. He told John to give himself to prayers that were marked by consecration and to study. But as to the mechanical aspects of putting sermons, together no advice was offered.

C. A. Nelson -- Brother Nelson was a man who allowed him to preach in the church he pastored. He was a very convicting preacher and this appealed to John. Brother Nelson was a retired District Superintendent for the Oklahoma District when John met him.

O. R. Fauss -- Another greatly convicting preacher. A whole lot of men in the age range of late 30’s and beyond can testify of the effect that O. R. Fauss had on them as young men and young ministers. Some of his sermons are on Faithbuilder.

J. T. Pugh -- Brother Pugh affected him long before John met him through his preaching. I don’t have the time to go into a story John told me sometime back about meeting Brother Pugh in the Denver airport at one of the most crucial times of his life but he received much spiritual direction during that time from Brother Pugh. When I asked him about specific messages of Brother Pugh, he mentioned two although they are probably not the classics that he is mostly known for. The classics are “You’re First Night in Hell,” “Anointed But Not Blessed,” and “Something Better than Heaven.”

“Fadeless Stars That Never Go Out” was a message that he heard on tape. It was a very provoking and complex message. Jude speaks of “wandering stars” and Brother Pugh took this and compared and contrasted stars with black holes. A black hole is a star that turns in on itself and consumes itself. A man can turn in on himself and quit praying and giving and pursuing and seeking until his ministry shrivels up to nothingness. Or a man can be like Jeremiah who had no converts to speak of, did not have a wife or family and spent much of his ministry in tears seemingly almost in defeat with little outward success. However, the influence of his ministry would be lived out in Babylon by Daniel, Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego.

As a sidenote, I have written a couple of blogs about Brother Pugh in the past. Spiritual Creativity and The Making of a Champion.

John would later meet Brother Pugh and establish somewhat of a relationship with him that remains until this day.

Another message was “Stars You’ve Never Seen Before” by way of cassette tape that produced a very strong prayer meeting after John listened to it.

Verbal Bean -- His series “Prayer” and “The Works of the Holy Ghost” were a multi-tape series that John listened to a number of times in his early years of ministry. Both of these series are on Faithbuilder in MP3 format although the audio quality is not the greatest in world due to the age of the tapes.

Derold and Judy Doughty -- This is a man who is very important currently in his life. He is who John looks to as a pastor. Judy Doughty is a woman who is given to early morning prayer and has been an inspiration to him in this area.

Gary Howard -- This man was an evangelist who preached many times during John’s childhood. He told me that there were messages that Brother Howard preached when he was five and six years old that he does not necessarily remember the content of the message but how there was great depth of the Spirit and provided for long altar services. I am convinced that the key to true revival are those moments that we are able to spend in the altars allow God to work through and to knead the spirit of the man.

I asked John what he thought allowed men to move with such a depth in the Spirit and a feeling of conviction that those in the pew responded to. He told me it was something that our generation does not want to hear but the real keys are pain, suffering, and affliction that will almost break a man in two. Two things we can do with trouble determines how God will let it work for us: 1) The thorn of affliction can be taken to the throne of grace and a measure of grace will come that will sustain a man in his work, or 2) a man can turn that pain inward and become shallow and bitter until it consumes him and those around him.

Before a man can rightly divide the Word, the Word has to rightly divide the man. The Word has the capacity separate soul and spirit, joints and marrow (Hebrews 4:12) and until this happens, men will always be at a loss to really minister the Word.

A man who has no personal depth will never inspire a congregation to work and reach the high calling that God has for them. Trials have the capacity to move us beyond the places of “maintenance prayer” which basically only covers what our daily needs require. In the Tabernacle, the second altar had to be visited and then one moved beyond the veil into the presence of God at the Ark of the Covenant. There is a place of prayer that moves us into the very presence of God that has to be sought out every day. Far too often, men find a place to pray but never stay long enough find that second wave of the Spirit. Moses left the Tabernacle but it was Joshua who lingered in the presence of God (Exodus 33:11) and it paid huge dividends in his life. When we get into a rush and the hustle and bustle of life it can be taxing to our relationship with God.

When I asked John about sermons that he had heard that over the years had meant much to him, he mentioned three particular men who preached messages.

Mark Morgan -- “When the Avenger Arrives” that was preached at the ARK conference. Another one, “When God Changes His Coat” at the Colorado District Campmeeting.

David Shatwell -- “How to Heal a Wounded Spirit” which was preached either at Annapolis, Maryland or Madison, Mississippi.

Tony Bailey -- “Early Morning Prayer” which he heard 8-9 years ago.

In the past, John had related to me his early morning routine which I found to be inspiring and remarkable. He gets up between 5-5:30 AM for prayer. At this time of the day, there are no disturbances because the world is not yet stirring. He will pray until he touches God and then there is that lingering in the presence of God that will cause his heart to be inclined toward ministry his church. After the prayer, John begins to muse through the Bible, quietly, carefully, prayerfully, and God uses the Word to speak powerfully to him. On a sidebar, when I speak with John on the phone, I never leave the conversation but that he has not dropped a tremendous thought that he has gained from Scripture. In fact, I have a notebook that I drag around with me everywhere and more than once or twice, something he has said to me makes its way into the pages.

While this Bible reading is going on, a cup of steaming Community Coffee is at hand along with a journal (8 ½ X 11) accompanied by a fountain pen. John has been writing with fountain pens since he was a kid and learned the art of it from his granny. His granny had an old wooden barreled Schaeffer that he started with. He has a variety of fountain pens. He has a Schaeffer, a Waterman, several Parker’s, and a utilitarian type fountain pen that he uses daily. Instead of using one that has an active inkwell, he uses the ones with cartridges for the sake of convenience.
When he was telling me about the pens, he said he had an old preacher tell him one time that he was the “youngest, old preacher” he had ever met. John told me that he likes old saddles, old guns, old pocket knives, but he has a special affinity for old coon-dogs (we shall get to more of that later).



So with Bible, coffee, journal, and fountain pen the inspiration starts to flow and he writes out his notes. He has a number of these hard-bound journals as he will usually fill up 1-2 of them every year. These thoughts will end up becoming sermons and Bible studies for him at later points.

The reason he is committed to writing his thoughts out is because every preacher has times when he is almost trying to drink from a fire hydrant and there are other times it is as dry as a desert. He told me that J. T. Pugh spoke of seasons of inspiration and that the inspiration comes but it has to have structure or it will be worthless. The structure is what causes the perspiration.

John then told me that on these early mornings he can feel the power that is expressed in an old song, Shut In With God:

The disciples were praying for the power to fall
Ten days they did tarry, on God they did call
Then God sent His spirit to baptize them all
For they had been shut in with God

Chorus
Shut in with God in a secret place
There in the spirit, beholding His face
Gaining new power to run in this race
Oh, I love to be shut in with God

Of all pleasant places on land or on sea
There’s no place on earth that is sweeter to me
Than to kneel at the feet of my Master and Lord
For there, I’ll be shut in with God

The pathway to Heaven, though rugged it may be
I’ll travel ‘til my precious Saviour I’ll see
Then the gates of that city will open for me
And there I’ll be shut in with God

John stressed the importance of not being a “binge” student. You have to take Brother Wayne McClain’s advice that he had given to him years before, “Gather the manna every day.” So on approximately 330 days of the 365 you will find John Carroll from 5-5:30 AM until 7:00 praying and working through the Scriptures.

He told me that he gained his love for the Word from a Sunday School teacher who had taught him as a kid. Then his aunt gave him a Bible when he was 7 after he had received the Holy Ghost and was baptized in Jesus’ name. Then through the work of his old pastor, who was very doctrinal in his preaching, gave him a love for apostolic doctrine. So with that first Bible (which he requested from his aunt to have red-letters, pictures, and a concordance), he begin to underline all the major parts of doctrine concerning the Oneness of God and the New Birth experience. One day as he was running the references, John 10:30 leaped out at him and it felt as if the revelation of the Oneness of God was pouring into his mind. So at a very young age, he was very much devoted to doctrine. He encourages his young ministers in his church to work messages in such a manner that they can build a bridge from the message to Acts 2:38.

When I asked him about particular books that he read, an amazing world opened up. John has a bachelor’s degree in English literature and actually was a schoolteacher before going into full time ministry. Therefore because of this background he rarely (as in never) reads books that are religious in nature. He learned from his profs in college that if a man will give himself to reading the classics then there is a stimulation toward deep and orderly thinking.

There are three reasons to read: 1) For recreation; 2) To gain information; and 3) To discipline the mind. The latter two are the most important reasons that someone should spend time reading. The classic literature that he has read includes Dante’s Inferno, Plato’s Republic (which is an incredible task in itself), the essays of Sir Frances Bacon, varied works by Shakespeare, and poetry. His two favorite poets are Emily Dickinson of which all of her works are enjoyed and Rudyard Kipling. The two favorite poems of Kipling are “If” and “The Female of the Species.”

He also expressed an enjoyment of reading Mark Twain’s works. Of Twain, he told me that he is deceptively deep and multi-layered in his writings, to which I greatly agree as I have used several illustrations from Twain over the years in my own preaching. He mentioned that Twain could be enjoyed by a 12 year old boy and at the same time could challenge a well educated college professor.

When he told me about the process of putting the messages that he preaches together, he said that he could in no way say he would fall into the category as a Doug White who might spend 10 hours on a message. He said that all week long is basically the process by which the message will be borne during those times of devotion and prayer. The real work of preaching is not so much the event as it is the praying, gathering, and working to put it into a preachable design. When we were talking about the aspect of God speaking to the man he mentioned a provoking verse from Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 23:21-22 KJV I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. [22] But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.

The dilemma of our days could very well be related to the fact that few are willing to stand in the counsel of the Lord and hear what He longs to say to the His Church. All that was required of the prophets was for them to stand and stay in the place of the Lord until they had heard from God and they could not do it and Israel failed.

As far as his notes, he takes to the pulpit 2-4 sheets of lined notebook paper. He will write out transitional points. His outline ranges from very detailed to very scanty. He uses different colored pens to write with, primarily black, blue, and red. The Scriptures are always in red and the blues and blacks alternate the other portions of the message. He doesn’t use a computer to type of his notes on.

As for his closest friends, they are Terry Harmon, David Shatwell, Doug White, Scott Phillips, and Guy Godwin. All of these friends were met at events/conferences that involved deep moves of the Spirit and consecrating prayer. He told me that for all of these friends that a principle came about in that what is born of the Spirit is Spirit. Things will bear fruit in the realm that they are born in. If a friendship is born in a spiritual way, the friendship has a tendency to bring about spiritual change and encouragement.

I asked him about a particular Bible preference and he said he has used a Thompson Chain reference for years. He likes the font and the margins that allow him to write things in the margins. He told me that all of his Bibles over the years have been marked up. I did not tell him but I have told numerous men that they need to write in their Bibles simply for the fact that when they die, their children will have a very valuable gift but it will be much more than that, it will be a legacy passed on.

On a lighter note, I asked him about his coon dogs to which he has a great love for. He has three American Bluetick Hounds. He said these are the best coondogs a man can buy. He has three and they chase coons in the surrounding regions of Salina. Their names are Mabel, Emmy Lou, and Judy.

When I asked him what final advice he might give to young men who are just entering the ministry, he told me he about a Scripture that he wrote in the front of every Bible he has ever owned:

Proverbs 13:20 KJV He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.

Make sure the friends that you have are men who will make you reach higher and be better. Never associate with those who are always testing the limits and the boundaries seeking to wander off into a spiritual wasteland. Also, if a young man does not want to pray and study, he needs to find something else to do with his life. Finally, get a grip of Truth and never let it go!

There are some various sermons by John Carroll on Faithbuilder.

Also the following sermons are available:

God's Gift to the Rebellious

The Three-fold Perspective of the Worshipper

The Road Less Traveled

The other posts related to this one are as follow:

The Discipline of Study.
Jeff Arnold.
Scott Graham.
Ben Weeks.
Jason Calhoun.
Doug White.
J. H. Osborne.

A Treasure Trove You Might've Missed

The last two days has left me incredibly pressed for time, however I have made a personal commitment to try and blog at least four times a week until the horse falls over so here we go at almost midnight.

For those of you who have been diligently following the “Discipline of Study” posts, I will get back to those probably next week. I have had to go fishing and have some good men out on the line but it will be next week before I can sit down with them. I want to tell you that I am greatly appreciative of all the comments and e-mails that you are sending in regards to this particular series of blogs.

I am going to encourage you to look carefully at a book that is a treasure trove that you might have overlooked. I am speaking of John Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress.” Currently this book runs secondly only to the Bible as the most published piece of Christian literature. If you have never read it, you are really in for a good treat. I recommend that you get the updated edition by L. Edward Hazelbaker.

I read this book years ago, but it was not until Brother Harrell in Bridge City, Texas urged me to really dig into this classic piece by Bunyan. It was said that Charles Spurgeon read “Pilgrim’s Progress” more than 100 times in his lifetime. If you have read any of Spurgeon’s sermons then you will have at least ran across one or two times that he has mentioned either scenes or characters from the story.

Last night for our mid-week Bible study series, I am patiently working through 1st John and came to the passage in 4:1 where John demands that we do not believe every spirit but rather that we test them. That is to assay or weigh them out through the strong element of spiritual discernment. As I worked through the passage, an illustration that fit extremely well was when Christian and Faithful make their way through Vanity Fair and have to decipher through all of the voices that are clamoring for their attention. It is amazing how well the illustration worked when you read the part where the Bunyan paints up all of his characters in the allegory.

I have preached a few sermons using “Pilgrim’s Progress” scenes as a leaping off point. “The Fight of Your Life” was a message I preached about Christian battling Apollyon in the Valley of Humiliation. Another message I preached was “Giants Under Junipers” which took into consideration the story of Christian when he was locked up in Doubting Castle and had to escape the dungeon. He had wandered off the right path and it almost led to a terrible ending for him. Another one is "The Magnetism of the Finish Line."

The whole allegory is concerned with Christian getting to the Celestial City (Heaven) and the battles and characters that he encounters along the way. Mr. Facing Both Ways, Worldly Wiseman, Hopeful, Faithful, and the Man in the Iron Cage are just a small few of worthy characters that will work for very good “sermon spice” as my friend Ben Weeks calls it. Also another very valuable resource to look for in conjunction with Bunyan’s book is Alexander Whyte’s “Characters of Pilgrim’s Progress.” There are three volumes of Whyte’s musings but there are absolutely essential for one who wants to look a little deeper.


Pilgrim's Progress On-line for free.