By Ken Blue
Sometimes we confuse ourselves with the importance of the message. It is the message that is all important. I have seen men who were more in love with the telling of the thing, than they are with the thing they tell.
One young man prayed just before his sermon, “Lord, help me to be nothing as I preach.” An old saint on the front row was overheard saying, “Take it by faith, you are nothing.” Another young preacher bounced with pride to the platform. On his way up, he slipped and fell. He hung his head in shame and embarrassment as he came down. Someone told him if he had gone up the way he came down, he could have came down the way he went up.
There is no place in the pulpit for pride, arrogance, brashness, rudeness, or crudeness. Like John the Baptist, we are nothing more than a voice, and that involves wind.
The following article was provided to me by one of my sons. I should be a reminder to all of us.
“I had a professor one time… He said, ‘Class, you will forget almost everything I will teach you in here, so please remember this: that God spoke to Balaam through his ass, and He has been speaking through asses ever since. So, if God should choose to speak through you, you need not think too highly of yourself. And, if on meeting someone, right away you recognize what they are, listen to them anyway’.” ―Rich Mullins.
Some creatures make themselves asses. Some are born as such. Know the difference and go on with your ministry.
Pastor Ken Blue was born in Boswell, Ark. In 1955 he accepted Christ as his Savior. He and his wife Joyce were married in 1955. They have 5 children. He graduated from Midwestern Baptist Bible College in 1969 and started the Open Door Baptist Church in Lynnwood, Wa. where he pastored for 39 years. Because of health issues (ALS) he was forced to resign as pastor. It is his desire to continue to be used of God to help pastors and believers through this ministry.