Dad's Last Recorded Sermon...

Here is the audio of dad's last sermon. He preached it on September 19, 2010. He had been on iPreach on the 17th talking about funerals and told some very funny stories.  The best was when he preached a funeral for a man who was in the audience early on in his preaching. He got two men with the same name mixed up.  The family forgave him for years later he preached the man's actual funeral. I had seen dad August 29-30 at Polishing the Pulpit in Pigeon Forge.  He was moving a little slower than normal and when he spoke he spoke on "What I'd Tell Younger Preachers" - it was basic, simple. It was dad.  I called Jeff afterward and commented that he seemed tired.  Dad didn't get tired - or at least he didn't show it.

This sermon is 18 minutes and 14 seconds long (a little short for him).  It is beautiful to me.  Dad at his best. When he starts his voice sounds raspy but before long he sounds like he sounded to me his whole life.  The lesson is very straight forward, teaching people how to live, a few classic lines. But overall it is just dad - the Bible is true and it says live this way so you should. Kind, tender, but powerful and persuasive. It has a Barclay quote in it - which is awesomely classic in dad's sermon. I imagine I heard dad say over a thousand times "the liberal British scholar William Barclay..." He loved Barclays Daily Study Bible commentaries. They were brief, made sense and illustrated the Word well.  And of course, it has a little humor in it.  In an interesting twist some of it is from a sermon I got from someone else and shared with him years ago.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did...but that would be hard.

2010-09-19 AM Religion That Is Not Vain