Come To The Stone! Series

The music played. The people sang. And suddenly, I was moving out into the aisle, walking down to the platform, and standing directly in front of John R. Rice and Pastor Whaley.

As I stood alone at the end of that sawdust trail, what did happen was disappointing to say the least. No one even looked in my direction. Brother Whaley had jumped down from the platform and was rushing to embrace another man who had responded to the invitation.

Our guest preacher’s blood brother was a hard dirt farmer, who lived in New Mexico. “All my life I have run from God’s call,” the elder Whaley said as tears streamed down his weather-beaten face. “But today I’m going to quit running. Pray for me.”

Criswell said: I stood near the platform alone and feeling really quite awkward. I was twelve years old. The elder Whaley must have been close to seventy. He was thin and haggard. His skin was wrinkled and burned from too many years of following the plow beneath the open sky. He walked with a severe limp, and his arms and hands trembled.

That Sunday morning, everybody gathered to hear the preacher’s brother, elder Whaley, preach his first, and probably his last, sermon. He stood before us creaky and rheumatic. His voice was weak. His body bent. Never once did he look up at us. It was impossible to hear him past the front row, but the congregation strained to listen. It was moving, and, at the same time, it was tragic.

It was a lesson that I will never forget. If you’re going to serve the Lord, you sure better do it now. Don’t wait another day, or you’ll end up like that poor old farmer looking back at what might have been but now can never be.

Boy, isn’t this the truth? If you’re going to serve the Lord in any form, you’d better do it now because you may not get another chance.

Doesn’t this make you wonder a bit about Jesus leaving heaven for earth to seek and save the lost? Why did He do it? How could He do it? And perhaps many other questions.

God, in essence, said, "Jesus, my beloved Son, I have chosen you and you alone to be the Savior of the world. You alone can bear the sins of the world. GO!" Chosen by God.

III. HE WAS ACCEPTED BY SAINTS

5You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6For in Scripture it says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame." 7Now to you who believe, this stone is precious.

ILL.- Have you ever been to Elvis week in Memphis? It happens every year in August. Every year during that week (August 16, 1977 - 32 years in 2009) surrounding the anniversary of his death, Memphis celebrates the music and life of Elvis Presley. In 2007 - 30th anniversary of his death, despite temperatures reaching 100 degrees, fans began lining up on Wednesday evening - many waiting hours - to file up the drive of the estate and past his grave in a candlelight vigil.

Mike Meridian, a 46-year-old builder from Houston said: "We’re doing our best to keep cool," said Meridian. "Elvis blows the wind our way every now and again."