I am still feeling the effects of the Bible Conference at the Buffalo Valley Baptist Church in Clay WV. Something happened on Sunday morning that very much impressed me. In order for me to express this, though let me give you a true story.
My grandfather, James E. Hobbs Sr, pastor of King's Addition Baptist Church in South Shore KY left on October 6 to go to the Northwest Territories of Canada. He went there because their missionary, Elder Wayne Mowris had passed away and there were things that needed to be taken care of and he needed to check on the members of the mission there. On the way up there, he stopped to pick up Brother Gordon Wiegold, a preacher from the Landmark Missionary Baptist Church in Roseville CA, who had flown into the airport in Columbus OH.
These two men of God drove all the way up there, spent several days preaching and checking on the work in Canada and then drove home. It was not a vacation trip, and it was hard physically speaking. Most people, even those younger than them, and (sad to say) some preachers would have never made such a trip. Yet their love for the Lord, for His church and His people is what made them do it.
Now, they did not make it to my Grandfather's house until Saturday night, October the 18th. The Bible Conference was going on in Clay. They had driven over 6000 miles. Most people would have stayed in bed and slept late on Sunday morning, missing even their local church service. But they got up and drove 160 miles to be at the Bible Conference...and neither of them were scheduled to preach there!
That really impressed me and caused me to reflect on how blessed I am to have sat under my Grandfather's teaching for so many years. Far too many people would have had the excuse of being too tired or having too much to do, but I wonder how legitimate these "excuses" really are. It would have been very easy for them to have stayed in on Sunday morning and not gone to church at all. Some folks lay out of church week after week, always having some kind of an excuse. I thought about a song my grandfather likes to sing, it's called "Excuses" and it goes like this:
Excuses, excuses, you'll hear them every day.
And the Devil he'll supply them, if the church you stay away.
When people come to know the Lord, the Devil always loses
So to keep them folks away from church, he offers them excuses.
In the summer it's too hot. And, in the winter, it's too cold.
In the spring time when the weather's just right, you find some place else to go.
Well, it's up to the mountains or down to the beach or to visit some old friend.
Or, to just stay home and kinda relax and hope that some of the kin folks will start dropping in.
Well, the church benches are too hard. And, that choir sings way too loud.
Boy, you know how nervous you get when you're sitting in a great big crowd.
The doctor told you, "Now, you better watch them crowds. They'll set you back."
But, you go to that old ball game because you say "it helps you to relax."
Well, a headache Sunday morning and a backache Sunday night.
But by worktime Monday morning, you're feeling quite alright.
While one of the children has a cold, "Pneumonia, do you suppose?"
Why the whole family had to stay home, just to blow that poor kid's nose.
Excuses, excuses, you'll hear them every day.
And the Devil he'll supply them if the church you stay away.
When people come to know the Lord, the Devil always loses
So to keep them folks away from church, he offers them excuses.
Well, the preacher he's too young. And, maybe he's too old.
The sermons they're not hard enough. And, maybe they're too bold.
His voice is much too quiet-like. Sometimes he gets too loud.
He needs to have more dignity. Or, else he's way too proud.
Well, the sermons they're too long. And, maybe they're too short.
He ought to preach the word with dignity instead of "stomp and snort."
Well, that preacher we've got must be "the world's most stuck up man."
Well, one of the lady's told me the other day, "Well, he didn't even shake my hand."
Excuses, excuses, you'll hear them every day.
And the Devil he'll supply them if the church you stay away.
When people come to know the Lord, the Devil always loses
So to keep them folks away from church, he offers them excuses.
So to keep them folks away from church, he offers them excuses.
May God send a revival! We need one so that we would all be like the Psalmist who said, "I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD." (Psalm 122:1). Or like the apostles, who " ...daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ." (Acts 5:42).
