Oh Lord of the harvest, raise up true and faithful laborers, preachers and pastors. Laborers who are not concerned for worldly honor, gain, nor possessions, but for the spiritual welfare of their hearers, the glory of God, and the preeminence of Jesus Christ. Laborers who fear neither men of the world nor men of the church, who fear not loneliness nor failure, whose only fear is “the fear of the Lord.” Laborers who know how to be abased and how to abound, how to live with poverty and plenty, and to treat those two imposters as the same. Laborers who are complete in Christ and content with Christ, and who are quite determined to preach Christ and him crucified. Laborers who love their Master and have no complaint with where they labor nor how long they labor and are willing to leave the harvest in his hands.
Are we as destitute for true laborers as it seems? Is the famine of hearing the Word of God as wide-spread as it appears? Oh God, where are the 7000 who have “not bowed their knee to Baal nor kissed him with their mouths”? (1 Ki. 19:18).
This is truly the order: first, the knee buckles under the strain of fear, opposition, criticism, loneliness, and trial; then the mouth follows with soft words of compromise and smooth intellectual words of man’s wisdom, which lessens the offense of the cross.
Oh, to be a member of The 7000 Club!
About Henry Mahan
Henry T. Mahan was born in Birmingham, Alabama in August 1926. He joined the United States Navy in 1944 and served as a signalman on an L.S.T. in the Pacific during World War II. In 1946, he married his wife Doris, and the Lord blessed them with four children.
At the age of 21, he entered the pastoral ministry and gained broad experience as a pastor, teacher, conference speaker, and evangelist. In 1950, through the preaching of evangelist Rolfe Barnard, God was pleased to establish Henry in sovereign free grace teaching. At that time, he was serving as an assistant pastor at Pollard Baptist Church (off of Blackburn ave.) in Ashland, Kentucky.
In 1955, Thirteenth Street Baptist Church was formed in Ashland, Kentucky, and Henry was called to be its pastor. He faithfully served that congregation for more than 50 years, continuing in the same message throughout his ministry. His preaching was centered on the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified, in full accord with the Scriptures. He consistently proclaimed God’s sovereign purpose in salvation and the glory of Christ in redeeming sinners through His blood and righteousness.
Henry T. Mahan also traveled widely, preaching in conferences and churches across the United States and beyond. His ministry was marked by a clear and unwavering emphasis on Christ, not the preacher, but the One preached. Those who heard him recognized that his sermons honored the Savior and exalted the name of the Lord Jesus Christ above all.
Henry T. Mahan served as pastor and teacher of Thirteenth Street Baptist Church in Ashland, Kentucky for over half a century. His life and ministry were devoted to proclaiming the sovereign grace of God and directing sinners to the finished work of Christ. He entered into the presence of the Lord in 2019, leaving behind a lasting testimony to the gospel he faithfully preached.
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