Stand with me, let's sing this
hymn. There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel's
veins. And sinner's blood, he needs
that blood. Lose all their guilty stains
Lose all their guilty stains Lose all their guilty stains dear dying lamb, dear dying lamb
thy precious blood shall never lose its power till all the ransomed
church of God be saved Be safe to sin no more Be safe
to sin no more Till all the ransomed Church of God Be safe to sin
no more When this poor lisping, stammering tongue Lies silent
in the grave Then in a nobler, sweeter song I'll sing thy power
to save I'll sing thy power to save. I'll sing thy power to save. Then in another sweeter song,
I'll sing thy power to save. My father loved to sing those
hymns and he began as a young song leader at Pollard Baptist
Church many, many years ago. And he was a good man. He loved
to lead the singing. We're conducting these services
according to his wishes, exactly like he expressed to me four
or five years ago. He asked me and Brother Nybert
and Brother Harding to preach his funeral. He gave us the text
that he wanted us to read, not the time. If he could have arranged
that, it would have been a lot sooner than now. But he gave
us his text, which Brother Harding will be speaking from in a little
bit. But first, I thought it would
be very meaningful, very special, if three of his grandchildren,
who he loved so dearly, three of seven, eight, how many? that he loved so dearly and they
loved him so much and I thought it would be very meaningful,
very special if they stood up and said some things about their
grandfather they called Ball Ball and what he meant to them. First Hannah, you go ahead. Thank you for coming. When I
was asked, along with Luke and Carrie, to help in delivering
my grandfather's eulogy, I didn't have any idea where to begin
or how to possibly find the right words to say in just a few minutes
to describe this indescribable man that we all know and love
so dearly. He was a man that can't really
be put into words. When describing him to people
who didn't know him, there aren't enough adjectives or feelings
in the English language to express what he meant to his family and
friends and just how much we loved him. or he loved us. But
it's my high honor to share with all of you some wonderful memories
that I have of a devoted and faithful husband, father, grandfather,
great-grandfather, brother, uncle, friend, and pastor. It's a high
honor and privilege to give honor to whom honor is due, and I'm
thankful that the Lord made me his granddaughter. To me, like
my dad said, he was just a ball ball. And what a ball ball he
was. He loved his grandkids with every
piece of his heart. And I know he knew and believed
we're sinners because that's what he preached and believed
for nearly his entire adult life. But he made us feel like we could
literally do no wrong. He loved all children. Children
were one of the greatest blessings and highlights of his life. Every
time one of his great-grandchildren were about to be born, he couldn't
rest until he knew the labor and delivery went well and mother
and baby were doing fine. He never took for granted the
health and minds the Lord gave our babies. He always marveled
at how amazing his grandkids and great-grandkids were. though
we all knew and know that they are normal mischievous children
just like we were and are. He was a faithful pastor and
preacher for more than 60 years, so we often found him in his
study. His study door was always open, at home or at the church,
and everyone was always welcomed with open arms, especially children. He always had treats on top of
his desk or in his desk drawers. I remember the jar of lemon drops
he always had sitting on top of his desk in his church study
for all the kids to come in and get after services were over.
There seemed to be an endless supply and I think they tasted
better just because they came from a jar on Ball Ball's desk.
Balboa and I shared a love of all things chocolate. I got him
a stuffed animal bear one year for Christmas wearing a backpack
full of chocolate. When you pushed his belly, the
bear said, I love chocolate. He kept the bear in his study
from then on and pushing his belly never got old to him. He
smiled and laughed every time he showed it to me. There's one
particular chocolate story that I don't personally remember,
but it's been repeated to me so many times. Bobble had the
lemon drops on his desk at the church, but at home he always
had a stash of British orange chocolate in his desk drawer.
From a very young age, I felt very comfortable making myself
right at home in his study and did not feel the need to ask
permission to go in there whether he was there or not. At around
two or three years old, apparently, I went into his study without
asking and stuffed my cheeks as full as I possibly could with
the orange chocolate we both loved. Then came into the living
room where all the adults were while still trying to chew it.
I had huge chipmunk cheeks full of chocolate, and chocolate all
over my mouth. And Volvo asked, Hannah Marie,
have you been eating chocolate? Of which I just shook my head,
serious as a heart attack, with an emphatic no. I'm sure I got
in big trouble from my parents. But to this day, I can picture
what Ball Ball's eyes looked like when he smiled and laughed,
and I know that my bold-faced lie actually cracked him up because
grandparents tend to think that their grandkids are cute even
when they misbehave. My dad was called to be pastor
in Rocky Mount, Virginia when I was only four years old, which
was five hours away from Ashland. When my parents told me we would
be moving, apparently I didn't approve. because I very boldly
told them, well, Henry Mahan's still my pastor. So many still consider him to
be their pastor. It's been a great blessing through
the years to hear so many testimonies and stories of how the Lord used
Balbal in the preaching of God's free, sovereign, and electing
grace. I did nothing to deserve being
made to be his granddaughter, but there aren't enough words
to say how thankful I am that I get to call him Ball Ball. Ball Ball didn't move to Rocky
Mountain until I was 23 years old, so we spent almost 20 years
living apart. This meant that every visit was
beyond special, and we had to cram months of love, affection,
and talking into just a few days and weeks. Their home was the
homiest home I have ever been in and there was never a time
I didn't want to go visit them. It felt like Christmas every
time we walked into the basement and up the stairs to see them
for the first time in months. Ball Ball would either be in
his huge softer than soft brown leather recliner or back in his
study and Mimi would usually be in the kitchen cooking us
the best meal you have ever tasted. All of us grandkids were always
welcome in his recliner right beside him no matter how big
we got. He always had a wooden bowl of
pecans and a nutcracker on the table beside his chair and of
course some chocolate back in his study that we could go sneak
and eat. I don't think I ever remember
hearing the word no from either of them. Ball Ball and I also
shared a love of the Florida Panhandle, and we got to go to
Destin or Pensacola with them many times. In everyday life
away from the beach, Ball Ball was always meticulously dressed,
even well-dressed the last time I saw him at home. His closet
was always perfect, and his clothes were always pressed so well.
He came from a generation of respect and class that believed
in dressing with respect and dignity for all occasions. He
always had the best hat. I loved seeing him in his hat.
I can close my eyes and picture him in the 1990s with his long
coat and dress hat on just doing something like going to the post
office in his Lincoln, which always smelled like pipe tobacco
and vanilla. So seeing him always dressed
in suits, ties, or coats and hats made me notice that much
more how relaxed he looked on the beach. He would still have
some type of hat on. But I can also remember him like
it was yesterday sitting under a beach umbrella in the warm
Florida sun with shorts and a t-shirt and a newspaper in hand and feet
in the sand with white tall socks on because his feet always got
sunburned. It's a grandparent's job to spoil
the grandkids and Baw Baw and Mimi certainly knew and know
how to spoil their grandkids and great grandkids. During one
beach trip when I was around eight or nine, we went out to
eat and they told me without consulting my parents, baby,
you get whatever you want on the menu. And just like most
every young child, my parents almost never let me get whatever
I wanted on the menu because we were on a budget like most
families are. When the waitress came around,
I very confidently told her that I would have the lobster. I think
my parents almost fell out of their chairs and quickly told
me that I could not order lobster. I remember Bobo and Mimi being
very quick to hush them up and they said let the baby get whatever
she wants. So I enjoyed my lobster very
much that night. And I'm sorry now for my husband
Gabe, but I do have to say I love things like lobster, steak, and
good chocolate. And I think I'll just say it's
Ball Ball and Mimi's fault. Ball Ball was one of the most
genuine and humble men I've ever known. He loved his family. But Bloodlines didn't draw the
line to whom he genuinely loved and adored. He loved our spouses
just as much as he loved us. He has had thousands of true
friends that he loved like family. He had a genuine interest in
others that wasn't the least bit fake. The Lord put a love
of people in his heart. And it never failed to astound
me how many names he could remember, stories, dates, trips, and travel,
and just exactly how he knew friends from near and far. He
had the best memory. We believe he had a photographic
memory and he seemed to never forget anything or anyone. But his hope was not in what
he knew or what he could remember. It wasn't in who he was associated
with or what he did in this life. His hope was in the fact that
the Lord Jesus Christ chose him and died on the cross for him
personally. Worshipping the Lord was his
life. He sat at his desk and studied and read God's word until
he wasn't able to anymore. He was overjoyed, completely
overjoyed every time he got to go worship the Lord. And there
was nothing and no one in this life that he loved more than
hearing and preaching Christ. Baba would be the first to tell
you that he loved the Lord, but only because the Lord loved him
first. What brings our family so much
joy and comfort right now is knowing that the one he preached
for so many years is the one he is now with for eternity. Henry Mahan was used of the Lord
mightily. He preached the gospel of God's
sovereign grace all over this world. And he preached it as
clearly, as powerfully, and as faithfully as man can. But he
was also my baba. I remember coming home from elementary
school with a little girl one day to their house and I was
down in the dumps. and Bottle asked me what was
wrong. I told him I'd been invited to a birthday party. Big stuff.
But I couldn't go. I couldn't go because it was
at the roller rink and I didn't know how to skate. He told me
to finish my snack and meet him down in the basement. When I
got down there, he had unearthed a pair of rusty, adjustable metal
skates with big leather buckles on them. I'd never seen anything
like that. And he strapped those roller skates to his feet and
spent the next few hours teaching me to roller skate. So I wouldn't
have to miss the birthday party. I don't know what year that was,
but he had to have been in his sixties. And I'm sure he was
in the middle of preparing the four messages that he would preach
at church that week and preparing for the TV broadcast and the
radio program and probably preparing for a trip to Mexico or Australia.
But he found the time to teach me a roller skate so I wouldn't
miss the birthday party. And that was my ball ball. When the Lord was pleased to
call my mother and his daughter home, I was 17 years old. And the day she died, I sat next
to my Baba and we cried and we talked about how much we were
going to miss her. But I remember he looked at me and he said,
Care Grace, there are lots of mothers in this world, but not
many like yours. And he said, the Lord gave you
the best mother anyone could ever have for 17 years. I believe that's better than
a lifetime with any other mom. And he was right. And right there
in the midst of his own grief, he helped me with mine. And that
was my fault. The scripture tells us in the
book of Galatians, we read the fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. I saw all that in my Baba. Every
day, every day. But those first two, the fruit
of the Spirit is love and joy. And those words have been in
my heart and on my mind these last few days as I think about
my Baba. He loved the Lord Jesus Christ. He had joy in the Lord
Jesus Christ. He spent his life telling everybody
about the Lord Jesus Christ. And because of the love and joy
that's in Christ, my Baba had love and joy for everyone and
everything around him. Nobody had joy like my Baba had
joy. And he knew, he knew so much
about trial and disappointment and heartache. His own and that
of the people he ministered to for so many years. But he never
dwelt on any of that. How many times did we hear him
quote, all things work together for good, men that love God,
men that are called according to His purpose. Now he had love
and joy. And not just in momentous occasions.
I mean a letter from a friend, Mimi's Sunday dinner, the great
grandkids playing whistle ball in the backyard. Love and joy. It's always love and joy. He
had love and he found joy in God's creation. He planted a
garden every year as long as he was able. Nothing gave him
more joy than his first great-granddaughter picking totos, did it Lucy? You know, he fed the birds and
the squirrels. There was a pair of cardinals
that would return to Stephen Street every spring. He loved
watching them. He and Mimi called them Louie
and Louise. And there was one particular squirrel I remember
and he started coming about the same time every day to get the
nuts that Baa Baa would lay out on the patio and he trained,
my Baa Baa trained that squirrel to come inside the patio door
in the house find the nut in the basket where they were kept
and sit and eat it right there on the welcome mat I don't know
why but we called him Baa Baa he had such such love and he
found such joy in even the smallest of things every once in a while
when I was a teeny teeny tiny girl he would sneak me a bowl
of ice cream and I mean right in the middle of the afternoon
just in time to spoil my supper. If Mimi and mom weren't around
he'd dish that out and we'd sit there at the kitchen table and
he would watch me eat the ice cream with the biggest grin on
his face and he'd laugh and say don't you wish green beans tasted
that good. When I started school I discovered
that my friends had They had grandpas, and they had papaws,
and granddaddies, and I came home and asked my mother, why
in the world do we call our grandfather Ball Ball? And she explained
it was my own fault. He was Big Dad. He was Big Daddy
to Kay and Robbie. And evidently, they started way
too young to get me to say Big Dad. It came out Ball Ball. And
somehow that stuck. And after hearing that story,
I told my mother, well, no one else has a ball ball. And as
the years have gone by, I realized how right I was. No one else
had a ball ball. How blessed I was. How blessed
I was to have a ball ball. How blessed we all were with
our ball ball. And I'm so thankful. I'm so very
thankful for his faithfulness. I'm so thankful he taught me
about the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're going to miss him,
but I can't even imagine the love and the joy that he has
right now. And I'm so very thankful to the
Lord for our Baba. It says a lot. about my grandfather
that the three of us did not have any conversations about
some of the words we were going to use. But we're going to repeat
a lot of words about him. When I was a little boy and started
sitting out in church, there was one thing that I looked forward
to when I was going to church every time. And that was when
we were singing the final hymn, the closing hymn, and the message
was over. We got to the last verse And I would watch intently
as I was standing there looking around some of the people in
front of me seeing which way is my ball ball going to go to
the back. He could go to the right or the left and I intently
watched that. And whichever way he chose, when
the last song ended, I would think for a second on which of
my two parents I was going to ask if I could go see him. Usually
the one that had to reprimand me the least during the service.
And when I would ask that question, I was just hopeful, and usually
they gave me the answer, yes you can go. So I'd turn around,
go the direction that he was, and I'd scurry up the aisle,
going in between legs, trying to find my way to him. And I
would go around, and usually I had to go around him and come
from behind, because the line was too thick. And I'd get there,
and I would kind of snuggle in right next to him, and not say
anything, and just let him know I was there. And he always did
one of a couple things. He'd reach over and pat me on
the head. He'd pull me in a little bit or he'd say something sweet
to me. And as a little boy I did that for years. I don't know
how old I was before I finally probably thought I was too cool
to go back there. But I did that for years and in doing so I experienced
a lot of things. And standing there next to him
as he greeted everyone after the message, I got to hear the
same comments a lot of times. I heard people say, I appreciate
you. I heard people say, thank you
so much. I heard people say, I'm so glad
I was here. I heard people say, I'm so glad
that I know you. I heard people say, I love you.
And I heard people not have the words and they'd well up or they'd
give him a hug or just shake his hand and move on past. And
in doing that, I remember thinking to myself as a little boy, Man,
everybody really likes my ball ball. And so over the years,
there's a lot of time standing there watching and listening
and thinking. And I remember trying to figure out why everyone
liked him so much. And I had a few thoughts over
those years. And not the first one, but the one that I'm going
to say first is so important because all the rest of them
after it hinge on this first one. My grandfather was genuine. My grandfather was who he was
and who you know in every situation. He was the same man while he
was standing there greeting people, talking to them, that he was
when he sat in his chair in the study and it was just me and
him. He was the same at our family lunches that he was in the study,
in the men's meeting. He was the same all the time
and that's so important. Then the next thing and probably
the first one I realized was that he loved all these people
that were coming up and talking to him. He loved them because
he cared for them. He loved them in a way that is
difficult to describe. One way I would like to try is
that he always thought the best of people. He looked at people
And he saw them in the light, in the view that we want to be
seen at. When he saw us, he didn't see our imperfections. He didn't
see the way we stammered when we tried to talk to him. He saw
us in the way we wanted to see. I remember standing next to him
and he would He always gave me compliments. When I'd come up
there and be next to him, whoever was next in line, he'd say something
about me every single time. He'd say, this is my pal right
here. Or he'd say, you know this little boy right here, buddy,
and he is so good at whatever I was doing at that time. Then,
he would also say those things about those people to me. He
would lean in and he'd say, Luke, he'd say, Miss B right here,
she's one of the sweetest ladies I know. He'd say, Luke, now you
may know Martha Lou, but you realize she's the best piano
teacher anywhere around. And he'd say things like, now
Mr. Ray, he's one of a kind right here. And he'd say these things
about everybody. And he meant it because he was
genuine and he loved them. Another thing about my grandfather
was that he cared for people. He was always thinking of his
friends and his family. because he loved them and he
genuinely wanted what was best for them. My grandfather had
an ability to make you feel like you were the only person in the
room. I had a conversation with a good friend of mine years ago
that I don't think had seen my grandfather for a long time.
But that friend knew I was going to see him and he started talking
about it. And he said, you know, I don't
know Henry that well, but I feel like we're best friends. And
that's exactly how he made you feel. When I would go to his
study, my mom would bring us over there as a kid and I would
go to his study and he was sitting back there and he was just writing
away studying. When I walked in that door and said something
to him or he noticed me, without fail, 100% of the time he did
something that at the time I didn't realize was as important and
as difficult as it was. He would immediately take that
pen and he would lay it down. and he would turn around to me
and his eyes and focus were on me. And that's what he did with
everybody. And then one more thing I realized
was that he remembered everything. He cared so much for people that
he always knew what they were going through. He always knew
what was on their mind, what was on their heart, and what
they needed. When someone came up, it was never fail that he
would say, I hope you have a good birthday on Tuesday. Or he would
say, how's your mom doing? Or he'd say, everything going
okay with that? And I didn't know what he meant,
but they knew what he meant, and he knew what was going on.
And over all those years, I felt like I developed a good plan,
a good idea of why everyone liked him so much. And then I got older,
and things in my life started to change, and my perspective
on things became different. And I realized though, all of
those attributes and all of those things are very true, they were
not the reason why all those people loved him. You can tell
a sinner that you love them and they might love you back. You
can be genuine and heartfelt and they might realize it. You
can care for them and do things for them and they might return
the favor and appreciate it. Or you can remember them and
think about them and they might remember you. But if you tell
a true sinner who the Lord Jesus Christ is and salvation is in
Him, That sinner is going to love you. My grandfather was loved because
the Lord Jesus Christ made him a vessel, a messenger to teach,
to tell, and proclaim to so many people who he was. And those
characteristics that I always thought were why he was loved
so much were manifested in his preaching. He was a genuine man. He preached what he believed
and he believed what he preached. He loved the Lord Jesus Christ. And he loved all those people
he was preaching to because he wanted them to love the Lord
Jesus Christ. He cared for all those people
and that's why he studied and he prepared and he spent all
that time making sure that every time he stood up he was going
to preach the Lord Jesus Christ. And he remembered throughout
his entire life that the thing that was the most important was
the Lord Jesus Christ. When I was thinking about what
I was going to say, my last couple lines here were going to start
with an I. But I think I feel comfortable enough to say a we
when I say this statement. Whether it was the last week
that you or I saw him, or it's been years or decades, We will
all miss the conversations we had with Him. We will all miss
the wisdom that He imparted to us. We will all miss the jokes
and the laughs that we had with Him. We will always miss His
smile and everything about Him. But because the Lord Jesus Christ
made Him and taught him the gospel and made him a preacher that
was faithful to always preach his word, so many of us, we did
not miss seeing the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a fitting tribute, isn't
it? His daughter and son-in-law named him after his granddad. But two others too. Two other
Henrys. Sam Henry and Henry Brooke. That's a tribute, isn't it? A
tribute. And I enjoyed that. There are
no instructions in scriptures as to funerals. In fact, you
really won't find a funeral. so there are no instructions.
And we largely do things by tradition. And eulogy is just that, where
you stand up and say something about the one you love and their
honor and some memories and so forth. And I enjoyed that. I
hope you did. And if anybody didn't, you're
free to leave right now. In a serpentine fashion. I told Hannah, I said, I'll let
you go first because it's easier to go first. Well, now I wish
I'd have gone first. I'm going to repeat a lot of
what you said, because we all agreed on it. I once gave my
father-in-law, Ed Ballard, a card, a man who was also esteemed very
highly and loved by so many, right? I gave him a card, a birthday
card one time that said this. It's not so important how many
years a man has lived as how many people are right glad he
did. And this large crowd here today
tells me that a lot of people are right glad that Henry Mahan
lived. And I'm one of them. We're here
to honor the memory of a dear pastor, brother, husband, father,
and friend, Henry Mahan. In 2 Samuel 3, David, when his
friend Abner died, he said of his fallen friend what I say
now. Know ye not that there is a prince
and a great man fallen in Israel this day? A great man. Scripture tells us to render
honor to whom honor is due. And the Lord Himself He did just
that. He honored those who honored
Him. He honored those who served Him
well, as my father did. Hebrews 11 is a long chapter
in God's Word that God honored His servants, didn't He? He honored them. Men and women
who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained
promises, of whom the world is not worthy. That's what the Scripture
says about God. That's what God says about His
servant. And I agree. In honoring our
brother today, what we're doing is honoring the grace of God
that made a preacher and a man like him a man. As they say, you know, he loved
the Lord because the Lord first loved him. I want to give you
some This is some facts, briefly give you some facts concerning
his life. Facts that show the Lord's marvelous
providence in his life and therefore ours. Because we're all, everyone
in this room is somehow connected. And owes a great deal to the
fact that Henry Mahan was born and became a preacher. You certainly cannot sum up a
life of 92 years in a few minutes, especially a life and a ministry
so far-reaching that affected so many people. Let me give you
just a few facts that you may or may not know. Henry Mahan
was born in Fairfield, Alabama in 1926. He had two siblings,
John Carey, his older brother, and Martha Mahan. Born to John Carey Mahan and
Atha Alleyne. Mayhem, which another child is
now named after Aileen. So he had an older brother named
John and a younger sister named Martha. Martha, oh how he adored
his brother and sister and devoted to them. His sister, she adored
him. It almost bordered on idolatry
what she thought about her brother. It really did. And the same way
with her three boys, Steve, Scott, and Stacy. As the grandchildren
said, a lot of people felt the same way about him. My dad and
his brother and sister were raised up during the Great Depression.
Raised very poor, but loved and provided for. That Great Depression
formed a lot of strong people. Those hard times shaped him and
his sibling and so many others are now called what someone called
the greatest generation. And I agree with that. The greatest
generation at least in the last century or so. A generation unknown
and unappreciated by this present generation. And they're all almost
gone. They're almost gone. And boy
do we miss them. Not many left. They literally
built this country. With their hands. By hard work.
Literally. In 1941, my dad, when he was
15 years old, that's when the United States was plunged into
the war, the World War. His older brother was already
at the Naval Academy in Annapolis. My dad's father served in World
War I, and his brother was then in the service, and so many young
men were overfighting already. It was my dad's fervent desire
to join. He was too young. But as soon
as he turned 17, the day he turned 17, 18 was the age, but 17 your
father could sign for you, and he did. Pop Mahan signed for
him. and he attempted to enlist in
the Navy. Well, his eyesight was poor,
and he failed the eye test. Well, the doctor walked out of
the room, and you heard about that keen memory. While the doctor
was out of the room, he memorized the eye chart. And the doctor
came back in, and he said, Doc, I want to take that one more
time. And he passed it with flying colors. Now you're in the Navy. He's in the Navy. 1945, he was thrust
into two major battles. The 36 day battle of Iwo Jima,
the 82 day battle for Okinawa, Japan. At Okinawa, Japan, it
lasted nearly three months, day and night bombing. My dad told
me about it. 36 ships were sunk. Five thousand sailors alone died. Dad said the ship in front of
him was sunk, the ship behind him was sunk. But his didn't
go down. Because the Scripture said, a
thousand shall follow thy side, and ten thousand shall follow
thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee. Why is that? Because on U.S.S. L.S.T. 587, it can't go down. There's a young man, like Joseph
in the Old Testament, that the Lord has a greater battle in
store for, who He's going to use to save many people alive. And here we sit. We're directly
connected to all of this. At war's end, 1945, he was honorably
discharged and returned home. By the way, he could have been
given a full military funeral with honors, a flag-draped coffin,
and a 21-gun salute, but he refused that. In fact, I tried to get
him to sign up for benefits, VA benefits, but he refused that. He said, my government doesn't
owe me anything. He said, I did what it was my
duty to do. I did what everybody was doing. We did what we had
to do. They don't owe me a thing. And he said, I don't want to
be remembered as a soldier in this country. I want to be remembered
as a preacher. So that's what we're doing. Soldier
of the Cross. 1946, a whirlwind romance began. Three months it lasted. My mother and my father met each
other about a year before that. Dad was home on leave. My grandmother,
granny, worked in a dime store. Young kids, dollar store now
is a dime store back then. But she worked in a dime store
and so did my mother. My dad came in on leave with
his white navy uniform on his hat. Scott Richardson used to
say, my dad's cop cat hat to one side. Scott said, look at
him there. He thinks he's something. But my grandmother introduced
my dad to my mother. And it was love at first sight
for dad. I don't think it was for mom then. But he told that story for the
last four or five years. I went over there nearly every
day. And Luke, he told me that story every time I sat down at
breakfast. I'll tell you the time that I met your mother. I said, no, tell me. And he'd
always say, she's special. He adored her. She adored him. And it lasted
72 years. That's the grace of God and that's
real love, isn't it? He would tell you, right now,
and he would have me tell you, and he did often, he told this
often, that he could not have done anything without her. without
his faithful wife and helpmate for so many years. My brother will tell you that
she fed and housed literally thousands of people. I'm not
exaggerating. Maybe a hundred thousand people.
Right, Kay? Most everyone in this room probably
has been fed by her or entertained by her at some point. Right? 1946-47, both of them were members
of Fairfield Baptist Church in Fairfield, Alabama. He was song
leader there. And that year, at 47, somewhere
around about there, Pollard Baptist Church of Ashland, Kentucky called
him. They'd heard about this young
song leader, and they moved to Ashland in 47 for him to be the
song leader in the youth minister. And not long after that, he felt
called to preach. A young Saul of Tarsus is what
he was. Zealous, but didn't know the
Lord. But he felt like he needed some
religious training, so they moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee in
1948, where he would attend Tennessee Bible College, and he passed
through a small country church there. It's not standing today.
That year, they gave birth to my oldest brother, their firstborn
child, Robert Carey. 1950, they stayed there until
1950. Pollard called them again, wanting
him back. So they moved back and he became
the song leader and assistant pastor. A second born son was
born, Daniel Mark. Then the summer of 1950, something happened. There was a traveling evangelist
that hit Ashland, Kentucky. His name was Ralph Barnard. He
held a tent meeting in Central Park, just a couple blocks over
here. Every church in town attended
that meeting, and so did my dad, and so did my mom. And that preacher
preached a message which nobody had heard before, and not many
people liked. You remember? My dad told it
so many times. Barnard stood up and said, two
biggest lies ever been told. Ain't neither one of them so.
Number one, God loves everybody. He said, it ain't so. Number
two, Christ died for everybody. He said, it just ain't so. Dad
said, you can hear everybody's jaw hit the floor. Well, that young man, Henry Mahan,
his wife, a little while later, Barnard preached again. And they
heard a message from that man from Romans 8.28. And not only
was my brother born that year, Henry Mahan was born again. And Doris Mahan. And a young
preacher was born. That's when it began. And so
much followed. And here we are. Here we are,
together. Because of that. I'm so much
proud of him. Here we are. He preached Ralph
Barnard's funeral. And I have here his notes from
that funeral. His text was found in Matthew
14 verse 12 in which The disciples, after John was beheaded, they
came to the Lord. It says they took up the body
and buried it and went and told Jesus. They came and told the
Lord. It's about that, greatly sorrowing. And when my dad preached Barnard's
funeral, these are his notes, I'm just going to give you some
of them. He told about that meeting in 1950 where Barnard came to
Ashland. And he said, and what he said
of Barnard then, I'm saying about him now. He said, brethren, John
the Baptist has come to town, and this old town will never
be the same. Thousands of people were never
the same. Hundreds of preachers were never the same. Many, many towns in which he
visited will never be the same. And he said, and I say, I have
never been the same. And then he preached. You know
what the body, the sum of that message of Barnage's funeral
was? It was six stubborn statements. That was his funeral message.
God is sovereign or He isn't. Man's dead in sin or He isn't.
God has chosen a people to save them or He didn't. Christ either
saved His people completely or He didn't. Salvation is by the
divine power of God's Spirit or it isn't. And God's people
shall all persevere, or they won't. Somebody may say, what kind of
funeral message is that? It's a good one. It's a true
one. He's sure proof of that. That's
what He preached. That's who He preached. And He said this, He said, the
disciples went and told the Lord something. We don't know what
they told Him, He said, I would like to tell the Lord something.
This was at Barnard's funeral, and it's just what I said. He
said, I'd like to tell the Lord, thank you, Lord, for letting
me know this man. He said, two of the greatest
days of my life were the day I met Christ my Lord and the
day I met this preacher. He said of Barnard, what I say
of him now, he was God's prophet and preacher, bravest preacher
I've ever known. I've seen him preach to ten,
I've seen him preach to a thousand. He couldn't be bought, couldn't
be bribed, couldn't be altered. He stormed the fortress of organized
religion, or quietly counseled and comforted a young preacher.
He said, I would tell the Lord, thank you, Lord, for his wife.
Thank you for this woman who helped me, constant companion
and inspiration to other young women. Thank you for his wife. And he said of that funeral message
of Brother Barney, he said, Lord, encourage us young preachers
to take up the banner Encourage us young preachers like Elisha
to take up Elijah's banner, like Joshua would take up Moses, like
Timothy took up Paul. Give me a double portion of his
spirit. What was his mantle? The gospel
of God's glory, the gospel of God's grace, the gospel of substitution. And he said in closing, he said,
Lord, speak to the lost. Use me, if you will. Well, let me just say a few things,
my own personal comments. My personal memories and recollection
of my father, like his grandchildren, are so many and all good, all
good. I have no bad memories at all. I think two words describe him
best, and you've already heard them. And Scripture says that's the
thing that's most required of a steward in God's grace, to
be found faithful. I've never known one more faithful. Faithful and loving. Those two
things. Faithful as a son to his parents. Faithful as a husband to his
wife. Faithful as a father to me, his
children. Faithful as a friend. Loyal. He could have some friends that
were secretly against him, but he never turned against them.
Right? Loyal. More importantly, he was
faithful as a preacher and a pastor. Faithful to God's Christ's cause,
His truth, His glory, His honor, completely sold out to the ministry. Completely 100% sold out to the
ministry, given to preaching the gospel. Our brother will
tell you, we grew up in the 50's and the 60's, and we didn't see
Him very much in those days. It's not that he was not a good
father, but he was first and foremost a preacher of the gospel.
He sacrificed, literally sacrificed his family like the Lord told
preachers to do. He pursued his family to go preach
the gospel. Love him. They've said so well
already. Genuinely cared for people and
loved people. He had a rare quality. As they
were saying, he had a rare quality not found in many preachers in
that he did not like to talk about himself. He was genuinely interested in other
people. He'd ask them questions and listening to them, genuinely
interested in their stories and them, not himself. He could remember
most everyone's names. As he's already said, he could
remember their names, even their phone numbers. I was with him
in North Carolina preaching. fifteen, twenty years ago, and
a man came up to him, a man he hadn't seen in about forty years.
The man said, I bet you don't remember my name, do you? He
said, sure I do. And he said his name, and that man was shocked. And he was a preacher. Someone said a preacher's preacher.
Someone said Brother Bell or Brother Donnie would say, there's
preachers, then there's preachers. He was a preacher, right? Preached
grace, he preached Christ, and he was gracious. He was Christ-like. He preached the grace of God. Lived that grace. Bold for the
truth, and preached it in love. Genuine concern. He was a man's
man. A man worthy to be followed in
it. Wasn't he? A man worthy to be
emulated. A man of authority, a man of
honesty, humility, integrity. An Israelite in whom is no God. And what the Lord said of Job.
Let someone think I'm saying too much about him. The Lord
said of Job, there's none like him in the earth. A perfect and
upright man. One who feareth God and steweth
evil. And now, as in the last words
concerning Job, he died being old and full of years. And my
heart is full. Not of grief, as so many have
said. This is a happy day, isn't it?
I'm not full of grief. I'm full of gratitude. I'm full
of thanksgiving that God gave me this pastor, my pastor, my
father, my brother, My friends, Henry Thomas Lee. Brother Mike, who we love so
much, is going to sing one of his favorite songs. Brother Mike. Consolidate her all, the world's
silence and pain. I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, And from the woodland and forest
glades I wander, and hear the birds sing sweetly. How great Thou art! How great
Thou art! Then sings my soul to Thee, I'll praise the Lord, I'll praise
God. And when I think that God is unnecessary, And I, I stare and say to him,
That on the throne I heard a gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away I shall not, without that lovation,
and take thee home. For joy shall fill my heart, and I shall not, How great Thou art. How great
Thou art. And sing, my soul, my Savior
loves me. How great Thou art! Well, good morning, afternoon,
now. Good to see so many of you here. So many I haven't seen
for such a long, long, long time. I know you're here because you
love our dear friend and brother, Henry Mayhem. Many of the preacher
brethren had a nickname for him, which called him Henry T. Henry
T. He was so special to so many
of us. On behalf of Zebulon Grace Church,
where I've been for a number of years, we express our Love
and sympathy for Doris and the family. Several years ago, I don't know
exactly how many, I think more than five years ago, Bridget
and I were visiting Henry and Doris. I think I was preaching
for Brother Paul. And we had the privilege of staying
with Henry and Doris. And we always look forward to
that day. And while we were there, probably
that Saturday afternoon, Brother Henry invited us to the kitchen
table. He said, come in here. Sit down
and talk to me a minute. Well, I knew that there was something
important on his mind. And he wanted to tell me and
my dear wife about his funeral arrangements. He told me that
he wanted me to have a part in this special day for our dear
brother. Well, I was humbled, deeply humbled
then, and honored to be asked of my pastor to have a part in
his memorial service. But even more so today as I stand
here before you as a sinner saved by God's grace. How privileged
we are of knowing and listening to and sitting under this man's
ministry. You look around this room and
the fruit of this man's ministry is sitting here. The Lord used
this servant to preach the gospel, to teach us how God saves sinners
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our dear brother was such a blessing
to me and my family, so many of you. He's my pastor for 38
years, my mentor, my brother, my friend. And we have so greatly
benefited and have been blessed by his faithful gospel ministry
these many years. Not only here in Ashland, but
all over this country and even all over this world. When I heard
the news about Brother Henry departing from us, Brother Paul
had sent me a text that Friday morning about 6.30. Well, I didn't
read the text until I got to work that morning and looked
at my phone and the text said, Dad's still with us. And then
you laid out the funeral arrangements and the text that I was to use. Well, immediately, I went to
Sermon Audio and looked up that text that's been mentioned, 2
Timothy 4, 6-8, the text that he requested. And I listened
to that message. The title of the message was,
The Death of a Believer, from that text. It was preached on
September 9, 1979. He was 53 years old. But here's what he opened a message
with, saying, he said, I've thought about this statement a long time,
several days, and I have no reservation in what I'm going to say. He said, I look forward to the
day of my death. He said, I really do. I know
he meant it. I meant it. And then he said
this, he said, I believe God. He also said in that message,
53 years old, he said, I may live to be 54, I don't know. And then he said, I may live
to be 90. Well, he surpassed that date
as well. And then further he said in that
message, for all the words and promises of God are without fail.
His words are good to live by. And His words are good to die
by. His promises are good in life,
and His promises are still good in death. For all the promises
of God in Him, in Christ, are yes, and in Him, and amen, through
the glory of God, in and by and through our blessed Savior. Brother Henry often talked about
this special day of his departure, but not with sadness. with joy,
several scriptures that he quoted in that message, and I would
encourage you to go to Sermon Audio and listen to it. He quoted
Psalm 116, Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his
saints. He quoted also John 14, Let not
your heart be troubled, You believe in God? Believe also in me. In
my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go and prepare a place for
you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I'll come again
and receive you to myself that where I am, you may be also. That's where our dear brother
is right now, with the Lord. He also quoted this from Revelation
14, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. From henceforth,
Yea, saith the Spirit, they may rest from their labors." Our
brother labored in the ministry, but it was a labor of love to
him. He also quoted from this, Ecclesiastes
7, he said, A good name is better than precious ointment, now listen
carefully, and the day of death than the day of one's birth.
That's true for every believer. The day of his death. We're going
to talk about that in just a minute. Now, my text this morning, afternoon
now, that Brother Henry requested was from 2 Timothy 4. And let
me just read this to you. Verse 6, I'm now ready to be
offered. I'm now ready to be offered.
The time of my departure is at hand. I fought a good fight. Now, Paul mentions himself several
times here, but I'm going to read it this way. Brother Henry
fought a good fight. Brother Henry finished the course
that God gave him. Pastor Mahan, Brother Henry,
our dear friend, kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for
me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
judge, shall give me at that day, not to me only, but unto
all them that also love his appearing." Now, many of you remember this,
especially the man who met with Pastor Mahan before the service
on Sunday night, and again on Wednesday night, we gather in
his study. and someone would read Scripture and we'd have
prayer. But oftentimes he would sit there at his desk and I'd
see him writing on a piece of his notepaper. And then he'd
say to someone, he'd say, Brother Tom, come over here. And I'd
get up and go over to his desk and he handed me a sheet of paper.
He said, read that in the auditorium. I said, okay. He didn't ask. He just said, take that and you
read that. Well, I was always quite terrified because I was
one of those students in school who just froze when I had to
read before the other students. I wasn't a good reader then,
and I'm not now, but I did what my pastor said. And that's exactly
what I want to do today. He's given me this assignment
from 2 Timothy 4, and I'm going to honor that request and do
so out of love, gratitude, and Thanksgiving. Now, I'm going
to be careful with the time here, so I'm not going to wear you
out. The Apostle Paul here, as he writes this, he writes this
from death row. He's sitting in a prison waiting
to be executed for the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
Paul has no regrets. He has no reservation. For he
says, I'm ready. I'm ready to meet the Lord. I'm
ready to die for the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm ready
to pour out my life as a drink offering. As much as Paul was
ready to preach the gospel, he was ready to lay down his life
for the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember from Romans
1, he says, for as much as in me is, I'm ready to preach the
gospel to you who are at Rome. Ready. Ready. Paul also said
in Philippians 1, Christ shall be magnified in my body whether
it is in life or whether in death. Now, such was true of our dear
brother, Pastor Henry Mahan. Ready. God made him a ready servant. God made him a willing servant
in the day of his power to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Always ready. Never ashamed of
the message of God's sovereign saving grace. For we read, for
I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It is a power of God
unto salvation to everyone that believe it. Everyone that is
blessed to believe it, we know faith is a gift of God. Our dear
friend gave his life, his time, his labors of love in preaching
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our dear sister Doris,
God gave her so much grace to share Him with all of us. And
that's special. Not to be jealous, but to share
Him as All of us enjoyed his ministry
so much. He gave his life, his time, his
labors of love preaching and lifting up the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. His glorious person, the God-man
mediator. How many times would he tell
us, salvation is in a person. The Lord Jesus Christ, He that
hath the Son hath life. How many times did our dear brother
tell us about the effectual, precious, blood atonement of
the Lord Jesus Christ? How He came, how He put away
sin by the sacrifice of Himself, how He established righteousness,
how He honored the Law of God for His covenant people, for
His elect. He did not fail. Every time I've
heard this man, our dear brother, preach the gospel, he preached
Christ and Him crucified. God will bless that message.
God will honor that message. One of my favorite sermons he
preached was taken from 1 Corinthians 9.16, which reads, For though
I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of, for necessity is
laid upon me, Yea, woe is unto me if I do not preach the gospel."
Boy, he took that personally. He preached often from that text. He asked a good question in that
message. What is it then to preach the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, I'm not going to answer
that question. I'm going to give you an assignment.
You find that sermon on Sermon Audio and listen to it. It's
there many times. It's also in print. And he answered
that question fully, thoroughly. What is it to preach the gospel?
Will you go listen to it? And it will be a blessing to
your heart. And then he said in the text here, the time of
my departure is at hand. To everything there is a season
and time and purpose under heaven. A time to be born, a time to
die. A time to plant, a time to be
fucked up. For me to live is Christ to die,
not loss. Not for the believer. For me
to live is Christ to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this
is fruit of my labor. Yet what? I shall choose, I know
not, for I am in straight between two, having a desire to depart
with Christ, to depart and to be with Christ, which is far
better. Better, better, better. You see, death to the believer
is not punishment. Death to the believer is promotion. My dear brother was promoted
Friday morning. He often used, Brother Mahan often used this
word, the believer's death is a homecoming. It's a homecoming. It's graduation day. To be absent
from this body is to be present with the Lord. It's a time fixed
by our wise and sovereign God who never makes a mistake. There's never an untimely death. Everybody dies according to God's
appointed time. We are confident, Paul said,
I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to
be present with the Lord. In Brother Mahan's commentary
on this verse, he writes, a departure is a removal from one place to
another. From one place to another. He's with the Lord. Now, I thought
about how to illustrate that in this way. A departure. Many of you maybe took a plane
and you flew in here and when you went to the airport there
was a departure time. And then you looked at that board
and you said, well, departure time, the arrival time. And then
you make sure that you're on time. And you get on that flight. Think about this. And here's
why I'm going with this. For our dear brother, Friday
morning when he took that departure flight, the departure time and
the arrival time was the same time. To be absent from the body
is to be present with the Lord right now. Right now. Can you imagine what he's beholding
right now? Man's days are determined, number
of his months with the Lord. God's appointed abounds and he
cannot pass. Something else, reading on, verse
7. I fought a good fight. I finished
the course. I've kept the faith. I fought
a good fight. Brother Henry was a warrior.
He was a warrior of the gospel. of the Lord Jesus Christ. A true
servant of the Lord. Fighting the good fight of faith.
Fighting the good fight of faith. Brother Henry carried this out
in his ministry. He was faithful to the charge
the Lord gave him to preach the Gospel. As Paul writes to Timothy
in this same chapter, I charge thee before God and the Lord
Jesus Christ, preach the Word. Preach the Word without compromise,
without trying to offend someone, preach the gospel, he would often
say, you don't need to defend the lie, just turn it loose.
Turn it loose. And the gospel, God will bless
that message. Brother Henry faithfully preached
the gospel, as Paul said here to young Timothy, do the work
of an evangelist. And he did that. He did that. I read in one of the bulletins
that we were going through trying to put some of his bulletin articles
in a book format. And one of the articles I read
that he apologized to the congregation that he pastored for so many
years for being on the road and preaching so much. And here's
what caught my attention. I just couldn't hardly believe
that this was sometime in the middle 80s. He preached in 31
churches in that one year. Think about it. 31 churches in
that one year. He was on the road preaching,
preaching, preaching the Lord Jesus Christ. He had such a special
gift and ministry, not only to God's children, but especially
to young preachers. Especially to young pastors.
Especially to this one. I would hate to think that the
Lord would put me in the ministry without sitting under Brother
Henry's ministry for the many years that I did. He was such
a help to me. And so many of you here. How His ministry has blessed
us. And then we read in our text,
I've finished my course, I've kept the faith. The course the
Lord has laid out for us was ordained and determined long
before we were born. He chose His people in eternity,
loved them with an everlasting love, having loved His own, He
loved them to the end. Died for His covenant people,
putting away their sin by the sacrifice of Himself, an effectual
atonement for sin. And then the Lord, by His grace,
calls us out. and gives us life. And then He
gives us a witness in our heart to go and tell others. Someone
described preaching this way, one beggar telling another beggar
where he found bread. And that's what we do. And that's
what our dear brother has done all these many years. Moving
on to the next one, Paul said, I've kept the faith. And our
dear brother kept the faith. His profession
of faith in Christ. Preaching the doctrine of salvation
received by Christ. Someone mentioned earlier, it's
required of a steward to be faithful. And our dear friend was faithful
unto death. Dying, living by faith, and dying
in faith. Hebrews 11, these all died in
faith. And that's true of our dear brother. I fought a good fight. I finished
my course. I've kept the faith. And we know
that we're kept by the power of God. We know that He gives
His sheep eternal life and they shall never perish. Brother Henry
often said this statement, Men die as they live. You live without Christ? What a terrible thing it is to
die without the Lord Jesus Christ. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of His saints. Men die as they live. Men who are blessed to call upon
the Lord, seek mercy in Him, and live upon the Lord Jesus
Christ. Men who live that way, men die
as they live. Those who die seeking mercy in
Christ will find it. and will be blessed in Him. Blessed
are the dead which die in the Lord. And then lastly, henceforth
there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord,
the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day, not to me only,
but unto all them that love His appearing also. This crown of righteousness,
we know, is the crown of grace. in Christ. He has robed us and
clothed us with the garments of salvation, covered us with
the robe of righteousness. As our dear brother often told
us, salvation is in a person. But this one who is Christ, God
our Savior, is also the same person who is the Lord, our righteousness
before God. But of Him are you in Christ,
who of God is made unto us wisdom, Righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption unto all those that love his appearing. When
the chief shepherd shall appear, 1 Peter 5, ye shall receive a
crown of glory that fadeth not away, and it is a crown of grace
in Christ. Not to me only, he said. but
unto all those that love His appearing. His first appearing,
God manifest in the flesh, He appeared to put away sin by the
sacrifice of Himself. And we know the Scriptures teach
us, Christ once suffered to bear the sin of many, and unto them
that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto
salvation. Brother Henry longed for this
day of his departure and in the Lord's good time, determined
by God's wisdom and purpose. I mentioned that verse earlier
in Romans 8, 28. Purpose. Purpose. Purpose. And that sermon I mentioned earlier
that Brother Henry preached from this text He made this statement
as well. He said, I don't know a lot about
what heaven will be like. We'll be like the Lord. We'll
be with Him, and we will know Him, being predestinated to be
conformed to the image of His Son. But he also said this. He said, I know what will not
be there. And then he turned and read this
scripture. And God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes,
there shall be no more death, no more sorrow, no more crying,
neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are
passed away. And he that sat upon the throne
said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said to me, Write,
for these words are true and Thank you, Lord. In everything, give thanks. This
is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Thank you,
Lord, for the life and ministry of Brother Henry Thomas Mahan.
What a faithful, dedicated, gracious, merciful Servant of the Lord
He was and is. We read in Revelation, they shall
serve Him day and night. That's what He's doing right
now. Serving the Lord. And though His faithful service
on the earth here is over, His ministry, His preaching will
live on until the Lord returns. I think of this scripture found
in Hebrews 11. speaking about Abel and his excellent
sacrifice, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous,
God testifying of his gifts, and by it, he being dead yet
speaketh." His ministry lives on. His words live on. His sermons live on. I'm going to quit with this. Many of you, especially the preachers
that are here today, when we were able to talk with Brother
Henry on the phone, and when we would end the conversation,
he would usually end with these words, See you when it's time. Remember? See you when it's time. My brother Henry, by God's grace,
one day, we'll see you when it's time. God bless you. myself in thee. Let the water and the blood from
thy wounded side which flow thee up in the double queue. Stay While I draw this fleeting breath
When mine eyes shall pose in death When I rush through worlds
unknown And behold, beyond thy throne, dark of ages left for
me, left behind myself in thee. That's Brother Terry Worthen,
a dear, dear, long and faithful friend of my dad for many years.
He just misses some prayer, and after he does, Everyone go out
the front door, please, and the family is going to go out this
door. Thank you, Paul. Let's bow for prayer. Much has
been said and expressed. We'll take a little time to express
our appreciation for the much mercy and kindness God has shown
us through knowing this man has departed from us, and who has
entered into the presence of what he so longed for, of a Lamb. Our Holy Father, as we call upon
Thy name this day, our hearts have been lifted greatly up with
great praise and thanksgiving for having known Your servant,
Henry T. We are grateful, Heavenly Father,
for the many years that we have spent together. just as a friend
and as fellow servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we
think of that glorious day when all God's children shall be called
home, home to bask in the presence of the blessed Lamb forever and
ever, where we can rejoice for the greatness of God who in so
many, many ways touched our lives with each other and with others.
We're grateful, Heavenly Father, for your timing of things. We
thought today, my, my, how God never makes a mistake and how
everything is perfectly, precisely timed. Brother Henry was a great
preacher of the Gospel and we know that all of that was accomplished
by the grace of God through him, by you. And we thought of Brother
Henry, how he was a great patriot. He loved this nation and how
he served the nation because he loved people and desired their
freedom. And this day, Lord, this day
is absolutely amazing and overwhelming. You call him home, Lord God,
and call this time to come to honor him as a day would when
so many are honoring our great nation for the victory that started
on the 75th, this is the 75th anniversary of D-Day and how
D-Day began the ending of the greatest war probably ever fought
and yet Brother Henry was a part of that. And then they mentioned
a while ago Lord about how that after he came off the ship and
finally was discharged from the service came home to his people
and then later on you call him into a greater service and to
begin a greater victory that has ever been known unto mankind.
The victory of redeeming, preaching a message that would redeem sinners
and bring them into a state of freedom for a God that they never
known prior to being brought by the power of the Holy Ghost
into that freedom. And Henry preached to so many
folks throughout his lifetime. And thank God that I was a recipient
of one of them, as one of them. And praise you, Heavenly Father,
for that blessed experience of knowing one of the greatest preachers
that ever walked your earth. I pray that, as Brother Tom had
just mentioned, it was on my mind, that text concerning Abel. Though Abel be dead, yet he speaketh. Though Henry T. Mahan be dead,
Yet he speaketh and shall speak to thousands of others until
the time comes when your call will come to each and every one
of us and deliver us completely from this old world. Thank you,
Lord, for the great prospect that we have in the blessed Bedeemer. Blessed now we pray. Henry's
family, his friends, I pray especially for Doris that you give her strength
and encouragement Oh, she's such a blessing, such a blessing to
us over the years, and such a wonderful pattern for people like my wife
and others, as a pastor's wife. And oh, I'm so grateful. And
Lord, I praise you for Paul, and for Mindy, and for all the
others. Mayhem family, we pray for them,
we pray that great comfort to be granted unto them. They have
great things to remember. Oh, blessed be the Lord for memory. Even though sometimes things
are taken from us, yet we can go back, as David said in the
143rd Psalm, we can go back and think about things of old and
how God blessed and how God gives us grace concerning those great
memories. So blessed we pray and encourage
and strengthen for Christ's sake. Amen.