Bootstrap
Henry Mahan

One Thing

Psalm 27
Henry Mahan • April, 29 1990 • Audio
0 Comments
Message: 0964a
Henry Mahan Tape Ministry
6088 Zebulon Highway
Pikeville, KY 41501
What does the Bible say about the importance of focusing on one thing?

The Bible emphasizes the importance of seeking one thing: to know and dwell with the Lord.

In Psalm 27:4, David expresses his singular desire to dwell in the house of the Lord and to behold His beauty. This prioritization highlights that a life focused on the pursuit of God is foundational for spiritual success. The emphasis on 'one thing' signifies that while many tasks and distractions may arise, they pale in comparison to the importance of seeking a relationship with God. When our lives revolve around knowing Him, all other aspects find their proper place and purpose.

Psalm 27:4

Why is it important for Christians to know God intimately?

Knowing God intimately is crucial for Christians as it forms the basis of eternal life and genuine spiritual relationship.

In the Gospel of John, our Lord Jesus defines eternal life as knowing God and Jesus Christ (John 17:3). This intimate knowledge transcends mere intellectual understanding; it involves a deep, personal relationship with Christ that transforms and sustains life. The closer we grow to God, the more equipped we are to navigate life's challenges and fulfill our purpose as believers. This relationship is the ultimate source of strength, guidance, and assurance, resonating deeply with the soul's longing for security and purpose.

John 17:3

How do we understand the concept of justification before God?

Justification before God is a divine act where God declares a sinner righteous based on faith in Christ, not on personal merit.

Justification is a central tenet in Reformed theology, emphasizing that salvation is entirely the work of God through Christ. Romans 3:24 states that we are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. This means that despite our sinful nature, God declares us righteous because of our faith in Christ's sacrifice. It's essential to understand that justification removes the condemnation of sin and establishes peace with God, assuring believers of their eternal standing before Him. It highlights God’s grace and underscores the futility of trying to earn salvation through works.

Romans 3:24

Why do older individuals sometimes lack wisdom according to the Bible?

The Bible acknowledges that older individuals do not automatically possess wisdom, as true understanding comes from God.

In Job 32:9, Elihu points out that age does not guarantee wisdom, as true insight and understanding are gifts from God. While experience can yield knowledge, it does not necessarily equate to wisdom unless that experience is paired with a reverence for God and His truths. This distinction emphasizes the necessity of divine guidance, where the Spirit of God enlightens the mind and heart to comprehend His ways. Therefore, Christians are urged to seek wisdom from God above all, rather than solely relying on the wisdom of mere years.

Job 32:9

What does it mean to follow Christ wholeheartedly?

To follow Christ wholeheartedly means to prioritize Him above all earthly possessions and pursuits.

In Luke 18, Jesus tells the rich young ruler that he lacks one thing: to sell all he has and follow Him. This illustrates that true discipleship requires a willingness to abandon worldly attachments that hinder our relationship with God. Following Christ wholeheartedly means recognizing Him as the source of true fulfillment and life, distinct from the transient nature of worldly success and possessions. It challenges individuals to evaluate what they are truly pursuing in life and to align their hearts with the eternal values of the Kingdom of God, ultimately leading to a life of genuine discipleship and participation in His purposes.

Luke 18:22-23

Sermon Transcript

Auto-generated transcript • May contain errors

100%
I want to show you something
interesting from the book of Job as I begin this message on
one thing. Let's turn to Job chapter 32. Would you please, Job 32. Job 32, and I read beginning
with verse 1, So these three men ceased to answer Job, because
he was righteous in his own eyes. They stopped talking. Then was
kindled the wrath of Elihu. Now this is the fourth man. He's
come along. God sent him. the son of Berechel,
the Buzite, of the kindred of Ram. And Elihu, his, against
Job was his wrath kindled also because Job justified himself
rather than God. Remember me talking to you about
that some time ago, justifying God? We are so prone to justify
ourselves, and that's what Job was doing, rather than justifying
whatever God did to him. Also, against his three friends,
Elihu was angry with them too, because they had found no answer. And yet they condemned Job. They
didn't have the answer, but they condemned him, and he was upset
with them. Now, verse 4, Elihu had waited
till Job had spoken because Job was older than he. Up to now he hadn't said anything
at all. He respected age, respected Job's
age. But when Elihu saw that there
was no answer in the mouth of these three men, then his wrath
was kindled and Elihu, the son of Bereko, the Buzite, answered
and said, I'm young, and you are very old. Wherefore I was afraid, and I
did not show you my opinion. I did not voice my opinion, because
you're so much older than I am that I chose not to speak. Or he said, now let's learn something
here, listen, verse 7, I said, and he was doing the right thing,
this young man was doing the right thing, I said, I thought,
I knew in my heart, days should speak. In other words, older people
should be heard first. That's good sense. He said, I
knew that. Older people should speak first.
Older men and women should be respected, and they should be
heard. They should be heard. Multitude
of years should teach wisdom, ought to. The man who has lived
over three score years, who has been at his occupation
his work for so very, very long. A man who has read and studied
the Scriptures for all those years ought to
have some wisdom. That's what he said, should.
Should. They should be heard and a multitude
of years should teach wisdom. They ought to teach wisdom when
they speak. They should be heard. and they
should teach wisdom. The responsibility of the young
is to hear them, and the responsibility of the old is to speak wisely. That it? That's what he's saying.
You see, verse 8, there's a spirit in man. What is this spirit?
In other words, there's a mind. God gives a man, a woman, a mind,
a spirit. That's the mind. That's the intellect. That's the ability to understand,
to think, to consider. There's a spirit, there's a mind,
there's an intellect, there's the ability in a person to understand. And the inspiration of the Almighty
gives them the understanding. You can't pour water in a glass
if you don't have a glass. Elihu's saying here that God's
given a man a glass. He's given him something to hold
understanding. He's given him something to hold
wisdom. He doesn't have it by nature.
God puts it in there. God fills the cup. Fill my cup,
Lord. I got a cup. He gave me a cup.
And he's also the one who gives me understanding. It's the inspiration. All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God. It's God breathed. It's God taught. And it's profitable for doctrine,
reproof, for correction, instruction, and righteousness that the man
of God might be mature, equipped, perfected. So there is a spirit
in man. God gives him life. God gives
him a mind. God gives him an intellect. God
gives him the ability to understand. But remember, it's the inspiration
of the Almighty that gives understanding. However, verse 9, older men are
not always wise. That's very unfortunate. Great men, and he means by that
not great necessarily in the sense of acclaim or applause,
but men of great years and great experience and so forth, are
not always wise. Neither do the aged, the older,
always understand God's will and God's purpose and God's judgments. Therefore I say, hearken to me
and I'll show you my opinion. Now I do pray this morning as
I bring you this message. as one who should speak, days
should speak, and multitude of years, and I don't mind that
at all. When I was in my early 20s and
30s, I wanted to be 40, and when I was 40, I wanted to be 60.
Well, I'm here now. I wanted to be that age because
I wanted to know something. There's no shortcut. I wanted
to know something, know what I had experienced. I wanted to
know what God taught. I wanted to know what God said
so that I could communicate it to others. And I hope, I do pray
that verse 9 does not apply to this preacher. Old men are not
always wise. Oh, I recognize that they are
not always wise. And they do not always understand
God's purpose. and God's will and God's judgments. But I believe in this regard,
in this area where I'm going today that I do. But now remember
this, I may speak the truth today. I may speak the truth. I may
speak wisdom. I may give to you the very wisdom
of God. But I do know this also, just
like in my case, If my voice is the only voice you hear, then nothing of any eternal value
will be accomplished. That's what he said in his prayer
a moment ago. We've got to hear him speak who
speaks from heaven. We've got to be taught of God,
taught of God. And now, so the title of this
message is One Thing, One Thing. In acquiring this white hair
and bent shoulders and creased brow, in all of these years I
have narrowed this whole thing down to one thing. I mean this
business of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This
business of preaching and so forth. Would you believe that? that I've narrowed this whole
thing down to one thing. And I say to you, and I believe
it's words of wisdom, get a hold of this one thing. Lay hold of
this one thing. Bring all other things into perspective
to this one thing, and you'll have everything you need. Like Elihu said, that's my opinion. That's my opinion. Do I have
your attention? All right. I invite you, first
of all, to turn to Luke 18. One thing. And when I finish
this message, I want to hear from some of you white-haired
brethren about this, what I've concluded. One thing. All right, Luke 18, let's begin
reading with verse 18. And a certain ruler asked him,
saying, Good master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said to him, Why callest
thou me good? There's none good save one, and
that's God. Thou knowest the commandments.
If you want to do something to inherit eternal life, if this
is the course you desire to travel, the way you want to meet God
on the basis of what you're doing, then do what he said. Do no adultery,
do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor
thy father and thy mother. Why, he said, I've all my life,
all these have I kept from my youth up. Now here is a young man, a ruler. This man seems to have everything,
according to the world. He seems to have everything.
He has health, he has wealth, he has education, he has power,
he has influence, he has, according to this world, just about everything
a man could desire. Very impressive young man. Also
morality. When our Lord gave him the written
law, laid out the commandments of God, he said, I'm pretty well
satisfied with the way I'm living, the way I'm walking. Verse 22, Now when Jesus heard
these things, he said to him, Yet lackest thou one thing. One thing. You go sell all that
you have. Get rid of everything you've
got and distribute it to the poor. It wasn't that the Lord
was giving this man something else to do to merit God's favor
and acceptance with God by feeding the poor. What the Lord was saying
is get rid of these things that mean more to you than they ought
to mean. Get rid of these things that demand your attention. These
things that mean most to you. Just get rid of them. The thing
for you to do is not burn it, but just give it to the poor.
In other words, sell it and give it to the poor. Giving it to
the poor wasn't going to help him. Giving it to the poor wasn't
going to win favor with God. That's not what the Lord is talking
about at all. He could give it to anybody, but the Lord told
him, go give it to the poor. What he's saying is get rid of
all these things. All these things. Now watch it. I shall have treasure in heaven
and come and follow me. And follow me. One thing. My
friend, tell me what you have. Go through
your life and tell me what you have. What you have materially,
what you have physically, what you have in every respect. What do you have? What's yours?
And I say this to you, if you have not Christ and you're not
following Christ, these things will all burn. The passion of
this world fadeth away. Tell me what you know. Tell me
what you've acquired as far as this world's concerned. Tell
me what you know. Do you know Him? Our Lord said
eternal life is to know God and Jesus Christ, whom he has sent.
One thing, I like this. Tell me what you've done. All
the things through life, the accomplishments. And I say this
to you, if it's not done following Christ, there's wood, hay, and
stubble. And they'll all just be consumed
with the breath of God. Tell me about your morality.
I know there are a lot of people who like to boast about what
they've always done, the things they've always stood for, and
the strictness of their lives. Well, I'll tell you this, I'm
a man of my word. Well, if you don't have Christ,
this man was a man of his word. But our Lord said, one thing
you lack, one thing you lack, follow me. Get rid of all these
things that are so important, these things that are so time
consuming, these things that keep you from Him. Follow me.
There was a man in the Old Testament by the name of Caleb. His name
means faithful dog. And every time Caleb is mentioned
in the Scripture, he is mentioned in this way, he was the man who
followed the Lord. And you know another word that
is used? He followed him fully. So I say to all of us, these
are the words I believe of wisdom. This is what the conclusion to
which I've come after all these years. All that you may do, all
that you may accumulate, all that you may learn, and I know
some of us are so So busy in so many things, and I'm not going
to isolate it, I'm going to just preach it and let the Spirit
of God do what He will with it. But I'm saying this, our Lord
looked at this young man, and there he is. Healthy, wealthy,
prosperous, influential, well-known. I bet there was a lot of folks
watching this, because they knew this man. And our Lord said to
him, one thing, you lack. Follow me. Well, we know what happened.
Unfortunately, he had great possessions with which he could not part.
He had great accomplishments which he could not deny. He had
certain friends he could not forsake. And so that's all we
ever hear from him. One thing. All right, let's go to another
scripture, Luke 10. Luke chapter 10. Now, here was
a woman who had that one thing. She didn't like that one thing.
Didn't like it at all. She was a dear, beloved disciple
whom our Lord loved. She's mentioned several times
in the Bible. Our Lord took a lot of time with
this woman. He spent a lot of time in her company. Mary, Martha,
and Lazarus. Do you remember? He spent a lot
of time with them. This is Martha. Alright, let's
read about her. Luke chapter 10, verse 38. Now it came to pass, as they
went, that he entered into a certain village, and a certain woman
named Martha received him into her house. She had received him
into her house many times. He had spent A good bit of time
in this little house in Bethany. In verse 39, and she had a sister
called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word.
But Martha, Martha was a busy woman. She
cumbered about with much care. What was she doing? Serving the
Lord. Serving the Lord. That's what
it says. She came to him and said, Lord,
dost thou not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Serve whom? Serve you. You and your disciples. Don't
you care that she's left me? Where was Mary? Our Lord was
sitting here and she was sitting at his feet. Adoringly, lovingly,
comfortable, excited, sitting at his feet, staring into his
face and drinking in his words. And Martha was so busy. Everybody
ridicules Martha, but don't do it. We find ourselves right here
serving the Lord, serving the Lord, serving the Lord. Like the little black boy had
an armload of books and a satchel over his shoulder and his lunch
hanging on his arm and walking down the road. A man came up
to him and said, where are you going sonny? He said, going to
school. He said, what are you learning
down at school? Ain't learning nothing, too busy
going to school. Going to church, singing, studying,
preaching, teaching, giving. Martha's busy, she's serving
the Lord. She was serving the Lord. Don't you care that she's left
me to serve alone? Bid her therefore that she leave
where she is and come help me." And Jesus answered and said unto
her, Martha, I wonder why he said that twice. I think I can
say it like he said it, Martha, Martha. That's lovingly. That's Martha, Martha. Martha,
Martha. That's a loving comment. Mike,
Mike. Martha, Martha. Oh, you're so
careful. You're so careful to get your
doctrine just right. You're so careful to get everything. Oh, we want it cut and dry, don't
we? You're so careful. You're just
so careful. You're careful about church truth
and this truth and that truth and the other. You're so careful.
You're so precise. You're so particular. I bet you
her house was clean. I have a sister-in-law and a
sister. It's the same way. You go to
their house and they'll go in the bathroom and dry on a towel
and you dry on it once and turn your back and it's gone and a
new one in its place. We always dread to have them
at our house. Isn't that right, Carolee? Oh, my. You have to take your
shoes off when you go in the parlor, you know. I bet Martha
was ready. She's so careful. She's so precise.
I feel that way about some places where I go to preach. I'm afraid
I'm going to say something they don't agree with. There are a
lot of preachers I dread to preach in front of because I might make
an error on the church. say something they don't agree
with. They're so careful. They're so precise. They're so
exact. They're so particular. You're
so careful, you're so troubled. You're so troubled. You reckon
if she hadn't have fed him, he wouldn't have been fed? Huh? You reckon if Martha hadn't
have fed him, he wouldn't have gotten something to eat while
he turned five loaves and two fishes into a banquet for five
thousand? You reckon if you don't do what
you're doing that it'll be done? You reckon if you're not Mr.
Valiant for the truth that the truth's going to perish with
you? I wonder. I wonder in our careful precision
and preciseness and peculiarities that we think that God Almighty's
going to close up shop if we're not defenders of the faith, even
to the exclusion of friendship. Martha, Martha, for heaven's
sake. You're so careful. You're so
precise. You're so troubled, troubled
about these things, these things. But one thing, there it is again, isn't it? One thing. is needful. And Mary had chosen that good
part. Where was Mary? At His feet. I'll tell you what I need. I
need His fellowship. I need His blood. I need His
righteousness. I need His words. I need His
grace. I need His mercy. I need to be
at His feet. all the time. The more time I spend at his
feet, the more equipped I am to serve. The more time I spend at his
feet, the more equipped I am to help somebody else. But those
that are running out trying to help and assist and serve and
straighten out everybody else. The problem is they haven't spent
enough time at His feet and they're not capable of serving. That's just so. Is that not so?
I'm telling the truth. And we do a whole lot more damage
than we do good. Spend 23 hours at His feet and
one hour in service. That's exactly right. That's what's wrong with the
pulpit today. Preachers are too busy to preach. They're too busy. They're involved
in, they're so careful and troubled about so many things, but they're
not at His feet. And I say that for me, for you,
for all of us. It seems like every time I read
about her, John, she's at his feet. Every time I read about
her, she's at his feet. Alright, let's go again. Turn
to chapter 9 of John. John chapter 9. John chapter
9, verse 24. Now, I know this situation here. I've read and preached from it
several times. He was a man that was born blind
and our Lord healed him, healed him perfectly on the Sabbath
day. I know that. And these Pharisees
and these religionists, they were opposed to the sovereign
Christ. They were opposed to Christ getting
the glory. They were opposed to his preeminence
and his glory and his sovereignty. They were opposed to him. You see, he had exercised his
will on their Sabbath day without their approval, outside their
circles, and had made a blind man to see." Have you got the
picture? The Lord Jesus had exercised his will, his purpose, on their
Sabbath day without their approval, outside their circles, and had
made a stone blind man to see. And so they came to him in verse
24 of John 9, verse 24, they called the blind man again. Again
they called the blind, the man that was blind. They said to
him, you give God the praise. Not this man. You give God the
praise. Don't you give this man the praise.
This man's a sinner. This man's a man. You give God
the glory. They weren't interested in God
having the glory. They were not interested in Christ having the
glory. They didn't care who they gave it to, John did, as long
as they didn't give it to Christ. They didn't care. You think they were really interested
in God being glorified? Why, no. But they were interested
in Christ not being glorified. And so he answered them and said,
whether he's a sinner or not, I do not know one thing. I know one thing. I don't have all the
answers. I don't have all the answers. But this one thing I know. I
was blind. He came along and now I see. That's what I know. I think if it were today that
the people be, they're doing the same thing. Give your will
the glory. Didn't you do something? Give
your parents the glory. Didn't they do something? Give
the church the glory. Didn't they have a party? Give
the preacher the glory. Didn't he come along? Someone
had something to do with this. No, they didn't. He did it. And I'm going to give
him the glory. I'm not going to give myself
the glory or my intellect the glory. I know this. I was blind.
What is blind? You know what blind is? Blind
is darkness. Blind is total inability. I was
blind. I was dead, depraved, hopeless,
helpless. I was blind. He came along. He
came along in His grace. He came along in His mercy. He
came along in His sufficiency. The Son came along in His power. And now I see! That's one thing I know. That's
one thing I know. I don't know why, why oh why
such love for me. David sat before the Lord and
he said, who am I and what is my house? I do not know. And
I do not know all that was involved. I do not know all that was involved
in eternity past. I've got a suspicion that a whole
lot was involved back then. I don't know all that was involved
in the predestinating purposes of God bringing me to the point
where His path would cross mine. I do not know all that transpired
between the Father and the Son in working out the perfect holiness
and righteousness and the precious blood. I don't know how He entered
into the holy place and where He put His blood, literally or
figuratively or what. I'm not exact on those things.
One thing I know, I was blind. I know that. One thing. Do you know that? I was blind. Oh, the blindness of blindness.
Oh, the exceeding sinfulness of sin. Oh, the darkness. Oh,
the helplessness. I was blind. And in His grace
and His mercy, He, He, It's not his physical blood that
saved me. When that soldier drove that
spike into the hands of Christ, the blood of Christ spurted all
over him. But it didn't help him. When he hung on that cross
and the blood dripped from his wounds, those fellows down there
below the cross casting dice for his garments, the blood dripped
on them. It didn't help him. It's not
his physical blood, it's Christ that saved him. It's Christ that
saved, it's Christ. I know this, I was blind and
He made me see. Oh, I'm sure that fellow found
out a lot of other things later, but he said, one thing I know,
and that's the one thing. And fourthly, turn to Philippians
3. Now we've seen a whirling, we've seen a disciple, this woman,
Martha, who knew the Lord, we've seen this miracle of the blind
being restored. Here's an apostle. This is just
about as high as you can climb. This is an apostle. And this
is an old apostle too. This is an apostle that's just
about to finish his course. This is one of the greatest apostles.
This is a highly favored apostle. This is a man who wrote 14 of the 27 books
in the New Testament. And he says in Philippians 3,
brethren, verse 13, brethren, speaking to the brethren, brethren,
I count not myself to have arrived. I count not myself to have apprehended. to have laid hold,
that's what that word is, all that I've been laid hold of,
all for which Christ has laid hold of me. I haven't arrived,
I haven't attained, I'm not perfect. But this one thing I do. Boy,
that ought to be interesting, shouldn't it? One thing. The prisoner of Jesus Christ,
apostle in jail, writing to the church at Philippi. But he said,
I want to tell you this, this old white hare has discovered
the one end and goal, one thing I do, I forget those things which
are behind. Why do we live in the past? If
we could just forget. Forget our sins, forget our misunderstandings,
forget our failures, forget our works, forget our deeds, forget
our, this one, forget it! Forget it, forget it. This one thing, forgetting
the past, I reach forth. I reach with the hand of faith.
I reach to my Lord. I reach to His Word. I reach
to His people. I reach to His fellowship. I
reach forth unto those things which are before. What does God
have for me? And I press like a runner in
a race. I press. I'm not looking to see
who's following me or who's catching up with me or who's cheering
for me in the gallery. I'm looking at one place. I'm
looking at the finish line. I press toward the mark. I'm
not quitting. I press for the mark, for the
prize. The only one that receives the
prize, Paul said, is the one that finishes the race, crosses
the line. And that's just one thing I'm
doing. If I got five more years or five more minutes, ten more
years or ten more days, this one thing I'm going to do, I'm
going to forget it. He's bringing it up, he said,
because I'm going to forget it. I'm not living in the past. When
were you saved? I don't care. I care if I am. I'm forgetting
the past. It's not going to help me anyway. I reach out and I press toward
that mark for that prize. The high calling of my God in
Christ Jesus. I'm going to cross that line
by God's grace. And then the last one, one thing.
I brought her down to one thing with a helpful the Scriptures
of our God. Psalm 27, I'll come back and
finish where I started. You know what a man told me one
time? He said, no man succeeds at anything
until he becomes dedicated to one thing. That's where we got that jack
of all trades and master of none. No man succeeds at anything till
he becomes dedicated to one thing. One thing. And David gives it
right here. Psalm 27, verse 4. One thing
do I desire of the Lord. One thing have I desired of the
Lord, and that's what I'll seek after. One thing. Dedicated to
one thing. not deserving, no sir, that I,
the chief of sinners, may dwell, not just hear about it or read
about it, but dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my
life to behold the beauty of my Lord and to inquire in His
temple. That's the one thing I desire. That were my chief end and dedication
and desire. I'd be worth something in other
areas. But I'm not worth anything until
I have a goal. And the one supreme goal is to
know Him, is it not? I had an uncle. We were raised
awful poor. I've told you that before. Folks
get tired of hearing about how poor folks were. But we were
a race poor. Really had nothing, but I had
an uncle. He wasn't really an uncle, that's
what I called him, but he was a relative. And he had everything. He had
everything in the world. He had a good job always through
the Depression. He had a nice home. He always
had a big car. That impressed his little dirty
kids, you know. And he had no concern about God. He was a self-made man. About
the age I am now, I remember, and one day he was out in the
field gathering hay. He had a big farm and some cattle,
and he was out helping his men gather hay, kind of pitching
in, you know. Rain was coming or something.
They were loading hay. They didn't have the balers and
all that. It was a long time ago. They were loading hay. And
the man said he used that fork and threw some
hay up on the wagon. And he dropped the fork and said
his eyes got this big. And he hollered, My God! And fell dead. I don't suppose he ever had called
on God before, to my knowledge. I never heard him use God's name
except in vain. But there he was. The world called a successful man. Everybody knew him. He was somebody. But I tell you, it's appointed
unto me and wants to die. After that, it's my God. And I tell you, I'd a whole lot
rather do this one thing, one thing you lack, one thing is
needful, one thing I know, one thing I do, one thing I desire,
is to call on Him now in Christ, my God, be Thou merciful unto
me, and to stand one day and holler, my God. It's over. My God, it's over. Well, that's wisdom, isn't it?
That's wisdom. And I don't think if I live another
400 years, I'll improve on that one thing. That's where it is. Let's sing 272. Christ the solid
rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sick and
sad.
Henry Mahan
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.

Comments

0 / 2000 characters
Comments are moderated before appearing.

Be the first to comment!

Joshua

Joshua

Shall we play a game? Ask me about articles, sermons, or theology from our library. I can also help you navigate the site.

0:00 0:00