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Henry Mahan

That Your Prayer Be Not Hindered

1 Peter 3:7
Henry Mahan • April, 7 1976 • Audio
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Message 0188a
Henry Mahan Tape Ministry
6088 Zebulon Highway
Pikeville, KY 41501

Sermon Transcript

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Now I want you to turn, first
of all, to the book of 1 John, chapter 1. 1 John, chapter 1. We're going to have a little
spiritual therapy tonight. We're going to operate on each
other with the Word of God. Now the title of my message is
this, that your prayers be not hindered. That your prayers be
not hindered. Now, the true believer has a
strong desire, I believe above all desire, to be in fellowship
with God, to walk with God, to have a real communion with God. Don't you? I do. I want to have
fellowship with God. That's what we're talking about
here in 1 John 1 verse 3. John says, "...that which we
have seen." and heard declare we unto you that you also may
have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with
the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ." Fellowship with
the Father, fellowship with the Son. And then in verse 7 he says,
But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship
one with another. That's talking about our fellowship
with the Father and with the Son, fellowship. Now, we know
something about God's majesty. I think I have not neglected
that subject here in the years that I've been your minister.
We know something about God's holiness. We can say, Thy throne,
O God, is forever, from everlasting to everlasting. I think we've
got a pretty good idea. or know something about who God
is, His power and His majesty and His sovereignty. And I think
all of us know something about our guilt, what happened in the
fall. I think all of us tonight could
say with one voice and one heart, my sins are ever before me. Against God and God only have
I sinned and done this evil in His sight. I think we know something
about the grace and mercy of God in Christ. I think every
one of us can say, yes, if we confess our sins, he's faithful
and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We know something about his mercy
day by day and week by week and year by year. I think most of
you have trusted him and you've received him as your Lord and
Savior. I think most of you can say with
Paul, I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is
able to keep that which I have committed to him against that
day. And I think most of you know something about Paul's experience
in Romans 7, when he said, The things that I would, I do them
not, and the things I would not do, I do. I know that in me,
that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. We readily admit
that. We know that. There's no doubting
that. To will is present with me. How
to perform that which is good I find not. O wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? We long for
the day when we shall not only be delivered from sin's penalty
and power and practice, but yea, from sin's very presence. And
then we long to grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ.
That's your prayer and that's mine. But chiefly, I think we
covet what is written here in Philippians. Turn to Philippians
4. But chiefly, we covet the presence of God. The presence
of God, not only in the worship service, but in our social fellowship,
and in our business fellowship, and in our partnerships, and
in our homes, and in our hearts. Verse 7 of Philippians 4, the
peace of God, the passive understanding. To be able, when someone calls
on you to pray, to pray. To be able, when you're not called
on, to pray, to pray. To be able to feel God's presence
in His power and His peace. The peace of God, that passive
all understanding, shall keep your hearts. Keep your hearts. Keep your heart tuned to God
and your mind tuned to God through Christ Jesus, to walk with Him. Instead of having so many high
experiences and in the next moment a low experience and mountains
and valleys, mainly valleys, to have some kind of normal Christian
walk with the King. The King and I walk down life's
road together. Well, when this is hindered,
when this peace, when this rest, when this fellowship is hindered,
when it's not there, all our creeds and our doctrines and
our knowledge is nothing but cold, dead leather. And when we begin to look for
a reason for its absence, why don't I feel this peace, this
peace of God that passeth understanding? Why don't I feel this joy of
the Holy Ghost? Why don't I have this fellowship
with God in prayer? Why don't I have this? Maybe
we're looking for the reason too far off. Perhaps the answer
to a cold heart is a lot closer than you think. Perhaps the answer
to a strained relationship not only with God but with other
believers is a lot closer than you think. Perhaps a hindered
prayer life. The answer to it is a lot closer
than you think. Perhaps your dissatisfaction
with your spiritual growth. Are you growing in grace? Are
you growing in the knowledge of Christ? Are you growing in
faith and love and joy and humility? Are you growing in those things?
Are you totally dissatisfied with your spiritual growth? Maybe
the answer is a lot closer than you think. Maybe a lack of real
joy and fellowship with God. Maybe the problem is in your
marriage relationship. Maybe that's where it is. I say this, there is no single
cause, there is no single cause, now get that word, single cause,
that can do more damage to the spiritual well-being of a man
or woman, there is no single cause that can do more damage
and cause interrupted fellowship with God more than a poor relationship
between a husband and wife. No single cause. If you would, as a believer,
enjoy spiritual happiness, if you would, as a believer, enjoy
spiritual You're going to have to begin the work right where
you live, in your home, with your marriage relationship. If
it's right with God, then everything else will fall in place. Now, let me show you that from
the Word of God. Turn, first of all, to 1 Peter,
chapter 1. 1 Peter is chapter 3. 1 Peter, chapter 3. Now, I want
you to listen carefully to this Scripture. Me, my wife, you and
your wife, you who are prospective husbands and wives, you young
people, I want us to concentrate our thoughts on these scriptures
tonight and look hard at them at least one more time. At least
one more time. It says in 1 Peter 3, verse 7,
likewise you husbands, dwell with your wives, dwell with them
according to knowledge." What kind of knowledge? As God teaches
you, and I'm going to deal with it tonight, you're going to leave
here with the knowledge, whether you put it in practice as you
twain you in God, but you're going to have it before you leave.
You husbands, "...dwell with your wives according to knowledge,
giving honor unto your wife as unto the weaker vessel, and as
being heirs together of the grace of life." Let your prayers be
not hindered. If you're not going to dwell
with your wife according to the word of God, if you're not going
to treat her as she ought to be treated, if you're not going
to walk before God in a relationship as being heirs together of the
grace of God, don't pray any more. Just cut it out. That's what he's saying. Because
your prayers are hindered. If you're not going to do what
God tells you to do here, just quit praying. Just quit praying
because your prayers are hindered. Now turn to Ecclesiastes 9. We're
talking to the husbands now, first of all, in Ecclesiastes
chapter 9. If you don't intend to apply
the scriptures, the knowledge God gives you, then just quit
praying. Ecclesiastes 9, verse 9. Now listen to this. Live joyfully,
not battling, joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest, live joyfully,
not tolerate her, put up with her, but live joyfully with her
all the days of the life of thy vanity which he hath given thee
under the sun, all the days of thy vanity, for that is thy portion
in this life." You're living in your portion. God has put
you together, and that's where God intends you to be. That's
your portion in this life, and in thy labor which thou takest
under the sun. Become adapted and adjusted to
where God's put you, and live joyfully. Joyfully. Now turn with me to Malachi 2.14.
Malachi 2.14. Now listen. God's rebuking these
people. In verse 14, they said, Wherefore? Wherefore? Yet you say, Wherefore? Because the Lord hath been witness
between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou
hast dealt treacherously. You hadn't treated her right.
Yet is she thy companion and the wife of thy covenant? Did
you make a covenant when you married her? And you've dealt
treacherously with her. And did not he make one? Yet
he, yet had he the residue of the Spirit, and wherefore warned
that he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit,
and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth."
She's the wife of a covenant, like God made a covenant with
Noah and David, Abraham. You made a covenant. You expect
God to keep His covenants? You better start keeping yours.
And then, if you will, turn to 1 Corinthians 7. We're going
to read a few more. Talking to the husbands now.
1 Corinthians 7, verse 3. Talking to us husbands. Let me
put that like it ought to be put. 1 Corinthians 7, verse 3. Let the husband render unto the
wife due benevolence. This is talking about love, relationship
between a husband and wife. And likewise also the wife unto
her husband. The wife hath not power of her
own body, but the husband likewise, he hath not power of his own
body, but the wife. And defraud ye not one another." In Genesis 2, God said that a
man and wife are one flesh, and he should leave mother and father
and cleave to his wife. Leave and cleave. leave all else,
all others, and cleave to her." Now, put up with her, clean to
her. Now, let's see what it says about
the wife in Proverbs chapter 21. Proverbs chapter 21. Now, I want you women to listen
carefully to these verses here, just like I've asked the men
to listen to those others. Proverbs 21, verse 9. It is better to dwell in a corner of a housetop
than with a contentious woman, a brawling woman, that's a woman
of contention, in a wide house. It's better to be by yourself
up in the corner on the roof than to live with a woman who
is contentious and brawling and loud and nagging. Look at verse
21, or rather verse 19. It is better to dwell in the
wilderness, out in the desert, all by yourself than with a contentious
and an angry woman." Turn to Proverbs 30. Proverbs 30, verse 21. Now, this
is an amazing scripture here. Now, you ladies, I want you to
see how God compares a contentious wife. I want you to see what
He compares them with. In Proverbs 30, verse 21, there
are three things. For three things the earth is
disquieted, upset. And for four, which it cannot
bear, one is a servant when he reigneth." Well, now, that's
taking a fellow uneducated and unequipped and untalented and
putting him in a position for king or a king. And that tears
everything up. He's got no business being there.
He's not qualified for it. He's not prepared for it. He's
not equipped for it. And when you put him there, you've
got a thing that just upsets the whole earth. Then he said,
"...and a fool when he's filled with meat." Bring a fellow in
off the street, a foolish man, fill him full of drink and meat,
and he'll make a greater fool of himself. Now look at verse
23, that which upsets the whole thing. An odious woman, that's
an unlovely woman. Not talking about unlovely in
features, but talking about unlovely in spirit, unlovely in character
when she's married. Now here's what he's saying,
when she's single, She's the sweetest thing on earth. When
she's single, she conceals her ill qualities. But once she's
married, she becomes proud and ugly and malicious and ill-natured
and scornful. Just like that unequipped servant
becomes put in a place of leadership and he makes a mess out of everything.
just like the fool that's brought in off the street and filled
with wine and drink, and he makes a greater fool out of himself.
That quiet, mild-mannered, mild-natured, lovely person gets in the place
of control, and she gets to be an ill-mannered, scornful, ugly
person, and she tears up everything. And a handmaid that's heir to
her mistress, a poor girl that suddenly comes into great inheritance.
Now turn to Titus, chapter 2. Titus 2. And that upsets the
whole world, he said. It tears up everything. In Titus,
chapter 2, verse 3. The aged in women, likewise that
they be in behavior, becometh holiness. Not false accusers,
not given to much wine, teachers of good things. And here's what
they're supposed to teach. Teach the young women to be sober.
to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good,
obedient to their husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. That's how serious it is. A woman
taking her place in the home, loving her husband, obedient
to her husband, discreet in her conversation and the things she
does, a faithful wife, a good, obedient wife. Let the word of
God be not blasphemed. Now, 1 Peter chapter 3. I read it a moment ago, part
of it. Let's start at verse 1. "...Likewise
ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands." that if any
obey not the word, they may without the word be won by the conversation
or by the behavior of the wise. While they behold your chaste
conversation coupled with fear, whose adorning, let it not be,
that outward adorning, plaiting of the hair, and wearing of gold,
or putting on of apparel, you ought to have more than that.
That's not where beauty is. It's not your outward appearance.
It's the hidden man of the heart. It's that compassion and sincerity
and love and quietness of spirit in that which is not corruptible,
even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the
sight of God of great price. For after this matter, in old
time, the holy women also trusted in God. They adorned themselves,
not with outward apparel, but with an inward spirit, a lovely,
sweet, contrite spirit. being in subjection to their
own husbands, even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, she called him Lord.
Whose daughters you are, as long as you do well, and are not afraid
with any amazement, likewise ye husbands and so forth, that
your prayers be not hindered. That's what interrupts so often
spiritual fellowship with God and spiritual growth, is we don't
have the right relationship in the home between a husband and
wife. And so much scripture is written on this subject. Now
turn to Ephesians 5, which I read a moment ago, and I want us to
look at these verses a little more fully now. Ephesians 5,
21. Ephesians 5, 21. Now listen to it carefully. Submit
yourselves one to another in the fear of the Lord. Submit
yourselves. to one another, and the best
translation is, out of reverence for the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
here, let's put this on the right motive. I read sermons like this
a lot of times, entitled, How to Have a Happy Home. I want
a better motive than that. He says, you submit yourselves
to one another in the fear of the Lord, for the glory of the
Lord. out of reverence for Jesus Christ.
The moving cause, the motive for establishing a right relationship
between me and my wife, and between my wife and me, is for the glory
of Jesus Christ. That's what it's for, for the
glory of Jesus Christ. Whatever you do, in word or deed,
do it for the glory of Jesus Christ. I'm not asking you to
do this so you'll have a happy home. That's a selfish motive,
although you will have a happy home. I'm saying do this for
the glory of Jesus Christ, for the testimony of our Lord and
Savior, out of fear of Him and out of reverence for Him and
out of a desire to be like Him. We want to do this because we
love Him and we love His Word, not for just ourselves but for
Christ's sake. And this will apply to husbands
and wives, children and parents. Children, be obedient to your
parents, as unto the Lord, as unto the Lord. Servants, be in
subjection to your masters. Do a good day's work, as unto
the Lord, as you were working for Jesus Christ the Lord. Younger
people be in subjection to older people. Churches and pastors,
there ought to be a relationship between me and you and you and
me that would be glorifying to Christ. Church members one to
another, your relationship ought to glorify Christ. Is there somebody
in this building that doesn't speak to somebody else? For the
good of the church and the glory of Christ, make those matters
right. Do something about it. I am going
to submit and I'm going to build my home and my marriage relationship
and my relationship to everybody for the glory of my Lord. I want
to walk with Christ. I don't want my prayers hindered.
I don't want God to leave me alone. I don't want the Word
of God to be blasphemed. I want to do it for the glory
of my Lord. Now look at this. Ladies, look
at this, verse 22. Look at it real good. Wives,
submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord, as
he were Jesus Christ your Lord. Be subject, be submissive. What
this verse is saying is adapt yourself to your husband. Adapt
yourself to him. This isn't a slavish subjection. This is, be reconciled to him,
his personality, without rebellion. A believing wife will reverence
her husband. Do you know what this verse 33,
look down here at verse 33, it says the wife, the last line,
see that she reverence her husband. Do you know what that word means?
This is what it means. It means to honor him. It means to notice
him. It means to regard him. It means
to esteem him. It means to admire him. It means
to praise him. That's what it means. A wife
who is in subjection to her husband, a wife who is in submission to
her husband, will speak becomingly to him and of him. To him and of him. She will cover
his faults. and she'll point out his strength.
She'll encourage him in his dreams and his successes, and she'll
sympathize with him in his failures. She'll provide for the food and
clothing of her family within the means that he provides. If
it's luxury, fine. If it's slim pickings, that's
fine with her, too. But she'll stay within those
means. She'll not plunge her husband
into debt to satisfy her whims if she loves him, if she's submissive
to him. She'll stay within his means
and rejoice and thank God for those means. She'll accept her
lot in God's providence, and by loving submission to her husband,
she'll make it pleasant for the whole family. She's not selfish. But she lives for the glory of
Christ and for the good of her husband and for the happiness
of her children. That is her goal in life. She'll leave the management of
her husband's business in his hands totally, whether it's in
prosperity or adversity. She'll accept her scriptural
place as a result of the fall, and she'll accept it humbly. I want you to turn to a few scriptures
with me. 1 Corinthians chapter 11. Now,
no woman can be happy out of the will of God. And this is
where the will of God has the female. In 1 Corinthians 11,
verse 7. Now look at it carefully. It
says, The man indeed ought not to cover his head, that is, when
praying or worshiping, For as much as he is the image and glory
of God, but the woman is the glory of the man." The man is
not of the woman, the woman is of the man. Neither was the man
created for the woman. Now watch that. The man was not
created for the woman, but the woman was created for the man.
We've reversed this thing. Men have become slaves of women. And God did not create man for
woman's security or enslavement. He created the woman for the
man. That's what Scripture says. And if she finds her place in
that particular position, God will bless her. If she can bring
her attitude to a place of submission and surrender and humility to
the place God put her, she can be a happy servant. But that's
God's Word. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
14. Now this is so. 1 Corinthians 14, verse 34. It is not an equality. It is
not a 50-50 proposition. It is not, I'll have my say about
it. You're out of the will of God.
You can't be happy out of the will of God. And 1 Corinthians
14, 34. Let the women keep silence in
the churches. It's not permitted unto them
to speak. They're commanded to be under
obedience, as also saith the law. And if they learn anything,
let them ask their husbands at home. It's a shame for a woman
to speak in church." Now, 1 Timothy 2, chapter 2, verse 11 through 14. 1 Corinthians 2, verse 11. Now watch this carefully. 1 Corinthians
2, 11. Let the women learn in silence
with all subjection. I suffer not a woman to teach,
nor to use of profanity over the man, but to be in silence.
For Adam was first formed, and then Eve. Adam was not deceived,
but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Christ
is the head of the man, the Scripture says, and the man is the head
of the woman." Look back at our text now, Ephesians
5, verse 22. Now I want to come right into
this now, and you stay with me. In Ephesians 5, verse 22, wives,
submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord far. And here's the reason, one of
the reasons. The husband is the head of the wife in the same
way that Jesus Christ is the head of this church. In the same
way. In the same way. Now, there's
not any of us that would talk back to the Master tonight. Not
anybody would talk back to him. Not any of us would speak lightly
of him, because we have him in great reverence and great esteem
and great honor. He's the head of this church.
But I'm saying this, for a happy marriage relationship, you women
are going to have to come to this place. And that is that
your husband is the head your head just as much as Jesus Christ's
head in this church. That's what it says. And there's got to be a submission,
there's got to be a surrender, there's got to be a humility.
But I'm saying this, it will not be an unhappy submission,
because we're going to deal with something else now in verse 25. Now this is what makes this other
position All right. Acceptable. This is what makes
it acceptable. Now watch this. The other part
has to be true. Husbands, love your wives. We're not talking about—Christ
doesn't rule this church with a rod of law. He rules it with
what? Love. Christ doesn't—we are not under
the rod of threats and punishment and being mistreated. The reason
it's so sweet to submit to Christ is He's such a wonderful Master.
He's such a lovely King. And I'm saying that the wife
will find complete happiness as the believer in submission
to Christ if she's in submission to a husband that really loves
her. Husbands love your wives. How? Look at it, verse 25, as
Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it. Now let me show
you something. What is the relationship between
Christ and the Church? Well, first of all, the Church
is a covenant Church. It's His bride. It was given
to Him by the Father and taken before the Father by Him. And
our wives are covenant wives. Just like this Church is a covenant
body, our wives are covenant wives, taken in vows before God
Almighty. And then this church is the body
of Christ. You know what Scripture says?
It's the body of Christ. All right, look at verse 28.
Some ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. Now,
boy, if we took as good a care of our wives as we do our outward
appearance and our bodies, it'd be something else, wouldn't it? He that loveth his wife loveth
himself. No man ever hated his own flesh,
but nourisheth it. and cherisheth it, even as the
Lord his church. We are members of his body, of
his flesh, of his bone. Christ doesn't hate his body.
Christ doesn't neglect his body. Christ doesn't mistreat his body. Christ cherisheth his body. And our wives are supposed to
be loved as Christ loved the church and as we love our own
bodies. The church is the object of his
affection. It says he gave himself for it,
for its happiness, for its comfort, for its peace, and for its pleasure. Now, old Dr. John Gill, sometimes
we look upon these old Puritans as being so many sticks in the
mud, but I want you to hear what old Dr. John Gill said about
a husband loving his wife. He said, Husbands, love your
wives, and love them with a hearty, sincere love. Not feigned, not
false, not hypocritical, a hearty, sincere love. And number two,
he said, Show it in private and show it in public. Let everybody
else know you love her. Let her know it privately, and
let her and everybody else know it publicly. Your love for your
wife should exceed your love for your parents and for your children and for your children. A husband
and wife are supposed to be a fortress against all storms. If attacked
by parents or attacked by friends or attacked by children, let
them stand together. Don't ever let your parents or
your children divide you and your wife. A husband's love for his wife
should seek her contentment, her pleasure, and her satisfaction
in all things. A husband should provide for
his wife, protect his wife. He should conceal her faults.
and exceedingly compliment her virtues. A husband's love for
his wife should grow deeper and more mature through the passing
years. Now one old Puritan said this.
Would you listen to this? Young people may pout, young
married couples may argue and fall out, but there is absolutely
no reason for mature married adults to have these conflicts
any more than for a believer who has been in Christ's church
for twenty-five years to fall out with the Savior. How about
that? We accept our lot in life from
the hand of Christ, and we learn to live with it in the church,
on the job, and in other places everywhere but in that most important
relationship between a husband and a wife. We get to where we can take all
of the trials out yonder, and the trials over yonder, and the
trials in here, and we can ride them out. But at the place where
it's most vital and important and necessary, with the one who
is closest to us, the companion of our youth who bore our children,
and has shared with us our laughter and our tears and our sorrows
and our joys, it seems like as the years go by, we drift farther
apart. And what you're doing is destroying
yourself, because she's your body. She's your covenant wife. She is the wife with which you
live joyfully, God said, all the days of your life. And I
challenge you this, I'll say this, that a believer, a true
believer, grows closer to Christ, his head. Christ and his bride
get closer together as the years go by. They speak more lovingly
of him, they enjoy more loving fellowship as the years go by.
If you have the kind of relationship which he commands us to have,
Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the Church, and
wives, be in subjection to your husbands as the Church is to
Christ, you'll grow closer together. And if you see you're not, you'll
do something about it. And that doesn't mean you take
your apartment and I'll take mine. That means you'll do something
about it, on your knees before God. He says in verse 33, Nevertheless,
let every one of you, and this word in particular is without
exception, without exception. So love his wife even as himself,
even as himself. And the wife see that she honor
and reverence and hold in esteem and speak highly of and to and
about her husband. Now we shall not rule in great
things if we're not faithful in little things. And we shall
not enjoy great things if we don't show some responsibility
in little things. And I challenge you with all
my heart from the Word of God to see if you can't build, by
kindness and love and the right attitude for the glory of Christ,
a relationship in your home and between one another that will
make your relationship with Christ sweeter, your fellowship with
him sweeter. I think every one of us in this
area, I speak for myself, put forth more effort to make somebody
happy. That's all. It's more blessed
to give than to receive. I tell you where you find happiness
is making somebody happy. And where you find misery is
when you know that you're the cause of their misery. How miserable
it is to be the cause of somebody's unhappiness, to be the cause
of somebody's misery, to be the cause of somebody's interrupted
fellowship with God. I think we ought to do something
about this, really. I don't know why God laid this message on
my heart. I sat in a study this morning.
I prayed for something to preach about. And I got to read in Ephesians,
I got to chapter 5. And I came to these verses and
I just kept, they just kept filling my heart. Filling my heart. And
I looked through these other scriptures and God impressed
me to preach on it. And if no one pays any attention
to this, bless me. If, bless me. And maybe some
young person, some young couple or some older couple out there
says, that preacher's right. Somebody else will say, well,
he's preaching to me. Yeah, I am. Yeah, I sure am. Preaching to me and to you. I
find what fits me goes on you too. We wear the same size. We
wear the same size. Our Father, we do pray humbly,
sincerely with our hearts that we might be in subjection to
Christ our Lord. His Word will be our command,
our law. Not out of slavish fear. We know
this is right. We know this is right. We know
we cannot find happiness unless we make somebody else happy.
We can't be forgiven if we don't forgive. We can't be the recipients
of mercy if we don't show mercy. How can we say that we love Christ
when we don't love one another? We know this is true. And we're
not going to say it's impossible. It's not impossible. These things
can certainly, which thou hast commanded, be fulfilled by every
one of us. For how precious is our wife
that thou hast given to us, and these husbands we have had so
many blessings, we have had such a happy life, and our later years
ought to be our happiest years. There ought to be a comfort to
one another, and a strength to one another, and a help to one
another. that we may grow together in the grace of Christ, that
we might be heirs together of the grace of life. Now, Lord,
we pray the forgiveness of our sins, of our indifference, of
our failure to do what we ought to do, and we covenant together,
all of us tonight, as the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, that
we're going to put forth every effort to find happiness in his
command, in his will. O Lord, send a revival in our
midst and let it begin in me. Let it begin in me and in my
home. I pray in Christ's name and for
his sake. Amen.
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.

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