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Henry Mahan

Our Fellowship With God

1 John 1:3
Henry Mahan • November, 4 1975 • Audio
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Message 0157b
Henry Mahan Tape Ministry
6088 Zebulon Highway
Pikeville, KY 41501

Sermon Transcript

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Those messages that I'm not going
to try to preach, I'm going to try to communicate
with you. We're just going to talk tonight
about the subject, our fellowship with the Father. I do know that
if the Holy Spirit enables you to hear what God says to us tonight
on this subject, it can change your life. It can change your
attitude. Now, there's no treasure in this
world, no treasure, regardless of what it is. There is no treasure
in this world to compare with the privilege, the heaven-sent
privilege, of a personal fellowship with God Almighty. There is no
treasure. Now, Adam walked with God. The
scripture tells us that Adam walked with God in the wind,
the cool of the garden. But sin came and banished Adam
from God's presence. And since that time, men have
not walked with God. They have not fellowshiped with
God. Since that time, our faces have been turned from the living
God, or we have a God, every man's got a God. But since sin
came in, our faces have been turned from the living God. And
more than that, His face has been turned from us. And the
scripture tells us that men hate God. They hate God. The natural mind is enmity, enmity
against God. And God, the scripture said,
is angry with the wicked. That's what it says. God is angry
with the wicked every day. He that believeth not on the
Son, the wrath of God abideth on him. I know that's unpopular
in this day of preaching entirely on the love of God, but the Bible
still says God hates the workers of iniquity. The Bible still
says that God's angry with the wicked every day. The Bible still
says he that believeth not on the Son, the wrath of God abideth
on him. Now Christ came into this world
to restore that lost fellowship. Christ came into this world to
restore what we lost in the garden. And those people who have by
his grace believed, not said to believe, not professed to
believe, but those who by his grace have believed in Christ
and have by the precious blood of Christ been cleansed. They're
no more enemies, and they're no more strangers, and they're
no more aliens, but they're the sons of God, and they walk with
God, and they have free access to the throne of grace. As many
as received him, John said, to them gave he the glorious privilege. the wonderful privilege of becoming
sons of God, and sons have fellowship with the Father. And Paul wrote
in Romans 8, you have not received the spirit of bondage again unto
fear, but the spirit of adoption, sons of God, whereby you cry,
Father, Father. And again he wrote, having therefore,
brethren, boldness to enter into the very presence of God before
the very throne of grace, boldness by the blood of Jesus Christ. Now John enjoyed this fellowship. Listen to what he says in 1 John
1. He says in verse 1 and 3. We'll skip verse 2 because that's
in parenthesis. I just want to read verse 1 and
2. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we
have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our
very hands have handled of the word of life," talking about
Christ. That which we have seen, verse 3, and heard, declare we
unto you, that you also may have and enjoy fellowship with us,
and truly," I like that word there, truly. It's not just a profession. It's
not just a boast. It's not just a religious belief.
Truly, our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son,
Jesus Christ. John was one of those twelve
whom the Lord chose. And more than that, he was one
of the elect out of the elect. He was one of the three. He was
one of the three that the Lord Jesus took with him to the Mount
of Transfiguration when he left the other disciples behind. He
took Peter, James, and John. And Peter, James, and John saw
the Lord transfigured in glory before their eyes. He was one
of the three. who witnessed the raising of
the dead maiden. He was one of the three whom
the Lord took with him into the Garden of Gethsemane to the Father's
place from which he talked with the Father. He was the one who
leaned on the Lord's shoulder at the Last Supper. He was the
one to whom the Master committed Mary, his mother, while he was
dying on that cross, and he was the one who lingered at that
cross until the final womb was made in the side of the Master
from which came the blood and the water. He's talking about
fellowship here. He's talking about something
he knows something about. He says, that which I've seen,
and that which my hands have handled, and that which I've
heard, I'm declaring unto you, that you also may have this blessed
privilege of fellowship with the Father and with his Son,
Jesus Christ." And notice a little word here. He said, "...our fellowship
not was with him, is with him." And truly, truly, sincerely,
our fellowship is, is with the Father. and with his Son, Jesus
Christ. Now then, there are people whom
we call sectarians who build a religious fellowship. Now I
know we talk about fellowship all the time, and Brother Barnard
called that fellows in the same ship. Well, that's a good definition,
but it has a lot to do with what ship you're talking about. There
are sectarians who build a religious fellowship with one another around
a church organization. That's a tragic, tragic experience. There are sectarians who build
a religious fellowship not only around church organizations,
but around church denominations, the right order. And the right
ordinance says this is not fellowship with God. And don't you be deceived
and don't you mistake it for fellowship with God. It's not
fellowship with God. It's fellowship around a church
organization. It's fellowship around a denominational
name. It's fellowship with those who
are as peculiar in their spirit as you are. But it's not fellowship
with the Lord. That's not what John's talking
about here. He doesn't say we fellowship
around the name Baptist. He doesn't say we fellowship
around the name missionary Baptist. He says our fellowship is with
the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. And you can have
a close-knit fellowship around a denominational name or denominational
peculiarities or church government and church ordinances and church
organization and miss fellowship with God ten thousand miles.
In fact, most people I find who have their fellowship around
these church organizations and denominations have a cruel, hard,
mean spirit toward everybody else. But you put this down. I know a little bit about the
preachers of the past, and every preacher whom God has ever used,
Whitefield, Knox, Edwards, Owens, Spurgeon, Gill, Keech, all of
them. All of these men have had a Catholic
spirit, and the word Catholic there is not Roman Catholic,
it's universal spirit. They had a spirit that was open,
their hearts were open to all believers, whatever name they
may be under at that time. They were men who were not universalist
in the sense of universal rediction, but universalist in the sense
that they believed a man could be saved and be wrong on how
to run a church. that a man could deceive and
be wrong on how to serve the Lord's table, whether to drink
out of one cup or a dozen. That a man could be wrong on
whether or not women ought to wear hats or not wear hats and
still go to heaven. I don't know whether you'll have
a hat on in heaven or not. I don't know whether they'll
stop at the door and ask you, did you wear one down here? But this
sectarian fellowship is not fellowship with God. And don't mistake it
for fellowship with God. I think we ought to be, try to
be right on organization, and try to be right on ordinances,
and try to be right on orders, and these things, but that's,
if you find the way you want to walk, don't call it fellowship
with God, because it's not. And then secondly, they're doctrinalists. We have Antinomians, and we have
liberals. And we have conservatives, and
we have Calvinists, and we have Armenians, and we have Pelagians,
and we have, you just name it. We've got all kind of doctrinal
systems. And there are people who build
a religious fellowship. They go all over the country
looking for somebody that believes the same thing they believe on
some doctrinal position. And they call that fellowship
with God, and it's not. It's not fellowship with God.
because we fellowship around a confession of faith, because
we fellowship around articles of faith, because we hold the
same written creed as no proof at all that we fellowship with
God. John says, truly, our fellowship
is with the Father and with his Son, not with one another around
a doctrine. And then they're experimentalists.
They all fellowship together. Everybody's got an altar down
the front of the church where you come and pray through, they
have fellowship together. Everybody who doesn't have one
has fellowship together. Everybody who believes in certain
forms of decisions and public invitations, they fellowship
together, and those who believe in no invitation, they fellowship
together. And those who believe in receiving
the second blessing and the baptism of the Holy Ghost and speaking
in tongue, they run all over the country looking for folks
that believe that, and those that don't believe it run all
over the country looking for folks that don't believe it,
so they can fellowship with them. This is not fellowship with God. If I can go find me seven or
eight or seven hundred, eight hundred people who agree with
me on all the experiences and the feelings, and we can have
us a real good time of fellowshiping together, but don't call it fellowship
with God because it's not necessarily. And then there are the moralists
and the legalists. They have a whole list of do's
and don'ts around which they fellowship. They have set forth
their rigid rules of religion, and they take their people and
bind them and grate them and choke the life out of their souls,
but they have some good fellowship around doing nothing. The Pharisees
had fellowship around their laws, but they didn't know the Lord.
The Pharisees would walk just so far on the Sabbath day and
wouldn't have fellowship with folks that walked any further
but that didn't know the Lord. David knew something about what
John's talking about. He said, The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not walk. He maketh me
to lie down in green pastures. You see what he's talking about?
I walk with the King, David said, my fellowship with the King.
My fellowship's not with a doctrine, it's not with an ordinance, it's
not with a rule, it's with a person. He maketh me to lie down in green
pasture. He leadeth me beside the still
water. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in pairs of righteousness
for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through this
valley of death, I'll fear no evil. He's with me. Oh boy, I don't care for the
New Hampshire Confession of Faith through this valley. It's not
much comfort. It's not much comfort when you
lie on your deathbed and are facing judgment and death and
eternity. Don't turn to some articles of
faith or some rules and regulations and church government. It'll
be mighty poor comfort. I walk through this valley of
death and I fear no evil. Why David? He's with me. His Lord and His staff comfort
me, He prepares a table before me right in front of my enemies,
and He anoints my head with oil, and my cup runneth over, and
surely His goodness and His mercy shall follow me all the days
of my life, and then I'm going to dwell in His house, His house. I'm talking about a difference
here that very few people see. I'm sorry to say. We've got churches all over this
land. We've got all different reasons
for their existence. We've got all kinds of differences. We've got all kinds of fellowships,
organized fellowships, disorganized fellowships, old fellowships
and new fellowships. But here is where the difference
is. Here is where the fellowship of organization, the fellowship
of doctrine, the fellowship of experience, the fellowship of
works is substituted for this grand and glorious treasure which
is fellowship with God. And there's a whale of a lot
of difference. And I'll tell you where it is. Now you listen
to me carefully. In order to have fellowship with
any person, There has to be agreement of
heart. Now the reason these folks can fellowship around church
organization, there's agreement. The reason these folks can fellowship
around rules and regulations, there's agreement. The reason
these folks can fellowship around doctrine, They agree on their
doctrine. The reason folks can fellowship
around experience, they all have the same experience. It may be
wrong experience, it may be right experience, but it's an experience
on which they agree. The scripture says two can't
walk together unless they agree. There's got to be agreement.
And at the bottom of all fellowship, real fellowship, not just saying,
I love you for the Lord's sake and walk the opposite way. Real
fellowship. When there is real fellowship
with the Father and with His Son, there must be a likeness. That's true of human beings.
If two people are going to fellowship, they're going to have to have
the same goals, the same desires, the same purposes, and the same
wishes, or they're not going to fellowship. It may be a selfish
goal, but still they can fellowship. It may be a wrong goal, but they
can fellowship. But if we're going to fellowship
with God and have fellowship with Him, as John's talking about
here, we're going to have to be like Him. We're going to have
to agree with Him in His goal, in His desires, in His purposes. Now then, five things I want
to point out tonight. First of all, those who can say
with John, truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his
Son, Jesus Christ, are those who can say, from my heart, I agree with God
in his eternal purposes. I agree. I read in his book, right here,
this book before me, that in his eternal covenant, back yonder
before the worlds were made, that the Father ordained Christ
to be the head of a church. Out of a fallen race, he chose
a multitude which no man can number. Out of every nation, kindred,
tribe, and tongue, and he gave them to his Son. And he said,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will be gracious
to whom I will be gracious. And in the fullness of time he
sent his son into this world, incarnate, identified with human
flesh, numbered with a transgressor, in order to bring those sons
to glory. He hath chosen out of this race
the foolish. He hath chosen the base. He has
chosen the things which are not. He has chosen the things which
are not. He is a sovereign God with a
sovereign purpose. And I wouldn't alter it if I
could. If God gave me access to the
book of life tonight, I wouldn't take one name out and wouldn't
add one more. I'm in agreement with his purpose.
Are you? Whatever he does is right. Whatever
he does is good. Whatever he does is wise. And unless I can say that from
my heart, we can't have any fellowship. Two can't walk together except
they be agreed. I agree with God's eternal purpose. He is the Lord. He is the Lord. He doeth all things well. Shall
the judge of the earth do wrong? Can God make a mistake?" I turn
my eyes back to that everlasting covenant, to that eternal counsel,
and I say with the Lord Jesus Christ, even so, Father, it seemed
good in your sight. I like it, don't you? Somebody
said, You're not ashamed of the doctrine of election, are you?
Further than that, I praise God for it. I go one step further than that.
I'm not only not ashamed of it, I thank God for it. You're not
ashamed of his predestinating grace, are you? No, sir. I thank
God for it. If he had not chosen me, I would
have never chosen him. If he had not ordained me to
life, I'd never lived. If He had not sent His affections
upon me, I'd have never loved Him. He loved me before I ever
loved Him. I love Him because He first loved
me. I am in total, absolute, complete
agreement with God's eternal purposes. And I'm here to challenge
this whole world tonight, and I say you can have fellowship
with your comrades and cohorts, but not with God unless you agree
with His everlasting purpose. Can I not do with my own what
I will, God says? Who art thou that resisteth his
will, and saith unto him, What doest thou?" Huh? You challenge
him if you want to. But I love him too much. I'm
not going to challenge him. I agree with him. I wouldn't
change it for cousin. Because I know what we'd do with
it, we'd do with it what we've done with everything else. We'd
mess it up. Secondly, our fellowship truly is with the Father and
with His Son. I agree with Him in His everlasting
purposes, and I'll tell you something else. Every believer can say,
I agree with Him in His main object. What is the main object
of God tonight? Don't answer out loud, but think.
Answer that question. What is God's main purpose and
object tonight? To win souls, you missed it. to get people to come down the
aisle and make a profession, you missed it. God's main purpose
tonight, and God's chief goal, is to glorify his Son. Now you check your Bible on that. My glory, he said, I'll not give
to another He said that no flesh should glow in his presence.
He said, whatever you do in world or deed, do it for the glory
of God, and we've got to get these selfish purposes put aside,
and put ahead of us one chief end, and that's to glorify God. I don't care if it's by our success
or by our failure, by our rising or by our falling, by our living
or by our dying. We're here for one purpose, for
His glory. You can't fellowship with God
unless you can say with John, He must increase and I must decrease. That's His goal, His glory. You don't even know God unless
you can say with Eli, it's the Lord, let him do what he will. God Almighty's not going to debate
with you. God's not going to argue with
you. You're going to bow down with
Job when God sweeps away all your toys and say, the Lord gave
and the Lord taketh away. Let's it be the name of the Lord.
In all this, Job sinned not, nor charged God with what? Foolishness. Think about what I'm saying.
I don't know a whole lot, but I know this is so. Do I desire
his glory or my glory? God Almighty will put all human
boasting at his feet, either here or in hell, but he's going
to do it, that no flesh should glow in his presence. Whatever
God does with his church is for his glory, with his preachers
for his glory, with each one of you. And if we're going to
fellowship with him, if we're going to walk the way he's walking,
and have any fellowship with him, we're going to get lying
on this. Here is glory. I'm going to have my way. You
know where that leads to, don't you? The end thereof is the way
of death. I don't want to walk that way.
I want the way of life. And the way of life is to walk
with the one who gives life. Lord, to whom shall we go?" Everybody
else, the Lord turned to the twelve and said, you can go to
if you want to, Lord. To whom? You have the words of
life. And Lord, your object is our
object, your glory. I don't care where it leads.
We don't care where it leads. We don't care what it costs.
We're interested in your glory. Now, you can fellowship with
him. if you can desire his glory. And then the third thing, everybody
who fellowships with God truly, I'm not talking about around
church government, not talking about around Calvinism or any
kind of ism there is, I'm not talking about this fellowship
and around experience or moral codes, I'm talking about fellowshiping
with a king. Walking with a king. Meeting with him in the window
of the garden like Adam did, talking with the Lord. You don't
do that till you agree with him. Till your desires are his, and
your wishes are his, and your goals are his. God's not too
hard up that he needs any of us. God's not too pressed that
he can't start church without you. The way you spell church is C-H-R-I-S-T,
that's the way you spell it. And he spelled it for you born.
And I agree, every believer says, I agree not only with his purpose
and I agree with his goal, his glory, but I agree with his way
to accomplish that purpose. He laid one foundation. And he
said, other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid,
Christ the Lord. I like that foundation. He laid
one cornerstone. He said it's true and sure and
proud and precious, and that's Christ. He offered one sacrifice. By one sacrifice he hath perfected
forever. He established one Mediator. He says there's one God and one
Mediator between God and me, and that's the man Christ Jesus.
And I like it. I like it that way, I want it
that way, don't you? Chosen in Him, I want to sing
with the redeemed in glory. Redeemed in Him, called in Him,
accepted in Him, glorified in Him, gathered together in Him. It's wondrous, O God, in our
eyes, and all you chosen seed of Israel's race, All you ransomed
from the fall, together bring forth the royal diadem and crown
Jesus Christ Lord of all." I like the way God saves sinners. I like that way. I agree with him. I agree with
him. Every attribute of God is exalted
and manifested and revealed in the death of his Son, his wisdom and his power, his righteousness
and his love, his justice and his grace, all revealed in his
Son. And I can say, Father, I not
only believe it, But I can see how it's the only way that God
can be just and justify the ungodly. There is no other way. And then
fourthly, if I'm going to fellowship, if I'm going to say with John,
truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son,
I agree with him in the fourth place, in the objects of his
love. Now, when two persons love the
same thing, when two persons love the same thing, that affection
becomes a tie and a fellowship between them. For example, here's
a couple, they marry, they love each other, and then a child
comes along. And that child serves as a a
tie between them. It draws their fellowship closer. It deepens their affection for
one another. They both love that child. They
both want the best for that child. That child brings into that home
a deeper fellowship, a deeper tie than was there before. Now my father loves his son. My father loves his son. He said,
this is my beloved son. And my fellowship with the Father
is based on the fact that I love the Son too. He that honors not
the Son honors not the Father. Ain't no way. No way. I can say, yes, Father, this
is my beloved Savior in whom I'm well pleased. Does the Father
love the Son? So do we. Will the Father honor
the Son? So will we. Will the Father exalt
the Son? So will we. And then I'll tell you something
else. The Father loves his people. He loves his people. He loves
his people. He said, I've drawn you with
an everlasting love, an everlasting love, an everlasting love. Whoso, whoso hateth his brother,
how dwelleth the love of God in him." How can you have fellowship
with God while you despise and hate those whom God loves, huh? Can't be done. Can't be done. We know, John said, we know we've
passed from death unto life because we love his people. By rest,
the Master said, shall all men know you are my disciples, if
you love one another." And then, Scripture we read a while ago
in the study, we keep his commandments. What are his commandments? This
is his commandment, that we believe on the name of his Son and love
one another. Yes sir, our fellowships with
the Father. Because we love the same ones
God loves. We agree with Him in the objects
of His love. He loves His Son. And we do too. And we love His people, for He
loves them. And then last of all, if we're
going to walk with God, if we're going to fellowship with God,
we agree with Him in His purpose. We agree with Him in His goals,
which is His glory. We agree with him in the way
he accomplishes that purpose and that glory, and that's the
death of his son. We agree with him in the objects
of his love. And then we agree with him in
his employment. The Master said this, I must
be about my father's business. I must be about my father's business. What is the father's business?
Well, first of all, the Jews came to him and they asked him
that question. They said, what shall we do that
we might work the works of God? And Christ said, this is the
work of God, that you believe on him whom God has sent. that you believe. That's the
first work of God, to believe on his Son, to really believe
on him. Not just to say you do, but to
really believe on him. To believe the record God hath
given concerning his Son, to believe him, to believe him. And then his work is to relieve
the distress and comfort the broken hearts. and soothe and
help somebody's heartache and make somebody's journey a little
bit easier. That's His Word. That's His Word. I had an opportunity to do that
this past week. I was sitting at my desk and
the telephone rang. I had an opportunity to be about
my father's business. It was a young lady on the telephone,
and she said, Is this Reverend Somebody? And I said, Yeah, this
is Reverend Somebody. It's Reverend Mahan. She said,
Well, you're the one I'm calling. I said, What can I do for you?
She said, Well, she said, I need somebody to talk to. And I said,
well, you can talk to me. I'm out here at the church in
the study. She said, where is the church? And I told her. She
said, I'll be there in a little while. So about 30 minutes later
the door opened and in walked a young lady about 19 years of
age, very attractive, lovely young lady, with a great big
pack on her back that weighed about 40 pounds, wearing sandals. She came in and took the pack
off her back and dropped it in the middle of my study floor
and I said, have a seat. I was drinking a cup of tea I
made. I said, could I fix you a cup of tea? She said, I'd love
to have a cup. So I gave her a cup of tea and
I said, now just sit there and let's... I said, you walk? She
said, yeah. I said, I'm walking. I said,
where were you? She said, I was down here at
the shopping center. She said, I said, where did you
come from, where are you going? She said, I ran away from home.
My home's in Vermont. I ran away August 30th, a month
and a half ago. I said, where you been? She said, well, another girl
and I hitchhiked to California. This other girl had an abortion,
and then we parted company, and then I caught a truck going to
Detroit, and from Detroit down here to Ashland, and I got off
in Ashland. I walked out here to your church. I said, what do you want to talk
to me about? She said, the operator gave me your name. I called the
operator and asked somebody to talk to her. The operator said,
go talk to the maid here. And she said, I just want to
talk to somebody. I said, what's your mom and daddy
do? She said, they own a dairy farm, got 95 cows in Vermont. They milk and sell the milk.
I said, are they hard on you? No. I said, are they cruel to
you? No. They're overprotective, she said.
She said, I was a cheerleader in high school and graduated
and did a good job and went to college a year and then I ran
away from home. I said, you love your folks? Yes, sir. I said,
you won't go home? No, sir. Where are you going
from here? I don't know. I reached and got
the phone and sat down in front. I said, call your mama and charge
it to my phone. No, I don't want to do that.
Big old tears started coming. I said, call her. I think she'd
like to know where you are. No, she said, I won't do that.
So we talked some more and I think God gave me some words to say
to her. And after a while she picked
up the phone and started dialing. And her mother didn't answer.
So we talked a little longer and we went over the dangers
that were ahead and we talked about rules and regulations that
must exist in the home and requirements that must be put on young people.
And I said, I'll tell you this, Phyllis. One of these days you'll
have children and you'll put the same reservations and restrictions
on them that your parents have had to put on you. They're doing
it because they love you. They're doing it because they
care what happens to you. We've all got to have bounds.
We've all got to have rules. God gives his people rules, and
the thing we have to do when we're growing up, we have to
abide by those rules so we can develop a character. I said,
you've got 50 years to live, our children, in the future.
Don't ruin them all now. Take what you have to take now
and build a character and a vocation and a profession and a life so
that you can live those 30 years happy. You won't ruin them all
now." So I said, let's go over to my house and eat supper. So
Doris fixed supper for us and that night about 9 o'clock she
called her mother again. Well, to make a long story short,
the next morning her mother called back, and she spent the night
with us, and her mother called back, and they were hysterical,
her mother and father, and she said she's coming home, and her
dad said he'd send her a money order at Western Union, and I
went down and picked it up about an hour later and put her on
the plane, called her daddy, and I said, your daughter will
be home at 6.30. And he said, I want to thank
you. You'll never know how much it means. I must be about my Father's business. Relieving some heartache, lifting
some burden. We can all do it. We can all
do it. We can open our homes for the
wandering. You know, Scripture said some
folks have entertained angels that way on a Wednesday. They've been blessed with the
presence of one of God's angels. And that's God's business. If
I walk with God, if I fellowship with him, I agree with him in
his employment. And you know what it is, too?
It's to take the gospel to sinners. The gospel to sinners. We're
not here just to brag about what we believe. We're not here just
to meet with one another and congratulate each other on the
fact we're going to heaven. When we die, we're here to preach
the gospel to sinners. Over the radio, as Jack said,
and the television, through the bulletin, from this pulpit. Preach
the gospel. I don't want anybody to ever
come in here and sit down and get up and walk out and go to
hell not knowing the gospel. Somebody said, every time you
hear Henry preach, it's the same thing. Thank God. And that's
what I'll be preaching 20 years from now, too. Because there's
not but one thing to preach, and that's Christ and Him crucified.
That's all. That's all. If you know Christ,
you know everything. If you don't know Him, you don't
know anything. If you have Christ, you have everything. If you don't
have Christ, I don't care what you have. You are bankrupt. And
I wouldn't swap places with you. For a farm in Georgia, you wouldn't
do that. Because what should it profit
a man if he gained this whole world and lose his soul? You agree with him? You agree
with him, you fellowship with him. You walk in the light as
he's in the light. Our Father, we're grateful for
the word, the precious word and promise of God. Grateful for
thy precious Son, to those that believe he is precious. For this
glorious gospel of good news, it's good news. Good news to
the guilty, glad tidings to the weary. We're thankful for the
message, make us faithful in preaching it. Don't ever let
us get sidetracked. Come up with something new. Make
us tell an old, old story and be happy with it. For Christ's
sake we pray, and in His name, 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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