Yesterday afternoon I walked out of the back door of my office and turned left to walk down the hallway and then took a right down a ramp and walked down another hall way headed for the new sanctuary where I will spend my Sundays for the foreseeable future. I opened the double doors and walked into the dimly lit room bordered by ornate stained glass windows.
I wanted to pray and be alone in that hallowed place. With my Bible in hand I mounted the steps to the platform and placed my Bible on the pulpit and just stood there. I left my fingers run down the hand made pulpit. I felt the grain of the wood beneath my fingers and thought of all the messages that I had been preached behind that sacred desk. I then began looking out across all the empty pews starting from the left and working my way to the right side. Next, I looked up to the empty pews in the balcony and began asking the Lord to fill that sanctuary with His glory and that people would meet with Him.
In my mind I could see the room packed with worshippers and the Word of Life being proclaimed under the anointing of God. I stood behind that sacred desk a good long while half praying and half dreaming about the future. I thought of all the messages I would preach behind that sacred desk. I thought of not only those who would fill the room but of those would be watching by television. I noticed the four different remote control cameras located around the sanctuary and began praying for those viewers.
I left the platform and walked to the back of the sanctuary and found my way to the steps leading up to the balcony. I had never been up there before and climbed the winding steps until I came to the top and then found a seat. I looked down to where the pulpit stood and again thought of the people who would be sitting in the balcony begging God to meet with them and to touch them. I next walked over to the sound board and prayed for those who sit there and work diligently to work the video production, the sound equipment, and I also prayed for those who worked in the television ministry.
After praying up there for awhile I came back down and prayer walked back up behind the sacred desk. It is a beautiful pulpit made by one the church members. I stood there and began making some declarations by faith out loud in that dimly lit room with the beautiful stained glass windows. If you would have walked in on me you might of thought is sounded silly hearing the preacher speaking out loud in an empty room while standing behind the pulpit.
By faith I declared out loud that the pews would be packed in the days ahead. I asked God for growth but not just numerical growth but also spiritual growth in the hearts of the worshippers. I asked the Lord for inspired and anointed messages to feed the flock and for God encounters to take place week after week. I pleaded with the Lord for the salvation of souls, for the trouble hearted to find peace and heavy laden to find rest. I asked the Lord for an expanded television ministry with more viewers watching and being touched by the Lord. I asked the Lord to give me His vision and His heart for that television ministry. I pledged to the Lord that I would not depart from teaching and preaching the Bible and begged Him for more inspiration and revelation as I stood behind the sacred desk Sunday after Sunday. I asked the Lord for the greatest days in the history of the church.
It was a moving experience for me. The weight and responsibility that has been entrusted to me to stand behind that pulpit and to feed the flock seated in the pews and the flock seated in the comforts of their homes watching by television fell on my shoulders. I begged God to help me and pledged my life to serving Him anew. I then walked down from the platform a second time and knelt down at the steps right underneath the pulpit. I begged God for greater anointing and for His power to be on display in that hallowed room. When I looked up the sacred desk loomed up before me. I remained there just staring at it for awhile.
On the surface that pulpit is just a beautiful piece of furniture. I is one the most gorgeous pulpits I have ever seen as far as craftsmanship go. It is a strikingly handsome pulpit as they go. I have never stood behind one finer. There is more there than a piece of furniture though. It represents the place where God comes to empower a man to communicate His messages for the lost, the sick, the burdened, the distraught, and the hungry person for the Bread of Life. That sacred desk represents the thirty other pastors who have preached their guts out at FBC Seminole pleading with God to save, to restore, and to reclaim those who had wandered from the fold. That sacred desk represents the legacy of preaching that has been passed down from the apostle Paul, to Richard Baxter, to Jonathan Edwards, to Charles Spurgeon, to A.W. Tozer, to George W. Truett, to John Piper and to me.
Now it is my time to take my place behind the sacred desk and to give my life in labor to rightly divide the Word of Truth. I pledge to devote myself to increased labor in not only the study of the scriptures but also to the God empowered proclamation of the scriptures behind the sacred desk. Please pray for me and all of those called by God to this sacred task.
God thank you for those who have gone before us who faithfully stood behind the sacred desk and with unction preached your word. Now, I ask you for that same anointing and increasing passion to preach your truth behind the sacred desk.
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