one to one: Lessons about life, ministry, and grandkids!

by Keith Burden, Executive Secretary, National Association of Free Will Baptists

The First Sermon

It was the beginning of my junior year in high school. During district youth camp that summer I acknowledged God’s call on my life and surrendered to the ministry. I preached my first sermon a few days later on August 12, 1970.

Recently I thumbed through my sermon file and retrieved the 40-year-old outline I used on that personally historic occasion [pictured above]. The paper was slightly discolored, the ink a little faded. My text was John 4:1-14. There were six major points to my inaugural discourse. It took every bit of 12 minutes to deliver that first homily.

The title was, “Is Your Thrist Really Satifyed?” [sic] As I read over the handwritten notes of a 16-year-old from eastern Oklahoma who had just been called to preach, I was reminded that some things have changed, yet others remain the same.

What has changed? For one thing, my spelling has improved! Obviously, I misspelled several words in that first outline. (That was long before the days of spell check.) The fact that I was extremely nervous probably had a lot to do with it. I also know more now about how to construct a sermon. I don’t claim to be a master homiletician, but training in college and graduate school and 40 years of experience have proven to be very helpful.

In many instances, churches also have changed significantly. Worship styles are different. Although folks sitting in the pew are generally better educated, people appear to be less interested in hearing what the man of God has to say. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems fewer and fewer young men answer the call to preach these days. You don’t hear pastors from the pulpit challenging young folks to consider God’s call upon their lives much anymore.

Yet, in spite of these changes, some things remain the same. For example, in spite of all the cultural shifts and technological advances of our day, God’s Word is still immutable. His plan for proclaiming the gospel hasn’t changed: “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe” (1 Corinthians 1:21).

People’s basic spiritual need hasn’t changed. Mankind is still hopelessly lost apart from Jesus Christ and desperately needs to hear the Good News. “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14).

Where will I be 40 years from now? Probably heaven! However, I expect my children and grandchildren will still be around. What kind of world will they live in? It is hard to envision, even if you have a vivid imagination. But two things will not change—men will still be lost sinners and Jesus Christ will still be a great Savior. Between now and then, I’d like to hear a host of young men preach their first sermons.

About the Column: One to One is a regular feature of ONE Magazine. Written by Keith Burden, executive secretary of the National Association of Free Will Baptists, the column explores life, ministry...and grandkids!