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As Remembered by his son: Mark Buzzard
| As I reflect upon my short life span, I think back to some of the advice my father gave to me throughout the years. When I talked to him and told him that I felt the call of God on my life to go into the ministry. He was happy for me, yet he also made it a matter of prayer .
The first thing he told me was if you are going to be a preacher, then God must be number one in your life. There is no room for God to be anything less than top priority. Make yourself available to God's work. Be ready and willing to walk through whatever door He opens for you. Learn to lean on God for your ideas for messages. While man has a good imagination, nothing beats a message straight from the throne of God. Dad's library consisted of the King James Bible, Strongs' concordance, Cruden's concordance, and an old Webster's dictionary that had the archaic or original meaning of a word. He got his sermon ideas while on his knees before the Lord. |
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Make it a personal Salvation. Too many people only live it as long as the preacher is around. But if you pray it through for yourself, the victory tastes much sweeter. He also told me not to do something just because he preached it. He would often tell the congregation wherever he was preaching the same thing. I would often hear him tell the people to take the message home and pray, study until you have prayed it through for yourself. Because if you do it just to please the preacher, or because he/she said so, as soon as they close their Bibles and are gone from your presence, you will no longer hold to that standard. How Holy some churches are depends on how Holy the current pastor is.
He also told me to make yourself part of the sermon. What I mean by that is: don't just browbeat a message into a congregation. Use some of your experiences where God has moved in that area of your life. In doing so, the crowd will receive the message a whole lot better than if you act Holier than thou.
Also, use more than one (when available), scripture when you are making a point in your sermon. Why? For the very reason that no one can say that you took that one verse in the Bible and added your opinions to it. If you have more than one, it's no longer what you think, but what does the Word of God say about it. I know it is not always easy to do, but the message will be better received if you show them with scripture.
Don't do something just because "everybody else is doing it." That excuse, among others, won't wash in the sight of God. Remember, "Buffalos Run in Herds, but Eagles Fly Alone." What are you? If you want to be used of God, you must learn to walk with God on your own. Not just on Sun. AM & PM and midweek service when everyone else is. An eagle is an eagle 24 hrs/day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks/year, 365 days/year.
Jesus said to the woman at the well "The hour cometh and now is, when true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth. For the Father seeketh such to worship Him. The Father is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship in Spirit and in Truth. Whatever is in your heart, it will show up in some way or another. For Jesus also said "From the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh." Dad would often read these to me when I was still at home. He would tell me, don't try be something you're not. If it's not in you, like it is supposed to be, don't act like it is, get on your knees and seek God's face until it is like God wants it to be.
Be sensitive to the moving of the Spirit of God. So many have failed in that in trying to get every point across, that's in their sermon outline, they missed the will of God for that particular service. We often quote Paul in saying "They that are led by the Spirit, they are the Sons of God." And yet when it comes down to it, we often get in the way of the moving of the Holy Ghost. Paul also said "Quench not the Spirit." Some have misunderstood this to mean shouting alone. But Jesus said that "When the Holy Ghost is come, He will reprove the world of sin." Has the Lord been dealing with you in any area of your life? If He has, and you are not yielding to it, WAKE UP! That's the Holy Ghost that is dealing with you! You don' want to keep on the way you are. For the Bible plainly speaks of those who did and what happened to them. It tells of having their conscience seared with a hot iron, then goes on to say that God gave them over to a reprobate mind. That they would believe a lie and be damned.
I remember a scripture that dad had a different interpretation than most people did. Where the Bible speaks of being instant in season and out of season. He told me there's a couple of things about that scripture he felt I should know. If you have a message, and are called upon, get up there and get with it. Don't mealy-mouth around. Get up there and obey God. The disciples put it this way, we ought to obey God rather than man. On the other hand, if you don't have it, and everybody knows when they haven't prayed through, please sit down and let someone who has got the victory behind the sacred desk. Get out of God's way and don't make the rest of God's people suffer because you haven't prayed down a message from God.
Also, concerning that same scripture, he felt that if you were called of God, you would have to be crazy to go to a meeting without first seeking God's face for a message from the Word of the Lord.
He often told me that when in service, keep your mind stayed upon the Lord and the moving of the Spirit. It's not time to study for your message. Although I have gotten a few good thoughts during church, you don't want to wait until church time to try to find the mind of God. For example: At a meeting once, they took up a love offering for my father. A young, inexperienced person walked up to him and said words to the effect of "Not a bad haul for 30 minutes of work." My dad told him he didn't know what he was talking about. For you see, each message that my father ever preached, there was a minimum of four hours alone in prayer with God to find the mind of the Lord for that service. Then a minimum of four hours of studying the subject that the Lord had laid upon his heart. My brothers and I were discussing some of the messages dad has preached that people have enjoyed through the years. One in particular we know for a fact that he prayed and studied for over two years before God gave him the release to preach it. It's a well-known message. Perhaps you've even heard it, "Beware of Dogs." I know of some that if they don't get their answer in about 15 minutes, God might as well forget dealing with them. They don't have the patience needed for God to use them like He did with my father in that a lot of times he had to wait until God said go.
He also told me that I need not be one of those who don't study enough, but expects every time they open their mouths, God will fill it. If you don't pray and study, with what can God have you say -you don't know the SCRIPTURE. If you are going to defeat the devil, you must know the Word of the Lord. For that's how Jesus himself defeated Satan. Over and over Jesus kept saying, "It is written." It may very well be written, but do you know what it says? If the tape's blank you have nothing to fall back on. No wonder David said write thy laws upon the tables of my heart, that I might not sin against thee.
He also taught me that we need to keep an humble spirit. He did this more in deeds rather than in words. However, one experience he had with God humbled him and his telling of it has helped many. He said there came a time in his ministry that he felt like he had "preached it all." The church in which we were pastoring at the time had high vaulted ceilings. So as he was up at the church praying, he began to tell the Lord there was nothing left in the Bible for him to preach. God spoke to him and told him to look up at the ceiling. He did. The lord said "Now imagine a match-stick hanging from the very top." So dad did. God told him that was about how deep in the Word of God he was. That he'd just barely scratched the surface so to speak of what was in the Bible. Dad wasn't a novice at this time either, for he had already been preaching for over twenty years. Another thing he told me about being humble was a story of a young preacher who, when called upon to preach at a meeting, strutted his stuff on the way to the podium. Well, the young preacher flopped. When he was done, he returned to his seat, walking slowly and as if he was a nobody. Not worthy to be called of God. An elder, who had much wisdom beyond his years, leaned over and spoke these words to the young minister. "If you had gone up there like you came down, you could have come down like you went up." How true that is. We are nothing without the Spirit of God.
You want freedom? Real freedom is found in the Spirit. For the Bible states that "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." There is no freedom in the world, just chains of sins and darkness that blind you to the light of God's Word. These chains bind you, and yet folks who are bound by them swear up and down they are free to do as they please. They don't realize that it's the devil that is driving them to do those things. Well, when anything comes between you and God, BEWARE! It's not God that is pushing you away from Him. ...for every man is tempted when he is drawn away with his own lust and enticed. It won't be God that encourages you to do something that goes against the Word of God.
He also taught us that not everything that shouts, dances, speaks in tongues, etc. is not of God. You say, how can he say that? Well, the Bible plainly tells us to try the spirits to see whether or not they be of God. How can you do this? I'm glad the Bible is full of answers and is readily available to those really want it. There is one test that will tell whether or not the spirit is of God. If the spirit goes against the Bible in any way shape or form, or fashion, you can mark it down it is not of God.
One other thing, that he taught us is found where Jesus talks to the Pharisees about their righteousness, and how they were full of sin on the inside where it mattered. They had forgotten about where Samuel went to anoint David to become the next king, God told Samuel that man looks on the outward appearance, but God ponders the heart. Delilah asked Samson a question I believe God would like to ask us. "How canst thou say that thou love me when thine heart is not with me?" We often get up and testify to loving God with all of our heart, and probably is so at the moment we say it. But our lives don't back up our testimony. We have often quoted the saying "actions speak louder than words." James said how can you say that you love God whom you have not seen, and hate your brother whom you have seen. Do you really love Jesus? He's looking for more than just lip service. Back to God pondering the heart. Some have misinterpreted this scripture in that they believe if their heart is right, it don't matter what the outside looks like. Well, as my father would put it, we Holiness people have majored in the minors while at the same time we managed to minor in the majors. What was he talking about? For instance, there are a lot of good Holiness people who if you look on the outside alone, you can't put a mark against them. But if you start preaching about Holiness of the heart, WATCH OUT!! Especially if you talk about holding grudges, ill feelings, root of bitterness, or as Jesus said, speaking of the seed that fell among thorns. The cares of this life and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word. Just day to day life.
One message he preached that stayed with me and now that I think about it, towards the end of his journey it helped him too. "God Wants to Hear You Sing." But I'm in a dark valley. That's when a song of praise to God really means something to Him. Notice that Jesus, before he went to Gethsemane, sang a hymn. He was just a few hours from being crucified. He was soon to become the sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. He was fixing to stand in the gap and make up the hedge, or bridge the span of impossibility between God and man, yet He had the time to still have a song. When they told my dad that he was going to lose part of his leg, the devil asked him" What are you going to do now?" His reply "WHAT I'VE ALWAYS DONE." "I'll sing, pray, preach, and do whatever God asks me to do from a wheelchair if I have to." At first they told him he couldn't be fitted for a prosthesis, but he made it a matter of prayer. He told God "All I want is something to get me to the pulpit so I can preach again." God honored him and helped him. He sailed through the required therapy for prosthesis. He walked farther on his first day than you are supposed to at the end of therapy. It was a long hard battle, but he still retained his song. It was still alive in his heart the day he passed from this walk of life. The last lime he sang, the song was "The Flame Has Flickered". He still had his song right on down to the end.
He taught me that if I live right, then "I Can Call Jesus Anytime." And when I do, I can expect to hear from Heaven. The answer may not be what I want to hear, God might even tell me no, as He did unto David. But if I'm honest and sincere before the Lord, He will hear from Heaven. If my life is pleasing to the Lord, I can expect God to move when upon His name I call. By the same token, if l am not living right, I shouldn't be upset when I don't hear from God. After all I'm not obeying His word, so why should He bother with me?
He also taught me that if I'm going to preach something, I must live it. And while we are here, he pointed out that my personal conviction, which are mine alone, ~ everybody else's to have. Not everyone has to do what you have to, except what's in the Bible. If it is your personal conviction, then praise God about it, but don't try to force it on everybody else. The scripture is often misused here and I've often heard it quoted "God is no respecter of persons" then go on to say "If I have to do it, so do you." The same scripture that tells us not to take away also tells us not to add to. God doesn't need our help in designing Salvation. Oops He must have forgot something according to some of us Holiness folk. Like maybe He accidentally messed up when He didn't write down that you wasn't supposed to wear red (ladies), or drink coffee, soda pop, tea etc. God forgot so much, some of us think, or we seem to have that attitude, that He overlooked writing down a few things. As dad would say "Hogwash." God never has and never will need our help concerning the Holy Scripture. If He deals with you, that's fine, but under no circumstance can you get up and preach your personal convictions. Dad taught us that if you don't have Bible for it LEAVE YE IT ALONE! You'll cause more harm than good. If the Holy Ghost is moving on you, that's one thing. But If He isn't you can push someone so far away that God can no longer deal with them. In the Old Testament, one of the prophets has this quote from the Lord "Ephraim has joined himself to idols, leave him alone." A lot of ministers, and I'm not saying they are all wrong, have used this scripture to preach on " The Point of No Return." and "You've Sinned Away Your Day of Grace." etc. The Lord began to deal with my father concerning this scripture. In a careful study, and in much prayer, he found that God was trying to show mercy. What? You say? Yes mercy, for you see the Bible says in Proverbs 29: I He that being Often reproved hardeneth his neck. shall suddenly be destroyed. and that without remedy. What the Lord spoke to my father's heart was Ephraim was in rebellion, and while in rebellion, sometimes if left alone, the anger or pride loses it's appeal. But when someone in their unwise zeal, bound and determined to get "that one in rebellion" has caused some to open their mouths and utter things God can not and will not forgive.
He also showed me that as a minister, my life must be above reproach. I must be not just a Christian, but a minister, not just inside the four walls of the church. But I must retain, as Job did, my integrity before God. For you see, there will come a time in your walk with God that integrity is all you have left.
He said that if you are going to be used of God, you must be willing to preach the Word of God without fear or favor. Just preach what God tells you, nothing more, and nothing less. Read it to them from the Holy Scripture and let the chips fall where they may. Don't make excuses for anyone. For when you stand behind the Sacred Desk, you have the two most precious things in the palms of your hands. The souls of men, and the Word of God. Misuse of either will result in you having their blood on your hands on Judgment Day. Some ministers was doing all right until it was one of their own that committed evil. When little Johnny or little Suzy or aunt, uncle, mom, dad, grandparents, brother, or sisters. They dropped the standard so that kinfolk would still be accepted. It's time that we make a stand for the truth. No matter where it cuts against the grain.
As I have said before, we learned to lean on God. I've seen the time when things were tight, expenses were high, and it looked like God had forsaken us. But mom and dad simply believed the scripture "God shall supply all of your needs according to His riches in Glory." And the Lord did, time after time. He provided a way when there was none to be had. I'm sure that we all have fond memories of my father. Picking out one particular message that he preached, that would best describe the ministry God entrusted in him would be very hard. But I guess if I had to make a choice to say what I felt described his ministry, it would be "The Lost Ministry."
For you see, it seemed to fall his lot to be the one to help God heal the ones that were hurting spiritually. Among his pastorates there were those churches in whom other people had written off, and said there's no hope. Why even bother with them? He had two scriptures to give to who scoffed and turned their backs on them.
"..For God has given unto us the ministry of reconciliation." and" Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted."