24 July 2007 Devotion for Today "Jerry Falwell's Grave" Joel 2:28-29

24 July 2007  Devotion for Today  “Jerry Falwell’s Grave”   Joel 2:28-29

 

            I know I have been rather scarce lately- its because I have been away: some of it on vacation and the most part of it at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia.  I am taking some course work for my doctor of ministry studies there.  When I arrived on campus early Sunday evening, I walked about the campus and behind the chancellor’s house.  I found myself standing beside a modest wrought-iron garden fence bordering a small plot  of newly sewn grass.  A small bouquet of hydrangeas were placed over a small grave marker which simply read:  Dr. Jerry Falwell  1933-2007.  I remember becoming  overwhelmed with emotion as I contemplated the memories of the one buried there.  I know he is up in heaven with Jesus enjoying the rewards of a life of a servant who has done well for the glory of the Kingdom.  Some would say he was not the greatest preacher, but no one could say anything against his commitment to the truth of what he preached.   He was a much greater prophet and leader.  It was certain that not everyone agreed with him or what he stood for- indeed some in our nation are probably glad that he is gone.  Even so they ought to be glad he was here for the simple reason that the Gospel that he preached was enough so far to hold back the judgment of God upon them and upon this nation.  Falwell was a man possessed of extraordinary vision for Christ and was extremely sensitive in his stewardship and use of resources.  I thought it strange how he began a little church in a soda pop factory.  Now his 20,000 member church and much of Liberty University is housed in a sprawling former cell phone factory!  In these places God used Jerry Falwell to mass-produce, missionaries, preachers, teachers, lawyers and musicians, engineers and artists, godly people with godly lives committed to the vision of building the Kingdom of God.

            All of this is going to continue in the legacy that he left us thanks to Falwell’s wisdom to see beyond his earthly years to place the leadership of the institutions he founded into the hands of those who will be able to accomplish what he could not do. 

            This devotional is not so much a tribute to Jerry Falwell as much as it is a challenge to ourselves.  I spoke of tears that I shed a moment ago.   I did not only shed tears of grief, but tears of despair wondering what the spiritual climate of our nation and our world is going to look like after the Jerry Falwells, Billy Grahams, and other great spiritual leaders I grew up under are gone.  I don’t see too many bright stars on the horizon, and frankly it frightens me as our world becomes darker and darker.  Still, I must pray for and trust in the promise God’s Word which says:

“And it shall come to pass afterward

That  I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh;

Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

Your old men shall dream dreams,

Your young men shall see visions.

And also on My  menservants and on My maidservants

I will pour out My Spirit in those days.”  Joel 2:28-29

 

Have a blessed day!

 

 

 

Rev. Jeffery C. Russell
Salem Baptist Church
Elizabeth City, NC
jefferyrussell@embarqmail.com

jcrussell@liberty.edu

 

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