Have a Little Talk with Jesus
Wednesday, January 24, 2024
“The surest road to wisdom is not speculation, reasoning, or reading human books, but meditation upon the Word of God.” – C.H. Spurgeon
Rev. Dave McMurray is one of my spiritual mentors. He has pastored First Baptist Church of Blackwood, NJ for about 40 years, taking over from his dad. He also played on several of our prison ministry teams in New Jersey and even served briefly on our Board of Trustees.
Since we moved to Florida to launch Risk Takers for Christ, Dave has spoken at two Bible conferences we conducted and a racial reconciliation conference we co-sponsored. He also participated in our Kenyan Prison Project in 2014, during which we ministered to more than 5,000 inmates in 10 different correctional institutions.
Over the years, Pastor Dave has given me some very sound advice, both personally and professionally. One of his best pieces of advice was this: “Sermon preparation cannot and should not take the place of your personal devotional time with the Lord.”
Now that I am a pastor myself, Dave’s wise admonition has served me extremely well. For instance, our church is currently studying Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians and so, I do my best to prepare a message from that text that will bless, challenge, and encourage my congregation each week.
However, in my own “quiet time” with the Lord, I am reading through – and meditating on – the Gospel of Matthew. In similar fashion, our church recently completed Philippians and Nehemiah, while I just finished Exodus.
As Charles Spurgeon, the “Prince of Preachers” put it: “The readiest way to be spiritually rich in heavenly knowledge is to dig in this mine of diamonds, to gather pearls from this heavenly sea. When Jesus Himself sought to enrich others, He mined in the quarry of Holy Scripture.”
“O for grace to study the Bible with Jesus as both our teacher and our lesson!” Spurgeon wrote. Spot on, brother! I think Pastor Dave would agree.
“And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was written in all the Scriptures about Himself.” Luke 24:27 (BSB)
- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President
