Tomorrow (Nov. 29) marks the 44th anniversary of my first attempt at preaching a sermon. I say "attempt" because that is about all it was. I was a freshman at Midwestern and had been invited to spend Thanksgiving with my roommate, Leon Hansen, in Council Bluffs, Iowa. When his preacher, William Payne, heard that we were coming he asked us to conduct the Sunday evening service. Leon was to lead the singing and I was to preach the evening sermon.

I did so with "fear and trembling," I don't know why I chose Joshua 7 for my text unless it was because we had been discussing the story of Achan in Old Testament History. In any event, I went with "Israel has sinned...therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies" (Joshua 7:11, 12). My bottom line was that when there is "sin in the camp" (which was the title of my sermon) we are unable to stand against the enemy and cannot experience the blessing of God. I had my sister Becky time me and I was finished in under 20 minutes. The good folks of the congregation came up and congratulated me on my feeble attempt to preach the word of God. Since Nov. 29, 1964 I have preached thousands of sermons throughout the U.S. and around the world, but I still remember that text. It is still a good one to remember for God said to Israel on that occasion "Neither will I be with you anymore, unless you destroy the accursed from among you" (v. 12b). If we want to stand against the enemy and have the blessing of God's presence in our lives, we too must get rid of all "sin in the camp" (i.e., our own lives).

Prayer: Thank You, God, for allowing me to preach Your word for these 44 years. May we always view sin as you do and long for the power and blessing of Your divine presence. Through Christ we pray.