Today, i will preach the memorial service for my mentor of presence, Dr. Stephen Manley, in Lebanon, Tennessee. Nearly a year ago standing in a church parking lot, Dr. Manley and i were sharing tenderly in the wake of his recent brain cancer diagnosis. When i asked if there was anything i could do for him other than to pray, he said, "Yes, you can preach my funeral." i was breathless.
As i write, it’s about four hours before the memorial service. i have been preparing for weeks and am still shuffling spiritual thoughts around in my mind.
Surely, these words spoken by Jesus will be part of what i speak: "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." (Matthew 5:3) This verse is what Dr. Manley called "The Premise of the Sermon of the Mount" taught by Jesus. In other words, if we forget that we are spiritually helpless apart from Him, we have no hope of living His requirements in the Sermon. So freeing.
i will likely begin my time of sharing about how my first impression and my last impression of Dr. Manley was that he was a true worshipper of Jesus. His personal worship and undeniable intimacy with the Lord is really what made his evangelistic messages so powerfully appealing. He was truly merged as one with the Master.
We met in December of 1992 at Nazarene Bible College in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he was my professor of evangelism. That encounter changed the trajectory of my ministry forever. This hero of the faith became my faithful and forever friend. Speaking of forever, we shall meet again on that beautiful shore, because friends are friends forever if the Lord’s the Lord of them. Amen.
"Fully Surrendered to God’s Agenda!"
Pastor Kerry Willis
