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| Bobbline Chembela with his wife, Priscilla |
The sermon was entitled: Things for which
Dean Allen had no regrets. Dean Allen must have been a God-fearing pastor and
family man. Pastor Al Martin identified four areas for which Dean Allan had no
regrets.
- His relationship to God
- How he conducted himself as a pastor
- His relationship to his wife and children
- His relationship with his fellow men
What really struck me about this sermon is the
clear message that our Christianity should permeate all areas of our lives. For
instance, some of the lines I remember from the sermon are that Dean Allen
conducted himself in such a way that he never gave his wife any reason to doubt
him even though his work required him to spend hours with women in counselling. In reference to his wife, he ensured that he
exercised a loving headship over her to ensure that he presents her to his Maker
better than he found her in terms of sanctification. At a time when many
evangelical pastors yielded to what we might term as “under hand” methods of
increasing church attendance, he stuck to the truth and remained true to the
gospel.
This sermon has made me to aspire for a
Christian life that strives to please Christ in all areas of my life—in my
career, in my family, and in my service to the Lord in the local church and elsewhere.
I know I have a very busy career life but because, by God’s grace, I am conscious of my priorities
in life, I strive to lead a balanced life. It is not easy but with God’s grace
it is possible. I want to lead such a life that when I take my last breath I
won’t have any regrets.
A man in my church, David Scott, just forwarded me the link to this blog post as an encouragement that our God is both big and mysterious. Pastor Dean Allen was my dad, and I remember only bits of Pastor Martin's sermon that day as a 9-year old boy. It is extremely encouraging to hear how our Lord used that sermon preached at my dad's funeral 20 years ago in this life-altering way, and its sobering to consider the far-reaching impact of a life run well by the grace of God. I take it as a Holy Spirit-initiated admonishment to remember God's grace in the life of a man I saw Jesus through as a child. Thanks for the post!
ReplyDeleteOh! I equally remember that sermon. I must have listened to it about 10 or 12 years ago. It was a very powerful biography of your father and I too have been blessed by it.
DeleteI remember pastor Martin mentioning that he had taken an outline of a sermon by Pastor Pazzino, (not sure of the name), who upon learning of the death of your father, sat at the back of the car seat and prepared a sermon to be delivered that sunday morning. In talking about the relationship with the children, Pastor Martin said that your father had no regrets for he had taught the word of God to them and when he was sick and could not talk, the children read the bible to him!
This post and comments are a beautiful testimony to the workings of the Lord! I cried when I read Ben Allen's comment.
ReplyDelete