Favorite Pastor Sayings: Do You Have Any?

I praise God with thanksgiving for providing me with excellent Bible teachers. Tonight I was listening to some audio from 2002 by my former pastor, Earl Blackburn. Earl was one of the sweetest, godliest men I’ve ever known, and while listening tonight it just hit me how much I miss him.

When I learned that he had to leave California, I knew I’d probably never see him again. Our last day together was at an ARBCA quarterly meeting at Riverside Reformed Baptist Church. Earlier that Lord’s Day afternoon, we had lunch together in pastor Rick Horist’s backyard. There he assured me that we’d see each other again when the Lord returns, if not sooner. He also assured me that God has left me in the hands of a very competent Bible teacher, Arden Hodgins.

He was right! Pastor Arden was the youngest pastor I’ve been taught by, but from his knowledge of Scripture and Reformed theology you’d assume he was much older. The transition from Blackburn to Arden was not as rough as I initially expected, in fact, it was smooth as glass. He began to preach before Blackburn was gone and immediately won me (and most of the congregation) over.

That was the last church I attended prior to joining my current church pastored by Dr. Robert Morey (who needs no introduction here!). The reasons for my leaving were for the greater good of that church. I was more of a trouble maker than anything. I had irreconcilable doctrinal disagreements, yet I respected the elders (Kirk, Arden, Rick, George, and now Dave – congrats Dave!) and their decisions on what to teach there. So I left quietly without disgrace and later received gracious emails from pastor Arden reminding me of his open door (and barbeque), and his open heart to discuss theology or anything else.

I want to give you three examples, one from each, of memorable sermon highlights that have, by grace, stuck with me – and that I’ve used frequently myself (but never without proper credit). The following are not direct quotes, just how I remember them.

Pastor Earl Blackburn:

In a sermon exposition on the book of Isaiah, he said “Man trying to fight against the sovereignty of God is like trying to fight a Bradley tank with toothpicks.” When I said goodbye to Earl, I thanked him and encouraged him for continually increasing my understanding of the sovereignty of God. Each Sunday I drove home with a much bigger God than I came with!

Pastor Arden Hodgins:

In a sermon series on the Beatitudes, namely “Blessed are those who are persecuted…”, he gave the example of a shirtless guy with a giant John 3:16 sign and a rainbow afro-wig running up and down the aisles of an NBA basketball game. He said, “if you do that and people start screaming at you to get out of the way, your not being persecuted for righteousness’ sake – it’s because you’re an idiot!“

Pastor Robert Morey:

In a Reformation Day celebration sermon (exposition from Jeremiah 1), he said “the three characteristics of a Reformer are a deep sense of inadequacy, a strong sense of destiny, and a profound understanding of sovereign, divine supply!” From that day I considered myself a Reformer.

These are merely the tip of the Iceberg of what these men taught me. Besides the doctrinal knowledge, all three of these men taught me how to live out my Christianity by demonstrating it in their own lives in accordance with Scripture.

Do you have any favorite pastor sayings?

P.S. My doctrinal disagreements with TRBC were on non-essentials. Dave Maurari became an elder after I’d left, and I can attest to his qualifications having been in his home, fellowshipping after church.