Very early in my ministry, John 15:16 became a special verse to me.  It spoke to me about what I had experienced then, and continues to speak after fifty-five years in the Gospel Ministry.  There are at least three areas where the verse has special meaning for me.

    IT SPEAKS OF BEING CHOSEN.  I believe in a God-called ministry.  Throughout the Bible, the great men of God had a personal experience with God whereby He called them into ministry.  I believe He still does that.  He certainly did it with me.  I did not choose to be a preacher.  God chose me in the Spring of 1947 when I clearly heard His voice in my inner being telling me He wanted me to preach.  I was startled that He would call me - a nobody, with no obvious abilities, with an insignificant background - to preach His Word.  But I am certain He did so.  And that certainty has remained firm and strong over all these years.

    The certainty of my call has sustained me through the tough times.  Many times over the years, I have wanted to quit.  But God has repeatedly reminded me of my call.  He has taken me back to John 15:16 again and again:  “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.”  There is an old saying among preachers, “If you can do anything else, and be happy, do it.”  But when a man is called to preach, he can’t quit.  He can’t find fulfillment in something else, because he has been chosen.

    IT SPEAKS OF BEING COMMISSIONED.  God seemed to say, “I have a purpose for you.  Your life and ministry will bear fruit, and that fruit will be enduring.  It will remain, even after you are gone.”  This has given a note of authority to my preaching and teaching.  Whenever I speak, I do so as a God-called man, with a message from God Himself.  I miss that note in many of the preachers of today.  There is not much “Thus saith the Lord” in what I hear.  Our churches are impoverished by a lack of God-called, God-commissioned men.

    IT SPEAKS OF BEING CARED FOR.  God not only chose me and commissioned me, He promised to care for me in the doing of His work.  I believe the promise in the last part of the verse is directly related to the choosing and commissioning of the first part.  Time and again, when it did not seem like I could do what God called me to do, I have fallen back on this verse and said something like this,  “Lord, I didn’t choose to be a preacher, You chose me and ordained me to do your work.  Now I need your help to do what you called me to do, so I claim your promise that whatever I ask, I will receive.”  And time after time, as I laid out my needs, God honored His promise and answered my prayers.

    I am grateful that God chose me and commissioned me fifty-five years ago.  And I praise and honor Him that He has cared for me in the doing of His work for all these years.  I am grateful for places to preach and people to preach to.  I am grateful for the many people who have been God’s instruments to answer my prayers for help.  Many of you who are reading these words have listened to me and loved me and prayed for me and given to me in many ways.  Thank you.  Together, we have made a difference.