A memory of Luis Palau …

This week evangelist Luis Palau went home to be forever with his Lord after a long battle with cancer.

I didn’t know Palau personally, but I’m one of MANY around the world who was positively impacted by his ministry.

In honor of his faithful life of service to the Lord, I’d like to share a particular memory I have of the evangelist from the one time I did get to see him preach in person. It was at the Bay Area Sunday School (BASS) Convention in Oakland, California some time in the 1990’s.

The large church sanctuary was stuffed full of people, but the way Palau spoke to his audience drew you close and made you feel like an old friend was sharing a message.

What moved me was Palau’s ability to illustrate scripture with a story that would land on mind and heart with impact made by the Holy Spirit. As he preached, he told a story that went something like this (this is my best recollection of him telling the story, I think he was the preacher in this story but he may have been speaking about another preacher – since I’m not sure, I tell it as his experience) …

One Sunday morning, as he sat in a chair on a church sanctuary platform waiting to preach, the Lord spoke to him. It wasn’t an audible voice, but the message was a question: “Are you really going to preach this message?”

Palau said he was somewhat startled by the question, and thought, “Yes, of course, Lord, this is the message I have prepared.”

“Haven’t you preached that same message many times before?” the Lord seemed to inquire.

Palau, thought, “Why, yes I have, many times.”

“And did the people respond?” seemed to be a question from the Lord.

“No,” Palau thought, “They really haven’t.”

“Then why preach it again?” was how the dialogue with the Lord ended.

Even though it was now time for Palau to step up to the pulpit and deliver his message, he sat for a moment, pondering these things from the Lord.

This lull created an awkward silence. People seemed curious as to why Palau just sat there.

Finally, the evangelist rose from his chair, stepped behind the pulpit, opened his Bible, and read scripture: “Jesus replied, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments,” Matthew 22:37-40.

As soon as he finished reading the scripture, Palau closed his Bible, returned to his chair and sat down, looking out at the congregation.

Now there was a heightened “awkward moment” among the people in the sanctuary.

“Why did he sit down?” they wondered. They looked at each other, not knowing what to think or do.

“When will he preach his sermon?” they thought.

After another moment, Palau once again stood, stepped behind the pulpit, read the scripture, then returned to his chair.

Now the people in the audience were thoroughly confused.

What is going on?

Why doesn’t he preach?

What’s the meaning of this?

Palau waited.

Then he waited a little longer.

Then just a little longer.

Finally, he again stood, stepped behind the pulpit, read the same scripture, but this time when he finished reading he closed his Bible and walked off the platform and sat down in the front row of the sanctuary.

Now you could hear people stirring and whispering, completely confused.

Finally, a deacon in the church sitting near the front spoke loudly …

“Oooooh,” he said, drawing out the word, “I think I’m beginning to understand …”

At that, the deacon turned to the person next to him and asked aloud, “Brother, do you have any needs that I can help you with?”

Shocked, the man answered the deacon, “No, no, I’m doing well …”

After a few seconds, it seemed that man got the idea, and he turned to the woman next to him and asked aloud, “Sister, do you have any needs that I could help you with?”

Palau said that after some time, everyone in the congregation began to engage their neighbors in the same way, and before the morning was over and the service “dismissed,” the needs of the people in the congregation were addressed or plans were made to meet them.

That story was one way Palau helped his audience gain some insight into James 1:22-25, which states, “But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.”

The story helps us understand how we routinely dismiss this exhortation from James. A very real and important reason why the first church was vastly more spiritually and emotionally healthy than the church today is because they met each other’s needs. Acts 4:34 says there were no needy people among them. In today’s church, there’s consistently needy people consistently left in their need. Put another way, most churches dismiss Sunday services knowing some members are leaving with serious unmet needs that could be met by other members or the rest of the members rallying together … but they don’t. That’s not a healthy local church. That’s not an obedient church.

Palau’s story has lingered with me for decades. In a good way. I’m forever grateful for that, and for the man God used to preach the Word with power from the Holy Spirit.

Scotty