When Adrian Rogers was a high school student,
he'd recently gotten saved, and he was walking
across the field on his way home from
football practice, and he was praying as he
walked.
He said, Lord Jesus, I want to get
low enough so you can use me.
And he stopped walking and knelt down on
the field and asked, is this low enough?
But then he felt he needed to go
lower, so he laid on his stomach on
the grass and then asked God, is this
low enough?
Then a young Adrian Rogers took his thumb
and dug a hole in the dirt to
where he could press his nose in there.
And as he laid there with his nostrils
full of dirt, he said to the Lord,
Lord, this is as low as I can
go.
And God honored that in Adrian Rogers and
gifted him with some truly remarkable gifts as
a preacher of the gospel.
I had the supreme privilege of having Adrian
Rogers as my pastor for over 20 years.
And during that time, God seemed pleased to
bring us close together toward the end of
Dr. Rogers' life.
I want to share some of these tidbits
about him this evening, friends, because I know
some of you pastors out there will benefit
from them.
I never knew a man that made me
think of Jesus more than Adrian Rogers.
Every time I was with him, I truly
felt like I was hanging out with Jesus.
I'd like to share with you some facets
from his life that impacted my own life,
and hopefully they will encourage you as well.
My relationship with Dr. Rogers deepened when God
called me to write the authorized biography of
J.
Sidlow Baxter.
Dr. Baxter had preached at Bellevue Baptist Church
on a number of occasions through the years,
and Sid and Adrian were close friends.
So when I approached Dr. Rogers to write
the foreword to that book, he took it
as a great privilege and he took deep
interest in the progress of that biography.
Every time I would complete a chapter, he
wanted me to come by his office and
hand it to him so he could read
it.
This gave us some opportunities to get to
know each other better.
I remember one time I was sitting with
him in a study and I shared a
comment with him that Sidlow Baxter made when
he first came to the new Bellevue campus
to preach.
For those of you unfamiliar with Dr. Rogers
Church, it had a membership of 30,000
and a sprawling campus of many big impressive
buildings.
And as Sidlow Baxter walked to the front
door on his way to see Adrian, he
marveled at the size of the campus and
leaned over to his wife Iza and said,
Adrian must be watchful lest his kingdom get
too heavy.
When I shared that with Dr. Rogers, his
eyes lit up and he told me several
Sidlow Baxter stories as well.
Well, I want to start this message this
evening, friends, with a story.
I was at a private party and Adrian
Rogers was there.
And of course, everyone wanted to talk to
him.
And I waited my time until I was
the very last guest to approach him.
As I stood facing him, I asked him
something about how we met Dr. Baxter.
And his reply surprised me.
And I commented, I didn't know that.
But then Adrian Rogers put his two big
hands on both sides of my face and
literally jerked me up off the ground until
my face was one inch from his.
And in his deep booming voice, he said,
there's a lot you don't know, young man.
And I reckon he was right.
But he sure shocked me when he squeezed
my face like that.
Another time when I was with him, I
asked him when it was that God gave
him a special anointing as a preacher.
And Adrian got real quiet and reflective.
And after a while, he said, it was
right after the death of my baby boy.
I went through a deep time and it
was then God put his hand on me.
Looking back on his words, it's remarkable how
God has touched the lives of his servants
who've passed through the deepest waters.
I was sitting with Dr. Rogers in his
study one day and I told him I
just listened to him on the radio that
morning while I was driving in my car.
And I had a little notepad in my
lap and a pen in my hand.
And every time he mentioned the name Jesus
in his sermon, I made a hash mark
on that notepad.
And when I finally came to a stop,
I counted the hash marks and learned that
every 60 seconds, Adrian mentioned the name of
Jesus 30 times.
When I told him that, he smiled because
he knew his job as a preacher was
to lift up, lift up Jesus for the
world to see.
My homiletical mentor, Dr. Stephen Olford, had died
and his funeral service was held at Bellevue
as he was a member there.
And Dr. Rogers, of course, presided over that
funeral as he and Stephen Olford were close
friends.
In the hallway outside the auditorium, I was
standing there talking to Adrian Rogers and he
got real serious as he crossed his arms
across his chest and in a solemn voice,
he asked me a question.
He said, do you know what concerns me?
I replied, no, Dr. Rogers, what concerns you?
And he stared intently at me and said,
what concerns me is I see God calling
up men like Sidlo Baxter and Stephen Olford.
And I look around and I don't see
any comeuppers.
And he was right.
And that's why we're in such a sad
state today because of the lack of God
called, God anointed preachers.
Well, I'll share a couple more stories with
you friends about Adrian.
It was a rainy night in Memphis and
I had just dropped my family off at
the front door of a local restaurant while
I went to park the car.
It was pouring cats and dogs as I
made my way through the parking lot beneath
my umbrella.
As soon as I entered the restaurant, there
stood a figure in the lobby with his
arms outstretched and he hugged me as he
greeted me with Ernesto.
Adrian called me Ernesto because his son David
was a missionary in Spain.
As he hugged me, I had the incredible
sensation that I had just left earth and
I was standing in heaven being hugged by
Jesus.
I'm not embellishing that at all, friends.
I really felt that way.
That's how much Adrian reminded me of Jesus
because of his surrendered life.
Too many of us preachers today fall into
the category of Sidlow Baxter's observation.
How can a man full of himself preach
to Christ to empty himself?
Well, the last time I saw Adrian Rogers,
we were at the dedication of the Ted
Rendell Library at Oldford Ministries in Memphis and
it was just me and Ted Rendell and
Henry Blackaby and Adrian Rogers standing in a
room.
Dr. Rogers was all eaten up with cancer
and he could hardly walk.
His natural force was gone from the chemo,
but as we said our goodbyes, he did
something that shocked me once again.
Somehow, he gathered all his strength and jerked
me up off the ground again to where
my chin was resting on his shoulder and
with his arms around me in a bear
hug.
He hugged me so hard and so long
it became embarrassing in a way.
Finally, he let me down and let me
go and we parted.
He was dead within two weeks.
He knew it was the end and he
was hugging me that long to say goodbye.
As I stood over Adrian's casket and looked
at his mortal remains for the last time,
I couldn't hold back the tears that ran
down my face for a man that made
me think of Jesus like no other man
since.