David F. Reagan - The Man Of God Crosses The River

First Corinthians 15:51-58

“Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,” [There are some believers in Jesus Christ that will not experience DEATH] “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” [The believers in Jesus Christ will receive new bodies!] “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” [1 John 3:2 - The Christian shall be like Jesus Christ!] “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” “So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.” [Death is DEFEATED.] “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

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Victory is for the true Christian

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”

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I have experienced, by the GRACE of God, the last two years of David F. Reagan’s ministry on this earth as the pastor of the Antioch Baptist Church of Knoxville, Tennessee.  I have met no one with the spiritual insight, desire to please Jesus Christ, love for the BOOK, [The King James Bible] the hunger to win souls, and devotion to building the SAINTS that Brother Reagan possessed. David Reagan passed on to HEAVEN May 8, 2007.

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Here follows as quoted from the booklet: Pastor Reagan – A Man Of God, ISBN: 978-1-60208-060-7, Faith Baptist Church Publications, Fort Pierce, FL 34982.

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“Spiritual Admonitions of Pastor David F. Reagan”

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"All men have feet of clay. As such, they have faults, inconsistencies and failures. When you think you have found the exception, recognize that you have just never seen him with his socks off. His feet are still made of clay."

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"Sometimes the greatest work is done by those who spend two thirds of their life in preparation. God trained Moses 80 years before he was ready to lead the Israelites for 40 years. Was two thirds of his life wasted? Not at all. It enabled him to accomplish the great achievements for which he is still known."

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"God always starts with people where they are; not where they ought to be."

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"Try to accomplish at least one thing for God's eternal good each and every day."

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"One day, through some failure or sin of your own, God will show you your utter inability and complete disqualification to be a man of God. From that day, you will know that whatever you do is the work of God in you. You will know that your life and ministry is not your own."

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"When the battle gets fierce, consider: you may have arrived at the front line. And, remember, no battle gets won from the lunch wagon."

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"Develop a dogged determination to serve God no matter what. Otherwise, you will quit when the times get rough¬ and they will get rough."

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The last thing Pastor Reagan gave me was a book: Psalm 119 by Charles Bridges, The Banner of Truth Trust, ISBN 0 85151 1767, Reprinted in 1987. I have below the excerpts that Brother David had underlined or bracketed. I believe he spent sometime with this book before his departure for Heaven. While I am here on this EARTH, I will always keep this book and remember especially these seven excerpts. If they were important to this man then they will be important to me. Amen! You can tell pretty much what a man is by what is important to him. David F. Reagan loved God and he loved his BOOK.

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1. Page 120 “Why then is the Bible read only – not meditated on? Because it is not loved.”

2. Page 167 “The faculty of conscience partakes, with every power of man, of the injury of the fall; and therefore; with all its in¬telligence, honesty, and power, it is liable to misconception. Like a defect of vision, it often displaces objects: and, in apparently conflicting duties, that which touches the feeling, or accords with the temper, is preferred to one, which, though more remotely viewed, really possessed a higher claim. Thus it pronounces its verdict from the predominance of feeling, rather than from the exercise of judgment - more from an indistinct perception of the subject presented to the mind, than from a simple immediate reference "to the law and testimony." Again - matters of trivial moment are often insisted upon, to the neglect of important principles. (Co1. ii.18.) External points of offence are more considered, than the habitual mortification or the inward principle.”

3. Page 208 "But let us mark the completeness of the Christian¬ - combining the fear with the knowledge of God. Know-ledge without fear would be self-confidence. Fear without knowledge would be bondage. But the knowledge of his testimonies, connected with an acquaintance with his ways, moulds the character of men of God into the spirit of love; and qualifies them, "as fathers" (1 John, ii. 13, 14) in the Gospel, to counsel the weak and inexperienced.”

4. Page 215 “We depend not on what we see or feel, but on what the word promises. If God has engaged, it must be fulfilled, be the difficulties-nay, impossibilities --what they may. Fixed, therefore, upon this sure foundation, with our father Abraham, "against hope" from what we see, "we believe in hope" from what God has promised. (Rom. iv. 18.) Thus the word is faith's sure venture for eternity.”

5. Page 216 “Do not be discouraged by present appearances. The sun¬shine is behind the cloud. "The vision is for an appointed time; though it tarry, wait for it." (Hab. ii. 3.) " The Lord is not slack concerning his promise," but we are hasty, in looking for it. (Compare 2 Pet. iii. 9, with Isa. v. 19; xxviii. 16.) The failing of our eyes is the impatience of the will, "limiting God" (Ps. lxxviii. 41) to our own time, ways, and means. Faith may be exercised in not seeing his reasons - not being able to harmonize his promises with his providences, or his outward dispensations with his Divine perfections. (Jer. xii. 1.) But let us leave this to him, and be "still, and know that he is God." (Ps.xlvi. 10.) We shall find in the end that perseverance in waiting has turned to double advantage.”

6. Page 218 “For I am become like a bottle in the smoke, yet do I not forget thy statutes. What an affecting picture of misery. Not only were his patience and hope- but his very body-" dried up" by long-continued affliction. (Proverbs xvii. 22.) This is he, who in the prime of youth was" ruddy and of a beautiful coun¬tenance, and goodly to look to" (1 Sam. xvi. 12),-now shriveled up like a bottle of skin (Josh. ix. 4. Matt. ix. 17), hung up in the smoke!)”

7. Page 219 “How did this man of God behave? When his soul was fainting, his hope in the word kept him from sinking. (Verse 81) Under the further continuance of the trial, the same recollection gives him support - yet do I not forget thy statutes. (Compare Verses 51, 61, 109, 141; xliv. 17-19.)”