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Seeking the Lord
Rolfe Barnard

Rolfe P. Barnard (1904 - 1969). American Southern Baptist evangelist and Calvinist preacher born in Guntersville, Alabama. Raised in a Christian home, he rebelled, embracing atheism at 15 while at the University of Texas, leading an atheists’ club mocking the Bible. Converted in 1928 after teaching in Borger, Texas, where a church pressured him to preach, he surrendered to ministry. From the 1930s to 1960s, he traveled across the U.S. and Canada, preaching sovereign grace and repentance, often sparking revivals or controversy. Barnard delivered thousands of sermons, many at Thirteenth Street Baptist Church in Ashland, Kentucky, emphasizing God’s holiness and human depravity. He authored no major books but recorded hundreds of messages, preserved by Chapel Library. Married with at least one daughter, he lived modestly, focusing on itinerant evangelism. His bold style, rejecting “easy-believism,” influenced figures like Bruce Gerencser and shaped 20th-century Reformed Baptist thought.
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Sermon Summary
In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes that God is the creator and ruler of the world. He does not need worship from human hands, as He is the source of all life and everything we have. The preacher also highlights that God has made all nations from one blood and has appointed times for everything. The sermon encourages listeners to seek the Lord and have a personal encounter with Him, leading to repentance and a Christ-centered life. The preacher also mentions a story from the Bible where a woman with a health issue was healed by touching Jesus, emphasizing the power and presence of God.
Sermon Transcription
Tonight we're preaching on seeking the Lord. Tomorrow night we'll preach on the message God uses to induce son to seek the Lord. To induce son to seek the Lord. Remember that everybody that God promised Abraham is going to be saved. Remember that if God can get you lost, he'll save you. And I'd go crazy if I didn't believe this. This isn't fatalism, this is just so. And if God can get you still long enough to let a little bit of words sink in and grant you faith, he'll save you. But chance are you so busy you'll just have to lay a while and go to hell. You just ain't got time. Now you had time to make a confession and join the church, but you haven't got time. Had time to have what? This says, a personal confronting of the soul by gracious redeeming God. This leads to repentance and peace. This leads to the terminating of a self-centered existence and the commencement of a Christ-indwelled life. That's what it means to be saved. That's what it means to be in Christ, is that right? Now I don't know how long it'll take you to get saved. It might take a half second. It might take you 40 years, but this time well spent. If you've got the Christ with you, the sovereign God, you can't do anything. It doesn't take long. It doesn't take a second. It doesn't take 40 years. It's sitting good in your sight. You can get your throat and try to flip him, put him out of business, or you can just submit to the ways of the sovereign God. Now if you're speaking on speaking the Lord, tomorrow night, the message God uses, there'll be some to speak it. Once in a while in the scripture, for instance in the book of Acts, a man asked what must I do to be saved. And the answer was, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. But that was known in no circumstances was that answer ever given to anybody, unless the work of grace had already begun, and they were in a repentant state just dying to be saved. The other induction for men and women today, and always, is seek the Lord. How long? Till you find him. How long that takes? Oh no, till you find him. Every Christian here tonight will testify to these words. I sought the Lord, and afterward I knew. He moved my soul to seek him, seeking me. I find, I walk, I love. But oh, the whole of love is but my answer, Lord, to thee. For thou went long beforehand with my soul, always. Thou lovest me. That's the testimony in the heart of every child of God. You know, I found out a long time ago that God's people are all right in their theology in the heart. They're crooked in the head, you know. But when you get on our knees, God's people join, and they give the glory to God, and they know salvations of the Lord. They say, Lord, speak to my boy. Isn't that right? They don't need the power of the Father. Some of my doctrines don't say it. You don't get mad at me. If you're a Christian, you pray for me, because I can get you on your knees. Your little differences, you'll find out they're just because you're ignorant, or I am one. Or both of us. But in our hearts, we know God can save us. And we pray for God to save us, don't we? If you've been in the knowledge of the Book of Psalms, that's chapter 24. Yes, it's God, Jesus. He never said, ask. And he said, ask. And he said, ask. He said, ask. is to experience it, and to experience his power, and the power that changes lives comes from him who sits on it. And to know Christ is to love him, and to love him is to serve him in utter loyalty and devotion. Somewhere down the line, in order to accommodate ourselves to this damnable stuff they call the gospel for sixty years, we invented some terms. He's a consecrated Christian. There ain't no other kind. You do not love the Lord Jesus Christ with all your heart, you're not saved. You do not serve him with utter loyalty and devotion, you're not saved. That's the dark truth. We ought to tell people the truth. We're speaking peace when there is no peace. This half-hearted stuff, most church members give out. It's going to land them right square tap in hell. To know Christ is to experience him. His power comes in your life when you experience him. And to know him is to love him. And the mother who loves the child, serves the child with utter loyalty and devotion. God bless you, my friends. There ain't no other kind of people except my sheep, listening to my voice. And they follow me. That's what the Bible, the Lord says. Those who come to know and experience Christ are those who are the sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheepish sheep
Seeking the Lord
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Rolfe P. Barnard (1904 - 1969). American Southern Baptist evangelist and Calvinist preacher born in Guntersville, Alabama. Raised in a Christian home, he rebelled, embracing atheism at 15 while at the University of Texas, leading an atheists’ club mocking the Bible. Converted in 1928 after teaching in Borger, Texas, where a church pressured him to preach, he surrendered to ministry. From the 1930s to 1960s, he traveled across the U.S. and Canada, preaching sovereign grace and repentance, often sparking revivals or controversy. Barnard delivered thousands of sermons, many at Thirteenth Street Baptist Church in Ashland, Kentucky, emphasizing God’s holiness and human depravity. He authored no major books but recorded hundreds of messages, preserved by Chapel Library. Married with at least one daughter, he lived modestly, focusing on itinerant evangelism. His bold style, rejecting “easy-believism,” influenced figures like Bruce Gerencser and shaped 20th-century Reformed Baptist thought.