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John Hames
John Hames (1880–1945) was an American preacher and evangelist whose ministry within the Pentecostal movement ignited revivals across the rural Midwest with a focus on spiritual awakening and holiness. Born in a small Indiana farming community to a devout family, Hames grew up amid economic hardship, finding faith at 17 during a tent meeting that marked his call to preach. With minimal formal education, he began his ministry in 1905, traveling by wagon to preach in small towns, often with his wife, Clara, whom he married in 1907 and with whom he raised five children. Known for his fervent sermons and prayer for healing, he drew crowds eager for a tangible experience of God’s power. Hames’s ministry peaked in the 1920s when he settled in Illinois, pastoring a growing Pentecostal congregation and launching a regional radio program, The Flame of Faith, to extend his reach. His preaching emphasized repentance, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and a life set apart from worldly vices, resonating with Depression-era believers seeking hope. Though not nationally prominent, he wrote tracts like The Fire Within and mentored younger evangelists, shaping the Pentecostal landscape in his region. Retiring in 1940 due to poor health, Hames died in 1945, leaving a legacy as a humble, spirited preacher whose grassroots efforts fueled a quiet but enduring revival.
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Sermon Summary
John Hames emphasizes the importance of listening to strong sermons without losing confidence or becoming discouraged. He highlights how inexperienced converts may struggle to accept truth and may feel inadequate after hearing convicting messages, leading to doubts about their salvation. Hames encourages believers to not be overwhelmed by new revelations but to promise God to walk in the light revealed, helping them grow spiritually and be ready to help others. He also points out the tendency for Christians to flock to the altar at camp-meetings due to feeling inadequate in the face of new light and deep sermons. Hames stresses the need for both preachers and believers to be open to conviction and to immediately walk in the new light revealed by the Spirit.
How to Listen to a Straight Sermon
"Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth." (1 Sam. 8:9) The convert must also learn how to listen to strong sermons without casting away his confidence or becoming crippled. Many an honest soul after hearing a straight sermon has become confused and thrown down a good experience. This, of course, was due to his being inexperienced and not knowing how to accept truth and distribute light. He thought if a person was saved it put him beyond being hit by the preacher no matter on what subject he preached. Therefore, after listening to a deep, heart-searching sermon, one which convicted and trimmed even the one who delivered it, the convert realized at once that he did not measure up; and, of course, Satan then stepped in and told him he was not saved at all. So in many cases such souls go home discouraged and tempted to give up altogether. The correct way to listen to a strong sermon will be seen in the following lines. If you really have the witness of the Spirit that you are saved or sanctified you need not let the preacher preach you into darkness. If he reveals some new light or mentions some new truth that you have never heard before you must not think that you are not saved because you do not measure up to it. God does not expect us to do anything until we know it. Therefore, you can promise God right there and then that you will walk in that light, you will be careful at that point, you will lay that thing aside, you will never use that word again, etc. Hence, by the time the preacher finishes his discourse you will have finished digging yourself out and be ready for the benediction or to help dig some one else out at the altar. There are scores of Christian people that flock to the altar at nearly every camp-meeting simply because they do not measure up to all of the new light. and deep sermons they hear on the camp-ground. Many times even the evangelist or preacher himself does not measure up to all of his sermons, for, quite frequently, if he is the right kind of a preacher, he preaches himself and all the other saints under conviction, and if he is of that type who can not be preached under conviction, he should go to the altar and let the saints pray him under conviction and get saved. The way that both old and young Christians are to keep saved is when the Spirit sheds new light upon their pathway to immediately walk in it. Reader, go thou and do likewise.
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John Hames (1880–1945) was an American preacher and evangelist whose ministry within the Pentecostal movement ignited revivals across the rural Midwest with a focus on spiritual awakening and holiness. Born in a small Indiana farming community to a devout family, Hames grew up amid economic hardship, finding faith at 17 during a tent meeting that marked his call to preach. With minimal formal education, he began his ministry in 1905, traveling by wagon to preach in small towns, often with his wife, Clara, whom he married in 1907 and with whom he raised five children. Known for his fervent sermons and prayer for healing, he drew crowds eager for a tangible experience of God’s power. Hames’s ministry peaked in the 1920s when he settled in Illinois, pastoring a growing Pentecostal congregation and launching a regional radio program, The Flame of Faith, to extend his reach. His preaching emphasized repentance, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and a life set apart from worldly vices, resonating with Depression-era believers seeking hope. Though not nationally prominent, he wrote tracts like The Fire Within and mentored younger evangelists, shaping the Pentecostal landscape in his region. Retiring in 1940 due to poor health, Hames died in 1945, leaving a legacy as a humble, spirited preacher whose grassroots efforts fueled a quiet but enduring revival.