When something is especially good, folks sometimes refer to it as a happening. Well, we had a happening this past week. The Lectures were outstanding—in every way. The singing was superb, the preaching was some of the best you’ll hear anywhere, the kind of spirit that was present among the people was electric, and the whole event was edifying. It was a great week by any standard of measurement. I absolutely loved it, didn’t you?

But it needs to be noted that the if the Lectures are over, they were a failure. They are not over; they are a new beginning. They are a way of starting on a new page, of making new purposes, new determinations, new resolutions. If they are to be successful they must cause us all to be better than we were, to re-energize our efforts so that we not only develop the type of character that was so often mentioned during the week, but that we urgently recommend it to as many as possible.

I am sorry some didn’t come who could have. I’m sorry for you because of what you missed and I’m sorry because we missed you. You could have helped us. We could have helped you.

There were some over-riding themes that came out during the week, themes that made their way into nearly every sermon. Let’s look at some of them. And bear in mind that if we will just find a way to implement these high moral inclinations into our lives, we will make the Lectures a huge success.

Let us glorify God. This theme came along frequently. It’s a proper emphasis, one that needs to be a part of all we do. If we do what we do merely as an effort to earn our salvation, we have missed the point. We should count it a blessed privilege to glorify God in our lives. “If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God,” said Peter (), if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.” It’s good for us to do what we do out of obedience to God, but that obedience needs to arise out of our love for Him and our determination to glorify Him in all that we do. That is our mission.

Every one is important. Even the most gifted people are to make sure their gifts are put to work in the kingdom, that they are used to supply the needs of others and, as we have just seen, glorify God. But everyone has a gift of some sort that is useful in the kingdom. There are no big people and little people in the kingdom of God—we are all just forgiven sinners, striving to do what we can with what we have where we are. If Paul could refer to himself as the “chief of sinners,” () and still perform at the level of compassion for men’s souls that he did, then surely we can humbly accept our role in the kingdom and do what we can.

Not all preaching is done in the pulpit. We heard over and over again this week how that preaching is important, that there is a need for public proclaimers of the word of God, but we heard over and over, too, that there may be an even greater need for all Christians to realize and accept the responsibility to proclaim the gospel through living a godly life. We learned about how we are all equally obligated to “preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and doctrine” (). Preaching, we are told, is the call for all Christians, not just preachers.

Faithfulness is a day to day proposition. Every speaker, in his own style, emphasized the need for continuance, for doing our best every day—not just on the Lord’s day, not when everyone’s looking—but when nobody is around and it’s Tuesday afternoon at the mall. We learned that we ought to watch how we dress, how we talk, how we act, no matter where we are or what we’re doing, and that “perilous times shall come” (). It’s a daily battle and we should be careful about the influence our present day culture has on us.

Christianity works. Our speakers, with one voice, emphasized, in various ways, how that the doctrine of Christ is intended to find its expression in the hearts and lives of the believers. It cannot lie dormant, or it is not His doctrine. “But continue in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of…” because, “…there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me in that day, and not to me only, but to all those who love his appearing” ().

We’re headed somewhere. Over and over the speakers emphasized the fact that this world is not our home, that we are headed for a better clime, a superior place. This other-worldly emphasis was dominant during the week, and rightfully so, for there is nothing here for us, nothing here that will not rust and fade away. Heaven is our home, they said, “The Lord knoweth them that are his…” () because we’re headed to a better place.

It was truly a great week. Records were set, then broken. The speakers acquitted themselves in a wonderful way, without exception. They were strong, but gentle. They rebuked us, but with love. They encouraged us, but with stern warnings. They challenged us—again and again. Let us thank God for them.

I hope you can see what you’ve done for these men and what they have, in turn, done in the kingdom. You are a part of them, they of you. No matter where they go, no matter how many they convert, no matter how long and how faithful their service, YOU will be a part. Thank you, my dear brethren.

Let us rejoice and be glad.