Here is another little nugget from my doctoral research I thought you’d enjoy. As you know, Harry Ironside served as our Senior Pastor from 1930 to 1948. Known across the country for his depth of teaching, his influence can still be felt to this day. It may come as a surprise that Ironside was never formally ordained, nor did he have any pastoral experience prior to coming to The Moody Church. He was largely self-taught, and as a young man gained ministry experience as a children’s Sunday school teacher, as a street evangelist, through the Salvation Army, and later as a part of the Plymouth Brethren movement. He is reported to have read two to three substantive books a day, and is said to have had almost total recall of it all. At the age of 53, Ironside was called to become our senior pastor. He was as surprised as anyone, “It is a strange thing to get elected when you never ran. But I accept the call as from God.”
The anecdote I want to share with you concerns a young Ironside, back in his days as a street evangelist and preacher in California. Several hundred people were gathered in the evening on a street corner in San Francisco. Ironside was heralding the good news of Jesus, when a well-known atheist came up and challenged Ironside to a debate: Atheism versus Christianity. Young Harry Ironside agreed to the engagement, on one condition. Each of them was required bring with them as evidence real people who could bear witnesses to the saving transformation of their respective beliefs. The atheist had to produce at least two witnesses, while Ironside agreed to produce no fewer than a hundred. The atheist promptly declined, much to the amusement of the crowd.
There really is nothing more powerful than the authentic joy of a changed life. Today we’re going to discover the power of Jesus in the life of a man named Zacchaeus, whose story really is a case study in Gospel transformation. Zacchaeus goes from greediness to generosity through the Gospel. His story reminds us of the deep change that Jesus has wrought by His grace in our own stories. Everyone here can bear witness: Jesus changes our lives. In Him we are loved, more than we know!
