One of most beneficial and unusual sermons...

And today, I want to introduce you to one of the most beneficial and unusual sermons that I've ever had the opportunity to hear.

It was preached by a man named Paris Reedhead, and it has a strange title, 10 shekels and a shirt.

It's taken from Judges chapter 17. And in this account, we have a young priest, an idolatrous

Jewish family, and the tribe of Dan. So today, I'd like to give you just a little background on Paris Reedhead.

And next week, we'll talk a little bit about the occasion of the preaching of the sermon. Born in 1919 in a

Minnesota farming community, Paris Reedhead embraced Christ, and in his late teens, he committed himself to a life of Christian service.

Now, in 1945, in his mid -twenties, Reedhead took an assignment with the

Sudan Interior Mission. And this involved him surveying and analyzing indigenous languages in preparation for evangelistic and educational efforts on the

Sudan -Ethiopian border. A spiritual crisis occurred in his life during this time, and he talks about that in this sermon.

And the result was that he came to feel that much of Western evangelicalism had adopted a utilitarian or pragmatic and humanistic philosophy that directly contradicted the scriptures.

In 1949, Reedhead returned to the United States and took up work with the Christian and Missionary Alliance.

This is the same denomination that A .W. Tozer labored in. For the remainder of his life,

Reedhead was involved with the Sudanese and other African groups, laboring in various capacities to help impoverished people in these developing nations to help themselves and to rise out of their poverty.

The reason I mentioned that last thing is because I think it's important for us that if we're going to listen seriously to a sermon that so strongly condemns humanistic approaches to religion, we want to make sure that the man we're listening to really cares about humanity.