Monday, October 11, 2010

Daddy's Testimony

Today would have been my father's 58th birthday. Here is his personal testimony of God's grace in his life regarding salvation. It was read during the funeral. I transcribed this from my father's hand written copy.

I went to church as a child. My mom was very active in church, and we went to church. As a teenager I would find excuses not to go. My mom would still get me there fairly often. As a college student I went on occasion. I was blessed to have a mom who never stopped praying for me to be saved would ask and confront me about my salvation.

After I got married, I decided it was time to get back in church. I joined Calvary Baptist Church in West Point, MS in 1975 by baptism, and from then until 1993, I attended church on a regular basis. We took our kids to church and taught them to honor God and worship him. They were also sent to Christian school. I was a good church member. I tithed, prayed, even taught a 5th grade Sunday school class. I was very good at playing church. (I was a classic hypocrite).

But on the inside, I always doubted whether I was saved. I could always look back at what I had done. I went forward in a church service and told the pastor I wanted to be saved and joined the church and was baptized. I could always convince myself I was OK because of what I had done. All of the doubting I realized later was the Holy Spirit working on me and drawing me.

In October 1993 during our fall revival with Bailey Smith, God through the preaching of the His Word and by the power of the Holy Spirit convicted me of how sinful and wretched I truly was. I felt totally lost and without hope. God revealed Himself to me in a way that I never knew was possible. I had only one hope, and that was that God by His mercy and grace and Him alone and nothing I could do or had done in the past could save me, only Him. I was totally aware of my sin and at His mercy. God had totally broken my flesh. All I could do was plead, “Dear Jesus, save me and forgive me as unworthy as I am; my only hope is in You!” I know that at that moment, God through His Spirit and by the completed work of Jesus, He saved me. I was born again and became a new creature with a new heart.

Since then there has never been any doubt about my salvation, and there has not been any question as to how my salvation was purchased. It was only by His blood, by His grace, and through the faith that He gave me that I am saved. He did it all; I did nothing. There are times when I feel totally unworthy, because I am, But God! saved me for himself, not by coincidence or my choice, but by His sovereignty and His power.

I have a different heart toward the things of God, because I have a different heart changed by Him. Amen.

David Plunk



And here is a Spurgeon quote used by Tex, one of my father's coworkers, when he spoke at the funeral:
What! weep! weep! for heads that are crowned with coronals of heaven? Weep, weep for hands that grasp the harps of gold? What, weep for eyes that see the Redeemer? What, weep for hearts that are washed from sin, and are throbbing with eternal bliss! What, weep for men that are in the Saviour's bosom?-No, weep for yourselves, that you are here. Weep that the mandate has not come which bids you to die. Weep that you must tarry. But weep not for them. I see them turning back on you with loving wonder, and they exclaim, "Why weepest thou?" What, weep for poverty that it is clothed in riches? What, weep for sickness, that it hath inherited eternal health? What, weep for shame, that it is glorified; and weep for sinful mortality, that it hath become immaculate? Oh, weep not, but rejoice.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Please pray for me and my family


Please pray for me and my family. Sunday evening, my father, David Plunk, 57, had a major heart attack. Monday afternoon, he went home to be with the Lord. I have travelled back to the States. All of this has been really sudden and hard. But God has been so good and gracious to us in all of this. God’s providence is wonderful. Though we grieve, we do not grieve as those who have no hope. And in our grieving, there is celebration.

The visitation/funeral will be Thursday evening at Grace Life Church, Muscle Shoals, AL.

Thank you.