How did you discover SI

I had been reading an old publication called 'Refiners Fire' put together by Wilkerson and Ravenhill in the 80's. It contained a collection of writings of Sparks, Stoney and others. I had been reading some of Sparks and wondered if I could find much about him on the internet. There is quite a bit actually.

While checking out his sight, I found a link to SI. I was not aware of the forum at first. I was just impressed with the collection of writings and sermons it hosted.

So, I found it by accident while searching the T. Austin Sparks website.

One day, having no idea who A.W. Tozer was, I stumbled upon one of his books "The Divine Conquest." Realizing that I had finally found truth, I bought and read all of the Tozer books that I could find - but the well had run dry.

Then one day, shortly after getting a new computer and signing up for the internet, I was searching for something on oneplace.com (I was listening to Christian radio almost non-stop back then) I noticed A.W. Tozer way off to the side - listed under sermonindex.net.

I was like a kid in a candy store, listening to sermon, after sermon, after sermon.

Oh, praise the Lord!

I listened to a sermon by Art Katz (on a website I can’t remember). When it was over I wondered who is this man and where can I find more of his sermons? So I did a search for “Art Katz sermons” that lead me to SI. I didn’t even really know anything about the forum part for quite a while, but stayed busy with the sermons. Oh, how these sermons have changed my life!

Eventually I discovered the forum and began reading through various posts. Not to get sappy or anything, but there are many of you here that I am very fond of because of the things you have written and from the sense of knowing you by what you have posted. Some of you can be counted on for a laugh (which is really needed around here sometimes), some for consistently well-written, well thought out posts, some for passionate outpourings of the heart, some for compassion and mercy. What a variety of personalities, yet all one body. However imperfect, there is fellowship here. It is tremendous to be a part of this.

I discovered SI after having been given a copy of Revival Hymn on CD and after having some friends give me some excited feedback on 21CR run by Winkie in NZ a few years back.

I then started searching this stuff out on the net. I think I found reference to A.W. Tozer and then ended up finding SI in a search for him and reading some of the chapters of "the Pursuit of God", rather good intro to SI I reckon.

I was looking for sermons from Times Square Church.

I was doing a search for Leonard Ravenhill. I didn't get on the forums for quite a while. I actually didn't notice them at first. I just listened to sermons and read articles. Then I decided to join the forums.

- Josh

a friend from Bethel in the cities told me about the Revival Hymn. I downloaded it to my ipod and listened to it nonstop. It was about a year before I started reading some of the stuff in the forum. I still feel new to the community, but i agree with what has been said about the personalities. I only wish I had more time to spend reading through different threads, listening to sermons and getting more exposure to those I have not been exposed to yet.

I am on a paul washer kick and can't seem to get over it. I want to break out and listen to some other teachers, but have a fascination with his passion and the fact that he never deviates from the Gospel (i know he is not the only one).

I was posting on brother Eli Brayley's blog [url=http://timothyministry.blogspot.com/]Timothy Ministry[/url], and saw Greg Gordon posting there as well. Saw the link to SermonIndex in his signature and clicked on it.

The rest, as they say, is history. :-)

Looking for J.C. Ryle sermons. I read the forum quite a while before posting. I had not noticed it at first, then it took me a while to learn how. :-)

I went to the same college as Greg Gordon, and my roommate, Abraham Juliot, told me about the site. It was sermons from here that the Lord used to convert me.

while watching a video on youtube put up by someone name LaneCH or something.. is he/she here?

Looking for some real meat and substance for my spirit then I was introduced to leonard Ravenhill. I went to a site with a bunch of his teachings and bam. I saw a link on that same site to SI clicked on it and I was never the same afterwards. This site has been a great blessing to me I have been introduced to some of the finest dear saints in the world on SI and have been edified by some great reading material.

Several years ago, while looking about on the internet, I came across a wonderfully helpful illustration from a certain Ron Bailey that I continue to use to this day whenever I need a simple explanation how the old testament saints were covered by the cross of Christ. (In fact I brought it back out just last week for my little girl.) It was about a year later that I decided to pop in and say hi.

To think that about 3 years later I would have the unexpected pleasure of driving Ron around in my little car for a couple of days is evidence the Lord is kind to each of us in special and personal ways.

MC

I was looking for some good Washer sermons to hand out at our 24/2 pray weekend and a brother suggested I look at SI. Spent many months downloading sermons, listening and learning. Noticed the forums later in the game.

Been blessed ever since ;-)

I found Sermon Index by searching for Leonard Ravenhill sermons after reading "Why Revival Tarries?", which was a book given to me by a friend. Back in the day, Sermon Index only had 500 sermons, and Greg lived with his parents. Having seen pictures of him, I wondered where he slept at night, as it looks like his room consisted of nothing but books!

I was searching for A W Tozer sermons when I came accross the site back in 2002.

For the next year I would send out a mass email to all my friends about once a month telling them they needed to come here to check out the sermons.

I found Sermon Index in a box of Cracker Jack :-)

I found SI after doing a search for david wilkerson sermons, I had been saved just a bit longer then one week and I asked a friend who had grown up in a christian home for what I could read and maybe listen to to find out more about christianity since I knew nothing. He recommended Benny Hinn and David wilkerson.

So I did a search for benny and found his website and watched an online video. And after 50 minutes i was convinced for some reason this mans message could not be the real message, so i searched for David Wilkerson and found SI

and after listening to a sermon called going all the way with God I sat there knowing I found something very precious, i downloaded many sermons from him and listened all night :-)

And I read the forums maybe for six months before i started participating, I thank God SI lead me to find many authors and preachers i would never have heard of or listened to otherwise. It is such a blessing to have such riches available

What I have done was i started to listen to Wilkerson, heard him mentioning Ravenhill, heard him mentioning Tozer, heard tozer mentioning another and so on. and gradually i just went on and on and the riches here are so wast. Even after listening to hundreds of sermons, still find precius gems hidden on this site. And after so many preachers and sermons I discover Sparks and Katz and others, just to relize there is so much more, and how many more are there yet that i have yet to find?

Truly this site can make a difference in the christian walk.

Thank you Greg :-D

Christian

Several years ago,a good friend, introduced us (Alan and I) to Jeremy Hulsey, who introduced us to Greg Gordon, who introduced us to sermonindex. :-) We have been very blessed by the resource, but even more enriched by these friendships.

I was looking for Leonard Ravenhill material. I started at ravenhill.org. About a year later a found SI.

MJones,

Thank you for this. You never know how the things that are shared here can be so effectual to others. This is not really the place but my work just let go of about 25% of it's workforce yesterday, my thoughts are reeling somewhat, added responsibilities and so forth- but really the timing, the relationships over the years and their predicaments now overshadow everything ... It is all very sobering.

Maybe my want of contribution is in practicality - How all this is so far beyond me -To say that something like a 'mere website' could have such a profound impact ... it sounds hyperbolic, exaggerated but in truth it is all very much so.

It's redundant but here goes in Reader Digest format - Caught up in the likes of Benny Hinn and WOF - Became concerned after hearing the likes of John MacArthur, the Bible Answer Man and others - Sent backwards towards the classics by a dear, dear lady - Not positive but it may have been Pilgrims Progress - Heard Chip Ingram talk about this guy named A.W. Tozer as took excerpts from his book [i]Knowledge of the Holy[/i] of which he keeps a copy in his briefcase and reads through every year ... I got a hold of it ... and it got a hold of me. Turned everything right side out, finally that something elusive that my heart was desiring and longing after. The thought occurred to me one day, "Wouldn't it be tremendous if someone had his old sermons somewhere ....."

That day that I clicked on the link to SermonIndex and it unfolded before me ... [i]Goldmine![/i]- I can recall my response, the thrill and chill that ran through me, I gasped at what I knew somehow deep down was something very tremendous and powerful. Oh I praised God with tears - Thank you, thank you Lord. It is difficult to articulate everything but there was at the time still a lot of foreboding and suspicion coming from where I then was. As a very recently mentioned post has suggested coming out from a construct where you feel hoodwinked and basically lied to - Who to believe?

All that just added to the profundity, bewilderment and joy at this discovery. To say that all this has changed my life seems, awkward and clumsy almost silly, like a sales pitch. It is all fortunately and practically true however you want to slice it. Challenged to the core - The feet are held to the fire by these men of old and by those sharing both their knowledge and experience - By a thousand failings and who knows how many prayers. All these things have and continue to shape that most important part of us inside - [i]character[/i], the summarization of our disposition. It has made me even more so a student of the [i]heart[/i] and of the thoughts that run rip-shod through this curious melon of mine.

Just collectively it is a wonder. That so many seemingly different expressions, to me at least largely are saying the same thing. Living with this tension where others might see opposing constructs, perspectives of certain aspects of the faith - I want to say that it is both accidental and on purpose. Paradox! Has it ever occurred to anyone that maybe, just perhaps the Lord left some things in scripture ... [i]difficult to understand[/i] as Paul put it for the very reason of seeing how we might react to each other in reasoning about them? It is my curious suspicion ...

I think for some, if you knew the half of it, just how this all came to be and how it continues on, it might surprise you. It is still very grass roots and to embarrass Greg here a bit - He is a tremendous soul, a very simple man with profound, spiritual ... insight, patience and faith. I know that it is very far beyond him and to say that this is all the Lords doing, well again the awkwardness of that kind of statement - Yet the truth of it nevertheless.

I could wax on here eloquently for many a long day. It's vast and far reaching. It's a oasis in the desert, a way through - A tree with many branches - Even what is here links out to other things, other sites that carry about more of all the old dead guys as we often used to put it. Great books, great saints, great writings.

On that practical level though- These things get down into your marrow, they seep into the pores and latch on to the thoughts all throughout the day. For me, it has greatly altered my perspective and hopefully given me a greater deal of patience, something that I had a serious lack of prior. It's in everything - Work. Home. Family. And prayer ... Oh the lessons here, mighty, tremendous things on praying. It's vast people, penetrating matters of soul and spirit, if you are diligent to delve into the bowels of SI.

Ultimately it is making God [i]great[/i], highly esteemed and Jesus - [i]Lord[/i], King - [i]The Lords testimony[/i].

Those here that have contributed over the years, many that I have had the pleasure of meeting face to face - They are what they write and vis a versa - No guile and really no surprises at all, as if they are known from the foundations of the world - There is a real truth in that which is frankly impossible to articulate - It must be that very witness of the Spirit, where we 'know' intuitively each other like no other people on the face of this planet, even without words, just being in the presence of each other .. Mighty, tremendous matters.

I could easily go on and on and on ... Like that has every stopped me before.

MJones, again. Thank you for this. The world is heavy and a burden, full of confusion and striving - difficulties and responsibilities. To be able to come here in the fellowship of the saints at the end of the day or at the inception of the morning, find some manna and carry on again ... It is beyond my articulation and appreciation.

For me it started with a question. What is the difference between a normal christian and one that does great things for God.

I did a google search for Duncan Campbells testimony and came across this web site and downloaded the testimony.

By the way the answer is Holiness....

I was listening to sermons from Times Square Church and was hungry for more anointed preaching like I was hearing there. Did a search on Carter Conlon and found this place. I can surely say that my hunger was satisfied...buuuurp. ;-)

I think that was around six months after Greg had started up this ministry and there was already a solid bunch contributing to the forums. Although it is no substitute for face-to-face fellowship with believers, SI is a unique and wonderful place to share our walk in The Way.

Truly blessed to have come across this place. Thanks again to Greg and all the moderators for the work they do.

In Christ,

Ron

I was also listening to sermons from Times Square Church and one day did a search and accidently came across SI. It was like finding pure gold!! Before SI, I'd never heard of Paul Washer, Art Katz, or Tozer. What a blessing this site had been through the years!!

After graduating from college and working for about 2 years I felt like I was in a serious spiritual rut, it was impressed on my heart that I should seek out some real meat to gnaw on instead of waiting for it to come to me.

I really enjoyed Keith Green's music, and found the Last Day's Ministries website, and printed and read almost all of the LDM articles. Then I started looking for books by Leonard Ravenhill, David Wilkerson, Charles Finney, Charles Spurgeon because of the articles that I had read. I also got very interested in missions as well and started buying missionary biographies.

At some point I found sermonindex and started downloading sermons by the authors and speakers that I was familiar with, generally Keith Green, Leonard, Brother Andrew, Roy Hession, Corrie Ten Boom, AW Tozer etc. But eventually I started listening to others I hadn't heard before, like Zac Poonen and Paul Washer, lots of great stuff on SI.

I've also been on the forum since almost about the same time I started downloading, early on I made some pretty proud and snarky comments, I'm amazed that I didn't get banned! There has definitely been a change in the tone of my posts over the years.

While I was an undergraduate student, I was searching for some Leonard Ravenhill books via Google. That is when I first discovered the website. Unfortunately, I forgot my log-in name and, subsequently, the URL (I bought a new computer).

A few months later, I found it again...and a friend that I had met online (Chosen7Stone) told me about the website ON THE SAME DAY!

I created a new log-on name...and have been blessed by the treasures here ever since!

:-)

crsschk wrote:

Just collectively it is a wonder. That so many seemingly different expressions, to me at least largely are saying the same thing.

Has it ever occurred to anyone that maybe, just perhaps the Lord left some things in scripture ... [i]difficult to understand[/i] as Paul put it for the very reason of seeing how we might react to each other in reasoning about them? It is my curious suspicion ...

Ultimately it is making God [i]great[/i], highly esteemed and Jesus - [i]Lord[/i], King - [i]The Lords testimony[/i].

To be able to come here in the fellowship of the saints at the end of the day or at the inception of the morning, find some manna and carry on again ... It is beyond my articulation and appreciation.

Once again, though normally not a fan of long posts, I thouroughly enjoyed reading this one. So much so that I printed it and actually reread it a couple of times. As I highlighted some of the points made on my printed copy, I have quoted some of the same comments here.

As Paul was compelled to preach, so, some of us are compelled to write. And again like Paul, woe be to us if we do not write. What we see in secret we proclaim in public. It is a testament, that as you have said, that in so many different expressions that seem to say the same thing, that they must originate from a common source.

I think too, it is a testament for God's capacity and enjoyment of variety. So in addition to your thought of God providing opportunities for different opinions to see how we might react to each other as we reason about them, I think also it is for His enjoyment. As He has created us with all that makes us individuals, He has allowed these endless veins for us to explore and enjoy.

The problem sometimes, is we feel the discoveries we have made is the blueprint that all must follow, when in fact, if we try to follow anothers path, we miss the one He has specifically for us.

I have to sidetrack just a minute to give a little background to my point. In Hebrews 12, there is the reference to 'this great cloud of witnesses'. We can add to the mix, 'all the old dead guys' as you refer to them. The temptation is to try and model or copy what they did. But that is the wrong approach.

The key, I think, is in what was said of Moses in 11; 'He persevered because he saw Him who was invisible'. In 12, we get the recommendation to consider this cloud of witnesses as we consider the 'race He has set for us'. They found the race that was set for them because they saw Him who was invisible. We must see Him who is invisible before we can see the race He has set for us. It is a most exciting journey.

Now back to my note. I do agree and like the fact that this site helps to make our God great. I like the fact that people who have seen God can keep the great God that He is before those who visit here. I especially like the aspect, as in the recent thread by 'totality' and 'hizgirl', who satan was working on pretty good, they came and in a short period of time were back on solid ground.

We are all along the same path of trying to find God. Some are just beginning, but even all, no matter how long we have been exploring, realize there is so much more. It compels us to keep on. 'God is shallow enough for the beginner and yet deep enough that the greatest theologian can jump in and never touch bottom.'

Finally, my wife is a paper reader. She can be dead tired, but will not, not look at the paper. I have never had any interest in it. But after discovering this site, I have become the same way about this forum as she is about her paper. Like you, I look forward to checking it in the morning and evening. I've even been known to peek at lunch a time or two.

Thanks for all that all of you have done and do.

Mike Jones

It has been good to see the number of responses to this thread and especially good to read them. The timing of it seemed to be good for Mike Balog. It is fun getting to know each other.

Wonderful evidence of the Providence of God here!

I had been downloading a few messages and reading on the SermonAudio site, and had downloaded a message by Paul Washer and did a search to see if I could find another one and came across SI. The discovery of this goldmine has had me digging here ever since.

After several months of viewing and downloading messages and articles and getting on Greg's "Old Paths" list I went with several members of my local congregation to the first Revival Conference... was greatly blessed and afterwards made my first comments on the forums.

Since then have had the joy of meeting a rare few of you, and then corresponding with some that I have not met but joy in sharing like kindred faith.

Clint

To start, how did I find this posting!?
I do not frequent sermonindex too often, and even when I do, I often do not sign in. but brouse the sermons directly (less key strokes)
Today I happened to log in and saw a brother I know to be online. So since I had not contacted him for quite sometime, I thought I will check out the thoughts that he has been penning, that is how I came here.
In our local fellowship, one of the youth meetings they showed the revival hymn (https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownloads/singlefile.php?lid=10734). The Lord had just brought me back to HIM and it really impressed upon me. Especially the words "the end of all being is the glory of God."
It was then on enquiry that I was introduced to this site.
After which I have proactively refered this site to others. Starting with the revival hymn and all the 25 top viewed which comes up on the home page.
Often when trying to share some Christian truth, there is always a suspicion on the intention. There is a justifiable fear as to whether one is trying to sell a doctrine or drag people to ones fellowship. So often when I share the website of our fellowship, i even put the SI link, because at the end, all we want is that they find the new and living way inaugrated by our Lord Jesus Christ.
Thank you Greg for all your effort and for preserving the Christian testimony by giving it to us free, depending only on the Lord.