Like so many other Christians, I can think of many ways that John MacArthur had a positive effect on my Christian life. Although the internet has been abounding with JMAC stories since his death, I trust that you will be pleased to read another story about the legacy and impact of this man of God.

Escaping a Bad Church

In 2007, I was struggling with some things going on at my church. Having been saved only a year earlier, I didn’t have the experience to know what to do or even have confidence that my judgement was right. I did a google search about an issue and found an article on Grace to You from John MacArthur that God used to rescue me from that church.

Teaching

Soon after finding a new church, someone I got in contact with sent me a link with “all of John MacArthur’s chapel sermons at TMS” or something similar to that. There were a couple hundred mp3s all linked to from a webpage. I wrote a Windows .NET program to download all the mp3s and loaded them on my iPod. Coupled with my local church, JMAC became a primary source of teaching for me.

I remember always thinking about how simple he put everything. He made lofty concepts easy to understand. He never came across as trying to impress his listeners with his prowess, but genuinely just wanted people to encounter the Lord Jesus Christ through His Word.

And he had a knack for saying what I was thinking. What I mean is this. There were many times when I had a sense that something was wrong around me, whether it was within myself, a brother, the church, or the world. But he put the theological explanation behind many of these senses and encouraged me to be bold to stand firm, and to study so that I could also help others to escape enslavement to worldly thinking.

His Kind Humility

Around 2010, I wrote a letter to about 25 Christian men who had made an impact on me. Some of these men are still faithful; some have completely apostatized. It was a personal letter thanking each man for his labor for the Lord and how he had ministered to me. John MacArthur was one of them.

Of the almost 25 letters I sent out, I received replies from 5-10 of them; some were just an email from an assistant. Two men wrote me a personal note in return. As you can probably guess: John MacArthur was one of them. He specifically referenced things I had said in my note to him. It meant so much to me. I still have the note.

I Did Get to Meet Him

I had the joy of meeting Pastor John when I attended Grace Community Church one Sunday morning. I was so excited. I blathered like an idiot and didn’t let him speak. It’s hard to think about where my life would be if not for his ministry, particularly the fact that so many of the resources GTY puts out were free, especially the free teaching via mp3. As a young Christian, I would have been rightfully suspicious of the motives of a man who demanded payment for letting me listen to him teach the Bible.

In my little corner of the world, John MacArthur is a hero whom we ought to imitate as he imitated Christ so well.

Philippians 3:17 Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.