Thank You Lord for Saving My Soul

Thank You Lord for Saving My Soul

A Tribute to Evangelists Seth and Bessie Sykes

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Third book in the Series

Christian Devotions & Quick Studies

By Jim Davenport

eBook Edition

Copyright © 2011-2015

InfoSys Solutions Associates, Inc.

All rights reserved.

ISBN 978-1-329-76380-7

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For information please address:

Jim Davenport

InfoSys Solutions Associates, Inc.

6637 Burnt Hickory Drive

Hoschton, GA 30548

http://jimdavenport.me/

jamesldavenport@gmail.com

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Book Description

The lead article and title of this book, Thank You Lord for Saving My Soul, provides unique insight into the lives of Seth and Bessie Sykes, evangelists and song writers based in Glasgow, Scotland. Much of the material was gained through personal communication with direct descendants of the Sykes. The remaining twenty articles cover topics such as the sufficiency of God’s grace, His purpose for man’s creation, His role as comforter, His strength and His faithfulness.  A number of articles relate the story of how the brief life of the author’s great grandson and that of his parents had such a significant impact on so many lives.  Several articles resulted from the author’s personal life experiences including the emotions involved in moving on from a loved home and lifetime church.  Other articles touch on heroes of the bible, a debt you can never pay, Paul Harvey’s radio broadcast of If I Were the Devil, and experiencing the indwelling life of Christ. This is the third in a series of books by Jim Davenport dealing with the general topic of Christian Devotions and Quick Studies, which was the title of the first volume.  The second volume is An Attitude of Thankfulness.

Notes

The image of the snow covered andleaning barn was chosen for the cover of this eBook because so many of Jim’s articles were written at his home on Lookout Mountain. There Jim and his wife Charlotte spend much of the spring, summer and fall each year enjoying their raised bed vegetable and flower garden. The sign on the side of the barn is one from a Waco Pep service station that was in the area in the 1930’s.  The unique thing about the Waco Pep gasoline was that it was red and reportedly contained additives that gave and engine better performance.  The image  is the property of Infosys Solutions Associates, Inc., Copyright © 2015.  All rights reserved.

All scripture quoted or referenced in this book is from the English Standard Version (ESV) of the Bible unless otherwise noted. ESV - Copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a ministry of the Good News Publishers of Wheaton, Illinois, U.S.

Special note to Paperback and Hardback readers:  Invitations to click on underlined hyperlinks in these versions are meaningless.  The associated URL is included in the Endnotes section at the back of the book for those who want to reference the associated material on the internet.  All links are active in the eBook version.

Contents

Thank You Lord for Saving My Soul

Book Description

Contents

… Dedication

… About Jim Davenport

… About My Blog – jimdavenport.me

Thank You Lord for Saving My Soul

01 – Thank You Lord for Saving My Soul

02 – His Grace is Sufficient for Me

03 – Formed for God’s Purpose

04 – Our Comforter

05 – Be Joyful in Hope

06 – A True Hero

07 – A Debt You Owe But Can Never Pay

08 – A Servant’s Attitude

09 – In the Midst of Counselors

10 – God is Faithful

11 – Be Strong in the Lord

12 – Our Source of Courage

13 – The Spindly Grapevine

14 – From Prosecutor to Persecuted

15 – If I Were the Devil

16 – Brokenness

17 – Moving On – In Accordance With God’s Will

18 – OMG – Oh My God!

19 – God Came Down To Our Place

20 – Experiencing the Indwelling Life of Christ

21 – but God …

Become a Christian

Books by Jim Davenport

Endnotes

… Dedication

This book is dedicated to the memory of Seth and Bessie Sykes, traveling evangelists and song writers extraordinaire based in Glasgow, Scotland. The Sykes conducted evangelistic meetings together all over the United Kingdom for more than twenty years.  Countless souls were saved as a result of their ministry.  I have been moved by Seth and Bessie’s song Thank You Lord for Saving My Soul for over sixty-five years.  The song still rings out in Christian communities all over the world.  Their legacy lives on through their music, through those who gave their lives to Jesus and through their decedents.

I am grateful to the Sykes family for their help in my research.  A hardy thank you to Eva Sykes Campbell, daughter of Seth and Bessie, and Scott Sykes, their grandson who provided unique information that is included in my article.

Jim Davenport,

November 27, 2015

… About Jim Davenport

Jim Davenport resides in the USA in Northeast Georgia, is a member of a Southern Baptist Church and is a retired Christian business man. Jim and his wife Charlotte have one son and daughter in law, Keven and Amy, two grandchildren – Ashlyn Davenport Murphy and husband Josh, and Mason Davenport. We have two great-grandchildren, Sawyer Joshua Murphy and Rhory Camille Murphy.

Jim and Charlotte own a mountain get-away home located on Lookout Mountain in Alabama where they spend many spring, summer and fall days working in their raised bed organic garden. Jim has served as a Deacon and Trustee in his local church most of his adult life and on the Executive Committee and Finance Committee of the Board of Trustees of Shorter University, an intentionally Christian institution located in Rome, Georgia.

Jim has a passion for the word of God and has always believed that Christian principles should guide every aspect of his life. He also loves Christian music and often served as a tenor soloist in his church. One of the highlights of his life was the nearly 20 years he spent singing with The Good News, a Southern Gospel quartet.

Jim served as an Information Technology professional his entire working career of 50 years holding senior positions in and consulting with hundreds of world-class organizations in the United States, Canada, Europe, Central and South America, Australia and New Zealand.

Jim remains as President and CEO of InfoSys Solutions Associates, Inc. and is a retired partner of IT Governance Partners, LLC, both of which are Trusted Advisor technology and business consulting firms.

Jim has authored five books.  Jim’s articles regularly appear on his blog site and have been accessed from 172 countries since 2012.

Jim holds both a BS and an MS in Mathematics from Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia and completed Management Development Training at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.

… About My Blog – jimdavenport.me

I am not an accomplished author by any stretch of the imagination.  But I do enjoy writing about subjects that are important to me.  I have spent much of my life in the information technology and consulting fields overseeing the successful preparation and presentation of tens of thousands of pages of complex technical and business documentation.  At the same time, I have not written that much about what is really important to me … namely, sharing my Christian life experience with others in hopes that it would be meaningful to them in their Christian walk.  Over the years as a Sunday School teacher at Pine Lake Baptist Church in Stone Mountain, Georgia, I put together hundreds of notes and outlines to guide my teaching.  I always intended to develop some of those notes into a series of articles. 

In late 2010 as my business career began to wind down and after suffering some health issues, I realized that I needed to move on with the development of the articles post haste.  So I started a blog site using Wordpress.com to post articles as each was completed. 

At times my posts are rather passionate and touch on subjects that are controversial.  Admittedly, my posts are not very scholarly and are often quite opinionated.  However, I always try to provide ample scripture to back up my conclusions.

I realize that not everyone will appreciate my point of view, but my prayer is that I will make you think … and in particular think about your relationship to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Your courteous comments are always welcome.

Please visit my blog site¹ for additional articles and information about Jim Davenport and his Christian books.

Thank You Lord for Saving My Soul

A Tribute to Evangelists Seth and Bessie Sykes

01 – Thank You Lord for Saving My Soul

A Tribute to Evangelists Seth and Bessie Sykes

Foreword:  Since the original posting of my article, Thank You Lord for Saving My Soul, on January 14, 2011, and a subsequent update on July 14, 2012 the article has been read by internet users thousands and thousands of times. I suppose that is because a lot of lives were positively affected by this little song some time earlier in their lifetime. Or it could be that the song reminds folks of a special time in their lives which was very important to them. I am pleased that so many people have found the article worthwhile, especially around the Thanksgiving holiday which occurs in November in the USA. With this update (November 27, 2015), I am providing additional background on the songwriters and their evangelistic ministry gained through personal communication with direct descendants of Seth and Bessie Sykes, authors of Thank You Lord for Saving My Soul. This article includes information, and photos provided to me by the Sykes family that have not previously appeared on my blog site.

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John 4:29 (NIV) Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?

Background: Sometimes things just pop into your head from the past and you don’t know why. Recently a chorus that I learned as a child just keeps ringing in my brain for no apparent reason. The tune and words are etched in my memory. In times when I least expect it, I find myself humming the tune and repeating the words over and over:

Thank You, Lord, for saving my soul,

Thank You, Lord, for making me whole;

Thank You, Lord, for giving to me

Thy great salvation so rich and free.

The tune is simple and the words are easy to sing. But I’m not sure that I ever understood how profound these words really are. I recall learning this chorus in Vacation Bible School in the late 1940’s or early 1950’s. Later on I know that we regularly sang it in our youth group. And even later, our church would use it as part of our worship service, particularly after someone came forward to give their life to Christ.

Campaign Photos of Seth and Bessie Sykes.  Used by permission. 

Provided by Eva Sykes Campbell, daughter of Seth and Bessie.

I decided to do a little research on the origin of the chorus and have found that it is actually a part of a hymn written by Seth (1892-1950) and Bessie Sykes (1905-1982) copyrighted in 1940. The Sykes were traveling Evangelists well-known in the