Another blessed day has come to an end. With day two under our belt, Jase and I are as encouraged and fire up as ever. Four God-centered, Christ-exalting, man-diminishing yet absolute joy producing messages have been committed to our souls and now we submit ourselves to the mighty, operative power of the Holy Spirit to work within us, change us and prepare us for the ministry at Hope Community Bible Church.
Before I recount the basic content of the messages heard, I did fail to share one humorous and yet somewhat humbling experience. I failed to mention that when we went to “In and Out Burger” on Tuesday that I was met with somewhat of a dilemma. If you never had an “In and Out Burger” it is fairly thick. Tuesday marked the two-week anniversary of my oral surgery, and as some of you may or may not know, I have not been able to fully open my mouth without pain and eventually a headache. So here I am, having ordered this burger and I bring the silly thing up to my mouth only to realize – it doesn’t fit! I kept smashing it into my lips, trying to squish it flat enough so that I could enjoy it. Don’t worry, I did it – it just took some time and effort (and a couple of pain relievers afterward). I am glad we don’t have any pictures of that. And by the way, guess what we had for lunch today – yes, In and Out Burgers.
Jase and I have still benefited from being adopted into the Tom Pennington and Countryside Bible Church crew, having not problem having a decent seat. The first session was taught by Ligon Duncan who taught, from all places, Numbers 5. Now some of you have recently read Numbers 5 in the church’s Bible reading. Do you remember what it was about? The great majority of it is concerning the law of jealousy, when a husband suspects his wife of adultery. Now, how do I summarize this without getting into all the details? What does Numbers 5 have to do with a pastoral/leadership conference? It must be noted that the Apostle Paul makes reference to the fact that all that happened in Exodus and Numbers was given as an example to the church, that we would not act as Israel acted. And how did they act? Paul in 1 Corinthians 10 says that they were idolaters, they were immoral, they were presumptuous concerning the Lord and they grumbled against the Lord. Let us not think we are somehow exempt of these things. I recall Mahaney who said last night something to the effect, “it is not if there is pride in your life, it is simply a matter of where pride will show up in your life.”
The big picture of this message (without much needed detail) was that God’s people would understand that infidelity is incompatible with God’s people. Sexual sins, sexual preferences, sexual deviations cannot and must not be tolerated among God’s people. The sexual purity of God’s people matters to the whole people of God. One member sexually deviant, promiscuous, or loose affects the whole body, as seen in Numbers 5. It is a public matter for the church as the husband is not given the right to deal with the issue on his own, but is to bring the issue to the priest and ultimately to the people of God (sounds a bit like Matthew 18). There is a sanctity in marriage that is to be recognized and honored among the people of God. Duncan’s message was THOUGHTFUL.
The next session was a Q & A with John MacArthur, who dealt with questions ranging from Premillennialism, to Dispensationalism, to how to prepare for delivering a message to qualifications of leaders. It would be well worth hearing the mp3 when we get it.
After our “In and Out Burger” lunch (at which we received a handful of wonderful books) we attended a seminar on prayer in the church by Andrew Snider. I found this to be very helpful as the Elders have recently been discussing the issues of our public prayer for morning services and how to think through these issues Biblically. In other words, expect some subtle but needed changes as we seek to approach God corporately in prayer.
Now the highlight of the day for me was the second seminar we attended, Steve Lawson teaching on the person and preaching of John Calvin. So much of Christianity’s picture of Calvin is that of a hard, stoic, high-minded academic man that ruthlessly governed the city of Geneva. Nothing could be further from the truth. Calvin was indeed and incredibly gifted man intellectually (he wrote the Institutes at age 26) and academically, but his preaching was purposeful, powerful, passionate and very much addressed to the common person. Calvin’s preaching used familiar words and vivid expressions. He painted pictures upon which the truths of God could be seen. He loved provocative questions to reel in and challenge the thinking of his flock. He employed the use of simple restatements to insure that the people of God understood the meaning of the text. Calvin was not apt to insert quotations of others. He was very much influenced by the early church fathers and would paraphrase from memory what they said without specific reference to them. His goal was to point people to Christ. What most surprised me is that Calvin never went into the pulpit with any prepared notes or outlines. He wanted his messages to be natural and flow and he was skilled at his craft. So much could be said, but I was inspired by the expository preaching of Calvin, who truly brought verse-by-verse teaching into the forefront of the preaching of the Protestant Reformation. This seminar by Lawson was INSPIRING. I was literally torn inside, wanting to hear more, learn more and simply soak all this in, while at the same time was longing to read Calvin’s sermons and ultimately to preach with the passion and dedication of Calvin.
Somehow, Jase and I managed to have dinner again with the Texas group and guess where we went. If we had to have “In and Out Burgers” twice, then by all means we must have needed to eat at the same Italian Restaurant as the night before (remember that I cannot divulge the name as this is seemingly and “insiders” locale). Tonight I had the Lasagna and it was great. And if I failed to mention this last time, our dinner was graciously picked up for us last night as well as tonight. Boy, are we spoiled or what? My thanks to the graciousness and generosity of these men.
The evening session was taught by Al Mohler, president of Southern Seminary and he is truly one of the most deep thinkers of our evangelical movement. He taught on 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 and ultimately how the preacher is not to come to the pulpit with any self-wisdom, or any intentions of employing what the world thinks is important and necessary for communication. All Paul wanted to know among the Corinthians was Christ and Him crucified. The illustration was used of a winepress; a winepress for the words of the preacher. If all the words of my messages were forced through a winepress for words, what would be left, what would come out – would the very essence of the gospel remain or would there be some meaningless, mindless dribble that communicates nothing essential of Christ and His cross. Pray for me that when I speak, I will speak of the Cross, the Cross that embodies the whole council of God in the salvation of sinners. Paul said that he did not come with some slick message, some styling advertising, some polished oratory – no, he came in “weakness” – seemingly a reference to a physical, tangible illness or disability that would clearly reveal that the power of Paul’s message was not of Paul but of the Holy Spirit. I think of our dear sister who is right now struggling with such a “weakness” in her flesh, and yet how I have seen and heard that she is, despite her our failing, frustrations and difficulties, a marvelous testimony of trust in Christ to her family, her church family and those around her, doctors, nurses, therapists, patients and workers. May God be glorified in our weaknesses. May we rejoice in them that through them the power of the gospel may be clearly communicated, that it is not of us, but of God. Only God saves, not some eloquent preacher, not some vainly promised prosperity peddler, only God, through Christ. In a word, this message was CHRIST-FOCUSED (okay, two words).
It is now late and I need to get some rest. Please know that all of you are in my thoughts and prayers. All you men who will fill in on Sunday, please know that you have my full confidence – but take seriously the solemn tasks you undertake – trust, depend, cry out, plead with and call upon Jesus for all strength, guidance and power to minister to minister to God’s people.
Good night!
Soli Deo Gloria,
Pastor Ed
Before I recount the basic content of the messages heard, I did fail to share one humorous and yet somewhat humbling experience. I failed to mention that when we went to “In and Out Burger” on Tuesday that I was met with somewhat of a dilemma. If you never had an “In and Out Burger” it is fairly thick. Tuesday marked the two-week anniversary of my oral surgery, and as some of you may or may not know, I have not been able to fully open my mouth without pain and eventually a headache. So here I am, having ordered this burger and I bring the silly thing up to my mouth only to realize – it doesn’t fit! I kept smashing it into my lips, trying to squish it flat enough so that I could enjoy it. Don’t worry, I did it – it just took some time and effort (and a couple of pain relievers afterward). I am glad we don’t have any pictures of that. And by the way, guess what we had for lunch today – yes, In and Out Burgers.
Jase and I have still benefited from being adopted into the Tom Pennington and Countryside Bible Church crew, having not problem having a decent seat. The first session was taught by Ligon Duncan who taught, from all places, Numbers 5. Now some of you have recently read Numbers 5 in the church’s Bible reading. Do you remember what it was about? The great majority of it is concerning the law of jealousy, when a husband suspects his wife of adultery. Now, how do I summarize this without getting into all the details? What does Numbers 5 have to do with a pastoral/leadership conference? It must be noted that the Apostle Paul makes reference to the fact that all that happened in Exodus and Numbers was given as an example to the church, that we would not act as Israel acted. And how did they act? Paul in 1 Corinthians 10 says that they were idolaters, they were immoral, they were presumptuous concerning the Lord and they grumbled against the Lord. Let us not think we are somehow exempt of these things. I recall Mahaney who said last night something to the effect, “it is not if there is pride in your life, it is simply a matter of where pride will show up in your life.”
The big picture of this message (without much needed detail) was that God’s people would understand that infidelity is incompatible with God’s people. Sexual sins, sexual preferences, sexual deviations cannot and must not be tolerated among God’s people. The sexual purity of God’s people matters to the whole people of God. One member sexually deviant, promiscuous, or loose affects the whole body, as seen in Numbers 5. It is a public matter for the church as the husband is not given the right to deal with the issue on his own, but is to bring the issue to the priest and ultimately to the people of God (sounds a bit like Matthew 18). There is a sanctity in marriage that is to be recognized and honored among the people of God. Duncan’s message was THOUGHTFUL.
The next session was a Q & A with John MacArthur, who dealt with questions ranging from Premillennialism, to Dispensationalism, to how to prepare for delivering a message to qualifications of leaders. It would be well worth hearing the mp3 when we get it.
After our “In and Out Burger” lunch (at which we received a handful of wonderful books) we attended a seminar on prayer in the church by Andrew Snider. I found this to be very helpful as the Elders have recently been discussing the issues of our public prayer for morning services and how to think through these issues Biblically. In other words, expect some subtle but needed changes as we seek to approach God corporately in prayer.
Now the highlight of the day for me was the second seminar we attended, Steve Lawson teaching on the person and preaching of John Calvin. So much of Christianity’s picture of Calvin is that of a hard, stoic, high-minded academic man that ruthlessly governed the city of Geneva. Nothing could be further from the truth. Calvin was indeed and incredibly gifted man intellectually (he wrote the Institutes at age 26) and academically, but his preaching was purposeful, powerful, passionate and very much addressed to the common person. Calvin’s preaching used familiar words and vivid expressions. He painted pictures upon which the truths of God could be seen. He loved provocative questions to reel in and challenge the thinking of his flock. He employed the use of simple restatements to insure that the people of God understood the meaning of the text. Calvin was not apt to insert quotations of others. He was very much influenced by the early church fathers and would paraphrase from memory what they said without specific reference to them. His goal was to point people to Christ. What most surprised me is that Calvin never went into the pulpit with any prepared notes or outlines. He wanted his messages to be natural and flow and he was skilled at his craft. So much could be said, but I was inspired by the expository preaching of Calvin, who truly brought verse-by-verse teaching into the forefront of the preaching of the Protestant Reformation. This seminar by Lawson was INSPIRING. I was literally torn inside, wanting to hear more, learn more and simply soak all this in, while at the same time was longing to read Calvin’s sermons and ultimately to preach with the passion and dedication of Calvin.
Somehow, Jase and I managed to have dinner again with the Texas group and guess where we went. If we had to have “In and Out Burgers” twice, then by all means we must have needed to eat at the same Italian Restaurant as the night before (remember that I cannot divulge the name as this is seemingly and “insiders” locale). Tonight I had the Lasagna and it was great. And if I failed to mention this last time, our dinner was graciously picked up for us last night as well as tonight. Boy, are we spoiled or what? My thanks to the graciousness and generosity of these men.
The evening session was taught by Al Mohler, president of Southern Seminary and he is truly one of the most deep thinkers of our evangelical movement. He taught on 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 and ultimately how the preacher is not to come to the pulpit with any self-wisdom, or any intentions of employing what the world thinks is important and necessary for communication. All Paul wanted to know among the Corinthians was Christ and Him crucified. The illustration was used of a winepress; a winepress for the words of the preacher. If all the words of my messages were forced through a winepress for words, what would be left, what would come out – would the very essence of the gospel remain or would there be some meaningless, mindless dribble that communicates nothing essential of Christ and His cross. Pray for me that when I speak, I will speak of the Cross, the Cross that embodies the whole council of God in the salvation of sinners. Paul said that he did not come with some slick message, some styling advertising, some polished oratory – no, he came in “weakness” – seemingly a reference to a physical, tangible illness or disability that would clearly reveal that the power of Paul’s message was not of Paul but of the Holy Spirit. I think of our dear sister who is right now struggling with such a “weakness” in her flesh, and yet how I have seen and heard that she is, despite her our failing, frustrations and difficulties, a marvelous testimony of trust in Christ to her family, her church family and those around her, doctors, nurses, therapists, patients and workers. May God be glorified in our weaknesses. May we rejoice in them that through them the power of the gospel may be clearly communicated, that it is not of us, but of God. Only God saves, not some eloquent preacher, not some vainly promised prosperity peddler, only God, through Christ. In a word, this message was CHRIST-FOCUSED (okay, two words).
It is now late and I need to get some rest. Please know that all of you are in my thoughts and prayers. All you men who will fill in on Sunday, please know that you have my full confidence – but take seriously the solemn tasks you undertake – trust, depend, cry out, plead with and call upon Jesus for all strength, guidance and power to minister to minister to God’s people.
Good night!
Soli Deo Gloria,
Pastor Ed
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