This was a wonderful opportunity to be encouraged in the Word and to deepen relationships with men who serve as members of FBC. The speakers were great and I was particularly encouraged by John Piper's teaching on C.S. Lewis. I'll definitely read C.S. Lewis differently than in the past and with more understanding. My heart was greatly encouraged too by the messages brought from the Word of God by Eric Mason (pastor of Epiphany Fellowship in Philadelphia, PA) and Bob Blincoe (US Director of Frontiers and has been a missionary to Jordan and the Kurds of Northern Iraq through Medical Teams International). Pastor Sam Storms of Bridgeway Church in Oklahoma City was the main speaker.
The fellowship among the men from FBC was sweet. All of us serve in various ministries at FBC. Interaction with these men has provided me with a great deal of encouragement lately and especially while getting away with them for a couple of days.
I would encourage anyone to go to desiringgod.org and listen to the messages from this conference. Here are some thoughts from my notes that had impact for me. They are not word for word quotes.
Will you not be satisfied with the work of Christ, which was sufficient to satisfy the wrath of God? ~ John Piper quoting something written by his father
Any joy not found in historical facts and scripture and its principles will prove to be infatuation. - Sam Storms
Definition of biblical joy = a deep durable delight in the beauty and majesty of who God is. Joy takes work and a strategy that will be achieved when we strive and sacrifice to obtain it.
The physical glory we see (in the natural world) is just a shadowy reflection of the spiritual glory of God. - Storms
Use Scripture memorization to confront what kills joy - there is a sin-killing power in Scripture. - Storms
In 1857, David Livingstone wrote that he rejoiced in the sacrifice of serving in Africa - saw it as a privilege to do it and face the realistic troubles - said he never made a sacrifice. - Blincoe
I'm not a prophet, nor a son of a prophet. I'm from a non-profit organization" - :) - Blincoe
The Bible relentlessly tells us to not lose heart nor be in fear or panic - Blincoe
If you don't know that life is war, than you don't know what prayer is for." - Blincoe quoting John Piper
Guard your heart from the idol of fear - we need knowledge of God to combat and replace fear with contentment and peace. Colossians 1:24
There is nothing more worthy of our desire than Christ - 2 Corinthians 4:6 - 6For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness,"made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
The Lord Jesus was acquainted with grief and the whole world has been watching Him ever since. ~ Blincoe
Some may say that your suffering is a sign that your God has left you. No! It is a sign of the cross.
To fight losing heart we must press on into Theology (ie: to deepen our study and understanding of God as He has revealed Himself in the Bible).
Just another quote that I found a few months ago from John Piper where he calls the 66 books of the Bible "The Glorious Mosaic of Divine Design"
More on another post...
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John MacArthur & Pretrib Rapture
Who knows, maybe John (Reformedispy) MacArthur is right and the greatest Greek scholars (Google "Famous Rapture Watchers"), who uniformly said that Rev. 3:10 means PRESERVATION THROUGH, were wrong. But John has a conflict. On the one hand, since he knows that all Christian theology and organized churches before 1830 believed the church would be on earth during the tribulation, he would like to be seen as one who stands with the great Reformers. On the other hand, if John has a warehouse of unsold pretrib rapture material, and if he wants to have "security" for his retirement years and hopes that the big California quake won't louse up his plans, he has a decided conflict of interest. Maybe the Lord will have to help strip off the layers of his seared conscience which have grown for years in order to please his parents and his supporters - who knows? One thing is for sure: pretrib is truly a house of cards and is so fragile that if a person removes just one card from the TOP of the pile, the whole thing can collapse. Which is why pretrib teachers don't dare to even suggest they could be wrong on even one little subpoint! Don't you feel sorry for the straitjacket they are in? While you're mulling all this over, Google "Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty" for a rare behind-the-scenes look at the same 180-year-old fantasy.
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