Allow me to begin with the Bible Conference, which commenced
at 6:00 PM on November 11th and went through 4:00 PM on the 12th. The theme was Forged By Fire, and Isaiah 43:2
was the theme verse: “You will not be scorched when you walk through the fire,
and the flame will not burn you.”
Musically, we were blessed with the talents of the choirs
and praise teams of FBC Castle Hills and FBC New Braunfels. Paul Smith was also there. He used to sing with the Imperials. They all did a great job at joining our
hearts and voices together in praise and worship of our Lord.
I remember praying, “Dear God, speak to our hearts. Give the preachers Your message for us to
hear.” God answered that prayer!
The first preacher was Dr. Rudy Gonzalez. Dr. Gonzalez, who I remember from my time at
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, currently serves as Professor of New
Testament and Dean of the William R. Marshall Center of Theological Studies. Dr. Gonzalez preached from Mark 9:43-49, and
he told us that our ordeals do not take God by surprise. The ordeals we face bring us to moments of
clarity. The moment of clarity allows or
enables us to do incredible things. We
were reminded that we will all “be salted with fire.” God wants, not to hurt us, but to equip us
for ministry. We are to do four things:
1) Embrace the sacrificial fire quickly because we are susceptible to
stumbling; 2) Do it decisively because Hell is eternal; 3) Do it desperately
because we really are not living without that reality; and 4) Do it joyfully
because we are fruitless without them.
Hell is eternal. Our trials do
not last forever, but Hell does. There
is no healing in Hell. Fire is the
reality of life. Quit thinking that you
can make it through life without feeling the heat. Embrace the salty fires of God to really live
for God. Live life ruled by God. Allow God to burn away all the stuff that we
do not need so we can fly higher.
The second preacher was Dr. Danny Forshee who serves as
Pastor of the Great Hills Baptist Church in Austin. Dr. Forshee preached from 1 Peter 1:6-9 about
“So Great a Salvation.” He told us that
we tend to forget how awesome God is. He
exhorted us to be faithful and preach the Word of God. Christian faith is to be enjoyed. The Lord is our joy. His salvation has brought us joy. We rejoice because of Christ, but if we are
not careful we can lose our joy. Trials
and difficulties are part of the Christian life. Our trials are brief. They are not unending. They will cease. Either God is going to take care of it or He
is going to take care of it. God will
batter and bruise us so that He can bless someone through us. Testify to the grace of God. Keep praying.
Keep preaching the Gospel. Keep
giving God’s message. You have not
failed if you are still in the game.
Sometimes we do not understand the trial until later. Your greatest moment often comes in the
darkest hour. It is all for Jesus that
we preach. It is all for Him that we
serve. Our salvation is rooted in Jesus
Christ. We are not home yet! Be faithful!
The third preacher was Dr. Robert Webb. He serves as Pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church
in Kaufman. Dr. Webb preached from 2
Corinthians 4:6-11, where God compares us to pottery. But God is not giving an insult. He has chosen us in our weaknesses to serve a
higher purpose. God alone gets
glory. The cross is not a burden; it is
a summons to death. Suffering is
necessary. Our desire is to be God’s go-to
tool—His favorite hammer. We need to
suffer so that we can know that our faith is genuine. Some lessons can only be learned through
suffering. How you live in difficulties
speaks to the world about your faith and about the grace of God. Go one more round!
The fourth preacher was Dr. Tony Mathews, who serves as
Pastor of North Garland Baptist Fellowship.
Dr. Matthews preached from Matthew 9:9-13 about how to deal with
destructive criticism. Do not let the
critics crush you. Jesus is our role
model in how to handle harmful criticism.
We are more than conquerors. 1)
Be able to recognize the timing of destructive criticism. It comes when we are doing what the Lord
called us to do. It comes when we are
getting results. There will always be
“piranhas on the pew, snakes on the staff, and demoniacs on the deacon
board.” 2) Be able to identify the
characteristics of destructive critics.
They watch your every move. They
are waiting for a time to trap you. They
criticize you behind your back. Every pastor
needs some disciples who will not cave to the criticism. They try to cause division within your
team. They will criticize you at the
point of your strength. 3) Develop
skills to counter the destructive criticism.
A tough time is part of our calling.
Address the criticism with your critics in a Christ-like way. Challenge them to learn something about your
ministry. Know what you are called to
do. Love them. Forgive them.
Do not change to appease the critics.
When the criticism comes, serve harder, love deeper, and pray
harder. Be Christ-like in all that we
do.
The fifth preacher was Dr. Tom Pennington, who serves as
Pastor of Countryside Bible Church in Southlake. I did not make it to this session in time to
hear Dr. Pennington’s message, so I do not have any notes on it.
The sixth and final preacher of the Bible Conference was Dr.
Ronnie Floyd. He serves as Pastor of
Cross Church in Northwest Arkansas. Dr.
Floyd preached from Luke 7:18-30.
Ministry can offend you if you do not keep your heart clean before the
Lord. We must have a forgiving
spirit. Being offended goes back to our
expectations not being met. Expectations
+ Let Down = Offended. Expectations +
Let Down + Gospel = Unoffended. The
Gospel of Jesus Christ is the key that makes the difference. John the Baptist was seemingly confused. Things did not happen the way John the
Baptist expected. Do not be offended in
life when things do not go your way. Do
not be offended by people and their ways.
People are tough, mean, and moody.
They have high expectations they expect to be met. People will embarrass you. They may abuse you. They might lie about you. They may attack you. Choose to remain unoffended. Keep God’s perspective. Live what you preach. Do not be offended at life and its
experiences. The world is fallen and
will conduct itself accordingly. We will
reap what we sow. What one person does
can affect a lot of people. Be true to
the Word of God. Rely on the power of
God. Our God is sovereign and He is in
control of all events in our lives. Do
not be offended at God and His ways. A
lot of people are angry at God. Why? Because they are disappointed. God knows what is best! Do not be mad, be anointed. Do not walk around angry and offended. Let it go!
Will you trust God, or will you be offended? Read Genesis 37-50. Joseph chose to remain unoffended.
I should also mention that during lunch on the 12th,
there was a Ministry Café, during which Ronnie Floyd talked about the fires of
criticism, Mike Smith talked about the fires of conflict, and Chris Moody
talked about the fires of change.
Now I come to the SBTC Annual Meeting. It ran from the evening of the 12th
to the night of the 13th. It
was filled to the brim with ministry reports, votes, testimonies, prayers,
music, and great preaching. SBTC
President Terry Turner was reelected to a second term.
The first preacher was Dr. George Harris, who is a former
President of the SBTC. He preached from
James 1:18-25 about surviving religion.
We should answer three questions: 1) Is your foundation
trustworthy?; 2) Is your formula
proven?; and 3) Is your decision
definite? A faith that is faulty at the
first will fizzle. Is your foundation
built on Jesus? Trust the Word. Be a survivor.
The next message I heard came from Rev. Terry Turner, Pastor
of the Mesquite Friendship Baptist Church.
He also serves currently as the President of the SBTC. He preached from Matthew 5:13-16. He issued a call to preserve the faith and to
glorify God. We do not preserve ourselves,
God preserves us. Have some salt about
yourself. Rejoice. We have to go through some stuff sometimes. We have to be defenders of the faith. Take a stand somewhere. Political correctness is the order of the day
in our society, and this is not good.
Politics controls religion, and this is not good. We have to call things as they really
are. We have to be salty. When the world sees us standing in the wrong
places and not standing for right all the time, we lose our effectiveness. We must be salty in our culture. The Bible says what it says and it means what
it means. Keep the faith pure. Keep it holy.
We are caught up with the wrong things.
We must protect the unborn! We
must protect marriage—traditional, biblical marriage! Learn to be salty Christians. Do not tolerate racism! How can one piece of dirt think it is better
than another piece of dirt? We have to
stand against racism. We have to learn
to fellowship with one another. SBTC is
leading the way! Be the prophet Elijah
in your culture. Live right, walk right,
and talk right. People are looking for
holiness. We have forgotten about church
discipline. Glorify God.
There were many other testimonies, prayers, and
preaching. The convention was concluded
by a message from Dr. Charles F. Stanley, Pastor of FBC Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Stanley basically shared his testimony
with us. His mother knelt beside him and
prayed every night. Read Joshua
1:9. Whatever God is going to do in your
life, He is going to do it in proportion to your faith and time spent in
prayer. Read Isaiah 55. You fight your battles on your knees. Everything they say and do to you, see it as
coming from God. Read Romans 8:28. Obey God and leave all the consequences to
Him. Learn to be sensitive when God is
speaking to you. All of life is really a
matter of trusting God. God is totally
adequate for everything He calls us to do.
Our God is an awesome God!
I
thoroughly enjoyed the Bible Conference and Convention. These were my notes and thoughts from what
the preachers said. I look forward to
next year!
No comments:
Post a Comment