Tried With Fire

We were privileged to have Dr. M. David Sills of SBTS and Reaching and Teaching International and Brother Paul Washer of HeartCry Missionary Society at our annual theology conference. The audio is available here (scroll to the bottom of the page) and worth every minute of your time. I had only seen clips of Brother Washer on YouTube and listened to sermons online. Some would mislabel him only a fire and brimstone preacher, but his passion is the glory of Christ. He gave the unvarnished, ugly truth of our condition apart from God so that the glories of Christ in the gospel would shine like diamonds in comparison. When he spoke, I think he made eye contact with almost everyone who was there - as though he was speaking to each one of us personally.  His intent was not to guilt us into action but show the beauty of Jesus Christ so our love for Him would propel us to go across the world,  across the street, or even across the room. Dr. Sills is an excellent and engaging teac...

Our annual theology conference on  The Theology of Missions is this coming week-end, Feb. 17-19.  In addition to Dr. M. David Sills  from SBTS, Paul Washer will be speaking on"The Gospel We Proclaim and an Introduction to HeartCry Missionary Society" at a 2nd session Friday evening.  If you're interested in attending, the conference starts at 7 PM (dinner at 6 PM). There are two sessions on Saturday morning starting at 9 AM, and two sessions on Sunday beginning at 10 AM.  More info here.

To celebrate his 200th post, Michael at Made Free is giving away 2 copies of Christ and Hm Crucified by Jon Cardwell. Here is a review by Michael and another review by the InkSlinger. There's still time to enter the giveaway for Josiah's Reformation . The providential winner will be chosen on Wednesday at noon. Get a free PDF  version of Bloodlines by John Piper. A free audio version of the classic, Knowing God by J.I. Packer, is available  this month at  Christian Audio . Our church, Grace Baptist Chapel , is holding its annual theology conference on The Theology of Missions, Feb. 17-19. The speaker will be Dr. David Sills who is a former missionary, evangelist, and church planter in Ecuador and now on the faculty of SBTS. There will be a session Friday evening with dinner provided, 2 sessions on Saturday including breakfast, and 2 sessions Sunday morning. If you're interested, please feel free to attend.

In the 2nd session, Dr. Smith continued with things that impair our communication, preaching, and teaching in the body of Christ.   In all of these sessions, he gave numerous scripture references. 3. Demise of doctrine: In the mind of God, there is no separation between doctrine and praise.  True worship should flows out of the knowledge of who we worship, but today that's not the case.  As he said, "We sing more heresies today than in the first 500 years of church history." 4. Grace has been diluted: We are justified by grace, sanctified by grace, and will be glorified by grace. Don't fall into "sola boot strapsa" where we begin to think that once we are saved, the rest is up to us.  We firmly believe in sola fide but faith is not alone.  Paul is not in conflict with James.  We work from salvation not to be saved but because we are saved. We are able to work out our salvation because God has worked it into us.  Not grace plus or Jesus plus a...

It was a joy and pleasure to hear Dr. Smith last night.  His burden for this week-end is to encourage us to not separate doctrine and doxology.  It's not an either or but a both together.  (Sounds very much like Piper's burden in writing Think .)  He said, "Doctrine is the cradle for Doxology."  Doctrine is not an end in itself; it's not purely information.  But doctrine is for transformation, for the praise and adoration of God.  Therefore there needs to be a reunion between the two. He then shared how we need to be good exegetes, taking out the meaning of the text, not putting our own ideas in.  This involves hearing what God says to us through His word, relating what we have heard, and then relying on the Holy Spirit to bless it.  Dr. Smith says this process is being a good exegetical escort.  It's not in our power to save; it's not in our power to transform.  But we lead the hearer by the Word of God into the presence of Chri...

2011 Annual Theology Conference February 4-6, 2011 “Living Doxologically Through Doctrine; Turning the Ink of Doctrine into the Blood of Life” With Dr. Robert Smith, Jr. Associate Professor of Divinity/
Christian Preaching Beeson Divinity School--Birmingham, AL Robert Smith  joined the Beeson Divinity School faculty in 1997 and teaches Christian Preaching. He is the author of Doctrine that Dances: Bringing Doctrinal Preaching and Teaching to Life; coeditor (with Timothy George) of A Mighty Long Journey, a collection of sermons on racial reconciliation.   His research interests include the place of passion in preaching and the literary history of African American preaching. An ordained Baptist minister, he served as pastor of New Mission Missionary Baptist Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, for 20 years. He and his wife, Wanda, are the parents of four adult children.    He holds both the Master of Divinity (M.Div.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) from The Southern Baptis...

God is so good to bless the preaching of His Word. Dr. Haykin spoke powerfully on praying in the Spirit from Jude and love as the fruit of the Spirit from 1 John 3-4 today. The audio is available here for listening or download. Dr. Haykin graciously gave 3 book recommendations on the Holy Spirit: 1. Keep in Step with the Spirit by J.I. Packer 2. The Holy Spirit by Sinclair Ferguson 3. The Empire of the Spirit by Michael Haykin. (This book has not been released yet.)

Dr. Haykin's flight was cancelled this morning, so he will not be arriving until late tonight. Instead, Pastor Ryan shared several scriptures that show different aspects of the work of the Holy Spirit from creation through Revelation, thus showing why we need to understand who He is and His work. He quoted from this sermon by C.H. Spurgeon: [M]y Brethren, our faith stands not in the wisdom of man nor in the eloquence of human lips, but in the power of God, then in vain do we make a profession unless the Holy Spirit dwells in our inner man. So dependent is the Christian Church upon the Holy Spirit, that there never was an acceptable sigh heaved by a penitent apart from Him. Never did a holy song mount to Heaven except He gave it wings! Never was there true prayer or faithful ministry except through the power and might of the Holy Spirit! Sinners are never saved apart from the Spirit of God. No moral persuasion, no force of example, no pretence of logic, no might of rhetoric ever...

Topic: The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit in Reformed History Speaker: Dr. Michael Haykin, Professor of Church History and Biblical Spirituality, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary When: March 26-28, 2010 Where: Grace Baptist Chapel Hampton, Virginia