Together for the Gospel 2008
Day One
A few opening thoughts, now that I have had time to mull stuff over…..
First and foremost, I feel completely unworthy to be sitting in the company I am sitting in. I don’t mean Mohler and Sproul and Piper and Dever, at least not primarily. Not many men match up to those brothers in terms of education, experience and gifts. What I mean is sitting among all of these faithful servants, men who have in many cases sacrificed a lot to be here and for the Gospel ministry. There are brothers here who flew in from Serbia, from India and from Australia. There is a brother here who has served as pastor of Cincinnati Primitive Baptist Church for 50 years, since 1958. Half a century of faithful service. Men who have generally bad haircuts and maybe are a little goofy, but who love Christ, love His Gospel and seek His face. Then I look at myself, and find myself woefully wanting in comparison. The parable of the talents is pretty strong in my mind, although in my case I have been given much, had much expected of me and instead of honoring God I have hidden and squandered what was given me. God bless all of these men who serve week in and week out, laboring in the pulpit and the study, wrestling with the Word and seeking to feed their sheep. That is not false humility. When we sang It is well with my soul, I was broken like I haven't been since the end of October.
1Timothy 5:17 Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.
The other thought is that as pessimistic as I am normally, seeing this assembly of 5000 men gathered together for the Gospel, is encouraging. It gives me hope for the church as an institution, especially given the relative youth of the attendees. I would hazard to guess that at least 50% of the men here are under 40, and many are clearly under 30. This is the next generation and this is the hope, because by being here and sitting up the teaching of some of the great Gospel preachers of this generation, these men will go home with a higher regard for Scripture, for the unadulterated Gospel and for the sovereignty of God in salvation. That gives me hope.
Day One
A few opening thoughts, now that I have had time to mull stuff over…..
First and foremost, I feel completely unworthy to be sitting in the company I am sitting in. I don’t mean Mohler and Sproul and Piper and Dever, at least not primarily. Not many men match up to those brothers in terms of education, experience and gifts. What I mean is sitting among all of these faithful servants, men who have in many cases sacrificed a lot to be here and for the Gospel ministry. There are brothers here who flew in from Serbia, from India and from Australia. There is a brother here who has served as pastor of Cincinnati Primitive Baptist Church for 50 years, since 1958. Half a century of faithful service. Men who have generally bad haircuts and maybe are a little goofy, but who love Christ, love His Gospel and seek His face. Then I look at myself, and find myself woefully wanting in comparison. The parable of the talents is pretty strong in my mind, although in my case I have been given much, had much expected of me and instead of honoring God I have hidden and squandered what was given me. God bless all of these men who serve week in and week out, laboring in the pulpit and the study, wrestling with the Word and seeking to feed their sheep. That is not false humility. When we sang It is well with my soul, I was broken like I haven't been since the end of October.
1Timothy 5:17 Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.
The other thought is that as pessimistic as I am normally, seeing this assembly of 5000 men gathered together for the Gospel, is encouraging. It gives me hope for the church as an institution, especially given the relative youth of the attendees. I would hazard to guess that at least 50% of the men here are under 40, and many are clearly under 30. This is the next generation and this is the hope, because by being here and sitting up the teaching of some of the great Gospel preachers of this generation, these men will go home with a higher regard for Scripture, for the unadulterated Gospel and for the sovereignty of God in salvation. That gives me hope.
Finally, this conference is not about Calvinism. It is not about Reformed theology. True, the speakers are a who's who of Reformed guys, but ultimately this conference is about Christ and His Word, Christ and His church and Christ and His Gospel.
2 comments:
Was the Primitive Baptist pastor from Cincinnati Lasserre Bradley? I used to listen to him on the radio when I was a teenager.
I wasn't sure so I looked it up and it is Bradley. He looked very vigorous to me, what a testament to a life serving for half a century in one place! I wonder how many people have heard his broadcast over the last fifty years?
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