You simply have to listen to this talk by Pastor Dan Cummings. Pastor Cummings spoke at the recent 2008 Reformed Conference on The Sovereignty of God at Calvary Baptist church in Waterford. It was a great conference even though there weren't a ton of people there and the speakers were not the big name speakers. In fact most of them were local pastors but it was God's people gathered under the ministry of God's Word and that is a wonderful blessing.
Pastor Cummings is the pastor of Five Points Community Church in Auburn Hills (named for a location, not the TULIP!) and he has Stage IV cancer. His talk, given very softly because of his physical weakness, was not a soaring oratorical performance but it struck deep in my heart. I am not a crier by nature but I wept profusely. Brother Dan spoke at length of the hidden smile behind the frowning providence of God. He spoke of the God of the Bible, a God who is sovereign in all things and who is the kind of God we can die on with joy while exalting Christ. Pastor Cummings brings sovereignty home, they are not just words for Pastor Dan but real life.
Perhaps the most striking statement of Pastor Dan was something that kept coming up to him: how much he loved being a dad to his kids, how much he loved being a husband to his wife and how much he loved being a shepherd to his flock. But the question he asked himself, do I love these things more than I love Christ? What a jarring question but what a vital one. What do I value more than Christ? If the answer is anything at all, I need to repent of that and pray to have my orientation turned first and foremost to the cross and my Savior who died there.
Suffering is a gift of God. All things are done for his glory and all things He purposes are good. Suffering is no different. Pastor Cummings preached from 2 Corinthians 12: 7-10 and tonight I saw in practice and in real life exactly what Paul was writing about. I can't express how blessed I was, and I look forward to hearing this message many times again. I have downloaded and when I get to feeling crabby about the perceived unfairness of life, I will break it out and hear from a man who loves God in the midst of unbelievable suffering, because he loves God's Son who suffered for my sake.
So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)
No comments:
Post a Comment