A Recap of Two Overwhelming Weeks #1

WOW! WOW! WOW! As vague and as overused as that word can be, in my case, it's an accurate description of the last two weeks in my life and the life of my family. On Wednesday the 20^th of October, my family and I embarked on a trip to Texas for a week and a half of instruction from God's Word on a number of topics. What you are about to read is a young man's attempt to summarize one of the greatest two weeks of his life. Are you ready? Good, because I'm not sure I can even come close to describing even a fraction of what my family and I have enjoyed. However, I hope what is written here respects the knowledge of men much wiser than I and gives you a glimpse into the work God is doing.

Before I begin, I'd like to say that the time my family spent traveling together was a blessed time. On the way to Texas we made a few notable stops. The first was in Montgomery, Alabama. In addition to acquainting ourselves with the capital of the State, we were excited to tour the first White House of the Confederacy where President Jefferson Davis resided during the spring of 1861. We also stopped at the gulf coast and saw the home at which Jefferson Davis remained for the last 12 years of his life. The large house quietly sits across from the beach of the beautiful gulf coast, thereby providing a good excuse for us to sink our feet into the sand for just a few minutes before continuing to Louisiana where we had a fantastic dinner and a refreshing, encouraging, memorable time of fellowship with some friends that evening.

Day 1 – Semper Reformanda Conference Houston, TX

“As men we are called to counter our age. Many people have been infected with an American gospel and not the real gospel” - Paul Washer.

Mr. Washer is a fallen man, just like you and I, whom God has raised up for this particular time in history. Nathaniel Darnell describes him best as “A modern-day Jonathan Edwards.” At a time when much of the church has given the gospel an American, narcissistic, prosperity, packaged, pray and your done twist that is infecting the church and the culture, God is using this man in a mighty way to bring men and women back to Sola Scriptura! Back to the real gospel. Not the version that we have made up in an attempt broaden its appeal. Our flesh wants a gospel that's packaged and easy. A gospel that entails no risk.

But Mr. Washer stated “Train your young men that it is a good thing to die.” Young men, how many of us can truly say that we are ready to die for the gospel? If a man walked through the doors of your church and pointed a gun at your head and said “Renounce Christ or die!” What would you do? We don't even realize that our nation has grown hostile toward Christianity. The days of no persecution in this land will soon be over. The day is soon coming when it will be unlawful to proclaim the gospel. Will you or I be among those who fall captive to the fear of man above the fear of Almighty God?

Another point Mr. Washer stressed is the issue of dominion. For those of you familiar with the debate, good. For those of you unfamiliar with it, I suggest doing some research. Many claim that it is our duty to take dominion by transforming culture. Let me pause here momentarily, I whole heartedly agree that we should be taking dominion, but allow me to define that. I believe taking dominion is this:

“And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." - Genesis 1:26

“You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet.” - Psalm 8:6

Dominion is ruling over that which God has commanded us to rule over. Every thing on this earth has been placed under the feet of man. However, pantheists would have you believe that animals are every bit as human as man. Hence, they promote the worship of the creature and not the creator and reject any man who claims that the animals are subordinate to him.

Some argue that taking dominion is accomplished by taking the reigns of culture and turning it back to God. Though well intentioned, our efforts will be in vain if we forget the most important thing: “We take dominion by preaching Christ, not by transforming culture.” - Paul Washer. It is Christ that transforms culture, not the efforts of fallen man. It should not be our goal to get the cart before the horse.

As Mr. Washer progressed through his message, which, as we were later told, was only the introduction to a message time would not allow him to present until the next day, he spoke of a grave danger to homeschool families: Making family an idol. We can teach our children to become intellectually brilliant, but if we forget to preach Christ then we are no better than the pagan institutions. When speaking to this issue Paul Washer passionately stated, “Men, give yourself to your family, but do not make your family an idol!” We cannot become so at ease with our family that we forget our duty. Our duty is to wield the sword. Our duty is to struggle just as Christ struggled. How I wish you could have heard the power with which this man proclaimed the truth. How I wish you could have heard his passion and utter love for Christ. As he spoke of the importance of struggling, Mr. Washer said “what joy it is when the sword sticks to your hand because you've been swinging it all day.” now yelling, “Gentlemen! This is what you were made for!” Though exhausting, we don't stop swinging until the gospel goes out to all the world.

As I sat in my chair I continually felt as though I was being ground to powder. Over and over again I was humbled before my God. Repeatedly, I thought myself unfit for the monumental task before me. And then Mr. Washer spoke directly to me “Our problem is not that we are too weak, but that we are too strong.” He continued with this paraphrased statement, “Oh that God would break us into pieces that we might look like stained glass windows.” Being ground to dust before God is perhaps one of the greatest things a godly man can and should allow God to do to him, for it destroys pride and lays us open and bare before the Lord, thereby making us vessels even more prepared for the master's work. After every man in the room was sufficiently trampled over and under by the truth this man was so vigorously proclaiming, we were all reminded that it is only by the work of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit that our duty can be fulfilled.

Mr. Washer continued by admonishing men to go to God in the watch hours of the night and not let go of Him until He blesses them. Understanding full well that we are not the ones trying to drag God to do something and God is not dragging us to do something, He is calling us to Himself. Men, we must cultivate a powerful prayer life. Many of us are able to read Scripture for hours at a time, but the fact of the matter is, our flesh hates prayer, and don't think your adversary won't milk that! We must fight hard to spend time in prayer. Mr. Washer said there is absolutely no reason why a man can not spend at least an hour in prayer every day. Absolutely no excuse. And I'm not speaking of an hour spread throughout the day, I'm speaking of rolling out of bed, hitting your knees and staying on your knees for an hour beseeching the throne of our omnipotent God! This is in addition to remaining in constant communion and fellowship with Him throughout the day. How many days have gone by in which I have not spent such time in prayer. We must be men who are strong enough to stand up for truth, resist temptations, and cast visions, yet weak enough to fall to our knees before our sovereign God. We must be weak that His strength might be made manifest to all who witness our lives in action.

Our Next speaker, who is a current elder at GfBC, was a man by the name of David Shiflet. What I admired about this man's session is a very important fact that much of the church has forgotten: “I Will build my church.” - Matthew 16:18.

With this point in mind, Mr. Shiflet exposited Exodus chapter 30, demonstrating that God has prescribed to man a few timeless principles for worship:

1. God Appoints the Workers, not us

God appoints men from wherever he choses, no matter their background; whether they're seminary graduates or not.

2. God has Given us a Pattern, Each of us is Accountable to God

3. God has Called Them By His Name

4. God Equips Them for the Work

5. God Constrains the Workers

God says, “This is what I want done, nothing more and nothing less.” The problem is that in our sinful flesh we have a desire to build something in our image. We'd rather reject the plan of God because we think, “I'm not doing enough.” “There's got to be a way to do this better.” “There's got to be a better way to more effectively reach this group of people.” Hence, we begin innovating. We begin creating our own ideas of how God is to be worshiped. We create programs that are not prescribed in Scripture and in the process we reject God's plan for how He is to be worshiped.

As Mr. Shiflet said, “Our job is not to innovate and get creative in the church. We are to do all that He has commanded.” Not bigger, badder, cooler, etc...Our Holy, Righteous God has prescribed how he desires to be worshiped, is it not time that we conduct worship on His terms and not ours? “When we begin to do other things” Mr. Shiflet said, “we neglect what God has sacredly charged us to do...when we begin to innovate, we look at ourselves and see how great we are.” “Look at that program I came up with...that's pretty cool!” Our job is not to be confused with the jurisdictional job of the state.

The first day of the Semper Reformanda Conference came to a close after the conclusion of these two messages. However, this was just an appetizer for the feast of truth we were about to receive the following day.

Day 2 is coming soon!

Josh