Watch the conference live here
I've been wanting to try my hand at blogging for some time now and thought perhaps (not quite) live-blogging from the conference would be the best way to start. After all, if Tim Challies can do it.... : ) Actually, since he's probably in the main room, I thought it would be good to have someone blogging from the "cheap seats," i.e. the "overflow room." I'm going to write mine before I check out his blog. It will be interesting to see how Mars and Venus view the same conference.
After a grueling 10 hour drive from Ohio in a near constant driving rain (which was almost like an Ohio white-out) we arrived at the Staybridge Inn, i.e. the "overflow hotel." I'm thinking that we got the better deal. We have a suite with a separate bedroom and kitchenette, indoor pool and free breakfast in the morning. Our 13-year old son has claimed the 2nd double bed and our 16-year old son is taking the pull-out sofa.
When we finally made it to the "overflow room" we felt very special because our name badges were emblazoned with orange traffic pylons and the word "overflow." The room is a good size theatre with a large screen, very cushy, velvety seats with mini desks attached (think college), and lots of room to stretch out. We entered to nice praise music playing in the background and I mentioned to my son that this was going to be a lot different than the "Battle Cry" conference we had attended two years ago! Before that conference began there were all sorts of activities meant to "warm up" the crowd....beach balls....happy-clappy songs and the 'is-everyone-pumped-up-and-ready-to-rock' stuff that is the standard fare at most youth conferences. Nope, none of that here.
That said....when the worship time started, we were, unfortunately, treated to a strobe light show from the big screen. They were having (major) technical problems with the equipment and the screen was flashing in and out for the entire evening. Not just once and a while, but every two seconds or so. By the time Paul Washer was speaking they gave up entirely and we all stared (in typical brain dead American fashion) at the blue screen of death for the rest of his sermon. It's really unfortunate, because it was SUCH a distraction. Living with a couple of techies, I know the guys running it were doing everything humanly possible to make it work. I'm sure it was probably killing them that this happened. Hopefully tomorrow they will have the glitches fixed.
Matt Fowler:
The first speaker was Matt Fowler from 1st Baptist Church of Muscle Shoals. He preached on John 6:22-27. Although he's a rather young man (I'm thinking under 30?) he's a very powerful preacher and expositor of God's word. I filled half of the little blank book they gave us with notes and decided I really need to start some sort of organized system for keeping sermon notes. I'd love to hear suggestions. Some of my notes:
John 6:25 - the crowd said to Jesus, "When did you get here?" Although they had seen him feed the 5000 and witnessed other miraculous signs, they were still blind. They didn't understand that he could also walk across the water.
- Christianity is more than theology and words. There must be the reality of Christ in the lives of His disciples.
- Apart from the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit, no one will have the reality of Christ in their lives (or the saving knowledge of Christ).
- John 6:26 - "I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill."
- They sought Jesus because of what he could do for them: food - and they had to keep coming back for more.
- Some seek Jesus the: socialite, gift giver, psychotherapist, banker, soup kitchen, job promoter. (HT: Joel Osteen, PDL & Emerg***)
- 6:27 - "Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you."
Jesus' demands on the seeker:
- Do not labor for the temporal - that labor is vanity (bigger barns, eat, drink, be merry)
- Don't labor for food that perishes (Matt 6:19)
- That kind of food enslaves (can't serve 2 masters Matt 6:24)
- That food leads to death - some are so enslaved they don't know it.
- Why labor for the eternal food?
- Leads to eternal life - John 6:48-50 - Manna in the wilderness - those people all died.
- Those who eat Jesus' bread will have eternal life
- The Eternal food is Jesus Himself. "He's so much better if we'll let Him be who He is."
- This food satisfies. He is the giver AND the gift. John 3:29 - Rejoice at the mere VOICE of the bridegroom!
- This kind of labor glorifies Him. Matt. 13:44 - The kingdom is like a treasure and the man sells all he has to buy the field. This kind of labor points the lost world to Him.
Paul Washer:
On our short drive back to the hotel we tried to pinpoint what his "thesis" was (being homeschoolers we can't resist!). My 16-year old was slightly frustrated, but only, I think, because he's used to a typical 25-minute 4-point sermon with a clearly defined intro and conclusion. He announced at the beginning that he would be preaching through the Beatitudes. He said that he didn't really know how he would go about it as he was really digging into it deeply himself and didn't have a clear plan for how he was going to preach through it. Now with a lot of preachers, you hear something like this and you're thinking....uh oh.....but I've listened to enough of Paul Washers sermons to give him the benefit of the doubt.
So back to the thesis. Here's how I would write it: "In contrast to God speaking to Moses on Mt. Sinai, God incarnate sits on a mountain and opens his mouth. Because of this, our privilege is great and our responsibility is equal. For some it would be better to have never heard of Christ or His word because we treat it so lightly. 'From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.' (Luke 12:48)"
To the teens who think they know so much: 20 years from now "You will be more unholy than you are now."(paraphrase) The more you learn of the holiness of God and the more you study his word, the more you see how short you fall. This brought to mind a discussion on the Teampyro blog a couple weeks ago where someone was claiming that the older he got the less he knew. He was trying to make the same type of claim (at least I think he was) that Washer was making about holiness. It doesn't fly if you buy Washer's point about a mark of a true disciple....- Jesus said he spoke in parables so that the crowds would not understand Him Matthew 13 . The difference between the multitudes and the true disciples is that when they didn't understand the parables, they said, "we must understand." (Matthew 13:36 etc.) This is one big difference between true disciples and those who do not know Him.
- Our youth ministries are filled with the wrong messages. The message we need to tell teenagers: "There is no way apart from submitting yourself to, 'Thus saith the Lord.'" Amen? Amen.
- How many wear out a Bible and say, "I must know this else I die"?
However, lest we all start feeling self-righteous about our dog-eared and highlighted Bibles....
- Do we study it just to know more than everybody else?
- How has the Sermon on the Mount impacted your life? Do you live it or do you just "know" it in the academic sense?
- He applauded those concerned with "truth" but have you wrestled with the demands of Jesus as much as you have wrestled with the Books of Romans and Ephesians?
- Our generation will be held more accountable than any other. Not only do we have the Bible, we have the great Christian writers and teachers...The Reformers, Puritans, Edwards, Sproul, Piper, Spurgeon...etc.
What should our response be to Jesus teaching?
"I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter hidden things, things from of old-what we have heard and known, what our fathers have told us." (Psalm 78:2-3)
- If you are his people, LISTEN (Hebrew: Listen = obedience)
- Incline your ear (open your earlids)
- Young people: Forsake it all and find Godly companions who will do the same. Surround yourself with Godly older adults who will teach you.
Summary:
I was left with such a strong, strong feeling that I don't have enough of a strong, strong love and passion for God's word. He talked about believers in jungles in South America and prisons in China who have a scrap of paper and write what they can remember just so they can have a tiny scrap of God's word. We have more of God's word on a t-shirt than some of these believers have and we treat it so lightly and spend so little time with it. But it is also a message that has to have legs. We need to be "doers" as well as "hearers" of the word.
It really struck me, as I listened to him, that his message might have even received some "Amen's" at an Emergent convention. It intrigues me to think that someone like Paul Washer can call us to a love for truth and God's word and at the same time demand that we live "in the way of Jesus," as the EC folks like to say. It would sure separate the men from the boys, to use a cliche. Those who are in it for the social liberalism or because they have created a "Jesus" in their own image wouldn't last very long in a Paul Washer sermon. Either the Holy Spirit would drive them to their knees in repentance or....wow, wow, wow....whatever....more and more...
Two other quick things before I go to bed (after taking a peek at Tim's blog). Mike Corley was at the conference tonight. Paul Washer only got through the first 2 verses of the Beatitudes :)
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