Men's Conference on Pursuing Genuine Biblical Revival

May 5 & 6, 2017

Theme: "Capture Our Hearts Again!"

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Ray Ortlund
Pastor of Immanuel Church (Acts 29 plant in Nashville, TN)
President of Renewal Ministries
Regional Director of Acts 29 Network
Formerly Assoc. Prof. of OT & Semitic Languages @ Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Deerfield, IL)
Council Member & regular blogger at The Gospel Coalition
Author of commentaries and many books including Isaiah: God Saves Sinners in the Preaching the Word Series Commentary Series, When God Comes to Church: A Biblical Model for Revival Today, The Gospel: How the Church Portrays the Beauty of Christ in the 9 Marks Building Healthy Churches Series and most recently Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel.

Pre-Conference Workshop - 2 Sessions (Content to be released soon)

Special Guest Speaker: Dr. Tom Schreiner
James Buchanan Harrison Prof of New Testament Interpretation, Professor of Biblical Theology and Associate Dean of the School of Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, KY)
Author of many commentaries and books including The Law and Its Fulfillment: A Pauline Theology of Law, The Race Set Before Us: A Biblical Theology of Perseverance and Assurance; The King in His Beauty, and Romans in the Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament Series.

Registration opens soon at www.FGCon.org

Hosted by:
Union Lake Baptist Church
8390 Commerce Road
Commerce, MI 48382
248.363.9600

Monday, January 31, 2011

Fellowship in the Gospel International 2011 (Mexico City) Day 5

Saturday started early for me...actually it just continued from Friday as I stayed awake until around 3:30am. I felt led to read through Session 4 & 5 notes, read the texts, and think through some more of the teaching points and applications. I think a lot of people think I'm nuts, but I do this probably once a week. It's something about the absolute quiet of being the only one awake and just soaking in the Scriptures. I think it was valuable time as Saturday's teaching sessions were especially free in my delivery and powerful with the Spirit giving me words to say at critical points. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

One of the things I wanted to happen on this trip was that many of the men would get the opportunity to share a devotional. Saturday morning was Chris' turn. He shared a devotional based upon the metaphor of light common in the Scriptures. Much discussion was had around the fact that Christians need to have the light of the gospel shined on their sin.

The final day of the Retiro de Varones was at hand. We began Session 3 per usual with singing. The Gringos & Chelangos could have been lifelong friends by this time. There was an obvious bonding that had taken place. Incidentally, one of the high points of our days here has become when we greet each other at the start of any particular day. These Mexican friends have a wonderful way of greeting each other: a handshake followed by a quick hug and slap on the back finishing with a second handshake. After the early head-butt near misses in the first days of our trip...we are now old pros. The key is hugging with your head going to the right. You may never know how important of a tip this is! Now greeting a lady is altogether different: shake their hand and lean in TO THE LEFT with a cheek-to-cheek pretend kiss. Don nearly started an international incident mixing up these two greetings (alright I made that part up).

Justyn started things off with sharing his salvation testimony. Justyn shared how after an earlier profession of faith, his life didn't seem to be about his love for the Savior. He then shared the beautiful truth that God caused him to be born again to a living hope in the resurrected Savior...and caused his heart to delight in gathering together with the Saints to worship Him. Is there anything more glorious than hearing how God caused another sinner to turn to Him in repentant faith in Jesus' work?

Next, Tom got up and defied the definition of either a testimony OR a devotional. Truth be told it was closer to a sermon...except it was based upon the testimony of his life's trials...yet he tied it to Joseph's story in Genesis in a devotional way...I guess it was a "testivotional sermon." Because of the incredible story of Tom's supernatural peace and faith in the face of trial after severe trial...and what's more aspects of various trials that none of us knew...aspects of God's super-abundant grace in Tom's darkest hours that we also did not know...the description wasn't quite right. Mike suggested it was a "testivotional sermon with a Pugno twist." Chuck's testimony in Costa Rica last year was the only other time we had experienced such a powerful time of sharing of trial and rescue. Tom's story was not something any of us...Chelango or Gringo alike...could have been prepared for. God change us as the rescue of one man encourages the hearts of the saints!

I then taught Session 3 from Genesis Chapter 39 with the theme: "The Lord is with His People Both in Prosperity and Adversity" (or "God is Faithful to His Covenant Promises Despite the Circumstances of His People"). This might have been my favorite session to teach. Of course, it was pretty close to a four-way tie. Tom's story played so well into the message of Joseph's severe trial, languishing in prison. I especially enjoyed roughing up the translator as I grabbed his shirt sleeve, acting out Potiphar's wife snaring Joseph's garment. Sam pretended to brush off his sleeve in disgust after I let go...getting a pretty good laugh. The tension of the story, however, was not to be alleviated for long. You see, we saw the progression of sin in this chapter as we tracked Potiphar's wife's sin ramping up as the story continued. I spoke of the dangers of dabbling in sin as they quickly rise to the level of getting a stranglehold on you (of course, demonstrating the strangling on Sam!).

After the teaching time, all of the men went outside and either played volleyball or frontenis. Frontenis is basically outdoor racquetball without one side wall or the ceiling to play off of. Two players play against two other players. Everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves and forge even closer friendships. Thereafter, we at lunch together. We were served a hobo stew of sorts. It had chicken and cactus which had been cooked in a sauce inside tinfoil. I know no one will believe me...but I ate it and loved it. So much for food anxiety. The crazy thing is that this was the second day I had eaten cactus! Lunch was followed by more sports. I really enjoyed the frontenis, playing a lot of games. Von, Rene, Mike, and Sam were all regulars to the court.

Finally, we approached the final teaching session, Session 4 from Genesis 41 with the theme: "The Sovereign God Exalts the Prisoner Joseph to Ruler of Egypt in Order to Save Himself, His Family and the World from Famine." A significant portion of the message dealt with the fact that only God's people understand the mysteries of the Kingdom and we need to share that message with unbelievers and believers alike. I urged the brothers not to despair in trials as God is with them in those trials to make known His salvation. I also shared a pointed gospel presentation as I had been thinking about one young man that was in attendance that does not yet know the Savior. That young man has been with us at all of the sessions and appears to truly being enjoying himself. Pray for his salvation.

The day ended with prayer and fellowship back at the Hornbrooks' home. I about collapsed from exhaustion and slept like a rock. As much as I enjoyed teaching the sessions, I was glad to have them completed. Pray for leaders to rise up out of our church and the Mexican church. That is our hearts desire for both churches to plant new works...new leaders are needed to go and to replace the ones that go.

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