This weekend at Word of Life, we have Founder’s Conference. Our keynote speaker is Dr. Ray Pritchard.
He was here for the last week of January and the first of February to teach the first year class of the Bible Institute the epistle of Galatians. He is a good speaker who is entertaining and hard-hitting with the truth. He is fun to listen to and always masterful with the Word of God.
First Evening: 26 May 2006 1930
Dr. Pritchard opened the conference last night with a message from Matthew 11:1-11. His topic was doubt. Dr. Ray’s point was this: at times, even the greatest men of the faith, who knew things with absolute certainty, can come to doubt in dark times. John the Baptist was doubting whether Jesus was the prophecied messiah while he was in prison for speaking against the immorality of King Herod. This same John the Baptist had months before proclaimed Jesus to be the Messiah, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)
Jesus did not belittle or talk down about this man, but told his disciples to help John remember what he already knew. And as they left, as John doubted, Jesus proclaimed the man they called the Baptist to be the greatest man born of women.
The life application is this: doubt is not the opposite of faith, but the sign of a growing faith. Every Christian doubts at some point, but to doubt is to struggle with faith and to be willing to grow. So doubt your doubt, trust in what you know to be true, and put your faith in God.
Day One: 27 May 2006 0900
This morning Dr. Pritchard spoke again, this time on spiritual warfare. He came from the angle of asymmetrical warfare, which is the term for a smaller, loose-knit force engaging a much larger and more powerful army.
Using the examples of terrorist groups fighting the might of the United States Army, he drew the parallel of the ultimate terrorist, Satan, fighting a drawn out war against us, the soldiers of the light. We are in constant battle, and are on the superior side, but are fighting a foe that will not honor the rules of engagement. He fights dirty, he uses our strategies against us, and he is relentless. Only by standing together in the power of God can we have a hope of surviving the fight without giving up.
Make no mistake, the Christian soldier is on the victorious side; its not that we will win, its that Christ has already won. We merely need to keep fighting. And keep fighting we will, for this war will not soon end. You see, this is not a war of huge battles, but of a thousand daily skirmishes. So sharpen your sword and dig in, this is a life-long campaign.
Know too, that this fight is not our defense against Satan; this is our invasion of his territory. Jesus said to Peter, “…the gates of hell will not prevail…” (Matthew 16:18) Since when do gates march to war? No, an invading army attacks the gates of strongholds. We are on the advance, we are in a siege around Satan’s fortresses, we are bringing the fight to him. Just as our soldiers in Iraq and around the world are taking the fight to the terrorists, we are taking the fight to the forces of darkness.
Be encouraged and put your faith in our commanding King, the High King of Heaven. The war is won; be faithful in the fight!
Day One: 27 May 2006 1100
The second session today brought to us Dr. George Theis. Dr. Theis was the former executive director of Word of Life Fellowship, and has served in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Dr. Theis’ message was short, but to the point. He illuminated the story of Jonah, and exhorted us to “Be Available”. Jonah tried everything to be unavailable to the call of God. In our lives, we need to be sure to hold nothing back, to give all to God, and to be available for His call. Only when we are open to God’s leading can He use us to the fullest. Always be ready to serve God in any way.
So that is the conference up to this point, which happens to be 1325, Saturday afternoon. I will post regarding the further messages of the conference.
On a more personal note, I have been enjoying beautifully warm weather. Last night me and three friends drove off campus and started watching Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Alas the battery on the computer gave out halfway through, so after the meeting tonight we will be going back out to finish the movie.
for now,
the StormRider
This entry was posted on Sunday, May 28th, 2006 at 03:31:07 and is filed under Captain\'s Log, Spirituality. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
