Desiring God
This coming week I will be taking off to go to the Desiring God Pastor’s Conference in Minnesota. I have been in a pastor’s internship with Sam Storms for the past 5 months. There are 8 of us guys that get together each Thursday night and discuss the various assigned books we are reading that week. Mainly, Grudem’s Systematic Theology and some Piper books as well as books/articles on church life. It has been such an encouraging season, of course I have read more in the past 5 months than I did in all of my university experience (that is really not saying much). The reading has been very life giving, I find that when God calls you to something, He often gives His Mercy to succeed at it. When this internship came about, I really didn’t want to do it, although something deep in me really did want to – the war between flesh a spirit came alive. God then gave me a verse in I Peter 1:13
“Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
God said to me “now is the time to prepare your mind, gain knowledge in Me, let that knowledge flow down to your heart and transform you, sanctify you, then I will do more through you” Whenever God speaks, it brings in a rush of life and then a response of obedience, in a since, obedience becomes second nature because I believe Him and love to respond to His voice, all of this is second nature in the redeemed heart in me. Anyway, the reading has been full of His mercy, to grasp it, and respond in worship to how great a God He truly is. How His ways are so different than mine, and that isn’t just a phrase to use when I don’t understand Him, but even when I do. He says that we WILL suffer for the Gospel, but I haven’t been full on suffering for the Gospel, so have I been full on speaking the Gospel? I won’t go all into this but the suffering for the Gospel is something that is rocking my inner world! I mean, we are called and suppose to live this way, it is almost like a litmus text – no suffering=no advancement of the Kingdom. Here I am throwing this out without any good substance to back it, I have it, it is there but I may not be able to fully communicate it right now. For a quick idea on this read 2 Timothy, see what Paul says about suffering, then read the NT, lots of it in there as well. I am sure there will be more on this later as God is constantly teaching me this truth. For a secondary read on this, pick up ‘Desiring God’ by Piper, read the intro and then the last chapter which is on Suffering, it will rock your inner world too.
Ok, ok, back to the post. I am leaving tomorrow and going with this group of guys, at least most of them. I am excited about this. Sam Storms, our pastor at Bridgeway, is one of the speakers, so that is an honor to be there with him too. Anyway, I hope to post over the next few days, the ways that God speaks to me while there. I am not a big conference guy, I tend to get bored & tired and sometimes overwhelmed with all the info thrown out. But for this one, I am going to take it slowly, resting in His presence and asking Him to speak, change and cause me again to obey Him.
(The entire time I have been writing this post, my son has been sitting beside me offering me imaginary bacon and pancakes he made, that explains why the post is not real concise, oh well, but Graham did just tell me that a bowl in the kitchen is “breakable” – nice word for a 2 year old).