EDITOR’S NOTE: This week’s coverage of the Florida Baptist Pastors’ Conference Nov. 9-10 at Idlewild Baptist Church in Tampa includes coverage of speakers Lewis C. Lampley, Daniel L. Akin, Bob Reccord, Craig Conner and Jeff Crook. Part One coverage, in the Nov. 20 issue of the Witness, included speakers Paige Patterson, Sal Sberna, Ken Whitten and Tim Patterson. Conference tapes and CD’s may be ordered at www.floridapastors.com.

 

 

Being strong in the Lord

Lewis Lampley, founder of Joy of Discovery Ministries in Brundidge, Ala., preached on "Purity and the Parsonage." Drawing from Matthew 5:8, Lampley used five questions to look at who is "blessed" in maintaining purity.

In asking who is required to be pure, Lampley suggested, "in the church we expect everybody to be pure." Explaining the text, he said in the Greek langauge, "blessed" means "possessing the characteristics of deity" or being "fully satisfied."

Lampley maintained two character traits define a person who is blessed. First, "having the right attitude" which speaks "of a deep humility and a recognizing of one’s utter spiritual bankruptcy apart from God," and second, "the right application," which tells of "applying the beatitudes" to life.

Those kinds of traits then reside "in the heart, free of soil or stain," Lampley said. "The full force of this word purity is the word for clean."

Purity is required in the believer "so they shall see God," Lampley asserted.

In answering his final question, "How is purity perfected?" Lampley said the question is not easily answered.

"This is the real thunder of this message and you have to figure that out," Lampley commented in closing.

The blessings of a Christian bedroom

Daniel Akin, dean of the School of Theology, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Ky., told conferees he realized turning to the Song of Solomon was probably something "they had never done" before at a pastors’ conference.

"The Bible does contain a complete theology on sex; helping us understand exactly why it is that God gave us this good gift and how it is this good gift should be expressed," Akin said.

Listing four reasons that God gave this "good gift of sex," Akin said it is: 1) To maximize pleasure; 2) to maximize partnership; 3) To maximize purity; and 4) To maximize procreation.

"Even the secular world tells us those with the most satisfied sex life are those who are married and faithful to that covenant relationship," Akin said. In addition, the coming together of husband and wife, body and soul, is "unlike anything else in this life."

The marriage relationship is "to be a portrait of the intimacy that exists between Christ and His church; Christ and the believer," said Akin, in referring to the book of Ephesians. And as such, the church is a model of purity.

Finally, Akin said, the context for procreation comes from the marital relationship. "We know the best place to raise children is in a home where the dad and mom are married and committed to one another," he said.

Drawing from Song of Solomon 4:1-7, Akin said the passage presents the "natural outworking of a redeemed relationship," and is set in the context of a couple’s wedding night. It is "an ideal portrait of the way the Christian bedroom should look from beginning to end," Akin said, noting five truths.

Verses 1-7 talk about the bedroom being a place of mutual satisfaction: "Men should meet their wives’ need for verbal support, and ladies should meet their husbands’ need for visual stimulation."

Akin said it bothers him to go to meeting where he watches "little ladies scurrying quickly" to stay up with their husbands who are treating them like their "little puppy dog[s] coming along on a leash."

At marriage conferences, he tells women the most "basic and fundament need of your husband is that he would have from you your admiration and your respect." Likewise he challenges men to "love your wife like Christ loved the church and she won’t be an arrogant woman, she will be a confident lady, the kind of lady who allows the full radiance of God’s glory to shine forth in her life."

The bedroom should also be a place of sensual anticipation and specific ability, according to Solomon 4:8, 12-15.

"God is pleased when we keep ourselves pure, and then, building upon that, God is pleased when we give each other pleasure," Akin said. Verse 12 indicates that "on her wedding night she was a virgin," he said, speaking of the woman. Finally, according to Solomon 4:16-5:1, the bedroom should be a place of sexual affection and of spiritual approval.

"Solomon has spent fifteen verses preparing for the consummation of the wedding and now the wife speaks," Akin said. Convinced it is the Word of God in the passage, Akin said the passage shows "sex in marriage does enjoy divine approval and spouses in marriage enjoy divine affection."

Your first love

Bob Reccord, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board, began by sharing a story about a phone call last June with his mentor, Bill Bright, only shortly before he died.

Reccord recalls Bright telling him about a special phone call he had received from the president of the United States, which he said faded in comparison to meeting Jesus and knowing at the end of his journey on earth, where he would be.

"When you don’t know when you are going to finish, the one thing you do control is how you are going to finish," Reccord said.

Looking at 2 Chronicles 26, Reccord shared four things about King Uzziah that speak to finishing strong.

First, Uzziah started with good intentions, Reccord said, as did he when he began in the ministry.

"As long as he did what God said, God blessed him in everything he did," said Reccord.

Second, Uzziah struggled with growing distractions.

Recounting a meeting with Bill Hybels, Reccord shared Hybels’ comments about almost losing his ministry and his marriage in the late 80s.

Noting it wasn’t due to infidelity, but because of burn-out, Reccord said Hybels told him: "There became a time when the work of the church around me began to kill the work of God within me."

Returning to 2 Chronicles 26:15, Reccord pointed out that King Uzziah continued to see success in what he did until he became powerful. Speaking of distraction still, Reccord said distractions often "will come by good things, not bad things."

Third, Uzziah stumbled by thinking he was the exception to the rule. Sharing findings of a study of 246 pastors who had fallen morally, Reccord noted the few, but alarming things they had in common: 1)They had no system of accountability; 2) They had ceased having a daily devotional time with God; 3) Every one of them was spending a significant amount of time counseling women; and 4) All of them said, ‘It won’t happen to me!’"

Recent statistics from a survey conducted by Rick Warren show ministry leaders have frequented pornographic Web sites, and a University of Florida study revealed "‘one-third of all broken marriages can be traced back to Internet infidelity today,’" Reccord said.

When people believe they can be the exception, they will look to other things to provide what only God can give, Reccord said, telling of Uzziah’s being stricken with leprosy. "In the margin of my Bible, I have written this – sin leaves its damage, it breaks our fellowship, it leaves us empty and it brings forth alienation," Reccord said.

Finally, Uzziah stepped away from his primary affection, Reccord said. In Revelation 2, he said the Bible is clear about how brokeness begins. "They were doing the right things and they believed the right things, but [they] have left [their] first love," Reccord said. Many people blame someone else for their circumstances, but said when he errs, he knows "there is only one person I can blame – me."

Focused on purity

Craig Conner, pastor, First Baptist Church, Panama City, said the voice of the church growth movement sometimes leads sincere people to get off track when they listen to the "voice of pragmatism" telling them "whatever works is good."

Delivering "the infallible product of the Gospel" is no manufacturing business, however, and drawing a crowd through marketing is not the "voice of God" the church needs to heed, Conner said.

Sharing three principles he said will create "a pure church," Conner preached from Acts 2:42-47.

First, the example is of the early church which "continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine." Conner encouraged people to "stop focusing on getting a crowd in your church" and to begin to focus on getting "God in our church.

"[When] God gets in the house things start happening," Conner asserted. The "pure church" is the church "that fulfills God’s intended purpose," he said.

Focusing on "preaching and teaching of the Word of God" was a priority in the early church, said Conner. Maintaining the church cannot survive without it, he said "sound doctrinal, biblical preaching is to the church what a good foundation is to a building."

With that, the central focus of the church should be the pulpit, without which the church cannot stand, he said.

Referring to Acts 2:44, Conner said the early church "made a commitment to people." Being unified in all matters, the church, despite the size of the congregation, will have fellowship if they have a "pure" heart.

Next, the early church "made a commitment to a power," said Conner. "Prayer is the vow that releases the power of God on the church."

Praying for salvation for the lost through the work of the Holy Spirit, is essential, Conner said. Salvation comes only through the work of the Holy Spirit and people don’t have the power to save anyone, he said. This power only comes when there is a "preacher who spends his time on his knees seeking God instead of the mechanics of everything else," Conner said.

Finally, the early church "made a commitment to a program," Conner explained. Not a program for church growth, but for "outreach and evangelism." He said the "best soul-winning program is a pure church" committed to following those timeless principles of the early church.

Remembering Lot’s wife

Jeff W. Crook, pastor of Madison Street Baptist Church, Starke, cautioned the crowd to "Avoid the Great Train Wreck" by selecting a "simple sentence sermon of Jesus" from Luke 17:32.

Recalling the 1993 wreck of the Sunset Limited Amtrak train bound from New Orleans to Miami, Crook said the cause of the wreck began with a tug-boat hitting the railroad bridge and the train coming by eight minutes later to jump the track.

"All it takes is a moment for the servant of God to experience a great train wreck," said Crook.

Citing information from George Barna, Crook said the Christian denomination that has the highest likelihood of getting a divorce are Baptists. According to Barna, "nationally 29 percent of all Baptists have been divorced," Crook continued.

"There [are] moral train wrecks, there are marital train wrecks, and there are ministry train wrecks" in the "very house of God," asserted Crook.

Crook drew from the marriage example of Lot and his wife. "You cannot remember Lot’s wife without first remembering Lot," and who he was, said Crook, presenting three scenes from Genesis 13 pertaining to Lot’s life.

First, Lot is sidetracked after he "lost his first love," Crook said.

"When train wrecks happen there is no such thing as a blow-up, it’s always a slow leak," said Crook.

In the second scene, taken from Genesis 13:12 and 14:12, Lot begins living on the wrong side of the tracks and rapidly slides away from the things of God when he moves into Sodom. It wasn’t "long after Lot moved into Sodom, that Sodom moved into Lot," Crook said.

In scene three, Lot begins to really get "off track," Crook said. He was a public official, but his life was beginning to fall apart.

In the world’s eyes, Crook said, "Lot was a success. He was a public official that could be bought." But in God’s eyes Lot was a train wreck waiting to happen. Lot’s wife was so attracted to Sodom that when the angels of the Lord were dragging them out of Sodom, she "had to turn and look one more time at the Sak’s Fifth Avenue of Sodom."

"It gets worse as they moved to a cave," Crook continued. "Sin will take you to a cave.

"[Lot] lost his joy, his usefulness, his testimony, his rewards, his family and his ministry," Crook reminded listeners.

"Let’s change these words of warning into words of exhortation" Crook challenged. "Remember your testimony. Remember your family. Remember your ministry. Remember the judgment seat of Christ. God help us."