AFBC 2008: Pentecost Power

The evening started off with the Mayo family doing an item. They sang “This is The Day the Lord Hath Made” which was quite beautifully done. We then sang through several songs before the Kwok brothers did their special (Ben Kwok the Pastor of Rouse Hill Church, Mike Kwok one of the elders at Fellowship Baptist Church, and Jeremy Kwok a deacon at Fellowship Baptist). Just before Rev. Webb came up to preach we sang one song I wish to make mention of. It is a puritan prayer that was organized into a song called “O Great God” the lyrics were truly remarkable.

This evening the message was called “Pentecost Power” The text was Acts 2:36-47. The message was on on revival and viewed this passage on Acts as a ‘blueprint for spiritual revival.’ Through this passage there were five observations:

1. The soveriegnty of God.
Gods soveriegnty was displayed through His choosing of a day, time, and place which had a maximum effect on the people.

2. The spiritual preperation of the people.
A key statement he made was that Pentecost power must be preceded by Pentecost prayer. It’s prayer that releases the power.

3. The suddeness of the event.
The event occurred quickly. He also mentions the occurance of tongues and quickly clarifies the misconceptions many Charismatics and Pentecostals hold onto. He points out verses 6, 8, and 11 make mention of the fact that they all were speaking in known languages.

4. The striking power of the Apostolic preaching.
He points out that Christ is the central focus of the message and that our preaching today also needs to be Christ focused.

5. The superabundant blessings that followed.
The adding of people to the church, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit were some of the blessings.

The concluding thought of the message was that Pentecost is not just a day or an event, but a beginning of the work of God.

AFBC 2008: What’s right with the Church?

The evening started out with some singing and then moved onto a special by the Faith Baptist choir. They sung “Who Can Satisfy My Soul” which was very well done. After Alan Webb, the guest speaker, was introduced another special item was performed by Sarah from the Bob Jones University team. She sang “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus”. After this Rev. Alan Webb preached his sermon entitled “What’s Right With the Church?” He had 4 points:

1. The church is the biggest institution in the world.
He states that there are over 2 billion adherents and that over 80, 000 people profess faith in Christ a day. He mentions the work in China and that over 63 million people profess faith in Christ. Moreover Korea which for most of history had no believers now has over 30% of its population claim Christ.

2. The church is the smallest institution in the world.
In reference to the local church he mentions how the body of Christ works together and how if one is effected all are effected.

3. The church is the most radical institution in the world.
The church is radical because it forces change in people’s lives.

4. The church is the most triumphant institution in the world.

He concluded the message with the thought that we are taken out of death and darkness into life and light, and not only are we taken out of and into, but unto. We are taken unto eternal life.

This week, Wednesday to Friday, is the annual Australian Fellowship of Bible-Believing Churches Bible Conference in Sydney. I felt that it would be good for us to be aware of what’s going on there this week so I’m excited that Alen Basic has agreed to live blog the conference for us!

Well, this is our last entry on our live blogging of the NBF. We look forward to next year, when the NBF will God willing be held in Adelaide at South West Baptist Church. The time really seems to go fast. Which Pastor Hester preached on from Psalm 90. He did an expository message on the Psalm which reminds us of the short amount of time we all have. He reminded us to “number our days”.

Lastly we had Ron Comfort finish the evening with a message entitled “What are you going to do with your life?” Which seemed to fit nicely with the previous message by Pastor Hester. He preached from Hebrews 11:24-27. His message asked of us 2 questions 1) Are you willing to refuse? 2) Are you willing to suffer reproach? He then left us with the thought that if we do these things, we will get a reward.

After the sessions we all had an opportunity to fellowship, a large group of the young adults then met up at McDonald’s and fellowshipped.

This is the end of our live blogging series, we our now on our way back home. It is a long drive home. See you on GMT. God bless.

The morning started out with Brenton Honeychurch giving a message from Joshua 5:13-15, explaining that God reveals himself divinely, progressively, and seasonably. One thing that stood out was a quote (which I couldn’t tell you the source of… perhaps you can enlighten me): “I have met the enemy and it is me.”

Additional morning sessions were given by Nabeel Zaydan of Faith Baptist Church, Croydon Park and by Ron Comfort.

The afternoon was packed with a three hour youth session jam full of preaching, singing, and testimonies. Kevin Currell, Chris Hustler, and Phil Pinero each challenged the 200+ young people to not waste their lives pursuing things that are of no value. Testimonies were given by Mrs. Kauffman and by Jeremy and Elizabeth Pinero. Jeremy and Elizabeth each gave stories of how God had worked in their lives through previous NBF meetings just like this one and gave a practical and poignant challenge to make our parent’s God our God.

The theme song for this year’s NBF has been “Be Thou My Vision.” We’ve sung five stanzas of the hymn each morning and evening and it’s been great to develop a deeper understanding of the classic text each time we sing it. Tim Drew has been MC’ing the meetings and there’s been a commendable balance in the choice of songs in the congregational singing.

This evening’s session included a quick missionary presentation by Dave Kauffman in Kitwe, Zambia. I had the chance to visit in his home and ministry there several years ago and appreciated his presentation.

The first speaker of the evening was Buddy Smith from the Tablelands, North Queensland. He spoke from the narrative of John 12:1-8, noting that Mary’s gift was extravagant, fragrant, permanent, and an irritant.

The concluding message for the day was preached by Ron Comfort. He preached that you can know the Bible is the Word of God because of the testimony of Jesus, because of the testimony of Scripture’s unity, because of the testimony of science, and because of the testimony of the changed life. The message was a straightforward affirmation of the fundamental doctrine of the inspiration of Scripture.

Tomorrow is the last day of the NBF. I’ll be covering the morning session and Alen will be wrapping up our live blogging in the evening. The attendance for this year’s NBF has been good and includes several hundred young people who seem to be enjoying the preaching and fellowship to the max! I appreciate those of you who are checking in each day and will see you in the morning.

We’re now on our second day, so far so good. Once again this morning we had an opportunity to fellowship with fellow believers both before and after the services. We had an opportunity to eat out with friends and have some great discussions.

This morning before the services we got to hear from missionary Geoff O’Derry and his plans for the Madagascar mission field we also got to hear from Andrew Lewis and his work in the Israeli mission field.

The first speaker this morning was Pastor Larry Nelson of Gospel Baptist Church in Wanneroo. He preached from 1st Colossians 1:19-27. The title of his message was “Christ in you; The hope of Glory”.

The second speaker for the morning was Pastor Brent Baughman. The message was from Luke 14:26-33 and was about our commitment to the cause of Christ. He presented several questions that Christians should ask themselves 1) Are we willing to take any loss? 2) Are we willing to bear any cross? and 3) Are we willing to pay any cost?

For the split sessions, I attended the Mens session with Ron Comfort which began with a session of a Q/A on Ambassador Baptist Bible College. Several hquestions were asked, and was interesting to hear Ron Comfort’s replies. After the Q/A session he began preaching on “The power of influence” from Genesis 12.

This evening Jason shall be covering the sessions. I shall be covering Thursday nights session, so God willing I shall see you then. God bless.

Good evening everyone. We just got back from a great evening of fellowship. We all had a chance to catch up with friends and acquaintances.

This evening before the sessions started, Gill Anger gave a report on the work he is doing around the world. He gave information regarding the Pastor’s schools and Boot Camps that have been going on.

The first speaker was Pastor Derek McConnell and he preached from The Song of Solomon Chapter 5. He preached with an allegorical understanding of the scripture. The passage covers the relationship between a woman and her beloved with an interpretation of it as the relationship between a believer and Christ. The sermon covers the text from the initial indifference of the woman, to her longing for her beloved to her friends the qualities her beloved possesses.

In the second (and final session for the day) Ron Comfort preached from 1st Thessalonian 4:13-18 on the rapture. He gave a topical theme regarding the rapture in that it is 1) A sure event. 2) A sudden event. 3) A separating event and 4) a sublime event.

I shall be reporting on the Wednesday morning sessions, and Jason shall be doing the evening’s. See you in the morning, God willing. God bless.

Well, this is our first attempt to liveblog a conference but Alen and myself are going to take turns giving it a go. We’re at the National Baptist Fellowship meetings in Melbourne, VIC. We arrived in Melbourne last night and stopped by Calvary Baptist Church, Bayswater North in time to catch the end of the youth rally where about 150 young people showed up.

This morning’s first session was preached by Pastor David Zooeff, from Hebrews 12:1-2. He gave a good exposition of the text focusing on the fact that the race the believers are called to run is hard work and serious business, and that it requires faith and patience.

In the second session, Ron Comfort (president of Ambassador Baptist Bible College and keynote speaker) shared from 2 Corinthians 5:20 regarding the believer’s role as an ambassador. He followed a topical theme dealing with the ambassador’s ability (he must be trained), his authority (it’s not his message, it’s God’s), and his attitude (Jesus is the sovereign).

Finally, Brent Baughman gave a helpful session for the men dealing with how we make decisions. He demonstrated the weaknesses of experience, opinion, tradition, emotion, desire, and fear as bases for our decisions and helped to focus our thinking on bringing each of these areas into line with biblical thinking.

Between sessions John Ramm (Highlands Baptist Church) gave a quick report on the Pikinini Project which sponsors children to receive education and support in third world countries.

We found a great Lebanese bakery on the far side of Melbourne for lunch (which we didn’t get until about 4pm!) and are about to head out for the evening session which Alen will be reporting on. We hope to post twice a day. God bless.