The Scent of Zion (Thursday)

Thursday morning opened up with a brisk start to the day.  When we began to cycle through to shower we found out there was no hot water.  As Rod noted, any 'morning enthusiasm'  was greatly tempered.  Somehow we persevered, we are the Fellowship of The Wheel, are we not? Some fresh ground coffee began the process of getting everything right again.  We left slightly earlier with the main intent to find better parking.  On Wednesday evening we were delayed at 30 minutes or so, just trying to leave the North parking lot.  On Thursday we parked on the South lot near the drainage canal.  I think they actually call these 'rivers' in California. The FoTW team was fresh and looking forward to a great day.

Just before the start to the day, Phil was hanging out with the Pastors in the Courtyard.  At the opening it was announced that in a few weeks Pastor MacArthur we will preach his 50th Easter service at Grace Community. 

Bob started us off with rousing songs of praise.  The value of Bob Kauflin to this event it priceless.  He punctuates and prepares our hearts with a focus on the words of these Hymns that is very helpful to clearly the distractions competing in our minds.

Personally, I like to think of Phil Johnson a a curmudgeon preacher.   Somehow it is comforting to have someone carrying the rightly divided Word of God and noting along the way the error that so many entrepreneur-based churches (social centers) are filled with.  That did not happen today.  Pastor Johnson was centered on the strength of the Church being based on being the possession of Christ.  There were many scriptures that he explicated.  The keys were 1 Tim 4:3 and Rev 2:4-5.  Contrasting Pastor Dever's Nine Marks; Phil distilled these down to three:

1. Gospel preaching of the Truth
2. Sacraments
3. Church discipline

He also pointed out some interesting observations:

• It is very difficult for Churches to stay true.
• There are countless examples of Churches that have become apostate after a few decades.
• It was Phil's belief that there are fewer that 100 Churches in the world that are still true to the Gospel after 100-200 years or more.  Amazing considering the power of the Gospel and the fact that it has been preached for millennia.
• He also described the new Preacher's Bible as an "Assault Bible".  The title was very well received.

In another example of how the kindness is just lavished on us, it was announced that we would be receiving not only the kit of books AND the Preacher's Bible, but also a $20 voucher.  Amazing.  After Phil it was time for lunch.  I wanted to have lunch with Burt (founding member of Grace Community Church) and enjoy is wonderfully tasty hotdogs.  As in past years Burt is there on the line cooking and greeting wave after wave of Pastors.

After perusing the bookstore, I selected the breakout session with Abner Chou (Cutting it Straighter). The rest of the FoTW enjoyed Bob Kauflin discussing how to use music to propel worship and sermon understanding.

The photo below of Abner Chou's session was snapped about 10 minutes prior to starting.  There are three other banks of chairs that cannot be seen.  By the start-time the room was full and volunteers were rushing to bring in more chairs. Even with that, there were a dozen or so that had to stand. 

Dr. Chou, was a like a Formula One driver. After it was over I was walking behind a couple of Pastors.  They described his class as "we just got 4 units of hermeneutics in 70 minutes".  This will be one to listen to several times on-line.

Afterwords I meandered around to the Northeast side of the campus near the Russian hospitality room.  I snapped this photo below because of just how human and touching the scene was.  A man from Russia with his son.  The son was 11 or so years old.  The son was reading the Bible and the dad would point to verses and sections while the son was reading.  I share this as an encouragement.  There is such chatter in the media about people groups and why some are bad and some are good.  These are all creations from our King and He is working everywhere and across generations, building His Church.

Next in the day would be Art Azurdia.  It was a year or so ago when Jason pointed me to Dr. Azurdia's 5 hour teaching on the Doctrines of Grace.  I loved it but had never seen him preach before.  He is more than compelling.  He started by describing his anxiety when he had preached at Grace Community previously because the baptistery was opened at the time and he feared falling in.  The statement made no sense at first, until he began. Dr. Azurdia moves in an amazing range.  At first it seems as though he has his own personal sign language.  Later it really started to seem like a documentary form of preaching.  Where his entire body was extracting these images and thoughts out of the air and in real time with his words and movements.  Think-Joe Cocker with much more passion. Later has his message unfolded.  My thought changed.  He brought forth point after point that pierced and convicted.  He was like a guerrilla fighter stalking our hearts, to only pause for a moment as he took aim to fire.  This is not a contrivance on his part.  The same force that transforms every sinew in Steve Lawson's extremities into iron while he preaches, affects Dr. Azurdia to paint our minds with the Truth of scripture.  I encourage you to watch this message, he convicts some portion of all of our hearts.


After a short break we were back to here the Master's Seminary Men and the Chorale sing.  It was wonderful, so wonderful.  On Wednesday John MacArthur had described the interface between Earth and Heaven as being this single point on Mount Zion.  At this moment with all we had seen and heard-some measure of that feeling had gripped us all.  So very extraordinary

Dr. Ligon Duncan followed.  He stated at the beginning that he was following the form of Dr. MacArthur in laying out a lengthy introduction before zeroing in on the text (Gal 5). His central point was this; "The ministry of the Spirit IS the power of the Church".   I have to be honest here.  I could not keep up.  By this time in the day I was very tired.  I have pretty extensive notes, but Dr. Duncan was covering so much ground I was just not able to keep up.  Dr. MacArthur described the message as a "Tour de force" regarding the Holy Spirit and the how the promises of the OT carry forward into the Church.  But much more than that I was not able to grasp.  It will have to be an MP3 played on several commutes to work for me to get my mind wrapped around this message.  

We loaded up for dinner at Cheesecake Factory.  However, it seems that my fatigue was contagious.  The Cheesecake Factory was crowded and while waiting in line, Commander Schuh (Jason) took a pole of FoTW.  All but Rod (AKA: Iron-man) wanted to get an early start on sleep. Rod stayed for fellowship and dining with the air-travel wing of the Countryside contingent.  

This morning it is with a prideful (but not in a sinful way) anticipation that we look forward to hearing Pastor Tom.  It seems every year, Tom's message forms the hinge of rigor at the conference, regardless of the theme. We are interested and hopeful for how we will be transformed.

Cannot close without stating that in spite of these times of fellowship, worship and learning.  We miss you all, we miss you all.