Keloù Mat

Time is flying, and the conference is finishing tomorrow. It has been another blessed day.

It started off with Iain Hamilton trying to convince us to buy Charles Hodge’s biography (published by the Banner). He was followed by Martin Holdt who once again convicted us that we need more of the presence of the Spirit, looking especially at sermon preparation. Lewis Allen turned our eyes to our great hope: the second coming of our Lord.

I had a quick nap in the afternoon, and Skyped my family. I had a good conversation over coffee with a man who had tried to recruit me to help training Pastors in French speaking Africa. I declined the offer, but gave the names of some people who may be of help to him.

The 5 o’clock session was a the question session to the panel. There were a lot of questions on Archibald Brown, and many also on the Holy Spirit. Another hepful one was about how to start reforming a church. Two points came out of that: Preach the Word with great care, and show your people that you love them. Geoff Thomas closed the sessions with 5 lessons he’d learned (and we could learn), from Lloyd Jones ministry/ They were:

1. The beauty of a righteous life.
2. The importance of Evangelistic preaching.
3. The importance of church history to inspire and enrich our lives.
4. We should never loose confidence in preaching.
5. We should not absolutise one man as our role model for preachers.

The day closed with a great lecture by Phil Arthur on William Tyndale, an amazing man who translated the NT in English and was martyred in October 1536. He gave his life out of Love for Christ, the Scriptures and the English people.

Tomorrow is the last morning, with one more session on the Holy Spirit in preaching by Martin Holdt, and a session by Iain Murray.

The day started with Geoff Thomas who gave a short talk from Luke 13:34-35 on the Free offer of the Gospel. Martin Holdt from South Africa followed, urging us to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and explaining what it meant. The morning finished with Lewis Allen on loving Christ and what it means.

I had a quiet afternoon, falling asleep on my bed, and skyping Esther.

At 5pm, we had a news session. It was thrilling to hear from different brothers telling us about the gospel in Places like Pakistan, the jungles of Brazil, Myanmar, India, England… It was humbling to hear about the dedication, faith and perseverance of believers who are persecuted  for their faith.

For the Last Session of the day, Iain Murray introduced us to Archibald Brown, an Englishman who ministered in various churches in London and made an amazing impact on the East End of London in the second half of the 19th Century and beginning of the 20th Century, but has been forgotten since. At the beginning of the session, we celebrated Iain Murray’s 80th birthday which is next week.

It was a good day, it is nice to meet new people and catch up with Friends.

The Banner of Truth ministers conference started on Monday in Leicester. There are about 180 men, a bit less than usual I believe. Word alive is on this week as well. Could it be a reason that less people are here this year? The trip from Cardiff was uneventful. I took the bus from Leicester train station to the halls of residence, and found the place without any problems. I thank God for that as I was a bit worried I might get down too early or too late, and would have had to walk a lot to get to the place.

One of the main speakers was supposed to be Ted Donnelly. But due to illness, he can’t be with us this year. Rev Iain Murray has stepped in instead. Conference started with Steven Curry, from Bangor, NI. He preached on Matthew 6: 1-18. His main theme was true piety.

In the evening, Iain Murray spoke on John 17:1 “When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you”

I went to bed fairly early, in order to be ready for a busy day today. Prayer meeting is in 5 min, so I’d better hurry.