Dr Lawson was his usually crisp and clean communicator with his patented karate chop on the podium. His voice seems to be the factional part of his effort. Every muscle in his body was laboring to communicate. His text was John 10:11-18 (my favorite chapter). As an introduction, he mentioned that his first Shepherds Conference was in 1982 and was held in the Chapel. Then he mentioned the pulpits he had preached from around the world, even the John Knox pulpit in the UK; 'there is no place that I am as honored to be speaking at, than right here...'.
Once he got started he stressed there was only one flock that are His. There will be no denominations in Heaven only the sheep washed in the blood. In the section from v.11 - 18 he described this as Christ exegeting His own death (the hinge that a very large door swings on). Dr Lawson moved to definite propitiation. During the John Owen lectures in London, Mr. Lawson asked a scholar what was the 'ace card' that for particular anointment-the answer? The unity of purpose of the Godhead. In short-another great message, worthy of hearing over and over again.
Once complete, we had to leave the Worship Center and take all our belongings. They wanted to get the area cleaned and do a sound check / rehearsal for the choir. It was dinner time. The food trucks were out in force. Marv and Jason had meatballs from the volunteers. Mark went searching for a special gift for Mary and I surveyed the food trucks. The lines were immense, save for the crepe and Indian food trucks... The lines were so long that you had to walk the line just to be sure what line was going to which truck. In the end, I snagged some leftover frys from Chip Bingham and made one cycle for the meatball and chips. Mark arrived from his quest-no joy. What he was looking for was completely sold-out. Sorry Mary.
Back at the Worship Center we were able to seat in the Countryside Section at the left side of the pulpit. The music was soaring, ethereal and made us feel small-we considered that to be a very good thing. Just before Dr. MacArthur delivered his message, astronaut Jeff Williams presented him with a framed copy of one of his Bible commentaries that he had taken to the ISS. JM was clearly humbled and touched.
The message, was extraordinary for a message from JM. It was a message that was relaxed and fatherly. At the begining he started with expressing the joy of the event. He did not want this to end. To emphasize the point he stated, "do any of us really want to leave?"; "don't you want to stay?". Then he pointed to the South (the circus tent) and said, "We already have a tent...". Pastoral laughter exploded everywhere. It was a great entree to his message and signal for the close of the event.
The central point he was making, was the practical application of discipline and restoration of a believer based on John 21. In short, ask one question, three times; "Do you love Me?". We are only fragile and brittle clay pots with unclean lips. We are filled and defined by flaws and failures. Our response and only possible path to meaningful worship is; "Relentless pursuit of the knowledge of Christ and His glory...".
From this we strive to grow in our love, not as a love that is perfect, but a love that is real. Real love is acceptable and real love will be moved through sanctification toward prefect love.
At this moment we are at the foot of the Providence Mountain range, running parallel to old Route 66. Jason is changing out with Mark for the next leg. If all goes well we MAY be home by ~9-10 am Central time.
Love you all! Seeing you soon.
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