Sunday Morning

Peter closes his epistle with a grave warning to the church: Satan, the adversary, is actively seeking the destruction of God’s people. Though our eternal security is secure and cannot be threatened by the devil, he will attack things very precious and vulnerable things: our faith, our family, our witness, our churches. God has provided in His word everything we need to know to guard against the devil’s tactics. Elder Gary Harvey closes our Annual Spring Meeting with specific exhortations to be on our guard.

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Saturday Afternoon

Elder Gary Harvey exhorts us that it is up to us to obey the impulse given us by God to serve Him. God does not force us to follow and serve Him. It is God’s will for our lives that we honor and serve God, but if we are to be in church; if we are to study His word daily; if we are to live according to His commandments–we must take action.

Action that honors God will almost always be opposed by our nature. Expect it. Yet God always blesses us with the strength we need to do what He asks.

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Saturday Afternoon

The follower of Jesus Christ cannot enjoy an intimate relationship with Him outside of the church. The local church also has the privilege and responsibility of promoting His word and His truth in the community and the world. We are commanded, and should find ready motivation, to attend and support the local church. Elder Matt Jordan surveys the book of Acts to see how a committed, faithful, and prayerful congregation can turn the world upside down.

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Saturday Morning

The world teaches us that life is about us: our desires, our preferences. Elder Matt Jordan begins in 1 Peter 5 to show us the biblical teaching that we as Christians should set aside our own desires and become servants, making sacrifices to give others what they desire. This self-sacrificial attitude is, in a word, humility. A lack of humility communicates a disrespect of others; a dismissal of what is important to them. Pride is the inverse of humility. God resists the proud, but gives His grace to the humble–grace for daily living. If we humble ourselves in God’s sight, He will lift us up. If we stand on our own strength, in pride, God has told us to expect a fall. Worse, we will not experience God’s kingdom in power on earth unless we submit to the King.

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Saturday Morning

Continuing the topic he opened Friday night, Elder Gary Harvey studies the dual, conflicted nature of one whom God has given eternal life. Elder Harvey begins by stirring us to imagine an existence in which every unthinking, unconsidered reaction is holy, not corrupt. That is heaven. Until then, we must struggle to subdue our natural, automatic impulses. They arise from the flesh. Our inner man is in bondage to the natural, carnal body and its urges as long as we live on this earth.

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Friday Evening

Elder Gary Harvey speaks from the book of Romans to bring clarity to the complex, dual nature that defines the struggle of discipleship faced by each of God’s children. When God puts eternal life in each of His children, it takes the from of a spiritual creature put into and under the subjection of our earthly body. Natural, unholy impulses continue to dominate our behaviors. The guidance of the inner, spiritual man must be sought, cultivated, and reinforced through discipleship so that the inner light can shine for others to see.

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Friday Evening

Elder Matt Jordan opens our annual Spring Meeting reading from Acts 2. Scriptures are clear that Jesus saves. From what does He save us? Each time the Bible records a salvation Jesus provides His people, it gives context for that salvation. Eternal punishment is one judgment from which we are saved; in other cases Jesus saves us from timely chastisement or from the darkness of spiritual ignorance.

Technical note: Our apologies, the recording quality during the first 10 minutes of this message is terrible.

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We were blessed with good attendance at the 2010 Defense of the Faith meeting, and the singing was blessed and uplifting. Below are a few of the best recordings captured during the song services over the three-day event.

Elder Gary Harvey of Arkansas closes the 2010 Defense of the Faith seminar with a discourse examining the liberating effect of God’s law. Popular understanding today views law as a stricture, an unnatural restraint on the pursuit of self-interest. While God’s law may be oppressive to the wicked, God’s children should be able to see that God’s commandments establish freedom for good to flourish. God’s law preserves innocent life, establishes the principle of personal property, and provides for a sound economy. The law of God is the very foundation of liberty.

Elder Harvey examines the law of marriage in particular, establishing the family as the foundation of all society. God’s law of marriage is perfect. It calls for one man, one woman, together for life, wife deferring to husband, and husband submitting to Christ.

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Elder Randall Cagle examines what God’s word says about sex in the seventh session of the 2010 Defense of the Faith seminar at Bethany. From the syllabus:

Hebrews 13:4: “Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.”

God knows and has established that if sex is going to be meaningful, it must be experienced within a loving committed marriage. Why does God want you to wait till you are married to experience and enjoy sexual relations?

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