White Unto Harvest

 

"And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

~ Matthew 28:18-20

To finish off our trip, we headed to the NCFIC White Unto Harvest Conference at Ridgecrest, NC.  What an incredible three days we spent being spiritually fed, instructed, and convicted by the Word, fellowshipping with other believers, and growing in our faith.

“Just before His ascension the Lord Jesus Christ delivers His last command. His last command ought to be our first priority. It’s a life-altering commission. If you get involved with Jesus the whole course of your life is shifted. You are not your own. He puts a mission upon you to go out and make disciples of all the nations. He delivers you from the smallness of your own dreams. He delivers you from yourself; from wasting your life in the way that you think you would like to live it. He changes your heart and he puts His mantle of authority upon you in the same way that He did Elijah and Elisha. This is what the great commission is all about, and it is truly a great commission.”

~Scott Brown

“Here is a large secret of why the Puritan evangelistic method was so successful: The Puritans were living transcripts of their sermons. They lived the way they preached. It was said of the Puritans they were as holy in private as they appeared to be on the pulpit.”

~ Dr. Joel Beeke

Diligently taking notes.

“Our mission is to advance the faith. We are to go to the four corners of the earth. We are to declare the lordship of Christ; His Kingship. We are to make disciples of nations. We are to teach all things, whatsoever God has commanded. We dare not stand with those men in either extreme of the precipice of presumption – the one declaring the end of nations and the imminent destruction of the earth, or the other, heralding the restoration of the righteous rule of Christ over the nations within this generation. We’re in this fight for the long haul. We’re in it to the death. We’re here as long as God requires, be that one generation or a thousand! We’re not blind to our place in history. We’re not blind to the great commission work of the past. We’re not blind to the building of Christendom; to the gospel commission that was given our forefathers. That’s why we embrace the obligation. Ours is a gospel mission that brings the only message capable of piercing the heart and transforming the man. Ours is a great commission mandate that seeks the discipleship of nations. Ours is a dominion cause that reminds us that the earth is the Lord’s and that we are duty-bound to subdue it for His glory. To these ends we purpose to be about the business of building the church and the new men of the 21st century.” 

~ Doug Phillips

“One day you will be exposed for what’s in your heart and all the manners and all the morality and all the historic virtue and classical living will not help you when you stand before God. Only the blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse you. You must run to Him. You must run to Him. You must run to Him.”  

~Paul Washer

Our family really enjoys the panel sessions at the end of most conferences.  The final panel for this conference included Doug Phillips, Paul Washer, Kevin Swanson, Jesse Saint, and Dan Horn.  In this picture, Mr. Saint (Nate Saint’s grandson) shared how the Lord saved him while serving with his family as a missionary to the tribe that murdered his grandfather.  He shared that the same hands that speared his grandfather, baptized him as a follower of Jesus Christ.  It was not the same murderer, for the old man had been transformed into the new man in Christ.  What an amazing story demonstrating God’s sovereign power over all mankind!

Meeting with some sweet friends we met through blogging.

On Saturday evening after the conference was over, many families gathered together for an informal time of singing hymns.  It was such an appropriate response after all we had learned about our Great God.  After an hour of singing, over 100 had gathered around a piano with violins and continued singing until 11 p.m. Clara is waiting with her friends for the singing to begin. 

Next year’ s conference is entitled “The Worship of God.”  To learn more go here.