The Highway of Holiness

At the end of October, our family attended the 2015 NCFIC  Highway of Holiness Conference, which was held near Asheville, NC. The sermons were very beneficial and eye-opening for our family and we have come home with much to think about! I hope that these quotes will bless you as well.

“And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the way; even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.”

Isaiah 35:8

~Scott Brown, President of NCFIC~

“The pursuit of holiness is the pursuit of the likeness of Christ.”

“We must purse holiness.  Salvation’s whole design is holiness.”

"God's holiness is found in everything. It is the irreducible principle.  It’s higher, deeper, and wider than all the doctrines.  Isolating the doctrine of holiness is impossible."

“We are like sand fleas on the beach, trying to describe the Himalayan Mountains as we try to describe God’s holiness.”

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~Paul Washer~

"God is distinct, separate. He is in a category all to Himself. That holiness, that distinctiveness, is demonstrated by God’s purity, His cleanness.  We need to value God.  It’s not just about our attempt to pursue sinlessness.  Don’t become a nit-picky rule-keeper, a legalist.  I do not want holiness for holiness’ sake. I want holiness for Christ’s sake.

“Sometimes I’m afraid to walk on the Highway of Holiness. To walk in the truth is to walk on a razor blade: antinomianism on one side, legalism on the other side. Taking away what God has said or adding to what God has said. The only solution is to keep my eyes fixed on Christ. When I follow Christ, I see a holiness as he walks toward Jerusalem.  I see only in Him the perfect example that holiness is manifested in love toward God. And love toward everyone else. He is not only holy in His justice, but He is holy in His mercy and grace. I want to be holy. I know the motivation for holiness: It is Christ. The goal of all holiness is Christ.

“That Someone like that would humble Himself to save someone like me is beyond overwhelming;  it’s mind-destroying! When you get your mind around this – God’s holiness – it just grabs you and carries you along. You cannot sin in light of this. You hate self and its exultation in light of this. Nothing, nothing but Christ.  And then you are on the Highway of Holiness.
 

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~Joel Beeke~

“Whenever we sin, we are not really thinking of God at that moment.  Whenever we knowingly commit a sin of omission or commission, at that very moment, we are playing the role of a practical atheist. At that moment, we are acting as though God is not.  If you really believe in God, you would not sin with impunity.”

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~Jeff Pollard~

“To love the world is to love what God hates, to esteem what God loathes, to value what God rejects, to admire what God despises, to exalt what God condemns, to accept what God rejects, to savor what God vomits out, to call good what God calls evil.”

For the month of November, you can download and listen to the keynote sermons for FREE on ncfic.org

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.

2012 Family Economics Conference

Our family had the great privilege of attending the 2012 Family Economics Conference hosted by Generations with Vision.  What a wonderful weekend of learning about family economies, studying the Law of God, gaining practical advice from panelists, being surrounded by families who strive to honor God in everything they do, strengthening friendships, celebrating liberty, etc. etc.!!

We all took a lot of notes.

A panel discussion on how to choose the optimum business.

R.C. Sproul Jr. speaking on the issue of money.  Short version:  all wealth is God’s.  He has called us to be stewards of his gifts and blessings.  Are we using them for His glory as he has commanded or for our pleasure and benefit?

Discussions with friends over supper.

Friends are such a blessing!

A few times during the conference, polls were taken from the heads of households in the audience.  Kevin Swanson, Eric Weir, Doug Phillips, and R.C. Sproul Jr. interpreted the results and set some goals.

It was interesting to learn about the audience.

This one was fun!  (There was some negotiating going on in the audience:)

I love this one.  Christians should not live to retire or relax.  We have a job to do until Christ returns!

We listened to a panel of young entrepreneurs which was very interesting.

The conference ended on Saturday night with a wonderful celebration!

We enjoyed some fun music

and singing.

Mr. Phillips gave a talk on the importance of the very small island of Iona on the formation of America.  To learn more, go here.

Mr. Phillips also posted his thoughts about this conference on his blog which you can view here.

The famous meeting of the 2nd Virginia Convention was reenacted with the burgesses sitting among the audience.  It was dramatic and very well done!Here, Mr. Edmund Pendleton explaining his stand against declaring independence and taking up arms.

Mr. Robert Carter Nicholas was Kyle’s new friend:)

Patrick Henry giving his famous speech.

To read his whole speech, go here.

Alright sir, I get the point:)

Afterward, we danced some Virginia reels and other period dances.  People of all ages joined in.  This was our first experience and we loved it!

We finally convinced our brothers to join us.  After the 1st dance, they were hooked!

Here they come!

We had so much fun!

Marriage Conference

Last weekend, we were so blessed to be able to attend a NCFIC conference called “Gospel-Centered Marriages for a Glorious Church.” It was incredible!

"Until we understand the cross, it's almost impossible to understand marriage, because at the center of marriage is the cross. That's why Paul says 'This is a great mystery but I speak concerning Christ and the church". What he's saying is 'I'm speaking of the cross'. Marriage is meant to display the glory and the accomplishment of the cross. On the cross was the ultimate sacrifice. It was also the ultimate accomplishment as He won, from every tongue and tribe and nation, those who hated Him. That's why Paul said 'God forbid that I should boast in anything but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ'. Paul said in Romans 5:6-8, 'Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.' And that, brothers and sisters, is the meaning of Ephesians 5:21-33."

~ Scott Brown

Paul Washer gave two messages, one on Principles of “Courtship” and the other was a Presentation of the Gospel. The Presentation of the Gospel, we believe, was the best part of the entire conference. Mr. Washer demonstrated so much passion and God really used him to make the story come alive. What a blessing!

“When we say that Christ died for God and when we say that Christ died for His own glory, that does not extinguish His real love for His redeemed. This is amazing! He loved His people! And He loved them when they were vile and hated Him. He loved them when His holiness would not even allow him to look upon them. He loved them! He really, really loves you. This is amazing. This is not some God coldly manipulating things in order to show how great He is. This is not God just coldly wanting to show something to creation about who He truly is. He loves you! This is the thing that is the most amazing to me. He loves me.”

“From where does zeal come? From where does courage come? It doesn’t come from some sort of John Wayne “power within us”. It does not come from some natural steel in our backbones. It comes from this: What Christ paid changes everything! A man or a woman grabs ahold of this truth and they will be imprisoned for the rest of their lives within the confines of the love of God. It will be these truths that guide them. This is the mystery of all true piety and godliness! That Christ has come and that He has taken our sins upon Himself and that He has died. This is what must drive you. Not even the desire to change culture or fix this world should drive you. If that is your guiding strength it’s idolatry. The thing that must drive you is what God has done for you in Christ!”

~ Paul Washer

Doug Phillips gave several excellent talks including "Wedding Ceremonies and Covenants," "Jurisdictions After Marriage," and "How Fathers Qualify Suitors and Receive Daughters". He is one of our family’s favorite speakers.

There were around 2,200 people at this conference. It was so wonderful to hear these messages on Biblical principles and also to fellowship with like-minded families.

Kevin Swanson was also one of the speakers. He is a very dynamic speaker, full of passion for the Lord, His Word, and families. We enjoyed him.

“God calls fathers to really engage in this area. If you love God, and if you love His kingdom, you have got to engage His kingdom work in the discipleship of your sons and daughters. Why? For you? No. For your daughters? No. For your sons? No. It is for God. It is for your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. You ought to be willing to lay your life down. If you have to go through that courtship and you have to forgive that young man 79 times or 4,767 times, it is for the sake of the kingdom of God. There were martyrs who had their skin taken off and they were dipped in boiling oil for their love for Christ. Can you make it through this courtship through the love that you have for Christ and His kingdom? Do you have that kind of commitment? Let me tell you this: if we’re going to make it through some of these difficult challenges ahead, it has to be because there are men who are willing to lay their lives down for the kingdom of God.”

~Kevin Swanson

Near the end of the conference there was a Q & A panel which was very helpful in answering practical questions.

For more information about this conference and if you are interested in ordering the CDs click here.

Enjoying lunch in the cool fall weather.

We missed the peak, but it was still beautiful!

We are again “en route” heading to New England and enjoying the beautiful countryside.

Stay tuned for more!