Saturday, July 29, 2006
The Encontro da Fé Reformada, São Luis
The conference went well, not least for the chance to tune up the material that had already been preached in Fortaleza. Good fellowship, and Conrad's ministry was at its best.
At both Encontros Conrad opened up Romans 6:1-14 – “The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus in our Sanctification.” What was striking was the degree to which he reorganized his material between the two conferences. His preaching was good in Fortaleza, but was extraordinary in São Luis. We felt that his simple, profound and startling explanation of the final verses of the passage was one of the most joy-provoking, life-challenging things we have heard in ages. We were not alone. Given that the preaching is in English, with Portuguese interpretation, we can heartily recommend these expositions to anyone in either language.
Mauro Meister gave some clear papers on “The Law and Sanctification”, and interpreted for Conrad. He has grown as an interpreter in the time we have known him: tremendously sure-footed. Hermistem was to speak on “Sanctification in the life of the pastor”: unfortunately after the excellent treatment of the theme by Valdeci in Fortaleza, his talks seemed rather formless and void.
At both conferences, Andrew dealt with the same themes, although, like Conrad, he re-jigged the material considerably between the two moments. He had three talks to deal with the theme, “Preaching and Sanctification.” The first, on Colossians 1 and 2, dealt with Paul’s handling of a church where false paths and promises for a deeper life were on offer: he taught the Christ-centred word, with all his strength. The second talk was a historical paper, on Luther and Sanctification. How did Luther deal with the prevailing confusion of his day with regard to good works, and especially so with some of the antinomian tendencies that arose in the wake of his rediscovery of justification? He taught the word systematically. Finally, in 1 Peter 1 and 2, we looked at a passage which is in itself a call to sanctification, but includes the sublime section of 1:23 – 2:3 on the nature of the Word as a basis for our pursuit of holiness.
Conference evening congregation.
The conference went well, not least for the chance to tune up the material that had already been preached in Fortaleza. Good fellowship, and Conrad's ministry was at its best.
At both Encontros Conrad opened up Romans 6:1-14 – “The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus in our Sanctification.” What was striking was the degree to which he reorganized his material between the two conferences. His preaching was good in Fortaleza, but was extraordinary in São Luis. We felt that his simple, profound and startling explanation of the final verses of the passage was one of the most joy-provoking, life-challenging things we have heard in ages. We were not alone. Given that the preaching is in English, with Portuguese interpretation, we can heartily recommend these expositions to anyone in either language.
Mauro Meister gave some clear papers on “The Law and Sanctification”, and interpreted for Conrad. He has grown as an interpreter in the time we have known him: tremendously sure-footed. Hermistem was to speak on “Sanctification in the life of the pastor”: unfortunately after the excellent treatment of the theme by Valdeci in Fortaleza, his talks seemed rather formless and void.
At both conferences, Andrew dealt with the same themes, although, like Conrad, he re-jigged the material considerably between the two moments. He had three talks to deal with the theme, “Preaching and Sanctification.” The first, on Colossians 1 and 2, dealt with Paul’s handling of a church where false paths and promises for a deeper life were on offer: he taught the Christ-centred word, with all his strength. The second talk was a historical paper, on Luther and Sanctification. How did Luther deal with the prevailing confusion of his day with regard to good works, and especially so with some of the antinomian tendencies that arose in the wake of his rediscovery of justification? He taught the word systematically. Finally, in 1 Peter 1 and 2, we looked at a passage which is in itself a call to sanctification, but includes the sublime section of 1:23 – 2:3 on the nature of the Word as a basis for our pursuit of holiness.
Conference evening congregation.
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