In this audio message from the 2011 National Conference, multiple men share what is "burning in their souls." These men share biblical insights about fatherhood, marriage, and biblical doctrine. One speaker explains how men must strive after biblical maturity and that fathers must take their role as leaders seriously.

Ezekiel 36:26 (NKJV) - "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh."

How are things up in Chicago? The wrist is going good? Yeah. Are you doing elevator work now? Yes, sir.

Right there. Okay. Yes, sir. Yeah, so pretty good. Thank you.

We have your attention. We're going to get started here in just a moment. What we've done with these times, burnings in the soul, is to just ask men to come and tell us what's burning in their soul. I have no idea what these men are going to say. Now, most men have something burning in their soul.

You might find some men who really don't have anything burning in their soul, but that's rare. But when what's burning in a man's soul is connected with biblical truth, then you have a fire that burns away sin and it causes an environment where new sprouts can spring up and new life can come. And these men have been before God and with biblical truth in order to bring what's burning in their soul. Just because a man has something burning in his soul doesn't matter. But when that is connected with the Lord Jesus Christ and the word that he's spoken to mankind, then we really have something.

And I pray that God will use this time for the purpose of burning away sin, for helping us to see the Lord more clearly, for helping us to see what what we ought to do as men in the world that that God has placed us in with the moments he's given until the end. And so these men are coming with a sense of urgency and with and with a sense of burning. The first man is Dan Horne. I had the privilege of laboring with him as a fellow elder at Hope Baptist Church. And so would you please welcome Dan Horn.

So as Scott asked me to talk about this, it's always, when you think about what's burning in your soul, the reality is it changes over time. It changes over time depending on what scripture you're reading, what passage you're studying in your church. And we're going through Matthew, And one of the things that God has really laid on my heart as I look at the church is our lack of shepherds in the church. And I want to read from Jeremiah 23, starting in verse 1. We'll be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pastures, saith the Lord.

Therefore, thus saith the Lord God of Israel, against the pastors that feed my people, ye have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not visited them. Behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings saith the Lord and I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whether I have driven them and will bring them again to their folds and they shall be fruitful and increase and I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them. And they shall fear no more nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord. Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and the king shall reign and prosper and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth in his days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely and this is his name whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness Therefore behold the days come saith the Lord that they shall no more say the Lord liveth which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt but the Lord liveth which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country and from all countries whether I have driven them and they shall dwell in their own land.

As we think about this, this is a promise from God that he will raise up shepherds but that doesn't mean that we don't have responsibility and he says what these shepherds will do, They will feed the flock. So often we have shepherds whose focus is not on feeding the flock. Because the only food that the flock needs is the word of God, not their word. We don't see shepherds that are out there stopping fear, saying do not fear man, but fear God alone. God promises he will raise up shepherds that will do this.

He says he'll raise up shepherds that will teach them not to be dismayed. That idea of being dismayed is to be prostrate before. It's a people who will stand. In the day of adversity they will stand. That they won't be lacking in anything.

That they will feed them every good thing. This is, as I think about it and as we've gone through these passages, the more and more I recognize the church needs to be about one of its key duties. We can talk about a multi-generational vision in our families and that's a good thing to talk about. There's nothing wrong with that. That's an important thing to talk about.

But part of that vision needs to be, how do we raise up a generation of elders? How do we raise up a generation of men that are fit to do these? And not just fit to do these things, not just have the knowledge to do these things, but to have the passion to do these things. Jesus Christ tells us in a kind of a parallel passage in Ezekiel 34 what he will do. He will seek those who are lost.

When we think about this marriage conference, let's not just think about this as let's have our sons and daughters have happy marriages. But let's think about it in the context of what God's work is doing, which is happy marriages, marriages that are successful, marriages where the focus is not on man but on God. That's where you get men who desire to find the lost sheep of Israel, who desire and will do the work. He says also that seek that which was lost and bring again that which was driven away and bind up that which is broken. We need pastors that have a burning desire not just to let their people stay where they are.

They come every week and they hear sermons, but they don't have an expectation of change in their flock. That's not the kind of shepherd Jesus Christ is. That's not the kind of shepherd that any man that is an under shepherd of Christ has the right to be. We need shepherds that say God's word changes people and that we bind up the broken. And that we will strengthen that which is sick.

We live in a very sick society and the people coming into our churches are very sick. But we need to, both as men, you need to ask yourself, is this your calling? Because the church is desperate for men that have this calling. Have the calling to say, my desire is to strengthen the weak. Have the calling to say my desire is to bind up the broken.

To have the calling to say I want to find the lost sheep of the house of Israel. This is what's burning on my soul is, is not just an exhortation to do this, but how do we as the church go about doing what Paul commands Timothy to do, which is to find other men that will teach others also and to build them up and to strengthen them so that they can be faithful shepherds and reflect on the good and great shepherd that is our God. Kevin, can you start making your way up here? There he is. Kevin Swanson, President of Generations with Vision, has one of the most exciting radio programs you'll ever hear, taking on all kinds of subjects that are fascinating and really very helpful.

So would you welcome Kevin Swanson. Well, we deal with a lot of issues on our radio program all the time. We're concerned about many things going on in the country, around the world. The death of Western Christianity is a problem. The apostasy of Christianity in the Western world, America and Canada, with hundreds of millions of people walking away from the faith right now even as we speak in the Western countries the breakdown of the family has been severe the breakdown of freedoms the problem the breakdown of the church we will hardly have the Church of Jesus Christ coming together and multiplying and being healthy and loving one another and preaching the Word of God.

All of these things are important issues and we talk about these things a lot on the radio program, but I think the real problem right now is a misconception concerning the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's the issue. People do not know what the gospel of Jesus Christ is. There is tremendous confusion on this in conservative denominations. I'm talking about the Southern Baptists, I'm talking about the PCA, the OPC even, conservative denominations.

I find many people are confused. When you ask them what the gospel is, they'll give you different answers. If that be the case, brothers, if we don't know what the gospel of Jesus Christ is, and if you can't get four pastors in the same room from relatively conservative denominations to tell you what the gospel is and say essentially the same thing I'd say we've got a problem so what is the gospel well look it up in your concordance you'll find right away revelation 14 it is the fear of God It is preaching the everlasting fear of God and the worship of Almighty God. It's a broad definition for the gospel of Christ and it's found in the Bible. It's a good book.

First Corinthians 15 answers the question we'll read it to you I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you by which you are saved now here it is you ready how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and and he was buried and he rose again on the third day. 95% of the Christians who answer that question will not give the final part of the gospel of Christ. They forget his resurrection. They leave him on the cross. He was raised for our justification, brothers.

He was raised for our justification. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is vital to the story. Now receiving the gospel is the other aspect of this and I think best configured in Luke 7 47 where you have the sinner woman at Jesus feet. And the reason I bring this out is because people don't understand what it is to receive the gospel of Christ. It is the sinner woman at Jesus feet.

She's come before him. She's the sinner woman. The Pharisee says, you understand the woman at your feet, Jesus. He says, yes, I know. I know who she is.

She's been washing my feet with her tears. You didn't do that for me, Simon. She's done it. To whom much is forgiven, much will love. And he who loves little, or he is forgiven little, will love little.

This is the gospel of Christ. The gospel of Christ is a picture. It is a vignette, it is the pericope. It is one picture of a woman at Jesus' feet who has sinned much, she's been forgiven much, so she loves much, and Jesus said, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments, so she serves him, she loves him, she obeys him. This is the gospel, and if you bifurcate it, which is done all the time in the way we preach in the way we quote-unquote disciple or evangelize.

We bifurcate this all the time. If you separate sinned much from forgiven much, what do you get? Somebody who's got a heavy burden. What happens if somebody understands the message to the extent, the picture to the extent they've sinned much, but they don't receive their forgiveness. As you preach, what happens?

They're heavily burdened with the burdens of sin. Now what happens if they understand forgiveness, but you forgot to mention the fact that they sinned much? Well, you get the gracey-gracey approach to the gospel that most people get today and that is they have no idea the depth of their sins because the law of God is not preached they're not called to repentance and faith, faith for that, faith for the cleansing power of Jesus' death and resurrection for their sins, for both the guilt and the power of their sins. So if they get forgiveness, but they didn't hear sin, they've got a problem now. Is it possible to bifurcate forgiveness and love?

Impossible. If somebody has been to the cross if they've been forgiven because they have sinned much of course they will love much and keep God's commandments that's why we preach the law of God and the law of God is the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is not a bifurcation of law and gospel. The law of God is part of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We do not separate justification, sanctification.

Calvin wouldn't do it. Our original constitutions and covenants would not do it and we ought not do it either brothers we don't separate the blood of Jesus Christ this part cleanses the guilt this poor cleanses the power a thousand knows that is how I see sanctification and justification distinct but not separate they've got to come together in the gospel all the time and when we talk about marriage conferences Some people come to us and say, why don't you talk about the gospel? Marriage is the gospel. Family is the gospel. Ephesians 6, four is the gospel.

Deuteronomy 6, seven is the gospel. How is that the gospel? We are at the feet of Christ. And when we hear God's law, we know it will have come short. That's the first use of the law.

We're convicted, we come to Christ's cross and know that we are judged, we are condemned, but for that blood. And there at the cross, two streams of tears come from our eyes. A stream of tears of conviction. Hearing the word of God, knowing we are condemned, but a second flow of tears will overwhelm the first. And that is the tears of gratitude knowing that Jesus has paid for our sins and so we walk away, loving the one who forgave us so much in keeping his commandments much.

Please don't take a pair of scissors and cut the story in two. Don't you ever do that. Don't you ever do that. Our conferences about marriage, about economics, about debt, about Deuteronomy 6-7, about 98% of scripture, If it's at the front of the cross, we'll yield repentance and faith. The just will live by faith.

Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. The word is in the Aorist. Sorry, it's not in English that way. There is no end to believe. Believe and keep on believing in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.

In this separation of evangelism and discipleship, as if we can run out there and evangelize, later we'll get on with discipleship, the law, works, and all that sort of stuff. It's not biblical. It's not biblical. We don't separate evangelism and discipleship. There are some who are new to the idea of faith, repentance, and the love of Christ.

And there are some of us who have been at it for a while. Get the gospel right. We believe. We receive the forgiveness of Christ. We love Him.

We keep His commandments. You're going to separate that? You're going to separate that into pieces? Don't do it. Bring the message as one story and preach it again and again and again every day in your family every week in your churches amen Doug could you make your your way up to the platform Doug Phillips everybody knows Doug Phillips Doug it's so great to have you back, just back from Iceland, And it's such a blessing to hear what's burning in your soul.

Thank you, Scotty. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Brothers, this is the first conference that I have been privileged to attend where I can stand before you at the age of 46 say I'm enjoying the privileges of a grandfather. It was 10 years ago I'm not an actual flesh-and-blood grandfather but I feel like I'm a grandfather to my senior brother Scott Brown.

It was 10 years ago that this whole work began. It began in San Antonio, Texas and some of you men were there and joined us for that very, very special time. It was the week of 9-11. When the National Center for Family Integrated Churches was formed, when it began, the homeschool movement was in turmoil. Do you remember that?

Do some of you remember? I couldn't walk five feet in a homeschool conference without someone coming up to me and saying, what about the church? What about the church? We figured out that we need to turn our hearts to our children, but what in the world about the church? It's interesting how God sometimes works circuitously in bringing about his great providences to work reform.

I don't think I would have planned it the particular way the Lord planned it, but thus he did it that way. And I just want to say on this anniversary that we can all stand as grateful, grateful sons of Scott Brown who has for now close to a half a decade been leading the charge in this work and what has been wrought through the Lord as a result of it has been nothing short of phenomenal. So this weekend as we gather together, give special thanks. Make sure you walk up to Scott, don't mean to embarrass you brother, but shake his hand because one of the most important things happening in the world today is the reforming of church and The family and NCFIC under Scott's leadership is doing it. Thanks for letting me be a grandfather Scott It's a it's a wonderful privilege to watch you carrying the burden running the conference and I just get to come.

Thank you for that. But that's not what I want to talk to you about. What I want to talk to you about, it's a dangerous thing by the way to ask a preacher to talk about what's burning in his heart because he stands up and says, well finally I get to talk about what I really want to talk about. I have carte blanche to say what's really, really on my mind. And there are so many things on my mind I've picked one that definitely does burn in my heart today and and what I'd like to speak to you about is the future of our sons and the hope of manhood in the 21st century that's a big subject to discuss in seven minutes so I'm gonna boil it down to say this that I think we need to be very, very, very concerned about the kingdom aspirations of our son.

The kingdom aspirations of our sons. In my view, in my view, the issue of marriage and the church covers many different facets, many, many important areas and issues, but without raising the right type of men, it will be moot. We need the right type of men to be husbands to these women. The men will be leading their homes. The men will be casting the vision.

The men will be leading in the church. The men will be fighting to preserve the church in the 21st century. And so a tremendous amount of effort must be placed on the raising up of sons. And that's what I want to speak to you about. Here's a scripture verse that has haunted me.

I think of it all the time. And I almost picture myself speaking to my own sons in the twilight of my life and I hope that I'm able to say this sort of thing to my sons and my grandsons if God allows them to be around me at that time when the Lord calls me home. Here are the words of David to his son Solomon. Be strong and courageous and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged for the Lord God my God is with you he will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the Lord is finished.

We must cast a vision dear friends which is worthy of the kingdom aspirations of our sons, which is worthy for our sons to spend their entire lifetime being involved in. And I believe it's the lack of vision, the lack of a succession plan, the lack of training, the lack of giving the right foundations to our sons, which is leading to devastation within the church, even within our movement on the issue of marriage. And so a few thoughts I want to say to you about this. The first is There are times in the seasons of men when you know something is afoot. This is one of those times.

Maybe we don't all speak of it as candidly as we should. But if you're honest with yourself, you know something is afoot. You open up the newspapers and you discover that Europe is about to be transformed, fundamentally transformed. You need to understand what this means. This means that Europe, which birthed Reformation Christianity, may go through the most radical transformation, changing of nations, changing of countries, changing economies, and the entire world will be affected by that, including the United States of America.

All you need to do is open up the newspapers to see that things are not going well for our country. Things are not good for our country. God has removed from us the facade that there's any immediate political solution on the horizon. That's gone. I don't think any of us see an immediate political solution, and of course We know that that isn't the solution anyways.

But if we were clinging to that, that's gone. We look around us right now and we understand that we can only continue in the path we are by the grace of God as long as the Lord allows us to hold on a little bit longer. And the question for you is, what's next? And what does God want us to do with our sons in preparing them for the great advent of church history? This is a really big thought I'm sharing with you.

I believe you are on the threshold of a transitional generation. And the work of our generation is so vital and critical in terms of God's providential overlay for the perpetuity of the church. Different generations have had different responsibilities. I stood on, and some of you stood with me, on the great island of Iona. An island which in the 6th century produced a generation of men that ultimately helped to facilitate the most successful evangelism outreach in history since the first century.

In the sixth century a group of men, one of whom was a former warrior who turned to Christ, decided that it was the season in the life of the church to preserve the Word of God. And so they preserved the word of God. That it was the season in the life of the church to train up men to do very arduous things and to have great kingdom aspirations. So they trained up men with the idea that they would be going into different regions and literally taking the Great Commission seriously. Not just discipling individuals, but discipling nations.

Nations. Which meant they would go out and they would be at the forefront of battlefields. They would be meeting with kings. They would be dealing with the transformation of laws and cultures. They'd be putting their lives on the line and for 100 years these men were prepared to go out and what we've discovered is that between the seventh and ninth century was one of the largest evangelism conversions in all of history and we don't have all the facts because it hasn't all been recorded but what we know is this from druids and picks and goths they disappeared and one form of Christian we don't know who is truly saved, who is truly regenerated, what we know is the law systems changed, the cultures changed.

You know, next year is the 100th anniversary of the Titanic and women and children first. That didn't begin with the Titanic, It began in the 7th century with a man by the name of Adamna who went to preach the gospel to nations and saw that children and women were being hurt and says the gospel says men protect women and children. So he wrote what was called the law of the innocence which became the foundation for Western civilization's protection of women and children. It was the mission given to men, the cultivation of men for a great moment in time, which opened up the door for one of the greatest evangelistic outreaches in all of history. And I think we are on the verge of something like that.

Now this is my perception. None of us have direct revelation from God on what happens next. But we look around and we understand things cannot continue. Am I far off? I don't think I am.

I think if we were to take a poll, most of you would say something's afoot. Something's afoot. And 25 years from now, 50 years from now, the landscape might look very, very differently. And so the nub of what I want to say to you is, one of the most important things you are going to be doing in building the church and preparing the church is preparing these men for significant, significant warfare, significant leadership, and significant manly endeavors. I want to give you just a couple of thoughts that maybe someday we can expand upon.

These men need to have a foundation which is unshakable which means their theology has to be strong. They have to believe in the sovereignty of God. They have to understand the grace of God. They have to understand the law of God. They have to be rooted in the scripture.

With the foundation of scriptures, worlds change, cultures change, most importantly, peoples change. Without that, nothing matters. You know, the scripture says, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. And truth is not simply an intellectual concept. It is the way, the truth, and the life.

It is a living person. It is the reality of Jesus Christ. Which means that for our sons to walk in truth, they must know him and experience him through a relationship and understand his word. This may seem so basic, but what I'm telling you is that all of the nice things we teach will not hold in the day of adversity which is to come if they do not know Christ. If they do not love his word.

If they do not understand what he has taught us. We need that foundation. They need something else. They need a legacy which is inspiring. That means that the work you're doing right now, you are, I don't want to use the mixed metaphor here, but you're almost like the monk generation.

You're the preservers of the word. You're the preparers of the knights and the warriors that are about to go out. Most of you are probably not going to go through the hardest things which are yet to come, but your sons will. And their sons will. And you need to be thinking, I'm preparing my sons for that right now.

In fact, I think it's the lack of a sense of legacy. It's a lack of a sense of vision. It's a lack of kingdom aspirations, which is resulting in boys that are throwing their lives away. Our sons aspire to very little. They're being poisoned through the internet.

They're being poisoned through entertainment. They're being poisoned. And the lifeblood is being sucked out. Their manhood is being sucked out of them. Who will marry our daughters?

Who will lead? We need men who are thinking in terms of battle, of kingdom aspirations, and the words of David to his son, be strong, be courageous, do the work! Get the work done. You're about work. You're a dominion man.

Be about work. And that means, friends, that we need to train a new type of a man which is an old type of a man. This is a man who can deal with privation. This is a man who can abound or be abased. This is a man who can handle pain and suffering.

This is not a soft man. This is a man who will be able to endure not only the vicissitudes of the present, but the challenges of the future. And if you do not think in terms of raising that kind of a man, he may never come. You have to think about it. You need persevering men.

And some of the things that are on my mind is testing our sons, giving them clear barometers of their manhood, giving them opportunities to prove themselves, setting clearly definable goals before them, establishing standards and challenges for them, challenging them so that they will be trained and be prepared. We're not raising literal Marines for the United States military, but we most definitely are raising warriors for Christ. And that means we have to prepare them now and not just wait for the devil to be upon them. Now's the time to do all of these things. The preservation of the word, the training up of our sons, and the waiting for the great opportunities that God will send us in the future.

Scott mentioned to you that I just came back from Iceland. 72 hours ago I was essentially hanging off a cliff on a glacier with my my three boys and a number of friends. And we went there, the reason why we went there was we wanted to put together some teaching tool to inspire fathers in the discipleship of their sons. To think in terms of the hazardous journeys of the life of Christ, the stress points that we as men must endure. So we made three little films out there.

One of them begins with the proposition, what would happen if your seven year old son actually had to implement the things you taught him? The story actually begins with a little boy out in the wilderness of Iceland by glaciers and there's no father and he's by himself. How does he implement what his father has taught him? Can he survive? You discover later on that his older brother was injured and he's caring for him as his father comes back to him and the four sons are there doing a great work of dominion and chronicling and testing the land for the glory of God with their kingdom aspirations.

The film is explained with no words all through visual imagery but it's very powerful. It takes us over glaciers into ice caves, around volcanic areas in geothermal pits and all sorts of difficult and arduous circumstances which are really a metaphor for the real spiritual battles of life that all of us are going to have to face as we move into the future. So I want to conclude by sharing with you men, it must be, it is at Visionform Ministries where I serve, this is our focus right now. It must be your heartfelt passionate concern to see men prepared not just for any time but for the 21st century. It must be your passionate concern to have a succession plan.

You know, no CEO is worth his salt if he doesn't have a succession plan. No leader is worth his salt if he doesn't have a succession plan. And if we're not training our sons to succeed us and supersede us and preparing them for great difficulty and for a moment in history, I believe we're failing them. But if we do this, I am persuaded that in good times and bad, in economic boon and bane, in whatever circumstances the world would set before us, our children and our sons can thrive in the Lord Jesus Christ if they are prepared by God's grace with his mercy and with his blessing. Let's train them to be strong, courageous, and have high kingdom aspirations for the important work that's ahead of us.

And you know what we're going to see? Fabulous marriages where sons have a vision and wives are following those sons to great dominion works for the glory of God. And may it be so. Amen. Thank you, Doug.

Next, we'll hear from Paul Washer, President of HeartCry Missionary Society. Please welcome Paul Washer. Please welcome Paul Washer. People sometimes ask me, they say, why do you go to that conference? I judge things by the impact it has on my life.

After hearing what we've just heard, I can honestly say that I always walk out of this place wanting to be More than I am. So many times when I've been around these men, I have seen weaknesses in my own life, but never to the point of leading me to despair. Rather, I see those weaknesses and at the same time I'm filled with hope to want to be more for Christ, to want to be stronger for Christ, to want to be more faithful to Christ and walk away from here believing That my life, my single life can truly have an impact on the entire world. That God can use and is willing to use each one of us to change the world. Now, what is burning in my heart?

Well, there are things that have to do with with me. With my own life, not theory, not Necessarily some theological maxim, but what's going on in my own life? Number one. I realize that the greatest limitation in my life. Is the lack of Christ, likeness.

My first desire is to be more like Christ, the greatest need of my wife, the greatest need of my children, the greatest need of the people of God who know me, of the world that is lost, Is that I be more like Jesus, that I spend more time with Christ, more time in the scripture to be a different man, wicked men. There are wicked men who do many things, but their wickedness permeates everything. So my greatest need is to be more like Christ. A second thing that's burning in my heart. I have young children, young boys, a young girl.

I teach her what it is to be to be loved by a man. I teach the boys like her the scriptures, and then I take them a little step farther. I teach them to hunt and fish and fight and all the things that they're supposed to do. I can honestly say that since the last year, I can honestly say that I dedicate myself to the growth of my children and the training of my children. But in doing that, it is so easy for me to overlook my wife.

My wife is such a strong person, I was in a terrible battle a while back that could have cost me a great deal. And when I was walking out of the door to confront this battle, she looked at me and she said, husband, come back with your shield or come back being carried on your shield. Don't back up. She's that kind of woman, but because she's that kind of woman, I forget that she it doesn't matter how spiritual she is, how strong she is. She was made to be taken care of by a man.

She was made to be gospelized by a man for me to wash her in the gospel and care for her needs. And what burns in my heart is to be more faithful, to be more faithful in that area. Another thing that burns in my heart is this. I am not an elder in our church. We have three young elders and I counsel them.

I pray for them. I am their friend, but I see more than ever what burns in my heart is to go deep in darkness, to wake up in the middle of the night and to cry out that God would pour out his grace and his mercy upon the men who are leading our local church. I know that many of you are like me. You're not an elder. How many watch nights?

How many times have you cried out in the darkness that God would empower, strengthen, grant wisdom and grace to the ones who are shepherding you? That's something that is burning, burning in my heart instead of looking back at what I would have done that they didn't do. I should be on my knees fighting for them, blessing them, going to the coffers, the treasuries of heaven for them. Another thing that burns in my heart. His missions.

That there are places in this world that we should not tolerate, that there are places in this world where Christ is not preached. That we have a call on our lives to either go down into the well, as we say, or to hold the rope for those who go down either way is to be scars on your hands. Your life should have marks, should have scars because of your commitment to the Great Commission. Although I want to love my wife as I began and I want to disciple my children, as I told you, I don't stop there, I can't stop there. I can't even stop with my local church.

There is a world to be won for Christ. And here's the thing, man, it can be done. And I believe it's so much more could be done To bring people to know Christ. I agree with the great confessions, I believe that God has decreed everything before the very foundation of the world. And yet at the same time, I believe I have not because I Ask not.

In the mundane of our lives, even those of us who are ministers. We will be deceived, tricked into believing that we are just men, we will be tricked into believing that that life is all about bureaucracy and administration and the accomplishment of tasks. But that's not who we are. We are children of God. We are men of God.

We have been called to advance the kingdom to ride nobly, to fight nobly, to die nobly. We are dragon slayers. Our lives are not meant to be in the harbor. We're to risk ourselves and teach our sons and even our daughters to risk. For what?

For the advancement of Christ's kingdom. I believe that many. Solid reformed men. Are very tainted at times, at least in their application of sovereignty. Sovereignty does not is not fatalism.

It is not riding off every defeat in every weakness to sovereignty. We have been called to preach the gospel to every creature. And it can be done. We should believe our God for great things. This is not a roll over and play dead type of theology.

The men who most believed in the sovereignty of God were the men who most advanced the kingdom of heaven on this earth. And we ought to be those kind of men. Young men. There are some very good missionaries from the West. I know some that are in the deepest jungles of Asia, suffering every unspeakable thing for the cause of Christ.

But I want to tell you something. This Western culture does not produce men. And if you're going to look for missionaries, you really don't look for them here. We've lost our strength, we've lost our willingness to suffer. We've lost our willingness to pay the price, We've lost our willingness to die.

What will change that? Only as my brother said. A good dose of the gospel. The spirit of God giving strength to weak men. And practically.

Fathers. We have raised a couple of generations of young men that some I have heard refer to as jellyfish. I would never send my kid to a public school, but I went to a public school and it was a bad school. And you either got tough or you got put at the end of the pecking order. You didn't get just beat up in sports, you got beat up in the hallway.

But you had to get tough. Men, if you are going to boast about being a homeschool dad, just make sure that your boast is true, because many who call themselves homeschool fathers are nothing more than men married to homeschool moms. And those boys, the closest they get to any adventure is reading the vision form catalog. And longing that their dad would take some of this stuff and actually do it with them. Your wife is not going to be able to raise up men.

You must raise up men. You must find ways, invent ways, do whatever is necessary because your boys very rarely are going to rise above their father. Men, why are you alive? In Peru, we say to live is so lament the poor, the only reason you're alive is because air is free. We don't want to be that way.

We want to be men with fire in our hearts and fire in our eyes. What our boys need to be cannot be communicated through a few minutes each day studying the scriptures, it is communicated life to life, father to son. And father to daughter and husband to wife. God bless. Joe Beakey will finish up our time, but I'd like to take a few moments.

Without question in my mind, one of the most critical issues for the raising up of a new generation for these boys that Paul just spoke of is mighty churches. And a mighty church is an awful weapon in the hands of Almighty God. We've just come through a season where the churches have set aside the Word of God for the sake of their traditions. And we're in a time now where the church must pitch the traditions and cleave to the Word of God. We're in a time where the insipidity, where the weakness of the church is astonishing.

It's become a mirror of the world and as a result we do not have men to rise up and lead mighty churches And we do not have mighty churches because we do not have mighty men and we do not have mighty men because the gospel is not burning in fathers. And that's really the heart of the matter. The urgency of the gospel, The zeal that Jesus Christ had for his Father's house just seems to have been lost and we want to create entertainment centers. We want to build ministries. We want to gather people.

The heart of the matter though is that is that we love our traditions more than we love our God. Jesus said in Mark chapter 6, Mark chapter 7 verse 6, well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. And in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men, the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do." He said to them, "'All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.' For Moses said, "'Honor your father and mother, and he who curses father and mother, let him be put to death. But you say, If a man says to his father and mother, whatever profit you might have received for me as Corban that is a gift of God, then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, making the Word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down and many such things you do.

My prayer for myself and for the men that I know is that the Lord Jesus Christ would descend so mightily upon us that we would be the ones of whom it was said, zeal for his father's house consumed him. But is that you? Is that me? Do you have that zeal for your father's house? Are you willing to pitch their traditions?

Are you willing to establish biblical churches in the world so that the gospel will be preached mightily in the world? We've also gone through a season where many churches have been established, family integrated churches. Some of those churches are no more than homeschool fellowship groups. They're not real churches. And their only hope is to be is to be fully grounded on the Word of God.

It's not just all those churches out there that have their traditions. We have our traditions. We have the things we like. But the church was not meant for us. It was meant for the glory of God.

And so what's burning in my soul really is for the establishment of biblical churches. For men whose souls are burning with zeal like the Lord Jesus Christ's did. If we are his sons wouldn't you think that our souls would burn like his did for his church? I don't know what's going to happen to the economy. I don't know what's going to happen to Europe.

But I do know this. When the Church of Jesus Christ is strong, then the gospel is preached. And there is healing in the nations. And so my urging in my own soul, and I hope it becomes yours as well, is to become like the Lord Jesus Christ. Cry out to Him that He would give you zeal for your Father's house.

That you would not neglect it, but that you would be willing to pitch aside all of your traditions, all of your family traditions, whatever is conflicting from the propositions of the Word of God. This conference really isn't about marriage. It's about the propagation of the gospel from one generation to the next because marriage is a picture of the gospel. And we have many churches that are weak because marriages are weak. Marriages are weak because there's no understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ in those marriages.

We didn't get married for the gospel and we don't know how to apply it and that's our biggest problem. So that's what's burning in my soul for the establishment of gospel-centered churches fueled by the zeal of the Lord Jesus Christ burning in the souls of his sons and his daughters. And now Joel Beekie. Joel just just arrived here. Joel where are you?

There you are. Hello, welcome. Would you would you welcome Joel Beekie, president of Reformed Theological Seminary in Michigan. Joel, it's so good to have you. Boy, right in the nick of time.

You're gonna send us forth. Thank you. Good to see you. Well, What's burning on my heart, and I'm glad to be here by the way, just in the nick of time, what's burning on my heart is something that's actually been brewing for 45 years. When I was a boy of 14 years of age, I discovered my father's bookcase, which was filled with Puritan books.

And I was under conviction of sin. And at that time, I couldn't find much hope in the church I was going to, there wasn't much gospel preaching. I started reading the Puritans. As I read them, they resonated with my soul, they opened up Christ to me, the full offer of the gospel not only, but they also showed me that being a Christian is actually to live a full-orbed Christian life in every area of your life. Head, heart, and hands.

And that vision gripped me as a teenager. And I began to be moved by it not only, but I began to start a book company called Bible Truth Books and that has moved me throughout my life, throughout my ministry. I think one of the great problems in the church today is a shallow form of easy believe-ism that doesn't put demands on all of life. And ministers today are often afraid to make their people feel the least guilty about anything. And the Puritans were very different from that.

They actually ripped up the conscience at times in order to bring men out from their hiding places and expose them before the will and the word of God. And as they did so, the goal wasn't just to torment the conscience. The goal was to bring them to liberty in Christ and to live a life head, heart, and hand fully committed to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now about six years ago I was lecturing in Latvia and I came back to my room and as I opened the door, two men descended the stairway above me and assaulted me, hit me, and knocked me down. They gagged me, they tied me up, and they ran a knife up and down my back and kept yelling that they were the mafia.

And I thought I was a dead man. I commended my wife and family, my church, my seminary, my book ministry to the Lord. Thought my life's work was over. Actually I didn't even ask that the Lord would spare me. I just thought I was a dead man.

And when they left after they took everything 45 minutes later and I was able to rest my way free, I was just amazed. I was alive, The Lord had more work for me to do. And at that moment, all I can say to you is this. I had such an incredible sense of peace during those 45 minutes with the promises of God, especially about the blood of Christ and the salvation of my soul filled my heart. But when I stood up, I had one of those Luther-type moments of surrender and dedication.

And I said to the Lord at that moment, by Thy grace, I will give every ounce of energy for the rest of my life to promote this full-orbed Christianity of head, heart, and hand to our generation. And so I've been starting some projects that are seeking to promote that and that's caught my zeal. I began by writing a book with a friend, 900 page book called Meet the Puritans, which I tell the life story of all 150 Puritans that have been reprinted in the last 50 years and give reviews of all 700 Puritan titles that have been reprinted in the last 50 years. I believe that these men really speak to our generation in powerful ways. And then a few years ago I approached R.C.

Sproul and I said someone needs to do a book that gets away with all the caricatures of Calvinism and shows Calvinism to be a reformed biblical religion that really conveys a full-orbed Christianity. And he said, well, why don't you write the book? And so I got Sinclair Ferguson, Michael Haken, people like that to write eight or nine chapters. And I wrote the rest, a 28 page chapter book called Living for the Glory of God, an introduction to Calvinism in which the book shows how to be a God-fearing biblical husband, wife, parent, how to be biblical in your work, how to be biblical in every area of life as well as in doctrines. But what's been missing from this is no one till today has ever done a book really bringing out what the Puritans have to say in all areas of their theology and then in practice.

And so this past year, I spent most of my year, my free time in the last year, with a friend by the name of Mark Jones, and we've written a book called The Puritan Theology, Doctrine for Life, and we start back with Prolegomena and move through eschatology. It's a 60 chapter book and the last 10 chapters deal with applying doctrine to life and showing how the Puritans did it. So it's really a Puritan systematic theology, about 1600 pages coming out in the spring, and I'm hoping to promote that and get that in the hands of ministers in particular, because this will grip, I hope, people and ministers to show that theology is not just something cold and distant out there, but it's warm and vibrant and full of spiritual, biblical, practical vitality. And some of the concluding chapters, theology and practice, we've written on Puritan theology shaped by a pilgrim mentality, how to walk godly in your home, practical method of daily prayer, Puritans on meditation, Puritans on conscience, Puritan casuistry, Puritan zeal, and practical lessons from Puritan theology today. And so my zeal and my goal is, whatever time the Lord gives me in this world, to show from our forefathers, and that's why I'm speaking tonight, lessons from marriage from the Puritans, to show how these men of God really developed what we need today so that we don't fall prey to a shallow kind of Pentecostal, charismatic influence of this heart only without the head or dry kinda reform faith that is the head without the heart but a full robust biblical vital zealous Christianity that moves head heart and hands to the undiluted unapologetic service of the Most High God.

Thank you very much. I'll take ten of those books. Well typically when we have a conference we get try to gather the speakers together just before the sessions to pray. We've decided to do something really different this year and that is to have the time now, and to have a time where we cry out to God for help for the hours that lie ahead of us. We want to open up the time to you who desire to pray, to bring your requests before God, and let's, you know, enter into a time now of prayer.

I would like for us to stand and pray, and so let's all stand. And I will open, and then I'll give some time for others to pray. Pray loudly, you know, extend your voice so that it can be heard And then I'll close in prayer after we're done. Oh God, here we stand, each one of us with so many needs, with so many things that need to change, with so many sins. With so many sins.

Oh Lord, we pray that you would come and visit us in the hours that are ahead. In what you are going to do among us in the next few days. So God, we come before you to pray that you would fall upon us. Oh God, don't leave us just simply to hearing the speeches. But God, send your Holy Spirit among us to stir us up for God.

Father, we want to give you this time, a few days, to speak to our hearts, Father. We give you our hearts, our minds, how to be diligent to concentrate, to hold up our hearts to you. Father, show us where we have to learn. Show us where we're wrong in our lives. Show us what we're doing wrong in our families.

Give us wisdom to bring up Godly young and waiting. Father, help us to change our lives. Our lives, God, we believe in. Change the things that we're holding inside of us. The secret things that we hold so dear to our lives, Father, that you hate.

Father, show us. Do work in our hearts, Lord. Heavenly Father, the church is broken down. We're crying out to you God that you would rebuild your church. You would work in our hearts to teach us the gospel.

I was bothered to live out the gospel in our marriages, in our family life. We pray God that you would raise up men who rule their households well. With godly marriages, good father, become elders of your church. Father, it is your church we care for. We know that you care for it because Jesus gave his life for that church and he is the Son of God.

He is risen from the dead, he is on the right hand of the Father. He is Lord of the church and he will shepherd his church. We pray that our Lord would do that this weekend. Heal the church, O God, and raise us up. And strengthen us to lead your church in the days to come.

In Jesus' name. God, at least, help us to remember that what we're about to hear in the next few days, the way we used to be, we probably would not only have not been interested in it, but we would have made fun of it and mocked it. And we thank you that you've turned our hearts to where we now want to hear it and we want to learn it and we're interested in it. And as you have changed us to that point, as you have led us to this point also, help us to take it home with us and put it in practice in our lives. And even as professors of the earth.

We have loved our own honor, we have loved our own reputation, we have loved our own imagination, we have lived, bothered, very often, our own comfort and ease, our own self-improvement. We have loved and have mercy on us. This is not fitting for those who call by the name of Christ. And so it is to follow after Him. I pray God, that you do a great work and deliver us from our favorite life.

And follow us to follow after Christ, our Savior and our God. Us. From our favorite light, follow us, follow after the light of our Savior right now. Lord, I thank you for your transforming grace. I thank you for the miracle that is your sovereign hand.

That we can stand here together in this room with the hope and with the light before us. Even the idea that we're standing, all of us in one room, looking to one source of life, one savior, is such a testimony to the undefeatable power of your hand. That the gates of hell cannot triumph against this because this is not of us. Lord, we thank you for your salvation, for your grace, for the word which is the source of the Holy Spirit, which is the source of our greatest hope, and It is our great comfort. Lord, I pray that this week you would instruct us to be armed with that hope, to be armed with those words, to look to you and to fear no man.

And everything is tied together as families. We would not be lost in the minutia, the small things that are going around. Pray that we can come and just, as individuals, seek your face, and you can make yourself and reveal yourself to us as individuals, as fathers, daughters and sons and you would pray that we would touch each and every one of these parts that you would make clear, more self-enforce, or admit that you can't pray that you will make your presence known in our lives. And I'm so grateful for your confidence and loving your child. I pray that you use this time in the future of my life like my family members before here, that those of us who are married, that our marriage is going to be cost effective.

And we learn a greater way of our marriage's respect and softness, that each love, your blood, that these life-changing things above our lives. And we learned in a greater way how our spiritual threat is off-going. The use of your blood, the use of our blood, right? I pray that we also would have a vision to see not only our children today, but have a vision for how we want to be here. This is your thoughtful plan throughout Europe.

All through creative body, we would be able to create a new kind of awareness for you to think about the time. I just wanted you to take care of those who are speaking. The speaker is on your mind. Thank you for the privilege and courage to men receive these speakers on this fight. I pray we hear from them what are their hearts.

I pray for us that our hearts be with you, and hear your word, and your word therefore first, as we lift your word, and raise our voice. More of the succinct emergency, knowing that we have wasted years and the families of the large. Give us that sense of urgency now of learning our parts, that we need to take what we're going to learn to achieve the lessons of knowledge, which the Holy Spirit has blessed us with, and that's decided by knowledge, may God glorify you right now, in the way that we love our lives, and as we breathe, pray, and teach our children, we confer to you, your gospel. May that be our focus. In our own family and in our lives, wherever we go, as we focus each day, we know that that is our desire.

That is our desegregation. That needs to be our focus. Give us that focus. Give us that desire. Oh Father, we come before you as ordinary men.

And we ask you, help us to repent. Help us to confess our sin. Help us to embrace Christ. Help us to love Christ. Help us to be not just hearers of the word but doers.

Help us be men of action. Disturb within us, Lord, a passion for your gospel. Grant us a zeal for your kingdom, for your church. Lord, I pray that you would even embrace the gospel. Amen.

Father, we need you people. We need your grace. Amen. Pour out your love in our hearts. Lord God Almighty, we thank you for bringing us together here today as we call the assembly here for the next few days of decent strength and certainty.

Let it be as our own Amen. And bring us God, and praise the next generation, who served and who are by Thee in the battle of the all. Father, we pray that Thou would fill us with zeal for the kingdom of God. Amen. That we would stop living lives with half-hearted zeal, half-hearted affection, desiring only to take our ease of the things in this world.

Father, that give us a heart that we would die daily to our affections for the things that thou findest hate. And that we would give ourselves by the grace of God to those things of which thou is loved. First to thee, Father. Amen. First to our blessed Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen. That he would be the sweetest of all to us. Yes, Lord. And Father, we would desire the word of God, and we would have hold it in such a state as it is. Father, wilt thou give us such deal?

Wilt thou make us serious? Wilt thou help us to examine our lives in the light of thy precious word. Amen. Father, bless us. Bless the middle-earth.

Bless the speakers. Father, that we would not just listen to that which is spoken, but that we would know what it is to be humble under the grace of God. Oh Lord, have mercy upon us all. Father, that thy name would be honored among us. Amen.

Yes, Father. May it be like Him. You will understand. Yes. I ask you to take a look at the computer and the on your I pray that all the folks who stop training our children will not neglect our lives.

That we will be disturbed and honored in, to watch them, to watch the world, for those who don't think the God-wires, that if we would give them the ability to honor and disturb their mothers, and to make their food function as households, in our marriages, in our families, Amen. Lord, that your word would be a mirror into our lives, Father. That you would convict us of the areas where we have sinned and where we have fallen short. And that at the same time, Lord, that it would work as an agent of change in our lives, God. Father, I pray, Lord, for every man here, and I pray, Lord, that we would leave this place having heard your word, Having changed.

Oh God, I pray for the speakers. What I pray is any words that come from their mouths be of men that they would fall to the ground that your word that your living word would go forth and that God that we would be changed that we would be changed so much that it overflows in our lives with our wives with our children with our daughters our sons would be a gospel that goes forth from our lives wherever we are at. Oh God, we pray that You would do this among us. Friends with our family members that Lord that your word would be so so overflowing in our lives that it would draw a line father between that which is sin and that which is truth and that God our lives would be a mirror father your word father as we live out your word oh God help us to not take your word lightly this weekend. That we would hear with our minds that our hearts would be full of your spirit and that we would walk the way that you would call us to walk.

Father, that which we will be freely to be given today help us to freely give out as we live god make us conscious of that when we pray lord that every man here would be touched every man here would be convicted of sin Every man would be changed to the likeness of your precious son. They can be said of us that we truly worship the king of kings of the Lord of Lord God, please. We are desperate and we need you. We are. We need you desperately.

Come and change us this weekend. Come and be in our midst, father. Almighty Lord God and Father in Heaven, we give you thanks for this opportunity. The Lord, we ask as we stand here as men, that we may stand tall and shine forth, not because we are tall in ourselves, but because we are standing upon the rock, the rock which is Christ, not because we are brilliant and shining in ourselves, the burning of our hearts, of our souls, and desire to worship Him, are their marriages with their families, are their whole life, with their whole entire being. Here is a secret from the Lord, who are given the courage, The courage that it takes to stand up, to stand up, give examples to the great creature Christ.

Lord, may we follow them as they follow Christ. May they be Christians, followers of Christ. May we see Christ in them and follow that. Lord, we also want all the organizers of the conference to give you thanks for sparing us thus far and keeping them. Lord, give them wisdom and guidance as to what to do with it.

Lord, may it be none of us here who struggle with illness and keep us safe also, as we travel home with you, may ask this all in thy name, for Jesus' sake, for Christ's sake. Father, thank you that you said that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. There may be many who come in bondage, Amen. Amen. Amen.

Amen. That he was made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. So we pray that there will be a true spirit of liberty in Christ as a consequence of your presence, for Jesus' sake. Lord, we're about to gather together this weekend with expectations of what we think this partnership will do. Lord, forgive us.

Amen. Lord, just thank you for gathering us. Gathering us together, Lord, as men. Lord, we desire that your mark will be placed on us, Lord, that we will all recognize it when we come together, any time we cast by one another. Lord, I ask that you help us older men to be reminded, Lord, that we need to lay down our lives for the younger men, not just our families, but our younger men as well, Lord.

Be stepping stones, Lord, for a path forward for them. For it is the younger men who truly carry the gospel forward, Lord, as the banner of your righteousness, the younger men. We ask that you help the younger men to recognize us in this way, Lord, that they could draw a mirror to us in a more trustworthy sense, Lord, that your word, my Lord, would ruin rain and righteousness. Lord, we ask that your will would be done and the younger man that you would give us wisdom to help them to grow in your nature, Lord, and in your ways, and that we could just support them, Lord, in any way we can. Father, we thank you for this time, for the opportunity we have to edify one another, to have iron sharpening, iron relationships.

We pray, Father, that we will be many new brothers in Christ who spur us on to good deeds. And I pray that as a result of this time that we have and the time in which these men who have been by your Spirit led, the knowledge that they impart to us will result in action. It will not lay dormant, but it will come and it will depart and it will be used to transform, to decide not for our Lord, but for yours. And we pray that this action will glorify your name in tremendous ways. Yes, it seems.

You have the Father. Thank you for revealing to us by justice, peace. And revealing to us that you have met that need to be with God. Today we are here because he just played with his spirit, played with his strength. You know that prayer for the young men and young women who are preparing to marry and those who are prepared, or that they may be awaiting more to the desperate need for a process of marriage.

Yes, ma'am. They may be prepared appropriately more by a difficult price, and that they may look to give a reflection or a good look for them, Yes, Father. Watch yourselves clean, Lord. There's no word. Amen.

I'm going to ask you to step up and rest for our ladies and fellows here to please stand. I just pray that they'll work here in courage to be certified. This event will be a catalyst for all of their work. We have a break for all those who could not make it to this conference. I just ask that you would be with them, strengthen their families and their homes and their churches.

Amen. As we return home, we would learn to trust you. We would pray more. And we would obey more. Yes, Father.

Lord, we thank you for the commitment represented by this group of men here today. We pray that it would endure, many that it would manifest itself in self-sacrifice or in the Kingdom of our families, and that it would catalyze the generation, the next generation, Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Yes, Lord. Hmm Amen. Amen. Yes, Father. Amen.

There would be reconciliation between our son and father, father and son, between mother and daughter, that you may have your heart and peace in this time. Amen. Father, we just approach this home and pray bring him among us here who don't know you. Oh Father we pray by your grace, by your spirit, that you would convict of sin and righteousness and the judgment become. And Lord that they would be gloriously saved and Lord that each of us would evaluate our own lives.

We would test ourselves to see if we were in the faith. More that we would approach this with sober judgment. And by walking a matter of words. Amen. Father, the word says that any man regard iniquity as far as the Lord is not here.

Father, it is my prayer that Christ who is exalted, Prince, Savior, Lord of all, over the wall, in the grass, for the children of the new world, to present what we could have been praying for and sending the floor to every man here today. Lord, there will be no hypocrisy in speaking your faith, no hypocrisy, Lord, in asking for these wonderful things that are part of our sin, regarding the equity in our hearts, God. That all will be laid upon the line. Amen. Every soul is a prayer.

Yes, Father. We would not go forward in a manner of hypocrisy. Amen. Yes, Father. Amen.

To be real and true again. Be grand in the area where every man in this room needs to repent. In the name of Jesus, in the name of any family idolatry, or any seeking of a form or a formula for our families, and how we manage them as parents. Oh God, that we seek wisdom and knowledge, and worldview from the heart. Jesus' word says, he loves father or mother more than me.

He's not worthy of me. And who loves son or daughter more than me, he's not worthy of me. And who does not take his cross and follow after me is not one another. He who finds the fight will lose it. And who loses his life will by sin find it.

Amen. I know that I am not the husband, that I should be the father, I should be the father. Because I don't love you like I should. And I know that unity first in my life, in order for me to be a part of it. And it has been written in the Bible.

Let us pray that you'll see in one eye and let me do that for you first in my life. For this opportunity to come alongside. It's been here with learning on their hearts, to share with learning online. I echo all of their organizers and speakers. In particular, I want to lift up to you the children who are here to speak up.

From two to 32 in between the arms, or that those who have come along with their parents will have an opportunity to see fully the gospel-centered marriages, that they may be encouraged, inspired, educated, quick and exhorted, But when they are called to hold a natural report, they do it according to your plan and your will. In other words, that they would be an example to a lost generation that discards her. Instead, that they would hold it in great reverence. That they would love her. You.

You love us. Thank you. Oh God. I come to you now in the name of Jesus. Lord, we're living in perilous times.

For men are lovers of their own selves. God, I pray this week that you would deliver us from loving our own selves. Help us, Lord, to lay down our lives for our lifetime. We will lay down our lives for our life. We will lay down our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ.

We will pick up our cross and follow you. We will be yes. God, I pray that you would grant us repentance. Amen. That you would help us this week, Lord, to humble ourselves.

Amen. That you would slow us down. That you would put your finger on our hearts. In those areas that you want us to be ashamed of. No.

You would bring us repentance. God, I pray. Lord, I know I fall short in so many areas. I ask you one more person. Give me a few things.

Don't lay it all on me. Give me the grace, love, and idea that I can leave in a way that glorifies your name. And now, may the God of peace, who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead through the blood of the everlasting covenant make you complete for every good work working in you what is well pleasing in his sight To him be glory in the church forever. Amen. Please be seated for a couple of moments.

You know one one of the things that happens when you organize a gathering like this on marriage is that God takes you and your own marriage through a journey. And of course, when you are called to love your wife like Christ loved the church every man understands the enormous disconnect there is between his own love for his wife and Christ's love for the church. And I've known that throughout this time. And, you know, I'm here before you as a person who wants to love his wife more like Christ loves the church, like that Christ loved the church more than I do now. And I've seen many, many ways that I don't, that I haven't.

God has given me a good wife and a good friend. And one of the things that has happened throughout this whole time is I've actually watched my wife grow. And I've seen her in many new ways, and I've always, I've always so appreciated my wife. I've always felt she really did not have any lack. But I'm seeing, I'm actually seeing her grow.

I'm seeing her become more of a humble, dutiful, faithful, attentive church. And I'm so grateful for that. And I know we can make progress. I know we can. I've seen it.

I've seen it in my wife. If the Lord Jesus Christ can work in her heart through His Spirit, I know He can do it for me, and I know He can do it for you. And I pray that that's that that would happen among us as men. That we would take on more of Christ in all of our work and our lives with these wives that He's given us. I think there's blessing out there.

I think there are new ways out there for many of us, and I'm really grateful for that. Next year, we'll most likely gather in this same room. And the conference we'll be holding, we're calling White Unto Harvest. And that conference is focused on evangelism, missions, and the work of the church, and all those things. And God has been, He's laid upon my soul a number of things.

And you've seen them in the conferences that we've been doing. You know, I spent probably the first, you know, five years of being involved in this ministry going around and doing conferences on expository preaching, biblical church leadership, and the establishment of biblical church life, age-integrated church life. But we're trying to lay down foundation stones. Sufficiency of Scripture is the first stone. The doctrine of the church is the next stone.

You cannot have gospel-centered churches unless you have gospel-centered marriages. I just believe that with all my heart. I think that's one of the problems in the church today, so that's why we're having this about marriage. But the churches need to so better understand the Great Commission, and that's what next year's conference is all about. And I pray that what happened, what is happening to me with, in my marriage with my wife, would also happen in this other area of life, the preaching of the gospel and the activation of churches to be so hot-hearted about the spread of the gospel and fulfilling of the Great Commission.

And I pray that you can come back when we do that next year. And I pray that when you do come back, if you're able, that because of that focus, because you're thinking of it in the back of your mind because you're receiving challenges in that area that the work of evangelism will be rising mightily. That's my prayer. So I want to bring Taylor Samples up. He's got a few details to communicate about what's ahead.

So the Lord says in Revelation 21, He's making all things new, And it's beautiful to get a glimpse of that here. I know you men are feeling the same way. And he's given us a taste, a small taste, of what that looks like in our midst, and we should be so thankful for it. I just want to go over a few details for the rest of the day. First of all, take advantage of this time.

Feel free to stay a little bit longer in the room, fellowship with brothers, connect with brothers. That's one of the blessings of being gathered here together in this room. So take advantage of that. We originally scheduled this around till around 3 30 so you've got you know another 30 40 minutes so take advantage of that time the next is if you haven't registered yet or haven't stopped by the registration table please do before the main session tonight it's in Pritchel Hall which is the main building where you pull in, check in, all that happens there. So there's a big registration table set up there and they'll take care of you there.

So please, please stop by and do that before 5.30, preferably. Dinner tonight starts at 4.30 and goes to six, but we're gonna try to kick up the main session and at least start gathering people by 5.30. So it's going to be a packed house. So start coming in around 5.30, and one request that we have is please try as best as you can without usher shoving you to fill in the seats and the rows, fill in empty spots because we've pretty much maxed out our numbers here at the conference which is a huge blessing. So let's just be mindful of that, and if you can, direct your families in that way.

And I think that's all the details for now. 5.30, if you haven't registered, please register in Pritchel Hall, and then the main hall where we'll be holding the keynote speeches this evening is Spillman. So there is a helpful map in your little event program that you're going to pick up and that'll direct you around here. You may need it. So with all that, you're dismissed.

Hey. Glad we could get together here. There are some nice kids over there. I want some. I want some.

Well, you're wearing the right kind of shoes. Thank you. So I wasn't even always on it. Okay. Okay.

Yeah. I'm going to like recognize Michael Bort. Okay. We were actually really a little church before. Just like a week before on top of our lives.

You know, our church, we have no way. You know, it's a little bit older. We have something happening. It's the same time. It'd be nice to have now someone who's good.

This is not all we want to see. I don't want to have Michael. We can get a lot more for you. So he's like the false assistant. It'd be nice.

I'd like to just go down there and buy a bottle of wine. And then we went to the business church. It looks like Michael Gray, brother, there. And then he said that was not interesting. Well, I was hoping to get the money, sir, but I asked him to come back down.

He's an awesome pastor. Already had his plan. So, yeah, I'm going to do something. I was going to get a job. I appreciate you, man.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. I'm yeah. Yeah. Okay.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We're glad to get pulled in here.

It's the first time we've been around green grass. All right. We're in the drought. We've had three and five inches of rain last 18 months. It seems like what's missed us is rain.

Midwest and we've just been sitting on the get a ring. That's been a big part of what I've been learning all of this. And I've got some real lessons in it. We were talking about it today. The Lord is really built my faith in and and that's been a blessing.

You know, throughout the blessing sometime when you know God's song. We're gonna do something about it. And, uh, we're trying to be, thank you, Lord. Well, we'll catch up with you later. Uh, see you, Taylor.

So we're going to be around. So, we're going to take a look at my former pastor. He's over here. He has to be here. That's probably something.

But, yeah, I'm going to ask him to say hello to you. Well, it's getting up here a bit. We'll be talking about it later. You know, the guy who's been in the corner, yeah, let me know if you have any questions about where you need to go. Yeah.

How much of it is going to be in the back? Oh, OK. OK. So I'm taking it back to you, John.