Reformation and revival
The Reformation and Revival Fellowship (RRF) 2010 conference was held at Swanwick on 15-17 November, at the Hayes Conference Centre. However, nothing about our surroundings could equal the ‘feast of good things’ the Lord had prepared for us.
Faith Cook, whose biography of John Bunyan is a fine example of good research combined with excellent presentation, delivered an encouraging paper on spiritual warfare, as Bunyan deals with the matter.
Geoff Thomas reminded us that this is the bicentenary of the birth of the great evangelist Brownlow North and gave an excellent presentation of the work of God in North’s life. It was a thrilling story, well told.
The main course of the feast was delivered by Rev. Dr Iain D. Campbell of Point Free Church, Isle of Lewis. Imagine for a moment that a preacher were scheduled to bring four sermons to your church, for which the overall title and text was ‘For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah’ (Hebrews 7:14).
You might be forgiven for at least pondering what was to come, but for those at the RRF conference the answer came as the Lord greatly blessed four messages which intrigued, thrilled and moved us to tears, as the grace of God was seen in the drama of the unfolding divine plan of salvation.
Transforming grace
The series began in Genesis 38, where Dr Campbell showed us the sinfulness of the people of God, the singularity of God’s covenant purpose, and the sovereignty of God’s grace.
In the second sermon, he drew on Genesis 42 – 45 to show how the transforming grace of God took Judah from the low point of chapter 38 to his Christ-like role in reconciliation with Joseph. We were told that ‘providence is always in the service of grace’.
Dr Campbell’s ability to show the Scripture as a unified whole, covering the great story of God’s covenant salvation, was especially evident in the third session. There he dwelt on Jacob’s blessing of Judah in Genesis 49:10, and thence to Revelation in the final session.
Here we saw the Lamb who died in silence resurrected as the mighty Lion of the tribe of Judah, who roars in his resurrection, in the proclamation of the gospel through preaching and in intercession for his people.
The conference sermons are available from www.reformationandrevival.org. Alternatively, the six messages may be obtained on CD, for £2.50, from Jim Lawson (jim.lawson@ntlworld.com). 2011’s conference will be on 21-23 November.
Graham Hind
