Today was a full, final day of the sermonaudio.com Foundations Conference at Bob Jones University. It ended with a luxurious meal at our Westin Hotel in Greenville, enjoyed by the speakers and their wives and sermon audio staff. After the meal, they surprised me with a birthday cake (photo 1) which was capped with “three score years and ten” because it is my 70th birthday today. On the front of the cake was the text that I felt the Lord gave me as a 16-year-old to be the primary message I was to bring for a lifetime of preaching and pastoral ministry: “I will go in the strength of the Lord God: I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only” (Ps. 71:16). This was also the text of the first sermon I prepared as a theological student at the age of 21, and it has been precious to me all my life. God’s righteousness in Christ alone: that is the gospel!
There were three excellent sermons today. Our good friend Dr. Steve Lawson (photo 2) preached movingly on Matthew 24:14, providing a tour de force message on the importance of preaching. Dr. Steve Pettit’s exposition of 2 Corinthians 12 on the believer’s experience of humiliation and exaltation was equally powerful. And Bob Bradenburg spoke convictingly from John 4 about our need to bring big prayers to a big God to honor Him. Afterwards, a picture was taken of most of the speakers (photo 3).
Book sales were remarkably good throughout the conference (photo 4). And we also had meaningful conversations with a number of people, including an 11-year-old boy who was weeping with encouragement about encouraging instruction he felt he received about prayer from my address.
After the conference was over, Steven Lee (photo 5) gave us an hour-long presentation and dedication of the Vault of sermon audio sermons housed in the Bob Jones University. I was privileged to give the closing dedicatory prayer.
