Here’s a quote from my most recent sermon on Thankful, Post-Communion Worship from Genesis 8:20-21! You can listen to the sermon here: https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=1272216953521

On the way home from South Carolina this afternoon, I heard my name called as we approached our gate in Detroit. To my surprise, the Delta attendant said, “Congratulations! On this flight today you have reached one million miles flown with Delta!” They gave me a bag of goodies and the note below which says that flying a million miles is equal to flying around the world 40 times. This got me thinking about all my flights on United and American (probably each of these airlines about as many as Delta), plus all the hundreds of flights in foreign countries over the last decades on other airlines, which in turn led me to contemplate God’s amazing grace in sparing me these last seven decades and giving me the inexpressible gift of preaching the gospel around the world. God’s faithfulness in Christ to an unworthy sinner and unprofitable servant like me is just stupendous: “What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord” (Ps. 116:12-13). I hope, and pray, and trust that when you look back over your life, you can also then cry out with me in astonishment so that all that is left is to say from the bottom of your heart: “Soli Deo gloria—glory to God alone!” 

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 70^th 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.   

Yesterday afternoon I finished teaching my classes for this semester and then the Queen and I flew to Greenville, South Carolina to participate in the Foundations Conference at Bob Jones University, organized by our good friend, Steven Lee, who is the owner of sermonaudio.com. Addresses today included Steve Lawson on the moving life of John Rogers (the first Marian martyr in England), Armen Thomassian on encouraging and challenging ministers as being in the hand of the exalted Christ, Paul Washer on prayer and the HeartCry story, and me on taking hold of God and ourselves in prayer together with the PRTS/RHB story. Over lunch, I had a two-hour brainstorming session on possible book collaboration over lunch and visiting the sermonaudio.com Vault with Paul Washer (photo 1). I also enjoyed speaking with Steven Lee and Armen Thomassian (photo 2). About 600 attended the conference today (photo 3), and we were able to connect with old friends and make some new ones, including these two precious children (photo 4).

Find my last Lord’s Day sermon on 8 Marks of a True Christan Disciple from Mark 8:35-9:1 here!

I am grateful that Reformation Heritage Books has just published J. V. Fesko’s, “The Birth of Christ,” which consists of five instructive and helpful messages for edifying reading especially at this time of the year. Highly recommended: https://www.heritagebooks.org/products/the-birth-of-christ-the-biblical-significance-of-christmas-fesko.html

My wife Mary is amazing. She pulled off a completely surprise 70^th birthday party for me in our seminary chapel, which resulted in about 250 people attending from my family, the church, the seminary, Reformation Heritage Books, and additional friends. Photo 1 is of people lined up in one of the hallways waiting to surprise me. My good friend and seminary colleague, Dr. Mark Kelderman, gave an opening word of about ten minutes to me. He was very gracious and warm—I could only wish that I am about half of the things that he said. Then I stammered a few words back to him (photo 2), and thanked everyone for all their love—including my wife and children, and spoke some spontaneous thoughts to the children and the young people who were present, urging them to follow the Lord fully in their lives.

Afterwards, the people formed a long line to wish me well, with my Queen at my side. Several of them told me how the Lord used me in their life—for their conversion or for their spiritual maturation—telling me in some cases things I never knew before. Those comments were in many ways the highlight of the surprise evening for me. I always find it overwhelming and humbling that God would use a sinner like me for other people’s eternal welfare. Soli Deo gloria!     

We had a great Thanksgiving Day. Following a helpful sermon on beautiful Psalm 103 in the morning, we enjoyed an afternoon of wonderful family fellowship (30 in our home spanning four generations—only part of them on photo 1) and a delicious Thanksgiving meal, followed by a refreshing lengthy walk in the woods behind our home. Some of the women enjoyed finishing a jigsaw puzzle (photo 2). I think my highlight was being a “Grandpa horse” for some of our grandchildren who kept climbing on me and falling off my back, squealing with delight (photo 3).

We just had a joyful and wonderful 2.5 hour dinner celebration for my upcoming 70^th birthday (I can’t believe it!) with our children (l to r: James and Esther Engelsma, Laura and Calvin Beeke, and Isaac and Lydia Epp) before Isaac and Lydia move to Canada next week where Isaac will be ordained as a minister in the Free Reformed Church of Picture Butte, Alberta on December 16, D.V., when I will have the privilege of preaching his ordination sermon. And the following month they are hoping to have their second child (our 9^th grandchild). We will miss them sorely, but their move is for a good cause.

After a sermon tomorrow morning, we hope to have all our parents, children, grandchildren, and some friends to celebrate thanksgiving to God (30 in all) over dinner. We are so filled with gratitude for our children and grandchildren that we can’t put it into words. What a promise is contained in Psalm 128:6: “Thou shalt see thy children’s children and peace upon Israel”! SDG for a God-fearing seed! I wish a blessed Thanksgiving to you all in Christ Jesus our Lord!

Here is a one-minute video stressing the value of Thomas Parr’s great new book on how to maintain true Christian joy in and through all—yes, all!—of life’s trials: https://www.heritagebooks.org/products/joy-in-dark-places-parr.html