European Leadership Forum 7

Wednesday opened with John Lennox again preaching from Genesis. This time he opened with a plea that we need to let the Bible speak. We often begin with our problems, and see what the Bible has to say about it. But he contended that the Bible is true, and we believe it not because we can win all the intelectual arguments, but because God has spoken life to us through it. Turning to the story of Joseph he looked at The story of the brothers going to seek food in Egypt and the way Joseph deals with them. The insights were deep, and we saw the two sides of repentance and forgiveness being shown in Joseph’s actions and the brothers’ (in particular Judah’s) response. We ended up seeing Judah being turned from a man who sold his brother, to a man who repented and evetually was willing to give himself for his brother (Benjamin) and thus being a faint shadow of the Lion of the tribe of Judah – the Lord Jesus Christ. I was conscious of the presence of Christ, and was greatly humbled.

The Evangelism seminar then continued, firstly with Michael Ramsden leading us to consider the way Ideas mold the thinking. We considered the influence of such men as A.J.Ayre, who contended that Moral and Theological statements had no meaning; and H.L.A.Hart who with his views on jurisprudence pushed all moral and consideration of God out of the window in legal matters.

The second half of the session was a challenge, firstly by Michael Ramsden, looking at Luke 14:12 – 24. He set the parable in the context of his own Middle Eastern background, and challenged us as to the compelling them to come in. Then Michael Green encouraged us from John 16 about the Paraclete – the Friend sent alongside us and advocate who comes with us to prosecute those who challenge us. We then prayed for each other for 30 minutes in groups of two or three, and in this praying looked at our own situations in a very direct way, praying about what we had learned at the conference, what were our weaknesses where God’s grace could abound, and what we needed to do when we get home. My group of three was Michael Ramsden, Klara – a health worker from Novi Sad in Serbia, and myself. To sit in a room of men and women bowing our heads, and putting ourselves and each other in the hands of an all-powerful God to do as He wills with us is something special.

A blog cannot convey the sense of the presence of God in these things, but I know that once again I have been faced with the fact that God in his rich mercy has called me to work with him, for him in the power of his strength. Weak though I am, He must increase.