Impact 2010 – Day 3 recap

Saturday was Day 3 at Impact Bible Conference, where Cheryl and I have been for this Queens Birthday Weekend. In amidst the awesome time of fellowship, we sat under another day of solid, Spirit-empowered preaching.

General Session 6: Ken Ramey – Holy Habits

Ken Ramey continued on from his previous sermon by outlining five holy habits the church at Ephesus were tasked to work on in their ongoing sanctification (Eph 4:25-27). Five exchanges in the text were outlined, such as exchanging falsehood for truthfulness; unrighteous for righteous anger; stealing for sharing; corrupt for constructive speech; meanness for kindness, and bitterness for forgiveness. The most important point Ken made was that this was not an exhaustive list, but rather served as examples of holy habits. We need to make our own “five-most-wanted-list” of holy habits to nurture in our ongoing sanctification, working out not just what bad habits to stop but the Biblical alternative to put in its place. A list like this would be useful for personal devotions, to pray about, and to do detailed bible study on. Ken challenged each of us to use a list like this in our lives, and I think many people will (myself included) after hearing this.

General Session 7: Scott Ardavanis – Understanding the Doctrine of Assurance and it’s Relationship to Sanctification

In this sermon Scott explained correct and incorrect explanations of the assurance of a believer’s salvation. He went through the book of 1 John to highlight three ways to know if a person were truly saved. Firstly, there is the subjective testimony of the Holy Spirit in a person’s heart and life (Romans 8:16, 1 John 3:24) – not that of altar calls, other believers, or outreach rally workers. Then there is the objective testimony of a life of obedience (1 John 2:4-10, 1 John 3:7-9) – a true believer is *never* comfortable sinning. Thirdly, there is an objective testimony of love for the brethren (1 John 2:19, 1 John 2:9, 1 John 3:10). I thought Scott made a good point when he said that if you were bothered about your sin, you’re saved – those who don’t follow Jesus are apathetic to their sin.

General Session 8: Ken Ramey – Sexual Sanctification

Ken closed the Saturday evening with a timely exposition of 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8. He drew from the text seven practical principles to make sexual purity possible: us married couples need to strive for holiness in this area too! This sermon is highly recommended for every parent, spouse, and young adult to hear. The way the bible reframes sex back into God’s original intent and design is refreshing in a culture that idolises and glamourises it. Many of us left that evening challenged and thankful for the message.

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During a bit of free time on Saturday we made a quick trip to nearby Te Mata Peak. The views from the top were great, and we enjoyed taking pictures from the summit. We were also sighted a daring paraglider who launched in front of us – I didn’t get a photo but I think Rob did.

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Blog updates: www.chongsworship.com/tag/impact2010/
Twitter updates: www.twitter.com/wchong (using the hashtag #IMPACT2010)
UPDATE: Download the messages from the conference here: Impact 2010 messages

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-William