In these past months, the Lord has been transforming my life by his grace, love, and mercy. In March God gave me the opportunity to participate in a course with 9Marks at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington D.C. The time I had there was transforming, inspiring, encouraging, and revealing for my own life. I was able to have a true understanding of the type of conduct that the Scriptures demand of the church of Jesus. I could see men that are fighting each day to understand the gospel of Jesus more and more and the consequences that it has in their own lives. There was not perfection, but there was a seeking after doing what pleases God and what is according to His Word. But, in order to do this, it requires a lot of work, willingness, sacrifice, and total commitment, not only of the leaders of the church, but also of each member of the church.
And now I see that my ministerial call is not simply a desire to help the church. Rather, to see how church leadership is to be carried out, I saw that it requires working with a group of people that are often totally opposite with regard to preferences, lifestyles, nationality, financial wellbeing, character, and many other things, things which among the world would only cause separation and division. However, in the body of Christ, those people are made into one body in which everyone helps, loves, and serves one another, not presuming on one another, but doing all things for the cause of Christ.
The church is not a place of rules, lots of strategies to win souls to Christ, or methods for growing a church. No, it is love for God and a love for the gospel, His Word, His mercies, and His righteousness. It also demands love for His people, our brothers and sisters, which makes me want to be with them, disciple them, and stir them up toward perseverance in growth in the way of the Lord.
I recognized during my time there that nothing can edify the church as much as a genuine and clear understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Not wrongly assuming that I’ve understood the depths of the gospel or settling for a superficial understanding, and not being content merely with the theoretical understanding that many of us have when we leave seminary, but a living understanding that leads us to trust His power to transform lives through the application of the work that He did in giving His Son in our place to suffer His wrath and condemnation.