Pastor Larry Writes

Special Meetings
Camden Baptist Church

Wednesday evening’s service marked the midway point of our special meetings. A total of 130 were in attendance. The musical aspect of the worship was led by the youth choir made up of 14 high school teens. A smaller teen ensemble sang a special entitled “A Servant In Your Heavenly House”. It is obvious that their leader, Darcy Klier works very hard to prepare them to sing. They sound great.
Chris Kish preached a short sermon on the topic of “Standing Up and Standing Out”. He is competing this Saturday in the Male Public Speaking category for Talents For Christ. He began his sermon by sharing a memory of preaching to some of his childhood toys and stuffed animals when he was a young boy. Chris is a senior at Keystone High School in Lagrange and has sought to stand up and stand out for Christ on the basketball court, in the locker room and in the classroom.
Pastor Dan Dark preached his third sermon of the week. This one was entitled “Thinking Differently About Our Conscience” from I Peter 3:16. Below is a summary of the sermon.

Introduction: Our conscience either accuses or excuses us (Romans 2:14-15).
o Illustration: Our consciences are like windows that get dirty. Word of God is like sunshine flooding through our hearts. When our conscience is not clear the Word of God gets blocked out. The result is that we no longer know what is right and what is wrong. Revival is when we clean the window. Pastor Dark asked if we were in love with God’s love letter to us.

The Benefits of Keeping the Window Clean
1) A clear conscience fortifies us with courage.
· It gives us courage to do what is right
o Illustration: Daniel who did what was right as a teenager and an elderly man and was willing to suffer for it.
2) A clear conscience gives us peace in our hearts.
· Illustration: Son of a pastor killed in an automobile accident. The police officer came to know Christ as Savior as a result of the peace of God displayed by the grieving family.
· Illustration: H.G. Spafford, author of the hymn, “It Is Well With My Soul”. He wrote this hymn after he lost family members in a sinking ship. He was able to do this because he had a clear conscience.
o Note: Pastor Dark mentioned that the last three times he has used this illustration this song has been song during the service without anyone knowing that he was going to refer to it. It was sung last night before he spoke.
3) A clear conscience removes from us the fear of what other people may know or say or do
to us.
· Illustration: Meeting pastors in Cuba who had all served jail time for the sake of the gospel.
· Illustration: While growing up in Africa Dan and his family prayed for 12 pastors from Chad who had been arrested and their church buildings burned to the ground. They were each given the opportunity to deny Christ and promise never to preach about Him again. When they refused they were buried up to their necks and given one last chance to live. Instead they began singing “Amazing Grace”. As a result they were each killed by having wooden stakes driven through their heads. They were able to stand and die for their faith in Christ because they had a clear conscience.
· Illustration: I John 1:9 promises us that “if we confess our sin He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Pastor Dark remembered a couple he knew when he and his wife were newly married. This couple had been married for sixty years. He asked the husband how he and his wife handled disagreements. The man shared that when they got into an argument he would go for a drive for a while to cool off. When he returned home he would open the front door announce his return and toss his hat in. If his hat came flying back at him he would get back in his car and go for a drive and repeat the process until his hat was not forcibly returned to him. The fact is that when we confess our sins to God, He never throws our hat back at us. We are always forgiven, always cleansed of our sin!