GBA 2013 Wednesday Evening

In Tim Mills' second message he took up the question he raised at the end of his first as to whether initial faith is the same as the faith we are to go on with. He answered the question by going back to Habakkuk 2:4 and noting that word live.

He identified from Habakkuk three dangers

1. The Lord's people themselves because of their sins (1:1-4)

2. The Babylonians (1:5-2:20)

3. God himself (3)

He then took us to the three New Testament references to the Habakkuk reference in Romans 1, Galatians 3 and Hebrews 10.

Hebrews 10:38 asserts both that Christians are justified and that there is danger and if we continue in sin it will be a disaster. The sin in view is hearing God's Word and saying no to accepting it and doing it. Those who trust in Christ can get through the dangers if they look to Christ.

Galatians 3:11

Backsliding is nothing less than leaving God. What should you do when the anchor is slipping - trust urgently in Christ.

Romans 1:17

We spent the bulk of the time here and were taken over several chapters, powerfully making the point that we, though justified, are tempted to act in our strength, something that God hates. Those who are already justified live through the danger of saying one thing and doing another as they believe urgently in Christ.

He confessed in closing to feeling tired (not just physically) but in all sorts of ways - praying, singing, etc, etc. The answer is not to look at your faith as such but to fix your eyes on God and on Christ with urgent and clinging faith.

It was a privilege to hear this thorough and well thought out message.

GBA 2013 Tuesday Afternoon and Evening

Ellis

Hughes

Mills

I'm afraid I arrived here in Swanwick for the 2013 Grace Assembly late and missed the first session at which David Ellis spoke. He and Barbara are our hosts this year.

At 5 pm Bill Hughes spoke. Having ministered for 35 years in Scotland, he has been ministering in Florida these last 12 years but has now moved back to the UK and so he was invited to give some reflections of the American scene. As he himself said, he was not able to say very much that was original but it was good to have this informed assessment of the situation, which is mixed and confused.

Then after supper Tim Mills spoke of justification by faith from Habakkuk 2:4, which he called Habakkuk's greatest statement. He urged us to go back to that initial moment when we first believed and to recognise the layers involved. He listed these as

1. Belief in the big facts about the Bible and God

2. Dependence on God

3. Confidence and certainty about God and his promises

4. Emergency and desperation to escape sin and judgement
At the close he simply raised the question of whether this initial faith is the same as the faith we are to go on with.