BIBLICAL COUNSELING CONFERENCE - Day 4

BIBLICAL COUNSELING CONFERENCE – Day 4


This was the last full day (Thursday) for the conference; with Friday being morning only, and people getting on the road home. On the last night of the conference, after the last full day, there is a main session, after dinner, which everyone in the conference (about 1,500 people) are invited to. The main speaker was Paul Tripp. He is on the pastoral staff of a church in Philadelphia and the author of many books. He is often involved with this particular counseling conference ministry here in Lafayette, Indiana.


His message, last night, was about the Abraham and Isaac story, where God asked Abraham to go and sacrifice his son (the promised son of the covenant). Genesis 22 is the story and Hebrews 11:17-19 recaps it. God was working on my heart as he spoke about faith, and grace, and some foundational truths about God. Let me share some of this with you; and pray that it might be a challenge and encouragement as you study this special story in God’s Word.


What do you do when you don’t know what God is doing, or why?
· Faith is not irrational because it is based on the glorious Word of God
· You cannot remove God from your trouble; because your redeemer loves you enough to be more committed to your holiness than your comfort
· God will take you where you never intended to go in order to produce in you what you could never produce on your own
· It is intentional, uncomfortable, redemptive…GRACE!
· I think I need relief, but what I really need is refinement
· Abraham’s rest was not in his understanding. His rest was in the person who drove him into this moment.
· God graced Abraham with 4 things that are the foundational stones for his rest (and ours):

1. God’s clear commands
I will obey even though I don’t understand

2. God’s promises
I will move toward the promise even though I don’t see it
There is a confident expectation of a guaranteed result

3. God’s power
I will live as though I truly believe in God’s power

4. God’s faithfulness
I will trust in God’s provision
Abraham was a man holding tight with both hands to the faithfulness of God