Eventful Morning

It’s been a busy and blessed morning at the conference. The morning general session featured Pastor Dan Davey of Colonial Baptist Church, Virginia Beach, VA. His official assignment was Daniel chapter 2, but he provided a helpful perspective on the book as whole first, in the form of “four pillars” that are key to understanding Daniel and fully grasping its message.

Pillar 1: literary differences. Daniel 1-6 are in the “court stories” form. And Daniel 7-12 consists of prophetic declarations. Pillar 2: language differences. Daniel includes both Hebrew and Aramaic. Davey suggested the reason for the difference is to emphasize that the message of the book is for all: that our God reigns.

Pillar 3: longevity of Daniel’s ministry. There is tension in every chapter. But Daniel’s opportunity and influence continue as God sustains him. Pillar 4: the larger theme of the book: God is the Creator of all and is in control of all He has made. Davey supported each of these observations with multiple poignant examples throughout the book. The overall result was an enlightening synthesis of the themes of the book. We could all see how the parts of the book of Daniel work together to powerfully declare the sovereign power of God.

Following this helpful introductory information Pastor Davey preached from chapter 2 specifically. I can’t do do justice to this message in the time I have. The delivery was passionate, insightful, meaty. Listen to the mp3 here. And don’t skip the prayers. Davey is one of those rare guys who not only preach passionate and meaty messages but also wrap them in passionate and meaty prayers. If you’re short on time, listen to prayer at the beginning of the mp3 and skip to the end and catch the prayer there. See if you can restrain yourself from adding your amens.

Have to add one more comment about Davey. Personal comparisons are generally unhealthy and foolish (2 Cor. 10:12), but general comparisons that exalt the strength of preaching among non-fundamentalist (but conservative) evangelicals and bemoan the weakness of Fundamentalist preaching are common. So in the spirit of a defensive comparison, I defy anybody to find a non-fundamentalist evangelical who is a better preacher than the Fundamentalist Dan Davey.