Well, welcome to Ask Free Grace Baptist Church or Ask FGC as we call it. >> And so I'm Whim Kirkoff from Free Grace Baptist Church here in Chilowak. And I'm joined today by Pastor Jim Butler and Cam Porter from our church. So, welcome. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. And yeah, so for those new to ask free grace, uh this is where we answer questions uh submitted by you, our listeners, our church family, and others. So we tackle questions around theology, practical Christian living, issues facing believers today um and all from a confessional reformed Baptist um perspective rooted in scripture and our 1689 confession, London Baptist Confession. So, if you're not already subscribed on um Sermon or YouTube, I recommend that so you can be notified when those come out. Also, through the website or a link in this um video, you'll see subscribe to our newsletter on the website um and we send those out as well. So, videos to listen to what interests you, but also share it with other friends or family who might benefit. So today today we've got lots of great questions lined up covering everything from baptism and reading the Bible for the first time >> and deeper theology theological matters like federal vision and backterianism >> order of salvation faith and before we get into that um we want to spend a few minutes talking about our upcoming conference in April 2026 April 10 and 11 here in Chilowak it's called confessing the faith um so Cam let's just start with that is what's the purpose of the conference Um why did we start this? >> Yeah. Well, I think maybe speaking more largely and generally um the conference is designed hopefully to to know our God and his truth better. We want to understand historic doctrinal biblical confessional Christianity. So, you know, the the the vision of the conference is to do just that, to improve our understanding of historical orthodoxy, uh the understanding of our precious Christian truth. Um it you know it puts it puts pastors into context, elders uh officers of churches um into contact with each other into contact with a deeper and richer understanding of historical Christianity, the doctrines of the Bible. What we do the you know the the format which will be I think maybe even touched on in a in an upcoming question but um the format is such that we're following a confession of faith. So, a progression through our uh confession of faith. And so, uh having already done uh chapter one on the doctrine of the scriptures, uh having completed chapter 2 on the doctrine of God uh and of the Holy Trinity, we're we're coming up on the doctrine of God's decree. And so, with the purpose there, it would be to understand that doctrine better uh the God of that doctrine better. uh placing it in its historical and biblical and confessional context and yeah providing um not only pastors and um and officers in churches but also um members of churches Christians properly speaking providing them with an understanding of of what they believe and of the god that they believe in. >> Yeah. Anything to add? >> Yeah. Uh usually we get professionals in a particular subject and this year we'll have Dr. Jim Renahan who is the president of the International Reformed Baptist Seminary and we'll have Dr. Richard Barcelos who's a professor at the International Reformed Baptist Seminary and a pastor in Palmdale, California. And then Pastor David Charles from Toledo, Ohio. And again, professionals in their field uh on the decree of God. So doctors Renahan and Barcelos will do deal with the nuts and bolts of the confession and then Pastor Charles will do a pastoral reflection on the decree of God, how it's to be taught, how it's to be embraced, how it's to be preached. We're trying to add that dimension to the conference. Have a pastor that's working regularly in the text and with the people of God to give some reflection on a particular chapter. So just to make it, you know, a bit more application or a bit more useful >> um in terms of just putting the doctrine into practice. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Yeah. Excellent. And and maybe another thing to to add that I didn't mention with regards to the purpose is we we also want the conference to serve the end of unity amongst Christ's churches. You know, as much as sometimes division needs to obtain by virtue of the truth, if we look historically at church councils, uh, you know, church creeds, church confessions, that sort of a thing. But the truth is intended by God to unite as well. And we want to rally around with like-minded churches and like-minded brethren. rally around the the the truths that are believed amongst us, the form of sound words that we uh that we hold strongly to. So it's a colleial spirit that is intended to be engendered by by the conference as well and I think that's important to emphasize. >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. There can be some differences but focusing on what unites there can be differences on baptism and church structure and there's still so much in common. >> Yeah, that's right. And I guess like the name I love I love the name that we came up with for it is confessing the faith. That's the Jude 3 reference, right? This is nothing new. >> This is not 20th century 19th century. >> Uh 1600s. This is back to first century, right? >> Yeah. >> That's right. Yeah, for sure. >> Very good. >> And I guess why is the topic of God's decree important at this time or all times, right? But um >> well, I think it's directly connected to the first two chapters. You know, we have of the holy scriptures in chapter one, which sets forth truth concerning who God is and what God has done. And then of course, chapter two emphasizes of God and the holy trinity. And by virtue of his perfections and his relation to the world or the things that he has made, it is important for us to understand the decree of God that what we face or experience in this present world is not random. It's not halfhazard. It's not fate. It's not impersonal forces kind of working behind the scenes. But it is the God described and and defined and delineate delineated in chapter 2 that governs all his creatures and all their actions that has ordained whatsoever comes to pass. And that ultimately for his glory, for the good of his people. And if the people of God get a good understanding of that, it really does provide and afford a great degree of stability, peace, comfort, and hopefully takes some of the guesswork out of life, knowing that whatever our God has ordained is is good and hopefully promotes in us a more worshipful and thankful um approach to our God. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Yeah. Obviously both of you have taught on the chapter many times. Um so I'll we'll put a link on the website or in this video to where you can find that teaching and from the sermon audio as we um regularly go through our confession and study these chapters. So a good overview um not required for the conference um but helpful an overview of the chapter. Yeah. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Okay. And then yeah Cam just I guess real quick what's the format in terms of sessions and the schedule for the conference? >> Mhm. Yeah. So uh the conference takes place over Friday and Saturday usually beginning Friday afternoon uh continuing into the evening and then uh reconvening Saturday morning and and finishing um in the afternoon on Saturday and the the format is Jim had already mentioned that we bring in uh speakers to speak on a given topic each year. So there are certain usually uh 45minut to 1 hour uh sessions slotted for each of the speakers um where they will speak on the topic um intermingled amongst breaks and treats and coffees and uh um and dinners. But the the idea is to have a you know a good format that is conducive to uh to understanding to particip participant attention uh so that we can provide the you know the the giving of solid material uh about our confession of faith about the truth of the Bible uh in a format that's uh easily easily received and easily understood and you know some of the some of the subject matter I is going to be I I don't want I don't know if the proper word to use is difficult, but it's going to be heavy in the sense that we're we're not dealing with, you know, the the latest flavor of Skittles or potato chips. We're we're dealing with the truth of the living and true God. >> And so the the content is intended to be rich. It's tend intended to be accurate, to be precise, to be faithful to the biblical witness uh and faithful to our confessional heritage that we believe accurately captures and represents that that biblical witness. >> Yeah. Mhm. Yeah. I would say even if people are not in theology and and doctrine on a regular basis, but anyone can benefit from it. Like you may not get 100%. Maybe nobody does. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. But even 25% will be a huge blessing for your >> just feed your soul and your mind. Yeah. >> Yeah. Yeah. That's right. And I think, you know, we've been transformed by the renewing of our minds as Christians by virtue of God's amazing and victorious grace. And we're we're called to use our minds to to have our souls elevated to to apprehend and to understand our God better. And uh and I think we should we ought to always receive that challenge with joyful Christian hearts. Not to roll our eyes at doctrine, but to have warm Christian hearts that openly embrace the re the the receipt of doctrine, the receiving of doctrine that we might better understand the word and the God who has revealed himself therein. >> Yeah. >> Amen. And then yeah, opportunities for fellowship as well, right? With the breaks and the dinner. >> Yep. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that's, you know, that's something we encourage, too. You know, we talked about uh unity that um obviously we we hope to obtain uh around a doctrinal reality for the the content of the conference, but also you know networking and in and unity among uh the brethren, fellowship amongst uh amongst pastors, amongst deacons, amongst Christians generally speaking, getting together uh meeting one another, uh speaking to one another, talking about the content of the lectures and about their their walk uh respective walks with Christ. So, it's a it's it's a wonderful environment for a number of things. One of those being the fellowship and the networking and and meeting new people that you haven't met before. >> Yeah. >> Yeah, I definitely heard that from the pastors and people have come is to feel very filled. It's just it's like the tears in your eyes are so grateful for it, right? Just cuz it can be very lonely. >> That's right. >> It is very lonely for for most. Yeah. >> Yeah. And then I guess accommodations we do um have families in our church that will host um people from out of town so providing meals and stuff and that's been a great blessing to both parties as well for that. That's right. >> Have an evening and break bread together and the weekend together. So >> um we have a form on the website you can submit with your details and bring with uh children what their ages are etc. So we can do um a good matchmaking >> to a home there. So recommend that. If you're flying um do recommend Abbasford rather than McGover. It's a lot more convenient for rides and it's much closer to Chilowak. So >> yeah. >> Okay. And then yeah, tickets for the conference are free. It's just ministry of our church >> and we are and then the dinner is optional. It's at $40 to cover the the catering cost there. So >> um yeah, check out the website for details and to register. >> All right. So with that said, we'll go continue with our questions. We've done 53 already, so this will be number 54. >> Okay. >> Nice. >> Yeah.
