The Great Commandment

Seek God's vision of people, pastors urged

PHOENIX (BP)--Hearing passionate pleas to view the people of the world as God sees them, attendees of the 2011 Southern Baptist Pastors' Conference were challenged to take action.

Following the conference's theme of "Aspire: Yearning to join God's Kingdom Activity," speakers on Monday afternoon and evening, June 13, said now is the time to reach the nations with the Gospel of Christ and not keep the Good News to themselves.

Addressing the conference were:

AFSHIN ZIAFAT

Afshin Ziafat, lead pastor of Providence Church in Frisco, Texas, told pastors that a "proper understanding of the Gospel will be the greatest fuel for missions." In contrast, he said, "When our appreciation and understanding of the Gospel -- the grace that we've received -- wanes, then our heart for missions suffers."

The Iranian-American pastor preached from Jonah 4, warning pastors to heed God's words to the prophet and to see people as God sees them. Ziafat said the Gospel reminds Christians that prior to Christ saving them, they were once enemies of God, spiritually blind and separated from God. This recognition, he said, should fuel compassion for those who do not know Christ.

"Do you understand that it's by mercy and grace that you even know the truth of Jesus?" Ziafat asked. "If you understand that, I say to you that entitlement goes out the door, your rights will go out the door, and you will lay your life down so that others who don't know will know."

Ziafat, who came to Christ as a teenager after he read a Bible given to him by an English tutor, understands what clinging to the Gospel costs. His father disowned him for his faith. Additionally, he now trains Iranian pastors who have experienced imprisonment and persecution daily for their faith.

Still, Ziafat challenged pastors to recognize the sending nature of the Gospel: "The Gospel didn't come into our hearts to terminate with us. If you have really grabbed hold of the Gospel, it will send you out to others who do not know."

KEN WHITTEN

Ken Whitten, pastor of Idlewild Baptist Church in Tampa, Fla., encouraged Pastors' Conference attendees to look beyond the outward appearance of people and seek what God sees -- the internal need for salvation in Him.

"What you see is what you'll be," Whitten said. "What you know is where you go. Your care will be your prayer, and your hands will always follow your heart.

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Budziszewski has just released the revised and expanded version of his classic book, What We Can't Not Know . Budziszewski, a leading natural law theorist, explains that there are certain basic moral truths that all of us really know, even if we pretend to ourselves that we don't. The murderer knows the wrong of murder; the adulterer knows the wrong of adultery.