Report on the Southern California High School Brothers’ Conference
General Subject: Reading, Praying, and Speaking God’s Word for the Building of God’s House
Location: Oak Glen Christian Conference Center Yucaipa, CA
Dates: April 7-9, 2017
More than 250 high school brothers and serving ones came together for one weekend to see how to be today’s Ezra’s; priests who serve God and scribes who are skilled in the word of God by learning to handle God’s word through: reading, praying and speaking God’s word (Ezra: 7:6).
There were four messages given over a period of two and a half days. The subject of message one was “The Recovery of God’s Kingdom and God’s House through God’s Word.” In this message, the young brothers were impressed with the fact that the Lord wants to recover them to Himself and to His eternal purpose but for this they must come to His word and build up a daily habit of handling the Bible by reading, praying and speaking God’s word.
The subject of message two was “Coming to God by Reading God’s Word.” Ezra was a priest who served God, and also a scribe, a scholar, who was skilled in the Word of God. He bore the totality of the heavenly and divine constitution and culture. Just like Ezra, the brothers were encouraged to see the importance of reading the Bible and of building up a habit of spending time in the Word. In the final part of the message, the young people were shown six ways that they can read the Bible.
The subject of message three was “Reconstitution by Praying God’s Word.” The brothers were shown that they live in a Satanic triangle; Babylon as a place of idols, Egypt as a place of worldly riches and pleasures and Sodom a city of sin. Although as God’s called ones, they live within this satanic triangle, they must be saved from it. In order to be saved, purified and reconstituted from such a situation, they need to come back to God by coming back to His word in prayer, especially by pray-reading.
Finally, the subject for the last message was “Speaking God’s Word for the Building of God’s House.” Here the young brothers were reminded that based on 1 Corinthians 14:31, they are all able to speak the Word of God. By speaking God’s word to minister Christ, they can build up the church, give life to their friends, reject Satan’s attacks, stand on God’s promises and reject the untrustworthy environments.
May the Lord raise up many Ezra’s in the Lord’s recovery to read, pray and speak God’s Word for the building up of His house and the fulfillment of His eternal purpose.