FONW Conference: Bob Vineyard and Tommy Bates

Dates: March 14-17, 2011
Speakers: Tommy Bates, Pastor Ron Phillips, Perry Stone, others
Location: Abba's House, Hixson, Tennessee
Cost: free
Official website

March 15, 9:45am - Bob Vineyard, Tommy Bates

Ah, no cameras! This service was different - smaller but with more reverence and spiritual reality. People said things off the cuff that I'm sure they wouldn't say in front of a camera. They displayed their hearts. There was no choir either - just the worship leader and a few soloists. They sang "Joy unspeakable" and "You are my shield." And yet, as a family member observed, the church itself has no peace. The spiritual atmosphere is like a jangling noise. It's nothing like Thomas Road Baptist Church (Lynchburg, VA), which has spiritual peace every time I'm there.

This session was my introduction to Pastor Bob Vineyard, from Stephen City, Virginia. He's a seventh-generation Baptist who's been filled with the Holy Spirit - like Ron Phillips. He says he stays in the black by supporting missionaries. Vineyard is funny. And yet I noticed that during his sermon he kept twitching his eyes constantly (and involuntarily). He reminded me of a guilty murderer in an old Hitchcock movie. I wonder if this means anything. Body language can say a lot about a person.

Vineyard's sermon was on positioning yourself for miracles, his text being Judges 6:11-14. He interspersed this with global news and Christian platitudes/advice. For example, he said Muslims are taking the Koran seriously - like conquer, convert, or kill - and Christians need to take the Bible seriously as well. Vineyard also said we must love God first, who qualifies the called, and that with God we're a majority. All this is good but we've heard it before. Still, it never hurts to be reminded.

Vineyard started with Gideon's question to the angel of the Lord [theophany of Christ] why there were no miracles if God was with him. Where was Gideon? Threshing wheat in secret from the Midianites. He was doing the right thing in the wrong place. The result: no miracles. We must be transformed continuously. God alone does not change. We must let God be God and never forget that we're not God. Comfort leads to complacency and confusion. The devil can mess with our minds and make us focus on what's wrong. Gideon was focusing on why God wasn't helping him - instead of his family's sins and those of Israel.

The angel essentially told Gideon that God was looking at him. Will he look at God? Christ asks us the same thing: will we look at Him? He'll shake us in order to transform and empower us. The angel then told Gideon to go in his might - the source being God's sending and presence. God can see in us what we can't see in ourselves - as He saw a "mighty man of valor" in fearful Gideon.

The next step in Gideon's transformation and obedience to God was worship - where we usually fail. Vineyard said we must not worship our gifts but God the giver. Love what God gives you and thank Him for it, but don't worship it. We must ask God if our worship is acceptable to him. We must also ask where the idols are - not if we have them because we do. God will tell us to tear down the idols. After worship always comes service. God has something for us to do.

Christian financial adviser Harold Woodson then offered a few words. I hate all the talk about money. I don't think preachers should even mention it. In a service they should just ask for tithes and offerings and then do (and talk) about something else - the next part of the service. They should trust God, not beg for money. Still, Woodson said worshipping with tithes and offerings means sowing a seed and expecting a harvest. We shouldn't just give in times of need or in appreciation for a service, place, or speaker. Finally, obedience moves God toward us while disobedience moves Him away from us. I thought it all good advice.

Finally, Tommy Bates came to the podium to preach again! His sermon was on going down to the well, his text being John 2:11 - the "beginning of miracles" Jesus did at the wedding in Cana. Bates said John 2 is prophetic. Some people have a problem with the wine mentioned here. But Bates is a teetotaler like me. He said 38 Bible references indicate that alcohol is a stimulant, personality-altering drug. But we don't need the old wine of alcohol if we have the new wine of the Holy Spirit.

Instead, the issue in this chapter is miracles. The marriage is on the third day - like Hosea 6:1-3, Luke 10:34-35, and Luke 13:32. And there are six empty pots - like the six dispensations in world history that have already taken place. Those pots also represent us. The servants were told to go down to the well and fill up the pots with water. Then the water was turned into wine. Check out Isaiah 12:3, John 4:14, and John 7:37-38 for references to wells and water. When we need spiritual water from God, we have to go deep into the well! Trouble makes us go to the source that supplies our need - Jesus Christ. This is encapsulated in Psalm 42:7: "deep calls unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts." A feel-good religion produces no water in our pot. We must do what Jesus says: love Him [and people]. We must worship God, drawing water out of the well. When we obey God, he'll do what only he can.

Bates continued with the baby analogy from the March 14 session. He said the last thing to develop in a baby is the lungs. And premature babies cannot breathe without external help. So if the people who make up the new creation in Christ (the completed church) were to be born today, they'd die. They need breath (air) in order to be alive, praising God. Everything that isn't part of the baby when it's born goes into the trash can. The same thing will happen to the church spiritually. We live in a day of mimicking. But God will strip us of everything we don't need (religious hierarchy, men's traditions) in order to make us fully dependent on the Holy Spirit. This is what He wants from us before He returns. God is tearing down every wall, including denominations (and their differences), in order to develop the church's lungs. But we won't receive anything from God with one foot in the world. God wants us to breathe. And when we do - money, health, and influence will come.

Creation: Genesis 2:7 - after Adam is fully formed, God breathes into him and he lives.
The church: John 20:22/Acts 2:2-4 - Jesus breathes on the disciples and they speak in other tongues.
Last days: John 2:10 - the governor drinks the last wine, which he says is the best.

2 Corinthians 4:7: "We have this treasure in earthen vessels" - when we're filled with spiritual water, then the new (and best) wine comes.

Other official websites
Abba's House [Pastor Ron Phillips]
Greenway Spirit and Word Fellowship [Pastor Bob Vineyard]
Pastor Tommy Bates