The God Who Makes Himself Known 7-14 Jul 2024
Creation to Consummation – our conference dedicated to Biblical Theology is back!
Creation to Consummation (CTC) is a city conference designed to help busy Christians read the Bible across its entire message of salvation. Biblical Theology is all about learning to read the Bible with the unity of its message found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is a vital skill and duty for every Christian, and essential for the health of the church in Malaysia.
The God Who Makes Himself Known
The LORD's commitment to make Himself known throughout the nations is the overarching missionary theme of the Bible and the central theological concern of Exodus.
Christians sometimes fragment the text over theological difficulties. For example, is there a tension between law and gospel, or mercy and judgment? How should we understand the painstaking detail of the tabernacle chapters? And so on.
Dr. Blackburn contends that Exodus should be read as a unified whole with the rest of Scripture, and suggests that an appreciation of the missionary themes will help greatly in dealing with the difficulties. Read in that light, Exodus not only sheds important light on the church's mission, but also reveals what kind of God the LORD is – one who pursues His glory and our good, ultimately realizing both as He makes Himself known in Christ Jesus.
CTC: Night Talks
The 4 Night Talks are the main event of CTC, where Dr. Blackburn will be answering the all-important questions about who God is, who He's created us to be, and what it's like to bear faithful witness to Him in our world, through an examination of the key themes and events in Exodus, such as the Ten Plagues, the Law, priestly worship, the Tabernacle, and God's desire for His name to be made known to all the people.
CTC: Behind The Scenes (BTS)
CTC: BTS gives conference participants a chance to go “Behind The Scenes” with the preacher in interactive workshops on how to do Biblical Theology. The 3 workshops complement the Night Talks, allowing participants to delve into the preacher’s methodology and learn to handle the biblical material for themselves. Anyone keen on applying the content at CTC to their ministries – including pastors, ministry leaders or anyone involved in teaching – will greatly benefit from CTC: BTS.
Breakfast is always provided alongside CTC: BTS and is included in the registration fee. Come have breakfast with us before CTC: BTS starts, and fellowship with fellow believers from other churches.
Building Healthy Churches (BHC)
If we are to grow as Christians in the knowledge of our Lord and the life that He has called us to live, we need to appreciate Biblical Theology and apply it to our ecclesiology in the present day.
CTC culminates with the Building Healthy Churches talk and Q&A session, where Dr. Blackburn will bring together all we have learnt into practical application as we explore how the Gospel – as made known by God in Exodus – should shape our lives, churches and ministries.
Prelude and Postlude
This year’s CTC is bookended by a Prelude and a Postlude gathering hosted by our brothers and sisters at Christ Evangelical Reformed Church. We (and they) welcome you to fellowship with other saints and worship God together on those two Sundays, where Dr. Blackburn will be preaching the gospel with a Biblical Theological framework. The Prelude will set the tone and help you anticipate what will be covered during the conference, whereas the Postlude will pull together all that we have learned throughout the week.
We invite you to join us for our 12th CTC conference as we press on with our mission to unlock Christ’s wisdom for His churches in Malaysia, so that we may all faithfully proclaim the gospel!
Rev. Dr. W. Ross Blackburn
The Rev. W. Ross Blackburn has been a pastor in the Anglican Church for almost 30 years, and is married with five homeschooled children. He has a PhD (Old Testament) from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, has taught at both universities and seminaries. The author of The God Who Makes Himself Known: The Missionary Heart of the Book of Exodus (of the New Studies in Biblical Theology—NSBT—series published by IVP), Blackburn will be teaching on how Exodus reveals the character of God and equips the church to bear witness to Christ Jesus among the nations.
Conference line-up
Date | Time | Event | Venue |
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Sun 7 Jul | 6.00pm |
Prelude (FREE) hosted by Christ Evangelical Reformed Church We begin our time together by looking at the first commandment, “you shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3) This command which Jesus called the greatest outlines the covenant relationship God desires to have with his people, and is the foundation of the gospel. |
Luther Centre |
Mon 8 Jul (PUBLIC HOLIDAY) | 9.00am-12.30pm (8am for breakfast) |
Behind The Scenes 1 (FREE) Biblical Theology: How and What? In this session we will look at Biblical Theology—how to read the Bible as a whole, and why, with particular attention to preaching and teaching the Scriptures |
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7.30pm-9.30pm |
Night Talk 1 (6:30pm for dinner*) Created for Communion Largely neglected in the church, the Tabernacle is full of gospel encouragement. Here we will ask what it tells us about who God is and why He created us. |
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Tue 9 Jul | 9.00am-12.30pm (8am for breakfast) |
Behind The Scenes 2 God Our Saviour God’s people are a delivered people. Here we will look at the cardinal festival on Israel’s calendar, the Passover, and see how it anticipates the Gospel. |
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7.30pm-9.30pm |
Night Talk 2 (6:30pm for dinner*) “They will know that I am the LORD.” Here we will explore not only how, but why the Lord delivered Israel in the spectacular way He did, and what it reveals about God’s desire for the nations. |
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Wed 10 Jul | 9.00am-12.30pm (8am for breakfast) |
Behind The Scenes 3 The Peace of God The Sabbath is the Old Testament picture of the Gospel. We’ll look at what the Sabbath tells us about the plan of God in Christ. |
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7.30pm-9.30pm |
Night Talk 3 (6:30pm for dinner*) The Law and the Mission of the Church Often seen as a large “no!”, the law is God’s “yes” to Israel and to humanity. Here we will look at the goodness of the law and what it reveals about the character of God who is good. |
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Thu 11 Jul | 7.30pm-9.30pm |
Night Talk 4 (6:30pm for dinner*) The Name of God and the Work of Christ We will look at Exodus 34:6-7, the most complete description of God’s character given anywhere in the Scriptures, to see how God’s name and character is revealed to Israel and ultimately in the gospel of Christ Jesus. |
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Fri 12 Jul | - | - | - |
Sat 13 Jul | 2.00pm-4.00pm |
Building Healthy Churches (FREE) In this session we will look at how biblical theology impacts the life and the ministry of the church. With particular attention to preaching and teaching we will review what we have discussed in Exodus, looking at both what the church proclaims and how she proclaims it. |
Christ Evangelical Reformed Church |
Sun 14 Jul | 6.00pm |
Postlude (FREE) hosted by Christ Evangelical Reformed Church We will end by looking at the call of Moses in Exodus 3-4 as a way of seeking to understand the call of God upon the church, and upon us as individual parts of the body of Christ. |
Luther Centre |
* Light food and beverages will be available for purchase each evening.
Please note that the schedule may be subject to change due to unforeseen circumstances.
Luther Centre
(For every session besides BHC on Saturday)
6 Jalan Utara, 46200 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS coordinates: 3.10663, 101.63974
Christ Evangelical Reformed Church
(For BHC on Saturday only)
10 Jalan PJS 7/3a, Bandar Sunway, 47500 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS coordinates: 3.06403, 101.613823