- Baptist Press - https://www.baptistpress.com -

Coe: God’s desire for friendship & intimacy is biblical, permanent

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WAKE FOREST, N.C. (BP)–Bruce Coe’s message was simple: God wants to be a friend.

God’s Word teaches that his desire is to be intimate with his people, the pastor of First Baptist Church of Chandler, Ariz., told students at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C.

Using the story of Abraham in Genesis, Coe noted in a Feb. 6 chapel message that God wants to bless his people beyond their imagination.

Coe, chairman of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, said Abraham’s relationship with God was distinctive in four ways: It was personal, powerful, profound and permanent.

Coe reminded the ministers-in-training that as representatives of the gospel, the world — however unfairly — will hold them to a higher moral standard.

“You will never be more effective than your conduct,” Coe said.

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Coe defended the inerrancy of the Bible and the deity of Jesus Christ, saying, “We’re not preaching today about concepts, and we’re not preaching today about denominations. We’re teaching and we’re preaching today about Jesus.”

Coe ended his message noting that God’s Word says salvation through Jesus Christ, just like God’s covenant with Abraham, is permanent.

“The Bible teaches that once you are a child of God, you are always and forever a child of God,” Coe said.

In introducing Coe, Bill Bennett — chaplain at Southeastern and Coe’s longtime pastor and mentor — said Coe has been faithful to the Bible throughout his ministry, including the last nine years in Chandler, which is just outside Phoenix.

“He seeks to know the will of God more than anyone I’ve ever known,” Bennett said. “And he seeks to do the will of God.”
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