Beeson Podcast, Episode #577 Reverend Dr. Tim Cox Nov. 30, 2021 >>Announcer: Welcome to the Beeson podcast, coming to you from Beeson Divinity School on the campus of Samford University. Now your hosts, Doug Sweeney and Kristen Padilla. >>Doug Sweeney: Welcome to the Beeson Podcast. I’m your host, Doug Sweeney, here with my co-host, Kristen Padilla. It is great to have you with us. By the time this episode drops we will be in the season of Advent and less than a month away from Christmas Day. And just in case you’re interested, we thought we’d let you know that you can find several Advent and Christmas resources on our Beeson website. Just type “Advent” or “Christmas” in the search bar and they’ll pop right up. Our guest on the show today just preached in Hodges Chapel. He is the Reverend Dr. Tim Cox, Senior Pastor of Liberty Baptist Church here in Chelsea and the President of the Alabama Baptist State Convention. Beeson, of course, is an interdenominational divinity school, but for many years we’ve also had a very special relationship with Alabama Baptists. More than half of our students and alumni are Baptist of one kind or another. And our faculty includes several leading Southern Baptists. Pastor Cox knows this well, and we are thrilled that he’s here with us to talk about these things, and a whole lot more. So, Kristen, would you please help us get our conversation started? >>Kristen Padilla: Yes, thank you, Doug. Welcome, Pastor Cox, to the Beeson Podcast. It’s wonderful to have you with us. As Dr. Sweeney has already said, you serve at Liberty Baptist Church in Chelsea, which we’re going to ask you about as well as your role with the Alabama Baptist State Convention. But before we get into that, we just want to get to know you better. I’m looking forward to getting to know you better because I want to know – are you from Alabama? Did you grow up here? Where are you from? How did the Lord call you into pastoral ministry? >>Dr. Cox: Thank you, Kristen. Great questions. I’m a native Alabamian. I was actually born in Monroe, Louisiana. My dad is a pastor. At a very early age we moved to Alabama and so most of my life has been right here in Alabama. So, I’m a PK. I claim “home” as Baldwin County, Bay Minette, that’s where dad pastored while I was going through high school, and graduated high school, and then through college. And he and mom still live in Bay Minette, Alabama. But he pastored First Baptist 27 years there. And so as a preacher’s kid I’ve always been in church – nine months before I was born. Alabama has been home and Alabama Baptists have been a big part of my life. So, I’m very grateful for the opportunities to have grown up in church, people investing into my life, and then a convention of people like Alabama Baptist through our cooperative program giving, investing in my schooling as I went to the University of Mobile for my college work. And ended up in New Orleans’s Baptist Theological Seminary and went there for my MDiv and back to Alabama to pastor. So, I am home grown in Alabama. I love it and love the people that God has allowed us to invest in and live life with. I’ve pastored several churches. One in college that was in Atmore, Alabama. And it was more bi-vocational, since I was a full time student. Then out of seminary ended up in East Brewton, Alabama at Ridge Road Baptist Church. Stayed there five plus years. Our first two children were born while we were there. So, that place is close, near and dear, to our hearts. I came to Marengo County to Linden Baptist Church, the county seat in Marengo County was there, just over three years. Then God called us to Shelby County and Chelsea Alabama at Liberty Baptist Church. I remember the chair of the pastor search team called me and said, “This is Ken Ray from Liberty Baptist Church in Chelsea, Alabama.” And I said, “Ken who? From where?” I had no idea where Chelsea was, but for the last 23 years it’s been home. And it’s been a joy to pastor a loving family named Liberty Baptist Church. So, a little bit about who I am as far as growing up in the ministry and where God has taken me. I did surrender to the call in ministry at a fairly young age, around 15. With dad being a pastor, I had a wonderful role model. He’s my hero still today. So, home life was good, seeing him live out what he preached every Sunday, and it was true in the home, it was true in the community, no matter if he had the coat and tie on or not – he was the same. A great model. But I didn’t want to grow up and be a pastor. I just had an attitude that’s not what I want to do. But as I grew just closer in my relationship to the Lord the calling was just convincing. It was on a Saturday night at a youth event that I remember the invitation given saying, “Someone in this room God’s calling out to ministry.” And I knew that someone was me. And I stood up in May of 1983 and shared with our youth group that God was calling me out to be a pastor. And I knew from early on it was to be a preacher of the gospel. And that was my calling and from that point of surrender God has been gracious to help me have purpose in moving forward with school and equipping and serving in local churches. >>Doug Sweeney: There’s a number of things we want to talk with you about, Pastor Cox, but let’s start first by learning just a little bit more about Liberty Baptist Church. Can you tell us about your congregation and its history? Kristen and I happen to know you’ve got some Beeson people on your staff. So, we want to make sure we give a shout out to them. But I think I’ve also learned you’ve had a big anniversary recently? What’s your church like and what’s the Lord doing there these days? >>Dr. Cox: Liberty is a legacy church. We just celebrated our 175th anniversary. So, Liberty was one of the founding churches of what we now know as the Shelby Baptist Association. In that time period of the ten originating churches, Liberty was always a flagship church, first to reach 100 in attendance. And so through the years Liberty has been a very strong church, standing on the truth of God’s Word, impacting a local community. I’m privileged to stand on the shoulders of 36 pastors that have gone before me and just continue to carry the flame of the gospel forward. Our local community that used to be Melrose, when we were first planted by [inaudible 00:07:30] Holcomb and now we are Chelsea, a fast growing city, in the state of Alabama. God, in His providence and understanding, knew that 175 years ago when He pricked the hearts of a small group of believers, and [inaudible 00:07:40] Holcomb to be our first pastor, that Liberty Baptist would be in one of the fastest growing cities in the state of Alabama. So, looking back 175 years, we have a rich legacy. But the most exciting thing is looking forward as to not only what God is doing today but the potential of impact with the gospel in the days ahead. Literally, our greatest days of ministry are in front of us. God has, in 23 years, grown his church there at Liberty and our staff team has grown, and we are delighted to be friends with Beeson Divinity School. It started out that students needed some credit for kind of an internship type work in local church life. We partnered with some students. And the first one we partnered with, he’s still on staff. And he is my full time executive pastor and we call him our Executive Associate Pastor, Kyle Valaer. We have two other guys, Bryan Alderman and Colton Taylor, that are full time on staff. They basically came on board the same way Kyle did, through interning and then part time work, and then we saw what God was doing in and through their life and the excitement of them being students at Beeson, and us being able to offer ministry experience as they were students, but upon graduation calling them full time to serve the Lord through our local church. And so we currently have one intern that is with us. He is brand new, just started in August, and he’ll intern through May. We’re excited to have William on board. But we’re thankful that we’re close enough to the Birmingham area and to Beeson that we can benefit from these students, but also be a benefit to them. That’s part of our heritage and our church life. Howard College, back in the day, filled pastors at Liberty Baptist Church. The early pastors had short tenures. And a lot of it was because they were students. It was part time and may have been paid with food and vegetables, if anything. But it’s been a rich heritage for us as we’ve grown as a church to have students investing in and impacting kingdom work. We’re still glad to be a part of that. >>Kristen Padilla: You just mentioned the anniversary and how special that was in celebrating God’s faithfulness. Was it perhaps even just a little bit more special to celebrate such an anniversary coming out of a pandemic? I mean, the last two years have been very difficult, we know, for churches and ministers. I wonder if you can just talk about how, as a seasoned pastor, you waded through ministry and leading a church in and through a pandemic? And what it’s like to now, even though we’re still kind of in it, but to look back and really say, “You know? God’s been so incredibly faithful?” >>Dr. Cox: Good question. Certainly, having had some tenure at Liberty Baptist before a global pandemic hit and having a good staff team that could strengthen one another going through it was really helpful for me as the Senior Pastor. Seminary had no way of training any of us of how in the world to minister in the midst of a global pandemic. So, everyone that I knew – we were networking the best we could with local pastors and other churches. “What’s going on? What are you going to do?” Particularly when we were closing down in-person gatherings and how we were going to stay connected online with people. And it was a day to day decision making process. So, for us as a staff team it grew us closer because we were making a ton of decisions just about how in the world do we stay connected with a community of believers that we’re not meeting in person anymore. So, we shut down in-person meetings for 12 weeks with nothing going on. We recorded everything online. One of the benefits that came out of it, we learned how to do online stuff a whole lot better than we did, and still maintain that. It taught us a lot about maybe where some of the gaps in ministry were. What we found out is that our church family that was connected in small groups and had good life together with other believers there, they fared better than those that were either worship only, or loosely connected with group life, because those groups really stayed connected with each other. And we could minister to them. And so we learned some gaps in discipleship that we needed to pay attention to. And understood in a greater fashion that it’s that relational aspect of ministry that we invest in people. It’s not just about getting ready for Sunday and having a sermon that is preached, and worship set that is performed – it’s about really relationship, first and foremost, with the Lord and nurturing that and abiding and gleaning his wisdom in the midst of uncharted territory. And then investing in the lives of people. That relational aspect became very, very important. Not that it hadn’t been, it was just we had to find ways to stay connected and it was relational to groups that helped us there. And the groups that were healthiest going into the pandemic certainly fared better on the backside. Our staff team was just all hands on deck, whatever it takes. Your ministry descriptions are out the window. It’s, “Lord, how do we function today? How do we connect with our people for the upcoming Sunday?” Of course, God was not panicked in the midst of this. There’s a lot of good that came out of it in church life. It gave us a chance to evaluate things that were either very effective or non effective. And gave us as a staff team a chance to make decisions on when we come back, how we come back. And coming back, meaning, being on campus together. Those decisions started with worship only and then eventually brought group life back. I would say we’re functioning as a norm; people being back in full capacity. But our numbers are still below what we were pre COVID and that’s what I hear is pretty common in most congregations – anywhere from 60-70% is a pretty good run right now about ministering to our church families. But that time was just ... it made us, compelled us to adjust, pour out our hearts to the Lord, and be totally dependent on how in the world do we do this. The message didn’t change. God’s Word was still truth and living and active, and it became a lifeline to us. Prayers of God’s people became more fervent and the spiritual renewal and growth through that was very valuable. And coming back together, the appreciation of being together was greater. People were just excited to be back in person when those times came. And celebrating 175 year in-person was a great joy. We’re very grateful that we could have Lynette Berg with the Alabama Baptist Historical Commission, who has an office here on campus, be with us in-person and be able to recognize that significant anniversary. So, I’ve often said, “One day at a time, Sweet Jesus.” (laughs) What do we do? And our motto became, “We do the next right thing.” This is the day and we’re going to do the next right thing that we know to do as a staff in fulfilling the call that God has given us to minister to his people. >>Doug Sweeney: Pastor Cox, we have a lot of different kinds of people who listen to the Beeson Podcast. But some of them are seminary students, others of them are prospective seminary students who are just starting to sense that maybe the Lord is calling them into pastoral ministry. I wonder if at this point in our conversation we could get you, as a veteran pastor – I think that’s the way Kristen put it – not that you’re that old, but you’ve been doing this for a while. (laughter) Could you kind of speak into the lives of some of these younger folks who are just now starting out on the road of pastoral ministry? And give them a word of encouragement. If you had to do it over again, how would you do it? What do you want to encourage them to do as they’re starting on this road? >>Dr. Cox: Yeah. I’m thankful that our God still calls out men and women for special vocational service and ministry. He is active doing that. I’m very grateful. Looking back over 35, almost 36, years of ministry there’s no greater joy than being obedient to the Lord in your call. And so if God is calling and pricking the heart to yield and surrender your life to him, the most joyful place to be is right in the center of God’s will. And it will cost us something to follow God’s call. And it costs us upfront, surrender. And I initially, as a young teenager, had my thoughts set on doing what I wanted to do – playing baseball was a big thing to me – but I knew God was tugging and calling and I resisted for a little while. But when I surrendered and understood that peace that came with that and the joy of being obedient – I’m glad I did. My dad is a senior pastor and so he was that seasoned guy that I ran to and said, “I think God might be calling me to ministry.” And he never discouraged that, but he did not want to be the one to talk me into ministry, just because he was my father and a minister. One thing that he said, and I’ve heard it many times since, he said, “Tim, if you can do anything else, do it.” Knowing that if God’s call was real, it’s only going to get stronger. And that’s what I experienced. And I would encourage men and women that are sensing that call – invest in that vertical relationship of abiding with Christ. Because it’s through that nurturing of that relationship, through the Word of God by the Spirit of God, that he is going to confirm the call and to give you the confidence that that’s what is going on in your life. God doesn’t have a problem speaking. And when he speaks it’s pretty clear. And when he wants it to be clear, it’s clear. So, I would encourage men and young women to abide and trust the Lord for that next step. And when the timing is right and the time for God’s call to be clear is there I’m convinced that God will speak very clearly if we’re willing to listen. And there is, again, no greater joy than being in the ministry because God called you to be there. You don’t want to be in ministry unless God calls you to be there. It’s not easy always. It’s not free of hardship and struggle and heartache and sorrow and difficulties – that’s life. Ministry is full of that. But when you invest in people and they have hardships, your heart is with them as well, it’s heavy as you invest, you weep with those who weep, and rejoice with those who rejoice. It’s an investment. And so I would encourage young men and young women just to abide and make sure what God is saying. But God is clear when he calls. And don’t fear ministry. And don’t look at your ability or inability to be a factor of God calling you. God calls and he equips those whom he calls. Don’t compare yourself with others about your speaking ability, your singing ability, your teaching ability, your comfort zones in those areas based upon what you can do – but trust the Lord. If he calls, he will equip. And you can trust him in that. For those that are seminary students, and are here studying and being equipped and pursuing that academic life, I would encourage them to soak it up where they are because these days being in a classroom setting, being surrounded by your peers, being poured into by professors who know you by name and love you and want to prepare you for that next season of ministry, that’s a special place. Don’t try to rush through it just to get to that place of ministry. Soak up where you are at and invest where you are. There is ministry on campus with other people. Build relationships and pour into others and allow others to pour into you. And practice that disciple making discipline as a student on campus and make lifelong relationships while you’re here. So, ministry is happening now for all of us. Whether you’re a student, whether you’re pastoring a church, and so just be obedient. Do that next right thing. But build relationships, invest into people’s lives and let them invest in you as you’re a student pursuing the mission field or that first pastorate or ministry position in a local church. And in time that right place will happen. But allow God to do that good work in you as a student. I’ve seen students and I’ve been guilty of it at times myself of just trying to get through that class, that semester, that year where I can get through and get out. So, I can get through and get on the field. This is our field. Just soak up where you’re at and invest where God has you today. That will bring a path of great joy, fulfillment where you’re planted. >>Kristen Padilla: That’s a great word. I couldn’t agree more. We want to transition now into talking about your role with Alabama Baptist State Convention. As Doug said at the beginning of the show, you serve as the President. For our listeners who are not Baptist, I wonder if you can give us some education about the Alabama Baptist State Convention. What is it? How does one become President? What do you do as President? How long are you serving? Then we’ll get into talking about the upcoming annual meeting. But tell us about the Alabama Baptist State Convention. >>Dr. Cox: Thank you. The Alabama Baptist State Convention is almost 200 years old. 1823 was our start time. And it’s a gathering of churches that are of like faith and like mind cooperating together for what we call our one mission, the great commission, which is the biblical mandate that we all share. It’s a group of autonomous Baptist churches that gather together in cooperation that we have like faith, doctrinally, but we have like purpose as well as that great commission mentality. We cooperate together for the cause of the gospel being advanced near and far. In Alabama there’s 3,250 churches right now that are across our state that are Southern Baptist churches that we have as Alabama Baptist churches. The vast majority of our churches are smaller and many bi-vocational pastors who are my real heroes that are burning the candle at both ends, but God has called them into that unique role. We’re an assembly of churches that gather together around the great commission. We have a unique financial program that many people have heard called the cooperative program. So, we all give together and a portion of our church budget, a percentage of that goes through the state convention called Alabama Baptist Convention and then a portion of those dollars go through the state convention to the Southern Baptist Convention, which is our national gathering of churches. But we in Alabama like to say we have one mission, the great commission. We have many ministries, great commission ministries, and we have one program – the cooperative program. That kind of frames who we are and what we’re about. It’s really all around the gospel and the great commission. How do you become President of the Alabama Baptist State Convention? I guess if you stay faithful somebody might nominate you, but we have an annual meeting and it’s coming up next week. Every November around the third week of November we meet and in that annual meeting messengers are elected from every local church. Every local church is entitled to at least one messenger. Based upon your cooperative program giving you can have multiple messengers. But we encourage our churches to have a messenger represent them at the annual meeting. So, the annual meeting is a group of messengers from all across the state that gather together to do the work of the convention. By that we will have a motion for an annual budget and that annual budget will be passed. Then we’ll have other items of business that we will take care of that will give direction outside of those two days a year to then the executive committee and the state board of missions. Those two groups really do the work of the convention in between annual meetings. So, once a budget is adopted and the allocations are there, then the executive committee makes sure that those things are carried out. If there are motions that are made and passed at the annual meeting, it’s the work of the executive committee and the state board of missions to make sure the wishes of the messengers at that point are carried out. And so we’re just born again believers that join together in cooperation around the great commission. It’s a fun place. >>Kristen Padilla: Is it a one year term, or two year? >>Dr. Cox: Officer elections, you’re nominated at an annual meeting, and of course you have to be a pastor or a lay person of a local church. So, an officer is not mandated to be a pastor or staff member. It could be a lay person. And the motion is made at the annual meeting and then it could be two or three people named or motions made to recommend as President of the Alabama Baptist State Convention. And then the messengers vote. And so a lot of years it’s a motion that is made for a candidate and it’s unopposed. So, those are easy years when that happens. But your messengers elect you to be the President. What the President does, and I had to ask that question, “What in the world does the President of Alabama Baptist State Convention do?” You moderate when you gather. So, you’re an officer that moderates the gathering of your annual meeting. And that’s an important responsibility. Otherwise, you’re kind of a communications expert, a marketing person for the Alabama Baptist Convention. As I go wherever I go, I represent Liberty Baptist, of course, I represent Christ, first and foremost, but I’m also a representative of the Alabama Baptist State Convention. It’s a position in which you are a representative of the Convention to people or to entities or groups that you go to, and you moderate the annual meeting. Of course, there’s a good many meetings that you attend during the year that you’re a vital part of, and the executive committee being one of those. So, in our bylaws, the President of the State Convention is the Chairman of the executive committee. I think the group is 24 people that are also serving on the state board of missions. So, the state board of missions is made up of lay people and pastors from across our state. We’re divided up in districts. So, every district is represented and the same is true on the executive committee, that there’s a fare representation of lay people and pastors and so they come together to do the work of ministry for the Alabama Baptists. >>Doug Sweeney: You’ve already made reference to the Southern Baptist Convention as a whole, the national body, and of course everybody listening to us right now knows about the SBC. I wonder, though, if a lot of people know the SBC more for controversies that make the news than for all the wonderful ministry that goes on in a regular way. I wonder if we could get you, as a leader, at least a state leader in the SBC to let our listeners know what you’re hoping for and praying for with respect to the SBC as a whole, the national body? And what are some of the really special things the Lord is doing in the denomination today? >>Dr. Cox: Good. I appreciate the question. We’re certainly living in unprecedented, uncharted times in convention life with the Southern Baptist Convention. I’m a rookie on the National Executive Committee – just rolled on in June at the annual meeting. So, I’m kind of drinking from a fire hydrant on that end. But as I come in and as I’ve sat through many meetings so far from a local pastor in Alabama, observing through the annual meetings of the SBC that meet every June, and now having a seat on the executive committee of the Southern Baptist Convention, there’s so much good work that’s being done that gets overshadowed by the controversies that do come. And important subjects that need action. And it gets covered up. But our international mission board is still sending people and the gospel is going to the nations and some of the most fruitful work in our history is going on right now. And so we’re still commissioning missionaries. We’re still able to fund those missionaries and that’s an exciting work. North American Missions is the same way. Through NAM you have church planting and church revitalization. You have disaster relief that has had an instrumental role – and just being the hands and feet of Jesus as we go. And so we’re continuing to plant churches and see churches revitalized through the cooperative effort of Southern Baptists coming together through our North American Mission Board. And so Southern Baptists have been rightly known for our missions movement. That’s who we are. We are just rallied around the great commission and advancing the gospel. The positive thing about the Southern Baptist Convention is that is the heartbeat. As I sit in meetings and hear from entity leaders one of the privileges to be on the executive committee is you hear from every entity leader. And you hear the heartbeat and you hear the wins, the victories, and the miracles that God is doing continually. And so that’s the encouraging part for me. That excites me. Does the SBC have a future? Well, that’s in God’s hands. And my sanity is that the gospel movement is what we’re plugged into. The SBC didn’t start that. We’ve been blessed to be a part of it. And if we keep our eyes on Jesus and if we keep our focus in the right place then we will continue to be a mission movement that is to God’s glory to advance the gospel to the ends of the earth. That’s my prayer. I hope I can have a little bit of influence to help us stay right focused. >>Kristen Padilla: You preached a wonderful sermon this morning in Hodges Chapel - we were so grateful to have you – from the end of 2 Corinthians on the grace of Jesus Christ and his power to sustain Paul and us in ministry and in troubled times. We want our listeners to go watch it and listen to it on our YouTube Channel. So, we encourage you to do that after the podcast. But could you give us just a little teaser, a window into your message this morning that our listeners will then want to go and watch the whole sermon? >>Dr. Cox: Yes, the Apostle Paul is one of our heroes in scripture, and he had every right to boast about himself. His credentials were great. His resume is impressive. Yet he chose to boast about Christ and him crucified. He chose to not live a celebrity life or a life of great prosperity, even though he might-could have done that. But he chose not to be a burden on others. And he chose to live his life as an example of the character and conduct of Christ. And so in Philippians when we hear, “Let this mind be in you, which is also in Christ Jesus,” that attitude of humility ... In 2 Corinthians, what we see and hear very clearly is that attitude of humility coming from the Apostle Paul. Because he was very uncomfortable boasting about credentials of himself, even though he had to do that because of criticism from false teachers and super apostles, but he was comfortable in saying, “You know? It’s not about me. I’ve been through a lot of trouble and a lot of hardship, but it’s all for the glory of Christ.” And the key passage is when God did not answer his prayer to take that thorn in the flesh, whatever that was, we know it was painful, we know it was relentless, and we know it sent Paul in desperate prayer – when God chose to answer it different than what Paul was praying. He did not remove it. But he gave him a promise. “My grace is sufficient for you.” And that, “My strength is manifest in your weakness.” That is a message that I needed to hear, and what I’m learning today. That’s the message that I keep being reminded of by the Lord – that “my grace is sufficient to you.” In the midst of a global pandemic. That was it. God is in control. There’s no panic in heaven. God’s grace is sufficient to get us through. Let’s do the next right thing that we know to do. So, just the example of Paul throughout that passage and then his boasting in his weaknesses and difficulties for the sake of Christ. It wasn’t just to pride himself that I endured, but it’s that Christ might be exalted. That in Paul’s weaknesses, through hardship, that Christ is lifted high and the gospel goes forward boldly. So, for the sake of Christ Paul gladly endured whatever came his way in order that Christ may be exalted and the gospel can go forward. So, at Liberty we’ve kind of wrapped around a passage a little bit later in 2 Corinthians 12 when he says, “I will most gladly spend and be spent for your very souls.” And so Paul was not about receiving, he was about giving. And he was not about building relationships in order to benefit from others, but he gave himself totally that others may know the Christ that had apprehended him. And so sufficient grace for any circumstance in life, any hardship through ministry, global pandemic – whatever it is – God’s grace is sufficient. He’s an on-time God. His grace never runs out. Nothing surpasses his knowledge. If God has allowed this, even a thorn in the flesh, to come he has a purpose in it. And so Paul realized that. And he embraced the thorn after God refused to remove it. And he did that for the sake of Christ. I just think for us in ministry, particularly, or just a follower of Christ, that’s the way we look at life. And so many times we can have our own pity party when ministry is hard, life is not good, it’s unfair, struggle times are here, people are opposing us – and it’s okay to pray and ask God to deliver, but if he doesn’t then our attitude of surrender and embracing where we are for God’s glory is what we need to do. I’m being reminded of that over and over again. I am in a second marriage due to cancer in our family. My first wife died of cancer. So, the grace of God being sufficient in hard times, even in ministry, is very real. I understand that. I heard about it, but I’ve lived it. And had some experiences in life that has affirmed that. And so I’m very grateful that Paul gives us that great example that somebody that lives a holy life like he did and had a courageous faith like he did life wasn’t always easy. And so it’s just a reminder for us – we don’t need to expect it to be easy. But God is gracious and God is faithful. He’ll use it for his glory if we surrender ourselves to him. >>Doug Sweeney: Tim, Kristen and I always conclude these interviews by asking our guests what the Lord has been teaching them recently. So, here we are asking you. What’s been going on in your life recently? And how has the Lord been speaking into that in a way that you might commend to our listeners as a way of edifying them in their faith and walk with God? >>Dr. Cox: Good. We’re coming through the pandemic on the other side. It’s a good reminder that I’m not in control. (laughs) Because it was all out of control. But God is in control. And if he has allowed it to come your way, and if to the best of our ability we are surrendered and living in obedience to him then he will guide us through it. Again, just do that next right thing. Two weeks ago I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. So, what is God teaching me? It’s the same message. “You’re not in control, but I am. My grace is sufficient for you.” We had no idea when we picked out these topics the timing of what would be going on in my life personally, but as I studied and I was so refreshed to be reminded of the sufficient grace of God in every circumstance. And so that’s been something that gave me great joy in getting ready for today. And it’s a fresh lesson in my life. It wasn’t just a sermon for chapel. It’s something I’m living and having to be reminded of that, all right, even if cancer comes your way and it’s come home to our family again, that God’s grace is still sufficient. If, Lord, this is my lot, then teach me to say, “It is well. It is well with my soul.” But even more than that, help me steward this season for your glory. And I don’t understand it. Don’t like it necessarily when these kinds of things come, but my prayer is that God will help me steward through it that Christ may be exalted and be for his Glory, and that others will be pointed to Christ in the midst of it. >>Doug Sweeney: Amen. You have been listening to the Reverend Dr. Tim Cox, Senior Pastor of Liberty Baptist Church in Chelsea, Alabama. Just down the road from Birmingham. He currently serves as President of the Alabama Baptist State Convention. He is a faithful minister of the gospel of our Lord Jesus. We’re grateful to you, Tim, for giving us some time today. And we’re grateful to you, listeners, for tuning in. We’re praying for you and we ask you to pray for us. We love you, and we say goodbye for now. >>Kristen Padilla: You’ve been listening to the Beeson podcast. Our theme music is written and performed by Advent Birmingham of the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham, Alabama. Our engineer is Rob Willis. Our announcer is Mike Pasquarello. Our co-hosts are Doug Sweeney and, myself, Kristen Padilla. Please subscribe to the Beeson podcast at www.BeesonDivinity.com/podcast or on iTunes.