Florence—Anchor yourselves in the word of God, Andrew Dyer, immediate past president of the Kentucky Baptist Convention, urged pastors and laity attending the Kentucky Baptist Convention Annual Meeting Nov. 15.

Dyer, who assumed the role of president when Kevin Smith left the state to become executive director of the Baptist Convention of Maryland and Delaware, shared that he doesn’t “know what a presidential address is, but I’m an expositor.”

In a video introduction, Smith said of Dyer, “He is a mission-minded brother. He is an evangelistic brother. He is a Bible preacher. He is a very well-prepared man of the gospel of Jesus Christ and of the great commandment to love Jesus Christ with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbor. Please hear him.”

Dyer walked messengers through Psalm 19.

Although the first part of the passage speaks of God’s general revelation through creation, Psalm 19:7-9 deals directly with the word of God, Dyer noted. The passage not only identifies what God’s word is, but also what it does, he said.

“As good a job that we do (as Baptists) of identifying what God’s word is, we often neglect what it does,” Dyer said. “It’s not just (that) we have to have a high view of what God’s word is; we have to have a high view of what God’s word does.”

He identified six things from Psalm 19:7-9 that God’s word is and does. The passage reads, “The instruction of the LORD is perfect, renewing one’s life; the testimony of the LORD is trustworthy, making the inexperienced wise. The precepts of the LORD are right, making the heart glad; the command of the LORD is radiant, making the eyes light up. The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever; the ordinances of the LORD are reliable and altogether righteous.”

“What do I need to do in my life if I am going to anchor in the word of God?” Dyer said, bringing his sermon to a practical level. He answered by drawing from verse 14: “How are the words of my mouth going to be acceptable in His sight? When the words of my mouth match the words of His mouth, when we speak what God has spoken.”

He continued, “You want God’s word to come out of your mouth, it must start because God’s word is in your heart.”

Dyer concluded, “Brothers and sisters, Kentucky Baptists: waves of uncertainty will come. A tsunami of opinion will beat against our churches, and against the word of God. The winds of doctrinal compromise will blow, but the church, the convention, the family, the life that is anchored in the Rock will stand.

“God has spoken, and we must speak what God has spoken,” he reiterated. “That is an anchor of hope. Let us anchor well.” (WR)