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Part I—Africa 21 The biblical leader reveals character shaped in relationship to God that spills over into all relationships. Such leaders live and model the kinds of values that they would like to see expressed in the way the church community and society as a whole conducts its corporate life. Brother Solomon, your leadership, like that of Nehemiah, flows from character, from who you are. You add value to all of the relationships in which you are engaged. You have added value to the life of this convention and other conventions and unions within our continent and beyond—the BWA—all out of your strength and your character, rooted in the love of God. May God remember your love and your labor in Him. We thank God for your life, for your family, and for all who served with you! May the rest of your story be even better! And may your successor tell even a far better story because of the good structures you have put in place. In Jesus’ name! Amen! 2 The unchanging Lord, Jesus the Christ (Hebrews 13:8-9) Deji Ayegboyin Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary Ogbomoso, Nigeria BIOGRAPHY Ayegboyin is married to Esther Nike Ayegboyin, and they have five children: Victor Sayo, Christy Bimbo, Kingsley Dayo, Richard Ayo, and Gifty Bisola. Ayegboyin teaches at the Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary in Ogbomoso , Nigeria. Among his previous positions, he has pastored Providence Baptist Church in Ibadan, Nigeria, and Pentecost Baptist Church in Manchester , United Kingdom. He has studied at the University of Ghana (B.A.) and the University of Ibadan (M.A., Ph.D). Ayegboyin has also been a pastor and missionary to Olode Village, Ibadan. SERMON COMMENTARY Ayegboyin proclaims a biblical Christology in this sermon. The message stands in the tradition of timeless christological preaching, giving a contemporary statement of the changeless confession of the church believed everywhere , at all times, and by everyone concerning the Lord Jesus. Yet we do not find here a dry, dogmatic statement, but a message suffused with a passion —even in its timeless quality. 22 Baptist Preaching Ayegboyin begins the sermon with a contrapuntal, cultural, humorous slice of life. The story is a counterpoint in its middle course to his main point. Life changes, especially the lives of two people together in a marriage. In the face of human change, the Lord Christ does not, which is the counterpoint. We resist change in ourselves in spite of its inevitability. The story of the mediation of elders in a dispute is one that he draws directly from his cultural environment. In the face of serious and sustained doctrinal preaching, the story adds the right touch of humor at the beginning. To reinforce his stress on the mutability of our human situation, Ayegboyin points to earthquakes, hymnology, a Latin proverb, and the common experience of humanity. From his citation of the classic hymns by Henry Lyte and Walter Chalmers Smith, we may again observe the ubiquity of the universal global influence of great hymns. Lyte’s hymn, written in 1847 as he was dying of tuberculosis, originated in his parish in Devonshire, United Kingdom, where the church bells have played it for more than a hundred years.1 As was observed earlier, the world influence of hymns supports preaching in many ways. Ayegboyin next turns to a brief, effective survey of the situation in the early church as the first apostolic eyewitnesses to Jesus died, and then the apostolic fathers, Polycarp and Ignatius, were martyred. What will happen to the faith? In a powerful paragraph of brief, pithy sentences, Ayegboyin contrasts the immutable Christ with the disappearance of generation after generation of his followers. After a brief philosophical foray into the possibility of an unchangeable person, the preacher compares the normal human biography with that of the eternal Christ. Ayegboyin then discusses the changes distinguishing biblical Christology. Our Lord is the preincarnate Christ, even in his sacrificial capacity. He came at the right time into the creation that he had mediated. The Holy Trinity is preexistent from all eternity. In this timeless theological statement, there seems to be a specific concern about confronting an adoptionist Christology. It would be of interest to know if the Jehovah’s Witnesses, or others with such a view, have made inroads into his preaching culture. To deter this, Ayegboyin defends both the transcendence and the immanence of Christ. That is further emphasized in the comparison of the miracle-working Christ and the tempted Christ— from...

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