Together For The Gospel - Days 3 & 4

Hey folks, here are some reflections on the messages heard on those days, as well as some of the great interactions I had with other brothers during that time...I would encourage you just to set in your schedule some time to just listen to each one of these messages and then discuss them together. As it was last year, so it was even more so this year, a calling for pastors to trust and believe in the power of the gospel through clear gospel-centered preaching to bring about God's will in our churches. Several of these men, shared during the Q & A sessions (of which, I hope they post those) many of their own temptations towards discouragement in ministry, and so forth, which you don't oftentimes hear of the "down times," but instead only of the large numbers in attendance and how many books they have written and so forth.

As they shared their stories, I must say that there was an increased personal humility and vulnerability among the main speakers - that though was there last year - it was definitely much more noticeable this year. You could see how, these men have grown in godliness as they shared their struggles in light of the glory of Christ and His sufferings. I spoke to several men who said the exact same things and noticed that as well.

For many of us who happen to pastor much smaller congregations (as "tens" of people come from all over to hear my preaching) we all found our hearts encouraged in just being faithful to the message of the gospel, knowing that it is the gospel that changes people...and it is not by having all the programs, etc. And all who left there were encouraged by these "fathers in the faith" to just be faithful and to leave all the "results" up to God, knowing that others in church history as well as those from the biblical story (such as Isaiah - and of course, Christ Himself) did not have, quote, "successful" ministries according to the world's standards, but where successful, as they were faithful to the message.

Here is a recap, but once again, listen to the messages, maybe this will help you discern which one you want to listen to first....

Day 3:

• John MacArthur's message on the sinner's complete inability to respond to the gospel apart from God's grace. This was outstanding! MacArthur went through several passages, especially in the book of John and just showed our complete inability to respond, and as he did so, he just opened up for us the absolute glory of the grace of Christ, and there wasn't a man left thinking anything other than "What a Savior!"


• Mark Dever's message on trends to "improve the Gospel" - in this message he went through several trends found in the Emergent church movement that undermines the gospel as its message is expanded, and thus, through expanding the message of the Gospel, the message of substitutionary sacrifice is lost.


• RC Sproul's message on the reality of "curse" in the atonement opening up for us more so the doctrines of propitiation and expiation. The more I hear of RC, the more I love this man. After he finished preaching everyone on the Q & A discussion panel was absolutely silent. He spoke of the necessity of understanding the doctrine of the "curse of God" to then understand the gospel more clearly and rightly. It was outstanding! Likewise what was most affective was RC's humility in the Q & A time as he shared about weaknesses that he saw in his own preaching, and what God is teaching him - as he is now a pastor - about the Cross of Christ, concerning the value of application.

Day 4

• John Piper's message on radical Christian sacrifice was incredible as he opened up for us the message of the book of Hebrews and taught on "following Christ outside the camp" to a place of sacrifice. This was a message that was both convicting and yet, also grace filled. In the Q & A session, he really helped - pastorally fill in some gaps for us - to recognize that some men after hearing this message might be full of zeal to "go to Africa" while not full of zeal to be faithful in the seemingly "little" things that are anything but small things, like spending time with your wife and kids and discipling their hearts, etc. That being Christian sacrifice. (((OH, I hope they put the Q & A sessions out there to listen to...as that helped all the messages, and especially this one.)))


• CJ Mahaney's message was the ending of the conference and as I left that auditorium I heard several, several men say, "That message alone, was worth the price of the conference." CJ spoke on the pastor's heart challenging pastors to evaluate and have others evaluate their hearts concerning the areas of gladness, joy and gratefulness in pastoral ministry. It was really all about applying many of the great teachings we had heard throughout the conference to our own hearts - and to keep a survey of our hearts that we might make sure that our hearts are kept "happy in the gospel" - not because of good things happening in our ministries...but because of the gospel's affect on our own hearts.

In light of all of that, I will cut this post short to say in between those times, there were also many other times of rich, rich fellowship with brothers from both SGM churches, and mostly with non-SGM churches. Coffee with a pastor and his wife from Switzerland, and another with an elder from a church in Germany. Lunch with a Godly man by the name of Jon Blomker, who is moving here to KC. Late night coffee with a man who has just come back from the mission field serving in Europe, who is looking to go to the Pastor's College next year. And many other wonderful conversations with brothers....as well as stacks and stacks of free books that I have been supplied with that will last me a long time to get through.

Thanks again, for jumping into this series of blogs and thanks as well for your comments, as they are always welcome. In the week's to come, I am going to be doing a series of blog entries on the Emergent church from a couple of books that were given to us at the conference itself. Take care.