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T4G12 Recap – Part 1

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As you may or may not know, last week was a slow week blogging because I was with 8000 some odd others at the 2012 Together for the Gospel Conference.  I enjoyed an amazing week with some guys from Crestview.  We left Easter Sunday and got in to St. Louis that night, then drove on into Louisville on Monday.

On Monday night, we attended the Dinner and Dialogue at Southern Seminary.  The food was amazing and the dialogue included Josh Harris, Carl Trueman, Matt Pinson, Jeff Bethke and J.D. Greear, hosted by Russell D. Moore.


On Tuesday, before the conference began, I took in the Band of Bloggers meeting.  This panel included Owen Strachan, Timmy Brister, Justin Taylor, Collin Hansen, and Tim Challies.  These are the uber-bloggers of the Christian world.  This panel included some great discussion as to how our tone should be on blogs and how we can be light to our world.


Finally, then, the conference began on Tuesday.  The lineup was pretty amazing and I still almost have to pinch myself to think that I actually got to be a part of this.  


C.J. Mahaney began with a talk on The Sustaining Power of the Gospel (audio/video).  This message really opened the conference up by setting the tone and helping all present see how the Gospel is able to help us in the midst of our ministries, sustaining us to persevere through hard times.


Next up was Al Mohler, offering one of the best sermons I’ve ever heard from him on The Power of the Articulated Gospel (audio/video).  This simple unfolding of Romans 10 helped all present know the importance of verbalizing the Gospel.  


Finally on Tuesday, Mark Dever gave a warning on False Conversions: The Suicide of the Church (audio/video).  There’s a fine line of tension drawn in raising this subject matter, but Dever was up to the challenge and helped me see how God can be honored through holding the line of His Word.  


(I’ll summarize more tomorrow)…

Weekend Recap – Faith Pleases God

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We enjoyed another great Lord’s Day at Crestview yesterday.  My sermon, Faith Pleases God, from Hebrews 11:5-6, got at Enoch’s example of faith and how faith must draw near to God, who exists and rewards those who seek Him.  Another big takeaway is that it is impossible to please God without faith.  One who draws near to God must believe.  Faith is vital.  Or, to put it another way, faith is our pathway to pleasing God.

In the PM, my small group got together and discussed faith.  All in all, it was a great day.

Easter Weekend Recap – Jesus Christ Our Lord

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You can’t get away from Jesus at Easter.  Yesterday, at Crestview, my sermon was entitled Jesus Christ Our Lord from Romans 1:3-4.  In this sermon, I tried to give an overview of who Jesus is and how this relates to the special nature of Easter.  Specifically, we saw that Jesus is God’s Son, fully man and declared powerful in His resurrection.  Hope you had a great Easter Sunday.

Weekend Preview – Easter

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As you probably know, this coming Sunday is Easter.  It’s an amazing day to gather together and worship, celebrating Jesus and His life, death and resurrection.  This Sunday, in the Scriptures, we will be looking at Romans 1:3-4 and specifically who Jesus is.  I invite you to join us.

We will have an Easter Brunch at 8:30AM.
Sunday School at 9AM.
Worship at 10:15AM.

There will be no evening activities this coming Sunday.

On the Elders…

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There have been some good resources emerge lately on Elders, Deacons and Church Leadership.  Thought I’d connect to those here.  Even if you are casually involved in church life, you would do well to listen in / read up on some of these things, so that you can better pray for / support your local church leaders.

Andy Davis wrote a great post on how to lead elders meetings.  We follow a pretty strict model of taking time for prayer, discussing something devotionally oriented to help us in our work, and then talking “church business.”  Andy’s article helped get some ideas going on making these meetings more helpful.

A recent 9Marks interview discussed Thabiti’s new book Finding Faithful Elders and Deacons.  This, also, had much to commend to the local church leadership and the church at large, helping us think and consider the long term leadership plans of the church.  I’m hoping to get all of our elders and deacons to listen in on this.

We have huge work to do, but it is a joy.  Therefore, receive these tools as opportunities from God to more faithfully serve Him.

Weekend Recap – Sheep

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Yes, we are all like sheep, at least that’s what Isaiah 53:6 says.  This means that we are weak, prone to go astray and Isaiah says we’ve actually done it — we’ve turned every one to his/her own way.  But, our great hope this week (and every day) is that on Christ was laid all of our iniquities.  My sermon from 4/1/12AM entitled Like Sheep from Isaiah 53:6 reveled in these truths.

In the evening, my small group finished Jerry Bridges’ book Respectable Sins.  To say this book affected us is an understatement.  God used this to not only reveal sin, but to deepen our dependence on the Gospel.  There are so many good elements and fruit that my group shared.  If any of you are interested, Bridges kept pointing to Thomas Chalmers’ Expulsive Power of A New Affection.  Click that link and digest that content to see what Chalmers (and Bridges) were driving at.

Have a great Holy Week this week.

Weekend Recap – Abel’s Faith

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Our weekend at Crestview was filled with excitement, as always. In the AM, we took the Lord’s Supper together and looked to Abel’s Faith from Hebrews 11:4.  Abel’s example helps us see how faith is tied to worship, our righteousness and our witness.

In the evening, we met in Small Groups.  My small group discussed the respectable sins of immorality and idolatry.

Hope you had a great day.