From One Degree to Another

Both audio and video from T4G 2010 are now up. Enjoy!

We just finished up a very full day, which began with us checking out of the Galt House Hotel & Suites in Louisville and loading the cars.

We headed over for the morning sessions. Ligon Duncan kicked us off with a call to read the early church fathers, highlighting how helpful they were in so many different theological areas.

After this, Matt Chandler came and testified of God’s amazing grace in his (and his family’s) life. C.J. came after Chandler’s testimony and urged us to prepare our people for suffering. Finally, the speakers of T4G came and prayed over Matt (and others with serious illness) that God would grant healing for His glory and Matt’s good.

The final session was a deeply personal charge from C.J. from 2 Timothy 4:1-5, urging ordinary pastors to be faithful to their calling. Particularly relevant was the insight given in exposing our heart through our lack of patience. Pride was revealed (again sadly) in my life. But it was an encouraging exhortation to faithfulness.

After this session and some singing, we headed to St. Louis. We are spending the night here and in good tradition, ate a German meal at the St. Louis Gast House. After this, we slid over to Park Avenue Coffee for gooey butter cake and coffee. It was an amazing day of fellowship, teaching and encouragement.

Day 2 ended with an extended meditation (dare I say Expository Exultation) by John Piper on Luke 18:9-14 and how Jesus and Paul preached the same message: Justification by faith alone. We ended singing a summary of the message: Hallelujah! All I Have Is Christ! Hallelujah! He Is My Life!

Read the manuscript and look for the audio.

Just got back in the room from eating an early dinner to prep for tonight’s session with John Piper. My breakout session featured Brian Habig on the Fears of the Minister. I chose this breakout, specifically, because I have seen how I tend at times to be overly concerned with what people think (in a sinful, debilitating way). This session did not disappoint as Habig diagnosed the problem, highlighted the depth of it and then pointed to Gospel remedies to help. Came out very encouraged by it. Now, just one more session tonight and this day will be done…

Just finished a full morning at T4G. Back in the room. Downed a sandwich and a protein shake and hopped on to check email. We have a break until around 3, where we have a breakout session, then dinner break and Piper tonight.

The morning was amazing. Thabiti Anyabwile was up first and spoke on how we need to center on Jesus. He built this case largely from an exposition of Colossians 1 and following. The upshot of this session was amazing practical encouragement to never adjust the Gospel by moving away from Christ.

After a short break, John MacArthur spoke on a theology of sleep from Mark 4 (with the sower who sows the seed and sleeps while God causes its automatic growth). There were many encouragements in evangelism, including humility, diligence, confidence and obedience.

After these two a panel discussion included some helpful tips for how lay people in churches can encourage their pastors and how pastors of “smaller churches” can be encouraged. Full spiritually and physically and hope to enjoy the break a bit. More later…

Al Mohler’s session with subsequent panel discussion is now in the books. It was a cumbersome intro to follow, but when Mohler hit the body of his message, he presented 8 Identifiable Trajectories toward an Adjusted Gospel (i.e. 8 ways to head in the direction of adjusting the Gospel)…
1) Modern
2) Postmodern
3) Moral
4) Aesthetic
5) Therapeutic
6) Pragmatic
7) Emotional
8) Materialist

Finally, after giving us this grid for discerning the drift to error, we were warned about the danger of succumbing to doctrinal fatigue and embarrassment. It was a beneficial night. We are pretty tired after a full day and anticipating a full day tomorrow.

Since we grabbed Papa Johns for supper and ate in our room, I had some time to get back on and summarize the sessions.

First off, we had books waiting for us as we arrived in the room. Saw lots of old friends: Brian, Dale, Doug, others.

Dever’s session was on how the church contributes to the unadjusted Gospel. Dever was on with what he passionately teaches and lives. The main thesis: the church is God’s evangelism project for the world. We are to live this in our view of God, man, Jesus and our response.

Sproul’s session, a live video feed, was helpful in exposing the synthesis that often happens in theological controversies and, specifically, in terms of the Gospel. It was amazing in seeing how some struggles that currently exist have come into be. In a word, both were very helpful.

Looking forward to session 3 tonight.

Well, I’m here and off and running. Yesterday, 10 guys from Crestview drove 12 hours to get to Louisville. We got in, ate a late dinner together and then hit the hay. Now, we are up and moving. The plan for today is to go register for the conference around 9AM, eat lunch over near Southern Seminary and then get rolling at 1. Speakers today include Dever, Sproul, Mohler.

Pray for us that we would experience fellowship, grow into all that God has for us here, and meet other people who can stimulate us into godliness.