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Sunday Recap – Courage and Fear

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I thought we had a great Lord’s Day today.

The morning service featured our congregation learning I Will Glory In My Redeemer, having a baby dedication, and a sermon on courageous discipleship from Mark 14:43-52. The brunt of the message had to do with courageously following Christ not from misguided actions or failure, but with a firm eye on Jesus and His view of history unfolding according to His Father’s plans.

The evening service featured a new song called Hallelujah (Your Love Is Amazing). The message from Hosea 5:1-15 focused on rightly fearing God as our Righteous Judge. It was an awe-some picture of God in His Word.

I feel really encouraged and mindful of all that God did in our midst today. Any thoughts from anyone who was there today?

Resources recommended at TGC

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At the Gospel Coalition conference last week, there were allusions made to the following 2 resources available on the web.

Tim Keller’s message pointed to a sermon by David Clarkson entitled Soul Idolatry Excludes Men Out of Heaven.

Similarly, Ligon Duncan alluded to a message by Spurgeon entitled Paul – His Cloak and Books (from 2 Timothy 4:13). Lig assumed that most of us were familiar with this, but we weren’t. However, we can make ourselves familiar with it now.

Weekend Preview – Judgment & Following

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This weekend, Lord willing, I will be back in the pulpit and looking forward to a full Lord’s Day.

In the morning service, we will be exploring Mark 14:43-52. For a while, we’ve been looking at the theme of spiritual weakness and how the disciples got on a path of that when they argued that they would stay devoted with Jesus to death and, then, how in the Garden, Jesus urged them to watch and pray and, thus, escape temptation, for the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. In this passage, we see these followers wrestling with courageous following. The problem: they pursue it with misguided actions, forget that Jesus sees the ultimate purpose of all events and ultimately fail to be devoted to Jesus.

In the evening service, we will be looking at Hosea 5:1-15. I alluded to this in my last post. Hosea 5 really unfolds how God is righteous in His judgment. He will punish His people because they fail to look to Him. If they will only repent of their adultery and turn to Him, God would give them grace, but until they do, God will be content to keep them under His righteous judgment.

Hope to see you this weekend and I’m praying that God works in amazing ways through His Word.

Some trust in horses, some in chariots, but…

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we will trust in the name of our God (so goes Psalm 20:7). In doing sermon prep for this coming Lord’s day, I’m working through Hosea 5 and came down to v.13 which says, “When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria, and sent to the great king. But he is not able to cure you or heal your wound.” Seems kind of staggering doesn’t it? I mean picture that, the God who had done so much for these people to redeem them, rescue them, stand by them, was abandoned for a foreign king when the stress was high.

You may think that you would never be guilty of such a thing, but to what idols do you run when things are tough? Maybe you are stressed so you run after chocolate, a stiff drink, a friend who will listen to your gossip, or you simply take out your stress on your friends and family. We do the same thing: we run after other kings to help us.

Here’s a course, though – God’s Word tells us that the name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous man runs into it and is safe (Proverbs 18:10). Next time the stress is building, don’t compound your problems by running after things that won’t help. Turn to the name of the Lord — the very embodiment of all that He is and does. Run to Him. Find safety and rest for your soul there.

Gospel Coalition Audio…

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Audio from the main sessions and part of the workshops are online for the taking. Enjoy.

Session 1: Tim Keller, “The Grand Demythologizer: The Gospel and Idolatry” (Acts 19:21-41)
Session 2: John Piper, “Feed the Flame of God’s Gift: Unashamed Courage in the Gospel” (2 Timothy 1:1-12)
Session 3: Phil Ryken, “The Pattern of Sound Words” (2 Timothy 1:13-2:13)
Session 4: Mark Driscoll, “Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth” (2 Timothy 2:14-26)
Session 5: K. Edward Copeland, “Shadowlands: Pitfalls and Parodies of Gospel-Centered Ministry” (2 Timothy 3:1-9)
Session 6: Bryan Chapell, “Preach the Word!” (2 Timothy 3:10-4:5)
Session 7: Ajith Fernando, “Gospel-Faithful Mission in the New Christendom“
Session 8: Panel Discussion: Tim Keller, John Piper, Ligon Duncan and Crawford Loritts (chair: Stephen Um)
Session 9: Ligon Duncan, “Finishing Well” (2 Timothy 4:6-22)
Session 10: Don Carson, “That By All Means I Might Win Some’: Faithfulness and Flexibility in Gospel Proclamation” (1 Corinthians 9:19-23)

Weekend Recap – 4/24-26

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My last post summarized the final day of the Gospel Coalition. Once I returned, I was off and running here for a Men’s Retreat held in our church. Our guest speaker was Mike Hubbard from Genesis Church in Eureka, MO.

I commented Sunday morning to the church how stuffed I felt after all my week (spiritually speaking).

The Men’s Retreat was a great time. Thanks to the men who helped pull so many details together including: Bob G, Benjamin, Elrond, and Mark Trotman (who graciously hosted all the men at his farm for this event).

Friday night, the 24th, we began with some good old grilling and a stiff southern wind pounding us in the chin (it is Kansas after all). Mike spoke on the Man and the Gospel from Genesis 1:1 – Genesis 3:15. It was a great way to begin, showing all the men present how we fail to live up to God’s glory and really need Christ’s life, death and resurrection in our lives.

Saturday morning, the 25th, the coffee was flowing and after breakfast, Mike got practical speaking about the Man and His Roles from Ephesians 5:25 and following. He really encouraged us to love our wives in very active ways. The final session that morning (and for the Men’s Retreat as a whole) was entitled the Man and the Church. It really sought to instill Paul’s message in Titus to us as men.

The Men’s Retreat was a spiritual high for me. What a blessing to fellowship with men and be encouraged through God’s Word.

After this, Sunday included Mike speaking again Sunday morning to our entire church on how God has called us to be a sent people to our community. He brought encouragement through what Genesis Church has been able to do by God’s grace.

Sunday evening small groups looked at several practical means of grace God uses to make us holy, again another spiritual feast for the taking.

Now comes time for application of all these things, though. Are there any application or thoughts from my readers who attended these things that they would like to share?

TGC – Thurs, 4/23

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Finished up the Gospel Coalition today and am happy to be back home.

We did have 2 more outstanding sessions today:

Ligon Duncan’s sermon closed out the formal expositions on 2 Timothy with a compelling charge be a man characterized by Gospel courage all the way to the finish line.

Don Carson’s final sermon dealt with that oft-quoted verse “I become all things to all men to win them.” He had some excellent thoughts in centering our lives on the Gospel message but flexing in a way to reach others.

I was really encouraged by the whole week. Maybe I will develop a master recap post wtih some pressing applications in my own life and ministry tomorrow.

In the meantime, you may want to check out Tim Challies’ post on what the Gospel Coalition is.

And just a heads up, I believe they’ve already started uploading the messages. I saw them in my feed reader.

TGC Recap – Wed, April 22

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Enjoyed good sleep after a busy first day yesterday.

Session 5 featured K. Edward Copeland preaching on 2 Timothy 3:1-9, urging us to faithful ministry as we seek to wisely minister in these last days.

Session 6 was Bryan Chappel on 2 Timothy 3:10-4:5 with a message aimed at inspiring our preaching of God’s Word.

For lunch, Joe, Brad, and I visited Paradise Pup, a restaurant featured on Food Network’s show Diners, Drive-ins and Dives with Guy Fieri (follow the link for a short video on the burger I got).

After a fill up at Starbucks, we headed back for afternoon workshops.

My first workshop was with Andy Davis on the Gospel and Social Action, which really highlighted importance Gospel priorities in terms of social action.

My second highlight was with Tim Savage, who wrote a book that has been highly influential in my life: Power Through Weakness. Savage was presenting on this very topic today and getting to visit with him afterwards was a highlight of the week for me.

After a short break, we were back for Session 7 with Ajith Fernando on Gospel Faithful Ministry in the Next Christendom, which was an amazing message encouraging us at one point to demonstrate the uniqueness of Christ through servant spirit.

Finally, we had Session 8 featuring a panel discussion between Crawford Lorrits, Tim Keller, John Piper and Lig Duncan. Lots of good practical encouragement emerged here to get our noses in Scripture and allow our suffering to marinade us for rich ministry.

Just a few more sessions tomorrow and I’ll be returning home.

Recap of Phil Ryken on 2 Timothy 1:13-2:13

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Phil Ryken’s sermon on 2 Timothy 1:13-2:13 was really quite outstanding. Some things that stuck out to me were:
– the ministry of transmission
– the faithful work of ministry
– the closing encouragement for perseverance in the Gospel

Here’s the outline…

6 sections related to faithfulness in life and ministry…

1) An apostolic call to faithful ministry (13-14)
This call includes a doctrinal (body of knowledge) aspect and a practical (living what we actually believe) aspect.

2) A personal example in faithful ministry (15-18)
Negatively in the people who had abandoned Paul and positively in Onesiphorus who: 1) loved men who preached God’s Word, 2) was courageous, 3) was effective and fruitful wherever God placed him.

3) Further instructions about the sacred trust entrusted to faithful men (1-2)
In ministry, hard work is combined with enabling grace. Grace flows through us to others. We are called not only to a ministry of reception, but also a ministry of transmission.

4) Illustrations of the faithful work of ministry (3-7)
Three illustrations emerge: 1) military – soldiers don’t get distracted, 2) athletic – with all diligence, 3) agriculture – hard work is a synonym for pastoral ministry. We must work hard.

5) Command to remember the faithful Savior (8-10)
Jesus went to the cross/rose again and in so doing, demonstrated the heartfelt, lifelong commitment to which we are called. This Word of the Gospel can’t be bound, but will bear fruit.

6) Absolute faithfulness of faithful God to His people (11-13)
Even we are faithless, God is faithful and can’t deny Himself. Our unfaithfulness (not final rejection, but failing in life and ministry to serve and obey like we should) can’t stop the Gospel’s work through us.

Lots of encouragement emerged from these works. May God continue to inspire applications from this.