Growing in Christ
conference
DG Conf: Unregenerate Sheep
03 years ago
From the conference, I had the privilege of being in Matt Chandler’s message, A Shepherd and His Unregenerate Sheep (audio and text). The message is from 1 Timothy 4, and has been very helpful in thinking through the text and feeling the immediacy, and teaching, it impresses upon me. Rather than doing a social commentary on how unregenerate people get into, and stay in congregations, he did a more helpful message that centered around “living and preaching in such a way that regenerance is revealed.” Quite a stirring topic mainly because it focused on me, my faith, by treasure, and my growth in godliness before God. I’ve found it increasingly more constructive over time to look at myself on doctrinal and practical issues than to look at others. Yes, there are “Christians” who with one hand hold up the Bible, and with the other hand rip the Gospel out of the Scriptures for the sake of helping God be more inclusive and not so uptight in ancient garb. Sure, there are those people. I know them, I’m friends with them, I used to be one of them. But the main point of many passages about controversy and “wolves in sheep’s clothing” call us to evaluate our own existential standing as a Christian. The main issue in evaluating the regenerate or unregenerate state of another person or institution is to first turn your eye on yourself, we are to “keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers” (1 Timothy 4:16).
The part I find most helpful in this is that in some measure it relieves the pressure to discern another’s standing. If I am living in such a way that the Gospel, the true Gospel of Jesus Christ slaughtered for sinners to justify them in his righteousness by faith, then in some serious manner, those around me who do not share the same passion will be revealed to be what they are. Now, for pastors, this is an additional charge or preaching in such a way as to make unregenerate people either convert of leave one’s church. But if one’s not, if they’re a coward, they’ll have loads of pseudo-Gospel success and will make the fires of Hell hotter for those they neglect to present the full Gospel to.
I commend his message to you. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
DG Conf: The Guys From OK
03 years ago
Here I am, me to the right, Steve second to the left (the guys wearing Banner of Truth shirts, if that wasn’t obvious) with three guys we met at the conference. These guys, (from the left) Brandon, Aaron, and Andrew, are three guys from Oklahoma City, OK who are laboring to plant a church there. Their church, Love and Justice Church, grew out of a Bible study. They’re story isn’t atypical: a Bible study of serious guys tucked away in a large, moderate church, who were passionate for the Lord, that grew and grew despite all intentions and desires, which birthed a conviction for a local church. Sure, the guys are young, but God is eternal, his grace is rich, his mercy and power eagerly available to the weak and needy.
Encouragement
I spent a good amount of time with these guys. Immediately when we started talking, their openness and honesty were the front door. They were great guys to talk to, eager to receive not only the teaching from the conference, but encouragement and suggestions on pastoral ministry and personal discipline to the Lord. I was particularly encouraged by my time with them in a couple ways:
1) My dad’s family comes from the area in Oklahoma that these guys are from, so it is encouraging to know that there are serious, sober-minded, Christ centered church planting efforts in that area to teach my family heritage.
2) I’m encouraged to meet peers who love the Savior and have a burning passion to proclaim his name, and grow his people in the grace of the Gospel.
Along these lines, as a “throw away statement” at one point, they mentioned that every Friday night, they go and just do “cold-turkey” evangelism with folks. With most folks they meet with thinking they’re Christians but having no knowledge of the Gospel, they just walk up to them and say, “Hey, can I preach the Gospel to you?” To which, they usually get the response, “Ah.. Sure.” What a heart, and what an example!
Ways to pray
1) Wisdom for leading their church.
2) Older pastors to mentor them. (This is something they’ve actively looking for at the moment)
3) Godly character in being disciples of Christ, husbands and fathers (where this applies).
4) Insight to know how to lead their church, proclaim the Gospel boldly, and care for their flock effectively.
5) That God would get all the glory through their labors; that he would grow people in the Gospel at their church, and that they would see new converts added to the people of Jesus Christ.
Desiring God 2009 Conference for Pastors
03 years ago
I just wanted to mention that I have the great priviledge and honor of not only going out to the Desiring God 2009 Conference for Pastors next week, but going by way of accompanying Steve Burlew of Banner of Truth as his assistant. His gracious offer for me to join him came from a conversation I started with him about the publishing/book world. I feel a call to pastoral ministry, but should that not happen for a while or never happen, I’d like to at least have some thoughts about other occupations – I don’t exactly feel like assembling computers is my life’s occupation! So, I just mention it here to say that I’ll probably post some reflections about the conference pre and post.
It’s going to be on evangelism, which will be great. I’m really looking forward to hearing Matt Chandler. I listened to his message from the Resurgence: Text and Context conference this past fall on Preaching the Gospel in the Center of the Evangelical World and really enjoyed it. Not only was it very well thought out and helpful in general, but it also helped me understand the struggles and frustrations that many of my friends coming out of a fundamentalist background have. I wasn’t raised in a fundamentalist culture (quite the opposite in the United Methodist Church), so this was helpful in thinking through the issues facing the evangelical world as whole, especially those in context saturated “evangelicalism”.
So anyhow, this is all aside the point. I’ll be out at the conference with Banner of Truth next to my wise and gracious friend Steve Burlew. Should the one person who reads this be there, feel free to say hi!
Update: Mercy4Marriage
13 years ago
The conference this weekend was great! To give a short recap, there were five speakers, four main sessions and one break-out session splitting husbands and wives.
- The first night Dave Harvey preached God’s Mercy and My Marriage. The content of this message was essentially the same, though not entirely, as chapters four and five from his book, When Sinners Say, “I Do”. Michelle really liked this sermon, not because we hadn’t heard the material before, but because hearing it, instead of reading it, filled it out in new ways for us. One of the main points from this message for me was when Dave said, “How I relate to others in their sin reveals my grasp of the Gospel.” Uh, ouch! Yea, that was my pride getting struck. He further made the points, “Mercy introduces ministry as a primary goal of marriage.” This was all quite helpful.
- Friday morning, Paul Tripp preached, Mercy and the Antisocial Nature of Sin. This has got to be the best sermon I’ve ever heard on what love is. Of all the things to note, the one I starred in my notes was his definition of love: “Love is willing self sacrifice for the good of another that does not demand reciprocation or that the person being loved is deserving.
- Friday afternoon, the men and women split to hear Gary Ricucci deliver Romance for the guys, and his wife Betsy deliver God’s Mercy and My Marriage for the ladies. The notes were handed out for these, but needless to say, it was a great time for both of us. They seemed to cover a some of the material in Love That Lasts, but there was more to it. For the guys, Gary simply spoke to being intentional in pursuing our wives for the wonderful gift from God that they are. For me, I was stirred to think of new ways to romance Michelle to let her know just how important she is to me, and how thankful I am that she chose to say “Yes” and “I do” to a sinful man like me.
- Friday evening, Paul Tripp again preached for us, Mercy: The Only Hope For Real Love. He started out by saying that we are “always, every moment, receiving, and dripping with mercy… mercy is redemptive sweat!” He goes on to talk about compassion, forgiveness, and forbearance, and then talked through how mercy is costly (it’s suffering, waiting, and sacrificial). He ends by saying that mercy is intended to drive you to the end of yourself, and that nobody benefits more from the suffering, waiting, and sacrifice of mercy than the one giving it. If you want to be rich in mercy, give it all away. Again, very good and helpful.
- On Saturday morning, Aaron Osborn of Grace Community Church, and who over saw the entire conference, delivered an outstanding sermon entitled, Bright Hope For Tomorrow. This sermon really did an excellent job of tying the conference together, and giving perspective and hope for practically applying this deep content to our lives. He spoke out of 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, and talked about how ministers of mercy are controlled by the love of Christ, do not view things according to the flesh, and are ambassadors for Christ. He left me wanting to meditate more on what it means to be “controlled by love”. Aaron, while saying he’s not a Dave Harvey or Paul Tripp, really captured these guys and stood with them in being of great help to us in understanding how God’s mercy to us moves us to be more merciful towards our spouse.
So, with all that said, the conference really was great. We really enjoyed it, and had some great discussions based off of the material, as well as some great time with some other couples. God help me, a weak man, to strive after such great things (like being more merciful!) for his glory.
Marriage and the Mercy of God
03 years ago
We’ll be starting our weekend early this week by heading out to Hershey, PA to attend Marriage and the Mercy of God today. If it had a subtitle, it’d probably be something along the lines of “We designed this with Jacob in mind”. You know, something a little obvious because I walk into walls at my house – things need to be obvious and in Technicolor for me to notice. I’m actually really excited about the conference. Yes, it’s in the Hershey, PA (which has streets paved in Hershey’s chocolate from what I hear), but that’s not the only reason. I’ve noticed lately that I’m generally an uncompassionate, uncaring, presumptive, and ungenerous guy. Maybe that strikes you as odd – that’s because I’m a deceiver, my name says so (consult Genesis 25:26)!
Anyhow, in preparing for the conference, we were sent a devotional to work through for the week prior to prepare our hearts and minds for what God would be teaching us there. I honestly haven’t been faithful to lead us through every one, but we’ve done a few, and they’ve proven helpful. The meditation for today is this:
Hebrews 4:16- Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of
grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in
time of need.
- According to this verse, when is the time for confidence in drawing near to God? What is the basis of this confidence?
Here is a blog that one of my pastor’s wisely posted yesterday to help prepare those going for the conference: Marriage and the Mercy of God.
If you think of it, pray for the conference that God would be glorified in it as we learn not only about his amazing grace and mercy to forgive such wretched sinners like me through the work of Jesus Christ, and that he would help me grow in being more merciful to reflect his own character and value.
I’ll be sure to post the conference messages when they’re available.
