Together for the Gospel

 

For the next three days I have the blessing of attending the Together for the Gospel conference. I have always enjoyed these conferences. The messages are superb, the free books are great, and the fellowship is rich.

After the next few days, time providing, I will post my reflections from this years conference.

 

Saturday Sermon: Union With Christ in Christian Living

One of the most foundation doctrines of the Christian life is the reality of the believer’s union with Christ. By the mysterious power of God the believer is united to Christ so that salvific works and benefits of Christ becomes possession of the believer.

I recently listened to Dr. Sinclair Ferguson message where he talks about this doctrine. I would highly recommend this message to you as either a great introduction or a great reminder about this reality.

http://vimeo.com/11652580

You can get the audio here.

Lectures by Dr. Simon Gathercole

I am hoping to attend the lectures  by Dr. Simon Gathercole, hosted at Campbellsville University, the 18th of this month. Dr. Gathercole is a very respected scholar from  the University of Cambridge. The subject of his lectures will be the atonement. If anyone is interested in coming a flyer of the event can be found here.

To find out more about Dr. Gathercole, Andy Naselli did an interview with him on the gospel of Judas over at Between Two Worlds.

HT: Denny Burk

Baptists and the Cross: Contemporary and Historical Perspectives, August 30-31, 2010

The audio is up from the Andrew Fuller Conference which I attended about a month ago. Sadly I was not able to attend all the lectures due to school classes happening at the same time. But what I did hear was really good.

The conference is both historical and denominational in its topics. All Andrew Fuller Conferences discuss how Baptists have understood different doctrinal positions throughout history. This year the topic was on Baptists and the cross, how Baptists have historically understood and preached the substitutionary death of Jesus.

I was able to listen to the three beginning Plenary Sessions and the sixth Plenary Session. The first two are mainly theological in their dealings. Schreiner deals with texts in the Pastoral and Petrine epistles that refer to the extent of the atonement. Wellum talks about a over arching view of the Bible that one must have to rightly view atonement. Both are very beneficial. The last two are historical overviews. They are beneficial as well if you want a better grasp of history.

Here is the list of lectures in full. Hopefully you will find something of interest among them.

MONDAY| August 30, 2010

9:00 a.m. Plenary Session 1: Tom Schreiner (SBTS)
“The Atonement in the Pastoral Epistles, the Petrine Epistles, and Hebrews”

10:25 a.m. Plenary Session 2: Stephen Wellum (SBTS)
“Baptism and Crucicentrism”

11:45 a.m. Plenary Session 3: David W. Bebbington (Professor of History, University of Stirling)
“British Baptist Crucicentrism from the Eighteenth Century Onwards”

2:30-4:00 p.m. PARALLEL SESSIONS

Group A: 17th Century British Baptists (Chair: Steve Weaver)

1. Roger Duke, “The Blood in the Lesser Known Writings of John Bunyan”
2. Ryan West, “Christopher Blackwood—Unpopular Dissent and the Cross in Cromwellian Ireland”
3. Steve Weaver, “‘A Patient Wearing of Christ’s Cross’: Hercules Collins and a Baptist Theology of Persecution”

Group B: 18th Century Baptists (Chair: Paul Brewster)

1. Allen Mickle, “ ‘Binding his Ass’s Colt to the Choice Vine’: John Gill (1697-1771), Isaiah 53, and the Atonement”
2. Josh Carmichael, “Anne Steele on the Atonement”
3. Peter Beck, “An Early Baptist in the Land of the Free: Samuel Stillman, the Depravity of Man and the Freedom of the Cross”

Group C: 19th Century Baptists (Chair: Jeff Robinson)

1. John Gill, “Alexander Carson on the Cross”
2. Cody McNutt, “Condescension and Substitution: Christ’s Cross in the Preaching of Robert Hall, Jr.”
3. Chris Chun, “Andrew Fuller on the Atonement: Was Fuller’s approach nearer to that of Jonathan Edwards or the Younger?”

Group D: Theological Reflections (Chair: Joe Harrod)

1. David Schrock, “Baptists, the New Covenant, and the Efficacy of the Atonement”
2. David Pitman, “Baptists and the Iconography of the Cross: An Historical and Theological Survey”
3. Jason Duesing, “Humphreys/Patterson—1987: A Southern Baptist Debate on the Atonement”

7:00 p.m. “Baptists and the Cross:  A Hymnfest” (Nathan Platt)

8:00 p.m. Plenary Session 4: Glendon Thompson (President, Toronto Baptist Seminary)
“Preaching the Cross”

TUESDAY| August 31, 2010

8:30 a.m. Plenary Session 5: Maurice Dowling (Professor of Church History, Irish Baptist College, Queens University)
“Spurgeon and the Cross”

11:30 a.m. Plenary Session 6: James Fuller (Professor of History, University of Indianapolis)
“19th Century Southern Baptists and the Cross”

2:30-3:40 p.m. Plenary Session 7: Danny Akin (SEBTS)
“The Cross and Pastoral Ministry”

4:00-5:00 p.m. Special LifeWay Booksigning Event:  “Book Discussion with Michael Haykin and David Bebbington”

Baptists and the Cross

“The fourth annual conference of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies is scheduled for August 30-31, 2010.  The theme is:  Baptists and the Cross:  Contemporary and Historical Reflections. The conference will feature speakers such as Danny Akin (president, SEBTS), David Bebbington (professor, University of Stirling), Maurice Dowling (professor, Irish Baptist College), James Fuller (professor, University of Indianapolis), Tom Schreiner (professor, SBTS), Glendon Thompson (president, TBS and pastor of Jarvis Street Baptist Church), and Stephen Wellum (professor, SBTS).  For full bios of the speakers, see here.

Discounted registration rates are now available for the conference and there is a special rate for students.  Students may receive a discounted rate by using the code: “8051974″.  For more information on the conference visit http://events.sbts.edu/andrewfuller.”

HT: Steve Weaver

T4G Messages

Messages:

Mark Dever: The Church is the Gospel Made Visible

RC Sproul: The Defense and Confirmation of the Gospel — What I Have Learned in 50 years —

Albert Mohler: How Does it Happen? Trajectories Toward an Adjusted Gospel

Thabiti Anyabwile: ‘Fine-Sounding Arguments’ — How Wrongly ‘Engaging the Culture’ Adjusts the Gospel

John MacArthur: The Theology of Sleep! (Mark 4)

John Piper: Did Jesus Preach Paul’s Gospel?
You can also read the full manuscript of John Piper’s article here.

Ligon Duncan: Did the Fathers Know the Gospel?

C.J. Mahaney with Matt Chandler: Preparing Your Church for Suffering

Videos of all the messages can be found here.

Panels:

Panel I: Mark Dever, Ligon Duncan, C.J. Mahaney, Al Mohler, Thabiti Anyabwile

Panel II: Mark Dever, Ligon Duncan, C.J. Mahaney, Al Mohler, John MacArthur

Panel III: Mark Dever, Ligon Duncan, C.J. Mahaney, Al Mohler, Thabiti Anyabwile, John MacArthur

Panel IV: Mark Dever, Ligon Duncan, C.J. Mahaney, Al Mohler, John MacArthur, John Piper

The Music at T4G is always a blessing.

Here are the music leader’s (Bob Kauflin) reflections on leading worship.

Here is a list of the songs which we sung at the conference.

Together for the Gospel 2010

This week I had the absolute blessing of attending Together for the Gospel 2010. I had prayed that it would be a time of benefiting from great teaching and not just listening to lectures. God answered that simple pray specifically and in so many other ways.

The messages were great. Each one brought good, needed reminders to my heart. I enjoyed Mark Dever’s beginning  message which was a reminder that the gospel does not end in doctrines affirmed but in a life lived out. I particularly liked his comment, “the church does not do evangelism, the church is evangelism.” The very distinctive community which gospel produces is a light for others to see. Loving one another, serving one another, getting into one another’s life. In the church there is to be demonstration of the gospel in the way we live with one another.

The message which I enjoyed the most was John Piper’s message. I loved the solid exegesis of the text and the heart exciting truth steaming from it. His message was on whether Jesus and Paul preached the same message. Namely, did Jesus proclaim justification by faith alone? He looked at Luke 18:9-14 the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector. There he showed that it was indeed the case that Jesus taught that how one is saved is not by looking at his works of righteousness he has done but by looking solely to the mercy of God.

Over all, even though the conference was aimed at keeping a watch over our doctrine, I was made to love and magnify in the person of Jesus so much. From the songs we sung to the messages themselves, there was no cold creedalism. There was, instead, an uplifting of Jesus. And from the up lifting of Him I received a greater desire to hold to the truths He brought  to me and to live according to the life He patterned. All of this because I saw Him!

Then…there were the books! Justin Taylor has a list of all the books we received.

Outside the conference I had a blast hanging with my pastors and deacon of Immanuel. All the way from becoming stuck with them on an old elevator in a Mexican restaurant to listening to their advise about girls and everywhere inbetween, I had a wonderful time with them.

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Here is the audio of the messages from Together for the Gospel which they have posted so far:

Mark Dever. The Church is the Gospel Made Visible

Albert Mohler. How Does it Happen? Trajectories Toward an Adjusted Gospel

Thabiti Anyabwile. ‘Fine-Sounding Arguments’ — How Wrongly ‘Engaging the Culture’ Adjusts the Gospel

John MacArthur. The Theology of Sleep! (Mark 4)

John Piper. Did Jesus Preach Paul’s Gospel?

You can also read the full manuscript of John Piper’s article here.

Videos of all the messages can be found here.

Gone to T4G

Just to let everyone know where the posting has gone…

I am at Together for the Gospel for a few days so posting has been put on a hold. I will be back in a day or two.

T4G Next Week!

Next week I will be attending the Together for the Gospel conference held here in Louisville, KY. I always look forward to this conference. It is such a tremendous blessing to stumble upon the first one held back in 2006. I can safely say that the conference would be an influence on me for years to come. Who knows if I would even be up here at Boyce if it had not been for the conference! So I have been attending the conference ever since, soaking in the riches of it.

One of the greatest things about the conference would have to be the worship. Here is a clip giving a little demonstration what what is experienced.

What an time! Singing the rich praise songs along with 6,000 men! Truly a wonderful experience.

Then there are the convicting and encouraging messages. Who can forget John Piper’s message on preaching at the 2006 conference and R. C. Sproul’s message at the 2008 conference? And those messages are just slightly larger gems in the treasure chest of messages given at the conference.

And of course…there are the books!

I will also be attending the Band of Bloggers conference meeting before T4G.

If you are a read of this blog I would love to see you at either one of these conferences.

Thus, I all really looking forward to the coming week! I believe it will be a great blessing to be received.