T4G Refections and Day 1

at 6:30am, Tuesday, April 15th, myself, two good friends and my adviser departed for the together for the gospel conference in Louisville, Kentucky. It was my first time to a major conference of any nature and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I walked away with over 15 free books, courtesy of many publishers and the T4G speakers, and encouragement from the fabulous sessions. The first talk was Ligon Duncan, who spoke on the importance of systematic theology in pastoral ministry. His talk, in my mind, set the tone for the whole conference. Each in its own way dealt with aspects of the emergent church movement and criticized it heavily. To this end Lig's focused on how systematic theology is above, not equal to, biblical theology. Rather pertinent at this time with the happenings at Westminster East with Enns.

Next up was Thabiti on "bearing the image." His was the most intriguing and I am still thinking about what was said. His general thesis was that we view this world with a misconception that hinders ministry - the idea of race. Race is unbiblical, he said, and suggested a new framework for looking at people - ethnicity. In my mind his gave the foundation for not ministering to a select group of "racial" people, as we are all united in Adam with the image of God and sin. Instead we should view people in terms of ethnicity which is much broader and can include whites with black.

more posts to follow.
If you want to check out the liveblogging see Tim Challies
Also the sessions are free here

Is gathering together for the gospel a bad thing?

DG Hart, over on De Regno Chrsti, wrote that Tim Keller has left the PCA. (who did no such thing.) Hart writes:

How else should we interpret his involvement in the Gospel Coalition. Co-founded by such evangelical heavyweights as D. A. Carson and John Piper, GC is a fellowship of churches that have come together for the purpose of “renewing our faith in the gospel of Christ and to reforming our ministry practices to conform fully to the Scriptures.” GC plans to execute its promotion of the gospel through the ordained means of word and sacrament. “We intend to [serve the church] through the ordinary means of his grace: prayer, the ministry of the Word, baptism and the Lord’s supper, and the fellowship of the saints.”

The Gospel Coalition and Together for the Gospel are a very good things and blessings. Both proclaim the majestic sovereign God that we have and the precious gospel of grace, all the while recognizing that some who come together are baptists and others are paedo's. But that does not get in the way of celebrating the catholicity of the church. These organizations are a symbol of a movement to gather together for the sake of the gospel (not as structured as Acts 29, which has a PCA congregation in it). This goes against the grain of our natures, which is to go as reclusive and isolated as possible, lacking fellowship, community and accountability. This movement is to be encouraged and prayed for... that it would be a conduit for an evangelical and reformed reunion that we might be one, "as we are one." And the Gospel Coalition encourages that.

PS. You can read the article here
PSS. Keller was not the only PCA minister to participate - Phil Ryken, Ray Ortlund, Bryan Chapell, Harry Reeder, Scotty Smith, and several others went to participate. [All seen here]

T4G Road Trip (Youtube Wednesday)

www.t4g.org
April 15th-17th, 2008
Louisville, Kentucky
Speakers: John Piper, Albert Mohler, Ligon Duncan, Mark Dever, John MacArthur, RC Sproul, CJ Mahaney, Thabiti Anyabwile

with some really sweet guys and a hip prof from Grove City College


yes i am drooling

How to Preach a Good Sermon by J. Ligon Duncan

Abstract from the PCRT (cheers to Isadore)
He gave us a list of 12 things and elaborated on them. It wasn't a 'how to' message but more like a 'what am I doing?' teaching session. The 12 points were these:
1. Know what a sermon is and what you are trying to do.
2. Have confidence in the word of God. Under this heading, he gave us
ten points.

a. The Bible is God's own word to us. It is more than a human book (1
Thess. 2:13).
b. The Bible is God-breathed, God's words exhaled to us.
It is like feeling
His very breath on our ears 2 Tim. 3:16).
c. The
Bible is written under the direction of God's Holy Spirit (2 Pet.
1:19-21;
John 14:25-26; John 16:12-13).
d. The Bible is God's instruction to us on
how we are to live this life
(Psalm 119:105). e. The Bible teaches the way
of salvation. f. The Bible is
indespensible (Matt. 4).
g. The Bible was
given to equip Christians to live the Christian life (2
Tim.3:16-17; John
17:17). h. The Bible is not a dead letter, but an active
living force in our
lives (Heb.4:12-13).
i. The Bible's message is clear because God is a good
communicator (Deut.
30:11-14).
j. The Bible's truth is eternally enduring.

3. Listen to great preaching.
4. Choose your models, but carefully.
5.Know the Bible better.
6. Be a man of prayer.
7. Preach Christ and the cross as you preach the whole counsel of God.
8. Be Trinitarian.
9. Use your imagination to get people into the Word, not to entertain.
10. Speak much of sin and grace.
11. Use the plain style.
12. Love your people.

How to Listen to a Bad Sermon

A beautiful abstract from my friend Dan Isadore, who is a CCO worker at Thiel College and a youth pastor at a PCUSA church there, on Ligon Duncan's sermon on listening to a poor sermon. Though I have some serious concerns with point 2 - is every preacher God's spokesperson? I am thinking of liberal pastors, women elders, priests and bad preaching (people who talk about their soap boxes and hobby horses instead of the gospel)

6 points for this one...
1.We need to take stock of our attitude when listening to sermons. We need to listen as if our lives depended on it, which they do.
2. Remember who is speaking to you. It is God talking.
3. Remember what the Bible and life are all about.
4. Remember who we are: simultaneously sinners and children of God.
5. Prepare to hear the word.
6. Commit yourself to self application by asking what the passage teaches you about the one true God, by constantly focusing on the person, power and work of Jesus Christ, by searching your own hearts and finding your own sin rather than others, and by recognizing how the word is to touch your wills, minds and desires.