Last week was the biennial Together for the Gospel Conference.

As a pastor attending a conference with some 7,000+ other ministry-minded people, I was very encouraged. Here are some of the gems I took away from the conference. The theme this year was “Unashamed.” The emphasis was on evangelism.

 

 

Thabiti Anyabwile

– “wrongly in our evangelism, repentance is often like a footnote to the conversation.”

-“Repentance is a fountain of joy in heaven.”

-“Repentance begins to value God properly.”

Matt Chandler

– “People love Pauline theology but not Pauline pain.”

-“Lets not get over the miracle of the new birth.”

-“Lets be bold brothers, we won’t regret it.”

Mark Dever

– “In a fallen world, some fears may come true.”

-“Our helplessness is the doorway to trust in God.”

-“Satan always presents a rival interpretation of the meaning and purpose of events in our lives.”

Kevin DeYoung

– “Jesus refers to so much Old Testament history and always assumes it is true fact. He never questions it.”

-“In Genesis 2:24, who is talking? Who said it? Who wrote it? In Matthew 19, Jesus says it is God because God is the author of the Bible.”

-“To be bold is to be clear in the face of fear.”

Ligon Duncan

– (This is one of the best sermons I have ever heard.)

-“Sin brings into you that which God did not intend when He created you.”

-“Leviticus does not tell you how to get clean. It just shows you how you are unclean.”

-“If you are going to bring people to Jesus, you need to know that Jesus knows what to do with them. He knows how to deal with their defilement.”

John MacArthur

– “Hell will be far worse for the reached people then it will ever be for the unreached.”

-“Nothing that Jesus did offended them. Everything that he said offended them.”

-“It is always the words that offend.”

John Piper

– “If God is not faithful then Romans 8 means nothing.”

– “The depths of Romans 9 are what enable the heights of Romans 8.”

– (Piper’s 2nd point of application on the word “somehow” from Romans 11:14 was incredible!)

David Platt

– “Right doctrine leads to relentless prayer.”

-“Moses is not changing God’s plan, he is fulfilling it. God in his providence has called us to pray and shape history with his unfolding plan.”

-“‘I worry that the problem is not the sexual immorality of the culture, but rather the self-sufficient culture of the church.”

-“There is something about the glory of God that once you taste it you want more.”