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.”