T4G-The Book's Back Cover

Those of us who had the privilege of attending this year’s Together For the Gospel conference in Louisville were given 20 books that we are encouraged to read over the coming months. I thought I would let you know the titles and authors of those books along with the quote from the back cover. These postings are in no particular order.

The Book: The Trellis and the Vine by Colin Marshall and Tony Payne

"What Col and Tony have described here is exactly what I've been trying to do in my own life and in our congregation for years. According to this book, Christians are to be disciple-making disciples and pastors are to be trainers. Superb! This is the best book I've read on the nature of church ministry." ~ Mark Dever

"This book contains the kind of counter-intuitive ideas that, once encountered and embraced, make you wonder why you did not always think this way." ~ Phillip D. Jensen

"I have some new conversation partners as I ask myself, under the authority of God and Scripture, questions about the structure and ministry of my congregation: "Why are we doing what we are doing? Is the gospel central? Has 'administry' trumped ministry?" And more. As I ask these things, I am so deeply helped and heartened and humbled and corrected by the fidelity and wisdom of Colin Marshall and Tony Payne's profound little book that I can't but commend it to you." ~ Ligon Duncan

"Gospel ministry is about God's glory and God's people! This excellent book takes us right to the heart of authentic Christian ministry. Any church will benefit hugely from studying and acting on it." ~ William Taylor

"The Trellis and the Vine comes from a ministry so deeply committed to the recovery of biblical truth and the cause of the gospel. Its wisdom is invaluable. My advice: Keep a good stack on hand at all times, and put this book to good use." ~ R. Albert Mohler, Jr.

T4G-The Book's Back Cover

Those of us who had the privilege of attending this year’s Together For the Gospel conference in Louisville were given 20 books that we are encouraged to read over the coming months. I thought I would let you know the titles and authors of those books along with the quote from the back cover. These postings are in no particular order.

The Book: The Holiness of God by R. C. Sproul

Are you intrigued by God's holiness, or are you terrified?

"Every Christian who is serious about his or her growth needs to read The Holiness of God. I profited greatly from this book." -- Jerry Bridges

"It may be a bit early to call R.C. Sproul's The Holiness of God one of the classic theological works of our time. But if it does not have that status yet, it is well on the way to achieving it." -- James Montgomery Boice

Dr. R. C. Sproul, theologian, pastor, and teacher, is the founder of Ligonier Ministries, an international teaching ministry based in Orlando, Florida. He is the author of more than sixty books, and the executive editor of Tabletalk magazine. He can be heard daily on the radio broadcast Renewing Your Mind. He is also the senior minister of preaching and teaching at Saint Andrew's Chapel in the Orlando area.

T4G-The Book's Back Cover

Those of us who had the privilege of attending this year’s Together For the Gospel conference in Louisville were given 20 books that we are encouraged to read over the coming months. I thought I would let you know the titles and authors of those books along with the quote from the back cover. These postings are in no particular order.

Book: What is the Gospel by Greg Gilbert

"Provides a biblically faithful explanation of the gospel and equips Christians to discern deviations from that glorious message. How I wish I could place this book in the hands of every pastor and church member. ~C. J. Mahaney

"This little book on the gospel is one of the clearest and most important books I've read in recent years." ~Mark Dever

"This book will help you better understand, treasure, and share the gospel of Jesus Christ." ~Joshua Harris

"Greg Gilbert shows just how important it is to understand both the theological nature and the functional necessity of the gospel. ~Tullian Tchividjian

T4G-The Book's Back Cover

Those of us who had the privilege of attending this year’s Together For the Gospel conference in Louisville were given 20 books that we are encouraged to read over the coming months. I thought I would let you know the titles and authors of those books along with the quote from the back cover. These postings are in no particular order.

Book: Marks of the Messenger: Knowing, Living and Speaking the Gospel by J. Mack Stiles

Evangelism is not rooted in a method but in something much deeper. It is found in what makes us whole and healthy messengers of God’s truth about Jesus. Mack Stiles shows how the gospel changes all of who we are and what we do. It means not just going through the motions of accepted behaviors. It means showing the unity of witness and justice. It means love. It means community. Join Mack Stiles in a life-giving adventure of boldly knowing, living and speaking the gospel.

D.A. Carson writes, “I do not think I have ever read a book on evangelism that makes me more eager to pass it on than this one – better, that makes me more eager to evangelize than this one.”

T4G - - Some More Thoughts

Last week I had the privilege of attending the Together For the Gospel Conference in Louisville, KY, with our pastor and his dad. We had a wonderful, God-exalting time of praise, worship and preaching. It’s been a long time since I have been so deeply affected by the preaching of God’s Word along with the singing of great old and some new hymns. It’s an amazing thing to hear more than 5000 men lifting their voices in song to the Lord. During one of the sessions they asked us to stand based on the decade of our age and I would guess that half of the men there were in their twenties and thirties. It was encouraging to me to see this many young men together in one place to hear the preaching of the Word. And the preaching was not trivial fluff!

Speakers included Ligon Duncan, Thabiti Anyabwile, John MacArthur, Mark Dever, RC Sproul, Albert Mohler, John Piper and CJ Mahaney. Each one spoke for about an hour with a half hour time when they all sat together on the platform discussing the issues raised in the message. I would strongly recommend that you download the free mp3 files of the messages and listen to them. It will provide a feast for your soul. I especially recommend the following:
RC Sproul – The Curse Motif of the Atonement
John Piper – How the Supremacy of Christ Creates Radical Christian Sacrifice
John MacArthur—The Sinner Neither Able Nor Willing: The Doctrine of Absolute Inability


Thabiti Anyabwile had a very interesting talk explaining in biblical terms the difference between race and ethnicity and the importance for us to have a Christian worldview that denies the category of race, i.e. that there are distinct biological differences between those of different skin colors. His message can be downloaded here.

As I mentioned, the other highlight of our time together was the singing. We sang mostly older, well-known hymns. The list of songs can be found here. We sang one old hymn by Isaac Watts titled, “How Sweet and Awful is this Place.” After we had sung it, many of us with tears in our eyes, all looked at one another as if to say, “where did that song come from?” The words are definitely encouraging. I’ve posted the lyrics here on my blog. I definitely urge you to take a look at this powerful song.

Besides all of that, each time we came back to a new session, there were 3 or 4 books for us on our seats. By the end of the conference we each (5500 of us) had received 15 books! Now I guess I won’t be able to be a slacker.

As you can probably tell, I came away very encouraged and challenged to live a life that would be an example of a Faithful Man.

I trust that you too have had some good times of spiritual refreshment lately either with brothers in Christ or through your churches. It’s so important to hold one another up as we try to be faithful men for the Lord.

Together For the Gospel Conference

It's been a busy couple of weeks. My wife and I had the opportunity to get away for a couple of days during spring break.
The highlight of this week has been that I had the opportunity to attend Together For the Gospel conference with a couple of friends. I'll probably be writing a couple of blog posts on the things that were highlights for me. Tim Challies does an excellent job reporting the details of the conference over at his blog here.
For me the most challenging and encouraging messages were those by John Piper and R. C. Sproul. More on those later. Also, I was tremendously encouraged by the singing. All of the songs were uplifting and God-honoring. I and many of those around me had never heard one particular song that we sang. Afterward we looked around at each other as if to say, "Where did that come from?" The song was by Isaac Watts and was entitled How Sweet and Awesome is this Place. The original title used "awful" instead of "awesome".

Here are the words for your consideration and meditation:

1. How sweet and awful is the place
With Christ within the doors,
While everlasting love displays
The choicest of her stores!

2. While all our hearts and all our songs
Join to admire the feast,
Each of us cry, with thankful tongues,
Lord, why was I a guest?

3. Why was I made to hear Thy voice,
And enter while there's room;
When thousands make a wretched choice,
And rather starve than come?

4. 'Twas the same love that spread the feast
That sweetly forced us in
Else we had still refused to taste,
And perished in our sin.

5. Pity the nations, O our God!
Constrain the earth to come;
Send Thy victorious Word abroad,
And bring the strangers home.

6. We long to see Thy churches full,
That all the chosen race
May with one voice, and heart, and soul,
Sing Thy redeeming grace.