I had privilege of attending Together For The Gospel again this year. Its hard to put into words all the Lord said/did in my heart. Of course others have blogged much and since one can download the sessions, I'd suggest you do that. Do not forget to download the panel discussions when they become available. Much of value is found there.

It was refreshing to hear these Evangelical heavy-weights in their group discussion, especially when they opened up to admit they too struggle with issues such as having to work oneself up to witness to a lost person. (John Piper)

Thabiti Anyawabile's sermon was powerful and opened our eyes to the necessity of seeing those people who look/act/talk/dress/etc differently as fundamentally being just like us.....sinners in the need of God's grace.



While the messages and flow of things at T4G '06 was wonderful and meaningful, there was something of a different spiritual plane in '08. I know that topics were assigned and arranged. But the hand of God was powerfully moving as these men went through their sermon preparation. It was as if all eight got together, looked over one another's sermons, made some adjustments, and then preached one deep, powerful, connected, inspiring, convicting 8 hour sermon. It was clear from some of the comments made during panel discussions that they were taken aback at how God fine tuned this one.


I do have one, personal observation to make regarding this or any other conference of this nature one might attend. I went to T4G a bit tired, worn-out, and physically unprepared. It's always good to get away to refresh. I certainly was moved by the Spirit throughout. However, I know I did not get all I could from T4G this year because of my worn-out condition leading up to the conference. From time to time, my attention lagged and I had to work to keep up. I look back realizing that had I made sure that I was well rested before my arrival, the blessings would have been all the more.

So, what did I learn from this?
Don't just show up with packed bags, money to buy books, and a hotel reservation.
Prepare for the conference itself.
Pray. Meditate. Get plenty of sleep BEFORE you go.
(Hmmmmm, perhaps Sundays would be all the more if I made sure that my Saturday schedule was conducive to rest and preparation for His Day.)

To my fellow gospel ministers:

If you had 13 weeks to train a young man for ministry (knowing he will get more training later) what things would you be sure to cover? And what resources would you use?

It is all in my head and heart somewhere...I am having difficulty mapping it out and making it organized. I would hate the first 3 weeks being spent on me trying to figure out where we are going.

Here is what I have so far. I am wanting to sum it up as best I can. I have found five broad categories of ministry. Lead. Plead. Read. Bleed. And for lack of a better rhyming term...Breed. I want to teach a few principles of leadership--mostly that we are called to be a servant (Mt. 20:20-28). Here is a list so far:

Lead with gentleness (1 Pet. 3:16)
Lead with courage (Joshua 1)
Lead with humility (Phil. 2:3, 1 Pet. 5:5)
Lead with your life, authenticity (1 Thess. 2:8, 2 Tim. 3:10-11)
Lead with holiness, example (2 Tim. 2:22-26)
Lead with labor, suffering (2 Tim. 2:3)
Lead with passion, fervency (1 Pet. 5:1-5)
Lead with appropriate patience (1 Thess. 5:14)

There needs to be some teaching about where leadership comes from; this will probably be covered in our discussion of Matthew 20.

What would you add? What resources would you use? How would you teach these things? Obviously modeling them in my own life. How would you put this young man in situations where these graces would be brought out and cultivated?

Later I will discuss--Plead, Read, Bleed, and....Oh, I really need another name for this...Breed.

UPDATE: I think I have figured out how to avoid the word "breed" as a category. The concept of reproducing can fall under a category in leadership. One of the categories will now be "lead to be replaced".

In contentment "there is a compound of all graces". It is not merely an exercise of a natural quietness, nor a sturdy resolution. Neither is it from natural (unsanctified) reason. This grace is truly spiritual. It is a grace. Burroughs will expound more on this grace when dealing with the Mystery of Contentment. For now, he only wants to show the difference. He explains it thus:

"Those who are content in a natural way overcome themselves when outward afflictions befall them and are content. They are just as content when they commit sin against God. When they have outward crosses or when God is dishonoured, it is all one to them; whether they themselves are crossed or whether God is crossed."

Admonishment: Be broken for sin, joyous for trials.

For Your Consideration: Does your emotion and "contentment" match the situation. Are you always joyful, even in the midst of sin--or does it cause you to mourn? Are you mourning under affliction and refusing to look to Christ? We must pursue brokenness for sin and joy in the midst of trials.

True Christian contentment is an inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit. Burroughs expounds upon what he means by "frame of spirit". Firstly, he means that it is a grace that spreads throughout the whole body. It begins in the judgment and spreads to the thoughts, the will, and the affections. The contentment that Burroughs speaks of reaches all the way to the affections. He cites David in Psalm 42 as an example of one that "could not get this grace of contentment to go through the whole frame of his soul." He later says, "there is such unruliness in our thoughts and affections that our judgments are not always able to rule our thoughts and affections". Yet, if we are to have that which Burroughs is referencing it must reach our thoughts and affections.

Secondly, this contentment comes from the frame of the soul. "It does not come from outward arguments or from any outward help, as from the disposition of their own hearts". This section is where Burroughs graces us with the "warming your pants" metaphor. It may seem a little silly but it is brilliantly accurate. Those without this grace of Christian contentment may be like the man who warms his pants by the fire. It is heated from the outside and will provide him warmth. However, if his body is not working properly and supplying him natural heat then the warm pants will eventually cool. If he has natural heat then it is warming from the inside out. It will then stay warm; with or without the fire from the outside. So it is with Christian contentment.

Thirdly, it is a "frame of spirit that shows the habitual character of this grace of contentment". Rather than having a day with a "good mood" and then another day of a "bad mood", the truly content Christian will have a "good mood" as the "constant tenor and temper of his heart". Burroughs closes out this section with a rather strong statement: "A Christian who, in the constant tenor and temper of his heart, can carry himself quietly with constancy has learned this lesson of contentment. Otherwise his Christianity is worth nothing, for no one, however furious in his discontent, will not be quiet when he is in a good mood".

It should be noted that Burroughs is not saying that if a man does not have contentment then his "Christianity is worth nothing". I believe what Burroughs is saying here is that if the contentment is not constant, and comes from this inward frame, and is only temporary then your Christianity is not doing anything any more than a good mood could do. So, in this very situation, your Christianity is not profiting you any more than a day of sunshine might. (I think my interpretation would be confirmed by Burroughs typical soft and irenic speech--interpreting it too strongly would go against typical Burroughs).

Admonishment: Be certain that your contentment is not merely a "good mood".

For Your Consideration: Burroughs wants us to feel a little discouraged at this point. He is desiring to pitch the matter a little high. His desire is to help us see that this is not something we can attain on our own. After letting your defenses down, sincerely ask yourself this question: Is my contentment truly a "constant tenor and temper" of my heart?

The Jewel:

"That which comes from the gracious temper of one's spirit will last." (p28)

Continue on to our discussion of section 4, Chapter 1 The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment.

Perhaps you've noticed the change in title. Instead of doing a "Today in Blogworld" we will now be moving to a "This Week". If something is pressing then I will provide a link throughout the week. As of now, we will be posting all of our links on Friday or Saturday of every week.

Michael Patton charts four views of God's sovereignty? Where are you on the chart? I am in between meticulous sovereignty and providential sovereignty. I'm probably a little to the right of John Piper.

Pulpit Magazine offers us a series on ministry to children. They consider When to Baptize Your Children, Proverbs and Parenting, Evangelizing Your Children Part 1 and 2.

Jared hits the nail on the head with his post on The New Legalism

Erin Sutherland continues the New Attitude series on applying the gospel to every day life. She discusses The Gospel and Relationships (for Girls)

Phil Johnson's final entry on Acts 17: Paul and Charitableness

Many bloggers went to the Together 4 the Gospel Conference (Hence, the small number of links). I was not one of them. I could link to all of their notes, but instead I will only point you to the audio for all the sermons. This should keep you busy.

This is also from T4G:
(HT:Challies)