Seeing Christ

Wow, the last two days have been spiritually refreshing as I've spent a lot of time beside J.A. on the couch viewing the Gospel Coalition.  I would challenge you to look through the messages and take some time to listen here.  I can guarantee you will be challenged to dig deeper into your Bible study, and to take a second look at your reasons for doing ministry (or even if you are active in the ministry).  I will try to repeat as acurately as I can some of the comments that stood out to me.

Mark Dever made the comment, "If you call yourself a disciple of Jesus and you aren't reaching other people, then what do you mean by 'disciple of Jesus'"

Keven DeYoung stated "Make disciples of Christ by serving people, don't just serve people as Disciples of Christ."  I think this statement really helps me to reevaluate the reasons behind why I serve.  I think this will also help in taking some of the pressure off of trying to be involved in everything.

I don't know who stated this, but "Churches need to focus their energy on training EVERY PERSON for Gospel Ministry."  I think a lot of our churches have forgotten this aspect.  We are so busy with 'programs' for the single's ministry, youth groups, children's activities (not that any of these are wrong), but all of these should come after our primary focus of teaching the people in the church to be a Preacher of the Gospel to the lost world around us.

Another statement that hit me is James MacDonald's statement "The surest antedote for the fear of man is the fear of God."  Wow, no explanation needed with this one.

We serve an awesome God.  If you attended, or have listened to any of the sessions from The Gospel Coalition, please share in the comments what you learned.

One of the songs sung during the conference has be replaying in my mind, Behold the Lamb (The Communion Hymn).  You can download it for free here. You can download both the music and the sheet music for Behold the Lamb, Come People of the Risen King, and The Power of the Cross.