April 18, 2012 by
SGM Staff
Categories: Audio messages | Conferences
Together for the Gospel 2012 ran from April 10–12, and this year's messages focused on the theme "The Underestimated Gospel." The general-session audio and video are available, so you can watch, listen to, or download the following messages:
- C.J. Mahaney, "When A Pastor Loses Heart" (audio, video)
- Al Mohler, "The Power of the Articulated Gospel" (audio, video)
- Mark Dever, "False Conversions: The Suicide of the Church" (audio, video)
- Thabiti Anyabwile, "Will Your Gospel Transform a Terrorist?" (audio, video)
- Kevin DeYoung, "Spirit-Powered, Gospel-Driven, Faith-Fueled Effort" (audio, video)
- David Platt, "Divine Sovereignty: The Fuel of Death-Defying Missions" (audio, video)
- Ligon Duncan, "The Underestimated God" (audio, video)
- Matt Chandler, "The Fulfillment of the Gospel" (audio, video)
- John Piper, "Glory, Majesty, Dominion, and Authority Keep Us Safe for Everlasting Joy" (audio, video)
November 23, 2011 by
Tony Reinke
Categories: Audio messages | Conferences
All the general-session messages from our 2011 Pastors Conference are now online:
The Wednesday afternoon guest breakout with Bob Kauflin and Mark Prater, “What Does It Mean to Be a Continuationist?”, is also available. To download it, right-click here.
November 23, 2011 by
Tony Reinke
Categories: Audio messages | Conferences
Craig Cabaniss closed out our Pastors Conference with a message on mission, focusing on the sending of the disciples in John 20:19–23. Craig opened with a series of questions:
I want to begin tonight with a question, an awkward question, but a serious question: Is this appropriate? Is it appropriate that at a time like this, facing what we're facing, that we have a message on our mission? We've been navigating some difficult waters. And to close our conference with a focus on mission, does that possibly distract our attention from where it really should be focused upon pressing needs? Is it really important to talk about mission at a time like this?...
If reading the example of the New Testament churches teach us anything it is this: the gospel continues to grow and bear fruit even when the church faces problems—external problems and internal problems; and the churches in the New Testament all have plenty of problems. Yet even in seasons of difficulty there is forward motion with the progress of the gospel. The gospel mission doesn't go on pause in the New Testament when challenges arise. In church history, the gospel mission doesn't go on pause whenever there's a problem so that the church can address the problem. That's not what happens. If that's what happened, none of us would be here tonight.
The Lord is pleased to extend his mission through a limping church to reach a dying world.
Right-click to download, or listen here:
November 22, 2011 by
Tony Reinke
Categories: Audio messages | Conferences
Mickey Connolly preached from 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12 at the fourth general session of our Pastors Conference. His message, titled "Two Parent Pastoring," looked at Paul's maternal/paternal model of ministry. Paul's approach, showing a balance of motherly tenderness and affections (v. 7) with fatherly courage and leadership (v. 11), is a pattern for all pastors to learn from.
Early in the message Mickey said,
The motives and methods of effective pastoring are modeled for us in a mother and father's care for their children. While fathers certainly have affections, and mothers certainly are involved in leading the children—there's something about a mother's affection that uniquely models our motive for pastoring. And there is something about a father's leadership that uniquely models our methods for pastoring.
Right-click to download, or listen here:
November 21, 2011 by
Tony Reinke
Categories: Audio messages | Conferences
C.J. Mahaney spoke at the third general session of our Pastors Conference on "When a Pastor Loses Heart," based on 2 Corinthians 4:1–18.
In his introduction, C.J. shows how commonly pastors get discouraged by turning to one of his favorite pastors:
I encourage you to pick up Spurgeon's Lectures to My Students and turn to the chapter "The Minister’s Fainting Fits." Spurgeon writes, "As it is recorded that David, in the heat of battle, waxed faint, so may it be written of all the servants of the Lord. Fits of depression come over the most of us. Usually cheerful as we may be, we must at intervals be cast down." Then he begins working through the chapter in typical Spurgeon detail. He begins talking about how we can be unsound physically. Then he transitions to "mental maladies." This is classic Spurgeon: "As to mental maladies, is any man altogether sane? Are we not all a little off balance? Some minds appear to have a gloomy tinge essential to their very individuality."
Then at the end he says this: "The lesson of wisdom is, be not dismayed by soul-trouble. Count it no strange thing, but a part of ordinary ministerial experience."
So what does a pastor do when he begins to lose heart for this role and task? Here's what we will discover this evening: there's hope for all pastors who are tempted to lose heart. [In 2 Corinthians 4:1–18] Paul is about to tell us what informs his resolve so that our resolve can be freshly informed and strengthened. We're going to consider three reasons why Paul did not lose heart...
These three reasons formed the outline for C.J.’s message:
- The call of Christian ministry (vv. 1–6)
- The context of Christian ministry (vv. 7–15)
- The hope of Christian ministry (vv. 16–18)
Right-click to download, or listen here:
November 16, 2011 by
Tony Reinke
Categories: Audio messages | Conferences
Pastor, author, and seminary professor Dr. Sinclair Ferguson opened our Pastor’s Conference with the message "Consider Jesus." His title, his main theme, and his aim were all summed up in that brief phrase from Hebrews 3:1. After reading Hebrews 2:5–3:1, he opened his message this way:
Many of you have come some distance, and you're simultaneously tired from the journey and excited to see one another. At the beginning of a conference like this, there is always a sense that there is little profit in visiting Jerusalem unless we see the King's face. And there is certainly, it seems to me, nothing more vital for not only our lives, but our ministries, than that we are men and women who have learned, in the words of Hebrews 3:1, to be able to "consider Jesus"—to fix our gaze on Jesus. Or as the author says in more famous words in Hebrews 12:1–2, as we run the race to be able to do so "looking to Jesus," whom he describes in the same way he does in these verses: as the pioneer, the ἀρχηγός, the file leader, of our salvation (Hebrews 2:10, 12:2).
And I don't take it for granted that because so many of us here are ministers of the gospel, or in preparation for gospel ministry, that we are masters of fixing our gaze upon Jesus. We read through the New Testament, the Gospels, and the Epistles, and as we think about the history of Christian biography and our own personal lives, I think we come to recognize that that from which the evil one most desires to divert us is our Lord Jesus Christ. And in our ministries as preachers and teachers of the gospel and as pastors, we live in a world in which we are encouraged to be experts in all manner of things, but not necessarily experts in having communion with the Lord Jesus and especially in being able to preach the Lord Jesus and pastor our people to him.
For the next 70 minutes Dr. Ferguson modeled how this can be done, walking through Hebrews 2:5–18 to show five reasons "that encourage me, yes, almost force me, and enable me, in all my frailty, sinfulness, privation, and need, to see Jesus as all-sufficient."
Right-click to download or listen here:
November 15, 2011 by
Tony Reinke
Categories: Audio messages | Conferences
In the second general session at the recent pastor’s conference, “Walking Forward Together,” Dave Harvey spoke on what it means (and doesn’t mean) to pursue unity, from in Ephesians 4:1–3:
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
His point: God has called and saved us, and we live in accordance with this calling by displaying humility, gentleness, patience, and forbearance with others.
In his conclusion, Dave applied these principles and the resulting peace to the current challenges in Sovereign Grace Ministries. He began with the gospel:
“Bond of peace” isn't some flowery phrase to complete the bouquet of high-minded living we are supposed to live out as a result of these passages. It's rooted in the One who came to a world of hostility, who died for his enemies, who rose victorious on the third day, and calls us to peace (2:14–17). Because he experienced war, we are called to peace.
Brothers and sisters, our hope for the future is not rooted in Ambassadors of Reconciliation, it's not rooted in a group reconciliation process, or diagnosing Sovereign Grace, it is rooted in the work of the Prince of Peace. And that work is completed and that's a work we rest in. And that's why we can be "eager to maintain the unity in the bond of peace" (v. 3)....As we apply these passages in life—not just in this season, but all the time—it makes every endeavor a peace project.…
Please understand, this is not a veiled attempt to dial back input, to withhold disagreement, or even to stare at real issues that may cause separation. Unity is not the same as complete agreement in all things. And the bond of peace is not an absence of dissent on secondary matters. It's about whether we go into those conversations or into those seasons treasuring this attitude/effect of “eager” [and] “peace.”
Do we go in believing the best? Do we go in representing others in a way they would agree as an expression of our integrity? Do we go in not drawing conclusions on partial information? Do we go in aware of our own sinful tendencies? Do we go in eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit, eager to manifest the unity that results in peace?
And so we have this golden opportunity before us. God has begun this extraordinary peace project and he's calling us to cooperate, to cooperate together, to cooperate for the long-term.
Right-click to download, or listen here:
Yesterday morning, Ted Kober of Ambassadors for Reconciliation gave a message titled “Forget Not All His Benefits” at our Pastors Conference. The audio is below.
Right click to download: Forget Not All His Benefits
At the end of his message, Ted also gave a preliminary overview of what his team is learning about Sovereign Grace Ministries. Those comments, which start at the 49-minute mark of the audio, include these observations from their initial research and interviews:
- SGM has been blessed to grow over the last three decades.
- SGM has been effective in their focus on church planting and witness.
- SGM’s quick growth has not been accompanied by the appropriate development of structure, process, and policy (and he lists several examples).
- A number of people have expressed hurts and anger over the way discipline has been handled within SGM churches.
- When significant charges were brought against the chairman and several board members, SGM had to develop processes in the midst of conflict. This is extremely difficult. Ideally a system is in place so everyone knows what to expect, but this was not the case for those bringing or receiving allegations.
- No matter who assisted SGM during this crisis, they were going to be criticized. Nobody could come into the middle of a crisis and design a system that satisfied everyone, and everyone will be able to find something to criticize. This is to be expected in the middle of a conflict.
For more information on contribution to the Group Reconciliation and evaluation process, see our November 10 blog post.
November 3, 2011 by
Sarah Lewis
Categories: Audio messages | Conferences
Our WorshipGod conference in August focused on the theme “The Gathering”—discovering what it means to build our meetings around the gospel.
Here are all 30 of the English seminars recorded at the conference, listed alphabetically by title. (We don’t have the four Spanish seminars available yet, but we hope to in the future.)
And if you didn’t get a chance to listen to the general sessions yet, you can find them here:
Note: To download any of the seminars below, right-click and select “Save Link As” or “Save Target As.”
| Before and After: The Evolution of a Song |
| Mark Altrogge and Steve & Vikki Cook |
| Download |
|
Behind Closed Doors: Connecting Your Public and Private Worship |
| Joseph Stigora |
| Download |
|
The Benefits and Limits of Creativity |
| Bob Kauflin |
| Download |
|
Bringing Order out of Chaos: Ideas for Organizing a Growing Team |
| Ken Boer |
| Download |
|
Building and Caring for a Tech Team, part 1 |
| Dave Wilcox |
| Download |
|
Building and Caring for a Tech Team, part 2 |
| Dave Wilcox |
| Download |
|
Chord Voicings and Concepts for Guitar |
| Patrick Anderson |
| Download |
|
A Faith for All Seasons |
| Julie Kauflin |
| Download |
|
Getting the Most out of Your Synthesizer |
| Roger Hooper |
| Download |
|
Guitar Conversations: Tone, Gear, and Playing Together |
| Patrick Anderson, Mike Cosper, and Paul Hoover |
| Download |
|
Know, and Worship |
| Matt Mason |
| Download |
|
Leading Children to Worship Christ |
| Jared Kennedy |
| Download |
|
Lowering Stage Volume |
| Doug Gould |
| Download |
|
Making Room for the Spirit’s Leading |
| Pat Sczebel |
| Download |
|
Microphone Primer |
| Doug Gould |
| Download |
|
Piano in Contemporary Worship, part 1 |
| Bob Kauflin |
| Download |
|
Piano in Contemporary Worship, part 2 |
| Bob Kauflin |
| Download |
|
Piano in Contemporary Worship, part 3 |
| Bob Kauflin |
| Download |
|
Practicing and Planning Creativity |
| Mark Altrogge and Steve & Vikki Cook |
| Download |
|
Praying through Scripture |
| Donald Whitney |
| Download |
|
Putting Songs Together |
| Bob Kauflin |
| Download |
|
Redefining Burnout: Knowing When It’s Time for a Break |
| Jon Payne |
| Download |
|
Simplify Your Spiritual Life |
| Donald Whitney |
| Download |
|
Strengthening the Drum/Bass Connection, part 1 |
| Ryan Foglesong and David Zimmer |
| Download |
|
Strengthening the Drum/Bass Connection, part 2 |
| Ryan Foglesong and David Zimmer |
| Download |
|
Theology, Doxology, and Sociology |
| Shai Linne |
| Download |
|
Thinking Surgically When Leading Liturgically |
| Jamie Brown |
| Download |
|
What Makes These Songs Great? |
| Steve & Vikki Cook |
| Download |
|
Worshiping a Big God in a Small Church |
| Pat Sczebel |
| Download |
|
Worshiping God When Your World Is Shaking |
| Craig Cabaniss |
| Download |
|
Here’s the audio of Craig Cabaniss’s message from the final general session of our WorshipGod conference, which concluded on Saturday. Craig is senior pastor of Grace Church (Dallas, TX).
“Gathering to Commission” (1 Peter 2:9)
Download (right-click and select “Save link as” or “Save target as”)
(RSS readers, you may need to click through to the post to stream the audio.)