Ligonier Conference on The Gospel

My new friend Esther

I had the privilege of attending most of the annual Ligonier Conference in Orlando, Florida, February 25-27, 2016. I met Esther there, when we both helped with registration. Hectic the first day with registration, but we were able to attend most of the conference after that.  I called her the missionary to America from Kenya. She had become a Christian by reading the book of Romans. We tried to sit together when we could. Once she texted me to “hasten”, not a word I am used to using. She also used “fortnight”, not an English word I use often if at all. The lunch submarine sandwiches were not a hit with her, but that was what was offered on our meal ticket. It would have been foolish to go out to eat and then try to get back because the parking lot was SO full.

I have written other blog posts about Ligonier: 2010 2012 2014  But for this post I want to give you some of my favorite quotes although you can hear the whole thing HERE.

Al Mohler, President of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, spoke on “God’s Design for Male and Female”: Gender is part of God’s goodness. God does have a design—deal with it. In a panel discussion Mohler also noted (perhaps not the exact quote):

                                                       God is not the author of evil.        

He triumphed over it.

The Gospel is not plan B.

He ordained everything.

Evil exists for God’s victory

Over it shows His glory.

I listen regularly to Mohler’s podcast. I am amazed by his podcasts on a Christian view of the news. He said incidentally that if he had to write a script for it, there wouldn’t be a podcast. He just puts newspapers out and speaks! Parents teach children to read the newspaper, he said.

In addition to Mohler, I was totally charmed by the British accents of speakers such as Ian Hamilton, and Michael Reeve. One  could hear the theology, and their enthusiasm was electric!

For example, in the charming accent Dr. Ian Hamilton said,

• ·       Calvinism is deeper than five truths. TULIP shouldn’t be elevated above pleasing God.
• ·       Calvin cherished God’s grace.
• ·       Live a life that acknowledges God’s sovereignty.
• ·       Grace puts God on the throne and us at His feet where we belong.
• ·       The Reformation was about the right worship of God.

Author/blogger/pastor Tim Challies said, learn to use the best (of the digital explosion) for the gospel. I appreciate that he signed his book for me when the line was done and I thought it wouldn't happen. He caught my pouting when the signing was disbanded by conference personnel and came back to sign The Next Story, a updated and expanded book of the first edition that I also have. Hope to review this on this blog after my second draft of my dissertation is done.The verse he chose after his signature is Romans 12:2.

Greg Koukl founder and president of Stand to Reason suggested asking secular people two questions:

1.     What do you mean by that?

2.     How did you come to that conclusion?

A new document was distributed and I took some with me for my Florida and Huntsville pastors.You can read it HERE.

Discussing the statement were R. C. Sproul, Michael Reeves, Stephen Nichols. Derek Thomas, Ian Hamilton and Chris Larson moderator.

R. C. Sproul concluded this excellent conference by noting:

1)     The Gospel is about Jesus Who lived a sinless life and died for us.

2)     You can’t improve the Gospel . It was

In the mind of God

Executed by Christ

Applied by the Holy Spirit

3)     The Gospel must be received in repentance.

4)     We must never mess with the Gospel because it is His Gospel.

5)     The Galatians were bewitched by teaching another gospel. We must not shame it, be hostile to it or soften it. The gospel is not your personal testimony—that is pre-evangelism. It is NOT God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life or God loves you unconditionally.

Ligonier Quotes, Part Two

A little over two years ago, while I was home taking care of my late husband, I listened to a Ligoier conference streamed on the computer HERE for 20 quotes.  

Now I live about an hour and a half away from St. Andrews Chapel in Sanford, Florida,  where the September 19 and 20, 2014 conference was held. I worked on the 19th, but I did go on Saturday the 20th. The announcement was made that all taped sessions would be streamed on Thursday September 25th, so look for the conference then.

On Friday R. C. Sproul presented the theme, "The Christological Crisis" in the first session, Michael Morales spoke on "Christ in the Shadows". Stephen Nichols spoke on "Christ and Him Crucified".  I look forward to hearing these Friday sessions streamed next week.

Saturday morning started with the singing of O Worship the King--loved this singing in the cross shaped chapel.

Welshman Dr. Derek Thomas spoke on The Life of Christ and Christ and Him Resurrected. Thomas is the senior pastor of First Presbyterian in Columbia, South Carolina, replacing Dr. Sinclair Ferguson who has returned to his native Scotland. Before he went back to Scotland, Derek asked Sinclair what memorable moment Sinclair has had.  Sinclair said reading John Murphy about the obedience of Christ and Derek went on to elaborate on some of that obedience. Thomas said:

• God doesn't count our sins against us. We become the righteousness of God.
• Christianity is based on facts: the early church believed in and saw the resurrection of Christ before He went back to heaven; Saul of Tarsus who became Paul had a dramatic conversion; the tomb was empty. 
• There is moral order in the universe. Why did Jesus die? Why did God kill him? See John 3:16-18 (NLT):

 For God loved the world so much that he game his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him.

•  If Jesus is impeccable, how did God do this? It was the right thing to do the morally just thing.  
• It was the morally just thing for God to raise Christ from the dead. He quipped,  You can't keep a good man down! This was one of the few humor quips I heard in the conference.*
• The term in Christ is in the New Testament 67 times. 

Question and Answers. Above from left to right is the moderator Lee Webb, and speakers Michael Morales, R. C. Sproul Jr., Steven Nichols, Gregory Beale, Derek Thomas, and R. C. Sproul. Here are some quotes from that session:

• We have the same God as the Reformers and we do not need to just quote from them.
• Sometimes revival is the quiet steady work of grace.
• When Psalms are the center of worship revival comes. 
• The universe is for God's glory and He can do what He wants.

The panel was asked about their favorite parts/books of the Bible:

• Morales--He [God] who did not spare His own Son [Christ], but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Romans 8:32
• R. C., JR--Psalms and Proverbs
• Nichols--2 Corinthians 2-5
• Beale--Acts 7 and The Valley of Vision devotional book for Scripture
• Thomas--Job
• R. C. SR--Romans

Just a thought--I am always discovering new parts of Scripture I like as I go through the Bible each year with the Daily Audio Bible. I think it was interesting that they were asked about their favorites. 

Thanks so much to the Reformation Bible College and Ligonier ministries for this free event. Even the coffee was free. I stood in a long line to buy my lunch, but had fascinating conversations with those around me.  

Added Sept. 26th (the Sept. 19th sessions):

• http://www.ligonier.org/learn/conferences/we-would-see-jesus-2014-fall-conference/the-christological-crisis/

• http://www.ligonier.org/learn/conferences/we-would-see-jesus-2014-fall-conference/christ-in-the-shadows/

• http://www.ligonier.org/learn/conferences/we-would-see-jesus-2014-fall-conference/christ-and-him-crucified/

*My notebook computer was dead for Dr. Gregory Beake's talk on Why God Became Man and for R. C. Sproul Jr. 's talk on Christ and Him Ascended. I would charge it in the nursery so I could use it again. Now, folks, I wear hearing aides and missed some of the Saturday humor. I must visit my audiologist and get an adjustment, and pick up on some of the humor when I get time to listen to the streamed recordings. 

Food Is Not My Sanctification

Vision. Hmm. There is Federal Vision, American Vision and now Vision Forum. I am not up-to-speed on all these vision organizations. Not too much to write about here until numerous VISION Forum posts in the last several days came on my dashboard already cluttered with too many blogs.  I could get more of the conference for $35 with live streaming of

The Reformation of Food and the Family

conference through July 31, 2012. I am tracking it sort of as I was able to do with a recent Ligonier conference for free. See  20 quotes from conference. The digital age is amazing. Now I am not going to pay the $35 to listen to the Vision Forum conference, but you can if you wish with the above link. Meanwhile,  here are a few of my thoughts about food, diet and the Christian I did not see in the conference blog posts:

1. Romans 13:14 tells us to put on Christ and to not make provision for the flesh. Some think of this verse as applying to pornography but it might also apply to food. Gluttony is a biblical term. So is fasting, yet fasting is for the purpose of drawing closer to our LORD, not for the purpose of fitting into a certain size of clothing. Take me to a conference digitally on putting on the LORD JESUS CHRIST.
2. Like all obsessions, food and dieting with certain foods can wreak havoc on our spiritual life. Why are we doing it? So our behavior will be better, so there is less hyperactivity in our children? So we live longer as if heaven is not our hope? Does the fruit of the Spirit come from what we put in our mouth? So we can avoid suffering?  I think not. See what Christ said in Matthew 15 and Mark 7. It is from the heart that evil things come--not from what we put in our mouth.
3. Christian celebrities such as Michelle Duggar (yes she was at the Vision Forum conference) do not inform my theology.  
4. Even exercise has its limits. We are to train ourselves in godliness, according to 1 Timothy 4, whereas exercise has some benefits. Sanctification (godliness) is our part, not abs of steel.

Granted we Christians probably do not take care of our bodies like we should. Go to a gospel concert and look all around and you will most likely see many obese people, unlike a secular rock concert.

At this Vision Forum conference Doug Phillips said,

• “With the demise of family mealtime as a staple of household culture, we have watched the corresponding demise of the family. In the Bible, we see the family table as a place for feeding the body and the soul, as a beacon of hospitality, and as a centerpiece of godly culture. It is time to put away family-segregating lifestyles and return to family."
• “We are suffering from the accumulated consequences of many generations forsaking Biblical law and prudence on the issues of food and family.”
• “We view addictions primarily as a clinical problem rather than as a sin with clinical implications.”
• “Too many shepherds and pastors refuse to address gluttony or are themselves gluttonous."

Joel Salatin, a Christian farmer, said that there are both contributoring factors and solutions to the problem of food born illnesses.

What are the four contributing factors?

1. Centralized production.
2. Centralized processing.
3. Long-distance transportation.
4. Sub-therapeutic antibiotic use on livestock.

What are the four solutions?
1. Local production, family farms.
2. Local processing, community canneries.
3. Don’t transport it anywhere. Keep it local.
4. Raise animals that are healthier so they have a better immune system and won’t need antibiotics. Honor God’s design in creation.

The conference goes on to talk about hospitality, exercise and  toxins. The suggestion is to pay your grocerer, not your doctor.  I don't know about Vision Forum, but this conference is certainly of interest. However, food is not my sanctification.

Dear LORD,

Detoxify my soul

Make me more like Christ

If my food is not whole

Still make me more like Christ

Do a reformation in my heart

Justification You have done

Sanctification is my part
Help me run Your race

Make me glorify YOU

In all I say and do
and in all I eat.

Amen.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _  _

Added November 10, 2013: Vision Forum has now shut down. See http://www.visionforumministries.org 

20 Ligonier Conference Quotes

Moderator Chris Larsen asks questins of RC Jr.,
 Horton, Tackett, Meyer and Sproul, Sr.

I was privileged to have the time to listen to the live streaming of the 2012 National Ligonier Conference held at the end of this week in Orlando, Florida. Quotes were put on the TV screen under the speaker and Ligonier and Greenbaggins blogger also reported. So I picked up quotes and checked them with other sources.

I got a favorable impression of theology from this conference. I loved the casual way in which R. C. Sproul himself said that he keeps changing his mind about the end times and doesn't have an opinion about how old the earth is. Nobody was particularly political as you see from quote #16 below.

I am just going to list 20 Quotes here, but you can go to the links below for summaries of eleven of the presentations.

1. St. Francis of Assisi – They should pray more than they study. Quoted by Robert Godfrey.

2. Al Mohler gave fourteen noetic effects of sin, that is, fourteen ways the fall affected our thinking:

a) Ignorance

b) Distractedness

c) Forgetfulness

d) Prejudice

e) Faulty Perspective

f) Intellectual fatigue

g) Inconsistency

h) Failure to draw right conclusions

i) Intellectual apathy

j) Dogmatism and closed-mindedness

k) Intellectual pride

l) Vain imagination

m) Miscommunication

n) Partial knowledge

3. It is not enough to go to four Bible study groups a week. This can mask the fact that you aren’t digging into the Word of God yourself. Dig into it for yourself. Pray to God over passages.  —Sinclair Ferguson

4. God's great concern is never for what we do or who we are...but that we know Him and are known by Him. —Sinclair Ferguson

5. We need to be filled with the Word of God so that we have something to think about when we're not thinking about anything. —Sinclair Ferguson

6. Greenbaggins on his blog said that RC Sproul, Sr., said , “We need to contend for the truth without being contentious.” I missed that, but am grateful for the Greenbaggins blog picking that up.

7. We have to fight the reality of the fall. Without the fall there is no Savior. —Del Tackett

8. Parents, give your children a Bible. Their faith needs to be anchored in God's Word, not yours. —R.C. Sproul, Jr.

9. According to Christian Smith, the practicing religion across America today is moralistic therapeutic deism. —Michael Horton

10. All truth is God's truth, but not all truth is in the Bible. —Michael Horton

11. Much of evangelicalism today is selling its soul to popular culture in the name of being relevant. —Michael Horton

12. This is our Father's Kingdom. This Kingdom will last because we didn't build it. —Michael Horton

13. Michael Card spoke on “Christ and Creativity." He said “You are not your gift.” I was thinking that some celebrities need to learn that. Then he sang some of his songs. First he sang “Better Freedom”: Christ revealed Himself to me, Enslaved my soul to set me free, I was bound to Him at Calvary, And found a better freedom. I found this song on a By/For :: Sweet Sacrifice Podcast and downloaded it. That song was new to me. Then he sang a song I love and have heard--“Things We Leave Behind”: When we say no to the things of the world, We open our heart to the love of the Lord, And it’s hard to imagine the freedom we find , From the things we leave behind. I downloaded this song from iTunes. 

14. You are the most connected generation in all of human history, but you are also the loneliest! [On Facebook] we say Here’s my story and I want you to love it. Then he noted that we get angry when someone steps on our script which leads to depression, despondency and finally lack of hope. —Del Tackett

15. A commitment to Christ and Christianity is not a commitment to defending all things done by Christians. —Robert Godfrey

16. Neither the Republican Party nor the Democrat Party care about the cause of Christ. —Robert Godfrey

17. Don't let the world and its marketing establish your desires. —Robert Godfrey

18. Ignorance is not bliss. Knowing Jesus Christ is bliss. Live not to build a name for ourselves in this world. —Robert Godfrey

19. We're not saved from low self-esteem...we are saved from the wrath of God that rightly hangs over every unconverted person. —Steven Lawson

20. The mind does not love God at all and it will not love God unless God the Holy Spirit changes the disposition of our hearts. By nature we do everything we can to suppress every natural revelation given to us, and that is not without consequence. What does it mean to love with the mind? It means to think about God with reverence and with adoration. —RC Sproul, Sr.

It is amazing what you can learn from your computer! These links are from this conference and I have 34 pages of notes!

Session One with RC Sproul Sr.

Session Two with Robert Godfrey

Session Three with Al Mohler

Session Four with RC Sproul Jr.
Session Five with Sinclair Ferguson

Session Six with Stephen Meyer

Session Seven with Michael Horton

Session Eight with Del Tackett

Session Nine with Robert Godfrey

Session Ten with Steven Lawson

Session Eleven with RC Sproul Sr.

The Hypersocial World

A pre-conference, BITS, TYTES, BLOGS & BIBLES, was held this morning at the 2010 Ligonier Conference. I mention this because  most all who will read this post are Social Media consumers. I believe some important things were said  this morning. Here are some from my notes.

ED SETZER in "The Brave New World of New Media" mentioned that the population of Facebook is larger than the population of the USA. Social Media, he said, can assist in creating community, but is no substitute for the church; he has concerns that the wrong people are "drive-by posters"--that important things are trivialized--that this is a false community that can't come over to our house (or chat on our front porches with us). Social Media can promote narcissism and pride. It's all about ME. (I'm thinking Twitter and Facebook people need to know what I did, want to do, what I acquired, and what my gripes are?!) He asks, "Would we say these things if people were sitting right next to us?"

TIM CHALLIES spoke eloquently on  "Principles for Conduct in Communication". Tim also expressed concern that Social Media lets people go "beyond Gibraltar" thereby lacking accountability. Quoting Ephesians 4:15 he said speaking, truthing and loving need to be guarded. People who post anonymously often show immaturity. He said we need to be real, visible, slow to speak (write), and to strive for godliness.

BURK PARSONS' presentation was called  "Taking Captive New Media for the Church". He had seven points. 1. Make the best use of our time.  2. Set our minds on heavenly things. (Oh yes, have those times in Scripture and in prayer! I'm thinking do we have more time on Social Media than we spend on heavenly things!) 3. Use media to edify, to stir people up to love and good works. 4. Use media to maintain unity and purity of the church. No gripes. 5. Subdue the earth and and fill it with the knowledge of God. 6. Use media to glorify God. 7. Don't use media for our own kingdom--glorify His kingdom. Ask, "Are you using media to glorify God?"

AL MOHLER spoke on "The Hypersocialized Generation". He talked specifically about the obsession of teens and recommended that parents not allow a cell phone in bedroom at night and no Internet-connected computers in the bedroom at all. Incredible statistics he presented. We can do 7 1/2 hours of Social Media and clock it up to 11 hours--we multitask (e.g. listening to our iPod while texting). 75% of teens have cell phones. One third of teens send and receive more than 100 texts a day.  Boys tend to use Social Media as entertainment and girls tend to not want to miss out on any news and have to keep checking. For teenagers, he says, some think that not being connected is worse than death. What's the cost--the reality of human experience! We are missing two realities he says: 1) silence for prayer and directing our mind; 2) book reading. We fill our soul with distractions. Or we withdraw or over-relate. We feel that people should immediately respond to our postings.  We have lost the ability to empathize by reading facial expressions. He challenged the church to be both connected and faithful. (For me I am trying to make more phone calls and write more letters.)

An excellent panel discussion followed. Everything is now! How about patience and discipline, the panelists asked. Challies menioned the "idolatry" of the immediate. Mohler told us to spend time with books that require long-term investment.

Got to meet TIM CHALLIES himself at the end of the morning. He graciously stepped off the platform and met my husband and myself. During the break I laughed when, for the first time ever that I have noticed, there was a line to the mens room but not to the ladies room.

For viewing the conference go to:  http://budurl.com/2010lnc