Faith by Hearing
Sanctifying the MP3 RevolutionArchive for Steve Lawson
2012 Shepherd’s Conference
This year’s Shepherd’s Conference is now available online. The conference featured some speakers who are familiar to the Shepherd’s Conference, such as Phil Johnson, Al Mohler, Steve Lawson, and, of course, John MacArthur. But this year there was a new face. Voddie Baucham was one of the keynote speakers this year.
Expositors Conference 2011
This years Expositors Conference was titled “The Preeminence of Christ in Preaching”, and featured Steve Lawson and Al Mohler as speakers. The conference was held in October at Lawson’s church in Mobile, Alabama.
Lawson delivered two 3-part messages: The Preeminence of Christ in Preaching, and The Good Shepherd and His Sheep.
Mohler gave three messages: The God Who Speaks, The God Who Shakes, and the God Who Saves.
Resolved 2011
This past June the Resolved Conference was held in Palm Springs, and featured it’s brain child Rick Holland and many of his usual suspects: John MacArthur, Al Mohler, C.J. Mahaney and Steve Lawson. This was a fantastic conference, not that I would expect anything less.
The Lynchpin to Spiritual Growth Rick Holland Audio (MP3)
Authority of the Scriptures John MacArthur Audio (MP3)
Prove It: Knowing and Doing the Will of God Al Mohler Audio (MP3)
A Vision of God in a Time of Crisis John MacArthur Audio (MP3)
When Someone Doubts C.J. Mahaney Audio (MP3)
Our So Great Salvation Steve Lawson Audio (MP3)
The Believer’s Right Response to Difficulty Rick Holland Audio (MP3)
Children of Light Steve Lawson Audio (MP3)
So I Really Do Need The Law? Al Mohler Audio (MP3)
Called, Loved, and Kept C.J. Mahaney Audio (MP3)
2011 Shepherds’ Conference
This years Shepherds’ Conference is now available online. General session speakers include John MacArthur, Al Mohler, Steve Lawson, Phil Johnson and Nathan Busenitz.
More on this conference later.
The Unwavering Resolve of Jonathan Edwards
Steve Lawson joined the Christ the Center team to talk about his enriching little book The Unwavering Resolve of Jonathan Edwards. The focus of the conversation centered around Edwards resolutions, which reveal a profound theology of dependence upon God’s power to pursue holiness. You will be challenged by Edwards single-minded devotion to practical holiness and it’s value in this life.
Edinburg Expositors Conference
Steve Lawson, Iain Murray, Peter Grainger, Craig Dyer, and Ian Shaw gathered for a huge slew of messages on expository preaching.
2010 Shepherd’s Conference
The Shepherd’s Conference is one of those conferences that seldom disappoints, if ever. While this years conference didn’t have the “bang” of previous years, it was nonetheless edifying and challenging, with the old standbys in the pulpit: MacArthur, Johnson, Holland and Lawson.
Resolved 2009
This years Resolved Conference was on the popular subject of sin, and the messages are excellent. The speakers spoke about understanding sin and how to fight sin in your life. The theme of the conference is from John Owen who wrote “Be killing sin, or it will be killing you.”
The War Against Your Soul, Rick Holland
Blessed Bankruptcy, Steve Lawson
Who’s Really at Work, C.J. Mahaney
Blessed Purity, Steve Lawson
A Theology of Creation, John MacArthur
God’s Sovereignty Over Satan’s Fall, John Piper
A Biblical Strategy for Fighting Sexual Sin, Rick Holland
The Sanctifying Shepherd, John MacArthur
The Troubled Soul, C. J. Mahaney
How Sin Serves the Glory of Christ, John Piper
A few messages worth noting:
Steve Lawson’s message “Blessed Bankruptcy” looks at Matthew 5:3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit” and is one of the best messages I’ve heard on this beattitude. Don’t miss this one.
John MacArthur’s message “The Sanctifying Shepherd” is fantastic, and desperately needed in our current climate of wild and crazy church planting and evangelism techniques. MacArthur brings us back to take a sober look at the shepherding of our Lord Jesus Christ who alone has the power to save and sanctify. I think many honest church strategists will listen to this and discover they are operating outside of the pasture that Christ is.
MacArthur’s message “A Theology of Creation” is the same message he gave at the Shepherd’s Conference. Though a repeat, if you have not heard it, it is a look at how a literal 6 day creation is the only honest way to deal with Genesis 1-3. MacArthur makes a great case for the miraculous nature of creation which is beyond scientific means of measuring and explaining.
Rick Holland takes a hard look at the problem of sexual sin in the church and presents a biblical strategy for fighting it.
All in all, this Resolved Conference continues to affirm that Resolved is one of the best conferences in the evangelical world, not just for college students, but for anyone who likes sound theology powerfully proclaimed.
2009 Shepherd’s Conference
For the first year the audio downloads of the Shepherds Conference are free of charge right out of the gate. You just have to sign up for an account if you don’t have one.
There are some great highlights for this years conference.
John MacArthur opened the conference with a careful and we reasoned address on 6 day creation. MacArthur contends that creation is a miracle and is therefore out of the bounds of science to analyze in any satisfying way, and therefore, we need to be careful that we keep science in it’s place. After all, scientific method is not perfect or infallible. Lazarus was raised from the dead, and Jesus multiplied the fish and loaves to feed 5000. Would science be of any service if it were able to analyze the fish or sample the blood of Lazarus? MacArthur offers a great many arguments that cannot be overlooked by Christians’ who engage in “Creation Science”.
The headliner to the Shepherds Conference this year belongs to Al Mohler, for his one address which powerfully exhorts preachers to authoritative preaching. To preach without an element of authority means 1. you don’t know your text, and 2. you don’t fully understand that Scripture is the very Word of God to man. If we believe that the power of God is in the Word’s of Scripture we will preach it as such. Our preaching will reflect this conviction. Phil Johnson writes a post on the conference, particularly highlighting Al Mohler’s address.
In General Session 3, John MacArthur talks about the history of his ministry and how he developed his convictions about how the church should operate. This was a very helpful address that will encourage pastors to remain faithful to Scripture while shelving the business and contextualization strategies that plague the church today.
General Session 5 is a Q&A with MacArthur on the subject of expository preaching. These are not questions from the audience, these are questions written by the elders and pastors at Grace Community Church. The result is a very informative and helpful session about the place of preaching, why expository preaching is so important, and what methods MacArthur uses. There is so much information here you will want to have pen and paper to take notes.
Phil Johnson steps up to the plate and completely dismantles the new trend toward vulgarity in the pulpit, and in my estimation, leaves those who engage in such a pulpit practice without any of their usual arguments for doing so. Phil looks to Paul’s letter to Titus for his exhortation. Titus was a pastor in Crete, which was a grunge culture of new converts, very similar to the target audience of most evangelical post-modern preachers who bring vulgarity into the pulpit. Paul did not suggest in any way that Titus contextualize his preaching in that culture. Phil’s arguments and biblical reasoning takes the wind out of their sails and calls them to repentence.
Rick Holland considers what it means to have a fearless ministry, to the likes of John Knox and the Apostle Paul. Rick looks at 2 Corinthians 11 and gives some strong and weighty exhortation to fearlessness.
Steve Lawson looks at Galatians 1 and considers what it means to defend the Gospel.
MacArthur closes the conference by addressing the common question, “Why does God allow suffering and evil in the world?” He does this by looking at different categories of evil.
Expositor’s Conference
If I were to assemble an expository preaching conference, I would choose men who either loved the discipline enough to write books focused on expository preaching, or they would be practicing expositors of exemplary ability in a congregation for a long period of time.
With Steve Lawson and John MacArthur, both men have done both, and are widely considered among the best living expositional preachers today. There is a great deal of exceptional material.
Two things I never want to do. One is to say God said something he didn’t say. And two, to not say something God did say. You don’t want to edit God. (MacArthur)
Steve Lawson and John MacArthur teamed together for the Expositor’s Conference in October of last year.
