TGC Podcast

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Sing the Word of God Jan 13, 2023

Show notes

“When we say that we should sing the Word, we mean that our singing ought to be biblical.” – Ligon Duncan

In the book of Hebrews, we are exhorted to offer acceptable worship to God, but what does that practically look like? Ligon Duncan not only answers the “what” of acceptable worship, but also the “how.”

Worship is defined as “glorifying and enjoying God forever,” which is done in two ways:

Gathering to worship with the body of Christ.
Worshipping God in all of life, with everything we have.

These two elements of worship work together, ensuring that we are not hypocrites with our hearts far from God as we enter the assembly of worship, and encouraging us, while in the assembly, to also worship in private.

Most importantly, Duncan reminds us that acceptable worship is worship according to the Scriptures—it is filled by the Word and framed by the Word. Not only do we read God’s Word, but we pray it, preach it, and sing it. And we do it all with a heart of gratitude. This is what acceptable worship means.

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How to Be the Leader Your Church Really Needs Jan 06, 2023

Show notes

At TGC's 2021 National Conference, Trevin Wax taught on the importance of being a multi-directional leader and how to have a heightened awareness of problems your flock may encounter.

Wax defines multi-directional leadership as “a manner of leadership grounded in the unshakable conviction that all the truth revealed in Scripture must be deployed for the good of God’s people.”

The pursuit of this type of leadership can be difficult as it requires dexterity and vision to protect the flock from all sides. Wax warns against being a one-directional leader who fights alone and allows the culture to set the agenda for what's addressed to the flock, and he says healthy leadership is about “speaking the right word in the right moment to the right people.”

Wax gives four ways pastors and church leaders can apply a sensitivity to being multi-directional:

1. Delight in Scripture.

2. Listen carefully to people who sound various alarms, and discern if they're valid.

3. Know yourself and the dangers to which you're susceptible.

4. Know your people and their tendencies and leanings.

Check out The Pour Over Podcast — politically neutral news for people who want the facts without the spin, and with a brief biblical perspective

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What Historical Revival Teaches Us Dec 16, 2022

Show notes

In his message at TGC's 2021 National Conference, John Yates teaches on the successes of The Great Awakening of the 1700s to1800s and what this historical revival can show us.

Yates explains five things that made the ministry and revival of the early awakeners so effective:

1. Their message always started with man’s lostness and inability to live up to the standard of God. It always ended with the atonement of Christ and a call to new birth and true faith that brings assurance of salvation.

2. Their delivery was filled with a great sense of duty and responsibility to bring others to Christ.

3. Their community was set up from the beginning to have small groups with high commitment where honesty and accountability for Christian living were the focus.

4. Their emotions, flowing from their devotion to Christ, had a place, and the awakeners used them in their music and writings.

5. Their leaders were well trained and educated.

Yates closes with encouragement and urges us to pray for revival now as we rely on the Holy Spirit to move.

Check out The Pour Over Podcast — politically neutral news for people who want the facts without the spin, and with a brief biblical perspective

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Pursuing Godliness? You Need Both Law and Grace Dec 09, 2022

Show notes

A few years ago, Jen Wilkin coined the term “celebratory failurism” to describe an acceptance of the thought that Christians will never be able to fully obey because of total depravity. Wilkin pushes back on that idea, and she and Mike Kruger discuss why there seems to be a misunderstanding on total depravity, legalism, and obedience to the law.

They discuss the struggle between antinomianism (lawlessness) and pharisaical tendencies (lawfulness) and find that the relationship between law and grace is: obedience that pleases God has right motive combined with right action.

Check out The Pour Over Podcast — politically neutral news for people who want the facts without the spin, and with a brief biblical perspective

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How the Gospel Helps Us Pursue Ethnic Diversity Dec 02, 2022

Show notes

“We can’t love Christ and love his word and ignore the gospel imperative to love each other.” — Courtney Doctor

In our polarized world, Christians should be constantly demonstrating a better way toward unity. In this panel discussion at TGC21 (moderated by Vanessa Hawkins), Courtney Doctor, Suzanne Bates, Ruth Chou Simons, and Dennae Pierre discuss the barriers to gospel-centered racial unity and practical ways we can move forward.

Some of these barriers to racial unity can include: fear of people who are different from us, lack of awareness of others’ experiences, and the cost of investing time into these hard conversations. In foolishness and pride, we might see these as simple problems that need to be fixed. In humility and grace, we can listen to and learn from each other’s complex experiences.

If we are going to build a diverse church, we must be intentional. The panel discusses that reading books on ethnic and racial diversity, attending an ethnic church different from your own, and creating local spaces to have hard conversations, are some practical ways forward with Christ at the center.

Check out The Pour Over Podcast — politically neutral news for people who want the facts without the spin, and with a brief biblical perspective

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Prioritize Your Soul in a Post-Truth World Nov 18, 2022

Show notes

“Go online for a purpose, go for a reason. Stay online only as long as you need to, and then go offline.” — Brett McCracken

In his message at TGC21, Brett McCracken addresses an issue of today's generation of quick information—how to develop wisdom in the midst of all that is being thrown at us, online. He shares three things that are making us sick:

We have too much information
We receive it too quickly
The information is too focused on the individual (self)

As an antidote to these problems, McCracken forms a “wisdom pyramid” which is similar to the food pyramid. In each level of the pyramid, he describes how much time we should be spending in relation to the other levels. For example, most of our time should be spent in the Bible, which is the foundation of the pyramid, and the least amount of time should be spent on social media and the internet, which is the top of the pyramid. Like a healthy diet, The Wisdom Pyramid is a guide to lead us into better spiritual and physical health.

Check out The Pour Over Podcast — politically neutral news for people who want the facts without the spin, and with a brief biblical perspective

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Why James Calls Himself a Servant Nov 11, 2022

Show notes

Along with his other brothers and sisters, James started out as an unbeliever—though he was a half-sibling of Jesus—until Christ's resurrection. Nancy Guthrie takes us through verses from the Gospels, the Book of Acts, and historical writings to show us James's journey as the leader of the church in Jerusalem, a pastor, peacemaker, doer of the Word, and a man who remained steadfast under trial. In all this, we learn the significance of why James refers to himself as “a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Check out The Pour Over Podcast — politically neutral news for people who want the facts without the spin, and with a brief biblical perspective

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Find Hope with Jesus at Your Side Oct 28, 2022

Show notes

At TGC21, Michael Horton explains how we, as sinners, can take our sin to a holy God without fear because of our sympathetic high priest, Jesus.

Horton takes Friedrich Nietzsche’s writing on “the ugliest man,” who claimed to kill God because he couldn’t bear to have someone know his dirtiest corners, and parallels it with how we can bring our dirtiest sins to the Father through Jesus, without shame. Using Hebrews 4, Horton shows how Jesus is a glorious High Priest, a sympathetic High Priest, and a gracious High Priest.

In the person of Christ, we have advocate who can actually sympathize with us because he became like us, yet without sin. This is the greatest news of all—that we can take our dirtiness to the Father, knowing we will be met with grace because the Son fully understands what it is to be human.

Check out The Pour Over Podcast — politically neutral news for people who want the facts without the spin, and with a brief biblical perspective

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Teach Your Kids to Love the Local Church Oct 21, 2022

Show notes

If we want our kids to love Jesus, we must also want them to love the church. In her message at TGCW21, Megan Hill gives five ways to practically teach our kids to love the local church.

Acknowledge our kids’ experiences. Know that church isn’t always easy for them, and talk to them about it.
Remove practical obstacles. Sometimes what they don’t like about church isn’t spiritual and can be changed.
Teach them that church is good. Disciple children at home so that practices at church don’t feel foreign or awkward for them.
Affirm their Kingdom value. Make sure kids don’t feel like an afterthought, but know they are valued and can be used by God.
Invite them to participate. Call them to serve and invite them to love others with you in tangible ways.

Hill closes with an encouragement to parents who are feeling overwhelmed. “Sunday by Sunday, seek to show your kids how good it is to love God’s people and to worship alongside them—you have an advocate in the heavenly places.”

Check out The Pour Over Podcast — politically neutral news for people who want the facts without the spin, and with a brief biblical perspective

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

How Lament Leads to Racial Reconciliation Oct 14, 2022

Show notes

“At the core of our identity as Christians is this thing that says, ‘Jesus is more important to us than anything else,’ and it causes us to lean toward one another, not away from each other.” — Mark Vroegop

At TGC's 2021 National Conference, Mark Vroegop, Kori Porter, and Irwyn Ince discuss why lament is a key component of racial reconciliation. The panel answers tough questions: What is racial reconciliation? Why is it so important? Why is it so difficult?

Lament is a tool Christians must use in order to enter into each others’ pain. We must not be tempted toward denial or despair, but instead, we embrace brokenness together as the gospel heals racial wounds.

Check out The Pour Over Podcast — politically neutral news for people who want the facts without the spin, and with a brief biblical perspective

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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