At TGC Chicago's 2022 Regional Conference, Colin Smith moderates a panel discussion with Kevin DeYoung, H. B. Charles, and Juan Sánchez on on ways to enhance your prayer life.Kevin DeYoung defines prayer as, “a lifting of conversation in our hearts Godward.” They consider different practical ways to deepen personal prayer—like prayer cards, walking while praying, praying as a family, using devotionals, and the use of Scripture in prayer.H. B. Charles emphasizes the importance of motivation for prayer over technique and outlines three reasons why we should pray: 1) obedience, 2) effectiveness, and 3) dependence on God.The group also addresses the need to increase corporate prayer in church services, suggesting various resources like books, websites, and articles for further reading on enriching prayer and devotion. Ultimately, prayer offers us an opportunity to encounter God intimately and transform our own hearts as we commune with him. 

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How to Strengthen Your Prayer Life

In his message at TGCW22, Michael Kruger addresses the issue of doubt in Christianity, both in individual spiritual lives and within the larger culture.Kruger critiques two ineffective approaches to doubt: doubting shaming and intellectual superficiality. He argues that doubt should be approached with the compassion of God, and not seen as a virtue or as something to be shamed. Kruger also highlights various causes of doubt, including unanswered questions, suffering, church corruption, and unrepentant sin. He offers advice on how to battle doubts in one's faith by seeking help from fellow believers, studying theology and biblical truths, and recognizing the importance of creating a safe space for doubt within the church community. Ultimately, Kruger calls on the Christian community to provide more compassion towards individuals facing doubts while providing them with a secure space to navigate their faith questions.

What Do We Do with Doubt?

In his message from TGC Chicago's 2022 Regional Conference, Colin Smith teaches us how to pray the Lord’s prayer through five specific categories, drawing from Luke 11 when Jesus’s disciples actually requested that Jesus teach them topray, not how to pray. Smith highlights five things on which to focus while praying:God’s name should be honored in prayer. We ought to pray that God would raise up people who know him in the midst of a world that despises him.As we pray that God’s kingdom comes, we should ask that our lives be more fully submitted to Christ and that Jesus would defeat his enemies on earth.Pray for others whose needs are greater than our own—this stirs up Christlike compassion in our hearts as we fully depend on God at every step of his provision.Pray for forgiveness, not because we haven’t already been forgiven, but to restore fellowship with God. As Christians, we should want to walk as closely as possible with God.Pray to be watchful and prayerful so as to not be overwhelmed by temptation. As we more fully know the love of the Father, we will desire to earnestly seek him in prayer.

Let the Lord’s Prayer Change You

During a panel discussion led by Collin Hansen at TGCW22, Jackie Hill Perry, Preston Perry, Melissa Kruger, and Michael Kruger discuss what it looks like to have healthy, godly marriages. Both couples emphasize the need for respect, listening, authenticity, and confession. The panel also talks about the importance of focusing on the positive aspects of your spouse and being for your spouse in every situation, never trying simply to win an argument.Hansen asks questions like “How do you protect your marriage?” and “What does it mean to honor your spouse’s family?” The couples talk about the importance of pursuing healthy friendships, having fun together, and praying for one another daily. They say marriage is a reflection of the individual's relationship with God and that as you both look to Christ together, more unity in marriage inevitably follows.

Cultivate a Healthy Marriage and Family

“God is so faithful. He says, ‘If you bring me your sin, if you uncover it before me, I will cover it. I will do the very thing that you're trying to do in your own strength and power. I will cover it in the blood of my Son.’” — Juan SánchezIn his message at TGC Chicago's 2022 regional conference, Juan Sánchez uses Nehemiah’s example of prayer to illustrate how we should earnestly seek the Lord. He emphasizes that believers must be people of action and that a crucial first step always involves prayer.Sánchez highlights how Nehemiah rooted his prayers in God’s character, acknowledged his own sins, recalled God’s promises, and then presented his requests before the throne of grace. Regularly confessing our sins is essential to remaining in good communion with God. May we run to God in prayer, allowing him to cleanse and cover us.

Run to God in Prayer

In her message at TGCW22, Lydia Brownback addresses the topic of contentment and points to where we can find true fulfillment for the things in our life that just don't feel quite right.When there is discontentment in our lives, there are usually two avenues we typically take to deal with it: take it to the Lord or avoid it with busyness or another handy escape. Brownback uses Psalm 73 to teach about Asaph's journey from discontentment to contentment through his response to disappointment. In Psalm 73:25, Asaph declares, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.”When it comes to responding to discontentment and disappointing circumstances, Brownback says, “Our responses to disappointment are a window into our heart.” Those responses often show us whether we are following Christ for who he is or merely for what he can give us.The antidote to wrong thinking about God, which is the root of discontentment, is to develop a right perspective on God and trust him with the guidance of our lives. Ultimately, true contentment is God's will for us no matter our circumstances, and in Christ, contentment is always possible. Like Asaph in Psalm 73, may we draw near to the Lord with trust and declare that there is nothing on earth that we desire besides him.

How to Find Real Contentment in Christ Alone

In his message at TGC Chicago's 2022 Regional Conference, Kevin DeYoung expounds on John 17, teaching us how to pray like Christ through his high priestly prayer.DeYoung summarizes Jesus’s prayer in three sections: Jesus prays for himself to be glorified, his disciples to be sanctified, and his church to be unified. Jesus also prays for the safekeeping of his disciples, knowing they'll sin and fail. In this way, we must also pray for protection and safekeeping from the temptation to sin and drift from God.Jesus’s prayer illustrates the story of a God who gives good gifts. DeYoung says, “This is a prayer, start to finish, replete with God, the Trinitarian Giver of gifts. The Father gifts the Son, to give the disciples and the church eternal life and the words of life, that they might participate as a gift in this life of glory.”

Explore the Heart of Jesus Through His High Priestly Prayer

At TGCW22, Irwyn Ince explores the characteristics of love described in 1 Corinthians 13 and explains how to abide in that kind of love.Ince discusses the importance of love in relationships, specifically within the body of Christ, emphasizing the transformative power of God's love, which changes self-centered individuals into self-sacrificial lovers of God and neighbor. He proposes that love is not based on likeness or attraction, but instead, true love overcomes divisions and reconciles those who may have nothing in common, except for Christ.The hope for Christians is the full expression and experience of the love of God in and through Christ, which endures forever. There is a day coming, Ince urges, when all doubts will be gone, and we will see love, face-to-face, in the person of Christ. Until then, focusing on Jesus and abiding in his love is how we endure life on this side of eternity.

Transformed by the Love of Christ

In his message at TGC Chicago's 2022 Regional Conference, H. B. Charles explains what happens in David’s heart during his prayer of confession in Psalm 51. Through this psalm, we learn that confession and repentance can lead us to joy as we follow David’s example.First, David prays, “Forgive me,” which is essential to moving forward in our relationship with God once we’ve sinned against him. He prays based on God’s character—knowing God is full of abundant mercy. This confession allows David to take full responsibility for his sin and frees us to do the same when we've sinned.Second, David prays for a “clean heart,” asking God to change him. This is a divine miracle of spiritual transformation, which is impossible without prayer and trust in the Holy Spirit's power.Last, David asks to be used for God's glory. Grace and the power of forgiveness should be what motivates us to evangelism and care for others.“The prayer of confession is intricately tied to the prayer of intercession,” says Charles. Closing with this challenge, he says, “Godliness is characterized by joy, but joy and sin cannot coexist.” If we've lost our joy, let us confess our sins and run to God in repentance and belief in the gospel of Jesus that saves us.

Embracing the Power of Repentance and Forgiveness

In this TGCW22 session, Rebecca McLaughlin teaches on how the apostle Peter offers hope to those feeling hopeless in today's world, by reminding us of our living hope—Jesus Christ.McLaughlin explains that hope in Christ always runs to Jesus, breeds holiness, requires ransom, and springs eternal. She emphasizes the importance of setting our hope fully on the grace that will come at the revelation of Jesus, not on earthly things like careers, marriage, or children.By fixing our eyes on Jesus and hoping in him alone, we can live an increasingly obedient life. McLaughlin reminds us that without Jesus, all life is meaningless. In Christ, we have hope and a purpose.

Where to Find True Hope

In his message at TGC19, Trip Lee teaches on the importance of having faith in God during difficult times of suffering. Lee uses two stories from Matthew 8 that display the healing power of Jesus—the healing of the man with leprosy and the healing of the centurion’s servant—to show what true faith looks like.Lee says that by studying the Word and remembering God's faithfulness, we nourish and strengthen our faith. He says that real faith isn’t demanding that God heals but instead trusting him to act according to his goodness and sovereignty. Lee emphasizes that healing isn't always a one-to-one comparison and that we should approach God with humility and trust, acknowledging his power is never in question, no matter the outcome.Ultimately, Lee encourages us to bring our brokenness to the One who is both able and willing to heal, and to trust and rest in Jesus's kindness, power, goodness, and saving work until the end, when all things are made perfect.

Trip Lee on Faith and Healing (Re-Release)

“Setting our eyes on the object of our faith is the only way we will endure.” — Trillia NewbellAt TGCW22, Trillia Newbell emphasizes the importance of abiding faith in the life of a Christian. Faith is the foundation of the Christian life, and it is through faith that we can walk with Christ and obey him. Newbell distinguishes between saving faith (saved by grace through faith) and enduring faith (remaining in Christ), and encourages us to abide in Jesus by trusting, praying, obeying, and resting in him.Newbell also discusses the definition of faith and the importance of studying the lives of those in the Hall of Fame of Faith, as detailed in Hebrews 11. Ultimately, faith is required to believe in the truth and reliability of the Bible, trust in God's salvation through faith, and maintain a relationship with Jesus. 

Faith That Abides

In this TGC17 breakout session, Kevin DeYoung discusses the significance of accurate Bible interpretation, addressing the issue of pervasive interpretive pluralism within Christianity. DeYoung emphasizes the sufficiency and clarity of Scripture as well as the importance of interpreting Scripture alongside the creeds, confessions, and traditions of the church.DeYoung also highlights the need for understanding church history to combat pervasive interpretive pluralism. He encourages Christians to study and become convinced in their own minds of Scripture. Ultimately, DeYoung wants to equip people with confidence in God's Word as a result of accurate Bible interpretation.

Why Accurate Bible Interpretation Matters

As Christians consider how to heal racial wounds and pursue racial justice, one debated question is how reconciliation and justice are related. Must justice be served first, before talk of reconciliation can even be taken seriously? Or is reconciliation the groundwork that makes the collective pursuit of justice possible? Should evangelicals stop talking about the need for “racial reconciliation” unless they're actively addressing racial injustice? Or is the theological value of reconciliation—and forming meaningful relationships across racial lines—what will ultimately empower diverse communities to address injustice together? These and other related questions are addressed in this debate between Darryl Williamson and George Yancey. Williamson and Yancey share their arguments and engage in a discussion moderated by Jim Davis, teaching pastor at Orlando Grace Church.– Watch the full-length video debate here.– Access discussion guides for your church or small group. 

Good Faith Debates #10: Can Racial Reconciliation Happen without Racial Justice Being Achieved First?

The pace of change in the digital age is staggering. Every year sees the emergence of new platforms, apps, and technologies that each bring possibilities, problems, and power to reshape culture. What should the church’s posture be toward new technologies?Should churches be early adopters, seeking to leverage new technologies missionally and ecclesially, rather than being a few steps behind? Or should the church take a more cautious approach—not necessarily antitechnology but at least hesitant about adopting technologies before we’ve been able to properly consider their potential downsides? Whether we’re talking about online church, internet evangelism, apologetics on TikTok, or some future hypothetical (virtual church gatherings in the metaverse?), should churches err on the side of front-footed entrepreneurial embrace or “wait and see” skepticism?These and other related questions are addressed in this debate between Patrick Miller and Jay Kim. Miller and Kim share their arguments and engage in a discussion moderated by Jim Davis, teaching pastor at Orlando Grace Church.– Watch the full-length video debate here.– Access discussion guides for your church or small group. 

Good Faith Debates #9: Should Churches Be Slow or Quick to Embrace New Technology?

The Gospel Coalition Podcast features keynote and breakout sessions from our national, regional, and women's conferences. We exist to equip the next generation of believers, pastors, and church leaders to shape life and ministry around the gospel.

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