Wednesday, February 09, 2011

Full Audio and Video of the Recent Desiring God Pastor's Conference on Prayer


Joel Beeke — Cultivating Private Prayer as a Pastor

Beeke says, "Prayer is often treated as the appendix to our work rather than the foundation. . . . The problem is not that we don't pray, but rather it is that we seldom pray prayerfully." He explains two parts required for prayerful praying: taking hold of yourself and taking hold of God.

Paul Miller — Helping Your People Discover the Praying Life

Miller exhorts us, "God wants the 'muddy you'—you in all your brokenness—to come to him as a child in prayer." He says that when most people try to create a habit of prayer, they create a 'spiritual' version of them to go to God. But God wants the 'real you' to come to him as you would to anyone with whom you are in an intimate relationship.

Francis Chan — Prayer as a Way of Walking in Love, A Personal Journey

Chan says, "In my life, prayer has even rivaled the Scriptures in raising my affections for God." He shows  in the Scriptures that one main thing which differentiates Christians from the rest of the world is that God hears us when we pray.

John Piper — He Kissed the Rose and Felt the Thorn: The Living and Dying in the Morning of Life

Piper begins by referring to a handful of men whose lives the Lord cut short, but were used mightily to impact the world. Grateful to those who have told the stories, Piper gives insight on the practices and influence of Robert Murray McCheyne, noting his key friendships, powerful preaching, and constant communion with Jesus.

Joel Beeke — Leading Family Worship

Beeke begins by stating the high importance the event of family worship has in his life. He establishes the family as derivative of God's intra-trinitarian relationship and then gives practical advice for how fathers can lead their families in communion with the Lord.

Jerry Rankin — Unreached Peoples and the Power of Prayer

Rankin asks, "Could it be that Satan has duped us into a self-centered and provincial view of Christianity that has affected the way we pray?" He urges pastors to align their desires with the Lord's, in prayerful expectation of seeing the unreached hear the gospel.

Speaker Panel — Miller, Beeke, Chan, Rankin, and Piper

The speaker panel features great interaction between the speakers and questions submitted by conference attendees.

1 comment:

Drew said...

Thanks Zach, I was just looking for these when your post came up in my feed.