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.

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.

1. Acknowledge our kids’ experiences. Know that church isn’t always easy for them, and talk to them about it.
2. Remove practical obstacles. Sometimes what they don’t like about church isn’t spiritual and can be changed.
3. Teach them that church is good. Disciple children at home so that practices at church don’t feel foreign or awkward for them.
4. Affirm their Kingdom value. Make sure kids don’t feel like an afterthought, but know they are valued and can be used by God.
5. 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.”

“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.

“We don’t persevere in order to be saved. We persevere because we have been saved. God has made it possible for us to maintain faithfulness to Jesus, and God is invested in our faithfulness to him.” –– Glenna Marshall

At TGCW21, Glenna Marshall delivers a practical message on how to be faithful in the small things, noting that it takes time to see spiritual growth. This perseverance and faithfulness are only possible in the Christian life with the help of the Holy Spirit. 

Teaching through Hebrews 10, Marshall outlines three calls to action in pursuing and maintaining faithfulness:

1. Let us draw near to God and pray.
2. Let us hold fast to the gospel—we cannot grow apart from the Scriptures.
3. Let us not neglect meeting together and encouraging one another.

Being faithful in these ways allows us to remain connected to the vine and continue growing in Christ as we wait for his return.

“Whatever [sin] it is, God is still gracious to redeem you and to keep you. He will never leave nor forsake you.” — Kori Porter

Kori Porter outlines the steps of sin through King David’s adultery and murder: sin always starts with desire, sin leads to more sin, and sin produces death. Through this progression, Porter teaches that we have many points of escape when we’re in sin—God will give us a way out and give us the power to fight sin through prayer and the reading of his Word. Just as David was restored through repentance and grace, so will we be restored as we rely on the power of the Holy Spirit and die to sin in order to have true life

In their breakout session at TGC21, Kevin DeYoung, Ligon Duncan, Melissa Kruger, and Nancy Guthrie discuss what it means to have a healthy, biblical view of complementarianism.

Melissa Kruger defines complementarianism as understanding men and women to be “equal in worth and dignity, and different in how we live that out in the world.” The panel answers questions like “What does healthy and unhealthy complementarianism look like?” and “How do we graciously argue for it when others disagree?”

As the panel discusses the differences in the roles of men and women, they also encourage us to keep the gospel central and to follow the example of Jesus in how he treated both men and women.

Megan Hill, Lauren Hansen, and Lindsey Carlson discuss what the wives of pastors and elders need in order to thrive as they support their husbands and churches. The panel answers questions like: How do you handle being seen as a spiritual giant in the church? How do you encourage your husband during a difficult time of pastoring? How do you transition out of relationships into new ones when you move for ministry?

Lindsey Carlson closes by encouraging women, “Model to your congregations that you are a work-in-progress, and give yourself grace and compassion to be the creation that the Lord made you to be in the marriage that he placed you in.”

“I believe we need to read, interpret, and preach Christ and his gospel from all the Scriptures.” – Julius Kim

At TGC21, Julius Kim explains how to deliver a sermon with wisdom and grace for the growth of God’s kingdom.

Kim says that it is critical to preach Christ through every passage, and he gives four specific ways to prepare a sermon, with key tips on how to preach it once prepared:

1. Discover the truth about the text according to the human author.
2. Discern Christ in the text according to the divine author.
3. Design a sermon according to truth, goodness, and beauty.
4. Deliver the sermon for maximum attention, retention, integration, and transformation.

Kim gives further tips like how to ask the right questions, how to pay attention to body language, and how to use patterns for retention of the message being proclaimed. The preacher must preach Christ, but ultimately, it is up to the Spirit to transform.

“If we were to delight in the Ten Commandments, we would begin to live on earth as a citizen of heaven, anticipating that future sweetness when we, like Christ, fully obey the law.” –– Jen Wilkin

Jen Wilkin delivers a message at TGCW21 on expanding our understanding of and obedience to the Ten Commandments. Wilkin emphasizes the importance of delighting in God’s law and explains the good that comes from it: “Personal obedience always results in collateral benefit. When one of us obeys God's law, it is good for all of us.”

As Wilkin walks through each commandment, she explains how to look for expansive obedience instead of just rote instruction. Obedience was always intended to be worshipful, and if we meditate on the law rightly, it can become that once again.

“At the end of the book of Revelation, we see that Jesus, the second Adam, will not fail to lead us into a garden that will be even better than Eden—where we will enjoy fellowship with him for all eternity. So, don't be afraid of Revelation.”

Nancy Guthrie gives four common fears we may have when approaching the book of Revelation:

1. We fear that we’re not going to understand it and, if we’re teaching it, that we’ll get it wrong.

2. We fear the controversy that surrounds the book.

3. We fear the suffering and persecution Revelation tells us to expect.

4. We fear the judgment, blood, and wrath described in the book.

As Guthrie explains each fear, she also offers encouragement and wise, biblical help for reading the book of Revelation with joy. The central message of Revelation, according to Guthrie, is that we are called to patient endurance in suffering for our allegiance to Christ, and that we are called to refuse to compromise with the world as we wait for the return of our King.