God-centered resources from the ministry of John Piper

This week's sermon: "Faith: Unique and Fruitful Effect of the New Birth"

The new birth happens through the word—the gospel.

This gospel message is not a mantra. It does not aim to empty the mind through verbal sounds that have no verbal meaning.

Rather, the gospel word aims to fill the mind with clear and understandable content. The gospel is a mentally intelligible narration of the historical events concerning the person and work of Jesus for us.

The gospel is not mantra.

At the heart of Christianity is news. At its center is a story—the greatest story in history. A scandalous story which we modestly call the good news.

God himself causes us to believe this news by granting us the new birth.