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The Avenger
The Book of 1 Corinthians in 40 Tweets
Safe and Uncondemned for the Glory of God
It was almost nine years ago when Owen Shrameck died. His parents, a young couple from Bethlehem Baptist Church, had moved to the Middle East to work as cross-cultural peacemakers. Owen was born at 24 weeks and the medical context reduced his chance of survival to 10 percent. He lived on this earth for only 20 minutes.
After Owen's parents flew back to the States for his burial, John Piper preached his funeral sermon and comforted his family with the truth of the Bible. Pastor John listed eight propositions about who Owen is and his legacy for the glory of God.
- Owen Shramek was and is a human being created in God's image.
- Owen Shramek was and is your son.
- Owen Shramek is safe and unc…
How to Thrive in College
College should be a temporary season of academic preparation and personal growth to propel a lifetime of effective service to God and neighbor. It should be a launching pad into all that goes with responsible Christian adulthood. Yet for some it’s a time when they abandon the Christian faith, displaying that they never really belonged to Christ (1 John 2:19). For others, their faith remains intact, but they waste their college years with video games, partying, and other frivolities — an expensive vacation funded by Mom, Dad, and (often) debilitating student loans.
Today, seven out of ten high school graduates immediately go on to college, but about 30% will never become sophomores, and alm…
Motivating Joy
Puritan Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity:
If anything can make us rise off our bed of sloth, and serve God with all our might, it should be this, the hope of our near enjoyment of God forever.
(Design submitted by Jennifer Knight.)
Previous images —
Degree in Hand, More Desperate Than Ever
Graduation is a high moment. It's like a wedding of sorts. All the many investments — the questions needing answers, the costs needing to be weighed — rise together in a public crescendo of accomplishment. Congratulations, here's your degree.
Tonight I graduate from seminary. The page of official training closes, and the real-world chapter, so it seems, is opened. It will be a high moment, indeed, and it would probably be a "higher" one if I was going into anything other than vocational ministry.
It has been four years of intense training, of deep learning and wrestling and sharpening of gifts, and now it's finished. But I won't feel strong when I walk through the exit — and perhaps that…
"Fifty Reasons" eBook – Free in Eight Languages
If you've explored our Resource Library, you've likely discovered our Online Books section, which contains over 60 John Piper titles available in English as free downloads.
What you may not have discovered is the tab that enables you to sort them "By Language," which ultimately reveals a list of 25 other languages in which you can find free ebooks.
One of the most popular titles between these languages is Piper's book Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die, which is currently available for download in 8 different tongues:
A Celebration of Biblical Masculinity
I live in a culture that admires a man’s earning power, and his fertility, and his ability to rule his domain with an iron fist.
While Scripture certainly calls for a Christ-like masculinity that provides for and protects his family, the Bible takes a wrecking ball to the culture-based ideals of masculinity that are celebrated around the world.
By God’s grace, I enjoy the fruits of living with a man who demonstrates biblical masculinity. This is the kind of masculinity that emerges from the gospel, points back to the gospel, and celebrates the gospel in my home.
Unashamed
The masculinity I appreciate as a wife is of far greater value than wealth-earning power. It’s a masculinity that…
The Only Thing We Have to Fear
The fear of the Lord leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied. (Proverbs 19:23)
Franklin D. Roosevelt coined one of America’s iconic maxims in his first inaugural address: “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” It’s not true.
Roosevelt was trying to quell the national panic of financial crisis, urging Americans not to succumb to “unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts.” It is true that irrational fear must be resisted. But it’s not true that fear is the only thing we need to fear.
In fact, fear itself is not wrong. God actually designed us to be fearers. Fear is a faith-revealer. What we fear reveals what we trust. It’s a strong response…
Behind the Blog: We Have Thor
Josh Etter joins today's episode of Behind the Blog for the background of how we learned about the amazing story of Ian & Larissa. Tony talks about why superheros matter, I discuss tweeting through 1 Corinthians, and David gives the rundown on our upcoming National Conference in September.
"Five-minutes or less" turned into seven minutes this week.
You can also listen here.
Blog posts mentioned in this episode:
- The Story of Ian & Larissa by John Piper
- The Avenger by Tony Reinke
- The Book of 1 Corinthians in 40 Tweets by Jonathan Parnell
- Announcing Our 2012 National Conference by Scott Anderson
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Recent…
Far Too Easily Pleased
Americans, Daniel Boorstin once observed, suffer from extravagant expectations. In his much quoted 1962 book The Image, or What Happened to the American Dream, Boorstin observed that Americans “expect the contradictory and the impossible. We expect compact cars which are spacious; luxurious cars which are economical. We expect to be rich and charitable, powerful and merciful, active and reflective, kind and competitive. . . . We expect to eat and stay thin, to be constantly on the move and ever more neighborly, to go to a ‘church of our choice’ and yet feel its guiding power over us, to revere God and to be God.”
Boorstin argued that “ever enlarging our extravagant expectations we create t…
Announcing Our 2012 National Conference
We invite you to join us for our 2012 National Conference, September 28 - 30 in Minneapolis. The theme of the conference this year is “Act the Miracle: God’s Work and Ours in the Mystery of Sanctification". You can read lots more about the conference theme, speakers and schedule here.
The conference will feature the following speakers: Kevin DeYoung, Elyse Fitzpatrick, R W Glenn, Sally Lloyd-Jones, David Mathis, Carolyn McCulley, Russell Moore, John Piper, Ed Welch, Jarvis Williams.
This year we're also excited to welcome Fernando Ortega, who will lead a seminar on corporate worship. He will also lead us in "An Evening of Worship" on Friday night after Pastor John's first message.
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