John Piper writes about a conversation with his wife, Noël, when he was preaching a series on marriage a few years ago. After a couple sermons on the foundation and ultimate meaning of marriage he asked for her feedback. "You cannot say too often that marriage is a model of Christ and the church," she replied.

And she is positively right. Marriage as a picture of Jesus and the church is "Marriage 101" for most Christians and yet, we cannot underline the truth enough.

We've heard it helpfully said of the gospel that it's not just the thing that gets you into the Christian life, but also that which empowers your everyday Christian living. There's a parallel here in how we talk about marr…

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Darrin Patrick is the pastor of The Journey in St. Louis, a church he planted back in 2002. He also serves as the Vice President of the Acts 29 Church Planting Network and has written a couple books, Church Planter and For the City (with Matt Carter).

Earlier this year Darrin sat down with us to talk theology and pastoral ministry. In this five-minute video he mentions a few lessons he's learned:

In sum,

• Trust others with ministry
• Say no to critical people
• Learn from other churches and minstries
• Be willing to give away your best leaders

The most foundational thing we can say about marriage is that it is God's doing. John Piper explains, "A glimpse into the magnificence of marriage comes from seeing in God's word that God himself is the great doer. Marriage is his doing. It is from him and through him" (24).

In his book This Momentary Marriage, Pastor John gives four reasons why marriage is God's doing:

First, marriage was God's design.

While Genesis 1:27–28 makes clear that marriage is meant for male and female, the logic of Genesis 2 also confirms it.

In [Genesis 2:18], it is God himself who decrees that man's solitude is not good, and it is God himself who sets out to complete one of the central designs of cre…

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Earlier this year David Mathis sat down with Don Carson to discuss sanctification. In this three-minute clip, Carson talks about some simultaneous steps to take for overcoming temptation, including a deepening delight in Jesus.

Sanctification is the theme of this year's National Conference — "Act the Miracle: God's Work and Ours in the Mystery of Sanctification." Visit the event page to learn more and register.

John Piper says it's almost too good to believe. Hear Zephaniah's words:

The Lord your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.

Zephaniah 3:17 is an absolutely magnificent promise that is meant to make us feel God's joy. Like when the father ran to embrace his prodigal son, some scenes in Scripture are especially meant to astonish us with mercy.

But not everyone can bring themselves to believe God's love for us is that powerful. Though, as Pastor John writes, Zephaniah wants to help us get it:

[Zephaniah] labors under the wonderful inspiration of God to over…

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It was almost nine years ago when Owen Shramek 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.

1. Owen Shramek was and is a human being created in God's image.
2. Owen Shramek was and is your son.
3. Owen Shramek is safe and unco…

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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…

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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…

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Crosses were dark in First Century Rome. Crucifixion was a horrific execution method reserved for the lowliest criminals. And yet, Paul writes his letter to the church in Corinth and organizes his theology and entire ministry around this object of shame.

In God's wisdom the cross has become the place, as D. A. Carson explains, where "God has supremely destroyed all human arrogance and pretension." (The Cross and Christian Ministry, 15). Indeed, this message is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who believe, the cross is the power of God.

1 Corinthians is a book about the cross. And like with Romans, we've tried to summarize the book in a series of tweets that we'll be postin…

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Russell Moore:

Sometimes believers will throw up their hands in frustration with non-Christian people they know. “I have said everything I know to say to her about the gospel,” one might say. “She already knows it all and doesn’t believe.”

Often what we seek is another argument, a hidden angle that our interlocutor hasn’t thought through before. But that’s rarely how the gospel is heard and received. Think about it in your own case. Did you believe the gospel the first time you ever heard it? Perhaps you did, but if so, you’re quite unusual. Most of us heard the gospel over and over and over again until one day it hit us in a very different way.

And what was different about it? Was it a …

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