Miami metro, here we come. On April 5–6, 2013, we will gather, God willing, at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, for a Desiring God Regional Conference under the banner

Future Grace:
The Purifying Power of the Promises of God

Join us Friday evening and Saturday morning for two extended sessions from John Piper on the what and how of Christian sanctification, a Q&A panel on the theme (featuring Piper, Tullian Tchividjian, Felipe Assis, and Al Pino), and worship in song led by Pat Sczebel.

The Miami metro is one of the most diverse in the United States, and we’re eager to have you and friends and family join us from all ethnicites— Spanish, Haitian, Indian, Jamaican,…

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Everyday gospel ministry requires courage. Whether it’s the courage to keep going when insulted, or honestly repent when you’ve been wrong, or not cave when threatened physically, public Christian ministry necessitates many kinds of courage — whether the society is increasingly post-Christian or not.

It’s not just the death threats — which John Piper has received — but the daily friction against the gospel that demands courage, but in this 5-minute clip, Piper recounts the story of a death threat he received early on in his pastoral ministry and talks about how to have the spiritual wherewithal to respond in God-honoring courage.

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Related videos from John Piper:

• Piper on Prophecy a…

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A few Pastors Conference reminders:

1. The early bird registration rate of $125 ends December 31 at 11:59 PM (CST). For groups of five or more we have a special rate of just $110 per person.

2. Speakers include Darrin Patrick, Tope Koleoso, Kent Hughes, Jason Meyer, Mack Stiles, John Piper, Tony Reinke and Rick Gamache. See the conference schedule for more details and information.

3. Special guest Mark Dever will open the conference with a two-part seminar on disciple-making and the local church (sponsored by Fidelis Foundation).

We'd love to see you February 4–6 in Minneapolis!

Martyn Lloyd-Jones commenting on Romans 6:11, So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

We are told to realize, and to hold before ourselves and in our consciousness constantly, something that is already true of our position or status. It is not an exhortation to us to do anything with regard to sin, but to realize what has already been done for us with respect to our relationship to sin. It is an exhortation to us to remember what is already true of us; it urges us to realize what has already happened to us as Christians, those of us who are joined to the Lord Jesus Christ. And what is true of us is that we are already in an entirely new position an…

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On November 2-3 at Bethlehem Baptist Church (North Campus) in Minneapolis, Pastor John will be giving a free, two-day seminar on the theme of A Hunger for God. The seminar is open to all — we'd love for you to join us!

Schedule

Bethlehem Baptist Church (North Campus)
5151 Program Avenue
Mounds View, MN 55112

Day 1
Friday, November 2
7:00 - 9:00pm (two sessions, + Q&A)

Day 2
Saturday, November 3
9:00am - 12:00pm (three sessions)

And if you'd like to stick around after the seminar on Saturday, Pastor John will be preaching at 5:30 PM that evening at Bethlehem's downtown campus.

Register

Online registration is closed, but there is still space available on a fi…

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Ever tire of scrolling through long lists of sermon titles when picking a podcast? Are you the kind who would be relieved to have someone help you with the picking?

Our friends at Ligonier want to help. They are providing a new web app called RefNet: 24-Hour Christian Internet Radio. Available free for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch, RefNet includes broadcasts from R.C. Sproul, Alistair Begg, Al Mohler, and John Piper.

Just tap the RefNet icon, and listen in, any time of day or night. And the picking's been done for you.

If you don't have a mobile device, you can stream it through your computer on the RefNet website.

Check out the video:

A year into his pastorate, John Piper began a weekly newsletter called The Bethlehem Star. Today you might start a blog rather than a newsletter, but in an increasingly noisy world, the need to communicate effectively with your church membership is more important than ever. Reprinted below is the original rationale (from 1981) behind the creation of this regular communication — which 32 years later continues as a monthly publication complemented by weekly email blasts.

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The new Bethlehem Star is rising "for the advancement and joy of your faith." If God wills it will rise every week. Why?

Because without it the congregation cannot be adequately informed about:

1. Plans, expectations, …

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If you're like me, at some point Sunday evening you begin to consider all the opportunities and challenges that await you in the coming week. Fruitful labor in our calling is a gift from God — indeed, we are to "work heartily, as for the Lord" (Colossians 3:23). But at the close of each day, we must learn to entrust our work and circumstances to God, and remember that he "gives to his beloved sleep" (Psalm 127:2).

Why did God imagine sleep? He never sleeps! He thought the idea up out of nothing. He thought it up for his earthly creatures. Why! Psalm 127:2 says, “It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved i…

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How does God produce holiness in the lives of his people? That's what we'll tackle at our 2012 National Conference in Minneapolis on September 28-30 — how the everyday fight for faith to become more like Jesus works. If you've never been to a Desiring God conference, check this video out to get a feel for what it's like:

The early bird registration rate ends Friday, July 27 at 11:59 PM (CDT) — then the price jumps $25. Register online or call us at 1.888.346.4700

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Recent posts related to our National Conference:

• Power in Weakness: Living Out the Miracle of Sanctification (Ed Welch)
• The Foundational Action of God (Jarvis Williams)
• Fernando Ortega at Our National C…

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J. I. Packer:

What matters supremely is not, in the last analysis, the fact that I know God, but the larger fact which underlies it — the fact that he knows me. I am graven on the palms of his hands. I am never out of his mind.

All my knowledge of him depends on his sustained initiative in knowing me. I know him because he first knew me, and continues to know me. He knows me as a friend, one who loves me; and there is not a moment when his eye is off me, or his attention distracted from me, and no moment, therefore, when his care falters.

This is momentous knowledge. There is unspeakable comfort — the sort of comfort that energizes, be it said, not enervates — in knowing that God is co…

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