"It is predominantly bleak and ugly," says John Piper on 2 Timothy 3:1–13. The apostle Paul tells us we need to know evil and then lays out nineteen descriptions of it.

How we approach the Bible is vital to how we understand this text. These are not mere descriptions. They are descriptions given to the church for our holiness and maturity. They describe the last days in which we live and remind us that the ugliness of evil is real — and that we dare not be ignorant of it.

Stream or download this week's sermon.

In today's episode of Behind the Blog we talk olympics, spanking, and the Book of Psalms, including some upcoming posts and events in Minneapolis.

You can also listen here.

Mentioned in this episode:

• How to Watch the Olympic Games
• Does God Love Us By Sending Us Pain?
• 20 Quotes From The Hole In Our Holiness
• Why You Don't Have to Fear Terror
• Jesus and the Wild Animals
• Piper and Keller Wrestle with Sanctification
• More on Sanctification from Piper and Keller
• Free Seminar on August 24–25 in Minneapolis
• The Works of God: God's Good Design in Disability

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If you mainly breathe the world’s air—the atmosphere controlled by the “prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2)—it’s like breathing pot smoke. It alters your mind and mood. It produces everything from a false sense of well being to paranoia, or even hallucinations. It’s seductive, addicting, and distorting.

You know you’re breathing too much of it when God and his priorities feel trivial or uninteresting or unreal to you.

So here’s a drug test. First, read the following paragraph:

Everything in redemptive history has been God acting for his glory, therefore everything in your life is to join him in that purpose. The reason you’re on the planet is to join God in making mu

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In October of 1792 the Baptist Missionary Society was formed in the home of Andrew Fuller. For the next twenty-one years Fuller served as the leader of this organization, raising funds, writing periodicals, recruiting missionaries, and sending personal letters to those on the frontlines.

He fulfilled his promise to the great missionary William Carey, who upon his trip to the unknown world of India, looked at the small band of brothers around him and said, as it were, "Well, I will go down, if you will hold the rope." Andrew Fuller held the rope. Suffering the loss of his first wife, and eight of their eleven children, Fuller persevered in the midst of severe affliction and overwhelming r…

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Missionary William Carey (1761–1834) said this in a sermon on May 31, 1792:

Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.

(Design submitted by Jennifer Knight.)

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Previous quote images —

• Wimpy Theology Makes Wimpy Women (Jennifer Knight)
  
• The Essence of Christian Hedonism (Jennifer Knight)
  
• Holy Women Who Hope in God (Jennifer Knight)

God is sovereign and he is good. These are the twin theological pillars of childlike faith. Bigger and smarter than we are, all that God does is aimed at our benefit in Christ. But as simple as it seems, this truth isn't always easy to embrace.

A few years ago John Piper led a regional conference on this topic. He taught through the Book of Job and began by noting why Job's story, in particular, is so important:

1. Hundreds of you have suffered or are suffering and are looking for light in your darkness.
2. Suffering is coming, for sure. Basic discipleship means tribulations.
3. Persecution, disease, war, disability, disaster, freak accident, assault — all are alike in this: Satan aims to destr…

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I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. –2 Timothy 2:10

The doctrine of election is a sharp scalpel. 

It can be wielded with care and skill, and taken up to give life and heal. Or, in the hands of an untrained fanatic or detractor, it can be used to harm, to sever vital arteries and mutilate hurting people by spinning out untrue implications.

In this five-minute clip of his most recent sermon, John Piper encourages us to follow the apostle Paul's powerful example in 2 Timothy 2:10 and wield the dear doctrine of election with gospel care.

Stream or download this week's entire sermon.

Earnestly consider your role in completing the Great Commission.

That was John Piper's overarching plea when he delivered a biographical message on Adoniram Judson in 2003.

Judson was America's first foreign missionary and an example of one who considered, and executed on, his own uniquely strategic role in the completing of the Commission.

Though warned not to go to Burma, he entered the country almost 200 years ago — in July of 1813 — and there invested the next 38 years of his life preaching Christ where he had not been named.

And the cost was very high. But in God's perfect economy, his suffering had a plain purpose. As Piper explains, "I am persuaded from Scripture and from the histor…

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Paul's burden for Timothy is straightforward: Embrace suffering for the gospel instead of running away from it.

In this last letter before his death, the apostle grounds Timothy's endurance in five unshakable foundations — foundations that all Christians should build at the bottom of their lives.

1. Jesus Christ, the son of David, is risen from the dead and reigns over the world forever.
2. Preachers may be bound. The word of God is not.
3. God has his elect in this world, and your ministry will be the instrument that brings them to eternal glory.
4. God cannot deny himself. Trust him and your salvation is as sure as his commitment to his name.
5. A double-sided seal: “The Lord knows those who are his.” …

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How does the cross and victory of Jesus affect your everyday sanctification?

Over the past 30 years John Piper has preached several messages that equip listeners to apply the Bible in their daily lives. Stretching three decades, this e-book includes three of those sermons that intend to mobilize the church in the fight against sin and the walk of faith. In addition to these sermons, there is a practical appendix of acronyms Pastor John uses in his own life and commends to others.

Whether fighting a specific sin or walking by faith amid stressful circumstances, the aim of this e-book is to add to your arsenal for the everyday work of sanctification, for the glory of God.

To downlo…

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