Bloodlines is one of the most autobiographical books I have written. It tells my story from racism to the path of redemption. I preached on the theme of Bloodlines yesterday to mark Martin Luther King weekend. The title of the message was “From Bloodlines to Bloodline.” I argued that God is calling his people to move from the alienation of many bloodlines to the reconciliation of the single bloodline that began on the cross of Christ.

I urged my people to read the book. Not because I care about selling books, but because I want them to know my story, to be aware to the global relevance of the issue, and to feel the hope that comes from the power of the gospel.

In making the book avai…

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The Introduction to John Piper's Bloodlines is titled :

Martin Luther King Jr.
What Was It Like for Those Who Weren't There?

Piper writes,

Martin Luther King called for freedoms and rights and justice that were long overdue. And he did it with an appeal to historic Christian vision, with amazing rhetorical skill, without condoning violence, and with unprecedented and lasting success. That's why there is a holiday in his honor. One of his writings in particular provides a window on the mid-twentieth-century world of black Americans — "Letter from Birmingham Jail."

The place is Birmingham, Alabama. The time is April 11, 1963. I was seventeen years old in Greenville, South C…

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Darrin Patrick, speaker at our 2012 Conference for Pastors:

We'd love for you to join us in Minneapolis from January 30 to February 1. Register for just $145, or bring a group of five or more from your church for just $100 (per person).

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Recent posts for the 2012 Conference for Pastors —

• Counsel for Millennials: "Roll with It"
• How Young Men Prepare for Marriage
• The Resurgence of Complementarianism

Pastor John shows how to use the acronym A.P.T.A.T. when we're tempted to covet:

This excerpt starts at the 37:45 mark of last week's sermon.

Samuel Bourn:

All true fear of the Supreme Being can only spring from a right knowledge of him. And it consists, first and fundamentally, in conceiving and believing him to be what he is, most powerful indeed, but at the same time, most wise, just, and benevolent. . . .

The character and title most certainly ascribed by our Savior and his Apostles to the Supreme being is The Father: the appellation [or name] by which we are taught to address him, [is] Our Father in heaven. . . . But if we impute to him qualities inconsistent with the parental character, and represent him to ourselves, as seeking and delighting, not in the happiness, but the misery and ruin of his creatures; we dethrone as i…

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Pastor John applies A.P.T.A.T. to the temptation of bitterness:

This excerpt starts at the 40:30 mark of this recent sermon.

See how it applies to the temptation of fear.

If you want to understand the message of 1 Peter,
or how hope in God's grace affects our command to love,
or if you just want to see a lucid example of careful exegetical method. . .

let me commend to you John Piper's 1980 article for Cambridge's New Testament Studies: "Hope as the Motivation of Love: 1 Peter 3:9–12."

A new web version has just been added to our Resource Library, full of the original British –ours, German lines, Greek inserts, and 72 footnotes (now hyperlinked).

Read the full article.

Here's a snapshot of the work:

Method

In the long run it is the mutually correcting interaction between detailed analyses of particular texts (at the risk of conceptual myopia)…

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Will Jesus provide for you? Are you struggling to believe it, because when you do the math it doesn’t add up? You’re in good company. Philip and Andrew had witnessed astounding miracles by Jesus, but when it came to feeding 5,000 people¹ the math added up to impossible.

Imagine a conversation between Philip and Andrew as they are gathering up the leftovers.

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Philip set his basket load of bread fragments down on the grass. He straightened his tired back and scanned the huge crowd of happy, sated people. It was hard to absorb what had just happened.

Andrew dropped his basket beside Philip’s, blew a sigh, and leaned on Philip’s shoulder. “Well done, Philip! You fed them, j…

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I’d like us to consider Psalm 2 from three perspectives. First, we’ll examine the message of the psalm. Second, we’ll look at how the New Testament uses it. Finally, we’ll ask how this psalm speaks to the task of world evangelization.

The Message of Psalm 2

Psalm 2 begins with a question: “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?” (verse 1). Verses 2–3 specify this futility: the kings of the earth reject Messiah’s right to rule. In response, God gives the nations the cosmic raspberry and ridicules their pride, claiming that he has set his king on Zion (verses 5–6). In verses 7–9, the psalmist recalls this coronation, noting especially God’s promise to make the nations his he…

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Pastor John shows how to use the acronym A.P.T.A.T. when we're tempted to fear:

This excerpt starts at the 33:00 mark of this week's sermon.