“Our only hope for loving our enemy is to be a new creation in Christ. And our only hope for being a new creation in Christ is to be reconciled to God through the death of his Son” (p. x).
“So take heed how you hear! Hear with spiritual ears, not just the ears on your head. And hear with an honest and good heart, not a deceptive and evil heart” (p. 12).
"Brainerd's life is a vivid, powerful testimony to the truth that God can and does use weak, sick, discouraged, beat-down, lonely, struggling saints, who cry to him day and night, to accomplish amazing things for his glory" (p. 9).
"When Charles Wesley taught us to sing, 'He breaks the power of cancelled sin,' he was teaching the fundamental truth about how the cross and our battle with sin are related. The cross cancels sins for all who believe on Jesus. Then on the basis of that cancellation of our sins, the power of our actual sinning is broken. It’s not the other way around" (p. 6).
"Are you sure that God wants you to continue your life in this comparatively church-saturated land? Or might he be calling you to fill up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ, to fall like a grain of wheat into some distant ground and die, to hate your life in this world and so to keep it forever and bear much fruit?" (p. 21).
"The Bible was always paramount: 'Lord, thou hast given me a determination to take up no principle at second-hand; but to search for everything at the pure fountain of thy word.' ... That is one of the main reasons why it is so profitable to read Fuller to this very day: He is so freshly biblical" (p. 9).
"I confess to you, that if I can but live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by Cannibals or by worms" (p. 6).
"One of the reasons I believe the Bible and love the Bible is because it deals with the hardest issues in life. It doesn’t sweep painful things under the rug — or complex things or confusing things or provoking things or shocking things or controversial things" (p. 7).
“The goal of missions is the worldwide worship of the God-man by his redeemed people from every tribe, tongue, and nation. The outcome of missions is all peoples delighting to praise Jesus. And the motivation for missions is the enjoyment that his people have in him. Missions aims at, brings about, and is fueled by the worship of Jesus” (p. 14).
“It’s precisely the inexpressible something that poetry is meant to help us see or feel. If it were merely expressible— if there were nothing ineffable about it—there would be no need for a poem. But everywhere in the Bible we meet reality that exceeds our comprehension. We must find a way to at least point or suggest or hint. It’s too wonderful—or too something—to keep to ourselves. So it is with the book of Esther. This book never mentions God. But he is everywhere – the invisible hand that moves empires for the sake of his people” (p. 8).
"Preparing well for marriage means asking each other all the hard questions" (p. 1).
"We are beggars — pray-ers. That is how we live, and that is how we study, so that God gets the glory and we get the grace" (p. 35).
"What I want most for Christmas this year is to join you (and many others) in seeing Christ in all his fullness and that we together be able to love what we see with a love far beyond our own half-hearted human capacities" (p. vi).
"There is a professional way to crucify. But there is no professional way to be crucified. There were professionals on Golgotha. They were experts in torture. But Jesus was not one of them" (John Piper, Chapter 1).
“There are a thousand ways to magnify Christ in life and death. None should be scorned. All are important. But none makes the worth of Christ shine more brightly than sacrificial love for other people in the name of Jesus. If Christ is so valuable that the hope of his immediate and eternal fellowship after death frees us from the self-serving fear of dying and enables us to lay down our lives for the good of others, such love magnifies the glory of Christ like nothing else in the world” (p 15).
John Piper shares reflections over previous chapters of life, and shares the hopes and concerns he carries into a new chapter of life and ministry.
John Piper introduces George Herbert, the Christian poet.
John Piper shares advice on how readers should think about their craft and audience.
John Piper explains why the historicity of Adam matters.
John Piper explains why the historicity of Adam matters for world missions.
John Piper preached to 60,000 students in the Georgia Dome for Passion 2013.
John Piper shares about his takeaways from Passion 2013 and offers one particular lesson for everyone involved in leading student ministries.
John Piper shares his thoughts on why Martin Luther King, Jr. was an effective leader.
John Piper talks about his involvement in anti-abortion demonstrations in the 1980s and 1990s.
John Piper explains what he means when he writes “safety is a myth.”
John Piper explains how we can discern the difference between right and wrong risks.
John Piper talks about God’s God-centeredness
John Piper explains why exercise matters.
John Piper explains the connection between happiness and holiness.
John Piper explains why Christians should care for creation.
John Piper explains the connection between theological orthodoxy and joy.
John Piper talks about how we should think about the miracles of Jesus.
John Piper talks about the enduring lessons on vocation he gleaned from Dorothy Sayers.
John Piper talks about how to fight the evil of pornography.
Are there times in the Christian life when — for whatever reason — God chooses to withhold his presence from us, thus nullifying all hope that we would experience affection in him?
How much of joy in God is willed by the Christian? And how of joy in God is a gift received from God? And how do you balance that distinction between willing the joy and receiving joy as a gift from God?
What does Christian Hedonism offer a depressed Christian?
Sebastian, a youth leader in Switzerland, asks for a list of key priorities he should be communicating to his students.
John Piper explains definite atonement.
Eric from Iowa City emails to ask how he can start writing poetry. Pastor John provides advice and a short list of book recommendations.
What does godly leadership look like? And what does it aim at achieve?
Is it okay to come away from Bible reading without a life principle or a specific point of application?
We ask Pastor John how he maintained his personal awe of God for three decades of ministry. Did he ever burn out? Did he go through dry seasons? And, if he did, how did he get out?
In this episode we ask Pastor John Piper about preaching joy in God during seasons when he didn’t experience personal joy in God. And did he disclose his personal condition in those sermons?
What role does the vast field of art play in the church? And in a nutshell can you give us a theology of art?
