After introducing the hostile context in 1 Peter, John Piper lays out pivotal principles for reading and understanding the Bible. The meaning of “meaning” is massive and elusive. Before we can agree on what a verse of the Bible means, we have to define our terms and linger over several key texts.

The Bible’s book for people who feel like exiles on this earth is 1 Peter. Suffering of all kinds unsettles us and makes us long to be home with the Lord. In thirty minutes, John Piper opens the first verses of 1 Peter, highlighting who Peter is and explaining what it means to be an exile of heaven.

Following Jesus Christ will make us exiles in the world we live. That does not mean we should try and make ourselves exiles part from the Holy Spirit. In eleven minutes, John Piper confronts modern Pharisees. He also tries to help people who struggle to think like the biblical authors.

Peter begins his letter not merely with statements of truth, but with worship. He rejoices over the realities he has seen about who God is and what he has done. In twenty minutes, John Piper walks through these first verses to understand the role of the Bible in our new birth and daily worship.

What does the new birth mean for our lives today? The glorious effects do not wait for heaven, but bring light back into everything we experience here on earth, even the hardest trials. In twenty-five minutes, John Piper reminds us of all that is promised to those who hope in Jesus Christ.

What makes you think you will be a Christian tomorrow morning? In 15 minutes, John Piper builds a foundation for the perseverance of your faith through all the world’s temptations and all of life’s trails. Your faith will not fail because God holds your faith and is utterly committed to keeping you.

How can someone have unshakeable joy in Jesus and deal with the painful realities of life? In fifteen minutes, John Piper embraces and explains the necessary tension between joy and sorrow in the Christian life. With every trial we face, God has given us a specific grace designed for that trouble.

Your faith is the most valuable thing you will ever have or experience in this life. In twenty minutes, John Piper explains just how valuable your faith is, and why it means so much to God. He also paints a picture of what’s coming at the end of all our waiting, when our faith finally becomes sight.

The vast majority of what you do flows from what you value. In less than twenty minutes, John Piper grounds and inspires our hope in Jesus, and then calls us to follow God’s path to new desires and passions. Hope is the enabling power for our growth in godliness.

God calls us to live in a way that says Jesus’s blood is infinitely valuable. In fifteen minutes, John Piper tells us how.

When you were born again, what happened? In twelve minutes, John Piper explains how God brings about the miracle of the new birth.

In this session, John Piper takes up the question: How does the absolute sovereignty of God relate to the disobedience and rebellion of nonbelievers?

John Piper begins this session with God’s purpose in saving anyone he saves. He ends with a few words about serving and suffering in a broken and ungodly world.