In my SS class, we are using Paul Tripp’s What Did You Expect?
While I was out at the Pastor’s Conference, I started showing Piper’s Marriage Series from 2007 entitled, Marriage, Christ and Covenant. Here are the two sermons we watched:
Staying Married Is Not About Staying In Love, Part 1
Staying Married Is Not About Staying In Love, Part 2
I will be attending the 2010 Desiring God Pastor’s Conference in Minneapolis, MN. I am leaving Saturday AM and hoping to make in to Minneapolis in time for evening service at Bethlehem Baptist Church. On Sunday AM, we are planning on attending Sovereign Grace Fellowship in Bloomington.
The conference starts on Monday with a Pre-Conference Seminar featuring Paul Tripp. Then we get rolling through Wednesday and come back on Thursday.
Here’s the trailer for the conference:
You can catch updates on the DG Blog and I will try to get something up here.
Each year, Piper begins the year with a sermon on prayer followed up by a sermon encouraging Bethlehem to be passionate for God’s Word. I had a chance to listen to last Sunday’s sermon, Holding Fast The Word of Life in 2010, and was encouraged and challenged to be passionate for God’s Word.
One part was when Piper was showing how the world influences believers so that they think God’s Word is boring. Piper’s response “Avatar is boring.” His point was that when the Almighty God of the universe speaks, it is never a boring thing. Great point and really used by God to awaken me to the sinful reality of my own heart. Listen, watch, or read and be encouraged.
As we continue with our Week of Prayer, I thought I would commend John Piper’s Sunday message, which was also on prayer and is now online.
Entitled Praying in the Closet and in the Spirit, this sermon explores the tension between prayer being free and disciplined. You can read, watch, or listen to or download it.
Last night, in my Wed PM discussion group, we were discussing part 1, chapter 7 of D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones book Life in Christ. On p.80, MLJ says:
We have said that communion [with God] means realizing the presence of God, and there is a basic minimum in this matter, that those who can claim that they are in communion with God and say they have fellowship with Him must be able to say, ‘I have known that I was in the presence of God who graciously give me tokens of this; He gives me manifestations.’ You can see the dangerous thing I am saying, how it opens the door to fanaticism and excesses; but we have no fellowship with God unless in some way we have known that He was there, that He gave His gracious intimation of His nearness and His presence. He also speaks in His own way to the soul, not always with an audible voice, but He speaks. He gives us consolation, He creates within us holy desires and longings; it is He who does that.
My mind immediately went to the many-linked-to story from yesterday from Justin Taylor celebrating and remembering John Piper’s call to ministry 30 years earlier. God does speak in amazing ways often. Praise God that we aren’t left wondering if we have fellowship with God but that He makes Himself known by speaking.
A friend sent me an email the other day highlighting the following (from Piper’s sermon The Love of Human Praise as the Root of Unbelief):
7 Reasons We Need Small Groups
He has given pastors to the church “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-12). I believe in what I do. And I believe that it is not enough. Here are the seven reasons I gave the small group leaders.1) The impulse avoid painful growth by disappearing safely into the crowd in corporate worship is very strong.
2) The tendency toward passivity in listening to a sermon is part of our human weakness.
3) Listeners in a big group can more easily evade redemptive crises. If tears well up in your eyes in a small group, wise friends will gently find out why. But in a large gathering, you can just walk away from it.
4) Listeners in a large group tend to neglect efforts of personal application. The sermon may touch a nerve of conviction, but without someone to press in, it can easily be avoided.
5) Opportunity for questions leading to growth is missing. Sermons are not dialogue. Nor should they be. But asking questions is a key to understanding and growth. Small groups are great occasions for this.
6) Accountability for follow-through on good resolves is missing. But if someone knows what you intended to do, the resolve is stronger.
7) Prayer support for a specific need or conviction or resolve goes wanting. O how many blessings we do not have because we are not surrounded by a band of friends who pray for us.So please know that when this small-group ministry of our church is lifted up, I don’t think it’s an optional add-on to basic Christian living. I think it is normal, healthy, needed, New Testament Christianity. I pray that you will be part of one of these small groups or that you will get the training and start one. This is the main strategy through which our pastors and elders shepherd the flock at Bethlehem.
This was so well put and a great needed reminder. If you desire more info on Crestview’s small groups, check out that portion of our website.
In a recent commentary, John Piper calls us to a diligent intake of God’s Word which engage the heart and which spring from a head that is delving into deep truth. The main driving force of both is that unless we are deepening our roots in understanding God’s Word our hearts will grow stale and our minds will grow stagnant. Good words indeed.
John Piper replies with a Biblical answer:
“Tell people the good news from a heart of love and a life of service.”
(From Finally Alive, p.178)
In a vintage Piperesque sermon, John Piper calls us to receive from God the divine purposes He has in allowing us to face a recession. (He gave this sermon the Sunday we were there). Enjoy.
John Piper thinks so.