Look at the Book (John Piper)

I'm really excited about this:

The Thrill of Ministry

I think, again, that it is essential to the preacher's success that he thoroughly enjoy his work. I mean that in the actual doing of it, not only in it's idea. No man to whom the details of his task are repulsive can constantly do his task well, however full he may be of it's spirit. He may make one bold dash at it and carry it out over all his disgusts, but he can not work on at it year after year, day after day. Therefore, count it not merely a perfectly legitimate pleasure, count it an essential element of your power if you can feel a simple delight in what you have to do as a minister, in the fervour of writing, the glow of speaking, in standing before men and moving them, in contact with the young. The more thoroughly you enjoy it, the better you will do it all.

This is all true of preaching. It's highest joy is in the great ambition that is set before it, the glorifying of the Lord, and the saving of the souls of men. No other joy on earth compares with that. The ministry that does not feel joy is dead. But in behind that highest joy, beating in humble union with it, as the healthy body thrills in sympathy with the deep thoughts and pure desires of mind and soul, the best ministers have always been aware of another pleasure which belonged to the very doing of the work itself. As we read the lives of the most effective preachers of the past, or as we meet the men who are powerful preachers of the Word today, we feel how certainly and how deeply the very exercise of their ministry delights them.

Phillip Brooks, Lectures on Preaching, Pp 53-54, 82-83

Quoted in John Piper, Desiring God, Pp 109-110

Isn't that a freeing thought? The thrill i get as i pick my sermon notes off the printer, walk to teen church and preach, or sit down and open the Bible with a student, or pull a commentary off the shelf, or see a kid baptised isn't the icing on the cake! It's the meal itself. It's not a nice extra, but a necessary part of ministry. 

So a minsters aim is to be as happy as he can, as his pursuit of joy in God issues in love and service of his church. 

Saturday

Saturday must've been the worst day. Trying to quietly observe the Sabbath, whilst making sense of yesterday's events would've been a struggle, to sat the least. We know that at least two of the disciples were making escape plans, maybe others were planning to leave at sunset, hoping their old lives would except them back.

But today, Easter Saturday, we know only hope because of the cross, when the disciples knew only despair. Hear these words from John Piper, from 'Faith in Future Grace.'

God strips every pain of it's destructive power. You must believe this, or you will not thrive, or maybe even survive as a Christian, in the pressures and temptations of modern life.

There is so much pain, so many setbacks and discouragements, so many controversies and pressures. I do not know where i would turn if i did not believe that almighty God is taking every setback and every discouragement and every controversy and every pressure and every pain and stripping it of it's destructive power, and making it work for the enlargement of my joy in God.

The world is ours, life is ours. Death is ours. God reigns so supremely on behalf of His people that everything that faces us in a lifetime of obedience and ministry will be subdued by the mighty hand of God and made the servant of our holiness and our everlasting joy in God.

If God is for us, and if God is God, then it is true that nothing can succeed against us. He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all will infallibly and freely with Him give us all things - all things - the world, life, death, and God Himself.

Romans 8:32 is a precious friend. The promise of God's future grace is overwhelming. But all important is the foundation. Here is a place to stand against all obstacles. God did not spare His own Son! How much more, then, will He spare nor effort to give me all that Christ died to purchase - all things, all good?

It is as sure as the certainty He loved His Son.

Future Grace, John Piper, P114

The Innkeeper by John Piper

Watch as John Piper reads his advent poem 'the innkeeper.' This is as beautiful as it is powerful, and at times humourous. Take some time today to watch it, and to reflect, as we celebrate the incarnation and it's implications.

Every Morning: War

True for me, true for John Piper, probably true, to a greater or lesser extent, for you:



Every Morning There’s War in the Piper Household from Desiring God on Vimeo.

Amusement and Edification

These two videos are for your amusement and edification...i'm sure you can work out which one is which!

Malachi and Mark

Can i recommend two sermon series for your iPod? These have kept/are keeping me company as i mow the lawn and walk around our new neighbourhood. A series on Malachi by John Piper has helped me tremendously.

Pastor and author Jared C. Wilson is preaching through Mark in his church are the moment. These are some great messages!

Malachi: The Son of Righteousness will rise, John Piper.

Mark, Jared C. Wilson