God-centered resources from the ministry of John Piper

Bob Kauflin: Does God Sing?

Sinclair Ferguson on Penal Substitution

Paul Tripp on the Life and Death Power of Words

Learn more about this conference:

• John Piper's invitation
• Video Trailer
• Speakers
• Facebook Group
• Registration

We have 2 specials on books starting today.

First, a free copy of Taste and See will be added to orders from our store that are over $25.

Second, we're offering some of our overstock from past conference bookstores at greatly reduced prices. All titles are only $3.99.

Please call 1-888-346-4700. This sale is only available by phone and will continue while supplies last.

Here are the books that are available:

• A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers, D. A. Carson
• Foxe’s book of Martyrs, John Foxe
• The Dawkins Letters: Challenging Atheist Myths, David Robertson
• Judges: Such a Great Salvation, Dale Ralph Davis
• Mission Minded: A Tool for Planning Your Ministry around Christ's Mission, Peter Bolt
• One with a Shepherd: The Tears and Triumphs of a Ministry Marriage, Mary Somerville
• Craftsmen: Skillfully Leading Your Family for Christ, John Crotts
• Leading with Love, Alexander Strauch
• Fathers and Sons Stand Fast: In the Way of Truth, Douglas Bond
• Assured By God: Living in the Fullness of God’s Grace, Burk Parsons, Editor
• Walking as He Walked, Joel R. Beeke

Adapted from the sermon, "Bethlehem, Break Forth Like the Dawn."

In addition to the all-important need for faith and forgiveness and personal holiness, there are other needs that Isaiah—and Jesus—are passionately concerned about.

Here are 5 kinds of human need mentioned in Isaiah 58.

1) The need for freedom from bondage and oppression. Four times in Isaiah verse 6 and once in verse 9 he hits on this.

• Isaiah 58:6 - "Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?"
• Isaiah 58:9 - "...take away the yoke from your midst..."

2) The need for food.

• Isaiah 58:7 - "Is it not to share your bread with the hungry..."

3) The need for housing.

• Isaiah 58:7 - "...and bring the homeless poor into your house..."

4) The need for clothing.

• Isaiah 58:7 - "...when you see the naked, to cover him..."

5) The need for respect.

• Isaiah 58:9 - "...if you take away...the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness." In other words, stop accusing unjustly, belittling, and exploiting.

Isaiah preaches justice to the people of God, and Jesus displays justice to the people of God. And not only does he display the justice he expects, he suffers to cleanse and empower us, so our piety will produce a passion for social justice and practical mercy.

If it doesn’t, our piety is empty.

And if it does—if our devotion to Christ produces a passion for freeing the oppressed and feeding the hungry and housing the homeless and clothing the naked and putting away belittling talk and demeaning gestures—then we will break forth like the dawn.

As an event planner, I am often tempted to worry as I look toward upcoming conferences. Silly questions (that don't sound so silly in my head) come to mind and plague my heart:

• "Will people want to come? Will the conference be a blessing to them? Will the event be edifying and God-glorifying?"
• "Did we do enough promotion? What if no one finds out about it? What if the Google Ads don't work?"
• "What about all the things yet to be done? What if we can't get all the projects done on time?"
• "Will we meet budget? What if things end up costing more than we thought?"

And so I have to battle against the temptation to sin by casting my cares on the Lord through prayer and his Word.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (Philippians 4:6)

So how do we pray in such a way that the worry fades and the anxious thoughts dissolve into strong confidence in God? I think one answer is this: anchor our prayers in the promises of God.

Another way to say it: Anxiety-defeating prayers spring from promises.

As the DG staff met last week to pray for the upcoming DG 2008 National Conference, I tried to illustrate this in a simple way.

The Lord impressed on my heart the awesome promise of Isaiah 41:10.

• God is with us
• He is our God
• He is our strength
• He is our help
• He upholds us with his righteous right hand

What an amazing word! Our faith rests in God—who he is and all that he has promised to be. And from that mighty promise springs forth all of our prayers about the stuff written in red on that marker board. These are the things we would otherwise be tempted to worry about, but when our prayers are informed by good news like Isaiah 41:10, the silly voice of anxiety is silenced.

It was granted to me to carry away from my prison years on my bent back, which nearly broke beneath its load, this essential experience: how a human being becomes evil and how good. In the intoxication of youthful successes I had felt myself to be infallible, and I was therefore cruel. In the surfeit of power I was a murderer and an oppressor. In my most evil moments I was convinced that I was doing good, and I was well supplied with systematic arguments. It was only when I lay there on rotting prison straw that I sensed within myself the first stirrings of good. Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either—but right through every human heart—and through all human hearts.... That is why I turn back to the years of my imprisonment and say, sometimes to the astonishment of those about me: “Bless you, prison!” I...have served enough time there. I nourished my soul there, and I say without hesitation: “Bless you, prison, for having been in my life!” (The Gulag Archipelago: 1918-1956, Vol. 2, 615-617)

When Sam Crabtree (DG Board member and Executive Pastor at Bethlehem Baptist) recently asked us what he needed to do to get some DWYL stickers, Lukas Naugle replied that Sam needed to write a song about what a deacon does, since they've been discussing that at Bethlehem lately.

Sam, never one to back down from a challenge, has penned what I’m sure will be another classic hymn of the church:

A Mighty Deacon

(to the tune of “A Mighty Fortress”)

A mighty deacon is our man;
He does what others think he can.
Qualifications he doth meet.
Electing him they thinketh sweet.
And so they cast their vote;
They do not rock the boat.
Their craft and pow’r are great:
Quorum! Electorate!
That deacon look is in his eye.

Did he is his own strength confide,
That deacon would be freakin’.
But what’s a deacon spozed to do?
His job is what we’re tweakin’.
Dost ask what tasks they be?
Might they be two? Or three?
How shall he play the game?
From age to age the same:
With deacon look there in his eye.

And though this world with deacons filled
Should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for votes have willed:
Electing deacons to us.
If you’re a deacon, deek!
If you’re a beacon, beak!
Let goods and kindred go,
And rationale also.
The deacon is forever.

This is a guest post from a friend of ours who is a missionary doctor working with Muslims. It is a part of his guest series, "Day-to-day Observations from Asia."

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My wife had a doctor's appointment on a recent Saturday morning. She was well into pregnancy and the visits were becoming more frequent. I went along because I hadn't met the doctor yet, and because I wanted to make sure I understood my role in the upcoming delivery.

The doctor was late so we ended up sitting in the waiting room for over an hour with dozens of other patients.

Luckily for us, there was an educational TV channel on to keep us well-informed. Unluckily for us, the information was about the Sauna Belt.

The TV was showing an American infomericial made in Southern California (no offense to my friends there).

Apparently, people in Southern California are all young, blond, attractive, and find numerous articles of clothing unnecessary. Most importantly, they all keep their unrealistic figures by wearing a Sauna Belt.

The whole thing was dubbed into Hindi. Most of the clichés did not translate well. (You’ll have to trust me on that one.)

The Sauna Belt, which this infomerical was trying to sell, is a 12-inch-wide plastic and vinyl belt that you wrap around your stomach. It's battery-powered to create heat. Lots of heat. Allegedly, this will help you lose weight. You will become beautiful, thin, happy and fulfilled.

It was 100 degrees in the waiting room. All of the patients were dripping with sweat, yet almost everybody was studying the idea with apparent seriousness. There was a toll-free number where Hindi speaking operators would take your credit card information, and arrange for a courier to send you this thing.

My wife and I found it rather amusing. Why, exactly, when one is already drenched with sweat, would one want to wrap oneself in hot plastic and vinyl? We tried, mostly with success, to hide our giggles.

You will be happy to know there was also a toll-free number for Bangladesh, in case any Bangladeshi's want to order the Sauna Belt.

Having just preached three messages on the relationship between baptism and church membership, here is a small follow up. Paul Jewett’s compelling book on infant baptism gives a clear and persuasive interpretation to a puzzling text.

Here’s the text and the interpretation.

“If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.” (1Corinthians 7:13-14).

 According to the interpretation we shall suggest, in 1 Corinthians 7:14 Paul has in view the sanctity of lawful matrimony and the purity of the resulting offspring. When he says that the unbeliever is “sanctified” by the believer, he is simply referring to the marriage covenant by which the unbeliever has been consecrated and set apart for the exclusive fellowship of the believer in the bond of marriage. He writes to assure his Corinthian converts that this exclusive propriety, which the marriage covenant seals, is in no way abrogated by any disparity of religious commitment, great as this disparity may be. Christians, then, should never fear defilement through cohabitation with an unbelieving spouse: indeed, such defilement would imply that their children were also defiled, which they grant is not the case. In other words, he reasons from what is allowed to what is in doubt. If that relationship were unclean from which the children came, then the children would be unclean too; but everyone agrees they are not. Rather, they are “holy” in the sense that they are not contaminated with the taint of illegitimacy. Therefore, the union of  which they were born is likewise above suspicion and reproach. (Infant Baptism and the Covenant of Grace, 133)

Dear Friends at Bethlehem and Beyond,

I’m writing to invite you to an unusual conference. This Fall’s Desiring God National Conference is one of the most extraordinary we have conceived. Our expectations are very high that its effect will be mind-sharpening, heart-humbling, mouth-seasoning, backbone-strengthening, and Christ-acclaiming. Our theme is The Power of Words and the Wonder of God...

Read the rest of the article.

Watch some Q&A with the speakers at our upcoming conference:

Bob Kauflin on the Human Voice in Congregational Worship

Dan Taylor on Story in the Bible

Paul Tripp on the Life and Death Power of Words

Sinclair Ferguson on Imputed Righteousness

Our grandson, Orison, is three years old. Judging by his interests during our Sunday afternoon backyard picnic, I would have said he was aspiring to stardom as an ace batter or as a trumpet player in a marching band (using the wiffle bat as his trumpet).

It would be fine if he achieved either of those goals. But I smiled when I read his mom’s blog this morning and glimpsed much deeper, higher, and broader possibilities: “Mom, I’m going to Kenya.”

That was make-believe, but games reflect a child’s desires and interests. My smile reached deep into my heart when I read Molly’s yearning that God make her ready for whatever he has for Orison in future years.

May we all pray with Molly that God help us to surrender all worldly claims on our children’s lives.

Jonathan Edwards put it this way:

God doubtless will entertain his saints according to the state of the King of heaven, when he comes to entertain them at the feast that he has provided.... We read of Ahasuerus, a great king, when he made a feast unto all his princes and servants, he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom, and the power of his excellent majesty, and gave drink in vessels of gold, and royal wine in abundance, according to the state of the king [Esther 1]. So doubtless the happiness of the saints in heaven shall be so great, that the very majesty of God shall be exceedingly shown in the greatness, and magnificence, and fullness of their enjoyments and delights. (The Miscellanies, 833-1152, 189)

My theology is the conviction that this quote from St. Augustine tells us more about God’s good design than our bad depravity.

The desire for happiness is not in myself alone or in a few friends, but is found in everybody. If we did not know this with certain knowledge, we would not want it with determination in our will. But what does this mean?

If two people are asked if they want to serve in the army, it may turn out that one of them replies that he would like to do so, while the other would not. But if they are asked whether they would like to be happy, each would at once say without the least hesitation that he would choose to be so. And the reason why one would wish to be a soldier and the other would not is only that they want to be happy. Is it then the case that one person finds joy in one way, another in a different way?

What all agree upon is that they want to be happy, just as they would concur, if asked, that they want to experience joy and would call that joy the happy life. If one person pursues it in one way, and another in a different way, yet there is one goal which all are striving to attain, namely to experience joy. (Confessions, 198)

This is a guest post from a friend of ours who is a missionary doctor working with Muslims. It is a part of his guest series, "Day-to-day Observations from Asia."

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I was studying Psalm 43 with a friend in Urdu the other day. We came to where it says in English, "I will go to the altar of God."

As I read along in Urdu, I did not know the word for "altar," so I asked my friend what it was. He didn't know how to translate the word into English, but he gave the following English description: "It is God's bloody place, where the throats of the animals are slit for sacrifice."

Of course. It's an altar.

Sometimes I think of an altar as the carpeted stairs and dais at the front of the church meetinghouse. But it's not. It is a bloody place—a place of sacrifice and death.

I need to remember that.

In this month’s Lausanne World Pulse there is a fascinating article on how God is sending African Christians to re-establish the Evangelical church in secularized Europe.

Today, some of the largest congregations in Europe—Western and Eastern—are either founded by Africans or are led by people of African descent.

A renewal movement is underway as these immigrant churches challenge the moral relativism of European culture.

I asked Pastor Mike Gunn, Director of Acts 29 International, for his take. He writes,

I think authentic, contextualized African theology, imbued with God’s missional Spirit can help the west regain its biblical moorings, but I fear that the prosperity gospel will taint much of what Africa is bringing to the table....

I hope to give [church-planters] a foundation to unlock biblical truths that relate to what God has already done in the midst of their beautiful culture. Our goal is to see the gospel redeem their culture and their cities.

International Outreach is partnering with Acts 29 to bring solid theological resources to church leaders in Africa and Europe so that they might proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Some of the finer points in Scripture regarding Jesus' tomb—like the fact that it was new and that it belonged to a rich man—have helped archaeologists match their dig findings with the gospel record, thus affirming its reliability.

Leen Ritmeyer, the archaeological and architectural reconstruction editor for the ESV Study Bible, shares some of these connections in a recent interview he did with Justin Taylor.

Paul Tripp, a speaker at our upcoming conference, talks about how bad language is not about vocabulary so much as it is about the motives of our hearts:

And here are 3 more interview clips from some of our other conference speakers:

Dan Taylor on How Stories Shape People

Bob Kauflin: Is Music Without Words a Language?

Sinclair Ferguson on Gospel Indicatives and Imperatives

Learn more about this conference:

• John Piper's invitation
• Video Trailer
• Speakers
• Facebook Group
• Registration

Short answer: No. God never says anything like: “I am not God.” Or: “You are not sinful.” Or: “Christ is not a great Savior.” Or: “If you believe in Christ, you will not be saved.” Or: “It is foolish to follow my counsel.” Or: “My word is unreliable.”

But God does ordain that lying happen as part of his judgment on the guilty. That is why the question comes up...

Read the rest of the article.

Jason Kovacs is the Director of Ministry Development for The ABBA Fund. He also blogs about orphan care and adoption and is on the steering committee for the Together for Adoption Conference.

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We weren’t sure if we would be matched with a birthmother a few months prior to the due-date or if we would get a phone call that a baby had been born and the brave young mother was ready to immediately place her child for adoption.

Months went by and we finally got a phone call, but it wasn’t for a baby.

God had a two-year old boy and an eight-month old girl for us. The social worker asked if we were interested and we said “Yes!” and drove down to Florida to meet our children.

At the adoption agency, the first person I met was my son toddling around the corner. He walked up to me and grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the door. He wanted out of that place!

What I believe he wanted even more than that was a daddy.

That is the case today with millions of children around the world. UNICEF estimates that there are over 132 million orphans in the world today living without a permanent family. In the United States alone, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says, there are over 129,000 children waiting for a daddy and mommy. There are also many mothers with unexpected pregnancies who want to choose adoption instead of abortion.

Many of the children overseas must fight all by themselves for their very lives. Others are cared for in orphanages. The orphaned children in America will fight for their futures as well: roughly 2% will receive a university degree and 84% will have their own children within a few years of aging out of the foster-care system (source).

With all these parentless children, it is no side note that God is a “Father to the fatherless” (Psalm 68:5). He has made adoption the apex of the Gospel. His spiritual enemies are now his very sons and daughters through the Cross.

And God calls us, his adopted family, to be a part of his care for the fatherless. At the core of God’s nature is a Father’s heart that we are to reflect. Scripture is clear that practical care for orphans is fundamental to the mission of the church.

In Psalm 10:18 we are commanded to “do justice to the fatherless.” And Isaiah tells us to “Defend the cause of the fatherless” (1:17). James writes, “religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to care for orphans…in their affliction” (1:27).

Surely this means not only caring temporarily for the needs of orphans, but also permanently caring for them through adoption.

We have an incredible opportunity in adoption to live out God’s compassion and so eternally change the life of a child.

A year after we adopted, my wife gave birth to our third child, a beautiful baby girl. The wonder and beauty of becoming a parent through birth and adoption are incomparable and yet each is just as sweet and amazing and wonderful.

I encourage any of you who are praying about growing your family to consider adoption as a way of magnifying the “Father of the fatherless.”

And for those of you who aren’t called to adopt there many other ways to care for orphans such as foster-care, financially supporting those who are adopting, visiting orphanages, sponsoring a child, and praying. 

The question will never be whether you should care for orphans. The question is how you will care for them and in doing so reflect the compassion of God for the least of these.

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If you are interested in knowing more about adoption and orphan care please visit Cry of the Orphan. 

If you would like information on how you can financially help bring children into Christian homes or start an adoption fund at your church, please visit The ABBA Fund.

For information on the connection between our adoption by God and our adoption of children please visit Together for Adoption. We will be hosting our first conference on adoption this November.

Because the Psalms are so personal, they often do not represent the mood or the situation we are in when we read them. For example, a couple mornings ago I read Psalm 142. It says,

There is none who takes notice of me; no refuge remains to me; no one cares for my soul. (v. 4)

And,

I am brought very low! (v. 6)

I do not share this lament at this time. There are many who care for my soul. And I am not presently very low. I have known times more like this. But it is not true of me now.

So what should we do when we read psalms that do not represent our present experience?

1. Realize that somewhere in the world there are Christians who right now are in this situation. Pray with them and for them.
2. Realize that you will be in this situation sooner or later, and build this pattern of prayer into your life as preparation.
3. Get to know God by the way the godly go to him and what they say to him and about him in such times.
4. Give thanks for the relative peace and joy you have in this fragile season.

This Week's Sermon: "What Is Baptism, and How Important Is It?"

(Part 2 of a 3-part series on baptism and church membership )

The drama of baptism gets its meaning from the gospel.

It pictures the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. It's not mainly about ritual or tradition but Jesus and his magnificent saving work of dying for sinners and rising again in triumph.

Baptism is:

1. a command of Jesus,
2. that expresses union with him,
3. by immersion in water,
4. in the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit,
5. for believers only.
   

A sense of the continuity of the old and new covenants leads some people to baptize infants. But the argument for infant baptism doesn't work textually or covenantally.

Textually, the apostle Paul makes plain that baptism is for those who have been raised with Jesus through faith (Col. 2:12) and are sons of God through faith (Gal. 3:26–27). Baptism is not for those who don't have faith in Jesus—whether adult unbelievers or infants.

Covenantally, while the old-covenant sign of circumcision was administered to males after their physical birth into the national people of God, the new-covenant sign of baptism is to be administered to both males and females after their spiritual birth into the international people of God. New birth by the gospel now provides entrance into the people of God, not physical birth, and is marked by believer baptism, not circumcision.

Both baptism and local-church membership are serious and important. May God grant us the wisdom of Christ not to minimize either.

You now have the option to download CDG Sunday school curricula in addition to ordering hard copies of our workbooks and leader’s editions. 

These new downloadable resources increase your flexibility by giving you the option of printing a week or an entire year at a time. They are also priced significantly lower than our printed resources.

Also, three more curricula are now available in the ESV as well as the NIV. (If you are an existing customer and would like to convert your NIV curriculum to ESV, please call 888.346.4700 for a conversion pricing).