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John Piper

John Piper is founder and teacher of Desiring God and chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books, including Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist and most recently Foundations for Lifelong Learning: Education in Serious Joy.

The Cost of Knowing & Showing Christ

I suspect Paul’s experience when he was caught up into paradise, while not absolutely normative, is at least a caution: Count the cost before you want to know Christ deeply or show him clearly “He heard things that cannot be…

Advice to Missionaries (and All of Us)

As I was working on the fifth volume of The Swans are Not Silent series about the lives of William Tyndale, Adoniram Judson, and John G. Paton, I found a letter written by Judson from Burma on June 25, 1832…

How Can I Speak More Boldly About Christ?

John Piper explains why strategy is only secondary when sharing Christ.

How A Roman Catholic Anti-Calvinist Can Serve Today’s Poet-Calvinists

Thoughts on G.K. Chesterton and Orthodoxy.

Why Can't I Overcome My Bitterness and Anger?

John Piper says that feeling angry is often the result of not feeling forgiven.

Conference Message

William Tyndale: A Life Transformed by God’s Word

William Tyndale died to both laziness and self-confidence in his driving passion to see the Scriptures translated into the common language of the people.

Conference Message

Fighting for Faith with God’s Word

Christians have tremendous hope in this life, but that doesn’t mean living for Christ is easy. We must take up the sword of the Spirit and fight for faith every day.

There Are No Surprise Sins

One of the mercies of God that keeps me believing in him is that none of the events of history or of the news today, which seem to contradict God’s character, contradict God’s Word. In other words, there are no…

Conference Message

Deal with Death

Deal with Death

Jesus faced death, died, and transformed it forever so that we can face death with confidence and hope — not fear.

Songs That Shape the Heart and Mind

Songs That Shape the Heart and Mind

The Psalms instruct our minds and our hearts. They combine deep doctrine with full emotion.

Should Christians Ever Join a Labor Strike?

John Piper describes why striking, though at times permissible, may not be the best way to enact change in the workplace.

A Love for Missions Starts at Home

There is a relationship between the sermon series that just ended at Bethlehem concerning our vision for the next generation and the book I just finished writing on the missionary sacrifices of William Tyndale, Adoniram Judson, and John Paton When…

4 Books from this Writing Leave

Thank you for praying for me on my four week writing leave. It's over today. It was more productive than I thought it would be. Hence my heartfelt thanks. Four projects were more or less completed This Momentary Marriage: A…

Why Are Calvinists So Negative?

John Piper considers three reasons why a Calvinist might sound negative.

What Does "God-Centered" Mean?

At Bethlehem Baptist Church and at Desiring God we use the term “God-centered” a lot. Here is one simple way to tell what we mean and test yourself to see if you are God-centered The psalmist describes the motivation of…

When Should We Confess Sins Publicly?

John Piper gives his guideline for when we should confess our sins to others.

A TBI Update and Announcement

Dear friends of TBI With trembling gratefulness in my heart, I look at the remarkable cluster of visionary ministries growing like fruit on the tree of Bethlehem Baptist Church. We are a kind of mission sending agency with…

Why Did God Permit Slavery?

John Piper explains why slavery, even though it was justifiable under the old covenant, should be abolished.

It's Never Too Late to Keep Asking

One of the greatest hope-killers is that you have tried for so long to change and have not succeeded. Now you look back and think: What’s the use? Even if I could experience a breakthrough, there would be so little…

How Do You Decide Which Books to Read?

John Piper lists three factors that help him decide what to read next.

Why Do You Speak Against Abortion?

John Piper gives his two main reasons for opposing abortion.

How a Grandmother Knits

For Noël on Mother’s Day She sits, the needles in her hands looping and hooking her heart into this little blue blanket, and without any pink strands stitches closed her wounds.

Changes in Evangelicalism Over the Last 40 Years

Wheaton Alumni Symposium

Several changes have taken place in the broader evangelical community over the past 40 years, some of which have been positive and some of which have been negative.

Do People Bore You?

Do People Bore You?

I'm working on a book on the new birth. The final chapter is designed to give encouragements for personal evangelism. I just added a quote by C. S. Lewis that I love. Here’s the whole section to help you move…

What Is Evangelistic Sacramentalism?

John Piper suggests ways to share the gospel without promoting false assurances of salvation.

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