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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.

Sustained by Sovereign Grace

The Ground of Assurance

Sovereign, sustaining grace, purchased at the cross, is what orders all our trouble and pain and is the only way we will continue in the faith until the end.

Baptism and Church Membership: Questions and Answers (PDF)

Questions and Answers on Baptism and Membership

We Will All Stand Before the Judgment of God

Love your brother and help him get to heaven, instead of judging him and making it harder.

Ten Reasons to Listen to Questions Before You Answer

Meditation on Proverbs 18:13

Why is it a bad idea to give an answer too soon?

Gospel to the Nations, Generosity to the Poor

Missions Week

Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim…

More Clarifications on the Baptism and Membership Issue

How Important is Church Membership?

To help you keep thinking and praying about your vote on December 18 at the Annual All-Church Strategy Meeting concerning the Elder proposal on Baptism and Church Membership, here are a few more clarifying thoughts. Recall that the proposal is…

Conference Message

The Suffering of Christ and the Sovereignty of God

The Suffering of Christ and the Sovereignty of God

Only the life and death of Jesus can explain pain and suffering. His affliction gives purpose to ours.

Conference Message

Ten Aspects of God’s Sovereignty over Suffering and Satan’s Hand in It

Ten Aspects of God’s Sovereignty over Suffering and Satan’s Hand in It

God is unquestionably sovereign over our suffering — even over Satan’s futile ploys to ruin God’s elect.

Panel Discussion

Interview with John Piper

The following transcript is of an interview with John Piper conducted by Justin Taylor on October 7, 2005. Justin Taylor: Pastor John, you’ve become known as a champion of and a celebrator of God’s control of all things. But I…

If the Lord’s Day Is Sunday, Why Do We Have a Saturday Evening Service?

It is acceptable to conduct your worship service on a day other than the Lord's Day?

Is There a “Lord’s Day”?

Setting apart a day of rest testifies to a self-reliant world that our work does not save or define us, Christ does.

Minimizing the Bible?

Seeker-Driven Pastors and Radical Contextualization in Missions

I have been pondering a possible relationship between the minimizing of the Bible in so-called seeker-driven churches and in some of the radical forms of contextualization that have emerged in missions. Perhaps there isn’t any connection. But I wonder. The…

Being Loved by God for God’s Sake

Being Loved by God for God’s Sake

God loves us, not by making much of us, but by freeing us from our bondage to self so that we can make much of him.

Each One Should Be Fully Convinced in His Own Mind

There are a hundred things we can disagree on in which both convictions can be done to the glory of God.

Imperfect Love Fulfills the Law and Pleases the Perfection-Demanding God

Christians can love each other in a way that is never perfect in this life but which nevertheless pleases God and fulfills the law, even though the law demands perfection. How can this be? First, let me defend the claim…

Consider How to Stir Up One Another to Love

Don’t be a loner in the Christian life. God did not design it that way.

Baptism and Church Membership: The Recommendation from the Elders for Amending Bethlehem's Constitution

On behalf of the Council of Elders I made the first presentation of the proposed amendments to the church on Wednesday, September 7. The motion came from the elders to the church that the Constitution and By-Laws be amended in…

Where Is God? The Supremacy of Christ in an Age of Terror

Where Is God?

The Supremacy of Christ in an Age of Terror

God does not answer all our questions, but he doesn’t leave us in the dark either. His deepest and loudest response to our pain is the suffering and death of his Son.

Encouraging You to Come to the Desiring God National Conference on Suffering and the Sovereignty of God

Dear Bethlehem I am writing to encourage you to come to the third annual Desiring God National Conference at the Minneapolis Convention Center on October 7-9, 2005. The theme is Suffering and the Sovereignty of God. I believe this conference…

How to Welcome a Weak Brother

How can a church hold together when some of its members are so different from one another?

Was Katrina Intelligent Design?

God will always be guilty of high crimes for those who think they’ve never committed any.

Famine, Flood, and Failing Fortune

Every river and the seas do His sovereign bidding purely. This is comfort surely.

What the Elders Are Proposing: Amendments to the Constitution and By-Laws

I hope you can come hear me teach on Wednesday, September 7, at 6:30 pm. I will be putting a motion from the elders in Biblical and historical context. The issues are controversial, but very important. On August 9, 2005…

Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, Part 2

Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So…

Conference Message

When I Don’t Desire God (Part 6)

When I Don’t Desire God

Part 6

The fight of faith is really a fight for joy. Like any real battle, you shouldn’t enter the ring without strategies for victory.

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