What?!

I didn't know John Piper wrote poetry too? I just read his poem about Mary Magdalene (part 1)… it's beautiful!

You Are Free Indeed

I was looking through old journals for questions (my little brother just had a "stump the cell group leaders" night, and it made me want to go back and look for all my old unanswered questions!), when I came across this section of my Bible study/prayer. I think it would benefit me to have this up here on the blog, kind of as a form of accountability, so that when I go back to look through blog posts and I see this, I remember what I want the cry of my heart to be. So bear with me as I selfishly use this blog for my own personal (spiritual) gain.

8/30/08

John 13:27, 30—Judas went out IMMEDIATELY to betray Jesus. I could have been that person that immediately went out to betray Jesus. But instead He SAVED ME, and I am set free from the lies, sin, and corruption and darkness of this world… now I am free to OBEY Him, SERVE Him, LOVE Him wholeheartedly, and immediately. Do I? No. Too often I go back, like a sick dog (Proverbs 26:11), to what I've been set free from. God, Lord Jesus, break me of my sin; help me to always be broken at the sight of the cross; to hate my own sin because of what it did, what it does to You. Then when I hate my own sin, when I understand what I've been freed from, I'll be able to glory in the cross all the more… THANK YOU FOR THE CROSS!

If the Son has set you free, you are free indeed! (John 8:36)

SINCE the Son has set ME free, I AM FREE indeed!

I hope this encourages you to journal if you don't, and I hope it encourages you to look back through your journal if you do keep one! And I'm not talking about a "Dear Diary" sort of thing—I mean keeping a journal of everything that you are learning, thinking, praying, enduring spiritually.

The Heavens Are Telling of the Glory of God

… And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands." –Psalm 19:1, NASB

The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. –Psalm 24:1-2

And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. –Matthew 6:28-29

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through Him and for Him. –Colossians 1:15-16

Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: "I am the LORD, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by Myself," –Isaiah 44:24

It is He who made the earth by His power, who established the world by His wisdom, and by His understanding stretched out the heavens. –Jeremiah 10:12

O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have You made them all; the earth is full of Your creatures. –Psalm 104:24

"To sit long in one posture, pouring over a book, or driving a quill, is in itself a taxing of nature; but add to this a badly ventilated chamber, a body which has long been without muscular exercise, and a heart burdened with many cares, and we have all the elements for preparing a seething cauldron of despair, especially in the dim months of fog ... Nature outside his window is calling him to health and beckoning him to joy. He who forgets the humming of the bees among the heather, the cooing of the wood-pigeons in the forest, the song of the birds in the woods, the rippling of rills among the rushes, and the sighing of the wind among the pines, needs not wonder if his heart forgets to sing and his soul grows heavy."—Charles Spurgeon's thoughts on enjoying the beauty of nature for the glory of God. (To see how thinking this way can help a believer, listen or read John Piper's sermon on the life of David Brainerd.)

"In this life, we catch glimpses of hell and we catch glimpses of heaven… This world is the closest the unbeliever will have to heaven; and this world is the closest the follower of Jesus Christ will ever have to hell." –Randy Alcorn's sermon on Revelation 21 from Resolved 2008 (session 2).

I really have nothing more to say—the beauty of the earth screams out to me the presence of a divine, loving, and personal Creator, and what better way to let my heart sing out of pure joy than to fill my soul with Scripture about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit's hand in creation?

What Does John Piper Believe?

If you have been on this blog a little, you'll notice that I quote certain pastors and post a lot of their resources a lot. Of course, my aim in doing this is NOT to exalt them, and I firmly believe that none of these men would be glad if my end-all was to glorify them. Yes, we can and should honor pastors (especially our own personal pastors, who pour countless unseen hours into the church and into their sermons and into our lives! Thank your pastors!), but the reason we should be grateful for them is because God has placed them in our lives and given them the boldness and clarity to preach the Truth of the Bible to our hearts and souls!

With all that being said, here is a short transcript on what John Piper preached at The Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) on November 20, 2008. This is, in a nugget, what John Piper believes, and it is the foundation (at least from what I've heard and read so far) for everything he preaches and writes and studies. Check it out if you are curious to see who John Piper is, and don't forget—let's be Bereans (Acts 17:10-11)! Search the Bible yourself to see if these things are true; wisdom is worth nothing if it is not the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:20-21).

And, if you are intrigued by this and would like to study it in more depth, I would highly recommend that you read Desiring God (it is available for purchase at a very reasonable price, and available in pdf format online for free). I am only on chapter 3, but I am convicted, delighted, and mentally taxed by every sentence! Another great read, I have heard, is Don't Waste Your Life (it is also available for purchase as well as for free); it is based on the same principle as that of Desiring God, and I believe it is aimed at a more personal, applicational level. But, like I've said, I haven't read it, but people I know and respect have, and they've loved it! I myself would love to read it over Christmas break… along with about ten thousand other books! Hahaha.

Oldschool...

Colossians 3:2 says that we should be seeking the things that are above, and what better way to do that than through music that is glorifying to God and filled with the Truth! Not only that, but hiding God's Word in our hearts is going to help us in our spiritual battles, because we'll already have the ammunition and weapons we need ready, and we'll have been training in how to use them (Psalm 119:9-16, Ephesians 6:13-17)...

Check out this album, it has a bunch of the great hymns of Christianity. I know for a long time I resented hymns, because in my immaturity I thought they were boring and and slow and basically useless to my life. But, through having some great worship leaders throughout the years, I have been so blessed to have these songs reintroduced into my life, along with some new hymns like "In Christ Alone" and "Power of the Cross". Even if you don't happen to like the particular sound of these songs, it would benefit your soul so much to look up the lyrics online and think through what the songs are saying-- I just can't get over how full of TRUTH hymns are!

Preparing Our Hearts

In the church that I am a member of, our youth group has been going through John, week by week, month by month, slowly looking at each passage and slowly making progress through the book. Now, with only four chapters to go, we are nearing the cross. In his message, "The Suffering Servant," CJ Mahaney states: "Spurgeon said that this topic is worthy of an angel's tongue, that it needs Christ Himself to expound it… and this morning we are left with my tongue." When I realized that this is what we were going to be going through for a number of weeks, I felt the same way. How can I communicate to the junior high girls in my cell group, and to the rest of the world, how weighty, how important, how holy this topic is? Jesus Christ, fully man, fully God, DIED on a cross, crucified by His own creation, in order to pay the debt for MY sins? So in order to prepare my heart, I have been listening to "The Suffering Servant" over and over and over again, and I invite you to do the same. [Side note— see instructions at bottom of post on how to download sermons from the Resolved website]

Whenever I read through the gospels, especially when I get to the end and I read them all together in chronological order, I find it increasingly difficult to get through from the Lord's Supper to His resurrection without having to take an emotional break. The more I read the gospels, the more it brings a tumultuous mix of both sorrow and joy. I am sorrowful because every blow, every painful breath, every derision that Jesus endured was because of my sin. I am sorrowful that because of my sin, the Son of God had the wrath of God the Father poured out on Him, the wrath that I deserved to endure for all of eternity! And yet, those very same points bring me everlasting JOY! I pray that I would never be able to get through the gospels without being amazed at the love of Christ and the grace of God; I never want to read this account half-heartedly; I never want to read through this account, or even think about it, without shedding tears. If you have never read through the crucifixion of Christ, including all the events leading up to it, and all the events that occurred after it, I would encourage you to do so! This webpage gives a list of all the passages of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (as well as some from Acts and other New Testament books when pertinent) in chronological order. You can print it out, or just write down the passages that you want to look at this week, and come back for the rest next week.

Here are some passages (besides those in the gospels) and other resources to help us all set our minds and hearts on the cross. I am praying for these next few weeks, that God would break my heart and your hearts, that the Holy Spirit would show us what we need to understand and apply in these passages, and that through these next couple weeks we would fall more in love with our precious Savior Jesus Christ.

Just a handful of passages about the cross:

• Isaiah 53:1-12
  
• Psalm 22:1-31
  
• Romans 8:1-39
  
• Ephesians 2:1-10
  
• 1 Corinthians 15:3-4
  
• Romans 5:6-8
  
• Romans 9:25-26
  
• Galatians 2:20-21
  
• 2 Corinthians 5:21
  

Some more sermons about the cross:

• Resolved 2007. Yes, all of the messages! Come on now, there's only ten! Hahaha. In all reality though, you absolutely should download each of these sermons. The theme of Resolved 2007 was the cross! Each of these sermons discusses the cross, and/or what the cross means for us once we have been saved; in other words, how does the cross change our lives and shape our thinking?
  
• Resolved 2008. Again, all of the messages were fantastic. The theme for 2008 was heaven and hell; it is only because of the cross that we are saved from hell and brought into God's own kingdom. Sessions 1, 4, 8, 11, and 12 deal with the cross heavily. The rest of the messages will be beneficial to your soul as well, as it is essential to remember who we were before Christ, what Christ has saved us from in order to glorify Him and praise and thank Him in the way that He deserves. And as Colossians 3:1-4 states, thinking about heaven, where Christ is, is the very thing we should be doing since we have been raised with Christ!
  
• The Cry From the Cross, by CJ Mahaney. This is another link to message 11 of Resolved 2008, in case you want just a small sample before you commit to downloading them all!
  
• The Present Power of Christ Crucified, by John Piper
  
• Christ Died for Our Sins that We Might Die to Sin, John Piper
  
• Christ Crucified, Our Boast, John Piper
  
• The Pleasure of God in Bruising the Son, John Piper
  
• Condemned and Crucified, sermon series by John MacArthur (I suggest downloading the high-quality version of all the sermons on the Grace to You website)
  
• The Crucifixion and Resurrection, sermon series by John MacArthur
  
• The Precious Blood, John MacArthur
  
• Jesus on Trial, sermon series by John MacArthur
  
• The Murder of Jesus, sermon series by John MacArthur
  
• Mystery of the Resurrection, sermon series by John MacArthur
  
• Our Great Salvation, sermon series by John MacArthur
  
• The Resurrection of Jesus Christ, sermon series by John MacArthur
  

Other links:

• The Sufficiency of Christ's Obedience in His Life and Death, article by John Piper
  
• Did Christ Die for Us or For God?, article by John Piper
  
• The Cross of Christ—all of the blog posts that come up for the topic "The Cross of Christ" on SovereignGraceMinistries.org
  

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How to download sermons ("The Suffering Servant" in particular) from Resolved.org:

1. In order to download old sermons off the Resolved website, you have to create a free login. The login page is the pate that I have hyperlinked you to. It's fast, easy, and free!
   
2. Once you get into the Media Vault, click on "Resolved" in the leftmost column.
   
3. Click "Resolved 2007" in the second column.
   
4. Finally, find "The Suffering Servant" in the list below.
   
5. Click "Add to Cart" (don't worry, as you can see in the "Cost" column, it's completely free!)
   
6. Click here to download your media, or find the link at the top of the page in red that will direct you to your media you have chosen to download.
   
7. The sermon should show up on that page, just click "Download", and you're good to go!
   

I know this might look like a lot of work, but it's really very simple. I was just trying to be as precise and helpful as possible in the directions, so they are very detailed. Let me know if you have any further questions… As I said, it looks like a lot of work, but I believe that it's well worth it! By the way, since all the messages from Resolved 2007 and Resolved 2008 are free, why not download ALL the messages and just listen to them a little at a time? Just a thought!

Free Audiobook of the Month

Every month, ChristianAudio.com makes one of their audio books available for download for FREE. This month they have made available a book called Morning and Evening by Charles H. Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers. It is a daily, short devotional book; one for the morning and one for the evening, for each day of the year. (Well, sort of—the book itself is for each day of the year, but this download includes 90 days… That's 3 free months though!) It's a quick read, and I know E-sword has Morning and Evening available for download for free… HOWEVER, it could be even easier to just listen to 5 minutes in the morning and 5 minutes at night! (Not in place of reading the Bible, of course, but in addition to it, as a way to get in more truth from the Bible!) I am thinking of cheating and looking ahead to see what Spurgeon has to say about Christmas Day… hmm…

Also, just a side note, the other free downloads I don't know much about. I do know John Piper is a great preacher, and I've heard good things about Dallas Willard, but (with my immense store of knowledge… NOT… lol) I haven't heard of the other author. But, as with anything and everything, as long as we search the Scriptures to see if what the world, our schools, and even our pastors are saying is TRUTH, we will not be led astray by believing lies! Let's be Bereans! (Acts 17:11)