Kennystix's podcast
Feel Christ (with Russian Interpretation)
The following message is by Pastor John Piper. More information from Desiring God is available at www.desiringgod.org. Well, thank you very much. It's a great honor to be here. (speaking in foreign language) It was very encouraging for me to see so many pastors and young men eager to preach the gospel in Germany. (speaking in foreign language) They came from all over Europe. (speaking in foreign language) And they were very hungry to talk about spiritual things and to get into the Word of God. (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) And so now to look out upon you is even more encouraging. (speaking in foreign language) So many young men ready and eager to hear the Word of God and to preach it. (speaking in foreign language) So I promise that I will pray for you when I leave and intercede on your behalf that God would bless your churches and bless your land. (speaking in foreign language) We have three sessions together, and I will divide them up like this. We'll focus on feeling and the emotions and satisfaction in the first session. (speaking in foreign language) And then we'll focus this evening on the life of the mind and the role of thinking in the Christian life and in the ministry in particular. (speaking in foreign language) And then tomorrow we will see how those two streams, the affections and thinking flow into the task of preaching. (speaking in foreign language) So the way I would like to begin is first, I would like to pray and then open for you for a few minutes my life mission statement. (speaking in foreign language) Father in heaven, I need your help right now because your word is precious and I want to be faithful to (speaking in foreign language) So I pray that you would give me a fullness of your Holy Spirit and a faithfulness to the Bible. (speaking in foreign language) And I pray that you would give receptive hearts and eager minds that are alert to all the brothers here. (speaking in foreign language) - Give us physical strength and wakefulness for this task. (speaking in foreign language) - Forgive us for our sins and protect us from the evil one. (speaking in foreign language) - Let's come with your power now, I pray. (speaking in foreign language) First name, (speaking in foreign language) First of all, let me give you the mission statement of my life and the mission statement of our church and our ministry. (speaking in foreign language) When you stay in a church long enough, your own personal mission statement or reason for ministering and the church's mission statement become one. (speaking in foreign language) - So I've been at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis for almost 30 years. (speaking in foreign language) - And about 15 years ago, we as a church formulated a mission statement and we did it in such a way that now I can say my mission statement, the reason I'm minister and the church's mission statement are the same. (speaking in foreign language) - And it goes like this. (speaking in foreign language) - I exist to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ. (speaking in foreign language) - So let me walk through that a piece at a time and show you how central the emotions are in that statement. (speaking in foreign language) - A very key word in that statement is spread. I exist to spread. (speaking in foreign language) - I want my life to count for other people. (speaking in foreign language) - To be a Christian is to be a man for others. (speaking in foreign language) So part of your reason for living should be to spread truth. (speaking in foreign language) - The next phrase is I exist to spread a passion. (speaking in foreign language) - I don't just exist to spread a persuasion or a conviction or a belief. (speaking in foreign language) Instead what I want to happen in other people is a passion and a zeal and a joy. (speaking in foreign language) - I don't want other people just to think another way. I want them to feel another way. (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) - So there is a focus now on what that passion is. (speaking in foreign language) - So I exist to spread a passion for the supremacy of God. (speaking in foreign language) - Passion in and of itself means nothing. (speaking in foreign language) - It has to have an object and a focus. (speaking in foreign language) - The passion has to be awakened and caused by something real. (speaking in foreign language) And the greatest value, the greatest reality in the universe is God. (speaking in foreign language) - And what I want people to be gripped by and passionate for is the greatness and the glory and the supremacy of God. (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) - I would like your churches and my church to be very God-centered and God-exalting. (speaking in foreign language) - I exist to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things. (speaking in foreign language) God relates to all of life, not just part of life. (speaking in foreign language) - I don't want a church full of people for whom their religion is a part of their life. (speaking in foreign language) - I want a church full of people whose religion permeates all of life. (speaking in foreign language) - I want them to bring God into relationship to absolutely everything they do, think, feel. (speaking in foreign language) - I exist to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples. (speaking in foreign language) - This is a very global mission statement. (speaking in foreign language) - I want all the peoples, all the people, groups of the world to know about the supremacy of God. (speaking in foreign language) - I don't want my church just to care about itself or its own city. (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) - I want the people to be world Christians, to have the whole world on their hearts. (speaking in foreign language) - And as difficult as ministry is and as many burdens as there are locally, I hope you will want your churches to be, churches that think and pray and act for the whole world. (speaking in foreign language) - And what we want to happen among all the nations is joy in the supremacy of God. (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) - I exist to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things, for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ. (speaking in foreign language) - There can be no passion for God without Jesus Christ. (speaking in foreign language) We will find out tonight that if you have a zeal for God and it is not through Jesus Christ, it is not a zeal for the true God. (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) - We are all sinners and as sinners, we love ourselves and we love the world, but we don't love God. (speaking in foreign language) Only through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ applied to us by the Holy Spirit can a true love for God, passion for God be awakened. (speaking in foreign language) - So you can see that in that mission statement, passion and joy are very prominent. (speaking in foreign language) - And I mean for them to be very prominent, I mean for a joy in God, a delight in God, a satisfaction in God to be central in the Christian faith. (speaking in foreign language) - I don't know how it is among your churches, but there are many churches in the United States who think about the emotions as very marginal or peripheral. (speaking in foreign language) - They focus on decision and commitment and whether you have any deep, strong passion for God doesn't matter. (speaking in foreign language) - And I'm arguing the opposite, namely that without a passion for God, a satisfaction in God, a deep, joyful embrace of God, you're not even a Christian. (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) - So this first message is an effort to defend the centrality of those emotions in the Christian life. (speaking in foreign language) - It has a huge effect on the way you preach, if you believe this. (speaking in foreign language) - If you are preaching only to change people's ideas, you will preach one way. (speaking in foreign language) - But if you are preaching not only to change their ideas, but to awaken passion and zeal and satisfaction in the glory of God, you'll preach another way. (speaking in foreign language) - So let me begin with four clarifying comments. (speaking in foreign language) - First, let's talk about the definition or the meaning of words like joy, passion, zeal, emotion. (speaking in foreign language) - When I use these words, I have in mind spiritual realities, not physical realities. (speaking in foreign language) If I use the word satisfaction, I mean a spiritual satisfaction in a spiritual reality in English God, not a physical experience. (speaking in foreign language) - So when I use terms like joy, fear, gratitude, (speaking in foreign language) - Or desire and hate and anger, (speaking in foreign language) - Or peace or loneliness or sorrow, (speaking in foreign language) - Or regret or shame or hope, (speaking in foreign language) - All of those are affections or emotions. (speaking in foreign language) - But they are not physical (speaking in foreign language) - You can buy at this conference Jonathan Edwards, new translation of the book, religious affections. (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) - Everything I have to say is in that book. (speaking in foreign language) - I'm very deeply influenced by Jonathan Edwards. (speaking in foreign language) - And I am making this distinction between spiritual emotions and physical experiences based on what I learned in Edwards. (speaking in foreign language) - Let me give you two reasons why it's biblical to distinguish between spiritual emotions and physical experiences. (speaking in foreign language) - It is absolutely true that when you have a spiritual emotion, you often have physical experiences. (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) - The heart may beat faster, or your palms may become sweaty. (speaking in foreign language) - Your knees may not together. (speaking in foreign language) - You may get chill bumps on your arms. (speaking in foreign language) - Most of the world thinks of that as the emotion. (speaking in foreign language) - But here are the two reasons why it is biblical to distinguish spiritual emotions from those physical experiences. (speaking in foreign language) - The first reason is that God has those spiritual emotions and he has no body. (speaking in foreign language) - I just read a few days ago in Hosea where he says, "My compassion grows warm." God says, "My compassion grows warm." (speaking in foreign language) - Now I read in Jeremiah about the fierce anger of the Lord. (speaking in foreign language) - So it is possible to have warm compassion and fierce anger and have no body. (speaking in foreign language) - So if God can have this full range of emotions, clearly those emotions are not identical with bodily experiences. (speaking in foreign language) - And the second reason it's biblical to make this distinction is that when you die and your soul goes to be with Christ in heaven, you will have wonderful emotions there with him. (speaking in foreign language) - So your body will be decaying in the grave and your person or your soul will be with Christ and Paul says that will be far better. (speaking in foreign language) - And if it's going to be far better to be with Christ in heaven without a body, I take that to mean I'm going to be very happy there. (speaking in foreign language) - So my first clarifying comment is simply to say that in all of my talk about being satisfied in God or enjoying God or delighting in God, I don't have in mind physical experiences. I have in my spiritual emotion. (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) - Now my second clarifying comment. (speaking in foreign language) - Why do I emphasize the emotions over right doctrine or truth? (speaking in foreign language) - One of the reasons is that right doctrine or right knowing is a means of awakening the more ultimate experience of joy. (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) - Consider the words of Jesus in John 832. (speaking in foreign language) - A very well-known verse. (speaking in foreign language) - You will know the truth and the truth will make you free. (speaking in foreign language) - Knowing the truth is not the goal. (speaking in foreign language) - The truth does something to you. (speaking in foreign language) - It sets you free. (speaking in foreign language) - In the context, the answer is very clear. It sets you free from sin. (speaking in foreign language) - Now what is sin? (speaking in foreign language) - Is it simply doing wrong things? (speaking in foreign language) - No, no, sin includes doing right things out of wrong motives. (speaking in foreign language) - If we are going to be set free from sin, our emotions have to be changed. (speaking in foreign language) - So you will know the truth and the truth will transform your emotions and thus free you from sinning. (speaking in foreign language) - So I do not make the pursuit of truth the ultimate goal. (speaking in foreign language) - We will see tonight that the pursuit of truth and right thinking about truth is absolutely essential. (speaking in foreign language) - But it is not the goal. (speaking in foreign language) - We have heads in order that our hearts might be awakened to reality. (speaking in foreign language) - Clarification number three. (speaking in foreign language) - Why do I emphasize affections and emotions over behavior, right behavior? (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) - Because there is no right behavior apart from right feeling. (speaking in foreign language) - There is such a thing in the Bible and in your experience as hypocrisy. (speaking in foreign language) - And what is hypocrisy? (speaking in foreign language) - It's doing all the right things, keeping the outside of life, looking just the way it's supposed to, but not coming from any reality, not coming from any deep emotional love for God. (speaking in foreign language) - What makes right behavior, right behavior, is that it comes from right emotions. (speaking in foreign language) - So I put passion over behavior, number one, because behavior without a passion for God is hypocrisy. (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) - And because the Bible makes it very clear that if you do have a right heart, it will bear good fruit. (speaking in foreign language) - Sometimes when I share my mission statement, people ask me, "Why doesn't it have the word love in it?" (speaking in foreign language) - Guys, we have a problem in the translation. We don't have a word that completely matches the word passion and I have to use the word love. (speaking in foreign language) - Okay, we just make sure they mean by love, not just, a lot of people think of love, it's just doing stuff for people. And I mean, feeling, feeling. (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) - Let me take care of it. (audience laughs) If you just explain what you don't mean. (audience laughs) - Let me try this to see if we can get some clarity here. (speaking in foreign language) - Jesus said, "If you love me, "you will keep my commandments." (speaking in foreign language) - Many people read that verse and say, "Love is keeping the commandments." (speaking in foreign language) - That's not what it means. (speaking in foreign language) - It says, "If you love me, "something will result from loving me, "namely keeping the commandments." (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) - Loving Jesus and keeping his commandments are not the same thing. (speaking in foreign language) - To water down love to mere behavior in response to Jesus devastates what love is. (speaking in foreign language) - Love is the thing that's going on in my heart. I am seeing Jesus as beautiful and precious and desirable, and I am receiving him and embracing him and treasuring him. (speaking in foreign language) - And because I am treasuring him and valuing him above all things, everything changes in my life. (speaking in foreign language) - Jesus said, this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. (speaking in foreign language) So they are saying right things with their mouths, very right things. (speaking in foreign language) - They are singing the songs in church, and they may even be witnessing about Jesus with their lips. (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) - But their heart is far from him. (speaking in foreign language) - And that's what I mean by passion, satisfaction or love. (speaking in foreign language) - Fourth clarification. (speaking in foreign language) - How does this emphasis on the emotions relate to the glory of God? (speaking in foreign language) - Now the answer is what I have devoted most of my adult life to teaching. (speaking in foreign language) - And it's in this sense. God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. (speaking in foreign language) - Now this is a life revolutionizing discovery. (speaking in foreign language) - I grew up in a home that was very solid and very Christian. (speaking in foreign language) - My father taught me to value the glory of God above all things. (speaking in foreign language) - But not until I was 22 years old, did I ever hear anybody explain the relationship between my desire to be happy and my commitment to glorify God. (speaking in foreign language) - There was always a perceived tension between the two, like if you try to be happy, you're putting yourself at the center and God is not being glorified. (speaking in foreign language) - I was very miserable for a long time. (speaking in foreign language) Because I could no more deny the reality of my desire to be happy than I could deny my existence. (speaking in foreign language) - I think God has put in your heart a desire to be happy the same way he has put a need for food in your body. (speaking in foreign language) - And the question simply is, how does God get glory by that desire to be happy? (speaking in foreign language) - And the answer is, when you are happy or satisfied or joyful in him above all things, he is mightily glorified. (speaking in foreign language) - One of the reasons our churches are so powerless is that people are trying to live the Christian life to the glory of God, and they're not at all emotionally in love with Christ. (speaking in foreign language) - So the main point of this message is that God or Jesus is most glorified, shown to be most beautiful in me when I am emotionally most satisfied in him. (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) - If you believe this, it'll change the way you relate to God powerfully. (speaking in foreign language) - You will get up every morning and as you open your Bible and get on your knees, your main goal will be, oh God, satisfy my soul with yourself so that money and reputation mean nothing to me. (speaking in foreign language) - You won't be asking, oh God, give me more willpower, not to do what I really want to do. (speaking in foreign language) - You won't be asking, oh God, give me more willpower, not to do what I really want to do. (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) - You will be praying, kill my wrong wants, make me want to do what I ought to do. (speaking in foreign language) - I don't want willpower people in my church. I want people who are thrilled from the inside out with God Almighty. (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) - Okay, now we've got clarifications and we're ready to start the message. (speaking in foreign language) - Okay, here's where we're going in our remaining 25 minutes or so. (speaking in foreign language) - I'm going to give you a biblical argument for the sentence God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. (speaking in foreign language) - Then I'm gonna apply it to your people's lives. (speaking in foreign language) - Then I'm gonna apply it to your pastoral work. (speaking in foreign language) - Then to your preaching. (speaking in foreign language) - And then finally to a few evangelical errors that are in the world today. (speaking in foreign language) - If we have time. (speaking in foreign language) - Turn with me if you have a Bible to Philippians chapter one. (speaking in foreign language) - We'll read verses 20 and 21 of Philippians chapter one. (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) - This is one of the most important verses in my life. (speaking in foreign language) - Because verse 20 states what Paul's eager expectation and hope is. (speaking in foreign language) - I wonder how your eager expectation and hope corresponds to his. (speaking in foreign language) - Okay, here's Paul's in verse 20. (speaking in foreign language) - It is my eager expectation and hope. (speaking in foreign language) - That I will not at all be ashamed but that with full courage now as always Christ will be. And then you could say honored or magnified or glorified in my body. (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) - So eager expectation we could use the word zeal or longing or my word passion. We could use the word passion and what is his passion? (speaking in foreign language) - I want Christ to be magnified, glorified. I want Christ to look great when I live. (speaking in foreign language) - And then he gets specific and he says, I want him to look great and glorious and strong wise and powerful in my body whether I live or whether I die. (speaking in foreign language) - Now here's my question. How will he look glorious in my body? - Glorious in my body through my death. (speaking in foreign language) - How must I die in order for Christ to look magnificent in my dying? (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) - So Paul says at the end of verse 20 and end of verse 21, I want him to be magnified or honored in my body whether by life or death. And then the next verse begins with four, a very important word. (speaking in foreign language) So verse 21 is going to explain or argue for how Christ can be great in my body, living or dying. (speaking in foreign language) - So just focus with me on the death part of this verse. (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) - I want you to look great, Lord Jesus, in my death for to me to die is game. (speaking in foreign language) - So do you see the way he's arguing? (speaking in foreign language) Christ is going to be magnificent in my dying. (speaking in foreign language) - If in my dying I lose everything on the earth and only get Christ and call it game. (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) - So I ask you, if you have the opportunity to trade wife, children, ministry, health, money, future retirement, and everything else this earth offers, and all you get in return is Jesus, will you call it game? (speaking in foreign language) - You will, if you are most satisfied in him. (speaking in foreign language) - This verse, these two verses, clearly mean this. (speaking in foreign language) - Christ will be magnified in my dying. If in my dying I am so satisfied in Christ I can lose everything on the earth and call it game. (speaking in foreign language) - So I hope that those two verses, Philippians 1, 20, and 21 are sufficient to show that my main point in this message is solidly biblical. (speaking in foreign language) - And you all know this is so obvious in your own experience. (speaking in foreign language) - When you treasure something so highly you will sell everything else to have it. Everybody knows this is magnificent to you. (speaking in foreign language) - So let's turn from biblical evidence now to application for your people. (speaking in foreign language) - It might be good in passing from one point to the other to point to one verse where God is explicitly said to be the satisfaction of our souls. (speaking in foreign language) And I have in mind Psalm 16 verse 11. (speaking in foreign language) - In your presence is fullness of joy. (speaking in foreign language) - At your right hand are treasures, pleasures forever more. (speaking in foreign language) - Now notice two key words. (speaking in foreign language) - In your presence is fullness of joy. (speaking in foreign language) - And at your right hand are pleasures forever. (speaking in foreign language) - Now those are the two things I want from a pleasure. I want it to be full and I want it to last forever. (speaking in foreign language) - If you offer me a joy or a pleasure or a satisfaction that lasts for 90 years and is 99% satisfying, I will say no thank you. (speaking in foreign language) - The only kind of joy, the only kind of satisfaction I'm interested in is 100% full and never ending. (speaking in foreign language) - And it is found in one place only, God. (speaking in foreign language) - Not television, not money, not sex, not reputation. (speaking in foreign language) - So there's my biblical evidence and now the application to your people. (speaking in foreign language) - Here's the main shocking implication. (speaking in foreign language) - If what I have said so far is true, your people should devote their whole lives to pursuing their maximum joy. (speaking in foreign language) - So let me give you a series of biblical arguments, just in brief for why that is so biblical and right. (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) - So argument number one, the Bible commands your people to pursue their joy. (speaking in foreign language) - Philippians 4-4, rejoice in the Lord and again I say, rejoice. (speaking in foreign language) - That's not a suggestion, that's a command. (speaking in foreign language) - Psalm 37-4, delight yourself in the Lord. (speaking in foreign language) - That's not a suggestion, it's a command. (speaking in foreign language) - Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth serve the Lord with gladness, Psalm 100 verse one. (speaking in foreign language) - That's a command. - It's a service. - It's a service. (speaking in foreign language) - So that's argument number one, all over the Bible, the pursuit of joy is commanded, not suggested. (speaking in foreign language) - Argument number two. (speaking in foreign language) - God threatens us with terrible things if we do not pursue our joy in Him. (speaking in foreign language) - Listen to Deuteronomy 28-47, Deuteronomy 28-47, and I'm gonna just pick out a few phrases here, so the verse starts like this. (speaking in foreign language) - Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and a glad heart for the abundance of all things, therefore you will serve your enemies. (speaking in foreign language) - That's incredible. (speaking in foreign language) - God threatens us with punishment if we do not serve Him with gladness. (speaking in foreign language) - So if you are trying to do the ministry or your people are trying to live the Christian life without a conscious pursuit of satisfaction in God, they are sinning. (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) - Argument number three. - Three arguments. - The nature of faith includes the pursuit of joy in God. (speaking in foreign language) - Let me give you just one verse to show where I'm getting that. (speaking in foreign language) - John, the Gospel of John, chapter six, verse 35. (speaking in foreign language) - Jesus said, "I am the bread of life. "He who comes to me will not hunger, "and he who believes in me will never thirst." (speaking in foreign language) - Now notice the parallel structure between coming to Him so as not to hunger and believing in Him so as not to thirst. (speaking in foreign language) - If you put those two beside each other, come to me so that you won't hunger, and believe in me so that you won't thirst. What you see is that the believing is being explained by the coming. (speaking in foreign language) - So what would be your definition of faith on the basis of John 635? (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) - So what would be your definition of faith on the basis of John 635? (speaking in foreign language) - Here's my definition of faith on the basis of that verse. (speaking in foreign language) - Faith is not a physical but a spiritual coming to Jesus as the bread and as the water that will satisfy our souls. (speaking in foreign language) - That's what faith is. (speaking in foreign language) - Hebrews 11, 6 says he who believes must come to God as a rewarder. (speaking in foreign language) - If you try to come to God in faith and don't see anything attractive, don't see anything beautiful, don't see anything satisfying in him. You're not believing. (speaking in foreign language) - When Jesus said in John 1 12, as many as received him to them when John said, as many as received him to them gave he power to become the children of God, that receiving is receiving of him as a treasure. (speaking in foreign language) - Well, I have a long list of arguments, six or so more, but I'm gonna skip them and move on to the next point. (speaking in foreign language) - I want to apply this to your pastoral work, not just to your people's pursuit of joy. (speaking in foreign language) - Let's go to Hebrews 13, verse 17. (speaking in foreign language) - Hebrews 13, 17. (speaking in foreign language) - Now, at first glance, this verse appears to be only about how your people should respond to you. (speaking in foreign language) - But this verse is profoundly about how you should serve them as well. (speaking in foreign language) - Obey your leaders and submit to them for they are keeping watch over your souls as though, now they hear as you, you pastors, those pastors are keeping watch over your souls and they will have to give an account. Let them, that is the pastors, let the leaders, the pastors, do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. (speaking in foreign language) - You want for your people to benefit from your ministry. (speaking in foreign language) - You want them to get advantages and help from your ministry. (speaking in foreign language) - If you didn't care about whether your people benefited from your ministry, you would not love them. (speaking in foreign language) - But the second half of this verse says, if you don't have joy in your ministry, you will not benefit your people. (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) - Which means if you don't pursue your joy in ministry, you don't love your people. (speaking in foreign language) - I grew up in an ethical atmosphere that said exactly the opposite. (speaking in foreign language) - It said, if you try to be happy in the ministry, if you think your own joy in the ministry is important, you're not a loving person. (speaking in foreign language) - This verse says, if you are indifferent to your own joy, if you just groan in the ministry, doing the will of God, you're not loving your people. (speaking in foreign language) - You're not loving your people. (speaking in foreign language) - So it is essential for pastoral work that you are deeply satisfied in God in your work. (speaking in foreign language) - And of course, the pastoral life is the hardest life in the world. (speaking in foreign language) - We will talk more later on how this whole issue of joy relates to suffering. (speaking in foreign language) - So don't think after 30 years in the pastoral ministry, I haven't wept. (speaking in foreign language) - I mainly weep. (speaking in foreign language) - I'm surrounded by pain. (speaking in foreign language) - I'm surrounded by lostness. (speaking in foreign language) - Broken marriages and kids breaking their parents' hearts. (speaking in foreign language) - But if that pain in the ministry makes you only groan instead of saying with Paul, sorrowful, yet always rejoicing, you're not gonna benefit your people. (speaking in foreign language) - One last point in two minutes. (speaking in foreign language) - Second Corinthians chapter one verse 24. (speaking in foreign language) - For me, this verse governs my preaching. (speaking in foreign language) - Second Corinthians one 24 says, "Not that we lord it over your face, "but we work or we are workers with you for your joy." (speaking in foreign language) - Is that the definition of your ministry? (speaking in foreign language) - Everything I do, especially my preaching, I am a worker for their joy. (speaking in foreign language) - You know, I believe in preaching about sin and calling people to be convicted for sin. (speaking in foreign language) - But why do you want your people to stop sinning? (speaking in foreign language) - Because sinning won't make them fully and eternally happy. (speaking in foreign language) - Sin is poison that tastes good. (speaking in foreign language) - Your people need to feel your after their joy, your pursuing their joy, even when you're convicting them of sin. (speaking in foreign language) - Now I had one more point. I'll add it on tonight when we turn from the emotional life to the thought life tonight, but let me close with prayer. (speaking in foreign language) - Father, as we stand in prayer, I pray that you will move in power. (speaking in foreign language) - We need for you to create in our sinful hearts a zeal for and a satisfaction in yourself. (speaking in foreign language) - So open the eyes of our hearts to see the surpassing worth of Jesus Christ. (speaking in foreign language) - In his name we pray, amen. (speaking in foreign language) - Thank you for listening to this message by John Piper, pastor for preaching at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Feel free to make copies of this message to give to others, but please do not charge for those copies or alter the content in any way without permission. We invite you to visit desiring God online at www.desiringGod.org. There you'll find hundreds of sermons, articles, radio broadcasts and much more all available to you at no charge. Our online store carries all of Pastor John's books, audio and video resources. You can also stay up to date on what's new at Desiring God. Again, our website is www.desiringGod.org, or call us toll free at 1-888-346-4700. Our mailing address is Desiring God 2601 East Franklin Avenue, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55-406. Desiring God exists to help you make God your treasure, because God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. You
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