Tag Archive for 'Prayer'

John Piper Resources

Published
by
LayGuy
on August 9, 2007
in Bible Study, Christianity and Church
. 2 Comments

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In his classic style, John Piper has made available a bunch of resources for those wanting to dig deeper into their faith. One of my favourite teachers of the Word and a guy totally sold out to teaching people about the Glory of our Father, John Piper has just released a bunch of materials available for listening and free download.

In a world where everyone is charging for everything, many Christian teachers are also jumping on this band wagon and having the audacity to actually charge people to download sermons!

I see this as totally wrong. Imagine Jesus setting up tolls on the Mount before delivering His classic Sermon on The Mount teaching. Imagine Paul setting a seal on his letters he wrote from prison and before they were read in Churches, a “love offering” had to be made.

Give me a break! Many try to justify charging people for MP3 downloads saying that web hosting and bandwidth is expensive. As a lay webmaster of my church website, I can tell you that after thousands of downloads of our sermons in the last couple of months, it hasn’t cost me a cent.

Sure, we are a small church and our downloads aren’t as big as some churches. But with bigger churches, come larger offerings - and this should cover the costs of getting the Word out there.

I have a “holy discontent” to use the words of Bill Hybels when it comes to charging people for sermons. One of my favourite teachers was Chuck Missler. A guy gifted in his understanding and a brilliant communicator of the Word - albeit a little repetitive. I don’t listen to him anymore simply because he charges for his sermons.

Piper, on the other hand, is different. Check out his website, desiringgod.org and you will be amazed at the amount of resources he has made freely available. And it’s not JUST resources - it’s quality resources. Below is a taste of his latest offerings. Every two years John Piper completes a rotation of weekend seminars on different aspects of Christian doctrine and practice. Although much of it was spoken years ago, these have now been made available online.

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Prayer | July 16 2007

Published
by
LayGuy
on July 17, 2007
in Christianity
. 2 Comments

Father in Heaven,

My God and my King. You are so far above me and yet closer to me than I can ever imagine. How I wish my fallen nature was un-fallen so that I could be in complete fellowship with you.

Just like Adam was before he decided to fall like his wife. Just like Enoch walked with you. Just like Jesus was as He withdrew to private places in order to spend time with you.

Father you inhabit eternity - a place so foreign to me. And yet You are the King of eternity. You are surrounded by beings bizarre to my knowledge and yet totally devoted to You as they see You with the vast amount of eyes on their being.

How I wish I was able to see what they see. Only then would I get to see what no human can see. If I got one glimpse, I know my life would be radically transformed in utter devotion and worship.

Father, You are the end expression of greatness and I thank You that you are a good God. It blows me away that the ultimate Being in eternity is a Being of love, justice and mercy. As your angels look at you, they shout HOLY! to the extent that the foundations of heaven tremble.

You are so distinct from anything even in heaven - you are HOLY beyond my comprehension and even the comprehension of the beings that surround You in Glory. They freak out at You in their astonishment at how distinct You are! I can’t even imagine how much greater You are than I can even possibly imagine.

Father, I lift my family to You. I pray that You will take my family in Your hands and protect them from the evil one and his minions. Father put your hedge around us and let us grow under the protection of the King of Eternity.

Let me know what it is to be found in your protection. Let me know the power that is available to me through Christ Jesus. The power You used to raise Him from death - with all of humanity’s sin placed on Him. You were satisfied with Your punishment. You raised Christ because sin cannot hold Him because You killed the consequence of sin.

You raised Him from Hell. You gave life back to Him. You raised Him back into eternity. Then you empowered Him to rise above powers and thrones and dominions and put Him above all. This is Your power Father and You tell me that this is the power offered to me?

Lord let it be as You say. I pray that my life and my family may live a life which resonates with the same power in which you raised Christ. You tell me Lord that it is available to me. Please show me the reality of this.

Not because I want to be someone. But because I desire a life empowered to do what Jesus did. Not for me. But for Your Kingdom. I pray that my body may be a vessel emptied to You and that You may do things through me which I never thought would ever be possible.

Father, humanly speaking I feel so unworthy. But I praise You that who I really am is hidden in Christ. I pray that You use the real me to further Your Kingdom. I want to be used by You, King of eternity.

You created me for a distinct mission I need to achieve. In Your providence, I ask that my life may gravitate towards that purpose and that You may make it clear to me that which You would like me to do.

And in that way, You are glorified and I am complete. The perfect conclusion to the life You have given to me.

Help me Father to know what this is.

Because of Jesus, I ask you to do this for me. Jesus enables me to ask this of You boldly. Rise up Lord and make this a reality in my life.

Amen.

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