Notes From Piper

John Piper came to Wheaton College last week to speak at the Fall Special Services. Piper is an incredibly passionate speaker with vast knowledge of the Scriptures and appropriate reverence for the Lord Jesus. I have read two of Piper’s books, Desiring God and Don’t Waste Your Life (both published by Multnomah Books), but listening to him speak takes his teaching to a whole new level. Not only is he passionate and doctrinally sound, but he also is not afraid to take a stand on controversial issues, which unfortunately is something that many modern Church leaders are unwilling to do.

His series was entitled Treasuring Christ and the Call to Suffer and was delivered in four sessions over three days. I attended three of the four sessions, listened to the fourth online, and also attended the special Q&A session. Here are some of the highlights from the week from my notes.

-Suffering is essential to the Christian faith; it is not a question of if, but when.
-Our suffering, and everything we do, ought to make Christ look great.
-We should embrace suffering, contrary to what culture tells us.
-Everything must be less precious to us than Christ Jesus, so that if all is lost and we are left solely with Him, we can still rejoice and declare “It is well with my soul.”
-Joy and suffering are inseparably linked in the Bible.
-When we suffer and display joy as a result, nonbelievers are intrigued; God gets the glory.

Obviously, I just tried to hit the major points of the week, but I would encourage anyone who reads this to listen to all four sessions by using the link below. Again, the series was entitled Treasuring Christ and the Call to Suffer.

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/ConferenceMessages/ByDate/