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Christians should not support the weddings of Christian couples who fornicate and believe it is permissible even though the Bible calls fornication sin, John Piper has suggested. Responding to a question on whether a Christian should attend the wedding of a couple already living together, Piper, founder of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary in Minnesota, gave a nuanced response addressing various relationship situations but drew a line in the sand for professing Christians who see fornication as permissible in committed relationships. "If they are moving away from fornication because they are now persuaded it is sin, and...

A relentless pursuit of self-esteem can increase your confidence and soothe your emotions. And it can also ruin your Bible reading. We’re joined one last time with our guest, Jen Wilkin — wife, mom, Bible teacher, and author of the fabulous book Women of the Word: How to Study the Bible with Both Our Hearts and Our Minds. Jen, you once tweeted this: “Women teachers, let’s shift the emphasis from ‘Girl, you are a precious daughter of the King’ to ‘Behold your King.’ Lift up their eyes.” That sounds like it’s right at the heart of your whole aim of...

A few weeks ago, as part of his excellent “Ask Pastor John” podcast, John Piper was asked about whether women were permitted to preach sermons, if they were doing so under the authority of the male elders. His answer was no: The question was: does 1 Timothy 2:12 leave open the possibility that women are permitted to preach in the weekly gathering of the local church, as an extension of, or under the authority of, the male elders of the church? And my answer is no. Neither of those qualifications (as an extension of, or under the authority of)...

"If it is unbiblical to have women as pastors, how can it be biblical to have women who function in formal teaching and mentoring capacities..." Here we go again. Theologian John Piper stirred up a hornet's nest by arguing women are not to teach men. Piper points to 1 Timothy 2:12 that churches should be led by a team of spiritual, humble, biblically qualified men. "If it is unbiblical to have women as pastors, how can it be biblical to have women who function in formal teaching and mentoring capacities to train and fit pastors for the very calling from...

Jesus died so that heterosexual and homosexual sinners might be saved. Jesus created sexuality, and has a clear will for how it is to be experienced in holiness and joy. His will is that a man might leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and that the two become one flesh (Mark 10:6–9). In this union, sexuality finds its God-appointed meaning, whether in personal-physical unification, symbolic representation, sensual jubilation, or fruitful procreation. For those who have forsaken God’s path of sexual fulfillment, and walked into homosexual intercourse or heterosexual extramarital fornication or adultery, Jesus offers astonishing mercy....

Question: “Pastor John, what should a church council or board do if one of their pastors asks to officiate a same-sex wedding?” I don’t feel like I can answer that question without dropping one level down. This is so sensitive and explosive and politically agitating that I want to go down to the bottom, and then come back up to the practical question. The practical question is relatively easy once you get the other things, which are not easy, sorted out. The emotional and physical sensations that we call same-sex attraction are disordered emotions and disordered sensations. And that disordering...

The following is an edited transcript of the audio. Are Christians under the 10 commandments? No. The Bible says we're not under the law. I love Romans 7:4-6. By way of analogy, it says that you are married to the law. And you better stay married because if you leave this husband and go marry another you are going to be called an adulterer. But if your husband dies, then you can go and remarry. And then Paul draws the analogy out—a little complex the way he does it—saying that you died to the law. You aren't married anymore, you...

The aim of my title is not to criticize the gospel of evangelicalism but to assume that it is biblical and true, and then to ask whether Jesus preached it. If I had it to do over again, I would use the title “Did Jesus Preach Paul’s Gospel?”—the gospel of justification by grace alone, through faith alone, on the basis of Christ’s blood and righteousness alone, for the glory of God alone. What I am driven by in this message, and in much of my thinking since my days in graduate school in Germany, is the conviction that Jesus and...

Theologian John Piper responded to Time magazine's cover story on Laverne Cox, a transgender and star of the Netflix drama "Orange Is the New Black," explaining from the Bible that the genitalia is a revelation of God's design and that gender is not a matter of human choice. "Is gender set by a preference of the individual, or a providence of God? Or to put it another way: Is my sex determined by my decision in my mind, or by God's design in my nature?" Piper asks in a post on the desiringGod blog in response to the cover story...

When asked about the conviction of David Yonggi Cho, founder of world's largest Pentecostal congregation in South Korea, for embezzling $12 million from his church, popular pastor John Piper took the opportunity to warn pastors in the U.S. who might "love money," in a recent message."With every public dishonoring of Christ, every public dishonoring of His Word and His Gospel, and His Church, it makes me angry and it makes me sorrowful," said Piper in a recent episode of Ask Pastor John.Yonggi Cho who pastors Yoido Full Gospel Church and oversees a network of churches numbering 800,000, was found...

The unbelieving world will always do “cool” better than the Church. When the Church adopts coolness and relevance as its corporate values, it slavishly agrees to follow, lagging always one step behind the world. (This is why Christian music always ends up ripping off the sounds and styles of their secular counterparts, while Christian film always has a cheesy “cringe factor”).

A thoughtful pastor’s teaching on what the Apostle Paul says about homosexual behavior in his letter to the Romans Homosexuality is the most vivid form of that breakdown. God and man in covenant worship are represented by male and female in covenant sexual union. Therefore, when man turns from God to images of himself, God hands us over to what we have chosen and dramatizes it by male and female turning to images of themselves for sexual union, namely their own sex. Homosexuality is the judgment of God dramatizing the exchange of the glory of God for images of ourselves.

Pastor and author John Piper says the antichrist is here and not yet here in a blog post on the Desiring God ministry website on Wednesday. The well-known Minnesota pastor explained that the "spirit of antichrist is already in the world," but the actual antichrist figure is "yet to come." He supported his explanation by referring to the writings of Apostles John and Paul. John is the only one in the Bible who uses the term antichrist, but Paul refers to this figure as "the man of lawlessness." In 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 6-7, Paul says, "Let no one deceive you...

Theologian John Piper has weighed in on the "change is possible" debate, arguing that the possibility of changing one's sexual orientation should not be ruled out. But the Reformed pastor also argued that sexual identity is complicated and cannot be simplified into three groups: heterosexual, homosexual and bisexual. "There are hundreds of variations of impulses that make up our peculiar sexual identities. This means that 'change' is not a movement from one of three groups to another of three groups," Piper blogged on the Desiring God ministries website. While the debate over whether gay persons can become straight has long...

How do you walk with God when you can’t see Him? I guess that’s why they call it “faith.”

The following is an edited transcript of the audio. Rev. Piper, Having been through PhD studies, would you recommend other pastors pursue this course of education? You mean, already-pastoring pastors or planning-to-be pastors? I'll answer both. If you're already a pastor, I wouldn't get a PhD. It's a lot of work, and the payoff is really small. Really small. When I say really small, I don't mean studying the Bible is small payoff. But the way most PhD programs are set up it is small payoff. Because you have to read so much junk in order to get your PhD....

Pastor John Piper began his eight-month leave this past weekend. Now filling the empty pulpit at Bethlehem Baptist Church is Kenny Stokes, who had been on a sabbatical these past several months. Stokes, who previously served as the church's Downtown Campus pastor, was approved unanimously by the elders at the Minneapolis church last week to serve as Interim Pastor for Preaching while Piper is away. The elders determined that continuity, consistency and stability were most important and thus decided to have one primary preacher – rather than a rotation of varied speakers – to serve as the temporary shepherd. "Few...

As Abraham Kuyper used to say, “there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, ‘MINE!’” And rule with absolute supremacy. And though it may not seem so now, it is only a matter of time until he is revealed from heaven in flaming fire to give relief to those who trust him and righteous vengeance on those who don’t. The best gift of the gospel is not the forgiveness of sins. The best gift of the gospel is not the imputed righteousness of...

LINK "It Is the Spirit That Gives Life" John 6:52-71 December 13, 2009 desiringGod.orgScripture source John 6:52 The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? 53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. 54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink...

The Bible is not God. The Bible is the infinitely precious and infallible word of God. But if the living God does not open our hearts to the word of God, we can read it a hundred hours a week and never see the glory of what it says and the one who gave it...Don't let the world shape you so that this looks boring. GOD ALMIGHTY HAS SPOKEN! It CAN'T be boring! (video is only 2 minutes long. A must watch!)