More Piper

I am now the guy at the coffee shop with a computer doing stuff on the internet or writing papers, or whatnot. I am now that guy. Except I'm not drinking coffee. If I am drinking something, it would have to be a cold drink that doesn't taste much like coffee. Just can't stand it. Today, I am about to lead my first worship practice in about 2 hours. Keep me and the rest of the team in prayer as we prepare to lead the people of God in praise of our God. Especially pray for humility for me, because I know how susceptible I am to pride in my life. Speaking of pride, I listened to another couple of Piper sermons today at work and in the second of the two he dealt with I John 2:15-17. Tons of good stuff, but I'll just talk a little bit about "the pride of life." He explained that the pride John was talking about wasn't pride in having life, but looking at the greek word and examining its other uses, he demonstrated that the pride we have is pride in goods or our livlihood. As he explained, the two major catagories of our sin, into which all sin falls, is the desire for what we do not have and pride over what we do have. As the verses go on, we see that these are of the world and the world is passing away. We also have a command from John to abstain from these and love/obey God. Here again, we don't have some command that just limits our fun and happiness. We have a loving command that exhorts us to seek that which is eternal and not what is temporal. He also did a fantastic job of showing that when John talks about faith it is linked completely to our love and obedience of God. Basically, John cannot imagine a saving faith that isn't centered around the love of God, and if we truly love God then we must have saving faith. You can't have one without the other. There is no separation of faith and the love of God which must result in good works otherwise our faith wasn't real. I know I can't do justice to the way Piper said it, but it was really good. It's sermons like that that make me wonder why I aspire to be a preacher. I know I don't have his gift. But, God has commanded us (lovingly) to be faithful in what He has given us no matter how much He has given us. Instead of being jealous, I need to rejoice in what God has given to us through Piper and continually seek the growth of the talents He has given me through the grace of God.

Also, Piper's new book just came out, "What God Commands of the World." It looks really good. Add another book to the list.