In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife.” This was not only a misquotation of Scripture, but a blatant deletion of words from 1 Corinthians 7:4: “The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In my fundamentalist upbringing, for example, I had been taught that women do not have authority over their own bodies. “As I slowly drifted away from fundamentalism, John Piper dived in headfirst.” Nearly five years have passed since that night, and now one thing has become heart-wrenchingly clear to me: As I slowly drifted away from fundamentalism, John Piper dived in headfirst. I no longer identified myself as a “Christian Hedonist” or consumed content from DesiringGod, but, in my naïveté, I had a deep respect for “Pastor John.” Leaving my fundamentalist upbringing for good As time passed, my theological trajectory continued to change ever so slightly with each passing college course, small group or personal discovery. He even answered one of my questions months before I graduated high school. His “Ask Pastor John” podcast, his “Sermon of the Day,” and his “Look at the Book” video series all regularly made their way into my eyes and ears. It was then that I was firmly convinced that Jesus truly meant what he said and said what he meant.įor the next few years, I imbibed Piper daily. They have the taste of radical commitment that all of us dream about, many of us crave, and only a few pursue.” This would eventually lead me to discovering the Bekennende Kirche, the Barmen Declaration, and the works of Karl Barth, Karl Rahner, Hans Urs von Balthasar and Jürgen Moltmann.Ĭommenting on Bonhoeffer’s compelling vision for a united Christian community, Piper remarks, “These words about ‘life together’ have the ring of authenticity for us because they were written not at the nerve center of comfort but on the brink. It was in this sermon that I was first exposed to the works of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. For we share in Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end.” Introduction to Bonhoeffer

But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. It is an exposition of Hebrews 3:12-14: “Take care, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.

The sermon was preached by John Piper at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis on Jan. On that November night, I was walking around praying and thinking on these things when I pulled out my phone and saw the following sermon in one of my podcast feeds: “ Helping Each Other Endure to the End.” It is still one that I will listen to whenever I have lost sight of the vision of the ministry to which I believe God has called me.

John piper providence