This vision of, and invitation to, the work of global missions challenges Christians everywhere to cultivate a holy ambition to preach Christ where he has not yet been named.
DO YOU HAVE A HOLY AMBITION?
The apostle Paul had a holy ambition: to preach the gospel to peoples who had never heard. He ached to proclaim Jesus where he had not yet been named.
So today, missionaries cross cultures, learn languages, and pour out their lives in word and deed to break through thousands of years of darkness and the reign of Satan over a people who do not know the King of kings and the Savior of the world. Missionaries go to, and minister among, peoples who otherwise have little to no access to the saving news of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection.
And since Jesus’s Great Commission to make disciples of all nations is still in effect-and since there are thousands of peoples today who have never heard of him-every church should pray that God would not only make all of us evangelists among our own people, but also that he would raise up from among us missionaries to take the gospel where it has never gone before.

Missionary biographies often inspire enthusiasm, zeal, and urgency for missions among God’s people. But how do Christians give their lives to missions if they feel called to remain in their homeland? In 1792, British pastor Andrew Fuller formed the Baptist Missionary Society, an organization dedicated to the promotion of mission work both at home and overseas. In this concise biography, best-selling author John Piper introduces readers to this incredible Christian who-although he never served abroad himself-inspired the modern missionary movement that gave rise to such figures as William Carey and Hudson Taylor. Working tirelessly to raise funds for missionaries in the field and championing the importance of sound doctrine for fruitfulness in missions, Fuller stands as an example to all Christians eager to devote themselves to knowing, guarding, and spreading the true gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth.

Turn your world on its head.For more than thirty years, John Piper pastored in the rough and tumble realities of downtown Minneapolis, preaching his people through the ups and down of life one Sunday at a time. When it came to capturing a generation of joy in one final sermon series, he turned to ten trademark truths to leave ringing in his peoples’ ears.These ten are world-shaking truths-each astonishing in its own way. First they turned Piper’s own world upside down. Then his church’s. And they will continue to turn the whole world upside down as the gospel of Christ advances in distance and depth. These surprising doctrines, as Piper writes, are “wildly untamable, explosively uncontainable, and electrically future-creating.”Join a veteran author, pastor, and Christian leader as he captures the ten astonishing, compassionate, life-giving, joy-awakening, hope-sustaining truths that have held everything together for him.This book is a revised edition of the earlier title,Doctrine Matters.

Racism, hatred, and claims to ethnic superiority have been tragic elements of the human condition since the Fall. In every manifestation, the root of racial sin is an unbelieving heart resistant to the grace and mercy of God. The gospel of Jesus Christ, therefore, is the only hope for any meaningful racial solutions. John Piper brings the light of the gospel to bear on racial issues in this groundbreaking book. Bloodlines begins with Piper’s confession of his own sins and experience with racial tensions, along with how God has been transforming him and his church. He enables readers to grasp the reality and extent of racism, and then he demonstrates from Scripture how the light of the gospel penetrates the darkness of this destructive sin. The book concludes with sections on what Jesus’s atoning death means for racial issues, interracial marriage, and prejudice. With great sensitivity and compassion, along with a careful reading of the Scriptures, Piper helps readers navigate the painful landscape of racial sin, showing that in the gospel we all have a common bloodline and that through the blood of Jesus, race and ethnicity become secondary for a common people of God.

In this revised and expanded edition of Brothers, We Are Not Professionals that includes a new introduction and select all-new chapters, best-selling author John Piper pleads through a series of thoughtful essays with fellow pastors to abandon the professionalization of the pastorate and pursue the prophetic call of the Bible for radical ministry.“We pastors are being killed by the professionalizing of the pastoral ministry,” he writes. “The mentality of the professional is not the mentality of the prophet. It is not the mentality of the slave of Christ. Professionalism has nothing to do with the essence and heart of the Christian ministry. The more professional we long to be, the more spiritual death we will leave in our wake. For there is no professional childlikeness, there is no professional tenderheartedness, there is no professional panting after God.“Brothers, we are not professionals. We are outcasts. We are aliens and exiles in the world. Our citizenship is in Heaven, and we wait with eager expectation for the Lord (Phil. 3:20). you cannot professionalize the love for His appearing without killing it. And it is being killed. “The world sets the agenda of the professional man; God sets the agenda of the spiritual man. The strong wine of Jesus Christ explodes the wine- skins of professionalism.”

Athanasius. Owen. Machen.

When Augustine handed over the leadership of his church in AD 426, his successor was so overwhelmed by a sense of inadequacy that he declared, “The swan is silent,” fearing the spiritual giant’s voice would be lost in time. But for 1,600 years Augustine has not been silent–and neither have the men who faithfully trumpeted the cause of Christ after him. Their lives have inspired every generation of believers and should compel us to a greater passion for God.

In his fourth book in the Swans Are Not Silent series, John Piper explores the lives of Athanasius, John Owen, and J. Gresham Machen–a bishop, a pastor, and the founder of a seminary.

Each of these men stood for the truth of the gospel in the face of intense opposition–all out of a deep love for Jesus and a desire for people to know him in his fullness. They took no joy in controversy for argument’s sake, and they were willing to suffer for the sake of guarding the sanctity of the gospel. Threats of harm, years of exile, the death of loved ones, opposition from friends and authorities, sickness and pain–none of these setbacks could keep these three from maintaining their efforts to further the gospel or quench their zeal for Jesus himself.

In each of their lives, personal holiness was emphasized publicly and privately despite suffering. They were true soldiers for the sake of the cross, and each man offers life lessons for Christians today. We pray that their perseverance, courage, and resolve will arouse such Christ-honoring passions in you.

This short, impressive book, drawn from Piper’s popular Desiring God, emphasizes the importance of strengthening our relationship with our Creator by enjoying Him and His creation. The author’s now classic ideas are presented here in an accessible size that will allow readers to absorb and apply them quickly — leading them to a dramatically different and joyful experience of their faith. Filled with biblical reasons for living a life of celebration, this life-changing listen helps people discover not only why but how to delight more fully in the Lord.

The Christmas season is often one of the busiest and most stressful times of the year, and it’s easy to lose sight of what makes it special. Helping us refocus on what’s truly important, well-known pastor and author John Piper leads readers through twenty-four short meditations on Advent. The devotionals-drawn from Piper’s extensive preaching and teaching ministry-lead readers to ponder afresh the birth of Jesus, Israel’s long-awaited Messiah and the Savior of the world. Reflecting on several Scriptural texts, this accessible volume aims to direct individuals, families, and churches to the most glorious dawning of indestructible joy the world has ever seen: the incarnation of the Son of God.

Scripture reveals that the great business of life is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever. In this paradigm-shattering classic, newly revised and expanded, John Piper reveals that the debate between duty and delight doesn’t truly exist: Delight is our duty. Join him as he unveils stunning, life impacting truths you saw in the Bible but never dared to believe. // John Piper, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis since 1980, is the author of The Dangerous Duty of Delight, Desiring God, Future Grace, A Godward Life, and The Pleasures of God. He received his doctorate in theology from the University of Munich and taught biblical studies for six years at Bethel College, St. Paul, before becoming a pastor. He and his wife, Noel, have four sons and one daughter.

When people start talking about predestination versus free will, the question is nearly always raised: Does God desire all to be saved? If God elects some and not others, how can biblical passages that say God wants the whole world to be saved be true? Drawing explicitly from the Bible, pastor John Piper argues that God’s choice to elect some and not others is completely compatible with his genuine desire that all people would be saved. With humility and grace, Piper addresses common Arminian pillar texts, showing how they do not contradict God’s absolute sovereignty in salvation. Aiming to encourage passionate worship and energetic mission-not intellectual pride-this short book serves as a helpful introduction to this often debated issue.

John Piper writes on the eve of his own cancer surgery to help others with cancer, as well as their friends and family. How are we as Christians called to respond when cancer invades our lives, whether our own bodies or those of our friends and family? On the eve of his own cancer surgery, John Piper writes about cancer as an opportunity to glorify God. With pastoral sensitivity, compassion, and strength, Piper gently but firmly acknowledges that we can indeed waste our cancer when we don’t see how it is God’s good plan for us and a hope-filled path for making much of Jesus. Don’t Waste Your Cancer is for anyone touched by a life-threatening illness. It first appeared as an appendix in Suffering and the Sovereignty of God. Repackaged and republished, it will serve as a hope-giving resource for healthcare workers, pastors, counselors, and others caring for those with cancer and other serious illnesses.

Well-known around the world for his passionate and powerful preaching, John Piper has distilled over thirty years of preaching experience into one book for the benefit of pastors and other Bible teachers. Building on the foundation laid by his previous two books, A Peculiar Glory and Reading the Bible Supernaturally, Piper makes a compelling claim about the purpose of a sermon: not just an explanation of the text, but awakening worship by being worship. Christian preaching is a God-appointed means of transforming its hearers in both head and heart, not only in intellect but also in affections. With clear examples of specific methods, Piper shows preachers how and what to communicate from the pulpit in a way that takes seriously the task of handling the Word of God week in and week out in the context of, and as, Christian worship.

WHY? The most important questions anyone can ask are: Why was Jesus Christ crucified? Why did he suffer so much? What has this to do with me? Finally, who sent him to his death? The answer to the last question is that God did. Jesus was God’s Son. The suffering was unsurpassed, but the whole message of the Bible leads to this answer. The central issue of Jesus’ death is not the cause, but the meaning-God’s meaning. That is what this book is about. John Piper has gathered from the New Testament fifty reasons. Not fifty causes, but fifty purposes-in answer to the most important question that each of us must face: What did God achieve for sinners like us in sending his Son to die?

The fifth volume in Piper’s acclaimed The Swans Are Not Silent series illustrates powerful and enduring lessons through the missional sufferings of Tyndale, Judson, and Paton.

Jesus’ words in John 12 are sobering: unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it will bear little fruit. The history of Christianity’s expansion proves that God’s strategy for reaching unreached peoples with the gospel includes the sufferings of his frontline heralds–the missionaries who willingly die a thousand daily deaths to advance God’s kingdom.

Pastor John Piper’s latest addition to The Swans Are Not Silent series focuses on this flesh-and-blood reality in the lives of William Tyndale, Adoniram Judson, and John Paton. The price they paid to translate the Word of God, to pave the way for missionary mobilization around the world, and to lead the hostile to Christ was great. Yet their stories show in triplicate how the gospel advances not only through the faithful proclamation of the truth but through representing the afflictions of Christ in our sufferings.

Why is the church so ineffectual and characterized by the mosaic generation as unchristian? The term born again has been devalued both in society and in the church. Recent social studies surveys have shown that those who regard themselves as born again Christians have the same tendency to divorce as people who aren’t Christians at all! In these surveys, being born again is defined by what people say they believe. The New Testament defines Christians very differently. Piper defines new birth biblically and helps us to embrace the reality of it. I hope that showing that the new birth is not in our control helps make pastors and other Christians desperate for the supernatural in their ministries.

Explore this stunning quality of God’s grace:  It never ends!

In this revision of a foundational work, John Piper reveals how grace is not only God’s undeserved gift to us in the past, but also God’s power to make good happen for us today, tomorrow, and forever. 

True life for the follower of Jesus really is a moment-by-moment trust that God is dependable and fulfills his promises.  This is living by faith in future grace, which provides God’s mercy, provision, and wisdom—everything we need—to accomplish his good plans for us.  

In Future Grace, chapter by chapter—one for each day of the month—Piper reveals how cherishing the promises of God helps break the power of persistent sin issues like anxiety, despondency, greed, lust, bitterness, impatience, pride, misplaced shame, and more.

Ultimate joy, peace, and hope in life and death are found in a confident, continual awareness of the reality of future grace.

N. T. Wright, a world-renowned New Testament scholar and bishop in the Church of England, has spent years seeking “new” interpretations of the apostle Paul’s writings. Among his conclusions are that “the discussions of justification in much of the history of the church certainly since Augustine got off on the wrong foot, at least in terms of understanding Paul and they have stayed there ever since.” // According to Piper, Wright’s confidence that the church has gotten it wrong for 1,500 years, given his enormous influence, set off warning bells for Christian leaders such as himself, a pastor and New Testament scholar. According to Piper, if Wright’s views find a home in the church, not only could the doctrine of justification be distorted for generations to come but the New Testament writers’ original intent could be silenced. This book is a call from John Piper to all Christians, citing his warnings against “fresh” interpretations of the Bible and his plea to hold fast to what he considers the biblical view of justification.

This book is a cry from the heart of John Piper. He is pleading that God himself, as revealed in Christ’s death and resurrection, is the ultimate and greatest gift of the gospel. // None of Christ’s gospel deeds and none of our gospel blessings are good news except as means of seeing and savoring the glory of Christ. Forgiveness is good news because it opens the way to the enjoyment of God himself. Justification is good news because it wins access to the presence and pleasures of God himself. Eternal life is good news because it becomes the everlasting enjoyment of Christ. // All God’s gifts are loving only to the degree that they lead us to God himself. That is what God’s love is: his commitment to do everything necessary (most painfully the death of his only Son) to enthrall us with what is most deeply and durably satisfying – namely, himself.

John Piper invites you to experience deeper intimacy with God through these thought-provoking and soul-enriching meditations. Whether you are just discovering the divine richness of Scripture or have long been a passionate student, you’ll find a deeper understanding of God and renewed insight for your journey.

A Godward Life is the first of three devotional volumes by John Piper, each feature 120 vignettes that focus on the radical difference it makes when we choose to live with God at the center of all that we do. Scripture-soaked and touching on the issues which most affect our lives today, A Godward Life is a passionate, moving, and articulate call for all believers to live their lives in conscious and glad submission to the sovereignty and glory of God.

If the evangelical church at large was ever too confrontational in its evangelism, those days are gone. In our shrinking, pluralistic world, the belief that Jesus is the only way of salvation is increasingly called arrogant and even hateful. In the face of this criticism, many shrink back from affirming the global necessity of knowing and believing in Jesus. In Jesus, the Only Way to God, John Piper offers a timely plea for the evangelical church to consider what is at stake in surrendering the unique, universal place of Jesus in salvation.

“John Piper fires readers’ passion for the centrality and supremacy of God by unfolding Calvin’s exemplary zeal for the glory of God. God rests all too lightly on the church’s mind in our time. Consequently, the self-saturation of his people has made God and his glory auxiliary, and his majesty has all but disappeared from the modern evangelical world. John Calvin saw a similar thing in his day, and it was at the root of his quarrel with Rome. Nothing mattered more to Calvin than the centrality, supremacy, and majesty of the glory of God. His aim, he wrote, was to “”set before [man], as the prime motive of his existence, zeal to illustrate the glory of God””-a fitting banner over all of the great Reformer’s life and work. “”The essential meaning of Calvin’s life and preaching,”” writes John Piper, “”is that he recovered and embodied a passion for the absolute reality and majesty of God. Such is the aim and burden of this book as well.”” As Piper concisely unfolds this predominant theme in Calvin’s life, he seeks to fire every Christian’s passion for the centrality and supremacy of God, so that God’s self-identification in Exodus 3 as “”I am who I am”” becomes the sun in our solar system too. “

Physical sickness affects more than just our bodies; it takes a toll on our emotional and spiritual health as well. In this honest book, best-selling author John Piper shares ten lessons he learned while in the hospital. Written to help those in the hospital focus their attention on God, his grace, and his plan-when such focus can be especially hard-this volume blends together personal narrative with biblical reflections to help readers rely on the God who stands ready to comfort and support his people. Whether it’s cultivating a sense of gratitude, resisting the temptation to watch television 24/7, or looking for ways to serve those around them, this book encourages those who are sick to fight for faith in the midst of their illness.

John Piper’s bestselling book on missions (more than 300,000 copies sold) draws on key biblical texts to demonstrate that worship is the ultimate goal of the church and that proper worship fuels missionary outreach. Piper offers a biblical defense of God’s supremacy in all things, providing listeners with a sound theological foundation for missions.
This thirtieth anniversary edition of a contemporary classic incorporates insights from the author’s refined thinking over the past ten years. Used extensively as a textbook for missions courses and a resource for ministries, Let the Nations Be Glad! provides a passionate plea for God-centeredness in the whole enterprise of world evangelization and explores the role of prayer and spiritual warfare. The book is essential for those involved in or preparing for missions work. It also offers enlightenment for students, pastors, youth workers, campus ministers, and all who want to connect their labors to God’s global purposes.

What, or who, is at the center of your universe? John Piper shows us the blazing glory of Christ and urges us to set him as the sun at the center of our personal solar systems, so that each area of our life might orbit in the way it was designed to. When Christ is our supreme treasure, we are able to keep money, sex and power in their proper place, enjoying them and glorifying God with them instead of rejecting them or worshiping them.

God has provided a way for all people, not just scholars, to know that the Bible is the Word of God. John Piper has devoted his life to showing us that the glory of God is object of the soul’s happiness. Now, his burden in this book is to demonstrate that this same glory is the ground of the mind’s certainty. God’s peculiar glory shines through his Word. The Spirit of God enlightens the eyes of our hearts. And in one self-authenticating sight, our minds are sure and our hearts are satisfied. Justified certainty and solid joy meet in the peculiar glory of God.

The weight of glory is a happy burden. Thus God is the happiest Being in the Universe. To know Him in His pleasures is to see Him as He is- and to have a fresh encounter with His transforming presence. If you are hungry for this deep delight, consider the gladness of His great heart. The things that make God glad are the measures of His greatness. Christ and the cross. Choosing His people and bruising His Son. Creating the world and revealing His worth. The gladness of His people in the greatness of His glory. // John Piper has been the senior pastor to Bethlehem Baptist Church in Menneapolis, Minnesota, since 1980. He holds degrees from Wheaton College, Fuller SEMInary, and the University of Munich (Dr. theol.). A respected theologian and author, Dr. Piper has authored many books including the best seller, Desiring God. He and his wife Noël have four sons and one daughter.

As you prepare for marriage, dare to dream with God.
Getting to know that special someone naturally involves learning about family and friends, education and athletics, favorite pastimes, and your hopes and dreams. Ideally, you’ll talk about life’s best moments and worst, the brightest places in your background and the darkest.
But what about God? What is his role in your relationship? What do each of you believe about him, and how do you understand his dream for marriage-for your marriage?
John Piper wants to help you faithfully walk the road to becoming husband and wife. Here you’ll find his counsel on practical topics like engagement, wedding planning, finances, and sex. But most importantly, John shares his single most vital word on marriage: a vision grander than many of us have ever dared to dream, about what God is doing in every Christian marriage.

The Bible reveals glorious things. And yet we often miss its power because we read it the same way we read any other book. In Reading the Bible Supernaturally, best-selling author John Piper teaches us how to read the Bible in light of its divine author. In doing so, he highlights the Bible’s unique ability to reveal God to humanity in a way that informs our minds, transforms our hearts, and ignites our love. With insights into the biblical text drawn from decades of experience studying, preaching, and teaching Scripture, Piper helps us experience the transformative power of God’s Word-a power that extends beyond the mere words on the page. Ultimately, Piper shows us that in the seemingly ordinary act of reading the Bible, something supernatural happens: we encounter the living God.

John Piper challenges fellow baby boomers to forego the American dream of retirement and live out their golden years with a far greater purpose in mind. They say it’s a person’s reward for all those years of labor. “Turn in your time card and trade in your IRAs. Let travel plans and golf-course leisure lead the way.” But is retirement really the ideal? Or is it a series of poor options that ignore a greater purpose-and will kill a person more quickly than old age? John Piper responds, “Lord, spare me this curse!” And his resounding message is for anyone who believes there’s far more to the golden years than accumulating comforts. It’s for readers who long to finish better than they started, persevere for the right reasons (and without fear), experience true security, value what lies beyond their cravings, and live dangerously for the One who gave his life in his prime. With this brief book, Piper is sure to spur fellow baby boomers in their resolve to invest themselves in the sacrifices of love-and to grow old with godly zeal.

As social justice, environmental causes, and not-for-profit ministries rise in popularity, more and more people are looking for a life of adventure, to live for something greater than themselves. Helping Christians put their faith into action for the glory of God, popular pastor John Piper is releasing this stand-alone edition of chapter 5 from his best-selling book Don’t Waste Your Life. Piper teaches that risk is an action that opens us up to the possibility of loss or injury, but that living for Christ necessarily involves taking risks in faith, a road that ultimately leads to fullness of joy, the glory of God, and the good of others.

Who is Jesus Christ?You’ve never met him in person, and you don’t know anyone who has. But there is a way to know who he is. How? Jesus Christ-the divine Person revealed in the Bible-has a unique excellence and a spiritual beauty that speaks directly to our souls and says, “Yes, this is truth.” It’s like seeing the sun and knowing that it is light, or tasting honey and knowing that it is sweet.The depth and complexity of Jesus shatter our simple mental frameworks. He baffled proud scribes with his wisdom but was understood and loved by children. He calmed a raging storm with a word but would not get himself down from the cross.Look at the Jesus of the Bible. Keep your eyes open, and fill them with the portrait of Jesus in God’s Word. Jesus said, “If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.” Ask God for the grace to do his will, and you will see the truth of his Son.John Piper has written this book in the hope that all will see Jesus for who he really is and will come to enjoy him above all else.

In the sixth volume of the Swans Are Not Silent series, John Piper celebrates the importance of poetic effort by looking at three influential Christians whose words magnificently display a commitment to truth and a love of beauty.

Examining the lives of George Herbert, George Whitefield, and C. S. Lewis, Piper helps us appreciate the importance of carefully crafted words by exploring how Christians can use them to testify to God’s glory, wonder at his grace, and rejoice in his salvation.

Whether exploring Herbert’s moving poetry, Whitefield’s dramatic preaching, or Lewis’s imaginative writing, this book highlights the importance of Christ-exalting eloquence in our praise of God and proclamation of his gospel.

God wants your heart.
The whole Bible teaches truth and awakens emotions, but the Psalms are in a category of their own. They do not just awaken the heart; they put it in the foreground. They do not merely invite our emotions to respond to God’s truth; they put our emotions on display.
The Psalms are more than commanding-they are contagious. We are not just listening to profound ideas and feelings. We are living among them in their overflow. We touch pillows wet with tears. We hear and feel the unabashed cries of affliction, shame, regret, grief, anger, discouragement, and turmoil. But what makes all this stunningly different from the sorrows of the world is that all of it-absolutely all of it-is experienced in relation to the totally sovereign God.
This book is an invitation. God wants our hearts. He will take them as he finds them. And then, with the healing contagion of the Psalms, he will shape them. Accept his invitation to come.

John Piper delivers powerful biblical reassurances to bolster readers’ trust in the sovereignty of God and the supremacy of Christ when evil and tragedy come. If God governs the sinful acts of men, then does the devastation caused by those terrorists, dictators, murderers, cheats, and abusers discredit Jesus’ words: “All authority in heaven and earth belongs to me”? When heart-rending news comes of the latest accident, illness, or natural disaster, can we really believe that in Jesus, “all things hold together”? Though God has not answered all of our questions about sin and suffering, there are things he wants us to know, things he declares in his Word-such as what’s at stake in the “spectacular” sins of others and the horrible tragedies of this life; their global purpose, both historically and today; and what these events say to us personally. As John Piper works through these biblical truths, this book will bolster readers’ trust in the utter sovereignty of God such that they’ll be less timid in their witness and less afraid of whatever may come. It is also a joy-infused declaration that because everything occurs through Christ and for Christ and his glory, they are forever secure in him.

According to Warren Wiersbe, The Supremacy of God in Preaching “‘calls us back to a biblical standard for preaching, a standard exemplified by many of the pulpit giants of the past, especially Jonathan Edwards and Charles Spurgeon.” This newly revised edition is an essential guide for preachers who want to stir the embers of revival. Piper focuses his study on the example of Jonathan Edwards as an illustration of a leader who submitted to God.

When Augustine handed over the leadership of his church in AD 426, his successor was so overwhelmed by a sense of inadequacy that he declared, “The swan is silent,” fearing the spiritual giant’s voice would be lost in time. But for 1,600 years Augustine has not been silent–and neither have the men who faithfully trumpeted the cause of Christ after him. Their lives have inspired every generation of believers and should compel us to a greater passion for God.

John Bunyan suffered long-term imprisonment, even when a simple promise to cease preaching would have freed him, and was moved to rely on God even more. William Cowper, despite month after month of debilitating depression, wrote poems that reflected the sustaining character of God and led him to worship more deeply. David Brainerd so desired to honor God that through the loneliness of wilderness ministry and the agony of tuberculosis, he pressed on, transforming world missions forever.

In this noteworthy Swans Are Not Silent book, John Piper invites you into the lives of Bunyan, Cowper, and Brainerd to discover how God takes the privilege of faith and strengthens it with trials so that we experience a greater hunger for him. The perseverance of these godly servants exemplifies the essential fruit that affliction can produce in your own life. Their enduring faith will fortify you in your suffering, reminding you that “behind a frowning providence, God hides a smiling face.” And their stories and witness will inspire in you a similar passion for the supremacy of God in your life.

We admire these men for their greatness, but the truth is Augustine grappled with sexual passions, Martin Luther struggled to control his tongue, and John Calvin fought the battle of faith with worldly weapons. Yet each of these men will always be remembered for the messages they declared–messages that still resound today.

John Piper explores these men’s lives, integrating Augustine’s delight in God with Luther’s emphasis on the Word and Calvin’s exposition of scripture. Through their strengths and struggles, we can learn how to live better today. When we consider their lives, we behold the glory and majesty of God and find power to overcome our own weaknesses.

John Newton, Charles Simeon, and William Wilberforce suffered lifelong opposition and endured for the causes of gospel truth, missionary zeal, and political justice. They found, in solid doctrine and humble joy, the tough roots for habitual tenderness in response to their adversaries–without doctrinal or moral flinching. They are examples of remarkable grace.

In the third book of the Swans Are Not Silent series, bestselling author John Piper looks at the lives of these three great men and focuses on how they not only endured great opposition but did so with joy and without bitterness. Their lives exemplify how to set a pace and finish the race before us, encouraging every heart that it is possible to jump the hurdles in our paths.

Waarom is Jezus gekruisigd? Waarom moest Hij sterven? Wat heeft dat met mij te maken? Wie heeft Hem eigenlijk de dood ingestuurd? Het antwoord op die laatste vraag is: dat deed God. Een verbijsterende gedachte, want Jezus is immers Gods Zoon. Toch kun je uit de Bijbel geen andere conclusie trekken.
Als de Bijbel over het sterven van Jezus spreekt, draait het echter niet om die vraag. Dan gaat het om de bedoeling van Zijn dood. Welk doel stond God voor ogen?
Daar gaat John Piper in dit boek op in. Vanuit de Bijbel geeft hij vijftig antwoorden op de vraag: Waarom moest Jezus sterven? Geen vijftig oorzaken, maar vijftig bedoelingen. Zo geeft hij antwoord op een van belangrijkste vragen die jij jezelf kunt stellen: Wat heeft God voor zondaren tot stand gebracht door Zijn Zoon op aarde te laten sterven? Belangrijker nog: Wat wilde Hij doen voor jou?

Piper has gathered many of Jesus’ demands from the four Gospels and puts the demands in a redemptive, historical context, then concisely examines each. The result is an accessible introduction for thoughtful inquirers and new believers, as well as meditative meat for veteran believers who want to know Jesus better.

What do you do when you discover that you’re not satisfied in God the way he wants you to be? Joy is more than an afterthought of the Christian life; it is the sustaining fruit of a relationship with God. With a radical passion for Christ’s glory, John Piper helps you find the joy God wants you to have.