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God Answers by John Piper
John Piper is off to Knoxville, TN for one year of writing. Here’s to hoping that might include some more poetry. This is one from earlier in 2012 that continues to be a blessing to me.
God Answers
Is there a word to help us feel
the weight of Adam’s fall?
All.
How heavy will this burden weigh,
(Spare not!) on those who fell?
Hell.
O Lord, so great this forfeiture!
Was there sufficient reason?
Treason.
Then whence could any traitor hope
before your burning face?
Grace.
But surely that will cost beyond
our wage. How is it priced?
Christ.
Entirely paid? By him? O God,
and is that gift for me?
Free.
I would receive this gift, O Lord!
How soon would you allow?
Now.
“You Need to Ponder Demas a Long Time”
“There is a love for the world that makes ministry impossible; there is a love for the world that produces either the abandonment of ministry or the making of ministry so worldly it’s useless.” – John Piper
“There is a love for this world that is irreconcilable with ministry to the world…more people leave Christ, church, and ministry out of love for the world than anything else.” – John Piper
Jefferson Bethke | The Death of YOLO
This past April, I had the privilege of meeting and hanging out with Jefferson Bethke while in Louisville when he shared this Spoken Word at Southern Seminary. You may remember him from this video. He’s a faithful brother representing Christ well. I commend this video to you, the paradox of Christianity. Indeed, “you only live once,” but the best way to live is dying to self and losing our life in Christ.
Check it.
Haiti, RSS, and a Big Blog Giveaway
About one month ago, I made the switch. After six years of blogging on the free version of WordPress (.com), I finally upgraded my blog to a self-hosted, customizable WordPress blog. Needless to say, it was long overdue, and I am very happy with the new theme and look of my blog. However, not everything went as planned.
I have been steadily blogging for over seven years with nearly 2,500 blogposts. During that time, my blog subscription slowly grew to over a thousand RSS subscribers. When I made the switch last month, I lost nearly all of them due to a technical issue. Basically, the feed 90% of my subscribers used was timmybrister.com/feed, the RSS intrinsically connected to the WordPress-hosted version of my site. When the switch took place, only those who subscribed through Feedburner carried over (less than 15%). As a result, a thousand subscribers over the course of seven years disappeared in one night. Bummer, right?
Since that time, I have been thinking what I can do to perhaps jumpstart blog subscriptions for my newly minted site. I know there’s no way that I will be able to get all of my previous subscribers back, but I’d like to ask for your help in rebuilding my blog subscriptions.
THE BLOG GIVEAWAY
Starting today and going through the end of this month (July 31), I am going to do a big blog giveaway in hopes it may encourage you to lend P&P your hand. There will be at least 8 winners in this giveaway. Last week, I contacted 8Bit, the developers of the Standard Theme (which I now use), and asked them if they would be willing to donate a license for the giveaway. They responded and shared that they would like to give two licenses away! Very cool. I have also decided to give two $50 gift certificates to Westminster Bookstore and 10 copies of J.D. Greear’s excellent book, Gospel: Recover the Power that Made Christianity Revolutionary. There will be three big winners:
The Biggun: Standard License Theme + $50 WTS Gift Certificate + Gospel by J.D. Greear [$115 value]
The Blogger: Standard License Theme + Gospel by J.D. Greear [$65 value]
The Bookworm: $50 WTS Gift Certificate + Gospel by J.D. Greear [$65 value]
In addition to these winners, I will give 5 more copies of Gospel by J.D. Greear.
HOW YOU REGISTER TO WIN
To register to win any of these giveaways, all you have to do is subscribe to my blog either by the Feedburner feed or by email using the box on the right sidebar of the blog. Once you subscribe, you will be entered to win (if you are already subscribed, you are included as well).
In order to increase your chances of winning, I am offering the following options, each which will be an additional entry to win the giveaways:
1. Share on Twitter about the giveaway with the suggested tweet (and comment below to let us know that you have done so):
I just subscribed to @timmybrister’s blog and registered to win @standardtheme & $50 gift certificate for @wtsbooks! » http://bit.ly/MiCQwN
2. Share on Facebook about the giveaway, encouraging others to join in (and comment below to let us know that you have done so.
3. Write a blogpost about the giveaway, and comment below with a link to your blogpost.
If you do all four, your name will be entered four times to win the giveaways. Simple enough, right? 
But be sure to comment below to let us know if you took advantage of the additional options. The giveaway will conclude July 31 at 11:59PM. On August 1, I will randomly select the winners of the giveaways from the total entries submitted. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me via the contact form.
HAITI and COLLEEN
As some of you know, I lead a network called The Haiti Collective, and as this giveaway is getting started, I’m getting on a plane to spend the next ten days with our partner church in Desarmes with a team from our church. We will be doing VBS for 100+ orphans, evangelism training in the afternoon, and hosting evangelistic services for the community in the evening. Additionally, we have some men who will train Haitian men in building benches/pews for the new building we constructed in 2011. If you think of it, I’d appreciate your prayers, though that will not give you an additional entry for the giveaway.
While I’m away, my executive assistant, Colleen, will be administrating the giveaway, fielding your comments, and answering any questions that you might have. You can contact her directly at Colleen@plntd.com or through the contact form. She is a great support, and I’m glad to introduce her to readers of my blog. Thank you, Colleen, for handling this in my absence!
Thank you for helping me rebuild my blog subscribers. I hope those of you new to the blog will be edified by the content. I look forward to getting back in the saddle in August! Till then, please lend me a digital hand with a little RSS love!
Help Crossway Meet Their Urgent Ministry Opportunity!
I, like many of you, are indebted to the great work Crossway has done to provide an excellent translation of the Bible as well as numerous wonderful books covering our library shelves. Recently, they have been given an all-or-nothing matching grant should they be able to raise $270,000 by the end of this month. As you can see below, they are hoping to use this money to provide Bibles in some of the most populous and needy places in the world. Please consider donating today!
AS YOU MAY KNOW, Crossway is a not-for-profit ministry that relies in part on gifts from people like you to accomplish major ministry projects worldwide.
We’ve recently been presented with an extraordinary opportunity. Generous donors have offered an all-or-nothing matching grant IF we are able to raise $270,000 by May 31st—just days from now.
This grant could not have come at a better time. In God’s kindness, we currently have unprecedented opportunities forcreating, translating, and delivering ESV Bible resources for Christians in great need—especially in China, India, and multiple countries in Africa.
Will you help us toward meeting this matching grant before the end of May? Your gift of any amount will help Crossway provide significantly more Bibles and Bible study resources to the church worldwide.
WE WOULD BE GRATEFUL FOR YOUR GENEROUS RESPONSE TO THIS URGENT OPPORTUNITY.
Josh Hamilton and Jesus
I was encouraged by this interview with Josh Hamilton, especially how natural he talked about Jesus and His accomplishments when others wanted him to his own accomplishments.
[HT : Z]
iPhonographam
