Thanks to all of you who participated in last week's giveaway for subscribers. Copies of This Momentary Marriage will be sent out to 125 of you this week.

(We'd list all the winners, but we'd have to get everyone's permission first, so you'll just have to trust me that the books are being sent.)

I wish we could have given everyone who wrote in a free copy, but we've done the next best thing by pricing it affordably. You can purchase This Momentary Marriage for only $6.49.

You may also be interested in the Marriage gift set that we have on special right now. It includes a copy of This Momentary Marriage, as well as John Piper's new book of poetry Velvet Steel and the CD set of his sermon series on marriage, "Marriage, Christ, and Covenant: One Flesh for the Glory of God."

Thanks again for reading and subscribing. Hopefully, we'll do another giveaway soon.

This weeks sermon: "Behold the Lamb of God"

Like a great root—one that protrudes above the ground a few feet out from the tree trunk—John the Baptist appears at the outset of the Gospel of John and then falls to the background.

He is a bridge between the Old Testament and the New. He is prominent at the beginning of Jesus' story because he is part of the deep roots of the Gospel in previous Scripture.

Jesus didn't appear on the scene of history without historical preparation. God had been at work in Israel for two thousand years—and even before that—putting in place a historical backdrop that would make Jesus life and ministry more intelligible.

The highpoint of what John the Baptist proclaims about Jesus is that he is "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." In this announcement are two shocking truths:

1. Jesus, the Messiah, will be slaughtered like a lamb and
2. he will open up the way of salvation not to Jews only but to the whole world.
   

Regardless of race, nationality, ethnicity, or status, those who embrace Jesus as their Lamb and their Lord will be sheltered from the otherwise inescapable wrath to come.

Update: The contest is now closed. Books are being sent to the winners. 

Remember to subscribe to the DG blog by email or RSS before Monday if you want a chance to win This Momentary Marriage.

Whether you subscribed a second ago or have been reading for a long time, just let us know you're a subscriber by responding to this post, and you'll be entered into the drawing.

We originally said we'd give away 100 of these books, but let's make it 125, so everyone's chances are a little better.

Thanks for reading!

Last week, John Piper spoke on the biblical foundations for Bethlehem College and Seminary under the title "The Earth Is the Lord's: The Supremacy of Christ in Christian Learning."

This message may be helpful not only to those interested in this particular school but also, more generally, to those involved in education at any level.

Piper sums up the goals of Bethlehem College and Seminary like this:

We aim to enable and to motivate the student to

• observe his subject matter accurately and thoroughly;
• understand clearly what he has observed;
• evaluate fairly what he has understood by deciding what is true and valuable;
• feel intensely according to the value of what he has evaluated;
• apply wisely and helpfully in life what he understands and feels; and
• express in speech, writing, and deeds what he has seen, understood, felt and applied in such a way that its accuracy, clarity, truth, value, and helpfulness can be known and enjoyed by others.

Update: The contest is now closed. Books are being sent to the winners. 

We're giving away 100 copies of This Momentary Marriage to 100 of our readers.

If you're a subscriber to the DG blog, let us know by responding to this post. Please include your name and the address you'd want the book shipped to if your name is drawn.

(Yes, we'd be happy to send them internationally, so everyone can participate.)

On Monday, we'll randomly select 100 readers and send them each a copy of this new book on marriage.

Sign up by RSS or email if you want to be entered but aren't a subscriber yet.

(If you keep hearing about RSS, and have no idea what it is, then you may be interested in a tutorial on how to use Google Reader that I wrote awhile back. Follow the directions in that article, and you should be using RSS within 10 minutes.)

I’ll start by telling you plainly that I want you to take advantage of our Christmas Special and get a case of Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ. Here’s why:

This helpful little book says things like:

Jesus himself - and all that God is for us in him - is our great reward, nothing less.

And,

Jesus will show us the way to heaven whether we can stomach it or not.

And again,

When we see Jesus for who he really is, we savor him…we delight in him as true and beautiful and satisfying.

I love this book because it gives me fresh words to use when I tell people why I love Jesus Christ. I love this book because it imparts a fresh passion for Jesus to those that read it. My joy in God is increased when I see others begin to rejoice in God. I’m a Christian Hedonist. That’s why I’m a spreader.

So get a case and spread the word—Christmas is only about Jesus Christ.

*               *               *

Offer Details

• Cases of Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ are available for a suggested donation of $68 to those who agree to give the books away for free.
• Each case contains 48 books. (The donation covers $1 per book and $20 for shipping.)
• If you can afford more—great! If you can’t afford $68, then we will accept whatever you can afford.
• This offer is good through December 16, 2008 or while our supply lasts, whichever comes first.
• We’re only taking these donations by phone, so call us at 1.888.346.4700 between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Central Time, Monday - Friday.

This week's sermon: "From His Fullness We Have All Received, Grace Upon Grace"

Moses is unique. No one in the Old Testament, other than God himself, commands respect like Moses. Exodus 33:11 says that God spoke to Moses "as a man speaks to his friend."

Moses alone knew God well enough to venture the audacious request, "Please show me your glory." God's answer was that, yes, he would cause his goodness to pass before Moses but, no, Moses could not see his face, only his back. The fullness of time had not yet come. It was not yet God's will to reveal himself in fullness. Not yet.

But the day came. God's eternal Word—God's own self and God's own fellow—became flesh in Jesus. And in doing so, God was overcoming the darkness in our world and the darkness in our souls.

Those who by grace are born of God have seen God's glory in Jesus—the glory Moses asked to see but wasn't permitted. Seeing the glory of Jesus means seeing the very glory of God. As Jesus himself says, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9).

This week's sermon: "We Beheld His Glory, Full of Grace and Truth"

What does the incarnation mean for us—that "the Word became flesh"?

One thing it means is that Jesus reveals God to us. In his perfect life and particularly in his death for us and triumphant resurrection, he reveals to us who God is and that God is for us who believe, not against us.

It's not significant that we haven't seen Jesus with our physical eyes. Isaiah prophesied, "He had no form of majesty that we should look at him, no beauty that we should desire him" (53:2).

What makes the difference—all the difference in the world—is seeing Jesus' self-authenticating spiritual beauty with the eyes of our hearts as we hear the gospel. This is the kind of seeing we do only when God gives us new birth. With born-again eyes, we see the light of the glory of the gospel and receive the crucified Christ as our Savior, Lord, and Treasure.

This week's sermon: "Proclaiming the Excellencies of Christ, Not Prosperity, Among the Nations"

The Prosperity Gospel is no gospel. Its lure is material wealth, not Jesus' excellencies. It deceives the naïve and suffocates cross-cultural missions.

The completion of the Great Commission will not happen through prosperity preachers in their personal planes but through God-called missionaries who embrace suffering in the world's most dangerous places, to bring the real gospel to world's remaining unreached peoples.

A connection to cross-cultural missions stands out in 1 Peter 2:9: "that you may proclaim the excellencies of him." Missionaries "proclaim the excellencies" of Jesus. But so do all Christians.

The link to missions comes in putting 1 Peter 2:9 next to Revelation 5:9: God's global people—his "royal priesthood" made of all peoples—only exists through the wealth-renouncing witness of cross-cultural missionaries.

John Piper preached Sunday morning at High Pointe Baptist Church in Austin, Texas, as the conclusion to the missions conference of To Every Tribe Ministries.

His title was "Filling Up What Is Lacking in Christ's Afflictions." Audio, video, and notes from the message are all available.

A number of new John Piper products have been released this fall, and we want to make sure you know that many of them are also available online for free. For example, you can download full length PDFs of Rethinking Retirement, Spectacular Sins, and Stand.

You might also like to know that we have added text for the well-known message “Doing Missions When Dying is Gain,” as well as for the very first sermon Pastor John preached at Bethlehem, while candidating to be pastor.

There are a few new translated resources as well. See the latest additions to our Spanish, Portuguese, and Bulgarian sections.

(Update: The book This Momentary Marriage is now available too.)

The full text of Don't Waste Your Life is now available online for free in a format optimized for the iPhone.

For the rest of us (who perhaps aren't so hip or technologically savvy) the ordinary online version of Don't Waste Your Life can be downloaded free along with about 50 other titles.

This week's sermon: "John Was Not the Light, But a Witness to the Light"

John the Gospel writer is eager to highlight and qualify the ministry of John the Baptist.

Twice in his first chapter, he breaks the flow to feature John the Baptist’s role as a witness. But then multiple times, both John the writer and John the Baptist conspire to limit this role in relation to Jesus. John's witness to Jesus is both a great necessity and a great not.

God not only saves, but he also sends. He sends his people to serve as his means in the salvation of others. Nobody is saved without a human witness. This is the great necessity of our witness.

But the great not is that the people who are sent are not to make much of themselves but of God’s Son. Christian witnessing should not be self-serving and self-exalting but Christ-serving and Christ-exalting.

Preachers, public figures, and all Christians are to join with John in saying and embodying the truth that “Jesus must increase, but I must decrease.”

Some of us at Desiring God wrote and produced a short film, entitled "James 3: A Story," for our national conference.

By request, we have made this film available for free and encourage you to use it in your church, small group, class, or wherever you think it would be helpful.

Along with the above YouTube version, we've posted HD and iPod versions through our 2008 National Conference iTunes Podcast.

We would love to hear what you think of it, and perhaps we will make more.

6,200 women and 1 man. That was the context last night in Chicago at the first True Woman conference as John Piper addressed the topic "The Ultimate Meaning of True Womanhood."

Gretchen Naugle, wife of Desiring God's Lukas Naugle, was on hand and writes,

Pastor John called all women to examine the depths of their womanhood and their faith. He stated, "If you base your womanhood on competency you diminish the glory of Christ."

When we as women embrace our God-given role, we proclaim the glory of Christ at Calvary. We were called to proclaim the glories of Christ in all that we do, even the countless diaper moments that come with being a mom and in the hard, sacrificing moments of being single.

We need strong theology to stand strong through the challenges of this life, because as Pastor John said, "Wimpy theology makes for wimpy women."

This week's sermon: "In Him Was Life"

Before the universe exited, there was Life. Ultimate Reality is personal. Life is what gave rise to matter. In eternity past, God the Father and God the Son shared perfectly and fully in that which is truly life.

But this reality, true and glorious as it is, is not what the apostle John has in mind when he writes, "In [Jesus] was life." What he does mean is that in Jesus is spiritual life, saving life, the life of the new birth. Not only is Jesus the Life that created all material life, but he is the Life that causes all new, spiritual, eternal life.

Three simultaneous realities occur in the imparting of this new life: new birth, new sight, and new faith. God causes us to be born again in uniting us together with his Son; in so doing, God opens our spiritual eyes; and as our eyes open, we see the light of who Jesus is and what he has done for us as true and beautiful and saving. These are three angles on one saving, life-giving event. 

I walked into Costco a week ago and heard Christmas music already. Right behind their bank of huge TVs were the beginnings of what I assume will be an increasing display of holiday paraphernalia. Frosted, plastic trees and such.

Merchandisers want us to start celebrating early so they can make as much money over the next few months as possible. But there are more important, less mercenary reasons to begin thinking about Christmas in October.

One reason is to focus our minds on Jesus and find ways to help others do this, too. If books are the kind of thing that help you do this, then you may be interested in our Fall/Christmas special.

As in years past, we are offering cases of Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ for $1 a book if you will give them away.

And because we don't want to be among the merchandisers who are capitalizing on Christmas, we want to make sure you know that if our suggested donation for a case is too much, we have a pay-what-you-can-afford policy.

Christmas cheer is a wonderful thing and all the more wonderful if the cheer centers on the main reason we have to be cheerful—Jesus. We hope that these books will help you direct your church or school or neighborhood or workplace toward him.

Offer Details

1. Cases of Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ are available for a suggested donation of $68 to those who agree to give the books away for free.
2. Each case contains 48 books. (The donation covers $1 per book and $20 for shipping.)
3. If you can afford more—great! If you can’t afford $68, then we will accept whatever you can afford.
4. This offer is good through December 16, 2008 or while our supply lasts, whichever comes first.
5. We’re only taking these donations by phone, so call us at 1.888.346.4700 between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Central Time, Monday-Friday.

You can now read the manuscript of John Piper's message, "Is There Christian Eloquence? Clear Words and the Wonder of the Cross."

Here's a summary:

The way we talk can undercut the cross. This much is clear in 1 Corinthians (1:17; 2:1). But does all eloquence minimize the gospel? Does the pursuit of verbal impact necessarily preempt the power of Christ?

Both George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards were eloquent, each in his own way. Did this "empty the cross of its power"? More than that, the Bible itself contains many portions that are nothing less than eloquent. How do we make sense of this?

A pointer is found in the context of 1 Corinthians. Here Paul makes clear that there is a kind of eloquence that exalts self and therefore cripples the cross. But this isn't the only brand of eloquence. There's another kind, a distinctly Christian eloquence, that humbles self and exalts Christ.

Our eloquence will never be the determining factor in causing someone to believe the gospel, but it still makes a difference. We can hope for at least 5 benefits from Christian eloquence:

1. keeping interest
2. gaining sympathy
3. awakening sensitivity
4. speaking memorably
5. increasing power

All the video from the conference we just completed is now online:

• Sinclair Ferguson - “The Tongue, the Bridle, and the Blessing”
• Driscoll, Ferguson, Piper - Friday Panel Discussion
• Bob Kauflin - “Words of Wonder: What Happens When We Sing?”
• Mark Driscoll - “How Sharp the Edge: Christ, Controversy, and Cutting Words”
• Daniel Taylor - “The Life-Shaping Power of Story: God’s and Ours”
  
• Kauflin, Piper, Taylor, Tripp - Saturday Panel Discussion
• Paul Tripp - “War of Words: Getting to the Heart for God’s Sake”
• John Piper - “Is There Christian Eloquence? Clear Words and the Wonder of the Cross”

This week's sermon: "In the Beginning Was the Word"

John doesn't open his Gospel with subtlety and vagueness. He doesn't intend to leave his readers guessing. He wants us to immediately know who Jesus is in all his infinite majesty.

His purpose for writing will be explicit: "So that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name" (John 20:31). And he begins his narrative in perfect accord with this desire.

John's first three verses address 1) the time of Jesus' existence (before time), 2) the essence of his identity (he is God), 3) his relationship to God (his distinct personhood), and 4) his relationship to the world (he was not created but was involved in the creation of all things).

When we come to know Jesus in John's Gospel, we are coming to know God. If you want to know God, then get to know Jesus. His person and work are God's final and decisive message (Word) to sinful humanity.

This week's sermon: "The New Commandment of Christ: Love One Another As I Have Loved You"

Christians are people under authority—the authority of Jesus. Jesus is more than Lord, but he is never less.

And Jesus commands his people to love each other—a command which he says is "new." But what's new about this command to love? Hasn't God always commanded his people to love each other?

What's new in Jesus' command is that Jesus himself is now the pattern and the power of our love for each other. Jesus perfectly demonstrated how we are to love others, and by being connected to him, we are enabled to love others.

But not only is Jesus our pattern and power. He's also our propitiation, our wrath-bearer. Jesus' greatest show of love is that he laid down his life for his people and covered all their failures to love perfectly like he does.