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Therefore Bread Was Created For The Glory Of Christ. Hunger And Thirst Were Created For The Glory Of Christ. And Fasting Was Created For The Glory Of Christ. Which Means That Bread Magnifies Christ In Two Ways: By Being Eaten With Gratitude For His Goodness, And By Being Forfeited Out Of Hunger For God Himself. When We Eat, We Taste The Emblem Of Our Heavenly Food—the Bread Of Life. And When We Fast We Say, “i Love The Reality Above The Emblem.” In The Heart Of The Saint Both Eating And Fasting Are Worship. Both Magnify Christ.

-John Piper

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Therefore Bread Was Created

John Piper

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Therefore Bread Was Created For The Glory Of Christ. Hunger And Thirst Were Created For The Glory Of Christ. And Fasting Was Created For The Glory Of Christ. Which Means That Bread Magnifies Christ In Two Ways: By Being Eaten With Gratitude For His Goodness, And By Being Forfeited Out Of Hunger For God Himself. When We Eat, We Taste The Emblem Of Our Heavenly Food—the Bread Of Life. And When We Fast We Say, “i Love The Reality Above The Emblem.” In The Heart Of The Saint Both Eating And Fasting Are Worship. Both Magnify Christ.

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The Great Barrier To Worship Among God's People Is Not That We Are Always Seeking Our Own Satisfaction, But That Our Seeking Is So Weak And Half-hearted That We Settle For Little Sips At Broken Cisterns When The Fountain Of Life Is Just Over The Next Hill.

Life Is War. That's Not All It Is. But It Is Always That. Our Weakness In Prayer Is Owing Largely To Our Neglect Of This Truth. Prayer Is Primarily A Wartime Walkie-talkie For The Mission Of The Church As It Advances Against The Powers Of Darkness And Unbelief.

Do All Things Without Grumbling. Why? You Have A Sovereign God Who Is On Your Side, Who Works Everything Together For Your Good.

Christian Inspirational

Sleep Is A Daily Reminder From God That We Are Not God. Once A Day God Sends Us To Bed Like Patients With A Sickness. The Sickness Is A Chronic Tendency To Think We Are In Control And That Our Work Is Indispensable. To Cure Us Of This Disease God Turns Us Into Helpless Sacks Of Sand Once A Day.

Don't Wait For A Feeling Or Love In Order To Share Christ With A Stranger. You Already Love Your Heavenly Father, And You Know That This Stranger Is Created By Him, But Separated From Him... So Take Those First Steps In Evangelism Because You Love God. It Is Not Primarily Out Of Compassion For Humanity That We Share Our Faith Or Pray For The Lost; It Is First Of All, Love For God.

Jesus' Teaching In General [implies] That Happy And Fulfilling Sexual Relations In Marriage Depend On Each Partner Aiming To Give Satisfaction To The Other. If It Is The Joy Of Each To Make The Other Happy, A Hundred Problems Will Be Solved Before They Happen.

Do Not Be More Devoted To Your Own Brain Than You Are To The Bible.

If You Don’t Know God As Beautiful And Satisfying, You Don’t Know Him.

Why Christians Do What They Do Is Just As Important As What They Do. Bad Motives Ruin Good Acts.

Abstraction Is The Way To The Heart - It Is Not The Heart Itself.

Our Main Work Is, By The Spirit Of God, With The Word Of God, To Portray The Glories Of God As More Beautiful And More Satisfying Than Anything.

God Is At Work In The Worst Of Times. He Is At Work Doing A Thousand Things No One Can See But Him.

John's Baptism...was A Radical Act Of Individual Commitment To Belong To The True People Of God, Based On Personal Confession And Repentance... This Is One Of The Main Reasons That I Do Not Believe In Baptizing Infants, Who Cannot Make This Personal Commitment Or Confession Or Repentance. John's Baptism Was An Assault On The Very Assumptions That Give Rise To Much Infant Baptism.

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God Aims To Look Valuable In The World, And That Happens When We Treasure Him Above All Else.

Christ Did Not Die To Forgive Sinners Who Go On Treasuring Anything Above Seeing And Savoring God. And People Who Would Be Happy In Heaven If Christ Were Not There, Will Not Be There. The Gospel Is Not A Way To Get People To Heaven; It Is A Way To Get People To God. It's A Way Of Overcoming Every Obstacle To Everlasting Joy In God. If We Don't Want God Above All Things, We Have Not Been Converted By The Gospel.

God Made Us In His Own Image So That His Image Would Be Shown.

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The Infinite Reservoir Of Future Grace Is Flowing Back Through The Present Into The Ever-growing Pool Of Past Grace. The Inexhaustible Reservoir Is Invisible Except Through The Promises. But The Ever-enlarging Pool Of Past Grace Is Visible; And God Means For The Certainty And Beauty And Depth To Strengthen Our Faith In Future Grace.

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Homosexual Behavior Has Been Exploited, And Reveled In, And Celebrated In Art, For Millennia.

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All The Money Needed To Send And Support An Army Of Self-sacrificing, Joy-spreading Ambassadors Is Already In The Church.

Zeal For The Glory Of God Motivates World Missions

Great Waves, And Blaze With Fire Like Them.in Beauty, But Do Not Condemn,the Seamen Who Embark And Fail,but Only Those Who Will Not Sail.

Marriage Is Not Mainly About Being Or Staying In Love. It’s Mainly About Telling The Truth With Our Lives. It’s About Portraying Something True About Jesus Christ And The Way He Relates To His People. It Is About Showing In Real Life The Glory Of The Gospel.

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I Feel A Special Calling To Impart Hope To The Church I Serve.

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The Deepest Need That You And I Have In Weakness And Adversity Is Not Quick Relief, But The Well-grounded Confidence That What Is Happening To Us Is Part Of The Greatest Purpose Of God In The Universe - The Glorification Of The Grace And Power Of His Son - The Grace And Power That Bore Him To The Cross And Kept Him There Until The Work Of Love Was Done.

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He Has Made Me Wary Of Chronological Snobbery. That Is, He Showed Me That Newness Is No Virtue And Oldness Is No Vice. Truth And Beauty And Goodness Are Not Determined By When They Exist. Nothing Is Inferior For Being Old, And Nothing Is Valuable For Being Modern. This Has Freed Me From The Tyranny Of Novelty And Opened For Me The Wisdom Of The Ages.

If A Tornado Twists At 175 Miles An Hour And Stays On The Ground Like A Massive Lawnmower For 50 Miles, God Gave The Command.

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Bad Theology Dishonors God And Hurts People.

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The Key That Unlocks The Treasure Chest Of God's Peace Is Faith In The Promises Of God.

It Is Better To Lose Your Life Than To Waste It.

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Do You Feel Loved By God Because You Believe He Makes Much Of You, Or Because You Believe He Frees You And Empowers You To Enjoy Making Much Of Him?

When It Comes To Killing My Sin, I Don't Wait For The Miracle, I Act The Miracle.

The Dismembering Of A Human Being Routinely In 30 Minutes On An Outpatient Bases - Or Any Other Way - Is Barbaric. Four Blocks From Our Church All Year Long - Like Churches Within Smelling Distance Of Auschwitz Or Dachau Or Buchenwald.

To Love God Passionately Is To Love Truth Passionately.

Our Concern With Truth Is Simply An Echo Of Our Concern With God .

No One Will Be Able To Rise To The Magnificence Of The Missionary Cause Who Does Not Feel The Magnificence Of Christ.

At The Heart Of Mature Masculinity Is A Sense Of Benevolent Responsibility To Lead, Provide For, And Protect Women In Ways Appropriate To Man's Differing Relationships.

Every Criticism Or Slight Against You, Warranted Or Not, Received Or Endured Humbly, Is Written In Heaven For Your Reward.

The Further You Go In The Revealed Thoughts Of God, The Clearer You See That God's Aim In Creating The World Was To Display The Value Of His Own Glory.

Our Obedience Is God's Pleasure When It Proves That God Is Our Treasure.

The Greatest Enemy Of Hunger For God Is Not Poison But Apple Pie. It Is Not The Banquet Of The Wicked That Dulls Our Appetite For Heaven, But Endless Nibbling At The Table Of The World. It Is Not The X-rated Video, But The Prime-time Dribble Of Triviality We Drink In Every Night.

All Of History Is Moving Toward One Great Goal, The White-hot Worship Of God And His Son Among All The Peoples Of The Earth. Missions Exists Because Worship Doesn't. Worship Is Ultimate, Not Missions, Because God Is Ultimate, Not Man.... When This Age Is Over, And The Countless Millions Of The Redeemed Fall On Their Faces Before The Throne Of God, Missions Will Be No More. It Is A Temporary Necessity. But Worship Abides Forever.

Waiting For The Lord In A Season Of Darkness Should Not Be A Time Of Inactivity. We Should Do What We Can Do. And Doing Is Often God's Appointed Remedy For Despair.

Marriage Is Not Mainly About Prospering Economically. It Is Mainly About Displaying The Covenant Keeping Love Between Christ And His Church

What Was Once Foolishness To Us-a Crucified God-must Become Our Wisdom And Our Power And Our Only Boast In This World.

Christ On The Cross

God Is Love Precisely Because He Relentlessly Pursues The Praises Of His Name In The Hearts Of His People.

What Could Be A Greater Privilege Than To Listen To The Voice Of God, And Be Granted By God Himself The Ears To Hear?

Suffering In The Path Of Christian Obedience, With Joy - Because The Steadfast Love Of The Lord Is Better Than Life (psalm 63:3) - Is The Clearest Display Of The Worth Of God In Our Lives. Therefore, Faith-filled Suffering Is Essential In This World For The Most Intense, Authentic Worship. When We Are Most Satisfied With God In Suffering, He Will Be Most Glorified In Us In Worship. Our Problem Is Not Styles Of Music. Our Problem Is Styles Of Life. When We Embrace More Affliction For The Worth Of Christ, There Will Be More Fruit In The Worship Of Christ.

God Has Made Us To Be Conduits Of His Grace. The Danger Is In Thinking The Conduit Should Be Lined With Gold. It Shouldn't. Copper Will Do.

So You Can See What Is Happening In The New Testament. Worship Is Being Significantly Deinstitutionalized, Delocalized, De-externalized. The Whole Thrust Is Being Taken Off Of Ceremony And Seasons And Places And Forms And Is Being Shifted To What Is Happening In The Heart - Not Just On Sunday But Every Day And All The Time In All Of Life.

Taken As A Whole, The Story Of Ruth Is One Of Those Signs. It Was Written To Give Us Encouragement And Hope That All The Perplexing Turns In Our Lives Are Going Somewhere Good. They Do Not Lead Off A Cliff. In All The Setbacks Of Our Lives As Believers, God Is Plotting For Our Joy.

I Know Of No Other Way To Triumph Over Sin Long-term Than To Gain A Distaste For It Because Of A Superior Satisfaction In God.

This Assumes That The Glory Of Christ Is Our Highest Treasure, Not Health, Wealth, Family Or Even Life. So Preaching Must Continually Show Not That Jesus Is The Means To Prosperity But That He Is Better Than Prosperity.

We Can Be Content With Simplicity Because The Deepest Most Satisfying Delights God Gives Us Through Creation Are Free Gifts From Nature And From Loving Relationships With People. After Your Basic Needs Are Met, Accumulated Money Begins To Diminish Your Capacity For These Pleasures Rather Than Increase Them. Buying Things Contributes Absolutely Nothing To The Heart's Capacity For Joy.

The Call Of God Creates Sight In Us. It's The Work Of God In Our Hearts To Awaken Us Before His Word.

Fight For Us, O God, That We Not Drift Numb And Blind And Foolish Into Vain And Empty Excitements. Life Is Too Short, Too Precious, Too Painful To Waste On Worldly Bubbles That Burst. Heaven Is Too Great, Hell Is Too Horrible, Eternity Is Too Long That We Should Putter Around On The Porch Of Eternity.

Life Is Too Short

We Can Say That True Gratitude Does Not Give Rise To The Debtor's Ethic Because It Gives Rise To Faith In Future Grace. With True Gratitude There Is Such A Delight In The Worth Of God's Past Grace, That We Are Driven On To Experience More And More Of It In The Future...it Is Done By Transforming Gratitude Into Faith As It Turns From Contemplating The Pleasures Of Past Grace And Starts Contemplating The Promises Of The Future.

The Really Wonderful Moments Of Joy In This World Are Not The Moments Of Self-satisfaction, But Self-forgetfulness. Standing On The Edge Of The Grand Canyon And Contemplating Your Own Greatness Is Pathological. At Such Moments We Are Made For A Magnificent Joy That Comes From Outside Ourselves.

We Weren't Meant To Be Somebody--we Were Meant To Know Somebody

The Greatest Cause In The World Is Joyfully Rescuing People From Hell, Meeting Their Earthly Needs, Making Them Glad In God, And Doing It With A Kind, Serious Pleasure That Makes Christ Look Like The Treasure He Is.

The Bloodline Of Jesus Is Thicker, Deeper, Stronger Than The Bloodline Of Race, Ethnicity And Family.

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