Notes from Piper Study

Piper Notes

The holiness that we are to have at the day of Christ’s coming is contingent on continuing in the faith. This contingency does not contradict certainty. God is faithful; he will do it. But no believer should think that he will be ready to meet Christ if he does not “continue in the faith.”

God’s faithfulness is experienced in his continually awakening in us the grace to keep believing. He keeps us. And he does it by giving us the passion to treasure him and pursue holiness.

It is certain they will arrive safely in faith and holiness at the day of Christ. That arrival is contingent on persevering faith. And Paul’s prayers are the agency God uses to bring them safely home. (Philippians 1:9-11, 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13)

Therefore, let the truth of Paul’s certainty make us sure. Let the truth of contingency make us serious. And let the truth of agency make us to surround ourselves with praying brothers and sisters who intercede for our faith and holiness.

to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world means that at root Christians are so profoundly satisfied by Christ as our eternal reward, we are freed from fear and greed for the sacrifices of love, and are able to rejoice at persecution. When the world sees this, they see the glory of Christ and taste the satisfying pleasure of who he is.
6 Aspects of Humility

If humility is not compliance with relativism and is not sophomoric skepticism, what is it? This is important, since the Bible says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5), and “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11). God has told us at least six things about humility.

1. Humility begins with a sense of subordination to God in Christ.

A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. (Matthew 10:24)

Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. (1 Peter 5:6)

2. Humility does not feel a right to better treatment than Jesus got.

If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign the members of his household! (Matthew 10:25)

Therefore humility does not return evil for evil. It is not life based on its perceived rights.

Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps; . . . while suffering, He uttered no threats, but handed [his cause] over to Him who judges righteously. (1 Peter 2:21-23)

3. Humility asserts truth not to bolster ego with control or with triumphs in debate, but as service to Christ and love to the adversary.

Love rejoices in the truth. (1 Corinthians 13:6)

What I [Jesus] tell you in the darkness, speak in the light. . . . Do not fear. (Matthew 10:27-28)

We do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake. (2 Corinthians 4:5)

4. Humility knows it is dependent on grace for all knowing and believing.

What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? (1 Corinthians 4:7)

In humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. (James 1:21)

5. Humility knows it is fallible, and so considers criticism and learns from it; but also knows that God has made provision for human conviction and that he calls us to persuade others.

We see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:12)

A wise man is he who listens to counsel. (Proverbs 12:15)

Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men. (2 Corinthians 5:11)

6. Humility is to believe in the heart and confess with the lips that our life is like a vapor, and that God decides when we die, and that God governs all our accomplishments.

Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit." Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that." But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. (James 4:13-16)

8 Reasons to not be anxious

1. Life is more than food and the body more than clothing (Matthew 6:25).

2. God feeds the birds and you are more valuable than they are (Matthew 6:26).

3. It's pointless. It adds not one hour to your life (Matthew 6:27).

4. If God clothes ephemeral grass, he will clothe eternal you (Matthew 6:28-30).

5. Unbelievers are anxious about stuff. And you are not an unbeliever (Matthew 6:32a).

6. Your father knows that you need all these things you're anxious about (Matthew 6:32b).

7. When you seek first God's kingdom and righteousness, what you need is added to you (Matthew 6:33).

8. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Tomorrow's trouble stays there (Matthew 6:34).
What Does It Mean to Serve God

“As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). What does that mean?
It means to do what he says in a way that makes him look supremely valuable in himself.
It means to submit to him in a way that makes him look thrilling.

There are ways to submit to God that only make him look threatening, not thrilling. There are ways to do what he says that only call attention to the fact that he is an authority not a treasure.

That kind of service is not the service God commands.

What’s the difference?

The difference is that God has told us not to serve him as though he needed anything.

“He is not served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:25).

“The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).

Both these texts put all the emphasis on God’s giving to us when we serve.

So the kind of service that makes God look valuable and thrilling is the kind that serves God by constantly receiving from God. The key text to describe this is 1 Peter 4:11 —

“Whoever serves, [let it be] as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.”

God is seen as glorious when all our serving is moment-by-moment receiving from God’s supply.

We receive this supply by faith. That is, we trust moment-by-moment that what we need, in serving him, he will supply (“life, breath, and everything”). This is the opposite of being anxious. Such serving is happy. And it makes God look no less authoritative, but infinitely more desirable. This is the glory he means to have. The giver gets the glory.
The Logic of Fearlessness

Paul told the Philippians that living worthy of the gospel of Christ meant fearlessness before enemies.

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ . . . not frightened in anything by your opponents (Philippians 1:27-28).

Then he gave the logic of fearlessness.

For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake (Philippians 1:29).

The logic is this:

God has given you two gifts, not just one: Faith and suffering. That’s what verse 29 says.

In this context that means: Both your faith in the face of suffering, and your suffering are gifts of God. When Paul says, don’t be frightened by your opponents he had two reasons in his mind why they don’t need to be frightened:

1. One reason is that the opponents are in the hand of God. Their opposition is a gift from God. He governs it. That’s the first point of verse 29.

2. And the other reason not to be afraid is that your fearlessness, that is, your faith, is also in the hand of God. It too is a gift. That is the other point of verse 29.

So the logic of fearlessness in the face of adversity is this double truth: Both your adversity and your faith in the face of adversity are gifts of God.

Why is this called “living worthy of the gospel of Christ” (v. 27)? Because the gospel is the good news that Christ’s blood of the covenant infallibly obtained for all his people the sovereign working of God to give us faith and to govern our enemies — always for our eternal good.

Therefore, fear not. Your adversaries can do no more than God grants. And he will grant you the faith you need. These promises are blood bought and sealed. Gospel promises.

Pain is a Tool

What are the evidences of the aging process that are part of your current season of life? How do they impact your life view?


For me, it's the chronology of life that has more of an impact than anything else. 50 years old is coming and that, to me, is a bigger deal than 30 or 40 ever was in my mind. I can do the math, and if God allows me to live to 80, that's only 30 more years. That's a drop in the bucket, particularly looking back on the last 30 years and how relatively fast they've gone by, like the morning mist.


Vernon Grounds made the observation of how there are people that long for release from the body due to the inevitable entropy in our bodies. Paul said our bodies are wasting away, and that seems like foolishness to young campers, but resonates with others.


Pain may actually pave the way for a graceful departure, though I've rarely seen that. Cancer doesn't dispense grace and it ravages people. Ecclesiastes 12:1-14

So, build on the rock, because the storms do come and are no respecter of persons.


However, pain also gives us perspective on our own lives, but more importantly, compassion and sensitivity to others going through pain. It adjusts our lens, in order to get our focus back into eternity, preparing us for the "I can't wait to get there!" thought and, quite frankly, the irresistible longings.


Isaiah 40:6-8

John 14:1-3

Belief in God = Peace...which is also the absence of a troubled heart. In this context, He is preparing a place and explicit in the preparation is this nugget: "If I'm preparing a place for you, I'm going to receive you to Me". If it were not so, He wouldn't have said so!


Our Eternal Home 600 x's in scripture

Habitation of God

Isaiah 57:15

1 Kings 8:30

Psalm 103:19

Daniel 4:37

2 Chronicles 7:14

2 Samuel 22:7




Perhaps the easiest thing to forget when we suffer, or see others suffer, is God is involved in the suffering. Regardless of the all-powerful, all-good tag God rightly deserves, we tend to forget what Jesus did for us in the ultimate injustice. Isaiah 63:9 & Acts 9:4 shows how directly and personal the suffering was for God. He has experienced evil, injustice, and physical pain, not to mention despair, heartbreak, and heartache (not from spicy foods, I reckon).


Philippians 1:21

When Paul wrote those words, he wasn't in a nursing home. He had experienced a multitude of things I never will. So, I can only imagine him and the countless others who have literally died for their belief in God, had a much sweeter taste of that verse and felt the full force of sacrificial living; how true those words rang in their spirit when facing the end of this life, fully aware they were just moments away from seeing Jesus.


I anticipate Heaven much more because I'm almost 50. In the good to great experiences in life, I'm thankful and, yes, acknowledge these are temporary. I still enjoy and bask in them.


I do get intermittently distracted by the good times, but I am not fooled by them.




When life is hard I want to learn to walk in grace and go through as refined by fire.


Revelation 4-5


The changes in life are significantly less frustrating than they were 15-20 years ago. Everything seemed to matter, and it made no difference the size and scope of the the issue. Today, there are fewer and fewer issues that trouble me, personally. It will always be different for parents when the sons and daughters are on their journey, no longer dependent on us.


Job 12:12

Proverbs 17:17

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14


Christ's work makes sense of life. His work gives life meaning, significance and satisfaction.


Finishing Well

Eric Bakich Podcast Notes, Head Coach at Michigan

Bakich Podcast

Core Values invite accountability so everyone knows what team stands for and can articulate it

Selflessness- team > me

Relentless in pursuit of my best daily - Aggressive, no fear, on the attack

Blue Collar- appreciate what you have but work like you have nothing

Gratitude and a so what mentality

Toughness/ Discipline - doing what you say you're going to do when you say you'll do it

Confidence- root of all success. Mentality

National Anthem

Compared to What? 

Perspective 

Concentration 

Breathing

Process 

Life Skills 

Routines compound effect

Make your bed

Reading 1 book per week

Measurement = Motivation

Legacy

Servant Leadership

Tony Robichaux, Head Coach at Louisiana Lafayette Rajun' Cajuns

This man completely gets it when it comes to coaching. Of course, with this comes the questions for myself: Am I that coach, how will players look back at our time together: Transformational or Transactional, Did / Have I valued the result of competition over the process of building men?

Ugh. 

Well, here are my notes on the podcast 

Robichaux Podcast

Fear and Danger are different things

Fear in baseball shouldn't exist because what's the worst thing that can happen?

Fearful mind sets 

Danger is real

Fear is perception, imagined

Deal w fear bc it will consume you

Not afraid to crash and burn - can't die stealing a base

12' foot alligator sleeping vs awake- sleeping alligator is nothing but ppl imagining what could happen

Thinking/Seeing. What lens are we looking through? Chance to fail or chance to succeed?

Navy and armed forces standing at attention- look at US, not look at ME. 

Passion>Logic

Passion tells you when to get to work, when to leave. 

Turning boys to men-

Teach and Model character. Can't learn playing sports, it's caught; have model it. 

Feet attached to the heart and if you don't have passion, your feet will take you out of it. 

Trust, Committed, Concern

Become elite then attach yourself to organization- it doesn't work the other way, you don't join or attach self to something "elite". Association vs Ownership - not discounted or half off. 

Navy Seals is most often faked profession by frauds

Product is better if your people get better. Coach people not the product. Transformation vs Transaction. It isn't baseball, they've played a ton of games. It's not talent that does a player in, it's their character. 

Personal challenges. Spend more time making better athletes instead of who they're going to be for the next 60 years. 

How's the curve ball or slider helped your marriage? 

Flip a tire in 100 degree heat but shrink in morality. Athletic courage, Moral courage. 

Athlete glorified but character is deficient. 

You're the CEO of you. If I hire you, you're going to bring value OR devalue our program. 

Coaches evaluated on how well the men they coached are living life. Husbands, fathers, etc. 

Receive identity>achieve identity  Work to receive it, not to achieve it. 

Piper on Grace

Gods Grace

Being “in Christ Jesus” is a stupendous reality. It is breathtaking what it means to be in Christ. United to Christ. Bound to Christ. If you are “in Christ” listen to what it means for you:

1. In Christ Jesus you were given grace before the world was created. 2 Timothy 1:9, “He gave us grace in Christ Jesus before the ages began.”

2. In Christ Jesus you were chosen by God before creation. Ephesians 1:4, “God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world.”

3. In Christ Jesus you are loved by God with an inseparable love. Romans 8:38–39, “I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

4. In Christ Jesus you were redeemed and forgiven for all your sins. Ephesians 1:7, “In Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.”

5. In Christ Jesus you are justified before God and the righteousness of God in Christ is imputed to you. 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For our sake God made Christ to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

6. In Christ Jesus you have become a new creation and a son of God. 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” Galatians 3:26, “In Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.”

7. In Christ Jesus you have been seated in the heavenly places even while he lived on earth. Ephesians 2:6, “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

8. In Christ Jesus all the promises of God are Yes for you. 2 Corinthians 1:20, “All the promises of God find their Yes in Christ.”

9. In Christ Jesus you are being sanctified and made holy. 1 Corinthians 1:2, “To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus.”

10. In Christ Jesus everything you really needed will be supplied. Philippians 4:19, “My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

11. In Christ Jesus the peace of God will guard your heart and mind. Philippians 4:7, “The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

12. In Christ Jesus you have eternal life. Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

13. And in Christ Jesus you will be raised from the dead at the coming of the Lord. 1 Corinthians 15:22, “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” All those united to Adam in the first humanity die. All those united to Christ in the new humanity rise to live again.

How do we get into Christ?

At the unconscious and decisive level it is God’s sovereign work: “From God are you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Corinthians 1:30)

But at the conscious level of our own action, it is through faith. Christ dwells in our hearts “through faith.” (Ephesians 3:17) The life we live in union with his death and life “we live by faith in the Son of God.” (Galatians 2:20) We are united in his death and resurrection “through faith.” (Colossians 2:12)

Solomon's Blessing

In 1 Kings 8:54-61, Solomon offers a blessing to the people of Israel and what stuck out was the very first verse as it notes, "when Solomon finished praying this entire prayer and petition to the Lord, he got up from kneeling before the altar of the Lord, with his hands spread out toward heaven, and stood and blessed the whole congregation of Israel with a loud voice..."

Not very proper and religious. 

Next, in 1 Kings 8:64, Solomon consecrated the middle of the courtyard because that's where he offered up sacrifices. Wherever we are is set apart for the Lord and we can bless him anywhere. That day, Salomon offered up 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep. He said the temple was too small to accommodate his offerings-wouldn't that be something if our sacrifices and offerings were too large for the local church?

After 14 days of worshiping and celebrating the goodness of God, Solomon sent them home. They blessed him and went home to their tents rejoicing with joyful hearts for all the goodness the Lord had done for his servant David and for his people Israel. 

Fourteen days. 

I'm feeling pretty good if I'm not distracted beyond fourteen minutes in worship. 

Humility, Solomon and His Pomegranates

Would you like a good reminder of your importance? Resign from your job you've held for 10 years, and listen for the crickets. 

I've heard it said once or twice that if you want to see your importance, put your hand into a bucket of water and then pull it out. The water is moving around while your hand goes in, but when your hand is removed, the water settles down and remains in the bucket the same level as it was before. 

I have found that when people come and go, we give it a thought and then continue on with our own job, thankful we still have one. 

At times, I was an energy vampire, characterized in Jon Gordon's book, "The Energy Bus" as a person who sucked the energy from a group or organization wanting to move forward in positivity. 

Positivity is a powerful emotion and needs freedom to move about. 

I wasn't always an EV, but I think I was enough of an EV, that when I left, there was probably some relief from admin. 

I know that I brought many good things to the table, but at the end of the day, if a person doesn't share the same passion for the vision of the organization, it's time to move on. 

My wife said a wise and profound thing: "if the vision no longer resonates, it's time". 

The mission statement of authentic Christian leaders did resonate. The methodology did not. 

That, by no means, posits anyone was right or wrong, it simply means that people in the organization who agree with the methodology, need to go full forward while those who do not, need to move along. 

I have my doubts daily that my decision was correct although it was inevitable a few months from now. I've simply sped up the process and forced my reliance upon God much sooner than I had anticipated. And right now, I am in a state of full reliance. 

It is certainly an unusual and uncomfortable feeling-I am on the outside looking in at a profession I've been a part of for 23 years. 

I am mixed with relief and melancholy. 

The bottom line - life goes on- for everyone. We are too busy with our own lives think about much else. 

The word pomegranate, “rimon” in Hebrew, is derived from the Latin words "pomum" (apple) and "granatus" (seeded). Grown in the Mediterranean region for several thousand years, this remarkable fruit is rich in symbolism and there are specific references to the pomegranate in the Bible. 

Jewish tradition of the pomegranates is said to be symbolic of righteousness because it has 613 seeds and the Torah has 613 Commandments. 

Others have thought the pomegranate to be the forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden. It has been equated with the symbol of fertility and also appeared on the front of ancient Judea coins. 

Song of Solomon 4:3

Song of Solomon 4:13

Song of Solomon 7:12 

Song of Solomon 8:2