Advance part 2...

I haven't taken this many notes since college. This is a very condensed version and nothing compares to hearing it yourself. These are just the highlights of what I was able to write down. Some things I just couldn't get on paper...sometimes those are the most impactful.

After Driscoll spoke, Piper started his 2 part talk on Let the Nations Be Glad. This was the clincher for getting Josh and I to register for the conference. That particular topic is one, as you know, we are really passionate about because we believe God is really passionate about it. He's God of the NATIONS! Ok...I'll let Piper preach now.


"You're not Biblically missional unless you pursue missions... This is war time, not peace time. The stakes are eternal... To belong to Jesus is to embrace the nations He will one day reign in. If you do not embrace this there will be a mild or severe sickness in your soul... 'Let your kingdom come' = as long as history and as big as the globe. If your heart only lands on your city, you're getting sick. Your heart is the healthiest and strongest when it embraces His global purpose and not just His local purpose... [also talked about how your leg is made to walk. When it isn't used, it gets small and sick.]

As of today, there are 6,552 unreached people groups. The thought that us rich, fat, hungry, lazy Americans should just send our money is tragic!...

What is the Biblical task of missions? The main aim is not to maximize the number of people saved. If that were true, you'd stay at the most fruitful mission field forever and never go to the hard places... You keep crossing the boundaries into places where there's zero missional activity until there is!...

Jesus: 'I learned your language, I lived your culture and I died to bring the gospel to you. Go do the same. Find them and die to get the gospel in there!"...

The gospel doesn't camp out. It goes and goes and moves and moves until they've all heard...

If you believe in being missional biblically, you must find the people in your congregation who burn for this and set them free!...

Missions is not being invited! If somebody has invited you, it's not missions!...

Rome was not a mission field for Paul because there was a good church there. He was going to Spain because there was nothing!

Is missions necessary? Are people perishing? Is Christ's work necessary to save them?... Yes!... When you lose sight of this, urgency dies... Mk 9:43 -- "the fire of hell is not quenched"... Mt 18:8 -- 'eternal fire'... Mt 25:46 -- 'eternal punishment'... Rev 14:11 -- 'the smoke of their torment went up forever and ever'... Horrific. People perish. There's such a place as hell. They will suffer consciously forever...

Rom 2:12 -- when God sent Jesus, He started treating the world differently. Now He says Go! He didn't say that to Isaiah. Christ changed things!... We are no longer in a time of ignorance... The command of a global impact and mission came with Jesus. He brought the world out of ignorance...

All truly biblically missional people have this aim...the people's of the world... "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news."

Part 2...


"Missions is not the ultimate goal. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn't. Missions is not the goal; it's the means...

Worship is the goal and fuel of missions. You can't call people to worship if you don't worship...

God is radically, passionately committed to the worship of His name... He forgives sin...for His own sake!...

God's ultimate goal for me - to see His glory... The main motive for missions is God's passion for God! This offends some...

The apex of His passion to display His glory is the cross. We are to praise the glory of His grace! This was infinitely costly! He did not spare His own Son...

We were made for something bigger - God. He is where our completion is. He brings us home to joy...to infinite happiness!... This is what makes His passion for Himself love... Ex: standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon. Being so little and small and weak in the Canyon, yet happy in our enjoyment and awe and admiration of it...

John 11:1-6 - Jesus loved Mary, Martha and Lazarus...therefore, He stayed two days longer where He was!... And let Lazarus die! Explain how that's love. He loved them and therefore didn't keep Lazarus from dying... It is more loving to let us die and see His glory than to live!... He just IS...glorious, wonderful, kind, loving...and then He overflows...


Prayer is not the goal of missions. Prayer is not the work of missions... Seed=word of God=power of God... Believing comes by hearing - you don't hear prayer. You hear preaching!... The gospel is the front-line work of missions... Don't make prayer more than it is. Let it be what it gloriously is...

Prayer is tapping into the power that wields the sword of the Word... Life is war. You cannot know what prayer is for until you know that life is war. If you think life is not war, you probably won't finish!

Jn 15:16 - Prayer is for mission! Prayer malfunctions when you take a war-time walkie talkie and turn it into a domestic intercom. Prayer is for WAR. It's meant to empower the Word of God.

If we know God is sovereign, why do we pray? If you want the nail in the board, hit it with a hammer! Prayer is the hammer...that's how God ordained it to work!... Mt 24:14 - pray everyday 'Thy kingdom come!' Why? Because it's coming through prayer!... God has made prayer a means of His kingdom's coming!

It is so thoughtless to presume that because He has already ordained it to happen He won't use the means to do it...

He doesn't need people! He blesses people with causality! Don't let your theology get in the way of the bible!...

Cost: we need to toughen up a little bit... Eternity's at stake, the enemy hates us, he's 10,000 times stronger, he doesn't go on vacation... War has casualties... you die, but you live.

Why suffering is necessary: 1) Because Jesus suffered and said we would. 2) Because Paul said there's no other way home. 3) Peter said it's the normal path of blessing. 4) Paul said it's the normal cost of godliness - you can't do missions if you're not. 5) Because in suffering, He's refining our faith. Paul rejoiced in his suffering. 2 Cor 12:9 - 'My power is made perfect in weakness... Most gladly will I rejoice in my weakness'.. His joy has moved from his private comforts into the glory of Jesus! 6) Jesus said, 'You are the salt of the earth...light of the world'...let your light shine..see...give glory to God. Blessed are you when you are persecuted, reviled...rejoice! Great is your reward... What makes you salty? Joy in the midst of suffering...it's costing you something and you're not losing your joy...

Jesus is the foundation of all this work... It will cost you everything!... Pursue the gladness of the nations. Especially the ones who are not yet reached."
--Piper, Bethlehem Baptist, Minneapolis