When Life Shrinks to the Size of Our Problems

Ask Pastor John

Desiring God

John Piper, Unknown, 163859, Pastor, Ask, Theology, Desiring God, Religion & Spirituality/christianity, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality, Questions

4.8 • 3.8K Ratings

🗓️ 19 January 2022

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The God of the universe cares about every problem you have, no matter how small. And he wants to draw you up into purposes far greater than your problems.

Transcript

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0:00.0	We've all been there.
0:06.5	Maybe you're there right now.
0:09.2	You see problems in every direction.
0:12.3	As you look at your life, all you can see are the troubles.
0:16.4	You see your sins, your shortcomings, your challenges, your relationship struggles, and
0:21.5	all those places in life that have been long neglected and now need your focused attention.
0:26.7	It all adds up.
0:28.5	Now you find yourself in that place tempted to live a life that is shrunk down to the
0:33.0	size of your problems.
0:36.0	Pastor John has been there.
0:38.4	It's why he took a leave of absence in 2010, eight months away from ministry for what
0:43.8	he called a soul check.
0:46.0	Months spent scrutinizing the problems that he saw in his life, his marriage, his worship,
0:50.7	his fathering, his pastoring, his public life, all of it.
0:55.7	During these searching months, he pinpointed five besetting sins within himself, problem
1:00.5	areas that needed attention.
1:02.4	He named them, isolated them, and confessed them, and he would come to call them an ugly
1:07.6	cluster of sins that included selfishness, anger, self-pity, quickness to blame, and solonness.
1:16.6	We've talked about the season and his personal discoveries on the podcast back in APJ's
1:20.4	2020, 1227, and 1501.
1:24.1	It was a significant season in his life, but that leave ended at the end of 2010.
1:30.8	On January 9, 2011, he preached for the very first time in those many months, and he preached
	...

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