That is why Einstein had so little use for organized religion, although he strikes me as a basically very religious man.

And this was the sentence that so gripped me.

He must have looked at what the preachers said about God and felt that they were blaspheming.

He had seen much more majesty than they had ever imagined. And they were just not talking about the real thing.

When someone like Einstein can walk away from Christian preaching, more impressed with the cosmos than the Creator,

we can be sure that something's gone really wrong.

I'm Dan Kruver.

In this episode of Light and Truth,

John Piper helps us see why the glory of God

has to be the blazing center of our preaching and why people starve when

it isn't. This message was originally delivered in Birmingham, Alabama at the William E. Conger

lectures on February 25, 1998. One of the great advantages of being in a church for 17 years is that the life mission statement of the pastor and the mission statement of the church tend to become one, which is exactly the case of Bethlehem to my great joy.

We spent a year and a half or so working on a mission statement about two years ago,

and I was on a team with 23 of our people working on that, and after a few months of gathering and thinking and praying and asking who we are and

where we're going, they sent me away for a few days all by myself to bring back a mission

statement that they would then tweak.

And what we settled on as a church and what I have settled on as a life is what you just heard

from Dr. George, we exist, and I personally say John Piper exists, to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things

for the joy of all peoples.

Every word counts in that sentence.

Every letter counts, including the S on the end of people, counts in that mission state.

And I love it.

...