On Easter Sunday we attended Bethlehem Baptist Church.
John Piper preached an excellent sermon.
Here's the link:
http://www.desiringgod.org/resourcelibrary/Sermons/ByDate/2008/2694_The_God_of_Peace_Brought_from_the_Dead_the_Good_Shepherd/Here are some choice quotes:
Some of you are sitting there absolutely and totally disallusioned by pastors Embezzlers, fornicators, abusers, manipulators. And you don’t want anything to do with pastors or the faith that they represent. You’re sick up to here with shepherds who eat the sheep alive. And fly in their jets while they feast off widows mites. You've had it with the church and with all those shepherds. What I would like for you to consider is that God knows that and he’s very angry and his design is to direct your attention away from us to one Great Shepherd who will never embezzle, never fornicate, never lie, never deny the faith never rip anybody off and his name is Jesus and one of the lessons you should learn from the newspaper and You Tube is that no man, but one can shepherd my soul.
You don’t need me mainly. If I am faithful to Him and I echo his Word, I can be useful, but oh don’t bank on John Piper or any other pastor. We will, in the end, let you down. Just put a mic in the kitchen.
There will be one flock and one shepherd. One shepherd. One shepherd. Lot’s of sheep. One shepherd. He’ll never let you down.
I want you to be a sheep shepherded by the Great Shepherd, and I’m not he.
A general rule of thumb that I have formulated since my days at GC is, if a pastor in his preaching points you to God, listen. If the pastor tells you to obey him (the pastor) or to commit to them (the church he represents), be careful, be very careful.
John Piper is well known. What I love about listening to him preach is that I always leave with my mind focused on God and his supremacy, not John Piper or Bethlehem Baptist Church.
I love it that John Piper stands up and puts the responsibility for Biblical interpretation in the hands of the congregation. Time after time, he holds up his Bible and demands that the listeners don't just blindly listen to him, but filter all he or anyone else says through the Word.