Well, 2019 remains busy for you, Pastor John, and two weeks from now, you and Noel will be in South America, Lord willing, in Brazil and Argentina. You'll speak at some key events in the St. Paul of Brazil in Sao Paulo, and then down to Buenos Aires, and then back up in Brazil to Campina Grande.

And I know a lot of APJ listeners have emailed us, eagerly awaiting your arrival in each of these three cities, and I know you're excited to go on this trip as well. You've spoken in Brazil before, correct? I've been to Brazil a couple times. I've never been to Argentina.

My excitement about going to Brazil is because I know people there, and I love what I know. I love the spirit, I love the hunger, and I'm eager to build on our time together with the precious truths that we share. I don't know the new friends that I anticipate making in Argentina.

This has me and my wife excited. She loves to put another notch in the gun of her travels. She's way more of a traveler than I am, and she's never been to Argentina, and I've never been, and so we're eager to discover, not just build, but discover the temperament, the tone, the hunger, the zeal, faithfulness of our friends in Argentina.

So that feels like kind of a new venture for us, and I'm so eager to see. I'm praying right now in my season of preparation, "What, Lord, do you want me to bring to Brazil and to Argentina?" And if folks hear this while I'm still working on it, they can pray, "Oh, God, give Pastor John something that—where he doesn't know us very well, something that we need and he will receive from the Lord." So I'm excited.

I'm excited to build. I'm excited to discover. Amen. I cannot wait to see what the Lord does on this trip. That Campina Grande event alone, get this, it's a massive Bible conference that has replaced Carnival, which was a huge Mardi Gras-like cultural event in the city. That is now a city festival devoted to Reformed preaching and teaching, 50 teachers, seven nights, 100,000 people, food and books in huge tents.

I cannot wait to get an update on that event, Pastor John. It's worth giving a special thanks to our friend Rick Denham, who plays such a huge role in our international work, and Fiel, not to mention Soldados de Jesucristo, based in Argentina, who has prepared for your trip by releasing the Solid Joys devotional into Spanish with audio.

Amazing amount of work. There are already a lot of precious friends to us in South America. And so I'm looking forward to hearing what happens on that trip, Pastor John. And speaking of Brazil, here's today's question. "Hello, Pastor John, my name is Julio17 and I live in Brazil. I look forward to seeing you very soon.

I was listening to the episode where you addressed the question of when does Bible neglect become sinful, and the question appeared to me in my own mind. My question is this. In the world we live in today, is it a sin to claim time for other things other than reading the Bible or praying?

Things such as watching a movie or playing a game are very enjoyable to me, but I wonder if God is disappointed in me for using some of my free time to do these things instead of claiming time for Him. I read the Bible and pray every day and go to church almost every week, but it sometimes feels wrong to do anything that isn't directly connected to the Lord.

Pastor John, how do you think about these things?" Jesus told a parable that went like this. It may sound a little disconnected at first, but give me time. The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, "What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?" And he said, "I'll do this.

I'll tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I'll store all my grain and my goods, and I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years. Relax, eat, drink, be merry.'" God said to him, "Fool, this night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose are they going to be?

So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God." That's Luke 12, 16 to 21. Now I start here with this parable because I want to commend Julio for his struggle. The man in this parable had no struggle at all. He earned it.

He earned it. He owned it. He stored it. He had security. He would play, play, play. And Jesus said, "Fool." He was about to lose his soul. Most people in the prosperous West, whether Brazil or America, are falling into the ditch on that side of the road that's not too self-denying, not too ascetic.

But Julio is struggling in the other direction. He needs help in the other direction. What kind of eating, what kind of drinking, what kind of being merry could be godly? And so his first question is this, "Is it a sin to claim time for other things other than reading the Bible or praying?" And the answer, of course, it's not a sin.

And the reason you know it's not necessarily a sin, I mean, of course, you can make things an idol, is because Paul told us to work for a living, Ephesians 4, 28, which for most people around the world has always involved eight to 12 hours a day doing things with their hands or feet or backs or brains that are not simply Bible reading and prayer.

And that's commanded of us. And Jesus said to His disciples, "After a hard season of work, come apart and rest a while," Mark 6, 31. Now, we don't know what they did, but it was a break from more intense ministry of the Word. Break, take a break from that.

And Paul told believers how they should act when they accept a dinner invitation from unbelievers, 1 Corinthians 10, 27. So he assumed they had simple, friendly relations with others and joined in ordinary times of relaxed togetherness. So those are some of the reasons I say, no, no, it's not a sin to take time away from Bible reading and praying and do what appear to be more ordinary things that the world does, working, resting, going to dinner, and so on.

It's not a sin. But then Julio says, "But I wonder if God is disappointed in me for using some of my free time to do entertaining things instead of claiming time for Him. It sometimes feels wrong to do anything that isn't directly connected to the Lord." So here's my main encouragement to Julio and the rest of us, seek to bring every act into connection with the Lord.

And the more difficult that is, the more likely it is that the act should be replaced with something more fruitful. In other words, put everything through this grid. I'll give you three Bible verses, 1 Corinthians 10:31, "Whether you eat or drink, whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." So that's what I mean by bringing every act into connection with the Lord.

Or Colossians 3:17, "Whatever you do, whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." So bring everything into connection to the name of the Lord Jesus. Or 1 Corinthians 16:14, "Let all that you do be done in love." So three tests, three ways to connect everything to Jesus, all for His glory, all in the name of Jesus, all in the cause of loving others.

And stir into this sifting of behaviors 1 Timothy 6:17, "As for the rich in this present age," now I would say that if you can play a video game, you're rich. You got something to play it on. You're not starving. Charge them, charge John Piper and Julio, charge them not to be haughty, not to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.

And 1 Timothy 4, 5 says how? And it's talking about sex and food, very ordinary things that everybody participates in either legitimately or illegitimately. "For everything created by God is good. Everything is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the Word of God in prayer," 1 Timothy 4, 4, and 5.

In other words, Paul assumes that there is a way, a necessary way, for Christians to transpose the enjoyments of good things in this world, God-given good gifts, transpose the enjoyments of them into worshipful acts that are holy and Christ-honoring and people-loving. Those very acts of food and sex make music.

You transpose that music into Christ-honoring music by the Word of God in prayer, by bringing them into connection with the glory of God and the name of Jesus and love for people. In other words, he does not assume that the handling of the good gifts of this world, which could be idols, will necessarily be idols but will become, in fact, avenues of knowing God better and enjoying Him more and being a greater blessing to other people.

Joe Rigney has written an important book about this called Things of Earth, the whole book devoted to trying to help us come to terms with how you bring good things into connection with the Lord without despising them or turning them into idols. So here's my bottom-line counsel to all of us.

Seek to bring every act into connection with the Lord, every entertainment, as a gift from God and a revelation of Himself and a path of worshipful enjoyment and good for other people, seek to bring every act into connection with the Lord. And the more difficult that is, that is, this act doesn't really fit with the Lord so well, the more difficult it is, the more likely it is that the act should be replaced with something more fruitful.

That's really good, Pastor John. Thank you. So what would Pastor John say to someone who is so addicted to entertainment that they cannot break free of it? That question is an important follow-up, and it's next time when we return on Monday. Until then, please be praying for Pastor John as he prepares for this upcoming international trip.

I am Tony Reinke, your host. Thanks for listening to the Ask Pastor John podcast with longtime author and pastor, John Piper. We'll see you next time. 1 1 1