This world is full of pain and heartache that reaches into every one of our lives in some way, not to mention the endless suffering we see on the news. Given all the struggles and the pains of this world, Pastor John recently explained the emotional complexity of being a follower of Christ in this broken world.

In a recent sermon, here's what he said. 7.2 million people die of cancer in the world every year, and in America it's been steady for years. About 600,000 people die of cancer every year just behind heart disease and sometimes vying for first place. A disease that is unique in its adaptability to evade, evade our efforts to kill it.

Another current reality is that I was preparing for 1st Peter for the last two days, that I taught for the last two days, and 1st Peter is permeated with suffering more than any other New Testament book. And so I had that on my mind, the suffering of 1st Peter.

And then, as you can imagine, I had on my mind the ISIS killing last Monday of the couple dozen Ethiopian believers, and before that the Egyptian believers, and after that the 12 Christians that were thrown overboard in the Mediterranean Sea, not to mention the 900 people from North Africa who were trying to get to Europe who drowned in the last several weeks from the capsizing of their boats.

And then I didn't anticipate that there would be an earthquake that would kill at least 2,400 people, and that will probably double over the next several days. And as we speak, people perhaps are lying alive under rubble wondering, "Will anybody reach me?" And so that cluster of contemporary realities drew me to speak on this, the world of pain and the purposes of God.

In 1995, we entered...I was 15 years into my 33-year pastorate and entered the biggest crisis that we'd ever faced as a church. 230 people had walked away. They were angry at me. We had disciplined a staff member. They didn't like the way it went down. I had opposed a $450,000 pipe organ that I didn't think was God's will for us, and hundreds of people did, and it was the worst time in my ministry and the worst time in the church.

And I didn't know...I was 49 years old, and I thought, "I don't know whether there's a future here for me or what will become of this church." One of the things we did was we formed a group of 23 people, about three or four staff members and then laypeople, and we met for a year and a half, and we simply prayed and studied, "Who are we?

What's happened? Is there a future? What will it be? What will it look like?" During that time, they sent me away to a little monastery over in St. Paul, 10 miles away, and said, "Go away, pray, listen to God, and bring us a vision for the church, and we'll interact with it.

We know you're not God, and you're not infallible, but you're our leader. Go hear from God as best you can, and then we will refine what he gives you." And one of the things I believe God gave me was a vision for my life. And when I brought it back, it was a one-sentence vision, still is the vision.

I asked, "Could this be the vision statement of the church as well?" And it became the vision statement of the church. If you walked into Bethlehem today, downtown, it would be on the wall. If you walked into the North Campus, it would be on the wall. We don't have a South Campus building.

We rent that, so they won't let us put things on the wall there. And that sentence goes like this. "I," and now I would say "we," and so does Desiring God, so does Bethlehem College and Seminary, "we exist to spread," very operative word, "to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things, for the joy of all peoples," with an "s," "through Jesus Christ." We exist to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things, for the joy of all peoples, through Jesus Christ.

And when we embraced that, we did not mean we exist to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things except earthquakes, supremacy of God in all things except cancer, supremacy of God in all things except babies born with profound disabilities. We didn't mean that. We meant all things, no exceptions.

We Christians are very complex emotional people if we have our eyes open and our hearts are in tune with the Word of God, because the world is a complex place. The world is a beautiful place and a horrible place. So you walk outside right now, it's beautiful, isn't it?

It's beautiful. And in Nepal, somebody's groaning under rubble, just about to die of thirst. This is a horrible place and a beautiful place. And inside us, we who love people and are instructed by Jesus Christ how to be, we hear the words, "Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep." And there is a wedding and a funeral every day at the same time all over the world.

And if you're in a church this size, you always know somebody weeping and you always know somebody on tiptoe happiness, which means that 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 6 is true, sorrowful yet always rejoicing. And you don't have to be very old in the Lord to know that's true and possible.

When I'm when I got that phone call that every 28 year old dreads, or 15 year old, or 40 year old, that mom was killed in a car accident, my mother, and I hung up and said to my wife and my two-year-old who looked up at me and said, "Daddy's sad." And I went back to the room and knelt down, cried for two hours.

In that moment, longest crying I've ever done in my life, in that hours, those hours, I was saying, "Thank you that I had her for 28 years. Thank you that she was a Christian. Thank you that she didn't suffer long. Thank you that my dad is alive. I don't know if he'll be alive when I get there, but thank you for what a great mom she was.

You have been so good to me." I know this is possible. You may not have lived long enough to taste it, but it is possible to be simultaneously profoundly sad and profoundly happy. Simultaneously. Not sequentially. Simultaneously. This is possible. Incredible. That was from John Piper's recent sermon, "The Pain of the World and the Purposes of God," a sermon he preached in Vancouver on April 26th.

You can find the full sermon at desiringgod.org right now, and you can listen to it in its entirety. I'm your host Tony Reinke. We'll see you tomorrow.