I left home 35 years ago for college. My Electrical Engineering and Computer Science degree was the second best investment I ever made. It brought wealth, control, and a rewarding career. All good things. Staying connected with Gods word, and a local church of Believers who know me is the best investment, by far. In fact, it was not even made by me, but by a loving God who set it up from the beginning. Our nature is to wander from Him. Like a Good Father He pursues us. The power of our sin is great, as is the evil one. Learning these truths from my youth group as a teen, then staying in His Word has been of Ultimate value for my life. Pastor John's advice is spot on.
I just want to say that, as someone who is preparing to go to College in the coming fall for Engineering, your words were helpful. Thank you for sharing them, and have a blessed day.
John it sounds like these are steps to self hypnosis basically live in a bubble and make sure you are with people who agree with you all the time , its the perfect way to stay Atheist in a christian university and perfect way to stay Muslim, hindu or whatever you believe in when coming into a critical and different environment of ideas and people believing in different things,
Stand for something, or die for nothing. Standing for something, you HAVE TO devote everything of yourself to this that you stand for, cut off any hindrance, whatever it is, including your own life, or die for nothing. I believe this something, or someone, is Christ, who laid down His life for me! It only makes sense He would require nothing less than that. Otherwise, He won't accept me. Its not me saying, "okay I give in, Jesus the the wheel", He says unless I hate my mom, dad, kids, wife, siblings, my own life, I cannot be His disciple. Alternately put, if I love anything, anything at all more than Him, I'm not worthy of Him. So, if I say I'm standing, or looking to, trying to stand for Christ, to follow Him, then even my death, for His cause, is not for nothing (it is gain). So not self hypnosis, no, a working out of my salvation, an acting out of His work in me, a process of conformity into the image of Christ. For His glory..
THEY LEAVE THE CONGREGATIONS TRYING SIR NOT EVEN KEEPING THEY MIND ON THE LORD THEY WERE MOST CHRISTAN NEVER WAS OF GOD IN THE SPIRITUAL REALMS OF BELIEVERS SIR THEY COMES FROM BIRTH THANK YOU LORD JESUS CHRIST OF MUCH CONTROLS OF COMMON SENSE AND ROMANS 12 THE DEVIL SIR WONT TRY TO SERVE YOU NONTHING YOU DONT LIKE TD JAKES MASTERS GOD BLESS
This is soooo stupid... John Piper (along with all calvanists) believe that the Holy Spirit elects christians, therefore if you’re no longer a Christian by the end of college... then you never were a Christian. This is my problem with Calvinism and predestination believers - they contradict themselves.
You make a good point. Piper would slam the prosperity gospel (not that I care) for saying healing didn’t come because one lacked faith, yet the Reformed tribe says the same thing. ‘Do these things to stay Christian...’ Sounds like performance matters, after all.
Proof that you really love your wife would be that after 50 years of marriage you would be grateful and cherish, love her the same at least, if not more. If you leave her, and then forget about her, get over her, you were never in love. That's infatuation. Emotion only. Not the best example, but the point is, the proof is in the pudding, which in this case would be persevering in your faith, UNTIL THE END. until the end.
Hebrews 3:6 "... but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house - whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end." True Christians. . . (His elect, predestined brothers and sisters from before we were born [Rom 9:11 "... for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls..."]) . . . Are His (God's) house(Hebrews 3:4 "For every house is built by someone but the builder of all things is God), IF: We hold fast our confidence. . . (in Jesus [Phillipians 1:6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.] [Romans 8:33-39 "Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, “F or Y our sake we are being put to death all day long ; W e were considered as sheep to be slaughtered .” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."]) . . .and the boast of our hope(Jesus Christ) firm until the end. [Galatians 6:14"But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."] [Romans 8:24-25 "For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it."] So we very clearly see in the Scriptures that faith that comes from Him is a saving faith, one that perseveres until the end (till perfection) and He has mercy on whom He has mercy, and hardens who He hardens, according to His purpose, however He wills. Questioning Him just speaks on how we really overestimate our worth, trying to relate to Him on His level, like a HOUSE questioning it's BUILDER, we deceive ourselves thinking we're something when we're nothing. Our existence, let alone worth, is predicated on God, the subject of our praise and worship, and since we're all unworthy of Him, He shows no partiality (would He need to with regard to us?) and He is the only one whose scale of us determining our worthiness is the only one of real value, one that matters, and we all fall short, all equally unworthy, show me the grounds of questioning His authority? This shows clearly that the one who falls away may not have been graced with this saving faith. 1 John 2:19 "They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have REMAINED with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us." Scripture speaks for itself.
@KC this genuine saving faith, from the Holy Spirit produces this persevering dedication(1 Corinthians 15:10 "... But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace is toward me did not prove vain; but I laboured even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me." So we see there that His presence in the true Christian is the source of this perseverance, which shows itself in the action of this perseverance. That is how I see it, please search the scriptures yourself, make sure I'm not reading wrong and correct me(from the scriptures, all due respect, not interested in human wisdom)