John Piper on God's Sovereignty

So I think this is pretty cool, give it a watch guys, you won't regret it!

Lukewarm Love Loses

“Dear lukewarm Christians,

Here we are, attending fancy functions, politely judging the inferior, keeping our houses pristinely pretty, worrying about financial difficulties, ensuring our reputation isn't bruised, preoccupied with our standard of living rather than others’ living, feeling content and neutral, twisting our faces in disgust at injustice in one moment then forgetting it a few minutes later, indulging our time with delightful vacations and emphatically declaring our devotion and love for Christ. From a Christian who has repented of my lukewarm ways”

… was written by a Christian who believed she/he was on fire for God. Perhaps some of us frown upon this sarcastic extract and accuse that person of rebuking our remaining complacency, passivity and dangerous contentment with sin. We must all admit, there is a tone of anger in the writer’s piece. Is it righteous anger of reckless judgment? That hardly matters when we compare that writer’s opinion to God’s opinion. Without humility, self reflection and willingness to confess, some of us may dismiss the above spiel as undeserved criticism and sink back into one of the most dangerous beliefs – that we are safe and truly in Christ (when in actual fact, we might still be in danger).

Although it is not by effort or desire that no one should boast (Romans 9:16), truly being in Christ and having the Holy Spirit of God in you means you are striving and scraping and clawing and praying your way through sanctification (Romans 8:5-11). In other words, if we are truly saved, we should be genuinely fleeing from sin because it revolts us to the bone (Ephesians 4:30).

A Tree and it’s Fruit

‘Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every good tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them…

…Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in Heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ – (Matthew 7:15-23).

The Wedding Banquet
Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: The Kingdom of Heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet…

… But they paid no attention and went off – one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated tem and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find’. So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests…

… But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. ‘Friend’, he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless. Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth’…

…For many are invited, but few are chosen’. – (Matthew 22:1-14).

If Jesus returned tonight, are you confident He would take you with Him to paradise?

The Power in not Praying.

So I have listened to this message by Francis Chan "Think Hard, Stay Humble: The Life of the Mind and the Peril of Pride", and I feel like sharing the main points I got out of that message, because it has struck me like a tone of bricks.

His main message was based around 1 Corinthians 8:1-3 "Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God." Which was an amazing sermon about how we could have all the knowledge in the world, but have absolutely nothing. Great message and I would recommend it to anyone serious about Jesus. I however wish to talk about something he said in passing that really hit me:

James 5:16 " Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working." The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. I mean, I always knew this, but I didn't really know this. I didn't understand the implications it meant for my life. There are people in this world who are suffering, and worse, who do not know the love of the Father, and I sit here at home thinking that there is not much I can do for these people. I mean, I don't have money to feed the poor, my father won't allow me to go on missions trips, I need to spend time doing things now so that I can help people later when I get a real job and am able to support others, but does this really mean that I sit back and do nothing? First of all, there are people everywhere who don't know the Father's love, but what I really want to get at is "The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working." Do I really believe in the power of prayer? If I think there is nothing I can do for the suffering in this world, do I really have faith? What I should be doing is asking God to cleanse me of my sins, make me a holy and righteous person, so that when I pray, things happen. What has hit me so hard is that, my lack of seriousness towards sin is killing people. My laziness, my lust, all my smallest sins are stopping me from coming to God and caring about the world. Because of my lack of passion and enthusiasm, people are going to hell. That is serious.

Don't misunderstand me here, I believe that all Christians are righteous before God through faith, not works. "The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins." (Romans 3:22-25). So if we sincerely believe in Jesus, have repented of our old ways and are following Him as our Lord, our prayers are powerful enough to stop the rain (James 5:17-18). But what happens when we are walking in our sin? We are far from God AND WE ARE NOT PRAYING LIKE WE SHOULD! Our sins are not merely acts that we commit against God that warrant divine judgement, our sins are divine judgement, and the more we are sinning the more it is evident that our relationship with God is not as it should be. "And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done." (Romans 1:28). The less we acknowledge God, pray, study His word, the more we will be judged, by God giving us over to our depraved mind.

So it is evident that my lack of prayer and my sins are killing people:

Not walking in sin = Close to God = Powerful and righteous prayers = Helping those who we currently do not have the ability to help in a practical/physical manner.

Walking in sin = Far from God = Little prayer = People who could have been saved by our prayers will not be saved.

I hope this encourages you to live a holy and righteous life, and pray earnestly for the people around you, the wrong done in 3rd world countries, the sin in our society and the big things that we think we cannot change. Pray prayers that make a difference in this world.

As a final note, if you're not sure what to pray for, I leave you with this:

"Pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17).