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Faith Stands Or Falls On The Truth That The Future With God Is More Satisfying Than The One Promised By Sin. Where This Truth Is Embraced And God Is Cherished Above All, The Power Of Sin Is Broken. The Power Of Sin Is The Power Of Deceit. Sin Has Power Through Promising A False Future. In Temptation Sin Comes To Us And Says: "the Future With God On His Narrow Way Is Hard And Unhappy, But The Way I Promise Is Pleasant And Satisfying." The Power Of Sin Is In The Power Of This Lie.

-John Piper

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Faith Stands Or Falls

John Piper

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Faith Stands Or Falls On The Truth That The Future With God Is More Satisfying Than The One Promised By Sin. Where This Truth Is Embraced And God Is Cherished Above All, The Power Of Sin Is Broken. The Power Of Sin Is The Power Of Deceit. Sin Has Power Through Promising A False Future. In Temptation Sin Comes To Us And Says: "the Future With God On His Narrow Way Is Hard And Unhappy, But The Way I Promise Is Pleasant And Satisfying." The Power Of Sin Is In The Power Of This Lie.

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"how Are You Doing?" - - - Better Than I Deserve.

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The Cost Of Food In The Kingdom Is Hunger For The Bread Of Life.

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Leisure Activities

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Where Passion For God Is Weak, Zeal For Missions Will Be Weak.

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Christian Fasting, At Its Root, Is The Hunger Of A Homesickness For God

The Ultimate Purpose Of Life Is To Show That Jesus Is More Precious Than Life.

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Falling In Love

The Gospel Is The Good News That The Everlasting And Ever-increasing Joy Of The Never-boring, Ever-satisfying Christ Is Ours Freely And Eternally By Faith In The Sin-forgiving Death And Hope-giving Resurrection Of Jesus Christ.

Sin Is What You Do When Your Heart Is Not Satisfied With God. No One Sins Out Of Duty. We Sin Because It Holds Out Some Promise Of Happiness. That Promise Enslaves Us Until We Believe That God Is More To Be Desired Than Life Itself (psalm 63:3). Which Means That The Power Of Sin's Promise Is Broken By The Power Of God's.

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The Goal Of Missions Is The Gladness Of The Peoples In The Greatness Of God.

The Rich Fruit Of Spontaneity Grows In The Garden That Is Well Tended By The Discipline Of Schedule.

If You Don’t Know God As Beautiful And Satisfying, You Don’t Know Him.

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Life Is Precarious, And Life Is Precious. Don't Presume You Will Have It Tomorrow, And Don't Waste It Today.

Life Is Precious

The Mind Serves To Know The Truth That Fuels The Fires Of The Heart.

I Feel A Special Calling To Impart Hope To The Church I Serve.

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Suffering And Death

God Has Made Us To Be Conduits Of His Grace. The Danger Is In Thinking The Conduit Should Be Lined With Gold. It Shouldn't. Copper Will Do.

God Has An Inexhaustible Enthusiasm For The Supremacy Of His Name Among The Nations.

Prosperity Cannot Be A Proof Of God's Favor, Since It Is What The Devil Promises To Those Who Worship Him. (matt. 4:9)

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The Greatest Cause In The World Is Joyfully Rescuing People From Hell, Meeting Their Earthly Needs, Making Them Glad In God, And Doing It With A Kind, Serious Pleasure That Makes Christ Look Like The Treasure He Is.

Therefore Bread Was Created For The Glory Of Christ. Hunger And Thirst Were Created For The Glory Of Christ. And Fasting Was Created For The Glory Of Christ. Which Means That Bread Magnifies Christ In Two Ways: By Being Eaten With Gratitude For His Goodness, And By Being Forfeited Out Of Hunger For God Himself. When We Eat, We Taste The Emblem Of Our Heavenly Food—the Bread Of Life. And When We Fast We Say, “i Love The Reality Above The Emblem.” In The Heart Of The Saint Both Eating And Fasting Are Worship. Both Magnify Christ.

History Is A Conveyor Belt Of Corpses Because Of Adam's Sin.

The Chief End Of Missions Is The Supremacy Of God In The Joy Of All Peoples.

Whenever Your Heart Starts To Be Anxious About The Future, Preach To Your Heart And Say, 'heart, Who Do You Think You Are To Be Afraid Of The Future And Nullify The Promise Of God? No, Heart, I Will Not Exalt Myself With Anxiety. I Will Humble Myself In Peace And Joy As I Trust This Precious And Great Promise Of God - He Cares For Me.'

I Will Not Waste My Life! I Will Finish My Course And Finish It Well. I Will Display The Gospel Of The Grace Of God In All I Do. I Will Run My Race To The End.” - Paul

We Are All Starved For The Glory Of God, Not Self. No One Goes To The Grand Canyon To Increase Self-esteem. Why Do We Go? Because There Is Greater Healing For The Soul In Beholding Splendor Than There Is In Beholding Self.

If God Were Not Just, There Would Be No Demand For His Son To Suffer And Die. And If God Were Not Loving, There Would Be No Willingness For His Son To Suffer And Die. But God Is Both Just And Loving. Therefore His Love Is Willing To Meet The Demands Of His Justice.

Journaling Is A Way To Be A Good Steward Of The Spirit's Illuminations.

One Of The Most Important Discoveries I Have Ever Made Is This Truth: God Is Most Glorified In Me When I Am Most Satisfied In Him. This Is The Motor That Drives My Ministry As A Pastor. It Affects Everything I Do.

Life Is Too Short, Too Precious, Too Painful To Waste On Worldly Bubbles That Burst

Life Is Too Short

Don't Follow A Defeated Foe. Follow Christ. It Is Costly. You Will Be An Exile In This Age. But You Will Be Free.

It Is Not Surprising That Prayer Malfunctions When We Try To Make It A Domestic Intercom To Call Upstairs For More Comforts In The Den.

It Is Unbiblical And Arrogant To Try To Worship God For Any Other Reason Than The Pleasure To Be Had In Him.

If Gratitude Is Not Rooted In The Beauty Of God Before The Gift, It Is Probably Disguised Idolatry. May God Grant Us A Heart To Delight In Him For Who He Is So That All Our Gratitude For His Gifts Will Be The Echo Of Our Joy In The Excellency Of The Giver!

Exultation That Does Not Flow From Education, Affections That Do Not Flow From Knowing, Savoring That Does Not Flow From Seeing, Feeling That Does Not Flow From Thinking - Are Hollow And Rootless - Noisy Gongs And Clanging Cymbals. And God Is Not Glorified By Artificial And Empty Passions. True Delight Is Rooted In True Doctrine. God-centered Exultation Is Rooted In God-centered Education.

Life Is Wasted If We Do Not Grasp The Glory Of The Cross, Cherish It For The Treasure That It Is, And Cleave To It As The Highest Price Of Every Pleasure And The Deepest Comfort In Every Pain. What Was Once Foolishness To Us—a Crucified God—must Become Our Wisdom And Our Power And Our Only Boast In This World.

God Is Always Doing 10,000 Things In Your Life, And You May Be Aware Of Three Of Them.

We Weren't Meant To Be Somebody--we Were Meant To Know Somebody

You Ought To Marry Someone Who’s Willing To Go Anywhere For God. If They’re Not, They're Out.

The Happiest And Holiest Children In The World Are The Children Whose Fathers Succeed In Winning Both Their Tender Affection And Their Reverential And Loving Fear. And They Are The Children Who Will Come To Understand Most Easily The Mystery Of The Fatherhood Of God.

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When The Heart No Longer Feels The Truth Of Hell, The Gospel Passes From Good News To Simply News

Books Don't Change People; Paragraphs Do, Sometimes Even Sentences.

Preaching Is The Pastor's Main Work, And Preaching Is Heart Work, Not Just Mental Work.

A God-centered Theology Has To Be A Missionary Theology

Christian Inspirational

There Will Be No People In Heaven Who Want To Be Around Their Things More Than Jesus.

It Has To Do With Seeing God. “blessed Are The Pure In Heart, For They Shall See God” (matthew 5:8).

Our Lives Become Trivial. And Our Capacity For Magnificent Causes And Great Worship Dies.

We Need A Savior. Christmas Is An Indictment Before It Becomes A Delight.

If We Cannot Claim To Live Sinless Lives, Then The Only Thing That Can Keep Us From Despairing Before A Holy God Is That We Have An Advocate In Heaven And He Pleads Our Case Not On The Basis Of Our Perfection But Of His Propitiation.

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If You Must Choose Between Loving Someone And Acting So That They Feel Loved, Always Choose To Love Them.

We Belittle God When We Go Through The Outward Motions Of Worship And Take No Pleasure In His Person.

God Is On The Move To Rescue People From Misery To Everlasting Happiness, Which Can Only Be Found In Him.

The Gospel Of God And The Love Of God Are Expressed Finally And Fully In God's Gift Of Himself For Our Everlasting Pleasure. "in Your Presence There Is Fullness Of Joy; At Your Right Hand Are Pleasures Forevermore."

It Isn't Sex By Itself That Makes Abortion. It Is Sex Plus Covetousness: Desiring Things That God Does Not Will For Us To Have Because We Are Not Willing To Find Our Satisfaction In Him. Illicit Sex And Unencumbered Freedom Without Children: For These We Covet, And Abortion Is The Result.

One Of The Great Uses Of Twitter And Facebook Will Be To Prove At The Last Day That Prayerlessness Was Not From Lack Of Time.

Christian Inspirational

The Greatest Stumbling Block For Children In Worship Is That Their Parents Do Not Cherish The Hour. Children Can Feel The Difference Between Duty And Delight. Therefore, The First And Most Important Job Of A Parent Is To Fall In Love With The Worship Of God. You Can't Impart What You Don't Possess.

Falling In Love

Our Concern With Truth Is Simply An Echo Of Our Concern With God .

The Thought Of Building A Life Around Minimal Morality Or Minimal Significance—a Life Defined By The Question, “what Is Permissible?”—felt Almost Disgusting To Me. I Didn’t Want A Minimal Life. I Didn’t Want To Live On The Outskirts Of Reality. I Wanted To Understand The Main Thing About Life And Pursue It.

But Whatever You Do, Find The God-centered, Christ-exalting, Bible-saturated Passion Of Your Life, And Find Your Way To Say It And Live For It And Die For It. And You Will Make A Difference That Lasts. You Will Not Waste Your Life.

The Really Wonderful Moments Of Joy In This World Are Not The Moments Of Self-satisfaction, But Self-forgetfulness. Standing On The Edge Of The Grand Canyon And Contemplating Your Own Greatness Is Pathological. At Such Moments We Are Made For A Magnificent Joy That Comes From Outside Ourselves.

...we Should All Fortify Ourselves Against The Dark Hours Of Depression By Cultivating A Deep Distrust Of The Certainties Of Despair. Despair Is Relentless In The Certainties Of Its Pessimism. But We Have Seen Again And Again, From Our Own Experience And Others', That Absolute Statements Of Hopelessness That We Make In The Dark Are Notoriously Unreliable. Our Dark Certainties Are Not Sureties.

If You Don't Feel Strong Desires For The Manifestation Of The Glory Of God, It Is Not Because You Have Drunk Deeply And Are Satisfied. It Is Because You Have Nibbled So Long At The Table Of The World. Your Soul Is Stuffed With Small Things, And There Is No Room For The Great.

The Greatest Act Of Freeing Happened When Jesus Died In Our Place And Paid Our Debt.

Nothing Makes God More Supreme And More Central In Worship Than When A People Are Utterly Persuaded That Nothing - Not Money Or Prestige Or Leisure Or Family Or Job Or Health Or Sports Or Toys Or Friends - Nothing Is Going To Bring Satisfaction To Their Sinful, Guilty, Aching Hearts Besides God.

The Lord Is Kind. He Is Good To All Who Take Refuge Under His Wings.

Bad Theology Dishonors God And Hurts People. Churches That Sever The Root Of Truth May Flourish For A Season, But They Will Wither Eventually Or Turn Into Something Besides A Christian Church.

Christianity Is Fundamentally Convalescence.. .god Is Not Only The Doctor Who Prescribes, He Is The Nurse Who Lifts Up Our Powerless Head And Puts The Spoon In Our Mouth...and He Is The Medicine.

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Jerusalem Meant One Thing For Jesus: Certain Death.

Bitterness About Your Parents’ Brokenness Will Kill You. Be The Grace-filled End Of Generational Sin In Your Family.

Evangelicals Are Distraught Over The State Of America Because They Have Not Been Taught That We're Aliens Here.

Without Extended, Concentrated Prayer, The Ministry Of The Word Withers. And When The Ministry Of The Word Declines, Faith (rom. 10:17; Gal. 3:2, 5) And Holiness (john 17:17) Decline. Activity May Continue, But Life And Power And Fruitfulness Fade Away. Therefore, Whatever Opposes Prayer Opposes The Whole Work Of Ministry.

In Demanding Our Praise God Is Demanding The Completion Of Our Pleasure (in Him).

Bad Theology Will Eventually Hurt People And Dishonor God In Proportion To Its Badness.

Faith Stands Or Falls On The Truth That The Future With God Is More Satisfying Than The One Promised By Sin. Where This Truth Is Embraced And God Is Cherished Above All, The Power Of Sin Is Broken. The Power Of Sin Is The Power Of Deceit. Sin Has Power Through Promising A False Future. In Temptation Sin Comes To Us And Says: "the Future With God On His Narrow Way Is Hard And Unhappy, But The Way I Promise Is Pleasant And Satisfying." The Power Of Sin Is In The Power Of This Lie.

My Paradise: With Christ. Not Sinning. No Pain. New Earth. Precious In That Order.

He Has Made Me Wary Of Chronological Snobbery. That Is, He Showed Me That Newness Is No Virtue And Oldness Is No Vice. Truth And Beauty And Goodness Are Not Determined By When They Exist. Nothing Is Inferior For Being Old, And Nothing Is Valuable For Being Modern. This Has Freed Me From The Tyranny Of Novelty And Opened For Me The Wisdom Of The Ages.

It Horribly Skews The Meaning Of The Cross When Contemporary Prophets Of Self-esteem Say That The Cross Is A Witness To My Infinite Worth. The Biblical Perspective Is That The Cross In A Witness To The Infinite Worth Of God's Glory, And A Witness To The Immensity Of The Sin Of My Pride.

The Answer, The Answer, My Friend, Is Not Yours To Invent Or Create. It Will Be Decided For You. It Is Outside You. It Is Real And Objective And Firm. One Day You Will Hear It. You Don’t Create It. You Don’t Define It. It Comes To You, And Sooner Or Later You Conform To It—or Bow To It.

Taken As A Whole, The Story Of Ruth Is One Of Those Signs. It Was Written To Give Us Encouragement And Hope That All The Perplexing Turns In Our Lives Are Going Somewhere Good. They Do Not Lead Off A Cliff. In All The Setbacks Of Our Lives As Believers, God Is Plotting For Our Joy.

My Mother, Who Grew Up In Pennsylvania, Literally Washed My Mouth Out With Soap Once For Saying, 'shut Up!' To My Sister. She Would Have Washed My Mouth Out With Gasoline If She Knew How Foul My Mouth Was Racially When She Wasn't Around.

We Can Be Content With Simplicity Because The Deepest Most Satisfying Delights God Gives Us Through Creation Are Free Gifts From Nature And From Loving Relationships With People. After Your Basic Needs Are Met, Accumulated Money Begins To Diminish Your Capacity For These Pleasures Rather Than Increase Them. Buying Things Contributes Absolutely Nothing To The Heart's Capacity For Joy.

Every Good Thing In The Christian Life Grows In The Soil Of Humility. Without Humility, Every Virtue And Every Grace Withers. That’s Why Calvin Said Humility Is First, Second, And Third In The Christian Faith.

Worship Is A Way Of Gladly Reflecting Back To God The Radiance Of His Worth.

Reflecting Back

If At The Cross Every Sin Was Covered, Satan's Mouth Is Shut. He Has No Weapon. He Can Gum You But His Fangs Are Gone.

The Key To Christian Living Is A Thirst And Hunger For God. And One Of The Main Reasons People Do Not Understand Or Experience The Sovereignty Of Grace And The Way It Works Through The Awakening Of Sovereign Joy Is That Their Hunger And Thirst For God Is So Small.

What Defines Us As Christians Is Not Most Profoundly That We Have Come To Know Him But That He Took Note Of Us And Made Us His Own.

Sin Is What You Do When Your Heart Is Not Satisfied With God. No One Sins Out Of Duty. We Sin Because It Holds Out Some Promise Of Happiness.

Little Hearts, Little Souls Give Little Lusts Big Power. Big Hearts Give Little Lusts Little Power.

Sin Is What You Do When Your Heart Is Not Satisfied With God.

Don’t Be Surprised. There Is Nothing New Under The Sun. Only Endless Repackagings

I've Never Heard Anyone Say The Really Deep Lessons Of Life Have Come In Times Of Ease And Comfort. But, I Have Heard Many Saints Say Every Significant Advance I've Ever Made In Grasping In The Depth Of God's Love And Growing Deep With Him, Have Come Through Suffering.

Grace Is The Pleasure Of God To Magnify The Worth Of God By Giving Sinners The Right And Power To Delight In God Without Obscuring The Glory Of God.

It Is A Myth That Man In His Natural State Is Genuinely Seeking God. Men Do Seek God. But They Do Not Seek Him For Who He Is. They Seek Him In A Pinch As One Who Might Preserve Them From Death Or Enhance Their Worldly Enjoyments. Apart From Conversion, No One Comes To The Light Of God.

The Deepest Need That You And I Have In Weakness And Adversity Is Not Quick Relief, But The Well-grounded Confidence That What Is Happening To Us Is Part Of The Greatest Purpose Of God In The Universe - The Glorification Of The Grace And Power Of His Son - The Grace And Power That Bore Him To The Cross And Kept Him There Until The Work Of Love Was Done.

The Formation Of The Life Of A Person In The Womb Is The Work Of God, And It Is Not Merely A Mechanical Process But A Work On The Analogy Of Weaving Or Knitting: "thou Didst Knit Me Together In My Mother's Womb" (psalm 139:13). The Life Of The Unborn Is The Knitting Of God, And What He Is Knitting Is A Human Being In His Own Image, Unlike Any Other Creature In The Universe... The Destruction Of Conceived Human Life - Whether Embryonic, Fetal, Or Viable - Is An Assault On The Unique Person-forming Work Of God.

Our Obedience Is God's Pleasure When It Proves That God Is Our Treasure.

So The Main Question Is Not, Which Humans Brought About The Death Of Jesus But, What Did The Death Of Jesus Bring About For Humans - Including Jews And Muslims And Buddhists And Hindus And Nonreligious Secularists - And All People Everywhere?when It Is All Said And Done, The Most Crucial Question Is: Why? Why Did Christ Suffer And Die? Not Why In The Sense Of Cause, But Why In The Sense Of Purpose?

The Goal Of Bethlehem College And Seminary Cannot Be Expressed With Man As The End Point. Christ Is The Endpoint.

The Immensity Of His Worth Is Reflected In The Intensity Of Your Worship.

Marriage Is Not Mainly About Prospering Economically. It Is Mainly About Displaying The Covenant Keeping Love Between Christ And His Church

Being Infinite, God Is Inexhaustibly Interesting. It Is Therefore Impossible That God Be Boring.

God Has Given Us Prayer As A Wartime Walkie-talkie So That We Can Call Headquarters For Everything We Need As The Kingdom Of Christ Advances In The World. Prayer Gives Us The Significance Of Front-line Forces, And Gives God The Glory Of A Limitless Provider. The One Who Gives The Power Gets The Glory. Thus Prayer Safeguards The Supremacy Of God In Missions While Linking Us With Endless Grace For Every Need.

Humble Us, O God, Under Your Mighty Hand, And Let Us Rise, Not As Professionals, But As Witnesses And Partakers Of The Sufferings Of Christ.

God Doesn’t Waste Anything For Those Who Are Yielded To Him.

The Greatest Enemy Of Hunger For God Is Not Poison But Apple Pie. It Is Not The Banquet Of The Wicked That Dulls Our Appetite For Heaven, But Endless Nibbling At The Table Of The World. It Is Not The X-rated Video, But The Prime-time Dribble Of Triviality We Drink In Every Night.

You Don’t Have To Know A Lot Of Things For Your Life To Make A Lasting Difference In The World. But You Do Have To Know The Few Great Things That Matter, Perhaps Just One, And Then Be Willing To Live For Them And Die For Them. The People That Make A Durable Difference In The World Are Not The People Who Have Mastered Many Things, But Who Have Been Mastered By One Great Thing.

He Shook My Dozing Soul And Threw The Cold Water Of Reality In My Face, So That Life And God And Heaven And Hell Broke Into My World With Glory And Horror. (on Cs Lewis)

Mission Exists Because Worship Doesn't.

Seek To See And Feel The Gospel As Bigger As Years Go By Rather Than Smaller. Never Let The Gospel Get Smaller In Your Heart.

I Do Not Aim To Be Immediately Practical But Eternally Helpful.

Prayer Is The Open Admission That Without Christ We Can Do Nothing. And Prayer Is The Turning Away From Ourselves To God In The Confidence That He Will Provide The Help We Need. Prayer Humbles Us As Needy And Exalts God As Wealthy

The Deepest And Most Enduring Happiness Is Found Only In God. Not From God, But In God.

Sanctification Is A Community Project.

This Is God's Universal Purpose For All Christian Suffering: More Contentment In God And Less Satisfaction In The World.

Now Unto Him Who Is Able To Strengthen You … Be Glory.

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