Soli Deo Gloria!

http://www.hopeingod.org/Beliefs.aspx:

The Mind and the Heart
We are convinced that truth really matters and that right belief is essential for sustained, persevering right living and affections. And we want to keep these two in proper order. Right belief is not our ultimate goal. Rather, we aim deeper; we aim for the heart. We want to help you in your quest for joy. In Pastor John Piper’s words, “From a biblical standpoint studying and thinking and knowing are never ends in themselves; they always stand in the service of feeling and willing and doing. The mind is the servant of the heart. Knowledge exists for the sake of love. And all theology worth its salt produces doxology.”

Creed
by Steve Turner

We believe in Marxfreudanddarwin

We believe everything is OK

as long as you don’t hurt anyone

to the best of your definition of hurt,

and to the best of your knowledge.

We believe in sex before, during, and

after marriage.

We believe in the therapy of sin.

We believe that adultery is fun.

We believe that sodomy’s OK.

We believe that taboos are taboo.

We believe that everything’s getting better

despite evidence to the contrary.

The evidence must be investigated

And you can prove anything with evidence.

We believe there’s something in horoscopes

UFO’s and bent spoons.

Jesus was a good man just like Buddha,

Mohammed, and ourselves.

He was a good moral teacher though we think

His good morals were bad.

We believe that all religions are basically the same-

at least the one that we read was.

They all believe in love and goodness.

They only differ on matters of creation,

sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation.

We believe that after death comes the Nothing

Because when you ask the dead what happens

they say nothing.

If death is not the end, if the dead have lied, then its

compulsory heaven for all

excepting perhaps

Hitler, Stalin, and Genghis Kahn

We believe in Masters and Johnson

What’s selected is average.

What’s average is normal.

What’s normal is good.

We believe in total disarmament.

We believe there are direct links between warfare and

bloodshed.

Americans should beat their guns into tractors .

And the Russians would be sure to follow.

We believe that man is essentially good.

It’s only his behavior that lets him down.

This is the fault of society.

Society is the fault of conditions.

Conditions are the fault of society.

We believe that each man must find the truth that

is right for him.

Reality will adapt accordingly.

The universe will readjust.

History will alter.

We believe that there is no absolute truth

excepting the truth

that there is no absolute truth.

We believe in the rejection of creeds,

And the flowering of individual thought.

If chance be

the Father of all flesh,

disaster is his rainbow in the sky

and when you hear

State of Emergency!

Sniper Kills Ten!

Troops on Rampage!

Whites go Looting!

Bomb Blasts School!

It is but the sound of man

worshipping his maker.

Hebrews 12:1-2

Jesus, Founder and Perfecter of Our Faith

 ¹Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ²looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Do any of you think about death, and if you do, does it affect the way you live?

Please comment.  Thanks.

God is sovereign over all finances. Any economic recession—global or personal—is never less than recession-by-divine-design.

When the economy plummets, God has his purposes—perhaps thousands uponthousands of purposes. Some of these purposes he has made known in his Book.

At least 5 of them are:

1. To expose hidden sin and so bring us to repentance and cleansing.
2. To wake us up to the constant and desperate condition of the developing world where there is always and only recession of the worst kind.
3. To relocate the roots of our joy in his grace rather than in our goods—in his mercy rather than our money, in his worth rather than our wealth.
4. To advance his saving mission in the world—the spread of the gospel and the growth of his church—precisely at a time when human resources are least able to support it. This is how he guards his glory.
5. To bring his church to care for its hurting members and to grow in the gift of love.

2 Corinthians 8:1 2 might be the clearest “recession text” in the Bible. Itdescribes the roots of the joy of the Macedonian believers in their”recession.” In their “severe test of affliction” and “extreme poverty,”their abundant joy “overflowed in a wealth of generosity.”

Their generosity didn’t come from prosperity but from God’s grace—and thisgrace rooted in “our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet foryour sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” (2Corinthians 8:9).

- What Is the Recession For?

Lincoln’s Logic on Slavery Applied to Abortion:

On January 12, 2009 Samantha Heiges, age 23, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for drowning her newborn in Burnsville, Minnesota. If she had arranged for a doctor to kill the child a few weeks earlier she would be a free woman.

What are the differences between this child before and after birth that would justify its protection just after birth but not just before? There are none. This is why Abraham Lincoln’s reasoning about slavery is relevant in ways he could not foresee. He wrote:

You say A. is white, and B. is black. It is color, then; the lighter, having the right to enslave the darker? Take care. By this rule, you are to be slave to the first man you meet, with a fairer skin than your own.

You do not mean color exactly? You mean the whites are intellectually the superiors of the blacks, and, therefore have the right to enslave them? Take care again. By this rule, you are to be slave to the first man you meet, with an intellect superior to your own.

But, say you, it is a question of interest; and, if you can make it your interest; you have the right to enslave another. Very well. And if he can make it his interest, he has the right to enslave you. (“Fragments: On Slavery“)

There are no morally relevant differences between white and black or between child-in-the-womb and child-outside-the-womb that would give a right to either to enslave or kill the other.

“I suddenly saw that someone could use all the language of evangelical Christianity, and yet the center was fundamentally the self, my need of salvation.  And God is auxiliary to that…I also saw that quite a lot of evangelical Christianity can easily slip, can become centered in me and my need of salvation, and not in the glory of God.”

- Tim Stafford, “God’s Missionary to Us,” Christianity Today, December 9, 1996

15Do not love the world or the things in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  16For all that is in the world-the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions-is not from the Father but is from the world. 17And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

- 1 John 2:15-17

Satan always finds old ways to tempt me, but they usually work.  I was going to enter a WorldWide Pullup Contest, which seemed innocent enough.  I got all pumped up with all the trash-talking going on on the net.  I was going to start dieting again this Monday, and I was going to post a before and after picture.  I don’t even know why.  I don’t think entering the WorldWide Pullup Contest is bad, per se, but I think it’s distracted me and made me overly concerned about my appearance again.  I’m going to work on my pullups and see how many I can do on the date of the contest, but I’ve decided not to post a video.

Man, being all Christian has ruined my trash-talking and competitive spirit…haha.

I feel like we’re all broken to varying degrees.  We get so used to suppressing, ignoring, averting, or maybe even accepting our brokenness.

I have to admit that I’m pretty broken.  For more than a year now, I’ve been in a lull.  At times, I’d try to address it.  At times, I’d pretend like I was fine.  Most of the time, though, it felt normal.

I always feel as if things will be great in the future.  I feel as if all my inadequacies will be fixed somehow in the future.  I feel as if, by reading up on things, I can prevent future problems-like future marriage problems.  I try to get all my bases covered, and if a problem does arise, I try to figure out how to fix it.

I’m afraid that by trying to be perfect and trying to have everything planned, I’m going to set myself up for a huge crash in the future.  I can deal with minicrashes, because life’s full of those, but I’d love to avoid one of those huge ones if I can.  What might even be worse is experiencing something in the future that’s somewhat similar to what I’m experiencing right now.  Like what if my marriage just becomes a lull?

I know life should not be this way.

Consciously and subconsciously, I’ve sought satisfaction in all the wrong things.  I’m very purposeful, so I’m always trying to do things that will help propel me into the future person I see myself as.  Like right now, I’m pursuing a business certificate, so I can be better prepared for grad school and a future in int’l development.  But somewhere along the way, I’ve lost sight of my spiritual well-being.  I can spend hours reading on health and exercise, but I’m always too lazy to read Christian blogs or spend time reading Christian books or spend time in prayer.  I usually read the Word, but that’s usually only about 20 min. a day now.  I don’t even read full chapters anymore, only subsections.  And I haven’t written down my quiet time stuff in a journal for over a year as well.

It wasn’t always this way.  I think it slowly started happening ever since I left KCCC.  It wasn’t like I suddenly became a crazy sinner, but it’s just that I didn’t have as much fellowship with God or with fellow Christians.  And so slowly over the past year or so, I’ve decayed spiritually.

Recently, I thought about a few words that I had read in a book.  These were the words:

“Only one life,

‘Twil soon be past;

Only what’s done

for Christ will last.”

Of course, I didn’t remember it word-for-word at the time.  For a split second, I was thinking about my life, and I got scared.  I looked at the way I was living, and I realized I was cherishing a lot of things that wouldn’t last.  For the first time in a long time, I actually was afraid of dying.  But, then, soon after I brushed these thoughts aside.

Every once in a while, I wonder if I could give up on weight lifting.  I wonder how this fits into my purpose of glorifying God.  But, then, soon after I brush those thoughts aside as well.  It’s always funny how attached you can get to something, when you’re in the moment.  It’s like being attached to an ex, even when it’s not healthy.  I think it’s funny that I haven’t gotten attached to a girl in a long time.  I see so many people trying to find fulfillment in the other sex.  It’s so unhealthy.

Aside from weight lifting, I think I’ve taken the other route of trying to find satisfaction in my work.  I mean, I dislike studying, so I don’t really try to find satisfaction in that.  But, like I wrote earlier, I’m always thinking about what I’m going to be doing in the future.  I have it imprinted in my mind, which is probably a good thing.  The problem is that its made me numb inside.  Because I know my future is going to be in something that’s pretty selfless, I feel as if I’m fine spiritually.  I feel like I just need to become knowledgeable of economics, poverty, etc.

Today at church, an ex-pastor spoke about how he always grew up trying to do everything right.  Then, he set up 3 big churches, and he was always working.  Then, one day he went to a mission trip to India and had an affair.  He came back and told his wife he was leaving her.  He moved into an apt near his mistress, but then she eventually left him as well.  He then considered suicide and was admitted into a hospital.  He lost it all.

He was living his life for his work.  He was growing big churches and expanding his ministry, but he wasn’t taking care of himself.  I so see myself going down that path right now.  Before I guess used to being numb any longer, before I get used to lying to myself, I need to stop myself.

15For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

21So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

- Romans 7:15-25

In my mind, I know certain truths. I know that my two main purposes are to display God’s glory and to enjoy Him forever, yet I do things that don’t fulfill these purposes. The flesh and Satan are so sneaky. I feel like I am the master of equivocation. I can rationalize everything in my head. I can convince myself that masturbating will make everything all better, when I’ve already played that game a thousand times. I can convince myself to stay up late and do some stupid sh*t, when I know I’ll feel like sh*t the next day.

Through my sexual purity course and through reading John Piper’s sermons, I have learned something important. I learned that I need to renew and transform my mind every single day. If I’m spending all my time focusing on working out, nutrition, politics, TV, internet, etc., my mind is obviously going to be influenced by those things.

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

- Romans 12:1-2

Even something as seemingly harmless as reading the news can be sinful. Oftentimes, instead of waking up and renewing and transforming my mind by reading the Word and praying, I find myself chatting online, surfing the internet, etc. It’s during these times that I equivocate the most. I say I will chat for a bit and then read the Word, but those things never work out the way I plan. And the thing is, none of these things satisfy. I am never truly satisfied unless I’ve spent time with the Lord and can “what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Sometimes, I wonder why I fall so often. I wonder if I am destined to be mediocre, but I have to remind myself that everything is going according to His purpose. For example, I resolved that I would never end up like those people who end up living at home after graduating from college, but because I have injured my shin and couldn’t join the Marines and because I couldn’t find a job in San Diego, I am moving back home in two weeks. I have great ambitions and am prideful, so I believe that God is teaching me through my trials, the self-inflicted and the exogenous. I have recently become even more interested in economics, business, and investment banking. I can see myself getting lost in all of that and losing my purpose and heart for the poor and disadvantaged, so I trust that everything is going according to His purpose.

I will end this post with two more passages from the Bible.

3More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

-Romans 5:3-5

3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. 4In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
6For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.”

7It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

12Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. 14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.

- Hebrew 12:3-17