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John Piper | – Escaping the Fog of Triviality // Ask Pastor John
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In a culture filled with silliness and superficiality, seeing and savoring the providence of God protects our hearts from trifling with divine things.
The doctrine of God’s providence is the theme of Pastor John’s new book by that title, ‘Providence.’ The glorious truth that God governs over everything in this universe has always been true. But for us to see and savor God’s providence, we must learn this glorious truth ourselves from what God has revealed to us in his word. And when we see it and embrace it as true and glorious, this doctrine makes a very definite impact in our lives. So on Wednesdays on the podcast, Pastor John is celebrating those real-life impacts that this doctrine makes on our lives. There are a total of ten implications he wants to address. Last time, in episode 1580, we looked at how God’s design for all things in providence brings meaning to all of life. In God’s design of all things, no part of life is made meaningless. That was implication number three. Here now with implication number four is Pastor John.
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I love Pastor John’s reading of parts of this amazing book.
I'm very glad to meet you, I really appreciate your words, I need it and very much, thank you
Eerily timely word. Thank you for this wonderful episode
0:10
wor.in.net
Good teaching.
You will often hear people say that we shouldn't take life too seriously.
Actually, life is a very serious thing indeed. Human beings are created to relate to the infinite, almighty God, and after we die we will go to eternal blessedness or hell. These are serious things!
I agree with John Piper that evangelism and worship should not normally involve humour. And I agree with him too that it is very easy for us to become trivial and superficial in our thinking.
In this talk Piper mentioned slapstick comedy. I'm not sure if he was saying that this was a bad thing in itself or if he just meant that our lives shouldn't be trivial in the same sort of way that slapstick is.
If he meant that slapstick is bad in itself, I think I would disagree. Although life is basically a very serious thing, there is a place for rest, recreation and humour, and I think watching slapstick can be part of this.
Being a Christian that works as a creative director in the advertising industry, this is my biggest fear as well.
I can remember when God first showed Himself to me, and I must confess, at first it was so powerful that I genuinely thought I was going to die!
After I was introduced to the Almoghty, He then showed me His love, of which I was then able to get the ability to trust Him with all things, more and more.
As we sacrifice our old life, and ways, the Father is more and more pleased to reveal Himself to us, and then through seeing our sacrifice, is all the more pleased to have closer fellowship with us, as we grow to be like Him.
I'm gonna be honest, I have no idea what he's saying. Can people help me out?
Your candidness, your unapologetic and unequivocating rhetoric are water to a parched land. Thank God for what he is doing with you, Pastor.
This message needs to be spoken on way more than it is
I’m getting sympathetic sore throat from the sound of his voice lately. Poor guy.
God has a sense of humor. It’s ok to smile more John.
I truly believe that we can be reverent to God and still experience joy and laughter. Jesus is coming back. I'm completely serious about it but I also feel giddy when I think of it sometimes. He's coming soon. Watch the most recent video by The Sword of God about this as it relates to the Revelation chapter 12 sign.
Do you honestly believe that God anointed this person to speak for Him? Do you even realize that it is wrong to debate scripture since you either truly understand it or you are simply guessing at what it is relating!
As I listen to the utter nonsense that is all over the Internet it is now becoming clearer and clearer as to why God had me do the videos that I did. I am seeing that there are billions of people who are spreading their delusional beliefs and lies all over the internet and they have no idea that they are blaspheming the Spirit of truth with their twisted and misguided interpretations of scripture. Since these people have never been sanctified in truth by Jesus they lack the true knowledge and understanding of scripture and they are simply condemning their souls with their own misguided words. Once Jesus sanctified my heart in His truth He then instructed me to expose the lies of these misguided believers just as He once did and I am hoping that it will then awaken the very few who possess a good and noble heart.
So I now want you to take a moment and imagine that this evil world is nothing more then a huge enormous shipwreck. Then picture the end of the Titanic movie where there are bodies galore floating all over the ocean. Look at me as one of the few who has a lifeboat and God is directing me to check every person that I come across to see whether there is still life dwelling inside. Those who still have life I then help onboard and I guide them in the direction they need to go. Those who have blasphemed the Spirit I simply allow the ocean to devour since they are already spiritually dead and lifeless.
So why are the words that you speak and write so important to God? Well God’s word clearly states that God will never lie. So if someone speaks something that is not true then you would call that person a liar, would you not? So if God does not lie then do you honestly believe that God would appoint someone who has never been sanctified in His truth and who does not truly understand scripture to speak for Him? Of course not for they would simply be speaking lies and nonsense. So this is why anyone that God would send forth to speak His word must be throughly grounded, purified and sanctified in His truth by His Holy Spirit. Why? Because if that person or preacher would tell you something that is not God’s actual truth than how could God possibly judge you properly based on something that His so called minister misled you about? It would not be right now, would it? This is why every messenger that was sent from God in scripture possessed His power to work wonders on His behalf. God gave them His power in order to prove that they were appointed by Him as His messenger. This is what being an apostle meant since apostle means one who is sent, a messenger. A disciple on the other hand is a student who learns from a teacher. That explains someone like myself. I am not an apostle who possesses the power to perform miracles. I am a disciple, a child of God who is learning truth from my teacher Jesus.
So now let’s look at things from another perspective. What if the devil who is the master of deception and who can appear as an angel of light decided to be clever and use misguided believers for his evil purposes? So the devil chooses some gullible souls and appears as God or an angel to these ignorant believers through dreams or visions or maybe by simply whispering in their ears. He does this in order to make them believe that they were chosen by God. The devil then persuades these misguided souls to believe that God desires for them to talk about their experiences or dreams. Since these misguided souls do not know really understand scripture nor do they understand how to test the Spirits they of course believe that they are hearing from God. And so they start preaching at churches or through comments and videos on the Internet readily giving their misguided interpretations of scripture without ever realizing that they were never sanctified in truth or appointed by God to do so.
This is what is currently happening in this evil fallen world today. A world where you have billions of unclean believers convinced that God desires for them to spread their misguided beliefs in order to lead people to Jesus. These deceived souls who are mostly kids have no idea that it is simply the devil that is using them to deceive others who also lack knowledge of scripture. So you have a perfect case of the misguided leading the misguided or as Jesus said the blind leading the blind and they will both fall into a pit! The pit meaning falling into hell of course. So understand that when someone claims that they are hearing from God or they have had a dream or a vision than there is a 99.9% chance that it was simply the devil deceiving them and they were not hearing from God at all.
So why would the devil do this you might ask and what is the harm if they are preaching about Jesus anyway? Scripture clearly states that you will answer for every idle word that you speak. Why? Because what comes out of your mouth is what you truly believe in your heart. So even if you believe in Jesus but yet you disagree with any part of God’s Word, this then means that you do not truly believe and you are then condemning yourself to an eternity in hell because you have blasphemed the Spirit of truth. Most forget that God’s words are Spirit and they are His truth. So if you are gullible enough to start speaking your misguided interpretations of scripture then you are now the perfect pawn for the devil to use to help lead others astray. This now makes you a false prophet since you were never sanctified by the Spirit or appointed by God to do so. You are simply a misguided soul who is now spreading lies and who is causing others to stumble into sin and you are blaspheming the Spirit that dwells inside of you
“Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come. “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Matthew 12:31-37 NKJV
“Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.”
Luke 17:1-2 NIV
Jesus did not instruct you to follow me or any preacher or religion for that matter. He instructed you to follow Him. The majority of people who claim to be a Christian are what God simply calls an unclean believer. These believers are not getting their knowledge of truth directly from Jesus Himself. They do not understand how to test the Spirits and so they cannot communicate directly to Jesus in order to surrender their will and be sanctified in His truth. So the only voice that they are actually hearing is the voice of the devil who has convinced them to follow mortal souls instead of following Jesus. This is why these believers remain lost and deceived since they fail to understand that Jesus is their one and only teacher!
“It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.”
John 6:45 NKJV
“All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”
John 14:25-26 NIV
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”
John 10:27 NKJV
In closing understand that there is no sickness with God, there never was and there never will be. There also is no sickness for the children of God who possess the true wisdom that scripture is relating to us. Sickness and disabilities are a curse and they are a warning sign that you are disobeying God and His commands. Do not believe me then read Deuteronomy 28:15-64 to prove my point. So if you have sickness, suffering or disabilities in your life then you are proving that you do not truly under scripture and you are simply a deceived soul who is living in sin.
“So you shall serve the LORD your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you. No one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.”
Exodus 23:25-26 NKJV
Yes better to be an unbeliever than to fake it sitting in the pews.
I could use some prayers. I’ve really been feeling like God hates me a lot lately. Too much going on in my life, and nothing is getting better. Lost my job after being lied on, I have chronic pain in my body everyday, a heap of student loans, and struggling with sexual desires. How can he say he loves me, and I can cast my cares upon him, but yet he leaves me in theses situations with no deliverance. Just pain from day to day?
I guess I do not white understand yet what he is talking about when speaking of humor. I agree people in our culture take nothing seriously, their lives, their family, their beliefs. They say anything and everything. That is a sickness and a diseases it teaches people to not be sober minded. But I do not think having moments of lightness and silliness is a sinful thing at all. I take the message in Ecclesiastes serious when they say there is a time for everything. A time to mourn a time to laugh a time to work etc. I feel like he wants me to be sad all the time and I do agree that I want to mourn the torment of My Lord cry and be in awe of his majesty and tremble when I sin give the respect God deserves as God. But I also want to enjoy the peaceful light hearted moments that permeate life and rejoice in the resurrection! The victory of the King and understand the joy both somber and light that exists in his Life. Christ even says His yolk is light, something I do not feel a lot of. I wanna be grateful and tremble at the fact it's so light that His love carries everything and contemplate it and Express it. I do not want to have an air of somberness 24/7, have somber joy somber smiles somber this somber that. I want to have a proper relationship with my Lord and I want to be humbled and listen how He wants me to respond to His words. I agree there must be reverence for God, fear of God, and a serious tone to the actions we make since they carry weight but I do not think i have to act like John Piper to do it nor Express it in the same way. I feel that the things that will be the same when in the presents of God will be the broad feelings of terror trembling sadness joy comfort and love. And that we will all bow before Him.