(upbeat music) - Local college students return to class in a few days. And as the fall semester begins, we have an email from an incoming freshman named Sharon. "Dear Pastor John, I graduated from high school this summer "and I will be moving across the country "to attend college this fall.

"It troubles me because I've seen many kids "who stopped going to church "and gave up their relationship with God "after they moved out and moved onto campus. "Do you have any advice for me on how to stay close to God "despite all the distractions and temptations "that come with campus life?

"How do I continue to grow spiritually? "And how do I balance time for school and time with God? "Thank you, Pastor John, for any advice you would have "for me and for other incoming freshmen this fall." - This is such a good question. I wish every high school graduate who's heading off to college or university would be thinking this way and asking this question.

So let me say a word to Sharon and to all of them in the hope of being of some service to this generation of younger Christians who are heading off to school. And I'll limit myself to five words of counsel, which of course will leave many specifics unanswered. But I think these five have the effect of enabling students, if they buy them, to answer the other specifics as they arise.

So here we go. First, recognize, students, that maintaining a Christian faith is war. 1 Timothy 6, 12, "Fight the good fight of faith, Timothy. "Take hold on eternal life." Ephesians 6, 11, "Put on the whole armor of God "that you may be able to stand "against the schemes of the devil." 1 Peter 5, 8, "Be sober-minded, be watchful.

"Your adversary, the devil, prowls around "like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour." On campus and everywhere else. James 4, 8, "Submit yourself to God. "Resist the devil, he will flee from you. "Draw near to God and he will draw near to you." So let me put a particular twist now on this exhortation, namely that recognize that maintaining a Christian faith is war.

Here's the twist. Sooner or later, somebody who's a little too smart for their gospel britches is going to belittle your habit of meeting with God every day in the word and prayer, and they're going to say something like, do you still think that you have to be that legalistic?

You think you have to have a quiet time and a personal devotions? Don't you know? Haven't you grown up? Don't you know that your relationship with Jesus should be more free, more natural, more spontaneous? So here's the twist I want you to put on your answer to that immature objection.

You say something like this. "Well, I don't know about you, "but I know that I am in a war "with the highest possible stakes "because of what the Supreme Commander says to me "in his manual, the Bible. "So I don't think mainly in terms of legal requirements "or pious platitudes like quiet time and devotions.

"I think about keeping my guns clean "and making sure my ammunition is ready "and reviewing the battle plans "and making sure I know the enemy and his deceptions "and restoring my zeal for the glorious cause "like George Washington caused the revolution. "If that's glorious cause, what is this? "This is what the Lord has enlisted me for.

"So whatever you're talking about, I know what I'm doing. "So join me if you want every morning, but I'm going there." So that's exhortation number one as you head off to college. The Christian life is war, no matter where it's lived. And Christians who try to pretend like it's not are almost certainly gonna be captured by the enemy.

Second exhortation, when you look at the armor that Paul describes in Ephesians 6 that every Christian is supposed to put on on campus or anywhere else, it's amazing that among the six pieces of armor, four of them are related to the word of God. Most obviously, the sword is called the word of God.

Second most obvious is the belt. It's the belt of truth. Third most obvious is the shoes. They're shoes of the gospel, readiness to run with the gospel. And fourth, not as obvious, but plain when you think about it, the shield of faith. Faith in what? Like faith in God when he talks to you, when he speaks in his word, we're gonna trust.

Faith doesn't exist in a vacuum. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So faith in the word of God. And of course, the other two, salvation, helmet of salvation, breastplate of righteousness, those salvation and righteousness are all rooted in the gospel, which is the word.

So my second exhortation is make the word of God a priority in your life. Read it every day, meditate on it every day and night. Memorize key portions of it that are relevant to your situation and carry them with you all day long. Now, here's another twist I wanna put on this, a special aspect of this exhortation.

Just as college life will lead you into increased depths and complexities of cultural and personal and intellectual life, similarly, increase your grasp of the depths and the complexities of the glories of scripture. Don't stay at a high school level. Don't stay at a Sunday school level or homeschool level.

Some of you may have gone very, very deep in homeschool, but don't stay anywhere. The Bible says grow in grace. Now, what that means particularly is this, as you spend time in the word, also find new challenging authors. You're gonna be introduced to all kinds of secular, global, relevant authors, to all kinds of issues in your classes.

Do the same for your faith. Find out who J.I. Packer is and read "Knowing God." Find out who Wayne Grudem is and read his "Systematic Theology." Yes, even if you're not a theologian, this book is designed for every Christian. Find out who R.C. Sproul is and read "The Holiness of God." Find out the classics like John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress." So the point is make the word of God, the substance of all the armor in this warfare, both the offensive and the defensive, make it a priority in time, a priority in focus, a priority in maturation, deeper and deeper into the depths and the complexities of scripture.

So that's number two. Number three, never, never, never leave the local church. The university is an institution created by man. The local church is an institution created by God. If you prioritize allegiance to university over allegiance to church, you are prioritizing man over God. This by no means implies that Christians will work less hard at learning in the university less hard than non-Christians do.

No way. You're gonna give yourself with all your might to learn as much as you can in every class. It simply means that the church will remain central to the rhythm of your life. God has designed corporate worship and the preaching of his word and fellowship of his people to be an essential part of maintaining a military discipline in your life with joy and triumph for the next 60 years.

Think of it that way. You are forming military habits of mind for the next battles you will fight 30 years from now. Gathering with your comrades every week in corporate worship under the word of God is essential for being ready to follow the commander into victory when you are at your peak at 50 years of age.

That's what's at stake right now. You think you're gonna take a break from church and be powerful at 50? You're dreaming. Soldiers don't function that way. Number four, as an overflow from your experience with God's people in church, be sure you have a handful of Christian comrades in arms who are speaking into your life and listening to your heart day in and day out.

Hebrews 3:12, so important. "Take care, brothers, sisters, take care, "lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart "leading you to fall away from the living God. "Exhort one another." How's that gonna happen now? You gotta obey this. "Exhort one another every day as long as it is called today "that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

"God has designed human beings "so that no battle is to be fought alone." None. Jesus never sent anyone out on a solo reconnaissance mission, never. They were always two by two and Paul's missionary adventures were always in teams. We're not designed to meet the enemy alone. The challenges of college are meant to be encountered arm in arm with fellow combatants.

Number five, finally, live a life of prayer. Prayer. That is, turn everything you read in scripture, turn everything you hear in corporate worship, turn everything that is spoken into your life by your comrades, turn it all into prayer. That is, plead with God, plead with God to work in you what you have seen in his word or heard from others from his word.

Never presume that you can do anything on your own. Ask for God's help 10 times a day. Be weak in the presence of God so that you can be strong in the presence of man. Make the Lord's prayer the outline of your daily cry. Cry out that God would make his name holy and revered and cherished and treasured above all things in your life and through your life in the lives of others.

Plead with him to enable you to do his will, the way the angels do it in heaven. Plead with him to lead you out of temptation and into paths of righteousness as you extend his kingdom and plead for the protection against the evil one, the enemy, and all his schemes.

And yes, ask for your daily bread. Why? Just so that you can get on with the battle. It's a glorious life in front of you. You have a great commander. Those are my five exhortations as you head off to school. So much more can be said, but I really believe, I really believe if you make these five things a priority, God will guide you to all the help you need in all the things that I haven't addressed.

- Yeah, so good. Thank you, Pastor John. And thank you for the question, Sharon. As so many fruitful APJ questions have asked the question of how to flourish on a college campus, because those are really critical years. And so it's important that we think about how to not waste them.

Well, we publish three times a week and you can subscribe to our audio feeds and search our episode archive. Even reach us by email with a question you may be facing during a particular season of your life. You can do all of that through our online home at desiringgod.org/askpastorjohn.

Well, the church certainly has enemies and the church has threats. But who poses the greater threat? The modern Pharisee who is religious or the secular atheist who isn't? Hmm, that's the question next when we return on Friday. I'm your host, Tony Reinke, and we will see you then. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)