Devotion to Good Works

I was reading one of my favorite chapters in the bible this morning and thought I would put down a couple thoughts. I am going to work backwards through this passage so we can better understand what we sometimes miss when we just read real fast through a bible passage. In Titus chapter 3 Paul tells his pastor friend Titus a few things he needs to insist on if he wants his people to be devoted to good works. Here is the vs "The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people. Titus 3:8 ESV)It is obvious that Paul wants the people who have believed in God to be living a life that is full of good deeds. Paul wants them to be careful in this endeavor for good and not lazy and carefree. So what are the things that Paul wants Titus to insist on? Paul wants Titus to insist to his people that the good works that they have done have nothing to do with being saved. What! "But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.(Titus 3:4-7 ESV)This is incredible to me. "Titus, you want your people to be devoted to good works you better tell them that there works and efforts had nothing to do with them becoming Christian" This seems so counter-intuitive to being able to produce good works, but this is the reality of grace. Understanding what God has done produces within us a hatred of sin and a love of Jesus. Jesus says in Jn 14, If you love me you will keep my commandments. This is what Paul is counting on as he writes to Titus. Titus insist on the saving power of God in Christ alone and people will be devoted to good works because they will love Jesus. In fact if you back the passage up even more Paul reminds the people of who they used to be before God saved them "For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.(Titus 3:3 ESV)This is what I need this morning. I need to be reminded that I bring nothing to the table but depravity. Paul tells Titus to insist that people are sinners and that God saves sinners! Only in understanding,living in, and resting in the work of Jesus will we truly be obedient in devotion to good works.

Psalms 73

God Is My Strength and Portion Forever
A Psalm of Asaph.

73:1 Truly God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
my steps had nearly slipped.
3 For I was envious of the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

4 For they have no pangs until death;
their bodies are fat and sleek.
5 They are not in trouble as others are;
they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.
6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
violence covers them as a garment.
7 Their eyes swell out through fatness;
their hearts overflow with follies.
8 They scoff and speak with malice;
loftily they threaten oppression.
9 They set their mouths against the heavens,
and their tongue struts through the earth.
10 Therefore his people turn back to them,
and find no fault in them. [1]
11 And they say, “How can God know?
Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
12 Behold, these are the wicked;
always at ease, they increase in riches.
13 All in vain have I kept my heart clean
and washed my hands in innocence.
14 For all the day long I have been stricken
and rebuked every morning.
15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
I would have betrayed the generation of your children.

16 But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task,
17 until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I discerned their end.

18 Truly you set them in slippery places;
you make them fall to ruin.
19 How they are destroyed in a moment,
swept away utterly by terrors!
20 Like a dream when one awakes,
O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
21 When my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart,
22 I was brutish and ignorant;
I was like a beast toward you.

23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me to glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength [2] of my heart and my portion forever.

27 For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
28 But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord God my refuge,
that I may tell of all your works.

Man Camp Review

Reflection on Man Camp
This past weekend was “I believe” a monumental weekend for some of the men of Cornerstone. It has been awesome to hear such good feedback from everyone. Now we I say “good” feedback, I mean that a lot of us got a big proverbial kick in the chest. The day and a half that we were at the conference center were broke down into 3 sessions. Have fun trying to make sense of my notes.
Session 1 Sandor Paull
Text 2 Tim 2:1-22
-When you reverse justification and sanctification you get legalism
-Most men sin by being overly passive. Where are you being passive?
-When you come to Jesus you come to die! You are not your own.
- As men grow older there can be a tendency in them to become tired of the fight.
- If we are always hyper focused and never move past this “one” sin then we will miss out on other areas in our life that need to be developed.
- Obey not only what God wants us to do but how He wants us to do it.
- As men we must protect our wives from themselves.
- We should never apologies for the bible.
- Protect the church!
- We were formed for His praise

Session 2 Michael Nave
Gen 3, Eph 5, 1 Pet 3:7
-Will I give myself up for my wife when its not convenient for me?
-Our primary jobs as husbands is to help our wife be who God is calling her to be.
-Do we pray for our wife?
-What is my spiritual growth plan for my wife this year?
-To men: Make a list of all your favorite things, food, movies, places, things. Could we make that same list about our wife?
-What is your wife passionate about?
-If we do not know our wives, by default we will start loving her as we want to be loved.
-Do not expect answered prayers and close connection with the Father when we are not treating our wives with honor.
- If you want to destroy your family be inconsiderate.

Session 3 Mark Driscoll video
1 Pet 3:7
Just check out the link here
Just an awesome weekend overall. I pray that i become a more Godly husband to Jordan every day.
music listened to: Still Jack Johnson

Theological Blog

John Stott wrote a book in 1988 called the Cross of Christ. In the opening part of that book he makes a statement that in years past i would have read right through without giving second thought. However, this one sentence has been fueling a lot of my thoughts the last couple of months. "The distinction between an "Objective" and "subjective" understanding of the atonement needs to be made clear in every generation." p15. In other words, did Christ work on the cross accomplish something that would effectively echo throughout all eternity or was He simply making a "way" for people to be saved. Did Jesus save people on the cross? Or was He simply hoping that people that would come after Him would trust in Him? Did He know whose were His throughout the ages? Did He redeem and purchase people when He declared "It is Finished?"
My hope is that the three readers who read this will see the beauty in this as i do. Just a disclaimer, this is no new thought this is one of the main points of the reformation and down throughout the history of our faith.
Is 53:11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
Mathew 1:21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins
Titus 2:14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
Rev 5:9 And they sang a new song, saying,
“Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
John 10:15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
For the sake of time i will not post any more verses. And for the sake of those who may read this and wish I would have posted more text about Christ death for All men, here ya go. In the NT there are many verses that speak of both Christ dying for the many or the sheep, and Christ dying for all men. So for which did he die, and was there a difference in the accomplishment of the Cross for the many and for all?
What i hope readers might see in the few verses that i posted is that Christ totally and fully bought you on the Cross. When Jesus declared "It is finished" He actually purchased and sealed people for God. He knew specifically knew who He lived and died for. Eternally before the foundation of the world God determined that He would save and redeem you out of your sinful spiritual death. And here is the awesomeness of the power of the cross. The fact that people all over the world, every day are becoming Christians is testimony to the effective, objective purpose in the cross. If you are in Christ you are of the many that He specifically died for.
You may ask "What about the world?" I would respond and i think the bible and church History would agree, that Christ died for all men in a "general" way "Common Grace (Google it)" but in a saving way for His people "1 Tim 4:10". When I was 5 years old i did not know that Christ bought me on the cross. However one day the Holy Spirit revealed to me that i was lost. The Holy Spirit lifted my deadness off of me so that i might see my need of and the beauty of Jesus. Jesus work on the cross will echo throughout all eternity. Praise Him.

Married and in Hawaii! With a Kindle

I now have a wealth of knowledge and wisdom on being married. I have been married now for 5 days! If you have any questions on marriage i probably know the answer now. Haha.
On a serious note, i love being married to Jordan. It has been an incredible time so far here in Hawaii. We have been able to do a long list of things already from seeing the Hawaiian Palace, to the Mission Houses, getting new Levi jeans and a cool swatch watch. Oh and we also had heard that there might be some cool beaches in this place so we thought we would go on a mission to find one of those. Mission accomplished. Who knew there would be such awesome water and beaches here. Haha again. My fav thing so far though ,other than "You know What", has been the awesome convo Jordan and i had on the 800 mile walk back from the terrible goodwill store. Talking about the gospel and Gods sovereignty, His working in all things bring such joy to me. It was a great and terrible walk. We also talked about how awesome it is that God brought us together to be one flesh now, how when we pray together, we are one and when we ask for God's help in our time of need, we are one. It is an awesome thing that God gave marriage to us.
And last, thanks to the fellas, I have been reading Radical by David Platt on my Kindle and have been loving it. Great stuff.
Off to go Snorkel.

Jr Vasser on Mat Chandler

Great blog on the difference between Hope and Desire in relation to prayer. Click Here

THANK YOU, NATASHA, WHEREVER YOU ARE

Take a couple min and read this section on page 275. Click Here