Christ alone

Let me put it plainly, I will not make my boast, I will not glory, even in my orthodoxy, for even that can be a snare if I make a god of it. I will glory only in that Blessed Person Himself by whom this great thing has been done, with whom I died, with whom I have been buried, with whom i am dead to sin and alive unto God, with whom I have risen, with whom I am seated in the heavenly places, by whom and by whom alone the world is crucified unto me and I am crucified unto the world. Anything that wants to come into the centre instead of Him, anything that wants to add itself on to Him, I shall reject. Knowing the apostolic message concerning Jesus Christ in all it's directness, its simplicity and it's glory, God forbid that any one of us should add anything to it. Let us rejoice in him in all His fullness and in Him alone.

_d.m.lloyd-jones, "Spiritual Depression"

titus.

I've been reading through Titus for my Pastoral Epistles class and it's been more and more encouraging each time I read it. Both the background and the individual truths of the book are insightful.

My knowledge of Paul's journeys goes hazy after Acts. However I've learned that when Paul ended up in prison at the end of the book, he actually eventually got out. He went on more travels and was later recaptured during a more intense persecution when Nero took power, and eventually killed. However during that time, He visited the island of Crete and left Titus (a young man who he had led to Christ on his 2nd missionary journey) on the island to build up the churches that were started. The epistle to Titus was written to encourage and instruct Titus (and therefore indirectly give Titus public affirmation and a stamp of Pauline approval) in order to build up those churches so they would have an effective evangelistic presence in an unbelieving world.

There is so much to take away from this epistle, but I'll just mention one thing briefly. Paul opens up the epistle with a remarkable statement (after his usual introduction about how he is an apostle and such).

"Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness,"

I love it! Knowledge of the truth is effectual. What is the effect? Godliness. At times we can be frustrated with fellow believers that lack drive and obedience. We can tell them over and over "WHAT" to do... but the "what" isn't effectual. That's why sermons that simply pull Christian principles from the text and repackage them into a step by step, how-to message (the "what") doesn't lead to godliness. In fact that promotes moralism, which is a false truth. Sinners don't need to hear doable do's. They need to hear the rich truth of WHO God is and WHO we really are... They need to hear that the "do's" are not doable. They need to hear that God is just, holy, omnipotent, sovereign, and wrathful. That Christ did the "do's" to perfection. That Christ took on himself EVERY sin and also took on the full wrath of the just, holy, omnipotent God. That Christ "finished" the work. That Christ conquered death. That we take on the perfect record of "do's" with a faith in the finished work of Christ and the submission to Him as our sovereign King. That He IS OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
This is effectual. This leads to a supernatural heart change that grows crops of spiritual fruit.

Resolved & NA 2008

Resolved 2008 June 13-16 Palm Springs, CA
Registration is now open.
Speakers:
John MacArthur
John Piper
C.J. Mahaney
Steve Lawson
Randy Alcorn
Rick Holland















New Attitude 2008 May 24-27 Louisville, KY
Registration opens January 10th.
Speakers:
Al Mohler
Mark Dever
John Piper
C.J. Mahaney
Josh Harris
Eric Simmons

Christian Hardcore music has actual words?

Lyrics from Symphony in Peril's song Portrait....



we serve god in the image that we have painted.
honor and reverence has been filtered through the sifter of our minds.
cultural influenced thinking
and misspoken word have distorted the truth.
so many times we have taken a past experience
and allowed it to carry us to the future,
while new revelation is placed on the backburner.
then we wonder why illumination is so dim in our lives.
the more extensive our comprehension of god’s greatness,
the greater god can move upon the canvas of our lives,
to paint a portrait of honor....

This song pretty much speaks out to me because it is a good description of what American Christianity is like today. We choose to ignore what God's word has to say to listen to the opinions of our peers. Proverbs 14:12 as well as 16:25 both say:

There is a way that seems right unto a man, but its end is the way to death.

yeah, both those verses say the same thing so obviously they are of much importantance. I mean, the whole bible is important, but you get what im saying. We can't let other people tell what's right and what's wrong. It's up for us to go into the Word and look it up for ourselves.

It's important that we continually be in God's word because if we're not, then well never know who or how he is. Please pray for me, that I have more discipline in this area.

love in action

Speaking the truth to someone often doesn't feel good. The Holy Spirits work of conviction hurts. Pride is subtle and will cause a person to immediately question the sincerity of the truth. Love comes into question.

However, the Bible clearly teaches that letting someone go on with out truth or correction is a lack of love.

Look at what Hebrews says about God regarding discipline and love:

Hebrews 12:6-8

"And 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.
For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.'

It 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? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons."

The Bible not only says that sparing discipline is a lack of love, but it calls it "hatred":

Proverbs 13:24

"He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently."


"The great mark of a believer is love for one another as God’s children. Love always necessitates discipline. If genuine love is to be manifested in the local church, biblical discipline must be practiced.

It is not an act of love when discipline is avoided. It is not an act of love if the local church does not practice biblical discipline. It is selfish and unfaithful to let a person continue sinning unchastened. Intervention can perhaps prevent the ultimate discipline.

The process sounds hard and cruel, but it is true Christian love. A believer cannot grow and mature if he persists in sin. God’s goal in discipline is always to bring about maturity in Him."

-Gil Rugh

It's like if your friend had dirt on their face - if you cared about them you would tell them. If you didn't want to offend them, so you remained silent about it, it wouldn't be considered noble or loving.

Speaking truth in someone's life is love. Without the speaking of truth, there is no love. Without love there is no truth. It goes hand in hand. So don't stay quiet. Let it be known.

Get Your Cyborg Name

It's not what you do, but who you know...

6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him."

An excerpt from J.I Packer's Knowing God :
"...The question concerns our motives and intentions as students.We need to ask ourselves: what is my ultimate aim and object in occupying my mind with these things? What do I intend to do with my knowledge about God? for the fact that we have to face is this: If we pursue theological knowledge for its own sake, it is bound to go bad on us. It will make us proud and conceited. The very greatness of the subject matter will intoxicate us, and we shall come to see ourselves as a cut above other Christians because of our interest and grasp of it...For, as Paul said, " Knowledge puffs up... The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know" (1 Cor 8:1-2).
Our concern must be to enlarge our acquaintance, not simply with the doctrine of God's attributes, but with the living God whose attributes they are."