Keepin' the Faith (Part 5)

Kinda feel all that I've been able to post lately is quotes by other guys which is good, but I'm tired of it so I'll try to summarize a few things I was going to post and probably be done with this...

Page 22 of Piper's "Finally Alive":
"Only God regenerates human beings. But he uses means."

On page 95:
"This salvation- this new birth- is not owing to works done in righteousness. Not only your worse works and worst motives, but even your best works and best motives are excluded. They didn't make you regenerate; they don't cause you to stay regenerate. It's the other way around. Staying regenerate causes them."

On page 165:
"The biblical truth that saving faith is possibly only because God causes unbelievers to be born again (1 John 5:1) may make us feel empowered and encouraged and bold and hopeful in our personal evangelism, or it may make us feel fatalistic, pointless, unmotivated, and paralyzed in our evangelism. If we feel fatalistic and pointless and unmotivated and paralyzed in our witness to unbelievers, our feelings are out of sync with the truth, and we should ask the Lord to change our feelings... My feelings do not define truth. God's word defines truth."

From an article on Calvinism:
"God's sovereignty doesn't negate our responsibility," he (Robert Yates) said. "People are scared of that, saying giving God total control means we're just puppets on a string, so we cop out and do nothing. No, we live and do these things because God says so."

On page 166:
"Implied in what we have seen in this book so far is the truth that God's role in bringing about the new birth is decisive, and our role in bringing about the new birth is essential.

On page 173 and 174:
"This is the key to personal evangelism: Have you tasted the word of God-especially the gospel-that the Lord is good? Have you tasted it? I am not asking: Have you thought about it? I am not asking: Have you decided to affirm it? I am asking: Have you tasted it? Are there living, spiritual taste buds in your heart that taste Christ as more desirable than all else?"

For me, although these are elemental truths, they have been extremely liberating.

Things I learned in Eurasia

1. Prayer is like oxygen- if you don’t pray, you die.
2. I am very individualistic. It is hard to bring people alongside myself and teach them to do what I do. Therefore, my leadership style is very laissez-faire. Do whatever works for you.
3. I’m fairly clueless when it comes to encouragement.
4. It is hard to connect with people sometimes. I still think it is easiest for me to connect most of the religious conservatives; I kinda hope to befriend an imam. I think that’d be fun. Though I will probably need to study the Qur’an more and various contextualization methods (our family group seems to have become quite the testing ground).
5. I am a lazy language learner (though trying to learn a language in a classroom setting 4 hours a day, 2 days a week is not ideal). It seems a combination of classroom (and/or Rosetta Stone; Rosetta Stone is weak on grammar and explaining little things that would be beneficial but is quite strong on putting words with hearing & seeing them), studying, and the street work.
6. Teams of three can be quite difficult at times to manage.
7. Confrontation is quite beneficial and necessary to a team’s health. Do not be passive-aggressive (which I thought we were all fairly good about).
8. Exposure to different cultures helps clarify cultural norms from Biblical commands/ principles so that we may avoid legalism.
9. Time works differently here. Everything takes longer and more energy to do. You also tend to need more sleep and rest.
   
10. American food destroys digestive systems when not consumed on a regular basis (and may cause you to poop one’s pants if one is not careful).
11. As a follower of Jesus, I should expect chaos in my life. It's just how it works.
    
12. Perhaps the biggest one that came later on July 26th (the 26th day of months has seen may significant happenings in my life for some reason). I realized that I lie a lot, trying to conceal my true identity from people. Often times when people ask me why I do certain things, I will come up with an answer I think will sound nicer to them than why I am really doing it. It's bad. It's lying, deceitful, hiding my light under a bucket, fearing man more than God, robbing God of His glory, and God revealed that thru the most mundane means on the 26th.
    

Keepin' the Faith (Part 4)

Last summer, I started a series looking into salvation specifically: can someone lose their salvation?, should we give assurance of salvation to people?, etc. which can be found here: http://brothercurtis.blogspot.com/search/label/Faith

This summer, I have again been confronted about my thoughts about the gospel, salvation, grace, etc. through a few books I have been reading: Finally Alive by John Piper (free online) and Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free by F.F. Bruce. To be honest, the issue of God's sovereignty and our human responsibility in these areas have always been in the back of my mind (I just did not know that's what was going on). I remember as a freshman wondering if I had been predestined to sit on the couch and watch TV that day. That's just the way I thought. I did not really know what any of those theological terms meant. I just knew that once you got saved, the only way to use your mind was with apologetics, so that I may win others to Christ. Theology was an unknown term till sometime in college.

So I suppose this will serve as a reintroduction to that series. I think I still agree with most of what I said in the previous posts.

What will I try to be answering in the coming posts?
-stuff hahaha. I was going to make a list but am probably just going to do what I normally do; freestyle it as I go...

I'm getting married today :)

That's pretty sweet. Sarah and I are getting married! WOW! WOW! In like 8 hours. Nifty. This is not yet fully hit me yet I do not think as I type this a few weeks out (yes, I blog ahead thanks to wonderful post options here on Blogger). I'm sure it will be fully realized here soon, but it's just one of those, oh yea, that's cool-type deals at this point. Not one of those HOLY COW, WOW, THIS IS CRAZY-type deals yet.

I am fairly excited. Lots of people, lots of cultures will be present. Should be a good time. I am also excited about the vows I put together. I hope they honor the Lord and put a vision before many of what marriage should look like.

Groom
I, Curtis, take you, Sarah, to be my wedded wife. As a sinner living in light of grace, I promise you my deepest love, my fullest devotion, my tenderest care, and my heart. I promise I will live first unto God, then to you, our family, and to others. I promise that I will protect you, provide for you, and lead you like Jesus leads His Church. Through the pressures of the present and the uncertainties of the future, I promise to be faithful to you unto death. Amen.

Bride
I, Sarah, take you, Curtis, to be my wedded husband. As a sinner living in light of grace, I promise you my deepest love, my fullest devotion, my tenderest care, and my heart. I promise I will live first unto God, then to you, our family, and to others. I promise that I will respect you, honor you, and submit to you like the Church submits to Jesus. Through the pressures of the present and the uncertainties of the future, I promise to be faithful to you unto death. Amen.

What do I do for devotions?

Since I shared a self-assessment last time, I thought I might share what I do to meet with God.

It's actually changes quite a bit. I generally am not too consistent; I like to mix it up every couple months. Usually though, I read a chapter or two of the Bible (and/or am in the process of memorizing it; memorization helps me greatly with studying and meditating on a passage) and pray through my prayer list. I do that first thing in the morning after eating breakfast otherwise I will not do it. The morning has proven most beneficial though I have known some who do this before bed and try to apply what they learn the next day. Sometimes I add a book to read after that (I think Spurgeon's "Treasury of David", meditations on the Psalms, was the last book I tried doing that) but usually I just read some other time (blogs, books, and magazines). Other things I have done or tried: study thru the Bible using the SOAP'T method (beneficial though hard to maintain in the morning when I'm not terribly alive)), a read thru the Bible in a year (too many chapters for me; kinda overwhelming), read the Bible before I go to bed not in the morning (forget it so it's not too helpful in daily living), and I think that's all I can remember.

I just try to keep it simple and short if possible cuz if it becomes too long and difficult, I will not do it. KISS (keep it simple stupid) is the way to go.

Ouch

Wrote this about a year ago. A pretty good self-assessment that still would apply today in almost all aspects...

Why do I do what I do?
-selfish motives I believe: I think I do things to earn God’s favor or to feel good; I don’t rest knowing that God loves and do things out of love (I am really selfish, pride, self-glory seeking, individualistic person who puts walls around his heart who is afraid of man and bends to please people and doesn’t fear God… I keep God out of my conversations to be politically correct and not cause strife; I really lack love)
-Curtis needs to die, Christ needs to live

Misc. Lines

I found these in an old document the other day. I think these are some notes and quotes I took from a Piper sermon. I don't really remember but thought there were some good thoughts in here.

• A loss of fear at offending the majesty of God and His holiness with regard to sin; when you sin, you are hating God! Sin is horrible! It is a great offense to God’s holiness!
• Adultery is not born over night. It starts small.
• Do not put yourself above your authority or accountability
• He who is faithful in little things will be faithful in big things; it shows where your heart is… do what truth demands
• Stay rooted in the Bible. You meet Jesus there.
• If leaders fall into sin, their people will too
• Adultery is like casting Jesus Christ in the lead role of an X-rated movie.
• Diligence, single-mindedness of your pursuit
• Be wary of self-pity, it is crippling… in the end, is Jesus our treasure?

Evangelism without social work is deficient; social work without evangelism is impotent. -John R. Mott, leader of Student Volunteer Movement and Nobel Peace Prize winner (1946) from Postville, IA