THE CROSSING BLOG
New Pastor @ The Crossing!
It is with great joy that on October 5th 2014, The Crossing Church added our 4th Pastor/Elder, Daniel Smith! Daniel has been with the Crossing since the beginning and has shown to be a man who loves Jesus and His Church.
Please pray for Daniel and His wife Michele as they start a new calling in life.
Here are a couple pictures from that Sunday.
View more pics: https://www.facebook.com/thecrossingfc
Sunday's Gathering, October 19th
We like to start a weekly blog that we post in hopes of helping those coming to The Crossing’s Sunday gathering to engage and prepare out hearts to worship King Jesus. We will highlight the Scripture that we will preach on as well as the songs we will be singing.
Here are a three simple ways to prepare your heart:
1) Read through and meditate on the text that will be preached that Sunday with your family or friends.
2) Sing, listen or read through some of the song lyrics that we will sing together and ask God to grow and strengthen our faith and understanding of Him through them.
3) Pray for God to reveal Himself to you and the The Crossing in powerful ways!
Worship through the Word: Acts 16:16-40 “The Christian Type Pt.2”
Worship through Singing: Come Thou Fount 10,000 Reasons Not What My Hands Have Done The First Place O God
Last Weeks Sermon: Acts 16:1-15 “The Christian Type Pt. 1” http://thecrossingfc.org/sermons/the-christian-type-part-1/
Testimonies of Grace
We recently celebrated Christ’s saving grace in the life of Andrew Willard. Praise God for what He is doing in Fort Collins, and celebrate with us this testimony of His love. Listen how the Lord got Andrews attention in South America and changed his life forever!
Our mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the Glory of God and the Joy of His people. We believe that baptism is to be observed by the church, and that water baptism is an outward expression and a celebration of a person’s new life in Christ.
http://youtu.be/Ud0qsOF7MYI?list=UUOcXw3M2AEot6bZFSsR0S9A
Testimonies of Grace
Our mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the Glory of God and the Joy of His people. We believe that baptism is to be observed by the church, and that water baptism is an outward expression and a celebration of a person’s new life in Christ.
We recently celebrated Christ’s saving grace in the life of four people. Praise God for what He is doing in Fort Collins, and celebrate with us these testimonies of His love.
Crossway Chapel Men's Retreat Videos
As many of you know, The Crossing is part of a larger network of churches known as the Crossway Chapel Network. This spring, the men of the network had the opportunity to spend a week in Estes Park to learn about what it means to be a Christian in today’s workplace. Our guest speaker, Jeremy Houlton, gave three sermons on this topic – “Working East of Eden”, “Scattered for Neighbor and Glory”, and “Discipleship in the Workplace”.
If you didn’t have the opportunity to attend, or if you would like to watch any of the session again, the videos are now live on The Crossing’s YouTube page.
The End of Endings
Last Sunday, Gary announced to the church body that he and his family will be moving to Denver to join with Park Church. Although their absence will be significantly felt, we want to rejoice in what God is doing with and through the McQuinns. For those who don’t know, the McQuinn family originally moved to Colorado with the heart to plant a church in the Denver area. As often happens, God’s plans were quite different from what Gary and Jamie imagined. Through their partnership with Aaron and Rita Santini, the McQuinns helped to plant The Crossing. The way in which this team of elders, now including Joey and Rich, has created a community which is centered on the gospel of Jesus Christ is nothing short of God’s divine providence in all our lives. Speaking for myself, I don’t believe that I would have the same level of understanding and love for the gospel if God had not put Gary into my life.
As the McQuinns prepare to make the transition to Denver, many of us are feeling a profound sense of loss. For what it’s worth, I am convinced that this transition is the will of God. The way in which He has orchestrated the McQuinns’ situation shows me His sovereignty in all things, and I desire that we as a church respond in faith to God, and with encouragement and excitement for the McQuinn family.
Additionally, I am convinced that God has many things to teach us through this transition. I would like to pose the question to you: Why is it, during times like these, that we experience sorrow and hurt? It’s been stated many times by the leadership that we believe this is the will of God, and that Gary leaving to partner with Park Church is a good thing. Why then do we have these mixed emotions – this bittersweetness? Why are we not happy that God is moving, and excited that He is using people whom we love to spread the gospel?
I propose to you that the reason behind, and the remedy for our pain is found in the story of the gospel. In the first chapters of Genesis we see that God created everything, and all that He created was good. In Adam and Eve’s original state they were with God in the garden, worshiping their Creator for His glory and their joy. In this state, mankind could have remained forever, in intimate relationship with our Creator God. Of course, we know the story all too well. Because of disbelief, sin entered the world, and man’s communion with God was severed. The perfect relationship of love and obedience with our Heavenly Father was broken. Additionally, not only was our relationship with God forever marred (until we see Him again), but the relationships we share with each other have also been irreparably damaged.
I want to submit to you the idea that the loss of intimate relationship, either with God or with fellow man, is something that we were not originally meant to experience. The reason that we experience pain and sorrow when something ends is because in God’s original good creation, we were not meant to experience endings.
As we continue to grow and mature as a church body, we will continue to experience the closing of more chapters. Life groups will change and multiply, friends will move away, and we will all eventually taste the pain of death within our own congregation. So, as these endings continue to torment us, will we shake our fists in anger and rebellion at God, or will we recognize that the reason we feel this ache in our hearts is because we were made for something more; something future; something permanent? Is this what is meant in Ecclesiastes 3:11, which says that God has “set eternity in [our] heart”?
How shall we respond? My prayer is that we respond with the gospel – the word of God which tells us that He is redeeming a people for Himself for all eternity. While we are yet on this Earth we will continue to feel the sharp sting of endings. But one day, Christ will return. The earth will be made new, and sin, death and pain will be no more. In that new creation, I believe we will cease to experience the grief of endings. Rather, we will experience perfect, unending communion with God and with man.
There is only one caveat to experiencing this unending joy. If you’d like to know what it is to live in eternal glory with God, you must receive Christ as your supreme treasure in life. If you will put your faith in Him who came and paid the penalty for your sin, you will be joined with Him for eternity in Heaven.
As the McQuinns’ chapter at The Crossing is coming to an end, we celebrate what God has done through them for His glory, and for our joy. Now we look forward to a time when we will know no more endings.
Influencers
We all look at ourselves, others, the world, God, Scripture, etc. from a perspective that has been shaped by various factors throughout our lives. The way we view everything is affected by this lens through which we’re always looking and from which we can never fully escape. Fortunately, that lens can and should be adjusted (and focused and corrected) as we renew our minds according to God’s Word. Often, even the way that we read the Bible and think about the Christian life needs to be challenged. In the course of my journey, God has used three men in particular to challenge my perspective and to strengthen my desire to be used by God in His mission for His glory:
John Piper – God used this man to give me a hunger for the supremacy of Christ and to teach me that a pursuit of God’s glory is simultaneously a pursuit of all satisfying joy! (Desiring God)
C.J. Mahaney – God drastically changed my life through C.J’s book, The Cross-Centered Life. Here I learned that the cross is not merely something to be believed on for salvation, but the cross stands at the center of my daily battle against sin and my fight for joy in God.
Greg Beale – God used Dr. Beale to help me learn how to read the whole Bible as a majestic, inspired story about the Sovereign God who is on a mission to redeem the world for His glory and the eternal joy of His people. (See The Temple and the Church’s Mission)
None of these men would want any attention drawn to themselves, but God has given each of them gifts that He has used to awaken my love for Christ and for His Glory, and for this, I am thankful.
soli Deo gloria!
Everyday Missionaries
Are you a missionary? I am. I’m not always a faithful missionary. I’m not always an effective missionary. But I am a missionary… and so are you. All who follow Christ are given the mission to make disciples as we go along the road of life. Some are sent overseas. Some are sent to unreached places. Some are freed up to do this vocationally. But we’re all sent into the world together as communities of missionaries (John 20:21).
We talk about this often with our church. We try to help everyone embrace their identity as a missionary and a vital member of a missionary community (Life Group). For some, this can seem overwhelming, so I want to offer a few practical ideas that can help us approach everyday life as everyday missionaries.
Be regulars
We’ve seen people become a part of our community through relationships built at stores, gyms, restaurants, bars, coffee shops, parks, hospitals and grocery stores. These relationships rarely develop through a single encounter. They grow over time and with regular interactions. Go to the same places for your regular routines. Go to the same coffee shop regularly and build a relationship with the baristas. Go to the same gym at the same time each week and build relationships. Go to the same library at the same story-time session weekly with your kids, and become a part of that community. Shop at the same grocery store at a regular time and go to the same check out each time. Be intentional about visiting the same places for your weekly activities. Get to know the people, remember their names, ask about their kids and their weeks and follow up next time you see them. Before long, you’ll find out that you’re becoming friends.
Build friendships
New friendships require time together — whether it is with your neighbors, coworkers or other people you have met along the road. Eat meals together, go to parks together, watch sporting games together, do hobbies together — just do something together that allows you to share your life, listen, learn and love. In our culture, people will recognize an agenda-driven, salesman approach to friendship. We must actually love people — whether or not they ever come to believe. When you are genuinely friends with someone, they will trust you and listen to your perspective more readily, and they will more readily share their true reasons for not yet believing.
“Show & Tell” the grace of God
As friendships grow, we must model honesty about our own brokenness. Most people imagine Christians to be either clean and put together or hypocrites, so they feel the need to pretend like they have it together. This proclivity to maintain a façade of righteousness hinders us from proclaiming and celebrating the grace of God. Because of God’s grace in Christ, we can be real about who we are — our struggles, our trials, our failures and our joys. We don’t want to boast in our sin, but we do want to be honest about it so that we can boast in the Cross where we have received grace. As friends begin to let us into their lives, we must show God’s grace to them as we accept them, and we must be bold to share with them the good news of God’s grace in Christ.
Invite friends into your community
Introducing unbelievers to your community of believing friends is one of the most neglected, yet important aspects of introducing people to Jesus. Practically, this is the same as building friendships, but it requires finding ways to build friendships with unbelieving friends and believing friends simultaneously. When people see your individual life and your love, they see one good person. When they meet your believing friends, they will (hopefully) meet a community of grace, a community of honest and broken people, a community of servants and a community that loves God’s truth. They will meet the Body of Christ. Your community displays God to the world because God is in you (i.e. y’all). When broken people are accepted by God’s people, they begin to understand that God will accept them too, because of Jesus. Often people come into a real relationship with God after first coming into a meaningful relationship with His people.
Pray like missionaries
If we are God’s missionaries, then we must pray like missionaries. We must pray for opportunities for ourselves and for one another. We must pray for readiness. We must pray for Spirit-filled love. We must pray for patience. We must pray for wisdom. We must pray for awakening. Unless God graciously acts, we will never see people come to new life in Christ. So, above all, we must pray for God to awaken our friends to the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
To Christ The Ransomed Sinners Run - Video
At our gathering on Sunday, we sang ‘To Christ The Ransomed Sinners Run’ written by Wesley Randolph Eader. Here are the lyrics:
To Christ the ransomed sinners run
Their burdens cast aside
In grief, the crowned and only Son
With glory shed would dieWhat blessed death unique and pure
To drain the powers of hell
The Spotless Lamb, the perfect cure
For Satan’s flickerin’ spellGreat sins I had and shackled pride
Unmovable by man
Fought by works and sacrifice
The law’s imperfect planThough dark the stain upon the soul
And countless are it’s crimes
To Christ the challenge is so small
He gives His blood DivineTemptation may it have a way
Upon this narrow path
Old Adam’s hand may still have swayed
And haunt the sinner’s pastBut Christ our Brother had no sin
Though tempted more than we
the guilty freed forever by
His guiltless MajestyHeaven is our sinless sphere
Eternal source of light
Judgement sits upon the throne
Where none escape his sightThough impossible to enter in
The hands of labor try
The grace of Christ must pull them through
The needle’s narrow eyeHis righteousness is not removed
by earth or hell or law
Its fixed upon his cross he proved
to stand without one flawIn life the cross will be our guide
In death our victory
Where else can sinners come to dieto live eternally
Law & Gospel
If you’ve ever experienced feelings of accusation/guilt/shame/condemnation, then you’ve felt the power of the law. It reveals our brokenness, our sin, our bondage… and ultimately, our need. Need for what? It reveals our need for the liberation that we find in the Gospel of God’s Grace in Christ. When it comes to our growth as followers of Jesus, I can think of nothing more significant than coming to a practical understanding of the role of the law and the power of the Gospel.
Here’s a fantastic video with Tullian Tchividjian (Pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church) and Jonathan Linebaugh (Professor of New Testament at Knox Theological Seminary) discussing the Law and the Gospel—what they are, what they do, and why it matters.
HT: Tullian Tchividjian
Why Bother with Lent?
Jesus is not a commitment among other commitments, but rather the commitment of our lives.
Over the past couple of years I’ve come to question the purpose of the Lent season. Why do some Christians get ashed up on Wednesday following Mardi Gras? Since Jesus gave up everything for us, why do we continue to give things up during Lent season? Among other questions I believe there is much goodness that can come from a Christian observing Lent.
The Gospel Coalition has a recent blog post from Chuck Colson that highlights 5 benefits to observing Lent. I hope it encourages you, causes you to reflect on Jesus and want to share with a neighbor what this whole Lent thing is about.
Typically, evangelicals are shy about Lent. The 40 days prior to Easter—Sundays excepted—are known popularly as a season for giving up chocolate or other extras in order to show God how much we love him. With such impoverished notions, it is no wonder that Lent has fallen on hard times.
So should evangelicals bother with Lent?
Whatever the popular conceptions, the season can encourage gospel-centered piety. But, before considering Lent’s value, let’s briefly discuss the benefits of the church calendar, in general.
Some evangelical traditions reject the notion of the church calendar wholesale, believing that the Lord’s Day is the only God-given measure of time for the church. Some Puritans discarded all special holidays on this principle. But, no matter our efforts, we organize our lives according to some seasonal calendar that’s not prescribed by God (semesters, financial quarters, and months, for example).
Recognizing this, the church’s liturgical calendar seeks to order time around the major events of our redemption in Christ. During these seasons, we encourage certain theological emphases, spiritual practices, and corresponding emotions to instruct and train the church in godliness. Of course, the calendar does not limit the celebration of a truth or the experience of a particular emotion to one season or day. For instance, observing Easter Sunday as a joyous and festive holy day does not deny that every Lord’s Day celebrates Jesus’ resurrection. Rather, a joyous Easter Sunday anchors and gives shape to all other Sundays throughout the year. So it is with the liturgical calendar.
Five BenefitsThat said, let’s explore five benefits to observing Lent.
1. Lent affords us the opportunity to search the depths of our sin and experience the heights of God’s love.
With Good Friday approaching, visions of Jesus’ gruesome death remind us of the dreadful reality of sin. Here, our individual and corporate brokenness is on display as the Lord of glory dies under the weight of our just judgment, inspiring personal introspection. Though self-examination can turn into narcissistic navel gazing, such abuses should not foreclose on a godly form of self-examination that encourages humility, repentance, and dependence on Christ.
But for such introspection to remain healthy, we must hold together two realities that converge at the cross—our corruption and God’s grace. If we divorce the two, then our hearts will either swell with pride and self-righteousness, losing touch with our sinfulness, or sink into anxious despair and uncertainty, failing to grapple with mercy.
Confident of God’s grace in Jesus Christ, we are free to probe the inner recesses of our hearts, unearthing sin’s pollution. God’s grace liberates us to explore our soul, facing its filth, rather than suppressing or succumbing to its contents. With David, we are free to pray,
Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! (Ps. 139:23-24)
Searching us, God discovers nothing unknown to him (Ps 139:1-3), but discloses the secrets of our hearts, allowing us to know ourselves. Under his tender scrutiny, God exposes, not to shame, but to heal. Thus, turning inward, we are led upward to find consolation, hope, and transformation through Jesus Christ. Certainly, such piety isn’t the exclusive property of any church season, but Lent provides a unique setting for this self-examination.
2. Lent affords us an opportunity to probe the sincerity of our discipleship.
Jesus bore the cross for us, accomplishing our salvation, yet he also bestows a cross on us (Mt. 10:38-39; Lk. 9:23). Following him, Jesus guarantees unspeakable comforts and uncertainties (Jn. 16:32-33). Frequently, these uncertainties test the genuineness of our discipleship. Consider the following examples from Jesus’ ministry.
In Matthew 8:18-22, two people approach Jesus, proclaiming their desire to follow him. One, a scribe, offers his undying devotion saying, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus responds by instructing the scribe about the rigors of following him, explaining that foxes and birds enjoy more comfort than he does. Perceiving selfish ambition, Jesus reminds the scribe that following him is not a means for advancing in the world, but rather involves forsaking it. We don’t know how this scribe responded to the challenge, but Jesus leaves us with the question, “Will we follow him when it is inconvenient or only when comfortable and to our advantage?”
The second, a disciple, requests to attend his father’s funeral before going on with Jesus. Jesus takes the opportunity to reveal the disciple’s heart, unveiling his ultimate affections. He says, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.” Remember, Jesus warns us that we cannot love father and mother, or anything else, above him (Mt. 10:37). Obviously, Jesus does not forbid loving our parents or attending their funerals, but he does insist on being first in our hearts. Jesus is not a commitment among other commitments, but rather the commitment of our lives. Therefore, as Augustine points out, we must take care to order our loves properly, ensuring that our affections are set on Christ and not another.
In this way, Lent provides opportunity to question and examine ourselves, exploring the integrity of our discipleship.
3. Lent provides us an opportunity to reflect on our mortality.
Pursuing eternal youth, our culture seems to live in the denial of death. But ignoring death does not erase its impartiality—everyone who draws a first breath will take a last one. It is a certainty we can’t escape (Heb. 9:27). Fortunately, death is not the last word. For all who belong to Christ, there is a promise stronger than death—we will die, but Jesus will return to raise our bodies, wiping the tears from our eyes and making all things new (1 Cor. 15:12-28; Rev. 21:1-8).
The most difficult moment I face each year, as an Anglican pastor, is to apply the ashes, in the sign of a cross, to the foreheads of my wife and children on Ash Wednesday. It is an intimate and haunting moment. Echoing the words of Genesis 3:19, I say, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” It is jarring. Every year, I cry.
Yet the ashes are applied in the shape of Jesus’ cross—the only means for escaping the dust of death. When God raised Jesus, he raided death, destroying its power. Jesus’ resurrection marks the death of death and welcomes us into a living hope (1 Pt. 1:3). This is our consolation and joy in the midst of our mortality.
Lent provides an unmistakable opportunity for disciplined reflection on this neglected certainty and God’s radical solution.
4. Lent gives us the opportunity to move towards our neighbor in charity.
Long misunderstood as a form of works-righteousness, Lenten fasting is not about scoring points with God, but rather emphasizes simplicity for the sake of others. By temporarily carving away some comforts or conveniences, good gifts from God himself, we hope to de-clutter our hectic lives, allowing us to focus. Simple living allows us to reserve time for others while also serving to curb our expenses. It is fitting to allocate these savings, along with other gifts, for charitable purposes, especially directing those funds to the poor and marginalized.
So search your heart and go simple. Consider fasting from types of food, technology, and/or sources of entertainment. Live frugally, and do so for the sake of charity. Find a cause, or better yet a person, and give sacrificially. And, in so doing, may you know the joy of Jesus who gave himself fully to us.
5. Lent prepares us to celebrate the wonder and promise of Jesus’ resurrection on Easter Sunday.
Here, Jesus trampled down sin and death, defeating the Devil (Heb. 2:14-15). After a season of depravation, highlighting the grim reality of our broken creation, Jesus’ resurrection floods our grief with life and light. In other words, Lent prepares us to join the disciples in their joy and bewilderment on that strange morning long ago (Mt. 28:8; Mk. 16:8; Lk. 24:12). Our Easter worship is a dress rehearsal for our Lord Jesus’ return when he comes to unite heaven and earth, making all things new (Eph. 1:10; Rev. 21:1-8).
And so, I invite you to a holy Lent. Take up the opportunity to dwell upon the grief of our broken world, the sin within your heart, and the deep love of God that exceeds these realities. Reflecting on the hospitality of God, consider the needs of your neighbor, especially those without life’s basic needs. And, most importantly, in the gritty details of Lent, don’t forget—Easter is coming!