Crossing Community Church

Linda Brescia recently shared how her faith in Christ influenced her perspective on having cancer and the treatments that followed her diagnosis. With wit and humor, humility and honesty, she did an excellent job of communicating her thoughts and struggles and victories since her diagnosis. 

Scott Brubaker makes four great points about evangelism and closes with a strong encouragement to all of us! Evangelism is a process superintendent by God but impacted by people.God desires my obedience in evangelism, not my opinion.As God's servants we must move from apathy to action.Perform your role in the process of evangelism, not God's."If we order our lives to focus on the role God has given us in evangelism and be clear on the gospel -- what God is asking people to do to become His children -- we can be sure that God will honor His word, and our obedience in evangelism will not only be successful but an adventure of seeing Him work in the lives of others he has called us to!"

In the course of 24 hours Jesus was betrayed time and again! Betrayed by one of his own disciples. Denied three times by Peter. Ultimately, all of his disciples abandoned him in the Garden. The masses of people who had welcomed him to the city only days before demanded his death on this day. Finally, as the day was ending and his life was draining from Him, God the Father turned away as well as the sin of humanity was laid on the Lamb of God. And in all that, Jesus remained faithful! No matter how unfaithful we may be, Jesus will never fail us or forsake us. 

Scott Brubaker recently shared his story of how everyting on the outside of life was great but on the inside he was insecure and wanted to know if there was more to life. Everything he tried never overcame the doubts and fears of his heart. It was only after he understood the free gift of Christ that those fears and doubts were put to rest. Since then, his faith in Christ as carried him through more than the typical circumstances of life as he has dealt with the loss of a teenage child and brain cancer. 

What will your funeral be like? Funerals always have a sense of sadness about them. We grieve the loss of our loved ones. But for a Christian, a funeral can also be highlighted by hope and anticipation as we know that our loved one is with Christ and we will see them again. But that is only made possible because Christ defeated death and rose from the grave. It was in that unique moment that had never happened before and will never happen again that mankind was given the hope of resurrection. 

As we near the observaton of Good Friday and Easter Sunday our sermon this week helped us prepare our minds and hearts for the mystery and glory that God packed into the unthinkable sacrifice of Jesus. All the Old Testament points toward Him and the fulfillment of prophecies through the centuries. In particular this week, Pastor Tim discusses how the Leviticus sacrificial system and the tabernacle and temple pointed to the death of Christ and all that was accomplished in that. 

Why is the resurrection of Christ necessary? What does it accomplish? This week Pastor Tim addresses that question as we prepare to observe the Easter holiday. Sin has separated us from God and resurrection is the only way to provide an remedy to that problem!

There is no shortage on books and blogs about how to have a good marriage. But much of what is out there is bad advice based on one person's opinion. This week John Ashton, one of our Elders, pointed us toward one book that has had the same advice on marriage for over 2000 years. John took us to the New Testament instructions to husbands and wives and how both have important roles to play in a successful and godly marriage. 

How we interact with each other says a lot to a watching world. One area of note is our relationships. Do they reflect Jesus? Are we different in the way we resolve conflict? Is forgiveness a hallmark of how we treat each other. While the saving message of the Gospel is the core of our message, we don't want our relationships to distract from it. Instead, we want them to attract people to ask about the Gospel. 

So often those sins that are so difficult to overcome are ones that remain secret and hidden. God knows that about sin and knows we need His provision to deal with our sin. One of those provisions He made are our fellow Christians. Paul instructs us to bear one another's burdens and James tells us to confess our sins to one another. This week Pastor Tim discusses why these passages are so powerful in dealing with the sin in our lives. 

This week we had the pleasure of hearing Ruth Hartliep share how God has worked in your life. From multiple moves around the world to different job situations and a growing family Ruth shares how God has met her in every circumstance and each time provided perfect peace. 

No one looks forward to having to talk to someone else about sin in their life. We find all kinds of reasons to not do it. But what if someone was drowning? We would do everything in our power to rescue them. Well a friend in sin is a friend that is drowning. Why are we willing to look away as they 'drown' in their sin? These difficult conversations are one of the many ways God transforms us. 

God places a high value on relationships, on you and I being involved with other people. This week Pastor Tim looked at what we can learn about relationships -- with God and with others -- from the Great Commandment and the Second Commandment in Matthew 22. 

God's Word is useful to us in many ways. Paul sums up perhaps the most important ways in his second letter to Timothy when he says that all Scripture is useful for teaching, reproof, correction and training in righteousness and then he goes on further to say, "so the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." For those who are serious about being equipped we must realize we can't do that apart from God's Word! 

This week Pastor Tim shared a few comments to set the tone of our ministry fair that took place in our morning service. He challenged us to consider two reasons for serving as we toured the different ministry opportunities: Service helps me know and love Jesus better & Service helps the onlooking world see Jesus in us. 

John Ortberg does a great job of highlighting the influence Jesus and His church has had on the world in the last 2,000 years. This week, Pastor Tim challenge us to consider how each of us can continue to carry out the movement to influence the world right were we live, in our local community. 

When Jesus stepped away from the table and began to wash the disciples feet he redefined what it meant to be "God in flesh" --- Because Jesus was God He served! As His disciples, we too must be servants and our service must follow His example. It will be costly and inconveniet to us. It should build up the church and it should exemplify the gospel. 

In the closing session of our 2019 Equipping Conference, Matt Rogers speaks from 1 Peter to demonstrate our great responsibility to diligently pursue God in His Word. He reminds us that God's wisdom cannot be found apart from God's Word and that we will spend the rest of our life mining the glories of the Bible and never hit bottom. God longs to give His people truth as long as they pursue it. 

The emphasis of the 2019 Equipping Conference was equipping ourselves through study of God's Word. To help us focus on that our guest speaker was Matt Rogers, author of "Seven Arrows: Aiming Bible Readers In The Right Direction." Session 1 set the stage for the 7 Arrows study method by reviewing the necessity & benefits of diligent Bible study. 

In session 2 of the 2019 Equipping Conference, Matt Rogers walked us through the first two arrows of the 7 Arrows bible study methodology -- "What does the passage say?" and "What did the passage mean to its original audience?" Matt did a great job of explaining each arrow and provided working examples to help us grasp each step better.