THE CROSSING BLOG
Sunday Gathering, July 31st
Here is our weekly blog that we post in hopes of helping those coming to The Crossing’s Sunday Gathering to engage and prepare our 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:
Psalm 146
Worship through Singing:
All Creatures of Our God and King Abide With Me Psalm 62 The Church’s One Foundation Come Thou Fount
Sunday Gathering, July 24th
Here is our weekly blog that we post in hopes of helping those coming to The Crossing’s Sunday Gathering to engage and prepare our 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:
Psalm 150/148
Worship through Singing:
All Creatures of Our God and King Abide With Me Psalm 62 The Church’s One Foundation Come Thou Fount
Sunday Gathering, July 10th
Here is our weekly blog that we post in hopes of helping those coming to The Crossing’s Sunday Gathering to engage and prepare our 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:
Psalm 145:1-21
Worship through Singing:
All Creatures of Our God and King Abide With Me Psalm 62 The Church’s One Foundation Come Thou Fount
Sunday Gathering, June 12th
Here is our weekly blog that we post in hopes of helping those coming to The Crossing’s Sunday Gathering to engage and prepare our 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:
Psalm 107
Worship through Singing:
All Creatures of Our God and King Abide With Me Psalm 62 The Church’s One Foundation Come Thou Fount
Sunday Gathering: Final Message from James
Here is our weekly blog that we post in hopes of helping those coming to The Crossing’s Sunday Gathering to engage and prepare our 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:
James 5:19-20
Worship through Singing:
All Creatures of Our God and King Abide With Me Psalm 62 The Church’s One Foundation Come Thou Fount
Sunday Gathering, May 8th
Here is our weekly blog that we post in hopes of helping those coming to The Crossing’s Sunday Gathering to engage and prepare our 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:
James 5:7-12
Worship through Singing:
Our Great God The Lord Is Your Shelter (Psalm 121) Savior Like a Shepherd Lead Us (Blessed Jesus) Rock of Ages (Ascend the Hill) Come Behold the Wondrous Mystery
9 Points on Treasure
This is from Sunday’s sermon.
APPLICATION:
So, how do we respond? Don’t we all want to have a simple answer for that? Like, how much do I have to give in order to do the right thing?
Now, James says, we’re living in the last days (v.3). This is just a phrase used throughout the New Testament that talks about the time between Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and his return. Living in a world where someone came back from the dead changes everything. It certainly changes our relationship to the 3 major false gods of our culture: money, sex, and power.
I’m not going to tell you how much you have to give. I’m not going to talk about the “tithe.” I just have these 9 application points that I’m gonna go through real quickly. This is not a “to do” list. It is a way to establish a vision to live a life that invests its treasure in heaven. It’s a vision for leaving a legacy.
- If you are feeling guilty, please don’t give anything to us today. Guilt has motivated a lot of people to give a lot of money (so has blackmail and kidnapping), but guilt has never changed a person’s heart.
Listen, God doesn’t need your money and I don’t need your money. I don’t get paid for this, and for some reason, the guys who work here who do need your money let me get up here today. Is this the wisdom that comes from above? Who knows?
Here’s what I want you to do instead: first, get the gospel. Understand that Jesus gave up everything in order to win you. Unless you understand that kind of love, you’ll never be able to give from a pure heart, so get the gospel first. Receive the fullness of God before you give back to him.
- Once you understand the gospel, treasure it. Think about it until you see the supreme value of Jesus Christ, crucified for you and raised from the dead. Remember, Jesus said “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” When you treasure him above all else this will break the addiction of money in your life. Treasuring Jesus is the essence of faith that works.
- Join a Life Group.
Years ago, there was someone in my Life Group who had a large bill from a university that was really putting the pressure on her to get it paid, and she simply couldn’t. We prayed about it for a few weeks, and then one day, I got together with the other leaders of that group and we decided to take up an offering for her. We did it without her knowledge, and I don’t even think we knew how much she needed. People contributed however they felt led, and we just put the money in an envelope and handed it to her without even counting it.
By God’s grace, the amount in that envelope was just $2-3 off for what she needed to pay off that debt. Don’t you want to be a part of more stories like that?
- Talk about it.
Instead of giving a big chunk of change today, get together with one of the pastors with someone you trust (someone in your Life Group, or someone in your journey grouop), and talk to them about finances.
As Americans, we are terrible at talking about money. Now, I’m not saying anything bad about Americans, I love Americans. I’m married to an American. I’ll raise my child to be an American. But we’ll need to learn to be counter-cultural in almost every regard when it comes to wealth in this country. The values of the “American Dream” are at oftentimes at odds to the values of the Kingdom of God, and we need to be able to talk to each other about these things.
- Do business justly.
The Protestant reformer Martin Luther had a man who made shoes come to faith in Jesus in his congregation, and after he came to faith he came up to Martin Luther and asked, “How can I live for God?” Martin Luther asked him, “What do you do?” He said, “I’m a cobbler, I make shoes.” Martin Luther replied, “Then make a good shoe, and sell it at a fair price.”
Approach your work with the intent of blessing other people with it. If you have a job that you think is detrimental to society (for example, if you’re in the financial world and you see shady deals going around), then leave that job and find something that will bless others.
- Bless other Christians with your business.
I’ve been warned by so many people not to do business with people in the church because it just always gets so messy. What an indictment against us! If there’s anywhere where people should be honest and fair when it comes to financial transactions, it should be in the church.
Whether you’re the buyer or the seller, you should both be seeking the benefit of the other person. It’s like marriage. If either of you are self-seeking, it’s gonna be a bad deal. If you both put the needs of another before yourself, it’s a good thing.
- Get rid of debt.
Paul charges us in Romans 13:8 “Owe nothing to anyone, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” So many of us feel like we can’t invest in the treasures of heaven because we got a mountain of debt on our backs.
We offer Financial Peace University at least once a year, and those classes helped my wife and I get out of debt. We actually just made our last payment to our last loan this last week. Super ironic to have that happen the same week that I’m getting ready for this sermon. Because of that, I’m now thinking a lot about Point 8.
- Re-evaluate your standard of living.
Are you maxed out on your standard of living? If you had to take a pay cut, would you have to move out of your house because you are living in the size house you feel like someone making your money should be living in?
My wife and I will have a lot more money freed up every month now that we’re out of debt, and let me tell you, the temptation to update our housing situation, to update our car situation, to update our wardrobe situation, that temptation is immense.
Thankfully, Lord willing we’ll have a baby soon, so that should take care of most of our discretionary spending. But still, we’re looking at our budget right now and praying to see how much of the Lord’s money he wants us to keep for ourselves, and then how else he wants us to use it.
- Give your treasure to something that won’t rot.
Illustration with businessman who set out to start a company that employed 50 Christians making $50,000/year. Now has 100 employees making that.
Phil. Missionary to Muslim people group who don’t have a Bible in their language.
When you start investing your earthly treasure on the things of heaven, you’re heart will follow. World missions, mercy to the poor, anti-sex-trafficking, the rights of the unborn, university outreach, the mission of the Crossing. Invest in these things, and your heart will soon follow. Then you will not just leave an inheritance, but a legacy.
Sunday Gathering, April 24th
Here is our weekly blog that we post in hopes of helping those coming to The Crossing’s Sunday Gathering to engage and prepare our 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:
James 4:13-17
Worship through Singing:
The Lord Is Your Shelter (Psalm 121) All I Have is Christ How Deep the Father’s Love for Us Man of Sorrows Rock of Ages (When the Day Seems Long)
Sunday Gathering, April 9th
Here is our weekly blog that we post in hopes of helping those coming to The Crossing’s Sunday Gathering to engage and prepare our 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:
James 4:1-12
Worship through Singing:
The Lord Is Your Shelter (Psalm 121) All I Have is Christ How Deep the Father’s Love for Us Man of Sorrows Rock of Ages (When the Day Seems Long)
Sunday Gathering, April 3rd
Here is our weekly blog that we post in hopes of helping those coming to The Crossing’s Sunday Gathering to engage and prepare our 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:
1 John 3:1-4
Worship through Singing:
Oh For A Thousand Tongues To Sing Abide With Me Savior Like a Shepherd Lead Us (Blessed Jesus) Before the Throne of God – All Creatures of Our God & King
Sunday Gathering, March 20th
Here is our weekly blog that we post in hopes of helping those coming to The Crossing’s Sunday Gathering to engage and prepare our 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:
The Triumphal Entry
Worship through Singing:
Crown Him (majesty) None like You Psalm 62 Holy, Holy, Holy Nothing but the blood Rejoice
Sunday Gathering, March 12th
Here is our weekly blog that we post in hopes of helping those coming to The Crossing’s Sunday Gathering to engage and prepare our 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:
James 3:13-18
Worship through Singing:
10,000 Reasons Our Great God When I Survey (Oh the Wonderful Cross) Come Behold the Wondrous Mystery Jesus I My Cross Have Taken
Sunday Gathering, February 28th
Here is our weekly blog that we post in hopes of helping those coming to The Crossing’s Sunday Gathering to engage and prepare our 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:
James 2:14-26
Worship through Singing:
Behold Our God Rock of Ages (Ascend the Hill) Not What My Hands Have Done Be Thou My Vision (Ascend the Hill) White as Snow After All (Holy)
Sunday Gathering, Feb. 21st
Here is our weekly blog that we post in hopes of helping those coming to The Crossing’s Sunday Gathering to engage and prepare our 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:
James 2:1-13
Worship through Singing:
Oh For A Thousand Tongues To Sing The Church’s One Foundation Jesus Paid It All Christ is Risen Oh The Deep Deep Love of Jesus
Sunday Gathering, February 14th
Here is our weekly blog that we post in hopes of helping those coming to The Crossing’s Sunday Gathering to engage and prepare our 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:
James 1:19-27
Worship through Singing:
Oh For A Thousand Tongues To Sing The Church’s One Foundation Jesus Paid It All Christ is Risen Oh The Deep Deep Love of Jesus
Sunday Gathering, January 24th
Here is our weekly blog that we post in hopes of helping those coming to The Crossing’s Sunday Gathering to engage and prepare our 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:
James 1:1-4
Worship through Singing:
Come Behold the Wondrous Mystery Before the Throne of God – Grace Alone The Valley May Be Dark In Christ Alone
Bible Reading Plan 2016
Let me take you back to a year ago…it’s now January 12, 2015 and I’m debating if I should do a bible reading plan. I’ve read most of the bible but never actually gone through it in it’s entirety. I’m not much of a reader but I love reading God’s word. So I begin to search for some reading plans and I come across a tweet that led me to Tim Challies blog. From there I decided to do a reading plan that doesn’t start on January 1, since I was already 12 days late, but one that I could start whenever and not worry about staying on schedule. I decided to do Professor Horner’s System since it was touted as an intense reading plan and I like to think of myself as a pretty intense guy, just look at my beard. Anyway, you can click the link to find more information on that reading plan but basically it’s 10 chapters a day from completely different books of the bible. I started this plan on January 15th and I was going pretty strong for a couple of months. Eventually I waned and had to restructure my approach in June of 2015. I decided to cut it down to 5 chapters a day and wouldn’t re-read sections I had completed so I could finish the bible before the end of the year. Well fast forward to January 12, 2016 (today) and I’m still not done! I’ve got just 7 chapters left in the book of Esther (which I’ve read before!) and then, Lord willing, I’ll complete the bible in a year.
Now I share that story with you all not to get attention for my intense beard, or my over achieving bible reading plan, or even that I’ve read the entire bible. I share it with you because there’s been an incredible amount of joy that came from reading/soaking/meditating/ingesting God’s word over the last year. Making this a priority has brought me such a greater understanding of God’s character, his purposes for his people and a holistic view of scripture. I’m all about bible overviews and viewing the bible from Genesis to Revelation to have a clear understanding of how God is redeeming his people. But to read commentaries or watch really good videos on the topic is no substitute for actually reading the bible for yourself. We have a tremendous gift of God’s word that the reformers fought for us to have in our hands. We believe in Sola Scriptura, or the doctrine that scripture alone is our authority for faith and practice as a Christian. Let me urge you, if you haven’t read the entire bible before or if you’re feeling spiritually parched, try a reading plan. Try one with someone in your Life Group so you can dwell on scripture in community. I’ve linked to number of them below to help you get started.
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” – Colossians 3:16-17
READING PLANS
The Bible Project This plan is broken up into 16 “chapters” and will have you read through the entire bible. You will read a 2-3 chapters a day, a psalm and it has some of their great videos that accompany each chapter.
ESV Daily Bible Reading Plan
This plan has four daily readings taken from four lists: Psalms and Wisdom Literature, Pentateuch and History of Israel, Chronicles and Prophets, and Gospels and Epistles.
Chronological Bible Reading Plan
Read through the Bible in the order the events occurred chronologically.
5×5×5 Bible Reading Plan Read through the New Testament in a year, reading Monday to Friday. Weekends are set aside for reflection and other reading. Especially beneficial if you’re new to a daily discipline of Bible reading.
You can find more examples here.
Read through the Bible, 1 year
Psalm 119:105, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”
Here is a great plan to read through the Bible in one year from the Bible Project.
Click on the link below, “Read Bible in 1 year:”
Should You Make a Resolution?
SHOULD YOU MAKE A RESOLUTION?
It’s that time of year again when we examine what we don’t like about our life and make a resolution to change it in the New Year. As the calendar turns from 2015 to 2016, we want to create a better version of ourselves.
Some of us want to lose weight or get into better physical condition. Some of us want to save more money and cut out needless spending. Some of us want to change careers or kick that bad habit. This will finally be the year that we do it!
Can be I honest with you? If you need to wait until the New Year to make a resolution to change your life, I think you misunderstand how people change. Permit me an opportunity to explain myself.
I think change is important. I think resolve is essential. Taking steps to improve your lifestyle is a wise decision. Don’t confuse my purpose: I’m not trying to discourage you from writing or keeping a New Year’s resolution. I simply want to challenge the way you think about biblical change.
For the Christian who finds their hope in the person and work of Jesus Christ, change doesn’t take place in big, dramatic moments. Rather, the transforming work of grace operates in 10,000 little moments of life more than it does in a series of two or three life-altering events.
Are life-altering events significant? Absolutely – that’s why they’re called life-altering! But, the quality of your life and the character of your person is primarily shaped and defined by the 10,000 little decisions, desires, words, and actions you make every day. Even when we experience a life-altering event, we will have 10,000 little moments to respond to it.
So how can you make 2016 your best year ever? Well, for starters, don’t wait until New Years Day – start right here, right now! Confess in those 10,000 little moments of conviction. Live courageously in those 10,000 little moments of faith. Respond obediently in those 10,000 little moments of choice. Choose the Kingdom over God over the kingdom of self in those 10,000 little moments of desire.
Here’s the bottom line: you don’t need a big resolution to change your life, because your life is defined by 10,000 little moments. Jesus Christ is present and active in all these small, seemingly insignificant moments, and he has resolved (by his life and death) to rescue you from sin and transform you into his likeness.
By sovereign grace, God places you in 10,000 little moments that are designed to take you beyond your character, wisdom, and grace so you’ll seek the help and hope that can only be found in him. In a lifelong process of change, he is undoing you and rebuilding you again, not into a better version of you, but into a version of him!
So yes, you and I need to be committed to change in 2016, but not in a way that hopes for a big event of transformation. Our hope for change is a humble heart that finds joy in, and is faithful to, a day-by-day, step-by-step, moment-by-moment process of insight, confession, repentance and faith.
If you want to make a New Year’s resolution, resolve to live in those 10,000 little moments!
God bless
Paul Tripp
These are some great thoughts from Paul Tripp on this week’s relevant topic of New Year’s resolutions. Here’s some reflection questions to help stir the pot:
- How do you want to improve your life, or improve yourself, in 2016?
- Identify at least 3 opportunities where you could have made changes in that area this past month?
- What was holding you back from making change in those opportunities?
- On top of any resolution you have, where is Jesus Christ calling you to change? Be specific about 3 weaknesses.
- Who in your Life Group can you disclose some of this information with?
Our Life Groups are designed to help us make disciples of one another. Let us trust God together for a lasting change…not just 1 week of effort followed up by unnecessary guilt.