Surfing the Inner N8

At CrossWay yesterday we had the second week in the series “i am second.”  This week’s message was “How to Love Someone to Death.”

We started with this testimony from Chris Plekenpol.  Then we read Romans 5:6-8 and Matthew 5:43-47.  These two passages are summed up in Ephesians 4:32, which says to “be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.”

We naturally live according to our own standard of love, which says that we’re kind to those who are kind to us.  But Jesus teaches us to be kind to everyone and to even pray for people who persecute us!  That’s a different way of doing things, and it’s the kind of difference that sets God’s people apart.

The podcast at least recorded this week, though the sound quality isn’t too great.  But a new recorder is on the way!

Easter Sunday at CrossWay was great!  We knew that Easter attendance is usually higher than normal, but it was a LOT higher this year–easily the most people I’ve ever seen at this church on a Sunday.

We launched a new series called “i am second.”  The idea comes from the website iamsecond.com.  We watched the testimony of Brian “Head” Welch, formerly of the band Korn.  Then we read Colossians 1:15-20 as we began exploring the topic for the morning: why Jesus is #1.

Based on this passage, we see several reasons why Christ is #1:

• He is God.
• He died for us.
• He rose from the dead.
• He reconciles us to God.

It was a wonderful Sunday.  Great to have so many worship with us!  Unfortunately the recording device we use to capture the message for the podcast shorted out on us yet again, so it’s headed for the electronic cemetery.  Pretty bummed about that.  But Jesus is still alive!

In the Gospel of Mark, there is a pretty large cast of characters who appear in the story during the last week of Jesus’ life.  Yesterday at CrossWay we zoomed in on a passage that features two different groups: a centurion and his fellow Roman soldiers, and a group of women who followed Jesus to Jerusalem from their homes up north.

In both of their stories, we see a contrast between their simple, Christ-centered faith and the self-centered religiosity that Jesus’ mockers–and many of us–slip into.

It’s natural to perceive everything through the lens of how it affects us.  If it benefits us, it’s good; if it’s detrimental to us, it’s bad; if it doesn’t affect us either way, it’s irrelevant.  This view puts us at the center of the universe with everything else revolving around us.  That’s the Gospel of Me.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ, however, has Jesus at its core.  Everything in creation revolves around Him.  (That’s why His pronouns get capitalized!)  We see in Mark 15:37-41 how the centurion and the women demonstrated this.

When the centurion saw how Jesus died, he declared: “Surely this man was the Son of God!”  Many times we let our faith be undermined by something bad happening.  If we get hurt, we ask: Where was God?  How did He let this happen?  Yet this Roman soldier had a simple understanding that God can die and still be God.  (And he didn’t even know anything yet about the resurrection!)  The other day I read a great sermon that offers insight into this reality.  It’s by Dr. J.A.T. Robinson, from the introduction to Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s book Letters and Papers from Prison.  He talks about how Jesus could have avoided the cross, but He was after a bigger purpose than pain avoidance.  Dr. Robinson says of the cross of Christ: “It was here that love as the clue to everything was to be sought–not ‘out there’ failing to prevent the evil, but in the midst of it, triumphing over it.”  On the cross, Jesus leapt right into the center of evil itself and whupped it.  When things are at their worst and we’re in our greatest pain, it could be then that God is up to His greatest good in our lives.

Then there’s the group of women.  The Bible makes a startling, remarkable statement about them: “these women had followed him (Jesus) and cared for his needs” (Mark 15:41).  How many of us can say that?  I’ve noticed in myself and many others that we tend to be like most of the crowd in New Testament times: they followed Jesus so that He could meet their needs, not the other way around.  These women, on the other hand, were motivated by love for Christ to follow Him and care for His needs.  Jesus is no longer in human flesh on the earth, so He no longer has any needs, but we can still be of use to Him.  Is that one of our primary reasons for following Him?

The Gospel of Me, or the Gospel of God.  Which one are you embracing?

Yesterday at CrossWay was week #2 in the series TXT.  This week we explored the question: How do we know the Bible is true?

We broke this question down into three tests that are used by historians to test the reliability of ancient documents:

(1) The internal test.  This asks the question: Do the writers of the Bible claim that their writings are true?

This one is the easiest to answer.  Passages like 2 Peter 1:16 and John 19:35 give us a resounding yes.  The Bible passes the internal test.

(2) The external test.  This asks the question: What does the outside evidence say about the Bible?

We looked at other ancient writings, archaeology, and other sources and discovered that the Bible does indeed pass the external test.

(3) The bibliographic test.  This asks the question: How well were the original documents translated up to today?

Looking at various pieces of evidence such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, we found that the Bible passes the bibliographic test; in fact, much more so than any other ancient work.

Lastly we looked at how Christ’s mind-boggling fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy verifies their truth.

I’ll give you a warning that I gave everyone in church: If your heart is hardened to God and your mind is closed to receiving His truth, this message will do nothing to change your mind.  Even people in New Testament times who had plenty of firsthand evidence chose disbelief over faith.  Faith is a gift from God, and if we ask Him to show Himself to us and help us believe, He will.  Hopefully this message can at least persuade people to consider that maybe God really is who He says He is.

After all, the Bible really is true!

The podcast should be up soon.

At CrossWay yesterday we wrapped up the Fanatic series with a message called “True Worshipers.”  Once again we touched on John 4:23 where Jesus says that “the time is coming–indeed it’s here now–when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth.  The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way.”

Jesus is talking here about genuine worship as opposed to religious routine.  What does this look like?  We looked at three traits of genuine worship:

(1) True worshipers worship with awe.

(2) True worshipers worship with abandonment.

(3) True worshipers worship with their lives.

Look for the podcast coming soon.

At CrossWay yesterday I preached a message called “Living in God’s Will.”  It was actually from the Real Life series we did last fall, but I missed sharing it then because I was sick.

Whenever we’re faced with a tough decision, we often seek God’s will.  We want to know what it is He wants us to do.  But the Bible tells us several things we can do that we already know are God’s will for us.  One such passage is 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18: “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

We can be joyful, pray, and give thanks: always, continually, and in all circumstances.  That’s because these three things are all beyond the reach of circumstances since they rest on who Jesus Christ is and what He has done for us.

The podcast will be up as soon as GoDaddy starts working right.