Philemon

We concluded the Postcards series yesterday at CrossWay with a message on Philemon.  This is a fascinating letter that the apostle Paul wrote to a slave owner named Philemon on behalf of the runaway slave Onesimus. 

It’s a masterpiece of persuasive writing, but even more than that, it gives us a clear picture of what Christ has done for us.  In Philemon 17-19, Paul writes: “So if you consider me a partner, welcome him as you would welcome me.  If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me.  I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will pay it back…”

We’ve all done things wrong, and we have a debt to God–called sin–that we can never repay (Romans 3:23).  But Jesus Christ died to pay for our sins, so that we can have eternal life through faith in Him (Romans 6:23).

Thank You, Jesus!

It’s been real challenging but also a lot of fun doing an expository preaching series like this one.  I’m looking forward to the next one!

(By the way, the podcast might actually be up and running again this week.  I’ll be glad to have it in full swing again.)

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Published in: on July 20, 2009 at 5:08 am  Leave a Comment  

CrossWay Church Sermon Podcast

Hopefully the CrossWay Church Sermon Podcast will be back up soon.  It hasn’t worked in two months.  GoDaddy had been telling me dumb stuff like “clear your cookies,” which of course did absolutely nothing.  Finally a different person in their “support” department told me to do something different–something that can only be done either by someone with a computer engineering degree or someone with God’s grace on their side.  So anyway, it takes 48 hours for them to update their doohickeys, and hopefully it will work then–hopefully it’s not so messed up we’ll have to scrap it and begin from scratch.

We’ll see!

Published in: on July 15, 2009 at 10:36 pm  Leave a Comment  

Growing Up

Two signs that our little baby girl is growing up:

(1) She’s getting better at reading books with her mommy.  She used to just fall asleep, turn away, or cry when Carolyn got out a book and tried to read to her.  But the other day she looked at the cover.

(2) She’s getting taller: she’s now up to 1’11”.

Published in: on July 14, 2009 at 10:38 am  Comments (1)  

Postcards

Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve blogged!  I’m going to try to get back into it, though I’m amazed that anyone with kids can ever keep up with a blog.  But I’ll give it a shot.

The past couple Sundays at CrossWay we’ve been in a series called “Postcards,” where we’re studying the little one-chapter books in the New Testament: 2 John, 3 John, Jude, and Philemon.  All four books are short letters with huge significance.

Last week we walked through 2 & 3 John.  In these letters, the apostle John highlights hospitality as an important display of commitment to Christ.  He teaches the importance of partnering with Christian workers by supporting them with hospitality; on the flip side, he explains how anyone who extends  hospitality to false teachers “shares in his wicked work” (2 John 11).

Yesterday we studied Jude.  This is possibly the most severe book in the New Testament, but with good reason.  Jude begins by saying he wanted to write about the joy of salvation, but instead of celebrating with the recipients of his letter, he felt instead the need to issue a dire warning against false teachers who had snuck into the church.  He totally reams them out, and describes them in great detail so that Christians who want to walk in truth can steer clear.  He ends the letter on an up note, giving praise and glory to God our Savior.

Next week: Philemon….

During the month of June we had guest preachers at CrossWay.  They all did an excellent job, and we’re grateful for their ministry!  It’s nice to be preaching again.  As demanding as it is to do every week, I sure did miss it!

Published in: on July 13, 2009 at 10:21 am  Comments (1)