Surfing the Inner N8

Yesterday at CrossWay we talked about the vision for our church.  We read Acts 18:5-11, in which God appears to Paul in a vision and tells him that He has many people in the city of Corinth, where Paul was preaching.

God is the God of that city, and He is the God of our city, too!  He is the God of our community.  He has many people here.  He is doing something in the West Ocean City/Berlin area, and He’s bringing His people together to make it happen.  Not only that, but Jesus Christ has people in our community that don’t know Him yet, and He wants to work through His churches here to bring those people to Himself.

In this passage in Acts, Paul preaches in the synagogue–the established church, if you will–and they not only oppose him but actually abuse him.  So he goes literally right next door, preaches the gospel, and revival breaks out in the city!  CrossWay is on a mission to make lifelong followers of Jesus Christ throughout our community and around the world, and that means we can’t hide in an insulated religious bubble.  We must go out into the community.  Sometimes there’s a dormant revival right next door, just waiting to explode as soon as the gospel is shared.

So we talked about our vision of being a place where anyone can understand and respond to the Bible.  That’s how we make lifelong followers of Jesus.  We know Jesus by reading and understanding the Bible, and we follow Jesus by responding to the Bible in faith and obedience.  We can fulfill our vision by living out our core values: Community, Reverence, Outreach, Service, Spiritual Growth.  As these five things come to define us, we’re in position for God to bring His kingdom to our community.  He is the God of this city!

On Sunday at CrossWay Church we talked about trusting God with our money.  It was the second week in our three-week series “The Almighty’s Dollar.”

The words “trust” and “faith” are very closely related.  To have faith in God is to trust Him: to trust Him with our souls, our families, our health… and our money.  The Bible has a lot to say about how we can exercise our faith in God by what we do with our money.  Money is very much a spiritual issue.

We discussed three ways of trusting God with our money:

(1) Give first.  Rather than paying off all the bills and seeing if there is enough money left over to give to support the church, other ministries, and people with financial needs, the Bible instructs us to give first (see Exodus 23:19).  Giving first shows that we trust God with the rest.  The Scriptures teach that we should give at least 10% of our income to the church–the Bible word for this is “tithe.”  Just as Jesus took one kid’s lunch and multiplied it to feed thousands of families (see John 6:1-13), so He can take our 90% after the tithe and do more with it than we could do with 100%.

(2) Give sacrificially.  This means giving to the point that we can feel it.  It means that our giving really costs us something.  This is very different from giving a little out of our extra.  Jesus teaches about this, among other places, in Luke 21:1-4.

(3) Give cheerfully and generously.  God loves a cheerful giver!  Some people give out of guilt, but God says not to do that.  Instead, we should give joyfully, as an act of worship and gratitude.  The more generously we sow, the more generously we reap.  (See 2 Corinthians 9:6-8 for a passage about this that is so simple yet so profound that we would do well to order our lives around it.)

By giving first, giving sacrificially, and giving cheerfully and generously, we actively trust God.  We show that our faith in God is not just something we talk about, but how we actually live.

Next week: Following God with our money.

At CrossWay on Sunday we began a three-week series about money, called The Almighty’s Dollar.  Everyone’s favorite topic to hear about in church, right?

Actually, money does have great spiritual significance.  Jesus talked about it a lot.  The gist of His teaching about it is that what you do with your money reveals where your heart is.

We show people we love them by spending money on things that are important to them.  When I was still in college and working part-time as a pizza delivery guy, I bought Carolyn an engagement ring that cost more money than my car.  Why?  To show her that I love her!  (On a side note, a hint to the guys: The same principle works with spending time as well as money.)

The same principle applies with God.  Our money gives us an opportunity to show God that we love Him.  We can express our love for God by spending our money on things that are important to Him, things that have eternal significance.  In Matthew 6:20, Jesus refers to this as storing up treasures in heaven.

How do we do this?  It’s easy because the possibilities are limitless: the most obvious way is to give financially to support the work of the local church, but you can also support a myriad of ministries that help people around the globe in the name of Christ, help someone you know personally that has a need, or simply bless someone by giving them something you know they would enjoy.  Anything you can do with your money that puts a smile on God’s face is a practical way to use your dough to show God you love Him.

To read more of Jesus’ teaching about money, read Matthew 6:19-34.

Next week we’re talking about trusting God with our dinero.

Last night at CrossWay Church we had our first Midway Praise.  It’s something we’re just starting to do every three months.  We had 20 people come out for some celebration, music, and focused prayer (and a short devotional, which is Christianese for sermonette).

It was great!  We started with four songs, then spent about 15 minutes praying in small groups for several specific topics.  We had one more song before a very brief message about Patrick, who I learned is the patron saint of Ireland, Nigeria, Montserrat, New York, Boston, engineers, and paralegals.  Seriously.  A lot of myth has sprung up around Patrick, legends about four-leaf clovers and snakes and green beer and Lucky Charms.  Or something like that.  But we do know some facts about his life.  He was born into a rich British family, was taken captive by raiders, and was sold into slavery in Ireland.  After spending a few years as a slave shepherd, he escaped and went back home, where he trained for the priesthood and returned to Ireland–the land of his captivity–as a missionary.  We read some verses (Romans 6:17-18,22-23; 1 Corinthians 9:19) about how Christ has freed us from captivity to sin, but rather than kicking back and being all mellow, like, “Whew, glad that’s over with!”, we’re actually to venture back out into the land of captivity to share with others the good news of freedom in Jesus Christ!

We prayed that God would transform us into a people on mission.  Then we sang four more songs and ate green food with green drinks (nope, no beer–I know you were wondering).

I’m already looking forward to the next Midway Praise: June 16!

Yesterday at CrossWay was the second week in a two-part series in the Book of Jonah.

We read Jonah 3:1-4:11 in which God teaches us an important truth that the prophet Jonah had trouble accepting: Souls are more important than our comfort.

Jonah didn’t give a rip about the 120,000 people in the city of Nineveh.  He actually pouted and got all whiny when they repented and turned to God!  Jonah was more concerned about the vine that God gave him to provide shade and relief from the hot sun.  When that withered and died, he really got upset.

It’s easy to get all judgmental on Jonah, but many of us have hearts that are much like Jonah’s.  We honestly don’t care too much about the spiritual condition of people around us, but when the car won’t start or our kids get sick, we’re all mad and stuff.

Let’s learn from Jonah and repent of our hardheartedness.  Let’s look through eyes that have an eternal perspective, and live by the truth that people are more important than our comfort.

At CrossWay yesterday we started a new series and also began our first membership class.

The series is a two-parter about the Book of Jonah.  Yesterday we read the first two chapters and a couple verses from chapter 3.  The subject was repentance, which essentially is making a U-turn.  At some point we’re all traveling down our own road, and repentance is when we make a U-turn to get onto God’s road for us.  We explored how Jonah ran away from God–he literally tried to run away from God by buying a ticket to the end of the known world.  As you might expect, it didn’t go quite the way he anticipated… not even close!  Once Jonah learned about running away from God and turning around to come back to Him, he learned firsthand about repentance and the universal need for God’s grace.

We’ll pick the series up next week and finish out the Book of Jonah.

After the worship service we shared a meal together.  We had been doing this the first Sunday of every month, but due to various factors we missed January and February.  I’ve missed it.  It was great to sit around eating and talking with everyone again!

After lunch we held our first ever CrossWay membership class!  According to the official church Constitution & By-Laws which we adopted last fall, none of us are actually members of the church.  That can be kind of problematic.  One of the requirements of membership is completion of the membership class, and since this is the first time it’s been offered, this graduating class will be the first official members of CrossWay!

The class is two parts.  Yesterday we covered our mission, vision, values, and core beliefs.  Lots of Bible study!  Next week we’ll talk more specifically about membership and our particular congregation, such as our history and affiliations.  Then anyone who would like to join will have the opportunity to sign the membership covenant.

There were 15 people at the class yesterday, which is a pretty good start.  The class will probably be offered quarterly, depending on the need and interest.