Crossway Life

Every Friday features a post from one of our pastor’s wives specifically for the women of Crossway Church.

For the past 2 months, my 2 youngest children have been having some serious sleep issues.  Steve and I have had some very short (or long, depending on how you look at it!) nights.  We’ve had coughs, throwing up, ear infections, and who-knows-what else to keep the little munchkins awake at all hours.  One night last week was particularly bad.  It was around 3:00 a.m. and I was awake for the 6th or 7th time.  I was exhausted… and mad.  My heart began to fill with all sorts of charges towards God. He was being very cruel to me, how could He think I could handle this much lack of sleep, didn’t He know how much I needed to get done that next day… and on and on…

When morning actually came around and I had to start my day, I began to feel bad for my attitude.  How dare I charge God?  I know He is always good to me, even in the midst of struggle.  I realized that my attitude was wrong, but unfortunately with the conviction, some serious condemnation began to set in.  Instead of going to God in conviction and repentance, I wallowed in my condemnation and I began to categorize my attitude as “crabby”.  I had a good reason, right?  I was tired. I was mad, but knew I shouldn’t be.  And heck, I’m a pastor’s wife.  I need to go to church in a few days.  All these crazy thoughts were swimming in my head.

Thankfully sometime that morning (actually while I was brushing my teeth) I asked myself, “Where is the gospel here?”  I had sinned against God in my anger towards him.  But guess what: HE DIED FOR MY SIN.  I need not carry the weight of my guilt.  Instead of wallowing in my condemnation that morning, I actually had cause to rejoice!!  Jesus had already paid the penalty for my self-righteous anger against God, and I was forgiven.

I’m sure most of us have heard the phrases, “preaching the gospel to yourself” or  ”applying the gospel”.  I have often written those activities off to being for people who were more “spiritual” or a little more theologically oriented than myself.  But guess what folks, this is what the gospel is!  In my little house, in my little world, I have reason to give amazing thanks to God for all that He has done for me.  My attitude towards God that night was wrong.  Sinful.  Instead of “feeling bad” and “being crabby”, all I needed to do was run to my Savior with repentance.  And I am free from my sin!  What a life-transforming moment that was for me.  The weight of condemnation is not the work of the Holy Spirit.  The gospel sets us free from guilt, “feeling bad”, or pressure to perform.  Thank you, Lord, for the truth and the power of your gospel.

I have always been curious about the place of obedience in a Christian’s life. What is it? How does it function and what place does it have in the life of a believer now that he/she has been saved by grace. I intuitively knew that God placed a high value on obedience because of his statement in 1 Samuel 15:22 that “to obey is better than sacrifice.”  In the Old Testament God gave ritual laws and sacrifices, not for the purpose of gaining acceptance, but in order to show sincerity on the part of the person who was seeking God. The problem was that these sacrifices had to be done over and over again. In order to keep God pleased. What did God mean when he said that obedience is better than this?

One thing I have learned is that where the Old Testament is obscure the New Testament is usually clear. Obedience is an expression of the heart in which a person listens to someone’s voice, understands what is being said and then acts on it. When it came time for a holy God to be fully restored to a sinful people, Jesus took the step of perfect obedience and did once and for all what we could not do for ourselves. He died to purify us from our sins and make us pleasing to God. Praise be to God for this amazing sacrifice of obedience!

Here’s my question, “Why, if Jesus’s obedience was perfect, must we continue to obey. One obvious reason is that it pleases God just as it always had. But recently I heard obedience described in a way that really helped expand my faith and understanding. Ed Welch described it as post liberation thankfulness. Simply put, when, as saved believers, we obey God we are expressing authentic thankfulness to him for all that he has done for us. How simple is that! Once again I am reminded that the Christian life is best lived in “simple and pure devotion to Christ.” 2 Cor. 11:3

photo by contando le stelle

Easter is the focal point of the Christian faith and the most important celebration in the Church’s calendar.  This year for the first time in our church history we will be having a Good Friday service to commemorate actual crucifixion of Jesus and his death on the cross for the sins of the world. For five weeks leading up to Easter and culminating on Good Friday the pastors would like to invite the members of Crossway to “draw near the cross” through a series of devotional readings reflecting on the wonder of Christs sacrifice. We are making the book Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross available at our bookstore. Here’s what the publishers have said about it,

In a culture where crosses have become little more than decorative accessories and jewelry, how easy it is for even the most well-intended Christian to rush from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday without thoughtfully contemplating the cross and all that it means. Yet we miss out on spiritual riches when we do.

Each essay in this collection holds to a high view of Scripture and expounds on a particular aspect of the Easter story using the appropriate Scripture passage from the ESV Bible. These readings are sure to prepare people’s hearts for a fresh experience of the cross each and every Easter season.

Please consider joining us as we read through this collection of readings from the pen of 25 classic and contemporary theologians and bible teachers. We have prepare a reading schedule for you to follow beginning on March 9th and running for five weeks. It consists of one reading per day for five weeks with weekends off.

“Whatever men learn of God from images is futile, indeed false.” – John Calvin.

I read this bombshell last week while in Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion. Calvin was in the middle of explaining why idols and icons are not acceptable in Christian devotion and are horrible substitutes for the written, inspired text of Scripture. Calvin has rightly assessed that truth has come to mankind in ONE time-tested form: written words. God has spoken to mankind through His Word.

In light of this, it occurred to me that if there is one thing that a parent should earnestly desire (I mean, earnestly!) – it is that their children know and love the truth. Now, if the truth were found through examining images and visual artforms, then my goal in parenting would be to train my child’s artistic eye to discern and love the truth, but this is not the case. God has spoken to us through the writings of Scripture. If I can give but one thing to my children, may it be this: love for reading and understanding the Bible.

This task of raising Bible-loving children starts when they are so very young, even before they come to be. It starts with both parents growing in their own love and discipline in reading (in general) and in their Bible intake (in particular). If we don’t give ourselves wholly to loving words and truth, then our apples will not fall far from us.

Once our children are up and about growing in their ability to read and write, we need some solid strategies to build the Bible into their affections. How do you seek to inspire your children to love reading and to love God’s Word?

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The Eden Care Group has been in existence for sometime now but Glenn Hughes became the leader in 2003 when the Care Group got so big it became two. (L-R bottom: Tim Cranmer, Kim Cranmer, Diana Hughes, Lori Freeman, Rose King, top: Jerry Mellinger, Dawn Mellinger, Danielle Wilson, Debbie deVitry, Renaud deVitry,  Tony Freeman, Glenn Hughes Rick King, Stephen Smith, Ann Smith). We meet in the Hughes’ home on the first and third Wednesdays of each month. We have married couples and singles in our group. One of the unique things about our group is that we don’t have childcare for our meetings. All of the families have older children who are able to watch their siblings at home. This works well in that no one has to miss a meeting due to watching children. This may change as we add new folks to our group.

Meet our newest members – Renaud and Debbie deVitry. They both have worked overseas doing missionary work and have a heart for the lost. They have a depth of experiences that most of us don’t and it has been a joy to get to know them. They are new to Crossway and make a wonderful addition to our church and our Care Group. Please be sure to introduce yourself to them.

One of the funniest moments in our meeting was when we all purposely wore mis-matched shoes. One of our single ladies had been rushing around one morning, getting ready for work. In her haste she put on her shoes and did not realize until after she arrived at work that they did not match. They even had different sized heels. She relayed the saga at a Care Group meeting, an email to everyone but her followed and the next meeting…well, you know. The best part was that she did not notice at first. She noticed one pair that didn’t match and thought, “how funny.” Then she noticed EVERYONE had done it and knew the joke was on her.

One not so funny but memorable moment was when the sofa caught on fire. We had planned a romantic, sweetheart dinner for the married couples in February for Valentine’s Day. An elegant sit-down dinner with china, cloth napkins and well, candles. Some young man who was helping to serve, felt one of the candles was burning too fast and the wick should be shortened. While still lit, he took a scissors and snipped the wick in half. The top half of the wick fell on the other side of the pass-through window between the kitchen and the family room. The young man briefly looked for it but did not want to disrupt the dinner. He did not know the wick had fallen between the back of the sofa and a loose throw pillow. It wasn’t until someone said, “Do you smell smoke?” and someone else yelled, “The sofa is on fire!” that we knew we had a problem. The flames were about three feet high. One jumped up and beat out the flames with the burning pillow. One poured the pitcher of water from the table while another grabbed the spray hose from the kitchen sink and doused the sofa through the pass-through window. After clearing the smoke from the room, a couple visiting for the first time asked, “Does this kind of thing happen at all your meetings?”

Rest assured that this kind of thing does not happen at every meeting. We are trying to stress Biblical fellowship and mutual care. We are learning how to care for one another, live in the light and ask each other good questions to draw one another out. God is good and been kind to give us one another to walk out this Christian life together.

“God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.”

Exodus 2:25

As I was reading my Bible last night, I was struck by these last three words of Exodus 2, “and God knew.” I have it underlined in my Bible, so it must have affected me similarly the last time I read it. For a little background, this chapter is telling of the oppression of the Israelites under the hands of the Egyptians. They were being greatly mistreated as slaves in the land of Egypt, for the simple reason that the Egyptians were afraid of their masses! The people of Israel had become too strong and too large in number, and the Egyptians were afraid of them. Yet, even this was not out of the sight of the Almighty God—God knew!

I can be comforted by this truth, as I face my days. I can trust and rest in the knowledge that God sees everything I’m facing and He knows; He doesn’t just see, He KNOWS. What a powerful truth! The God who created the entire universe cares deeply for each of us and sees us in our daily tasks, and He knows.

Do you feel His gentle loving care for you in this? It reminds me of times my children are hurt, and I rock them in my arms and whisper, “I know, I know, I know. Mama’s here; I know.”

So often, I question God’s care to me when I am going through a trial. I think, “Maybe God blinked, or at least turned His head for just a moment.” But that is not true! I must remember that, as His daughter, there is not a moment I am out of the sight of God, and I must rest in the truth that He knows.

Yet, to be completely honest with you all, even as I’m writing this entry, I realize my lack of faith, and find myself crying out to God to show mercy to me, and not test me in this area any further. But truly, where better to cast myself than there, on His mercy, for there I will find grace for help in time of need.

Every Friday features a post from one of our pastor’s wives specifically for the women of Crossway Church.

Facebook is celebrating it’s fifth birthday.  It’s amazing how widespread this social networking website has become.  Facebook reports that it has over 280 million users.  The Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:31 “…whatever you do, do all to the glory of God”.  Below are some helpful comments for us to consider from Al Mohler.

Here are a few suggestions for safeguarding the social networking experience:

1.  Never allow social networking to replace or rival personal contact and communication.  God made us to be social creatures that crave community. We cannot permit ourselves to substitute social networking for the harder work of building and maintaining personal relationships that are face to face.

2.  Set clear parameters for the time devoted to social networking.  These services can be seductive and time consuming.  Social networking (and the Internet in general) can become obsessive and destructive of other relationships and higher priorities for the Christian.

3. Never write or post anything on a social networking site that you would not want the world to see, or anything that would compromise your Christian witness.  There are plenty of young people (perhaps older persons now, too) who are ruining future job prospects and opportunities by social networking misbehavior. The cost to Christian witness is often far greater.

4. Never allow children and teenagers to have independent social networking access (or Internet access, for that matter).  Parents should monitor, manage, supervise, and control the Internet access of their children and teens.  Watch what your child posts and what their friends post.

5. Do not allow children and teens to accept any “friend” unknown to you.  The social networking world can be a dangerous place, and parental protection here is vital.

6. Encourage older friends and relatives to sign up and use the technology.  Grandparents can enjoy keeping up with grandchildren and with friends and loved ones separated by distance or mobility.

7. Use the social networking technology to bear witness to the Gospel, but never think that this can replace the centrality of face-to-face evangelism, witness, and discipleship.

8. Do all things to the glory of God, and do not allow social networking to become an idol or a display of narcissism.

(read the entire article here http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=3248)