I have never been so excited about Easter. As a kid it just meant I had to dress up in some dumb shirt and tie to go to church like we always did every Sunday. What’s the big deal? In fact, I never really cared much about Easter until I became a pastor. Now, I realize it is one of our best opportunities to engage with people who rarely if ever go to church. This Easter we have some incredible things planned as we kick off a new series on relationships. This series will be for anyone who is currently married as well as for those thinking about getting married some day. So invite everyone you know to hookup with you this Easter at Crossroads Church.
The Bible tells us not to brag on ourselves (James 4:16), but it doesn’t say I can’t brag on our church. Yesterday, I challenged our church to step up and get involved in our 7 Days of Servolution. The response was incredible. All I can say is our church gets it. They understand what being the church is all about. They know that the church isn’t for us, that the church is for the world. We are the church and we are called to love and serve the people in our backyard. I can’t wait to see the incredible things that God is going to do through our 7 days of serving!
P.S. Crossroads people, don’t forget to invite as many friends and family as you can to join us Easter Sunday. We are kicking off a new relationship series called “The Hookup”. It’s going to be awesome!
Standing in line when you are hungry…stinks. Listening to horrible music while you hold forever on the phone…stinks. Waiting for the vision that God has given to you to come to pass…stinks. Let’s face it, we all hate waiting. We want everything yesterday. When it comes to a vision that God has given to you, it’s hard to wait. Maybe God has put a passion in your heart for helping the young people but you don’t have a youth group, yet. Perhaps God has visioned you with going on a mission trip, but you have no means or avenue. Perhaps God has given you a vision to build a church that reaches the lost and yet the lost haven’t come. It’s hard to wait for dreams to come true. And sometimes we want the end picture to happen without it being the end. But you can’t have it both ways.
Too often we picture waiting as sitting around until something happens. I don’t believe we are called to wait on God like we wait on hold for the cable company. If God has put a big vision in your heart, then you know that only he can make it happen. But our job is not to sit idle and wait for the big bang. Our job is to take the vision (end picture) and begin building it. In many ways I believe God is waiting on us to get working so he can make it happen. Perhaps God feels the same way with us…waiting stinks.
On Sunday we shared a video with our church about our “next thing”. We believe God has called to us to build a youth ministry building to invest in our kids and to help us grow to reach more people for Christ. If God would put it on your heart to help us reach more people for Him, you can support us by sending your gift to Crossroads Church (11573 Lithopolis Rd., Lithopolis, OH 43136).
Have you ever been too afraid to do something because you weren’t sure what would happen? All of us have been there. Some of us are there right now. As we aspire to follow Jesus, we are going to find ourselves in these situations all the time. In fact, if you don’t ever find yourself there…something is wrong. Your world is too safe, too comfortable.
I love the story of Abram from Genesis 12. I preached on it this past Sunday. God calls Abram to pack up and head out and that he would show him where to stop. God says, “Go then I’ll show you the land”. To me that is the essence of faith. Faith is when God says go and you start walking. The problem is that we often want to know the destination before we set out. That’s human nature!
But faith is when we tell our human nature to go take the flying leap! If God says it…go before you know.
Today, I’m going to take my wife out for her birthday (it’s actually tomorrow). We are going away for the evening. No kids! Big shout out to my wife’s parents for taking the kids. We haven’t been able to “get away” for quite a while. Although she keeps getting older…she get’s more beautiful all the time. My wife is an amazing mother, wife, supporter, house manager (literally), friend , vacation planner and much more. She supports me in everything I do and even when I put my foot in my mouth or do something stupid. Now that’s a wife worth having.
Our church is joining a couple hundred other churches who are taking part in the 7 Days of Servolution. This revolutionary idea is to get out into the streets of your community for 7 Days straight and do nothing but serve them. I believe this has the potential to change our church…as well as the community. Check out this video! My church…plan to get involved!
Another question submitted…
Is there an unpardonable sin?
Answer:
This is not an easy one to answer (nor is there a short answer to this). There are a couple passages in the Gospels which record Jesus describing an eternal sin or what we call an unpardonable sin. In the context of this statement, Jesus had been healing people and just cast a demon out of a man. The Pharisees when they heard about this said, “It is only by Beelzebub (Satan), the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.” Basically, they were claiming that Jesus only had the power to drive out demons because he was one of them.
First let me say, that is a pretty bold and arrogant statement to make about anyone, let alone Jesus. Jesus’ reply is that if a kingdom is divided against itself, it will fail (Satan can’t drive out Satan). But I think one of the key verses in Matthew 12 is verse 28 in which Jesus said, “But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” (NIV)
Jesus then goes on to say that if anyone blasphemes against other people or even the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him, but if anyone blasphemes against the Spirit they will not be forgiven (Matt 12:31). The word blaspheme in the Greek means to “vilify” or to speak evil against. Now that we have all the details, let me give you my thoughts.
It seems that what the Pharisees were doing was denying Jesus was from God (deity) and denying the source of his power. According to Matt 12:28, it was the Holy Spirit that was working through Jesus to perform these miracles. In effect the Pharisees weren’t saying anything against Jesus but against the Holy Spirit (source). By doing this they were also denying the deity of Jesus. The truth of salvation is this…you must believe in Jesus and that he died for your sins and rose again through the power of God.
Let me just say that everyone who does not embrace Jesus as the Son of God and put their trust in Him will enter eternity with sin that is not forgiven. However, I think Jesus’ statement speaks even more to people who have turned their back on God so much that they not only refuse to believe in Jesus but they go so far as to arrogantly reject the Spirit of God, who draws people to him. The truth is that the Holy Spirit draws people to accept Jesus. If someone rejects this grace that One who gives it, they will undoubtedly remain unforgiven. I don’t necessarily believe this applies to someone who was mad at God at one point and through frustration yelled/cursed at God…unless they never come to him and repent in the future. (Which is why most people ask this question) Sorry for the long response.
Another question…
1 Thess 5:17 says to “pray continually” in the NIV and “pray without ceasing” in the KJV. This appears to be a physical impossibility. Please explain the meaning here.
Answer:
It means what it says. Pray without stopping. But I don’t believe the writer (Paul) meant that we are to pray 24×7. Don’t take this to the literal extreme, but do take it to the figurative extreme. Figuratively speaking, we should always/often be praying. Praying is talking to God. It’s that simple. That’s part of having a relationship. God wants us to have a relationship with him where we talk to him throughout the day, not just when we are about to eat dinner! In the same way that you might talk to your spouse at many times through the day, try that with God. When you are driving to work…talk to Him. When you are taking a shower…talk to him. Take every opportunity to connect with him. We wouldn’t expect to stay married if we went days or weeks without talking to our spouse, would we? Then why do we do that with God?
Another way you could look at this is to continue to pray for something until you see an answer. Jesus talks about this in Luke 18. In fact he almost says the same words as you find here in 1 Thess. 5:17 in Luke 18:1 when he says “always pray and never give up”. When you need an answer from God (even if it is NO), pray until you get your answer. Never give up…always pray…pray continually…pray without ceasing. No matter how it is stated…simply talk to God as often you can.
This past Sunday we concluded our TXT series taking questions from people in the church about the Bible. I answered about 7 questions, but due to time couldn’t answer many of the other questions. This week I will be giving my best answer to some of the other questions.
Question: Here is a question for you (and I am showing my great ignorance again). What does Christ mean when we refer to Jesus Christ? I understand that they did not have last names back then but “Christ” is always associated with Jesus and I don’t understand the connection.
The word Christ means “Anointed One” or “Messiah”. It is not a last name. You are correct in that people didn’t really use a surname. Most often people were known by where they came from. So I would be Tim of Pickerington. Many people did refer to Jesus as “Jesus of Nazareth” because that is his hometown. The idea of calling him Jesus Christ probably began long after Jesus ascended into heaven. The church began calling him Jesus…the Messiah or (Christ) which would be why it showed up in our New Testament writings (see Matthew 1:1).
