Crossing Community Church

Today, Kevin Reilly shared his story of how he grew to understand who Jesus was and that the claims he made were true and intended to change his life. 

While adultery is wrong, Jesus doesn't allow us to consider our lust as an innocent activity. Instead he places the blame for adultery on the heart that allows lust to run go unchecked. 

Naomi describes her upbringing in a Christian home as being one where Jesus was like a celebrity -- someone you know a lot about but don't know personally. She had learned confusing things about God that left her doubting her salvation and spirituality. But there came a time when she was confronted with her need to dive into God and make Him a friend more than a distant celebrity. That change in the way she desired God brought real and genuine change in her life. One of the elements of her story is the need for all of us to be in a church environment that allows and even encourages us to ask questions. Enjoy Naomi's story of transformation!

Christ's challenge to the disciples about how they worshiped and what constituted right and holy worship that was acceptable to God still stands as a challenge to us today. Being right with each other before God requires a 'contrite and broken' heart which is the very thing God wants from us. 

Today is our annual Members Meeting and to coincide with that meeting, Pastor Tim highlighted several areas of growth in our church and how we've seen God at work. It was an encouraging service that gave us a great overview of God's work in our midst over the past year. 

This week marks the month long campaign to bring attention to the persecution that much of the global church endures. Pastor Tim used Acts 4 to speak about how the Apostles suffered persecution and what we can learn from that. 

The Pharisees believed they were righteous, in part, because they had never broken the commandment to not commit murder. But the righteousness God demands goes beyond taking the life of another. God looks into our heart and finds us guilty because the seeds of murder lie in our heart in the form of hate. Therefore, all of us are guilty of murder!

The most common way to gain God's approval around the world is to be good or to do good. But the inability of man to keep God's law and "be good" proves man isn't capable of meeting God's standard of righteousness -- only Christ can do that. He fulfills the law making it possible for all of mankind to have a relationship with God and gain his favor without ever doing a good deed -- "for it is by grace that you are saved, not by works so that no man can boast." Ephesians 4:6

Jesus says we ARE salt and light. It comes with being transformed into His image. This week in our study of the Sermon on the Mount, Pastor Tim encourages us to consider that as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, we have to give up our reputation and comfort, we have to stop hanging on to everything in this world, for the sake of His name and His reputation. 

Debbie Domke shares how God was someone that was invited into her life when she thought it was appropriate for Him to be there. But in college, she had an encounter with Jesus that brought her into a personal relationship with Him. From that time on, Jesus went from being invited into her life sometimes to being a part of her life on a daily basis. Enjoy her story of God's faithfulness for the past 40 years.