Crossing Community Church

Today Pastor Tim begins a new series on the parables. His teaching included an introduction on interpreting a parable and then a short lesson from Luke 7, challenging us to consider that our sin is as bad as the most evil sin of mankind in God's eyes.

Scott Brubaker presents part two of his messages on holiness. This week's sermon is based on Hebrews 10:14 whereby believers become progressively, and imperfectly more and more like Christ in the sanctification process as they mature as they mature in their faith.  

This week, Scott Brubaker, one of church elders, taught about the all sufficient sacrifice of Jesus in full and final payment for the sin of the world, applied to individuals by grace, through faith wherein believers have been credited ‘once for all’  with the perfect holiness of Christ from God’s point of view.

God never ceases to expand who we think He is and what we think He is going to do. The perfect example of that is when we consider the holy God, transcendent and separate from all creation, offended by the sin of mankind,  and He still wants a relationship with man. He still wants his creation to know Him and to experience His love and mercy and benevolence. But it goes even further! God accomplishes this through the sacrifice of His own Son!!

As we continue our series on the holiness of God, this week Pastor Tim teaches on the relationship between God's holiness and the reality of hell. Many believe that hell is extreme and too harsh for a loving God, but they fail to consider that God is not only loving, but pure and utterly holy and sin is an offense to his holiness that demands punishment in keeping with the crime. Hell is that punishment. 

How do you convey matters so weighty and important as the holiness of God and the magnitude of our sin? Today, Pastor Tim took on that task describing the chasm that our sin created between mankind and our Creator and why that has to be. 

This morning we had the pleasure of hearing how God called Mary Montagnon into a relationship with himself.  Mary's honesty and humility is moving to those who hear her story. Please take a moment to hear Mary talk about her walk with God. 

Today, Pastor Tim began a new series on the holiness of God by defining what it means to be holy and an encouragement to us to pursue holiness at all costs. 

The book of Joshua provides an outline that we can use to look backwards at our walk with God so that we can find the confidence we need to move forward into the new year!

As we read through Luke 1, we find two examples of faith in Mary and Zacharias. One didn't believe God and the other did. Which are you? How easily and often do you believe in God's promises and character?

The people of Israel knew of a messiah, but only a few were eagerly waiting for him. Now, like then, we too are waiting on the return of Jesus. 

How do we work in a way that honors the Lord, and is there a way to work that doesn’t? Psalm 127 appears to be about parenting, but this wisdom psalm has more to say to us about who we trust for the outcome of our labor!

If we don't know what we are looking for, we usually never find it. That is what happened to the Jewish leaders and people of Jesus's day. They were looking for a Messiah, one that is clearly foretold in the Psalms, but they were looking for the wrong 'kind' of Messiah. How often is it that we too look for Jesus in places and ways other than where He really is or wants to be found. This Christmas season, make sure you are looking for him in the right way and the right places!

Today we enjoy hearing how God changed the life of Lee Krystek. Lee's story is one of someone who was religiously faithful without a personal relationship with Christ. But that changed through friendship and mentors who introduced him to a saving faith that he is able to look back on and know for sure that Christ died for him. 

In Psalm 103, David tells us that we, as people, are fragile and "as dust" and that our days are fleeting and when we are gone, there is not even a trace of us left. In comparison, he teaches us the grandeur of God, of His everlasting attributes and his compassion for mankind and the result is an anthem of worship and praise!

As our church prepares for our annual Member's Meeting, Pastor Tim took the time to provide an overview of some of the highlights of our church ministry for 2022. He highlighted that though we have gone through a difficult season this year, God has used that to grow us spiritually and as a community. Praise God for making beauty from ashes!!

In the midst of this well-known Psalm instructing us how to worship God, we are told to "know that the Lord Himself is God." This week, Pastor Tim spoke on how knowing God through deep intimate experiences with Him leads us to the joyous worship the psalmist speaks of. 

Guilt has been a reality of life since Eve took a bite from the fruit. There is no escaping it. But there is a way to break its power over us -- through the forgiveness of God. David wrote, "Blessed is the man whose transgressions are forgiven." This week, Pastor Tim taught on the power of guilt and the greater power of forgiveness!

John Ashton, one of our church Elders, steps into the pulpit today. Enjoy his challenge to how we follow Christ. 

Psalm 42-43 is a wonderful reminder of what many of us go through -- when things are bad and people are against us, our hope is in God, in His everlasting covenant love for us.