Agreeing with an Atheist and Holy Week!

Dear Crosswalkers,

 

Christopher Hitchens is the author of the bestselling book God Is Not Great: Why Religion Poisons Everything. Since the book's publication in 2007, Hitchens has toured the country debating a series of religious leaders, including some well-known evangelical thinkers. During a recent trip to Portland, Oregon he was interviewed by Unitarian minister Marilyn Sewell. The following exchange took place near the start of the interview:

Sewell: The religion you cite in your book is generally the fundamentalist faith of various kinds. I'm a liberal Christian, and I don't take the stories from the Scripture literally. I don't believe in the doctrine of atonement (that Jesus died for our sins, for example). Do you make any distinction between fundamentalist faith and liberal religion?

Hitchens: I would say that if you don't believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ and Messiah, and that he rose again from the dead and by his sacrifice our sins are forgiven, you're really not in any meaningful sense a Christian.

Sewell wanted no part of that discussion so her next words are, "Let me go someplace else."

I agree with the atheist!  You can call yourself anything you like, but if you don't believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died on the cross for our sins and then rose from the dead, you are not "in any meaningful sense" a Christian. What you believe about Jesus Christ really does make a difference.

 

This is Holy Week, that special time of the year we celebrate what we believe about Jesus and the great salvation the Lord accomplished for us!  Here is our schedule:

 

Thursday, April 1:  Holy Thursday Communion Service at 7:00 p.m. in our worship center -  This is one of the most beautiful and meaningful worship events in the entire church year.  There will be wonderful musical selections focused on the Cross, and our devotion is from Luke 23:32-43 entitled, "Paradise Promised."  

 

Good Friday Service for Sunnyvale Christian School, April 2 at 9:15 a.m. in our worship center - This is a lovely little time of worship for our school kids and their parents, but everyone is invited to attend! 

 

Saturday, April 3 at 10:00 a.m., Easter Egg Hunt Outreach event at Vargas School - This is an outreach event to provide our own kids and the kids of our community with a fun seasonal activity!  The kids will have a great time, and Invitation cards about our Easter Service will be distributed to the families.  We have collected over 5,000 eggs from our church family to hide for the kids.  If you still have eggs to turn in for this event, please drop them at the church office by noon on Friday.  Thanks!

 

EASTER SUNDAY SERVICES, at our normal times of 9:00 a.m. and 10:35 a.m. - We will begin a new series called "Mythbusters" that will last for a couple of months.  On Easter we will bust through some of the myths people have about Easter.  This will include a strong invitation to make a commitment to the Risen Lord!  Please do your part and come to church with family and friends!   George Gallup did a survey and discovered their were 65 million unchurched people in the USA.  But according to that same survey 34 million of them said they would come to church if someone invited them!  YOU CAN BE THAT SOMEONE, AND EASTER IS A PERFECT TIME! 

 

The Lord is Risen!  He is Risen Indeed!

 

 Faithfully yours,

 

Pastor John Christie 

Living by Faith

Dear Crosswalkers,

The New Testament says this about life as a follower of Jesus: We live by faith, not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7). This is what makes the spiritual life such a great adventure! God’s plan for us is not spelled out every step of the way, like an itinerary for a road trip. But each day we get to follow the Lord in faith. How do we live by faith in the Lord in today’s world? Honestly, we have insurance to cover just about everything.

Here is an exciting way to live by faith: Participate in our Faith Promise Missions giving program. A Faith Promise is a financial commitment you believe and trust that God will enable you to fulfill during the next 12 months. A Faith Promise is not a pledge, and so you will never be asked by Crosswalk to “make good” on it. It is rather a promise you make in faith that God will provide additional funds for you to give in support his mission on planet earth. Here’s how it works: On Sunday you will be given a faith promise card. Please prayerfully enter an amount you will trust God to provide. And then watch and pray for God to provide. That is living by faith!

How does God provide? There are many possible ways! Here are just a few:

Unexpected Income: This can be retroactive pay raises, bonuses, unexpected gifts, inheritances, a second job, tax refunds, etc. The possibilities are endless!

Decrease in Expenses: Loans are paid off, kids educational expenses end, etc.

Reordering of Priorities: When we manage our lives according to God’s priorities, we can generate additional income for the Lord’s work. Examples include a commitment to live more simply, perhaps fasting one meal a week and giving that money to missions, cutting back on unnecessary expenses, etc.

Innovative Ideas: Some folks are really creative with this! You can have a garage sale, develop a hobby that can produce some income for the Lord’s work, get people to sponsor you in a marathon, etc. Again, the possibilities are endless!

Do Faith Promises work? YES! On the authority of the Bible, and according to my experience of many years of faith promise missions, I can tell you that God does provide! Why? Because God wants his world to be reached with the good news. Jesus said, “And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then, finally, the end will come” (Matthew 24:14). The Lord is looking for people like you and me who will be open channels through which he can provide for the gospel to be preached to every people group. This is God’s plan A, to reach the world through his church, and there is no plan B!

Here are the percentages of how much of our Faith Promises God has provided during the past 5 years:

2008/09 – 83%

2007/08 – 118%

2006/07 – 71%

2005/06 – 105%

2004/05 – 101%

Note that in the past 5 years, God has provided a high of 118% of our Faith Promises, and a low of 71%. This is the beauty of it: We are trusting God to provide. If God doesn’t provide, we don’t give. The pressure is on God, not us! But one of God’s names in the Bible is “The God who provides” (Genesis 22:14), and it shows how much God wants to provide for us. Speaking of which, we have one more week in our 09/10 Faith Promise year. To date we have received $81,185 in Faith Promise money, which is 66% of the promised amount, $122,846. I know these are tough times, but they are not tough for God!

Will you join me in prayer that God will provide more for this Sunday?

Emil Brunner said, “As fire exists by burning, so the church exists by missions.” May we ignite a wonderful new flame for the Lord as we continue the Faith Promise tradition at Crosswalk!

By the way, this Sunday we will celebrate our Faith Promise year with an International Potluck meal at noon. Please plan to join us for this celebration. And please bring an international dish to share! You can drop it off in our church kitchen prior to worship.

Living by Faith,

Pastor John Christie

Misplaced Trust?

Dear Crosswalkers,

At some point, we will all put our trust in someone who fails us.  Perhaps the most heartbreaking story out of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver was “exhibit A” of this truism.  In the Olympic finals for the 10,000 meter speed skating race, the Netherlands’ Sven Kramer skated the 25 times around the rink so well that he set an Olympic record time of 12:54.50.  He is a superstar in his sport.  In fact, he finished a full 4 seconds ahead of the second place skater!  The week before he had won gold in the 5,000 meter race.  Now he had won a second Olympic gold medal!  He was a national hero in a country that reveres speed skating!

But the joy was erased in a matter of moments.  Kramer’s coach, Gerard Kemkers, a former Olympian himself, approached him after the race with devastating news.  Kramer had been disqualified from the race, because with eight laps to go, he had improperly changed lanes.  What was the reason for this unthinkable blunder?  His coach had told him to change lanes!  Kramer had never received lane-change directions from a coach in a race prior to that day.  The only reason he did it was because his coach told him too.  In a highly charged situation, Kramer trusted his coach instead of himself, and it cost him an Olympic gold medal.

Of course, the only one who felt worse than the skater was his coach.  The coach  said it was “the worst moment in my career… My world collapsed.”

Some of you know what it is like to have failed someone who put his or her trust in you.  It hurts.  Others are thinking of a time when someone you trusted failed you.  Maybe it cost you your job, or your marriage, or a friendship.  What do you do when you fail someone’s trust? What do you do when someone fails your trust and you pay the price? What happens to trust in a relationship after an expensive failure?

The next day Sven Kramer told the media that he had forgiven his coach, and they would continue working together. Kramer said, “The past few years have been too good. We have won so much together. You can’t just throw that away.”

Spiritually, we have all failed the trust God put in us.  Yet when we turn to him in faith, he forgives us.  We know that other people will let us down in this life.  Humans will betray our trust.  It is sad but true, and it is one of the deep hurts in life.  But there is hope because there is One who will never break our trust, and his name is Jesus.  He is faithful and true, and will always keep his promises.

Our theme for our Faith Promise Missions Series leading up to Easter this year is this:  There is Love.  For the next three weeks we will be celebrating missions and experiencing for ourselves that There is Love.

This Sunday please remember to “Spring Forward” by turning your clocks ahead one hour before you go to bed Saturday night!
Also this Sunday we are honored to have  Marty Hooper speaking.  Marty is a veteran missionary evangelist and he always brings a challenging and exciting message!
Love in Jesus,

Pastor John

Journey with Jesus

Dear Crosswalkers,

To each of us, Jesus says, “Follow me.”  In other words, we are all invited on an exciting, lifelong, spiritual journey with Jesus.  This Sunday we begin a new sermon series for the month of March entitled, “Journey with Jesus.”  It will be based on some timely episodes from Luke’s gospel regarding our Lord’s journey to Jerusalem and to the Cross.  In Luke 9 it says this:  “As the time drew near for him to ascend to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51).  It is interesting that the focus in this verse is on the big picture, our Lord ascending to heaven, but we all know that prior to that event is Easter week, with the torture and the Cross and thankfully the resurrection.  We also know from the rest of Luke’s gospel when it says, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem, the focus is not a geographical journey but a spiritual journey, filled with life lessons and a glorious sense of purpose and destiny.  This will be a great time of study together leading up to our celebration of Easter Sunday!

Once, as our Lord was heading to Jerusalem, someone came up and reported news of a tragedy.  We get news of tragedies practically every week, if not every day.  How does God want us to respond to tragedies?  An earthquake devastates Haiti, and then another wrecks havoc in Chile.  How do we respond?  Is God sending us a message?  Is this divine punishment?  Is God even involved?  Come this Sunday, and invite your friends, to hear about “Life Lessons for Every Tragedy.”

Here are some other important news items and prayer points:
 The position of Office Manager at Crosswalk is open and interested persons are welcome to submit their resumes electronically or in person to Linda Jackson (ljackson@crosswalkchurch.com).  I want to publicly thank Rosie Lauborough for her time of service with us in this position.  Thanks to her we have successfully established a new database that will help us as a church family to manage our membership and communicate better and more efficiently.  I do thank the Lord for Rosie’s time with us.  Job descriptions for this position are available upon request.

This weekend is our Men’s Retreat!  We have 75 men dedicating this weekend to God and to each other and please pray that the men will be touched and blessed by the Spirit of Jesus during this event.  Please pray for our speaker, David Bolhorst, and our worship team, and for all others involved in this retreat.  Pray with me that some significant spiritual decisions will be made by many men this weekend.