The Redemption Blog

Evidence of Grace...

A few months ago I had the privilege of attending the Text and Context Conference at Mars Hill Church in Seattle.  Pastor C.J. Mahaney gave an incredibly encouraging and convicting talk on this subject of seeing evidences of God's grace all around us.  If you can take a few minutes (actually about an hour) and watch this talk it will be time well spent...

I saw an amazing evidence of God's grace last week.  Last week was the beginning of our first round of The 3C Journey Series.  We had 30 people join us and it was incredibly encouraging to see people buying into and gathering around what we believe God wants to do through us at The Crossing as well as how God wants to accomplish it.  If you made it out, thank you so much for taking the time and making it a priority!  I feel forever blessed to be a part of this church family and pray God continues to grow us and draw us closer to Him and to each other!

If you missed the class you can see the content we covered here...
Download celebrate_the_journey_student_notes.doc

The Fight for Joy...in Death

Here's the "Monday Morning Recap" in case you were unable to attend The Crossing yesterday!

Series: The Fight for Joy - Philippians

Title:  In Death

Text: Philippians 1:18b-30

Big Idea:  "The foundation for joy in death is a fervor for and a focus on God’s glory and the good of God’s people.”

Paul writes to his friends at Philippi from prison and he is facing the possibility of his own execution.  What's amazing is that in spite of this he writes with an amazing attitude of joy. 

The question we wrestled with yesterday was this:

"If death is inevitable and unavoidable and will eventually touch each of our lives, how are we to experience joy in the face of death and how are we to live our lives in light of death?

It looks to me like Paul divides his thoughts into two parts, so here's how we broke down the text: 

I.  Paul's Interpretation of Joy in Death (Phil 1:18b-26)
    A.  Paul's Focus is on God's Glory
    B.  Paul's Freedom is in God's Glory
    C.  Paul's Fervor is for God's People

II.  Paul's Application of Joy in Death  (Phil 1:27-30)
    A.  Living Life Worthy of the Gospel means Standing Together
    B.  Living Life Worthy of the Gospel means Striving Together
    C.  Living Life Worthy of the Gospel means Suffering Together

The podcast should be posted here later today...

If you want to see my complete preaching outline you can find it below:
Download in_death_blog.doc

Next week we will be looking at the fight for joy in humility, so hopefully we will see you Sunday!

The Plan...

I'm a guy who needs a plan. I'm a guy who needs a plan to accomplish my plan.

If I don't write it down, it won't get done. If I don't plan it out, I get overwhelmed by the sheer fact that I don't have a plan.

Don't get me wrong, I love change and spontaneity, but if I have something in front of me that I'm responsible to accomplish, I go crazy and think about it constantly if I don't map out a plan of how to complete it. 

This will serve as my blog plan.

I've been apprehensive about starting to blog again because my previous blog consumed far too much time.  I was reading over 100 blogs a day, trying to comment on other blogs so their authors would read my blog, and constantly trying to think of something, anything to post on my blog...

THIS IS NOT THAT BLOG! 

Right now I read almost no blogs (They're like Pringles for me and once I pop I can't stop).

I don't care about trying to stroke my own ego by getting other bloggers to read my blog (Anymore).

I certainly don't want to spend hours searching utube for videos to post because I don't have anything to say. 

My hope is that my writing will be focused and helpful, both for myself as I process my own thoughts and pursuit of Jesus, and for anyone who manages to find this blog.  If you do read, I'm going to try and follow this basic planning for posting in an effort to provide 1. a plan and 2. some balance to what I'm writing about.  Here it is...

Monday - Message Recap (I'll post my preaching notes from Sunday, link to any additional resources and overview the previous Sunday)

Tuesday - Evidences of Grace (This is for my own personal growth.  I'm bent to see all that's wrong in life and forget to identify the amazing evidences of God's grace all around me)

Wednesday - Whatever Wednesday (Wednesday tends to be my day of and it's affectionately referred to as "Family Day" in the Huguley house.  We try to have no chores and no errands so we can spend the day enjoying each other, so Wednesday will probably be me figuring out what God is teaching me through being a husband and daddy)

Thursday - Stirring the Affections (Matt Chandler just had a great post (OK I read a few blogs) on what inspires Him and stirs his affection for God and this will be my attempt to process how God does this in me.  It will probably consist of other sermons, music, etc that draws me closer to God)

Friday - Free For All Friday (Whatever is going on in my head, family, life, ministry, whatever...maybe even a utube video or two:-)

If you're still reading after all that, thanks!  If you have any suggestions on how I can better use this blog (other than shorter posts) let me know!  Have a great weekend!!

Buy This Book!!!

I can't wait to read this book and you should pick it up too!  You can find it here...

The 3C Journey Series...

Tonight we start "The 3C Journey Series" at The Crossing.  We believe God has called us to more than just casual church attendance.  We believe God has called us to be committed members of God's family and a committed member of a local church community. 

Tonight and Saturday we are offering our first class in the 3C Journey Series called, "Celebrate the Journey".  We'll be discussing our story, our structure and our statement of faith as well as having time to ask questions and hang out and get to know each other.

If you can make it you can find all the info here...

Let me know if you're coming!

The Fight for Joy...

In Suffering...

“How could a loving God allow people to experience such extreme amounts of pain and suffering?” 

Have you ever had someone ask you that question?  Maybe you have found yourself asking that question in the midst of what St. John of the Cross called, “the dark night of the soul”.  We have all experienced, or are experiencing one of those seasons when no matter how hard we try we can not seem to find the good, we can not seem to find the silver lining. 

What do we do when the bottom falls out? 

    When the doctor says, “It’s cancer”? 

        When your spouse says, “I’ve been unfaithful”? 

            When your boss says, “You are fired”?

Join us this weekend as we search Philippians 1:12-18 and find hope and encouragement as we fight for joy in suffering together. 

The Fight for Joy in Loneliness

Yesterday we continued our journey through the book Philippians and focused in on the theme of loneliness. We live in a culture that in many ways has become overwhelmed by the epidemic of loneliness. We are isolated, disconnected and many of us feel completely alone.

Paul experienced something very similar in writing this letter to his friends at Philippi. He was in prison and chained to a guard, completely isolated from his friends and the people he loved. Yet, somehow in the midst of this he writes to his friends with joy! The question is how?

Paul's answer to fighting for joy in loneliness was not keeping busy, or pretending he wasn't lonely. Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, tells us that the answer to fighting for joy in loneliness is "Gospel Partnership" or "Gospel Fellowship". D.A. Carson defines gospel fellowship saying, "The heart of true fellowship is self-sacrificing conformity to a shared vision...Christian fellowship, then, is self-sacrificing conformity to the gospel."

If the gospel is not the center of our relationships, we will never experience the community that we have been created for and we will not be able to experiencing joy in the midst loneliness. In case you were not with us yesterday or you didn't get a chance to take notes, here are "8 Traits of Gospel Fellowship" we discussed...

1. Gospel Fellowship...Requires Grace (Phil 1:2)

2. Gospel Fellowship...Results in Peace (Phil 1:2)

3. Gospel Fellowship...Responds with Gratitude (Phil 1:3-5)

4. Gospel Fellowship...Pursues Sanctification (Phil 1:6-8)

5. Gospel Fellowship...Proliferates in Love (Phil 1:9)

6. Gospel Fellowship...Practices Discernment (Phil 1:9)

7. Gospel Fellowship...Puts 1st Things 1st (Phil 1:10)

8. Gospel Fellowship...Persists in Purity (Phil 1:10)

Join us next week as we look at The Fight for Joy in Suffering!

Invite a friend here...
Download fight_for_joy_ecard.pdf

Pray, Engage, Invite...

We are constantly looking for ways to help people at The Crossing invite their friends to church.  We have set a goal as a church that we're calling 1+1=100.  Yes, I know that the math doesn't make sense, but stay with me...

We have between 50-70 adult attenders that celebrate with us each weekend, so if each of us invites just 1 person over the next few months we will be regularly celebrating with at least 100 people each week.  This may sound simple and it's sure not the most creative marketing idea there has ever been, but it really is that simple. 

The point is not the numbers!

The point is HEALTH!

I believe it is healthy that pray for, engage and invite friends and grow as a church for a few reasons.

1.  Jesus commanded it
In His great commission Jesus said, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you..." (Matthew 28:19-20)  Unless the entire world is filled with disciples of Jesus we have work to do!  Unless the entire world is filled with disciples of Jesus we are called to pray for, engage and invite the people in our lives who do not know Jesus. 

2.  You know people I don't know
You have a circle of relationships (i.e. friends, family, co-workers, neighbors) that I don't have and I have a circle of relationships you don't have.  If each of us prays for, engages and invites the people in our circle of relationship who do not know Jesus we can make the greatest impact as a community of Christ-followers.

3.  Healthy things grow
Growth can be a sign of health and a lack of growth is usually a sign of a lack of health.  Imagine you had a child that just didn't grow for a few years.  Obviously, something would be wrong and the same is true of the church.  It may be slow moving and may not always look the way we think it will, but if we are healthy and we pray, engage and invite we will grow and see the gospel transform lives. 

All this to say, I want to invite you to invite others to The Crossing.  I have a few friends I'm praying for, engaging and inviting to come to church and I want to ask you to do the same.  Our current series, "The Fight for Joy" is a great opportunity because we are dealing with some issues that affect each of us in different ways.  In order to help you invite friends we made an eCard that you can download below and email to whoever you want and let them know when and where we meet as well as what we will be talking about each week.

It can be intimidating to talk to people about Jesus, so I'm praying that God would give you courage as you look for opportunities to share your faith.  I would love to pray with you for the people you are praying for, so if you click here you can list the people in your life you are praying for.  God is doing some amazing things in our lives and in and through our church.  Join us as we live on mission and work to spread the message of Jesus!

Who are you praying for?

Download fight_for_joy_ecard.pdf

 

Philippians Study...

We had a great start to "The Fight for Joy" series yesterday and if you missed it, you can pick up the podcast here...

As promised I want to provide some resources for anyone interested in doing some personal study on your own, so here are a few links to some free online resources as well as some commentaries you might be interested in purchasing to help in your study.

Online Bibles
Bible Gateway - Online Bible Study site with various Bible translations
Crosswalk - Online Bible study site with some language tools and commentary built in

Free Online Commentary
Gordan Fee's IVP Commentary on Phillipians
Charles Spurgeon and John MacArthur sermon manuscripts from Philippians
John Piper sermon manuscripts from Philippians
John Calvin's Commentary on Philippians

More Philippians Preaching
Mars Hill Church
Kaleo Church
The Journey Church
Bethlehem Baptist Church

Commentary I'm Using
Basics For Believers - D.A. Carson  Purchase
Philippians - Moises Silva    Purchase
Paul's Letter to the Philippians - Gordon Fee    Purchase

If you need any help, have any questions or need some more suggestions click here and let me know!  Enjoy!

The Fight for Joy...

This weekend at The Crossing we start our new series "The Fight for Joy: Philippians".   As I've been studying I continue to be amazed at the grace of God in Paul's life as he writes this letter.  Upon writing, Paul once again finds himself in jail (a regular occurrence in his life), yet one of the most prominent themes in the book is JOY.  The question we will be trying to unpack is,

"How can we model the heart of Jesus by having a joyful disposition in all seasons of life?" 

We live in a culture where everyone is trying to sell us joy and happiness, yet despite the hype and our best attempts at a change in

position,

    possessions,

        place,

            people and

                religion

we find ourselves still overwhelmed by the inability to attain true joy in our lives.  This weekend we'll be looking at some of the solutions both culture and religion have to offer as we look at Philippians 1:1 together and discover that..

the only "secret" to true joy is slavery to Jesus.