Hey everyone! Just a quick update...
Crossway Church's preliminary website is up and running! Check it out here: www.crosswaychurch.net
We are also hosting our first Launch Team Meeting on August 15th! So exciting! Please pray for us as we seek to serve, love, and bring the Gospel to those who don't know Jesus. Pray with us!
Ciao,
M*E
At my church, we are currently in a teaching series titled "Forbidden Fruit" - a sermon series based on the seven deadly sins.
Jon preached on the topic of "Envy" today at church. I was such a great message (not because he is my husband...although he is my favorite preacher) but, because it's an issue that EVERYONE struggles with...whether we'd like to admit it or not.
There are a few things that keep running through my mind from the teaching today that I thought would be worth sharing:
1) Envy is the anti-joy
2) "Envy is feeling bitter when someone else has it better" (Rebecca DeYoung)
3) Envy is the ulcer of the soul (Socrates)
4) Envy can be conquered by simply trusting in God's Sovereignty and goodness in my life. His plan for my life is better than anything I could ever be envious of. I should stop worrying about what I don't have and start thanking God for His grace in my life and all of the things I do have.
Here is a link to today's teaching if you are interested...it's good stuff and envy is a dragon we all need to slay daily.
ENVY SERMON
Joyfully,
Melissa *E
Here is a picture of our missions team from my church! They are headed to the Miami airport as I type this and will be in Guatemala through Saturday doing missions work through Compassion International! To God be the Glory for all that he will do through this team and for the people and children in Guatemala! What a great God we serve!
Join me in praying for our missions team this week!
Ciao,
M*E
Good stuff from Tim Keller on Religion vs. Gospel...
RELIGION: I obey-therefore I’m accepted.
THE GOSPEL: I’m accepted-therefore I obey.
RELIGION: Motivation is based on fear and insecurity.
THE GOSPEL: Motivation is based on grateful joy.
RELIGION: I obey God in order to get things from God.
THE GOSPEL: I obey God to get to God-to delight and resemble Him.
RELIGION: When circumstances in my life go wrong, I am angry at God or my self, since I believe, like Job’s friends that anyone who is good deserves a comfortable life.
THE GOSPEL: When circumstances in my life go wrong, I struggle but I know all my punishment fell on Jesus and that while he may allow this for my training, he will exercise his Fatherly love within my trial.
RELIGION: When I am criticized I am furious or devastated because it is critical that I think of myself as a ‘good person’. Threats to that self-image must be destroyed at all costs.
THE GOSPEL: When I am criticized I struggle, but it is not critical for me to think of myself as a ‘good person.’ My identity is not built on my record or my performance but on God’s love for me in Christ. I can take criticism.
RELIGION: My prayer life consists largely of petition and it only heats up when I am in a time of need. My main purpose in prayer is control of the environment.
THE GOSPEL: My prayer life consists of generous stretches of praise and adoration. My main purpose is fellowship with Him.
RELIGION: My self-view swings between two poles. If and when I am living up to my standards, I feel confident, but then I am prone to be proud and unsympathetic to failing people. If and when I am not living up to standards, I feel insecure and inadequate. I’m not confident. I feel like a failure.
THE GOSPEL: My self-view is not based on a view of my self as a moral achiever. In Christ I am “simul iustus et peccator”—simultaneously sinful and yet accepted in Christ. I am so bad he had to die for me and I am so loved he was glad to die for me. This leads me to deeper and deeper humility and confidence at the same time. Neither swaggering nor sniveling.
RELIGION: My identity and self-worth are based mainly on how hard I work. Or how moral I am, and so I must look down on those I perceive as lazy or immoral. I disdain and feel superior to ‘the other.’
THE GOSPEL: My identity and self-worth are centered on the one who died for His enemies, who was excluded from the city for me. I am saved by sheer grace. So I can’t look down on those who believe or practice something different from me. Only by grace I am what I am. I’ve no inner need to win arguments.
RELIGION: Since I look to my own pedigree or performance for my spiritual acceptability, my heart manufactures idols. It may be my talents, my moral record, my personal discipline, my social status, etc. I absolutely have to have them so they serve as my main hope, meaning, happiness, security, and significance, whatever I may say I believe about God.
THE GOSPEL: I have many good things in my life—family, work, spiritual disciplines, etc. But none of these good things are ultimate things to me. None of them are things I absolutely have to have, so there is a limit to how much anxiety, bitterness, and despondency they can inflict on me when they are threatened and lost.
Good stuff to chew on :)
Ciao,
M*E
