Site Blog Posts
03/06/2012
More Frosting...
Way back in December, Jeff preached a sermon on 1 Peter 4:1-11, entitled "Christ's Victory Displayed in Us." In it, he explained verse 8 ("love covers a multitude of sins") with a really memorable illustration: cake frosting. He said the solution for fixing cracks in a cake is ve ...
Read More01/26/2012
Connecting you to the Good Stuff
I joke frequently that there are only a few things that I am good at, and much that I am not good at. It isn't a very funny joke, because it is more true than funny. I am not a great blogger, as you may have noticed, though I am trying to improve. However, I love to read blogs. This morning I thought I would tell you about a few o ...
Read More01/25/2012
Politics, Justice, and Abortion
I am very slow to be political as a pastor. This isn't because I think Christians can't have strong political opinions, or that Christians cannot express those opinions. I am slow to be political because it is so easy for us to be tempted by the politics of power, and often times people of faith are manipulated and co-opted by the political p ...
Read More01/20/2012
Dignity, Worship, and Sex
Last week I preached from 1 Kings 18, about the showdown between Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel. One of the themes in the sermon was the way that false worship dehumanizes, while true worship "rehumanizes" as our dignity is restored and enhanced. Because we are made in the image of God, and made to enjoy and worship God, ...
Read More01/05/2012
Elijah and Elisha
We are starting a new sermon series this week, covering the lives of the prophetic duo of Elijah and Elisha. It is always helpful to read the passage before sunday morning, and we are starting with 1 Kings 17. You would also benefit from reading earlier on in 1 Kings and looking for themes of faithfulness and idolatry, judgment and grace, and ...
Read More01/01/2012
Bible Reading Plans
Here is the link to several different Bible Reading plans, as mentioned in the sermon today...
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2011/12/27/bible-reading-plans-for-2012/
I should have also mentioned th ...
11/01/2011
Operation Christmas Child
How much have we been given? In South Charlotte we have our needs and wants well-supplied, in most cases. God requires much of those who have been given much. In that light, we are privileged to participate in Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child this year. As many of you know, Operation Christmas Child is a project that Sa ...
Read More09/28/2011
Our First Membership Class
When you are young, there are many firsts. Your first words, your first Christmas, your first time on a trampoline, your first experience of candy corn--well, as a young church we are having lots of firsts, with our first membership class taking place this Friday. Some folks have asked about whether they can simply transfer membership f ...
Read More09/20/2011
Mercy Survey
Here is a quick 3-question survey for you to fill out for the mercy team. They are gathering info from us as they are investigating mercy opportunities for Cross Park to pursue. Thanks for taking the time to fill out the survey.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SLTZ8CG
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09/16/2011
Jesus and Marriage
This Sunday we are looking at how the relationship between Christ and his church is described as a marriage and helps set the tone for what and how we think about marriage. I ran across this post this morning that I thought was worth passing along. Strong comments here, and powerfully appropriate.
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07/31/2011
Why we like Hymn Sings
This week Cross Park will have her second-ever hymn sing. Details can be found here (Wednesday, 6:00-8:00 PM). You might be wondering what is hymn sing and why we are doing it?! A hymn sing is simply an informal gathering where Ch ...
Read More07/19/2011
Days of Rest
On Sunday, one of the application points from Jeff's sermon pointed out our desperate need for rest, both physical and spiritual. I imagine that I may not have been the only one to turn off my smart phone that afternoon in order to truly enjoy the Sabbath rest that God provided.
This morning I was again reminded of the importance of soul re ...
07/07/2011
Great Post from John Piper
Part of what I have always loved about John Piper's ministry is his consistent passion for the nations, and how he seems to use every opportunity to speak with conviction and compassion about God's heart for the nations. In light of that, I have posted a short post from him about how he is praying for new momentum in missions. It is worth rea ...
Read More07/05/2011
Encouraging Read
This is a great read about a church that struggled for a long time but just moved into their own building this week. It is a reminder that God is good and has his own timing for what is supposed to happen at a given church. We need to keep praying for God to work out his good plans in our midst, and for us to trust him and move out with ...
Read More06/14/2011
Missions Resources
There are several resources I wanted to connect you with after Sunday's sermon.
Go here for Operation World, a prayer guide for all the countries in the world.
Go
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06/13/2011
Kids in the Psalms
This summer we want everyone to read through the Psalms, which means kids too. Kids who complete the following reading plan by the end of the summer will get ice cream with Pastor Hardy and me.
Here's the plan:
1) Memorize on ...
05/31/2011
Summer in the Psalms
Our new sermon series begins this coming Sunday and is entitled "Summer in the Psalms." During the months of June, July, and August we will be preaching from a variety of Psalms that encompass different genres (lament, wisdom, royal, etc.) and numerous topics.
The Psalms are incredibly rich, as they capture the majesty of God, the promise o ...
05/20/2011
Sex and Being Satisfied with God
If you have read the blog once or twice, you will notice that I often post what other people have said. It is easier than writing lots of new ideas, and I often am struck by how much thoughtful Christian writing there is available right now on the web. Thus, I want to point you to the post below. This is an eloquent explanation of ...
Read More05/10/2011
Scanning the blogs
I like posting things that I think will help and encourage you. Usually, I post something that was especially helpful to me, thinking that it will probably be useful to you as well. There is, of course, a crush of resources out there to point you towards. But I will keep posting a few of the gems that I run across.
M ...
05/06/2011
Gospel sermon from Exodus
Check out this Tim Keller sermon from Exodus, and hear the good news of Jesus again.
http://vimeo.com/22669720
...
04/27/2011
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times . . .
I am posting two wildly different resources on this post. I suppose the common thread is a shared vision for the world as it could be/should be as opposed to the tragedy and destruction that often characterizes the world. Here we see disturbing trends and an encouraging story.
This first one is about how pornography is affecting our c ...
04/19/2011
Easter Week
This week is an important week for Christians--it is alternately known as Holy Week, Passion Week and Easter week--but it is the week we celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus, the event that has changed all of human history. I am preaching about Easter this week, from Luke 24:1-12.
Given the centrality of the resurrectio ...
04/11/2011
Why We Blog at Cross Park Church
Some people love blogs and visit them all the time. Other people wonder why we need to all share our non-expert opinions on everything. The question I asked at the beginning of Cross Park Church (last month) was, "Am I going to blog, and why?" The short answers are "Yes" and "In order to communicate things that will be helpful to those ...
Read More04/08/2011
Thinking About Sunday--from Jordan
The sermon title this week is “Jesus is Beyond.” Our sermon text will be the transfiguration account in Mark 9:2-13. If you get the chance, read it ahead of time and ask yourself two questions: 1) what does it say about Jesus, and 2) what does it say about Jesus’ mission?
Looking forward to worshiping our risen Lord with you this ...
Read More04/06/2011
Baptism
Baptism is an important topic for churches to think through well, and there are different views of Baptism within Christianity. We are performing our first baptism this Sunday at Cross Park Church, and I thought I would blog a little bit about it to help you understand why we baptize babies, and to help you be able to explain it to friends and fami ...
Read More04/01/2011
Sunday's sermon
Hey guys. We will be looking together Sunday at Matthew 19:13-30. You can read ahead and be prepared for Sunday. ...
Read More03/22/2011
Praying for the Preacher
I will often link other things I find on the web on this blog. Here is a great John Newton quote I found on Kevin De Young's blog. Thanks for praying for me.
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2011/03/19/prepare-to-preach/< ...
03/22/2011
Sermons
Our goal is to have the sermons up each week, hopefully by Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest. We are still working on the tech details to make the sermon a little cleaner sounding, but the sermons are being loaded each week. I just loaded the sermon from this last Sunday, March 20, "Jesus is Everything." Check it out if you didn' ...
Read More03/16/2011
Spiritual Warfare
I don't know how much I will be blogging here, but I will certainly post things that I think might be helpful to people at Cross Park Church. For me, the best blog out there is Justin Taylor's blog, hosted at the Gospel Coalition website. If you are looking for one theological blog that is the one I would look at. Given that we were talking a ...
Read More03/15/2011
This Week at Cross Park Church
I am working on the sermon for this week, which is going to be called Jesus is Everything, from Matthew 13:44-46. These are two short parables that are very provocative. Look over these this week as you get ready for Sunday morning. And check back on the blog this week to get updates about what is happening at Cross Park Church.
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