Sermon podcast feed for King's Cross Church in Moscow, ID. Featuring Pastor Toby Sumpter. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.
King's Cross Church (Moscow, ID)
The gospel collides with all idolatry, whether external shrines or internal obsessions. But idols can be sneaky and even warnings about idolatry can weaponized and misused to steer unthinking Christians. Is it idolatry to love your work, your family, your church, your nation, your ethnicity? The answer is “no,” so long as “love” is defined biblically, so long as your love is obedient to God. Idolatry is disobedient love. And obedient love is at war with every disobedient love. King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
Two messages delivered at a joint outdoor worship service with all three campuses of Christ Church and King's Cross Church. "A Mind to Work" by Toby Sumpter and "Lessons for the Limelight" by Doug Wilson.King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
Sermon Text: 1 Corinthians 15:1–11King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
Paul begins his third missionary journey in Ephesus, and the Lord confirms His presence with Paul through extraordinary signs, causing the Word of God to overcome all opposition. It was true then, and it is true today. The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. Whatever you face, whatever you need, Scripture is your light, your power, your peace, your wisdom.King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
While Paul takes a brief sabbatical to visit and encourage a number of the churches, the Word is going forth mightily in public through a man named Apollos and in private through a refugee missionary couple. This is how Christ rules the nations: through His living and active Word.King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
Here is the record of the challenges Paul faced planting the Corinthian church to which Paul wrote at least two letters which now make up the New Testament. This also appears to be one of the longer stints Paul spent in his mission, and given what we read here and in First and Second Corinthians, it appears that it was particularly difficult. Yet, at the center of this text is the Lord Jesus assuring Paul that He is with him, protecting him, and taking dominion. That same Risen Jesus is still with us today.King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
All religion tends to fall into one of two ditches: imagining an immanent god(s) embedded in the universe and nature or else an utterly transcendent god who is impersonal and ultimately unknowable. Greek philosophy and religion had lurched from the old immanent gods to transcendent principles. But the Bible declares the true God who is outside of creation, and who has freely revealed Himself in His Word and through Creation and in His Son. The true God is utterly distinct from all of creation, and yet He has made Himself known so that we might truly know Him and walk with Him. This is what Jesus is talking about when He says that He is the Good Shepherd (Jn. 10:11-16).King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
The apostle Paul wanted to sing in the Spirit, but wanted to sing with the mind also (1 Cor. 14:15). In a similar way, we come here week after week to worship God in the Spirit of God. But it is important for us to understand what we are doing, and why we are doing it. Otherwise we will drift into a mindless routine—which is quite different from a Spirit-led routine. We are now worshiping, and we should understand what we do because it is the most important thing that any of us can do. Your assigned purpose in being created was to be a worshiper of God. Nothing is more important than this, and it is because of this that all the less important aspects of your life can be integrated and can come to have any significant importance at all. It is either homo adorans or homo demens. Christ or chaos.King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
As we look around the room each Lord's Day, we can see that many of us are in the thick of it when it comes to raising children. This is not simply an optical illusion; back in January, we ran a report and discovered that 37% of our congregation is under the age of 11, and nearly half are under the age of 18. Therefore, it is good to keep returning to the important topic of childrearing from time to time, for as the Apostle Paul wrote, it is no trouble for him to repeat himself, and it is good for you (Phil. 3:1). King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
Human beings are inherently religious. We are homo adorans – worshiping man. We will either worship the Creator or some part of creation. Basing your life on some part of creation (reason, experience, science, health, pleasure) ultimately results in despair, anger, and anxiety because all of them are ultimately dependent on you and self-esteem, self-awareness, self-determination, and self-care are a backpack of bricks too heavy to bear. The weight of “self” is too heavy for any of us to carry. Paul saw this phenomenon in Athens, and our culture is currently at “crush depth” with these mantras. But the gospel is that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to carry us, and He is risen from the dead. King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
After the Fall, there are really only two kinds of community in the world: the fellowship of nobility and the fellowship of envy. Cain envied his brother, murdered him, and was exiled and built a city; Seth was the father of noble generations who found grace in the eyes of the Lord. The word “noble” literally means “good generation” (high-born). Envy is the gangrene of bitter zeal. It is murderously destructive, while claiming to be concerned about truth and justice. Paul and Silas found examples of both nobility and envy in Thessalonica and Berea.King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
In 42 B.C. in the fields of Philippi in Macedonia, Greece, the armies of Brutus and Cassius collided with the armies of Mark Anthony and Octavian, and the latter soundly defeated the former. Octavian would become the emperor of the Roman Empire, taking the name Caesar Augustus and eventually lavish a great deal of prominence on the colony of Philippi as the site of that historic battle. Around 80 years later, in that same city, Paul and Silas began proclaiming the reign of another King, the Lord Jesus Christ, and a new way of being Roman. And as is the case wherever this gospel goes, it caused trouble – trouble that sets prisoners free. King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
The wisdom of God is foolishness to man, and we must understand deep in our bones that one of the central missions of God in the history of the world is to destroy the wisdom of man (1 Cor. 1:19). This doesn't mean that we cannot grow in God's wisdom, but it means that we must be incredibly skeptical of human wisdom. The goal of the history of the world is that no flesh would glory in His presence but that all would glory in Him (1 Cor. 1:29-31). This wisdom is on display in Paul's circumcision of Timothy, and in his obedience to the Holy Spirit leading him to the Philippian riverside to preach to a few Jewish women.King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
We live in world full of petty divisions and many foolish alliances. Maturity means growing up into a deep commitment to the truth as well as being able to tell the difference between gnats and camels. Unity at all costs will always lead to compromise, and certain wooden ideologies create brittle men and communities. We are seeking to build an anti-fragile like-mindedness, full of resilient, joyful saints, loyal to Christ and their people. King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
Sermon Text: Luke 10:25-37King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
The decision of the Jerusalem Council illustrates a principle that Christians have always struggled with: grace has a backbone. True grace really is radically free, and because it is so free, it is potent and transformative. Grace welcomes and instructs. Grace rests and works.King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
Christian warfare always consists of multiple fronts: external, domestic, and internal. The fact that we see this in the first century should give us hope and reassurance that we are not facing something profoundly new or different. This dynamic is also part of the ‘continuing adventures of Jesus.' Our task is to walk by faith before God, the ‘Knower of Hearts, in obedience, trusting His grace. King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
Far too many people in the church are not truly converted to God. They are religious or maybe conservative, but they do not know Christ and the power of His resurrection. They know about Christ, and perhaps they know about the Bible and catechism answers. But they do not know Christ, and this is obvious because sin still has power over them. They are still dead in their sins, even while they may think they are serving God. This is what Saul/Paul thought until the Risen Jesus met him and gave him a new life. King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
Our modern world pits authority against friendship, falsely insisting that friendship can only exist be- tween complete equals. But in that case, a complete equal has nothing to offer, nothing to contribute. True friendship exists in relations of inequality and hierarchy, where different parties have different skills and responsibilities.Ultimately, this heresy of egalitarianism seethes with pride that hates the authority and friendship of God over sinful creatures – that we are completely dependent on Him, that He has made us and not we ourselves, and that true blessing only exists in bowing before Him. But that is what we celebrate on Palm Sunday and every Sunday. God made us, and God saves sinners. He has true authority, and He is good and therefore He defines what is good.King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
THE TEXT: James 5:16–18King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
One of the marks of the Reformed faith was a great political reformation. This is why it is sometimes called the “Magisterial Reformation.” The Pope and Roman church had slowly claimed political power, but the Reformers insisted that Scripture clearly taught that all power was given to Jesus Christ and therefore, directly and delegated to magistrates, pastors, and parents for particular tasks by Him. King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
We live in a world that says you can be anything you want, anything at all – the more bizarre and perverse the better, just don't be an ordinary, faithful man who marries an ordinary faithful woman, and have a pile of happy, ordinary kids and love and serve the Lord together. Anything but that. And the mischievous Tom Sawyer inside you should grin and say, “Well, now I'm going to normal even harder.”A significant part of the Protestant Reformation was a recovering of the Bible's teaching concerning the goodness and power of marriage, children, and family. Celibacy had come to be seen as the “higher calling,” and the duties and responsibilities of family as therefore lower and menial. The devil has always sought to lure people away from the glory of marriage and family precisely because when God's blessing is upon it, it is such potent goodness.King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
As a young church, we have not yet experienced a public church discipline case. While the elders have been active in encouraging, admonishing, and occasionally suspending individuals from the Lord's Supper privately, we have not yet reached the point of needing to go through the formal process of excommunication.But if we are a faithful church, a time is coming when we will have to work through this together. Therefore, we should seek to understand the biblical practice of formal church discipline now in order that we may be found faithful when confronted with the task. King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
The 16th Century Reformation was a reformation of worship. Worship is at the center of human life, and therefore, we believe it is the most important thing we do as Christians. How we think about worship and offer our worship flows into all of life. In the beginning, God placed Adam in the Garden Sanctuary where Adam had direct communion with God, and from that Garden a river flowed out to the four corners of the world. In Ezekiel's vision, a river flows out from under the altar growing deeper until it reaches the sea, bringing healing to the nations. What we do in worship impacts us and the whole world. King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
One of the great recoveries of the Reformation was the notion of covenant. The doctrine of the covenant steers a biblical “middle way” between sacerdotal mysticism on the one hand and subjective mysticism on the other. God's covenant is His objective personal relationship with human beings in history, with attendant blessings and curses. And because God deals with us in this way, we also deal with one another broadly through covenants in our families and nations.King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
Pastor Wilson has used this phrase “Chestertonian Calvinism” for a number of years to describe the flavor of Calvinism we are aiming for. It's a riff on something C.S. Lewis once said about the Puritans: “On many questions, and specially in their view of the marriage bed, the Puritans were the indulgent party; if we may without disrespect so use the name of a great Roman Catholic, a great writer, and a great man, they were much more Chestertonian than their adversaries.” In other words, far from the morose and harsh caricatures, the legacy of John Calvin is joy and gladness, astonishment and relief, and the early accusations were that, if anything, they were too celebratory when it came to the gifts of bed and board. So as we go over the basics of what has come to be called “Calvinism,” we want to do so in an obedient and humble way, which is to say: the right kind of humility before these high doctrines ought to result in a robustly earthy joy. King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
As a newer congregation with many newer folks, I want to spend the next few weeks going over some of the basics of what mean when we say we are “Reformed.” Historically, this name goes back to the Protestant Reformation of the 16thcentury, but it is fundamentally based on the supremacy of God, revealed in Scripture, as the perfect Word of God. To say we are Reformed is to say that we want everything we think, say, or do to be God-centered and obedient to His Word. This is not to say that we have arrived, but it is to say that He is worthy. As we do this, we really do want to stand in the “old paths” and hold fast to the “faith once delivered for the saints,” but we want to actually live in this glorious house and not merely become the next museum curators. Or to change the metaphor, we want to fire these cannons at real, modern enemies, not merely polish them and rehearse how they were once used in the glory days of yore.King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
Scripture says that we Christians are more than conquerors. And that is one of our beloved verses. But, if we are conquerors, that means there are things standing in our way. This truth, the one about looming obstacles, can weigh down the spirit if we let it. But, there really is no need for soul troubles. We are victors after all. And what good are victors if they have nothing to vanquish?King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
In January 2022, the Canadian government enacted Bill C-4, effectively criminalizing Christian preaching, teaching, and counseling that upholds Biblical morality for human sexuality. Many pastors in Canada have determined to preach messages annually until the law is repealed and have invited American pastors to join them in proclaiming God's truth about sexual sin and the gospel of grace.The Bible teaches that when God judges a people, it often comes as a kind of suicidal sexual madness. Apart from God there is only sorrow and destruction, but sometimes when people defy God for a while, He turns them over to their degrading demands. Ezekiel describes the fruit of this “sexual liberation” as self-mutilation, murder of children, and complete destruction.King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
As we begin a new year, it's worth reviewing some of the most basic assignments we have in our marriages. The central paradigm is the gospel, and the central duties are love and respect. But as with many of these things that we hear often, it is incredibly important that we determine by God's grace not to be merely hearers of the Word but doers.King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
In our day, it is commonplace to hear messages on the need for work/life balance, the need for “me time,” and the dangers of workaholics, ambition, and stress. And I am convinced that 99% of it is a siren song for laziness, apathy, selfishness, and cowardice. The Lord created the world in six days and rested on the seventh day, and our Lord Jesus remade the world in three days and rested on the first day, re-affirming the Sabbath principle and transforming the first day into the Christian Sabbath (cf. Heb. 4:9-10). But the Kingdom of God is taken by a kind of holy violence, that is, great struggle and ambition (Mt. 11:12).King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
The birth of Christ is the fulfillment of God's covenant with Adam, renewed with Noah and Abraham and David. And the overarching promise is a promise of mercy and the remission of our sins, which is like the sun coming up after a long dark night.King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
There is great confusion in the modern church over the doctrine of repentance – over the fact that the good news of the gospel includes the command to turn from sin and idols. This command, just the like the command to “believe,” is a command in which Christ gives what He commands. And what He gives is Himself. Therefore, repentance is entirely grace, but it is a potent and powerful grace because precisely because it is primarily aimed at God's glory.King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
One of the more puzzling lines in the Definition of Chalcedon is where it says, “as regards his manhood begotten, for us men and for our salvation, of Mary the virgin, the God-bearer.” What does it mean to confess that Mary is the “God-bearer?” We should note that this title is carefully qualified by the phrase “as regards his manhood,” which comes immediately after in the original Greek. But there is a very important point being underlined about the personal nature of our salvation. The One born in Bethlehem is the Logos/the eternal Word of the Father who embraced His creation for us men and for our salvation.King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
As is our custom, we began using the Definition of Chalcedon this morning for our Creed, which was adopted and published in 451 A.D. The purpose of the Definition was to further defend the full divinity and humanity of Christ from several heresies, while preserving the Creator-creature distinction. All non-Christian societies are fundamentally what Peter Jones calls “oneist.” Oneism teaches that everything is essentially one, part of the same basic substance, and therefore oneism is pantheistic. Christianity is the lone religion in the world that teaches “twoism,” that there are fundamentally two different realities: God and everything else. This has profound implications for all of life, including how we think about politics and power. King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
Holidays are challenging times for many reasons: routines are off, people in our houses, being in other peoples' houses, challenging people, missing loved ones, or the things that aren't right or good, and simmering beneath it all, you're a corrupt sinner. Sometimes another contributing factor is the contrast of really good things and really hard things at the same time in different ways that tempts us to discontent, anxiety, frustrations, bitterness, or despair. But Christ gives the strong gifts of contentment, peace, and joy as He teaches you to rest in Your Father. King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
We live in a world full of anxiety and stress. And far too often, Christians default to unbelieving assumptions, diagnosing their problems as circumstances, environment, diet, or chemicals. While sometimes material changes can help, God's Word says our central need is Christ. In Him is a peace that passes all understanding, a peace that is a fortress for our hearts and minds. King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
Acts is about the continuing work of Jesus through His Spirit bringing the gospel from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. Not only is Jesus doing this, but what we find is that He has also prepared the world for this: synagogues functioned as open doors for the gospel, but the Gentiles were also being prepared for faith. And Jesus continues to work this way, going ahead of His people, preparing the way, turning everything, even trouble and tribulation, into a door that leads to the Kingdom. King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
A Universal Song from A Particular SituationPsalm 3 in Light of 2 Samuel 14-19King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
As we mark and celebrate the great work of the Spirit that we call the Protestant Reformation, we need to be mindful of remembering two things. The first is that we must recall the gospel of liberating grace, the gospel that is perennial good news, always good news. Sinners always need to able to hear the message of “no condemnation.” Secondly, we need to take care that we do not turn that glorious doctrine into a museum piece. The gospel is a message of forgiveness for any sin, and it is consequently therefore a message of truth that answers every lie—especially the lie that is current in our day.King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
God's way of conquest is not what we would have thought up. One of His central plays is provoking people to jealousy through His extravagant blessings. Sometimes this provocation turns angry and violent, but ultimately, the plan is for the ends of the earth to be saved. King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
THE TEXT: 1 John 3:19–24King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
We commonly sing and repeat that glorious refrain from Psalm 136 (and others) that the mercies of the Lord endure forever, and this is certainly true in a general way. But as we see here in Paul's first recorded sermon, there is a particular meaning of that phrase and application in the covenant that God made with King David that was fulfilled in Jesus Christ and all who believe in Him. In other words, there's a specific reason why David sung about it so much.King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
The Holy Spirit is the personal Spirit of the Father and the Son. He is not an impersonal force. He leads the Church in fierce and zealous obedience. He is God's fiery love and fellowship, and the center of His power is in the Word.King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
When we began this series, we said that Acts is the continuing adventures of Jesus, that Acts is a book of action and adventure driven by the Spirit of God, and here we see that point in high relief. Walking with God is the greatest adventure. King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
After the resurrection, Jesus said that since all authority had been given to Him, the apostles were to “therefore, go” disciple all the nations of the world. The center and most essential point of this mission is the regeneration of individual hearts. But the Bible teaches that this ordinarily happens through public and private, national and individual, external and internal means, all of which is not neat and tidy. The story of Peter and Cornelius demonstrates this, as does the controversy following. Jesus is at work by His Spirit ruling through the challenges and opportunities of making a new people and saving the nations of the world. King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
One of the great lies of the Devil, embraced by modernity, is the inevitability of history – that time is like a stream, and you can't stop it, you can't reverse it, and everything that has come before is rushing down upon us. We see this in the victim-mentality of many: blaming childhood, parents, income level, minority status, abuse, addictions, or their oppressors, their governments, their bosses, or their persecutors.But the Bible reveals to us a God who is before and outside of time and therefore not bound by time. He is Lord of time. And while there are many patterns and repeated themes (so learning from history is valuable), there is also true innovation, creativity, Reformation, and repentance (so freedom, responsibility, and surprising change are also possible). One of the great twists in human history was the gospel going to Gentile nations directly, tearing down the middle wall of separation between Jew and Gentile, destroying the enmity, and sanctifying them that they may all come to God in worship directly through faith and repentance in Jesus Christ. King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
Satan is the “father of lies,” and this why those under his sway speak lies and murder with their words and deeds (Jn. 8:44). This is also why Christians are frequently attacked here by the Devil, just like the woman in the Garden in the beginning. The fundamental lie is about the goodness of God and His Word. But if we repudiate that lie, we will hate all other lies and love the truth. King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
I don't remember a time when I did not love Jesus. One of my earliest memories is being interviewed for membership in an OPC church by a couple of elders when I was four years old. I was baptized and became a communicant member shortly thereafter. I've always loved singing worship songs and hymns. Part of how I've always known the presence of the Holy Spirit is through the many times I've been convicted of sin.One of the first times I remember sharing the gospel with someone was a neighborhood boy in Alaska who prayed with me and my brother to receive Christ. I was probably nine years old; he was probably around seven. My dad, an OPC minister, often took me around with him knocking on doors or walking through the park to share the gospel. Sometimes we would do a literature table at the local shopping mall. Why do I begin here? Because “by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:10). This, in part, is my testimony of God's grace in me, and if you have met Jesus, you have a story to tell as well – you have a story of God's grace toward you. This is my gospel, my testimony of the gospel of free grace, the gospel of blood-bought forgiveness and freedom and unending goodness, through Jesus. This is also your gospel. It's the same Jesus, the same grace, but you have a different story of the same grace that has not been in vain. This is why you need to learn to say, “this is my gospel.” This is your testimony. King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
We live in a land that has no fear of God before their eyes, and right on schedule, neither do we honor our parents. If it is not going well for us in the land, this is one of the main things we must recover: the fifth commandment is the first command with a promise of blessing. The fear of the Lord and true justice go together (Ps. 19:9). King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.
In many ways, this passage is the hinge of the book of Acts. The whole book describes the continuing work of Jesus, and just as He promised, the goal is a mission from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. Everything has been pointing to this: all the languages at Pentecost, Stephen's message that God is not bound to one place, the conversion of the Samaritans, the baptism of the Ethiopian, the conversion of Saul, and now we come to Peter's vision.But while Jesus had clearly sent the apostles out to preach the gospel and disciple the nations, it had not yet been made clear that this meant that the Gentile nations could remain Gentile nations without converting to Judaism and still be full members of the household of God. Here, God declares the unclean nations to be clean. This means the nations can come to God. And since Jesus is Lord of the nations, this means that they will come.King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.