The Crossing Columbia

Paul's own story before Agrippa and Festus shows that knowing facts about Jesus is not the same as seeing him for who he really is; the answer is not to try harder but to ask God, like blind Bartimaeus, to open our eyes to see Jesus and be transformed.

God's sovereignty means he can and does bring good out of even the worst injustices, and the way believers escape the emotional prisons of fear, despair, and anxiety is not by changing their circumstances but by trusting that God is in control and for them.

When life falls apart and God doesn't answer your 'why' questions, he instead gives you the presence of Jesus with you in the trial, and even uses ordinary, mundane circumstances; not just miracles; to turn obstacles into instruments for his purposes.

God gives every believer a personal story of before-Jesus, because-of-Jesus, and becoming-with-Jesus, and calls them to share it honestly as witnesses; not to look impressive, but so that God's grace is made visible to others.

Most of life is lived in the Bible's 'gray areas,' places Scripture doesn't clearly address, and God calls his people not to invent new rules there but to walk in Spirit-given discernment, because human rule-making breeds pride, fails to change hearts, and pushes people away from Jesus.

The church will always disappoint our expectations because it is made up of messy, sinful people, but Jesus bought the church with his own blood and never abandons it, so instead of walking away when it disappoints us we should fight for it through forgiveness, humility, and love.

God calls Christians to do hard things not through the secular 'gospel of grit' (self-reliant willpower) but through the gospel of grace, which supplies purpose, protection, identity, and power to obey his calling even at great cost.

Idolatry is not primarily about statues but about the heart making a good thing an ultimate thing that we trust to give us what only God should give us, and idols never deliver; but Jesus defeated the powers behind our idols on the cross so we can be freed from worshiping them.

A church or believer can look outwardly faithful; doctrinally sound and diligent in good works; while their love for Jesus quietly erodes from the inside, like silt slowly clogging a harbor; genuine love for Christ must be Spirit-filled, personally owned, and costly, not merely informational, borrowed, or comfortable.

Believers give up too early on sharing Jesus with hard people because of feared opposition, selfishness, and misplaced pressure to save them; but God's sovereign election of people not yet converted frees us from that burden and gives courage to keep speaking.

Kyle Richter argues that the Bible's sexual ethic; sex reserved for the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman; is not restrictive but reflects God's good, sacred design for a whole-person, covenantal act, and that true sexual freedom is found not in following one's desires but in surrendering one's whole self, including sexuality, to Jesus.

Jesus' claim to be the way, the truth, and the life is exclusive and true, exposing three cultural myths; that there is no absolute truth, that all religions are basically the same, and that exclusivity is arrogant; and revealing that Christianity alone offers salvation as a free gift rather than something earned.

Dave Cover argues that Jesus taught the Bible is not merely ancient wisdom passed down but the actual power of God at work in believers, and that experiencing Jesus' power requires seeing Scripture the way Jesus did; as living words that speak new creation into us over time.

Loving your enemy; not just loving people like you; is the truly weird, countercultural mark of following Jesus, and the Good Samaritan shows this love as costly, sacrificial, and boundary-crossing rather than merely emotional.

Satan is a fallen guardian cherub whose pride led him to deceive humanity and rebel against God, and fallen spiritual beings now attack believers primarily through planting slanderous thoughts about God, others, and ourselves; thoughts we resist only by submitting to and obeying Christ.

Angels are created, spiritual, moral beings whose job description mirrors ours; to worship God; and who also serve as God's messengers, ministers, guides, protectors, and warriors on behalf of believers, meaning Christians are never truly alone even when the spiritual realm is unseen.

Modern skepticism about miracles is a product of Enlightenment naturalism more than of Scripture, and Christians should repent of that skepticism, examine credible modern miracle testimonies, and pray boldly while trusting God's goodness whether or not the miracle comes.

Christians shy away from following Jesus because they crave human approval and fear looking foolish, but Jesus himself was 'weird' by cultural standards, and true faithfulness means embracing that weirdness rather than conforming to fit in.

The resurrection of Jesus is not a neutral fact but the one historical claim that, if true, must reorder everything about how a person lives, because it guarantees a future bodily resurrection into a truly transformed, sin-free self.

Jesus enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday not as the political warrior-king the crowds expected, but as the sovereign, humble, self-sacrificing king who controls all things and willingly lays down his life as the true Passover lamb, deserving our worship rather than merely our requests.

Paul's approach in Athens shows that every human being already carries an intuitive awareness of the true God, and idolatry; giving our ultimate worship to anything else; is the root cause of the world's dysfunction; only worship of the Creator revealed through the risen Christ fulfills that innate sense of purpose.

Genuine Bible-people are marked not by what they claim but by whether they let Scripture actually rule them, as the contrast between the Thessalonian and Berean synagogues in Acts 17 shows; Patrick offers a 'menu vs. prescription' test and a 'gavel' test to expose where each of us treats God's word as optional rather than authoritative.

Because salvation is entirely God opening the heart; not a human achievement; anyone from any background, whether a prison-cell convert like Jelly Roll or a wealthy merchant like Lydia, can become a Christian, which removes boasting, gives hope for the seemingly unreachable, and fuels bold prayer.

When godly, Spirit-filled Christians have sharp disagreements over secondary matters, as Paul and Barnabas did in Acts 15, God sovereignly uses even the resulting split to expand the gospel's reach, as long as believers remain unified on the essentials of who Christ is.

Christians don't obey the Old Testament law inconsistently or arbitrarily; because of Jesus's coming, the ceremonial laws are fulfilled in his sacrifice, the civil laws no longer apply since the church is not a nation, but the moral law remains binding because it reflects God's unchanging character and love for neighbor.

Christians should expect; not be shocked by; hardship, because God uses affliction to produce in us an eternal weight of glory that makes present suffering incomparable to what is coming; God proved this is trustworthy by entering the hardship himself in Jesus.

Following the example of Paul (and ultimately Jesus), Christians must contextualize the same unchanging gospel differently for different audiences; starting where people are, without ever compromising the truth; because Jesus meets every person's specific need.

Acts 13's account of Paul confronting the sorcerer Elymas reveals that a real spiritual battle between the powers of darkness and God's kingdom underlies everything, including evangelism, and every person is either a child of the devil or, through repentance and faith in Christ, a child of God.

Being a witness for Christ isn't about awkward evangelistic gimmicks or techniques; it's an identity: God's people, empowered by the Holy Spirit, testify with their lives to what Jesus has done, moving out from their comfortable 'Jerusalem' to their difficult 'Samaria' and to the ends of the earth.

Dave Cover argues that being filled with the Holy Spirit; not just possessing him at conversion; is the greatest gift a believer could ask for, because Spirit-fullness produces six tangible realities: a deeper experience of Christ's presence, seeing your body as God's temple, recognizing yourself as Spirit-gifted for others, being transformed into your true, healed self, the Bible coming alive, and experiencing the Spirit's own intercession in prayer.

Jesus told his grieving disciples it was actually better for them that he leave, because in his place the Father would send the Holy Spirit; the same Spirit as Jesus but now able to live inside every believer everywhere, giving at least eight concrete advantages over having Jesus physically present.

The Holy Spirit's story runs through the whole Bible as one continuous mission: bringing life and order out of chaos, first in creation, then through Israel, then supremely in Jesus, and now in the church, moving toward the renewal of the whole cosmos as new creation.

Christmas celebrations and feasts are meant to be signs pointing toward the ultimate feast of God's coming kingdom; when we mistake the sign (gifts, food, family experience) for the reality itself, we become idolatrous and miserable, but when we let the celebration point beyond itself to the promised kingdom, it becomes nourishing rather than exhausting.

Waiting is never neutral; it moves us toward hope or despair; and prayer, especially bold, persistent asking modeled on Anna and the persistent widow, is the practice that moves us toward hope even when God's answer isn't what we expect.

The physical universe is not separate from the spiritual realm but is constantly permeated, sustained, and held together by God's Spirit, so true enchantment is found not in occult or technological substitutes but in seeing all creation as intertwined with God's presence.

True experience of God comes through obedience, not just knowledge about him, and genuine obedience; modeled by Mary and Abraham; is predetermined in the heart in advance, immediate, and willing to pay any cost.

Deep relationship with God is not meant to be pursued alone; God designed us to need Christian friendships that know, accept, and challenge us, and those friendships are the very means by which we grow closer to God.

We learn to praise God not because our circumstances or feelings warrant it, but because worship in spirit and truth is the way God has designed for us to actually experience his glory, beauty, and love, even in the midst of doubt, fear, or grief.

True contentment doesn't come from accumulating more money or possessions; which choke out our relationship with God; but from having Jesus, who alone is enough.

Hurry and busyness are the great enemy of spiritual life, cutting us off from God, others, and ourselves, but God's design of Sabbath rest; modeled in creation and offered fully in Jesus; invites us to trust him enough to stop and be restored rather than earn his favor through constant activity.

God's holiness, far from being boring or judgmental, is his radiant, life-giving majesty, and every believer is permanently made holy through Christ while also being progressively formed into that holiness for a specific, adventurous purpose God prepared before time began.

True spiritual health can't be measured by numbers or achievements but is revealed by whether we are becoming servants like Jesus; to know Jesus intimately and find life in his upside-down kingdom, we must take the low road of humble service rather than seeking status and recognition.

Giving thanks to God is not for God's emotional benefit but is the means by which our hardened, prideful hearts are humbled so we can actually experience God; grumbling hardens the heart while gratitude softens it and produces peace.

Confession and repentance; agreeing with God about sin rather than concealing, relabeling, or blaming others for it; is the roadblock-removing step that opens the way to deeper experience of God's presence, and Christians must become 'step five' people who admit sin to God and another person.

Experiencing God's presence is available in every moment because God permeates all of creation, but sin has wired our minds to default to assuming his absence; we must retrain our attention through contemplation and Scripture-anchored, biblically guided imagination to actually perceive and enjoy that presence.

Real transformation doesn't come from information but from trained practice, and the most fundamental spiritual practice for experiencing God is silence and solitude; withdrawing from noise and busyness to be alone with God, as Jesus habitually did.

The Bible is not an ordinary book but a supernatural portal where the Holy Spirit gives life to the words, so experiencing God requires slowing down, coming with humility, and asking the Spirit to open our minds as we read and pray Scripture.

The smartphone functions as a modern spiritual enemy that distracts us from knowing God intimately, and knowing God requires deliberate practices of abstinence; like limiting phone use; not just willpower, because the tech industry has engineered our devices to capture our attention.

Paul's command to 'pray without ceasing' is not an impossible burden but an invitation to a habitual, conscious awareness of God's presence throughout ordinary life, through which God brings healing to the deep insecurities that fuel our sin.

The resurrection account in Mark 16 reveals that God does not give failures like Peter what they deserve; rejection and judgment; but instead singles them out by name for mercy, restoration, and mission, because Jesus took what we deserved so we could receive what he deserved.

The crucifixion in Mark 15 is the truest picture of God's face toward us: it shows we are far more sinful than we know, yet far more loved than we can imagine, because God laid our sin on Jesus and never rejects us even in our sin.

Mark 13 is not about the end of the world but about the imminent destruction of the Jerusalem temple, using apocalyptic stock imagery (like Isaiah's oracle against Babylon) to unveil that God is sovereign over world-historic events, judges the powers of darkness, and turns his people's suffering and persecution into the very means by which the gospel spreads.

Jesus' parable of the wicked tenants (Mark 12:1-12) warns that God's patience and mercy toward sinners is not evidence that sin doesn't matter or that judgment will never come; those who presume on his grace and reject his Son will ultimately face his justice.

Jesus welcomes children in Mark 10 not merely to teach us to value kids, but to show that entering the kingdom requires becoming like a child; unashamedly, persistently needy before God rather than self-reliant.

Jesus confronts our 'main character syndrome'; our instinct to make ourselves the sovereign center of our own story; by revealing that he is the crucified King, and true life comes only through completely, sincerely surrendering our story to his through denying ourselves and taking up our cross.

Jesus intentionally brings us face to face with problems too big for us to handle so that our perspective shifts from trusting our own resources to trusting him as the true bread of life who satisfies our deepest hunger.

In Mark 5, Jesus enters the vandalism of death caused by sin; seen in the bleeding woman and Jairus's dead daughter; and defeats it, previewing the resurrection restoration he will fully accomplish, and inviting believers to be part of his masterpiece and to extend that mending love to others.

When Jesus calms the storm he reveals himself as God, and trusting that he is sovereign, wise, and loving lets believers have peace in adversity even when he doesn't remove the storm but instead stays present in it.

How you see Jesus determines how you respond to him: the crowd is entertained, the religious leaders get angry, but faith does whatever it takes to get to him, trusting he alone can meet your deepest need rather than the surface-level things you think you want.

Mark's Gospel announces Jesus as the true King and Son of God in deliberate contrast to Caesar's false gospel, and the biblical storyline of kingdom, exile, and promised deliverance finds its fulfillment in Jesus; so that belief in him means not mere intellectual assent but allegiance, surrendering the throne of one's own heart to him as king.

Reflecting on the Crossing's 25th anniversary, the co-pastors testify that God has faithfully grown the church from a handful of people to thousands through a long, often slow and ordinary process, all in service of one unchanging mission: that people would believe Jesus is more than anything else they pursue.

At the root of every experience of insecurity is a satanic lie that God cannot be trusted and is holding out on us, and giving in to that lie causes us to grasp for abundance on our own terms, which always makes us our worst selves; the only remedy is to trust God's promises and walk in the good works he has prepared for us.

Earthly wealth only has value while we're in this life, so Jesus commands us to invest it in heavenly treasure that lasts forever; giving generously now is the only way to truly keep what you have for eternity.

Giving is not primarily a financial transaction but an act of spiritual warfare: because greed and possessions constantly compete with God for lordship over our hearts, obedient generosity (especially tithing) breaks money's grip, declares that God is Lord, and results in God's blessing the 90% given more than the full 100% withheld.

God owns everything we have, and we are merely stewards entrusted to invest his resources for his kingdom rather than spend them on ourselves; generosity is measured not by amount but by sacrifice, and living with that end in mind is what leads to Jesus' 'well done.'

The historical evidence for Jesus' resurrection; five facts undisputed even by skeptical New Testament scholars; provides a rationally convincing basis for belief in Christ, even amid doubts about Christianity's cultural failures.

Because Jesus rose from the dead, God is not replacing broken people and a broken world with new ones but is making all things; people, bodies, and creation; new; that promise of renewal is the ground for including and valuing the weak, disabled, and overlooked now rather than discarding them.

Praying "your kingdom come" is not a passive request for something inevitable but an act of partnering with God as restored royal intercessors, pushing back the kingdom of darkness in our own hearts, relationships, and world because Christ has restored our true identity as rulers made in God's image.

When we pray for others, our deepest priority should be that they'd be right with God, because the story of the paralyzed man teaches that reconciliation with Jesus; not physical healing or comfort; is our most pressing need; praying for a friend is like carrying them on a mat to Jesus.

Christian meditation; being still before God to fill the mind with the reality of who he is; is the biblical, ordinary means of experiencing God more deeply, and contemplating his glory in creation replaces anxiety with trust and slowly transforms us into his likeness.

Praying in Jesus' name is not a magic formula or blank check to get our own way, but an act of surrender to Christ's reign that draws us into participating in his mission of restoration and rehumanizes us as true image bearers.

True lasting happiness is found not in success, wealth, or relationships but in wisdom, and Solomon's prayer in 1 Kings 3 shows that wisdom comes to us through the practiced fundamentals of obedience, humility, and prayer.

When Jesus teaches us to pray 'hallowed be your name,' he is teaching that prayer must begin with praising God as ultimate, because praising God's glory is how we experience him, rewire our hearts away from false stories of the good life, and find peace instead of anxiety.

Unconfessed sin doesn't cost the believer their status as God's child, but it does become a roadblock that hinders intimacy with God; confession; modeled by David in Psalm 51; removes that roadblock and restores the relationship.

When God doesn't answer our prayers to remove suffering, as with Jesus in Gethsemane and Paul's thorn in the flesh, we are called not to demand an explanation but to trust that God is pursuing a greater good we cannot yet see.

God's sovereign plans are actually accomplished through the prayers of his people, so prayer genuinely changes outcomes rather than being a meaningless ritual in light of divine sovereignty; as shown when Hezekiah's prayer, not his political negotiations, brought deliverance from Assyria.

Prayer is fundamentally about connecting with God as our greatest reward, and the Lord's Prayer teaches us how to pray by reminding us who God is, who we are as his beloved children, and what story we're in; starting with the phrase 'our Father in heaven.'

Praying without ceasing doesn't mean nonstop verbal prayer or a special time set apart, but a continuous conversational friendship with God woven into every ordinary activity, born from admitting we can do nothing on our own.

Every human soul thirsts for God, but instead of turning to him we chase mirages; success, romance, wealth, experiences; that always disappoint, because true and infinite satisfaction is found only in connection with Jesus, the living water.

Human beings are restless, distracted, and searching for meaning, value, and purpose in things that cannot deliver it; but because Christians belong to Christ, having been bought at a price, they already have purpose, value, and an ethic to live by apart from self-justification.

Being called an outsider by God is itself a gift and calling from God; following the pattern of Abraham, Israel, the prophets, the exiles, and supremely Jesus, who was crucified outside the city gate; and choosing to embrace that calling rather than conform, combat, or cloister is the only path to true joy.

Jesus exposes the shame we hide behind masks not to condemn us but to move toward us in love, revealing our true self underneath and inviting us to keep coming to him for grace every day, not just once.

The Christmas story is honest about how messy and painful life can be, and its central comfort is not a happy ending but Emmanuel; God with us in our pain, disappointment, and brokenness rather than a rescue from it.

Herod's fear-driven 'kingdom of self' contrasts with the Magi's worship, showing that our fears, insecurities, and craving for significance are only overcome by bowing before Jesus and surrendering our lives to him.

Joseph's crushing, faith-testing experience before Jesus' birth shows that doubts, disappointment, and heartbreak have always been part of the Christmas story; and being part of the Jesus story doesn't require a doubt-free faith, only that lesser doubts not override greater faith.

Matthew intentionally selects sinners, outsiders, and dysfunctional families for Jesus' genealogy to show that Jesus is a friend of sinners and that entrance into God's kingdom is by grace alone, not merit or performance.

Philippians 4:13 is widely misused as a promise of achieving personal goals, but in context Paul is saying he can be content in any circumstance through Christ's strength; contentment comes not from changing circumstances but from knowing Jesus.

Paul's command to rejoice always and not be anxious is not a simplistic platitude but a call to reframe our anxious mental images by trusting that the sovereign, all-in God who raised Jesus holds every detail of our lives and is working it all for good, even when we can't understand it.

Church conflict is normal, not a sign of a broken church, and Paul's approach to Euodia and Syntyche in Philippians 4 gives five concrete practices for resolving it: confront it directly, come alongside the person, plead rather than command, ask for outside help, and remember your shared identity in Christ.

Preached three days before the 2024 election, this sermon argues that Christians must recognize Jesus alone as King and their citizenship in heaven as primary, holding political loyalties loosely because political behavior toward fellow believers has eternal consequences for the church's witness.

Knowing Christ intimately; not comfort, success, or achievement; should be the singular, all-surpassing priority of life, and pursuing it requires admitting how far you still have to go, refusing complacency, and refusing to be paralyzed by either past successes or past failures.

Paul's shocking use of a crude word for excrement to describe his impressive religious résumé shows that all self-derived righteousness is worthless dung, and true righteousness comes only through utter dependence on Christ, not a mix of self-effort and grace.

True spiritual growth and the joy Paul had even in prison come from a partnership: God gives the desire and power to change, but believers must actively work out; not work for; the salvation they already have in Christ through ongoing effort, prayer, and choosing joy.

A humble, cross-shaped mindset modeled by Christ's self-emptying is the counterintuitive key to a bigger relational life, while selfish ambition and the need for others' approval shrinks our lives into isolation.

Paul's command to 'live as citizens' worthy of the gospel of Christ was a politically subversive claim that Jesus, not Caesar, is the true Savior and Lord, and that both belief in the gospel and suffering for it are gifts from God that produce an eternal glory outweighing every hardship.

True joy and peace are not found in achievement or circumstance but come from surrendering your life to God, seeing beyond what merely happened to what God is actually accomplishing, and fixing your hope on the eternal things in Christ that can never be taken away.

Seeing more of the reality of who God is and who we are in Christ (holy, in Christ, part of a story God is completing) transforms how and what we pray, moving us from confusion or distance to thanksgiving and confident, specific prayer for growth in love and knowledge.

God's holiness; both his transcendent otherness and his moral purity; is the foundation for understanding his love, justice, and mercy, and true faith and holiness in believers grows not from behavior modification but from rightly believing what God's holy nature means about his trustworthiness.

When we feel surrounded and overwhelmed by our enemies and problems, the biblical pattern is not to fight in our own strength but to get on our knees in prayer, because the battle belongs to God and he always wins it.

Praying without ceasing isn't a special technique but a shift from treating prayer as an occasional act to making it the continuous way you live your whole life, talking to God through every moment of the day.

Luke deliberately anchors the story of Jesus in verifiable history so that readers can have certainty it really happened, and once we believe it happened, the one thing to take away is that God's infinite love was specifically aimed at us personally when Christ died.

The bodily, historical resurrection of Jesus is God the Father's declaration that sin's penalty is fully paid, and it guarantees believers a future resurrected, glorified life; turning present grief and fear into an unshakable joy.

Jesus won ultimate victory precisely through losing; being crucified as a criminal, forgiving his executioners, and saving a dying thief; so following him means embracing his upside-down definition of winning through humility, self-denial, and courage rather than performance or worldly success.

Genuine faith in Jesus means believing and obeying him as king, not merely belonging to the social club of Christianity for entertainment, comfort, and status; illustrated by Herod's shallow fascination with Jesus in Luke 23, which reveals how the same crowd that shouted Hosanna could turn and cry crucify him within a week.

Peter's denial of Jesus was not the end of his story because Jesus met him at his dead end with a look of restoring love rather than judgment, and that same love meets us in our own denials of Jesus and leads us into deeper surrender and mission.

Jesus warns that fixating on 'horizontal' circumstances; wars, disasters, persecution, even his own second coming timeline; is a trap, and calls disciples instead to a 'vertical' orientation toward him, seeing suffering as an opportunity for gospel witness and standing firm for eternal life.

Political and cultural fear is a manipulation tactic that shuts down our thinking and makes us pliable, but because Jesus only feared God and knew he sat on heaven's throne, he refused to be co-opted; and because we bear God's image, God demands not just our taxes or votes but our whole heart, life, and allegiance.

Jesus told the parable of the minas to correct his disciples' expectation of an immediate earthly kingdom, teaching that we are stewards, not owners, of everything God entrusts to us, and that one day we will give an account for how we invested it for his kingdom rather than our own.

In Luke 18's parable, Jesus teaches that no righteousness scorecard; religious performance, morality, or spiritual preferences; can make anyone acceptable to God; only the humble cry for mercy, resting on Christ's atonement, results in being declared righteous.

The healing of the ten lepers reveals that saving faith looks like the Samaritan's response; humbly returning to fall at Jesus' feet in gratitude; rather than merely receiving what you asked God for and moving on; gratitude requires humility, and the failure to give God thanks is the first domino behind humanity's brokenness.

Jesus' parable of the rich man and Lazarus teaches that eternal destiny is determined not by wealth or poverty but by repentance, and the mark of genuine repentance is caring for vulnerable people God cares about; those who resist God's revelation in Scripture now will not believe even if someone rises from the dead.

Two lies keep us from experiencing God's love; that a better life exists apart from him, and that we can earn our way back through self-reformation; but the prodigal son's story shows God runs to meet us with grace the moment we abandon those plans and cast ourselves on his mercy.

Jesus's hyperbolic call to "hate" family in Luke 14:26 is a Semitic idiom for radical preference, warning that anything loved more than Jesus becomes a disordered, ultimate thing the world and the devil will use to manipulate and destroy us, since only Jesus can bring the true Shalom we're made for.