The following is a recent e-mail exchange; slightly modified for confidentiality.

Pastor,

A few questions. I’ve been reading 2 Samuel 12 and it bothers me. David commits adultery and his mistress bears a son. God reveals that as part of the punishment the child will die. Why would God choose to punish an innocent child for the dad’s sin?

Second, I’ve been thinking about the topic of suicide. Some believe that when one kills themselves that it is an unforgivable sin and they go to hell. Is that true? What does the Bible say about this? I’ve lost people to suicide and it’s always made me wonder.

Thanks!

Question Guy

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The following is a recent e-mail exchange; slightly modified for confidentiality.

Pastor Matt, 

Just so you know, I’m agnostic. I can’t rule out the existence of God and I can’t satisfyingly prove it either. But here are some questions I’m struggling with. Is it possible that grave robbers or Romans took Jesus’ body so his followers didn’t make a monument out of his grave? What makes Jesus’ followers different from the followers of David Koresh or the 9/11 terrorists? Their changed lives are not enough evidence of Jesus’ validity; the terrorists were just as confident in their beliefs and willing to die too. Isn’t it possible that God sent different prophets to different parts of the world at different times, and Mohammed is just like Jesus? Why does one religion have to be “right”? It’s just like political parties. Thanks for helping.

Yours,

Unsure Eddie

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So, later this year I am blessed with the opportunity to speak at the 2010 National Youth Gathering, held in New Orleans. It happens every 4 years and brings together 10’s of thousands of high school students from around the country.

The night I speak I’ll have about 20 minutes to talk and somewhere around 25,000 kids listening in. Crazy, right? It’s been a really interesting process over the last few months to wrestle with just what God wants them to hear.

I believe He’s led me to a really cool place with what I’ve prepared, but I still wonder at times - “is this making the most of those 20 minutes and the attention of the 25,000 kids?”

So let me ask you. If you had just one shot, 20 minutes and the attention of 25,000 kids–each at a pivotal point in their life–what is the one thing you’d want them to hear? What would you say with your one shot?

Easter at CrossPoint was crazy. In a really great way. The numbers are in and between our 2 campuses and 7 different services over the weekend some 4000 people came together to worship Jesus.  And, if you were there, then you know that in all of the weekend’s events CrossPoint—as usual—made a ton of bold creative choices in our effort to bring the brutality of Good Friday and beauty of Easter to life for all those in attendance.

This was especially true for our Good Friday’s Service of Darkness. In it we taught of Good Friday’s connection to Passover and how both the historical event, when God rescued his people from the hands of Pharaoh through the blood of a lamb, and the annual celebration of it that followed for millennia, were foreshadows to the death of Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. We did this through a series of short films which taught how the death of a lamb became a powerful, heart-wrenching, Israelite family tradition—commanded by God—that helped them remember their dramatic salvation from slavery to Pharaoh and look forward to how God would save us all from slavery to sin in the future.  If you missed the films you can watch them HERE. (Be sure to watch all three in order.)

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I don’t have ADD. At least, I don’t officially have it. What I do officially have is this inability to just “be.”  I always have to “do.” Sunday through Tuesday I’ll be doing a bit of teaching at a Conference held at a conference center in Middle of Nowhere, TX. I’ll have a good deal of down time and so I’m bringing the girls with me.  I’ll teach for about an hour or so each day and the rest of it is pretty much free; free to hang out with the girls, read a book, have a campfire, whatever.  Last night Lisa looked at me and said, “Are you going to be able to do this?”  “Of course. 3 days with no meetings and no interruptions?!  Absolutely.”

I was lying.  She knows it.

There’s something in me that is always itching to have a project, work on something, write something and that keeps me from ever feeling okay with just sitting, relaxing, and “being” and not “doing.”  I feel guilty when I just sit, even though I know that I need to; even though I know those I love need me to.

It’s something I pray about. It’s something that I know is really, at it’s heart, a pride issue for me. I think that the world needs my constant effort. Likewise, my sense of self-worth is tied to my ability to obsesssively achieve. Both are bad, narcissistic and sinful. (See, I’ve read enough of the scriptures to know how jacked I am.)  Thank you for Jesus.

All that said, I really am looking forward to this weekend. Really, I am.