Jul 09
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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Jul 05
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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Apr 19
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?
Apr 06
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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Oct 09
This week in “How to Lose Your Faith in 4 Easy Steps” we talked about the role of prayer in the life of a Christian. There are two primary reasons why people don’t pray. The first is simply ignorance. Many feel like they don’t know how. They wonder, “Am I saying the right things, folding the right things?” And not wanting to feel as if they’re doing it wrong, they just don’t do it at all.
The second reason is arrogance. And what I mean is that in 21st century, Western culture, we are a people that tend to pray only when we have a major crisis. You know, when disaster strikes or death is looming. And in our part of the world life is pretty comfortable, life is pretty good. And when we’re feeling successful we’re far less prone to call out for a Savior. So we don’t pray.
And yet if you were to poll 1,000 people and ask them if prayer should be a priority, I’d bet the remaining hair on my fast-balding-head that the majority would say “sure.” Below are links to some books and resources that I believe to be very helpful in cultivating a life of prayer. Some are teachings on prayer, others are devotional books that will help get your heart ready to pray and even provide you with the words to say. Enjoy.
- Pastor Matt
Prayer Resources:
What You're Saying