Cross to Crown Blog

  • Christmas Is Not About Your Family

    Christmas is not a family holiday. Think about it. The birth of our Savior and King, the advent of the promised Messiah, the incarnation of God's Son . . . these are not family-centered truths. Jesus did not come to save "the family." He came to save His people, the Church.

    It is a fitting blessing that Christmas falls on the Lord's Day this year. (Maybe we should move it permanently to Sunday.) What better way to celebrate our hope of salvation than by gathering together as His people and proclaiming His glory and praise? For those who have removed Christ from Christmas, only tradition, family, and sentimentalism form an adequate explanation for participating in the holiday season. But for those redeemed from the eternal flames of Hell, Christmas is not about any of those things. It's about Jesus.

    Other pastors have asked whether FRAC (my congregation) is having a Christmas Day service. My answer is, "Of course!" Worshipping Christ together in His congregation is no intrusion on my "family time." It is my family time. Christmas celebrates salvation, peace with God, forgiveness, eternal hope, and the lordship of Christ. Where else would I want to be to celebrate those things than with my brothers and sisters in Christ?

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  • The God-Approved Church and Seminary Curriculum

    It's week two of Church Leadership, Pastoral Epistles. Last Monday and Tuesday, we went through the entire letters of 1 & 2 Timothy, every verse. Tonight, Titus en toto. It occurred to me how rare it is to cover books of the Bible like this in seminary training. My own experience placed a priority on systematic theology, relegating the NT to a few survey courses. That approach seems inadequate and unwise for a curriculum designed to train men to preach the Scriptures vocationally.

    Studying Paul's instruction to Timothy in one sitting made it clear that the apostle was greatly concerned with false teachers. He warned against men who stirred up controversies and distracted the church from the primacy of Christ and the gospel. Timothy was not urged to teach systematic theology. His charge was to preach the word, i.e. the story of Jesus. Anything else threatened to lead believers into dangerous or tangential territory. Timothy's task was to keep the main thing the main thing, and to command other teachers in the church to do the same.

    Seminary students and graduates need to receive Paul's instruction. Systematic theology, church history, apologetics, and entertaining stories are no substitute for Christ and Him crucified. It's the God-approved church and seminary curriculum.

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  • It's Not Our Church to Build (Acts 16:6-15)

     [Click through for outline & discussion]

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  • Great Book for Church Life

    Community by Brad House-jpeg

    Pastors, elders, and other church leaders need to read this book.

    If you consider yourself "missional," you need to read this book.

    If you want to impact your city or region for the gospel of Jesus Christ, you need to read this book.

    If you want your church to become a family of disciples, you need to read this book.

    If you are a Christian, you need to read this book.

    I think you need to read this book.

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