(Jesus speaking)
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,
where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust destroys,
and where thieves do not break in or steal;
21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:19-21
I know The Crossing likes to give away "crap" like 3D t.v.'s, video gaming systems, Viking tickets, and even cars to bribe people to come to their church; crap that will just get stolen or eventually break down and rot away. You can't take your crap with you when you die. As pastor Bob Glenn quotes, "There are no U-Hauls behind hearses"
Crap itself is not a sin to own and enjoy; after all, who doesn't own a whole lot of crap? I know I do. But crap can become an "idol" when our affections for it are elevated higher than our affections for the Christian God. [The sin of idolatry is one that is most detestable to the Lord God. It is a topic I would like to address in a future post.]
So, in order to counter The Crossing's "gifts of crap", I'll be adding a new feature to my blog and will be giving away a gift every week under the title, "God's Gifts To You". I am doing this because I am concerned about people who buy into false gospels; they may be sincere in their beliefs, but believing a false gospel will only get you to Hell. Truth is the antidote to every false way, and that vast majority of the gifts I intend to give away explain what Scriptures teach.
RECEIVING CRAP VERSUS RECEIVING GOSPEL TRUTH
The enjoyment of crap will leave you empty and hollow. Your pleasure in it will eventually fade away and you will seek another idol to bring you happiness. No matter how much crap you own, no matter how much money you have, no matter how accomplished you are, no matter where you have been or what you have done in your life, your heart will never, ever be satisfied until you find perfect rest and pleasure in the Christian God who created you.
You see, crap has no intrinsic value, but the one True God is a Being of the highest, most exalted intrinsic value. He is the most worthy and precious Being ever to exist and is the source of everything good. Everything you enjoy that is not sin comes from the mind and power of God.
God does not want us to worship anything less than Him because he wants only what's best for us; God Himself is infinite in His perfections and He alone is worthy of our worship. It is pure folly for creatures made in His image to worship anything other than God who is infinitely valuable and can provide infinite pleasure.
When we finally break down, confess our sins to the Christian God, and receive salvation through faith in Jesus Christ alone, we also receive the gift of God Himself. It is my desire that "God's Gift To You" will help bring clarity to your spiritual condition and facilitate the restoration of the broken relationship with your Creator. If the idea of God being the source of ultimate awe and pleasure sounds boring or mundane to you, (I confess I struggle with this too) please consider the following...
THE AWESOMENESS OF THE CREATED ORDER
1 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork.
2 Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech nor language Where their voice is not heard.
2 Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech nor language Where their voice is not heard.
Psalm 19:1-3
- Imagine the breathtaking awe you experience when you visit the Grand Canyon, see an explosive ocean sunset, a stunning mountain vista, or the delicate structure of a beautiful flower.
- How about the pleasure of experiencing the serene sound of a gentle spring rain, the mystery of a crisp morning fog enveloping the surrounding countryside, the smell of fresh cut grass, the taste of an ice cold glass of water on a scorching hot day, and the brisk, invigorating feel of cool wind on your warm, sweaty body.
- Think about the fearful awe you would feel in the presence of a massive earthquake, tornado, or hurricane. Or how about the power of mighty ocean waves slamming into solid cliff walls and rocky terrain.
- Now imaging the size and magnitude of the universe that God created; it has at least a hundred billion galaxies each containing an average of a hundred billion stars!
- From the largest galaxy and the hottest star down to miniscule, mind-boggling, irreducibly complex systems inside every living organism, the intelligent code written in every DNA molecule, and the the fundamental particles of protons, neutrons, and electrons that make up all matter, it is all quite amazing, isn't it?
- And don't forget about the unfailing Laws of physics; gravity, electromagnetism, and the strong and weak nuclear forces. These must be perfectly balanced and fine-tuned by many orders of magnitude in order for the universe to be exactly as it is to sustain life.
- Are you in awe of the magnitude, precision and beauty of the entire created order for life to even exist? I know I am. All these things are simply awesome to contemplate and behold!
THE INFINITE AWESOMENESS OF OUR CREATOR
33Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
34"For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?"35"Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?"
or who has been his counselor?"35"Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?"
36For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
Romans 11:33-36
- If those things listed above captivate you and deeply move you, how much more so would the Creator and Sustainer of such things? Mountains and DNA molecules and galaxies and flowers and hurricanes and atoms and gentle spring rains and every other natural phenomena you can think of are mere reflections, hints, and shadows of the infinite Being, character, beauty, awesomeness, and holiness of God!
- If the natural order totally blows your mind, then the God who created such things will totally blow your mind infinitely and eternally! Being in the unveiled presence of a Holy God will be infinitely more awesome than every single mind-blowing aspect of the created order put together!
- God created it all and is sovereign over all. There is nothing unknown to him, there is nothing that can thwart His eternal purposes. When you think of God, all He is and how He has revealed Himself in nature, don't you think He deserves respect?
- Because we are sinners, that is, we are born with a sin nature, we have absolutely no respect for the Christian God. Before we are "born again" (the act of regeneration that God alone initiates) we actually hate Him and would dethrone Him if it were possible; after all, look at what happened to God when He came in human flesh: He was murdered by people like you and me. Protestant reformer Martin Luther said that we all carry in our pockets His very nails. Are you aware of those nails in your possession?
- The LORD is God and we are not, but we were made to behold His majesty and glorify Him in everything we think or do. By living by faith in Christ and His finished work, all those corrupted by The Fall will be restored and we will be perfected in Him in our resurrected state, living in paradise and enjoying God forever. That's God's promise as revealed in the Scriptures.
THIS IS HOW IT WILL WORK
- Roughly once a week I will post, picture (or a link) and description of "God's Gift To You" that I intend to give away; for example a book or cd. Then anyone who wants to participate can e-mail me at casey.nygren@parknicollet.com At the end of the week I will decide who will recieve the gift.
- I would encourage you to provide your spiritual background, whether you think you are a Christian or not, on what grounds you think you are or are not a Christian, and why you would like to receive that particular gift. I might use that info in selecting a winner or just throw all names into a hat and pick one.
- Please provide contact information. I will contact you either by e-mail or cell phone that you are the winner. You can then give me an address where I can send your gift.
- I may send an additional gift that applies to your current spiritual condition, circumstances, concerns, or questions regarding any point of doctrine that is a stumbling block to you.
- I will not post any of the winner's personal information on my blog to protect the winner from spiritual abuse.
- The "God's Gift To You" feature only applies only to the following...
- Anyone who attends The Crossing or any member of another church that they suspect is heretical, abusive, legalistic, or preaches a false gospel.
- Anyone who doesn't fully understand the Gospel and want to learn more.
- Anyone who does not know if they are are a genuine Christian.
- Anyone who knows that they are not a Christian but are curious.
- Any member of the Back Door Ministries Support Group.
- If you are a Christian with a solid understanding of the Gospel and everything that it entails, then please refrain from entering; I would rather give gifts to those who need it most.
- if there is no winner within a week, then that gift will "roll over" into the next week's givaway, giving anyone who enters the opportunity to recieve two gifts!
- You can be confident that I will not use your e-mail address for anything other than collecting information and receiving an address or cell phone number to send off your gift. I will not forward your information to any other enterprise, and I will not contact you for any other reason, unless you give me permission. However, you are free to contact me at any time.
- I would be happy to meet with you or talk with you over the phone if you have any concerns or questions.
- If you did not win the gift but think that you would benefit spiritually by receiving it, contact me and I will see if I have the resources to get you the same gift.
May God bless you, Casey
I am curious. Have you ever attended the Crossing? Or have you reviewed the sermons yourself? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI have never attended The Crossing. I have reviewed some of Eric Dykstra's sermons. Just wondering what your point is so I can deliver a response. Blessings, Casey
ReplyDeleteNo point just curious - thank you for the response
ReplyDeleteThat's cool, thanks for taking an interest in my blog! Casey
ReplyDeleteNergyn, You are welcome. My name is Kevin. Did not want you to attribute my comments to a third party - mislead you. Warmest Regards, Kevin
ReplyDeleteThanks Kevin, God Bless, Casey
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Jeff. I have been to the Crossing as well as other churhes in the Elk River area.Yes the Crossing is different but I have seen many people there that would be looked at as societies rejects by other churhes be welcomed there. Other churches could learn from the Crossing to be more accepting of the people that don't fit the "perfect" mold of what many believe a Christian should look like these days. Also Nergyn when you say you have reviewed some of Eric Dykstra's sermons I would have to ask how many. I believe that no matter what church one attends there will be sermons that one may find not in their liking. You Sir are vague when you when you desribe your true knowledge of the Crossing church. Perhaps you should go there and attend a few services. Then you could speak from first hand knowledge.
ReplyDeleteWith all that said none of my statements are meant to defend or prosecute the Crossing Church. It would be interesting to be open minded and decide based on your experience from attending the Crossing rather then the limited experiene you have by watching only the some sermons on line. Every church is an experience from the moment I walk in the door until at least the moment I walk out the door. With some churches the experience lasts well beyond walking out the door. The ones whose experience lasts beyond me walking out the door are the one that truely impact my relationship with my Savior Jesus Christ. If I don't walk in the door I fail to get the full impact of the experience.
Don't walk in the door...it is a scary place. Lead by deception. I was there EVERY weekend for a year, serving my heart out. Only to be KICKED out for not "fallowing the rules". Run fast from this place.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing Jane. Just more personal testimony that The Crossing is a bad, bad place!
ReplyDeleteGood Morning,
ReplyDeleteI would like to weigh on this topic and add something that is on my heart. When we go to church it is not about the experience that we should desire, it should be a desire to come face to face with God and walk away changed through worship, prayer, fellowship and the rightly handling of God's word (Acts 2:42, 2 Tim 2:15)
In the case of the crossings, the biggest problem that I see is that they do not rightly handle the word of God. There are other things, but I believe that since they are not rightly handling the word of God, it is affecting other areas of the ministry which is causing false doctrine, spiritual abuse, etc.
I have been to crossing events, I talked with the Eric and Bruce personally and I have reviewed a great number of the sermons preached. In every sermon I have heard preached the preacher does not handle the word correctly. I have heard them change Greek meanings, take the scripture out of context, summarize the God's word by adding and subtracting from it and make reference to people, places and thing from biblical history that is not there and in all of this twisting and changing the end goal has been their agenda for financial gain, volunteers or to increase the numbers.
As a point of reference I want to state that I have spend most of my life learning the correct with to lead churches, rightly handle God's word and lead men an women into a deeper relationship with Christ. With that being the case I have a BA, 2 MA and a D.Div (Church leadership, Church Administration and Divinity)so I feel that come with some knowledge in this area.
We all have to remember this that no matter how great the experience is, if the truth of God's word is not correctly spoken, then you get a great experience with lies.
When I walk into a church I want to come face with God and His word as God intended it to be preached, and not changed by the speaker, preacher, pastor, etc to support their agenda. We also should want our lives to be built on a solid foundation based on truth from the teaching I have heard from the Crossing (Mostly from Eric D.) that is not taking place.
The main preaching is feeding the flock false information, changing the word of God to support their agenda and I have a problem with that.
My prayer for the Crossings, the leaders and the people who attend is that they will come to know the truth and be set free. I believe that the leaders need to step down and go into restoration and the Baptist Denomination needs to come in and bring the Crossing under the authority of God lead, truth speaking and caring shepherds.
Thank you for allowing me to share my heart. I have counseled, shared with, heard the broken hearts and encouraged many, many people who have been hurt by the spiritual abuse that is taking place at the crossings.
My suggestion is that instead of wanting people to come and experience of a crossing service, but instead go and experience the pain of spiritual abuse by sitting with people who have been devastated by the miss handling of God's word
I love your blog and I feel that you voice is very important and needed during this time.
Thank you
Anonymous of 9/17/11 8:53am, Thanks for the well thought out comments. You are absolutely correct. It's funny that I was just reflecting this morning what the prior anonymous poster said.
ReplyDeleteMan-centered worship is a huge problem in contemporary evangelicalism. It's all about "me"; what can this church offer "me" to salve my felt needs and make me feel good about myself. Church was never intended to be a business commodity that is to be marketed and sold to the world. The message of the cross is foolishness to unbelievers, it's moronic.
So in order to get more unbelievers to church, the Gospel message must be watered down; don't talk about the unpleasant doctrines like God's holiness, righteousness, and justice. And do away with any in depth analysis on the doctrine of sin and the depravity of man. Hell isn't such a hot topic either, so it must be discarded.
Then when a church get's rid of all that unpopular doctrinal stuff, add the subjective, experiential elements that appeals to unregenerate man. Toss in a good helping of a legalistic, "I gotta do this to please God" mentality, and ultimately you end up with is a gospel that is so watered down and twisted that it loses all it's efficacy to save a man's soul.
The Church is to be distinctive from the world. When a church becomes like the world in order to woo unbelievers into it's doors, then it looses it's distinctively christian flavor.
Church is for Christians. It's about Christians coming together and worshipping the Christian God through the hearing of the Word and singing, confessing sin, fellowship with other believers, and being equipped to go out into our daily lives with the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Our motives for going to church ought to be God-centered, or more specifically, Christ centered, not man-centered.
I was wondering if there are any really solid churches in Elk River that are Reformed in it's theology? My church Redeemer Bible Church is interested in church planting. I e-mailed pastor Bob and the church planting committee yesterday suggesting that Elk River would be a great place to plant a church.
I have yet to hear a response, but I know they will not plant a church in an area that already has a solid, Reformed, bible believing church in the area similar to that of Redeemer Bible Church.
Let me know your thought's on that,
Blessings, Casey