The Gospel
The gospel message was preached to me every single Sunday from the pulpit. The gospel message was repeated to me by other members on days when I had unbelief, fell into temptation over and over, or neglected to be satisfied in Christ alone. I constantly need this truth and it was refreshing to receive it as often as I did. This gospel message is the good news that Jesus, the blameless and perfect Son of our Creator bore our past, present, and future sins on a cross and died for who would believe in Him. By his suffering and wounds those who would have faith in Christ have been healed and called out of darkness into marvelous light. Those who trust in Christ are now God's people and have received mercy. I am thankful this good news drove Crossview to live for Christ as its foundation and sole joy.
My Pastor
PJ...PJ....PJ. I love my pastor's preaching. I have learned a lot as I attempt to listen actively for 1 hour every Sunday. He exposits the scripture verse by verse giving context and application of the text. He gives solid points while God convicts and encourages my heart during the preaching. He encourages visiting Christians, our local church, and nonChristians. In addition Gods grace through him on the pulpit, PJ is a wonderful shepard to me personally. He has taken time to know me, encourage me, celebrate certain milestones with me, and rebuke me. He has certainly shown me areas where I have grown and areas where I am ignorant and am in need of God. I have been prayed for and cared for by this man. And finally in addition to that, I really see integrity and a lot of love in PJ.I see integrity in his willingness to be transparent to his brothers in fighting sin. I see the way he loves his wife and family and how they love me. That stems from his leadership. His vision for church planting and telling all the good news is so encouraging. I am looking forward to Lord willing continuing to be sheparded by him :)
My Sisters
OH GOSH. how do I not straight up start crying now! These girls will probably make me the most emotional as Crossview disbands. I will miss those who I wont be gathering with but do HOPE to continue to share life with them. Ive never had a more open honest loving grace filled relationship with a group of a girls. These women truly rejoiced with me and carried my burdens. There were moments of rebuke in times of sin but oh how there were sweet moments of God's grace as Jesus made me white as snow. These were tough questions asked of my heart, and tears as I dealt with the consequences of sin, but the words of truth that flowed from these women was so edifying. Ive read with these girls, have had hours upon hours of raw conversations with them, laughed together in all our silliness, were broken hearted together as we saw our depravity. There was no saving face, or pretending to be a Christian woman. We are all sinners, who are now saints because of Christ. I am thankful we had each other as a great gift from the Lord. They were lights to me. It was a means for Him to be glorified in all our interactions.
My Brothers
I think prior to coming to Crossview, I was jaded by men in my life who didnt really value or protect or care for a woman. I found it normal for a man to be sexual, crude, and prideful. For a season, I desired that in a man. I have been blessed a manifold times by the men at my church. I will miss these community of brothers being together. I personally have seen my own fiance grow so much specifically because of men who love the Lord, want to lead their wives well, truly learning how to be sacrificial servants, and hate sin. I will miss the absolute ridiculousness between these guys as well as real true love for one another. I enjoyed reaping the benefits of them being intentional, bold, compassionate, challenging, and loving.
Praying
It has been a joy to make prayer such an important and vital heart beat to our church. We would pray at least 5 times during sunday gatherings uniting as a church under the Lord. We praised the Lord, confessed our multitude of sins as a whole, asked God's to discern the text during the preaching, prayed as we were sent off for the week to make disciples and enjoy the Lord, and during communion as we broke break and wine. We had prayer lists which was helpful to remind us to contact others to ask how to pray for them. I had brothers and sisters a like pray for me throughout the week- in person, over the telephone, or text. We see prayer requests via email to the entire church and we are able to let them know we prayed for them. Crossview was imperfect, and we should have prayed more, I know I definitely should have, and need to continue to grow in this.
Singing Together
I loved loved loved singing with my church. The voices of broken sinners praising our God who is our hope. Ah-soooo good. While we are all different types of people gathering together, we have one voice singing hymns and psalms of praise. I came from a big church where I very much enjoyed the band playing and the loudness of the musical instruments. Coming to CV I came to learn and absolutely love singing hymns to a guitar. It was all about the gospel truth be embedded into the songs that called my heart to sing. Singing as a church certainly helped me bind my wandering heart to Thee. These were my fav songs to sing at Crossview: Jesus Paid It All, Before the Throne, In Christ Alone, How Deep, Jesus, Thank You, You're All to Us
My Local Church
One of the reasons why I came to Crossview was that I was learning the importance of the local church. Church Membership. Accountability. Being part of the body. This local church (although it was a 35 minutes drive away, 45 minutes if Jose's driving ;p) was my imperfect and yet perfect for me home church. These people discipled me and let me disciple them. In fact we were called to do just that in our covenant. I witnessed 3 excommunications for unrepentant sin, in which Ive seen 1 restoration and deep wrestling in the heart for the other 2. Ive seen only by God's grace has He kept me from stumbling into a nonchristian and a big reason is because God is using my local church to remind me of the good news.
Meeting Needs
The coolest thing I was blessed by was that our church was almost always meeting mental and physical needs. Ive seen bills paid, money given, homes shared, food given time shared to find housing or peace of mind. It was a blessing to see people who didnt even know a person that well give without hesitation, expectatoin, or strings attached. Thsi is because the Lord has given us MORE than we deserve. Our money is not our money- it is the Lords. Our time is ought to be spend glorifying Jesus. We ought to be cheerful givers. I saw displays of that time and time again and my heart rejoiced.
Eating Together
This was not just a tradition done after Sunday gatherings- but a part of life in order to bless one another. This is where a big chunk of my money goes to- but gladly so. I eat with people all the time in order to listen, speak, carry burdens and celebrate with them. Eating after sunday services were always wonderful- I got to see people give to the church to the provide lunch for others, serve others food, and then the speaking of truth after and sharing life was always beautiful to see. I hope to continue to eat with others and provide food for others whether on the street or in my own home in marriage.
Disciples Making Disciples
Oh how this was engraved into my head and heart during my time here. I saw the importance of not only being a disciple of Jesus but also being a disciple who wants to make disciples of Jesus. Following the great commission but also continuing to teach other women and encourage men in Christ! Ive seen members try to live this out on a daily and I will try to live the same way. One thing I would like to grow in at the next local church I am a member of are practical and good opportunities for missions either locally or overseas. I feel strongly about evangelism and gospelizing others and would like Jesus's help to shape me into Him in telling other the good news more often. Pray for me and this new season!
I am looking forward to to transferring to a new church. I will keep you updated on pending membership in the future.
Oh, Crossview! :'( Thank you for so much! Oh Jesus, My Lord - an even bigger Thank YOU!
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