Crossway Christian Church

We are twenty chapters into the book of Psalm. We have read and spoken of many different topics so far. We started with the purpose of the book which is a manual for living the Blessed Life. The writers of the Psalms have written of the refuge we find in God, His majesty, feelings of lament which leads to deep confidence in God, psalms of praise, thanks, and meditation to name some topics we have...

Last week we thought through what having a promise-making, promise-keeping God meant about that God. This week, we look at what that means for those of us who call themselves his children. The divvying out of the land in Joshua 13-22 is interrupted by two brief stories; one of the noble Caleb, the other of the fainthearted people of Joseph. These two examples, one good, one bad, help us to see how...

Last week we thought through what a right-response to God’s promises were. While faith is certainly front and center, often faith and trust in God’s promises require action and provide meaning and courage for those actions. We will extend these thoughts this week, and even into the next. If it is true that there are right-responses to God’s promises, it would be right to ask ourselves what it says...

The people of Israel are experiencing the victories of the promised land; watching as God’s promises steadily become reality. One by one, the kings and cities that stand in Israel’s way fall. The anticipation of the fulfillment has now become reality. We can often be confused as to how the promises of God become fulfilled in many of our lives, taking a “let go; let God” approach to his promises. B...

The OT is known for having passages that can make us squirm. Passages filled with blood and violence, wrath and judgment. Often, these passages leave us uncomfortable with the actions of our forbearers, and, in the worst case, they leave us questioning the character of our God; a God who not only condones but also sanctions and commissions such actions. The taking of the promised land is especiall...

Christians often run to one of two wrong conclusions. The first is that if there is indeed grace, and we can do nothing to earn our salvation, that obedience is obsolete, a remnant of a by-gone time of sacrifices that we must shun. The second is that obedience is still necessary to gain salvation, that grace is somehow a help, but not itself sufficient to secure us before the Lord. Today, we see t...

Often, when new leaders take over, they seek to make an immediate impact, demonstrating their leadership and their control. Joshua has no need to worry about such things; as God’s chosen leader, God will make his impact for him. While Joshua 1 demonstrated to Joshua that God was with him, God will make it obvious to everyone in Joshua 2-5:12. In these chapters we see God prove that he will be with...

Moses is dead. The Israelites find themselves entering the promised land, a land fraught with enemies and dangers, without the only leader they have ever known. Yet, God demonstrate that his promises do not rest on the back of Moses’ leadership, but that he is able to raise up another to take the people into the promised land. As the book of Joshua begins, it is this void in leadership that is foc...

Given how the last several chapters of Deuteronomy have gone, it may be assumed that Moses’ pessimism about the people’s ability to maintain the law borders on anger and his desire for the righteous judgment of God to fall on them. But this is far from the truth: Moses finishes all of his words to Israel by blessing them (Deut 33)! Moses doesn’t want their destruction, but he knows very well that...

As Deuteronomy comes to a close, we have noticed the two major arcs fall into place. First, Moses has explained the nature of the law to the people, calling for a radical obedience to God from the heart. Second, he has noted, most fully in chapters 27-29, that the people will fail in the law. Nevertheless, Moses is certain of God’s promises to bring his people, righteous and holy, into the Promise...

We often think of “curses” as simply four-letter words, used to express opinions in a rather rudimentary, and rude, manner. Spiritual, or even supernatural, curses are something for fictional works of mysticism, conjured up by a previous generations belief in the supernatural powers of the world. But the bible speaks candidly of curses, not from nefarious witch-doctors or ill-willed eastern mystic...

“Some people's sins are obvious, preceding them to judgment, but the sins of others surface later” (1 Tim 5:24).  Some people are easy to understand; they cannot help but wear themselves on their sleeves, showing their emotions and, sometimes, sins in the open.  Others, however, are quite able to keep their sin inside, and take on a form of outward holiness that is at odds with their hearts.  God...

In this Psalm, David reflects upon how it is that we can know about God. And he is not merely discussing how it is that we know God exists, but more than that he is unpacking how we can know God personally and what implications that has on our lives. Through God's creative action and his revealed word, mankind can know about the creator God, can know personally the covenant-keeping God, and can be...

We tell our kids not to lie on the regular. We often wonder whether others are telling us the truth, without keeping from us an important detail or fabricating a separate reality altogether. God has clearly outlined for us the fact that telling the truth is instrumental in our walk with him. Today, we begin to look at why this is so, and the most important ways in which we speak the truth today.

Don’t steal. It seems easy enough, and most of us can manage it well on any given day. Yet, the truth is, that not stealing means much more than just making sure that you don’t steal cars, lunches, or pencils from work. We steal from others when we don’t let them have what is rightfully theirs. In Deuteronomy 25, Moses provides for us some ways in which we can think through our stealing from other...

Sex is pervasive in our culture. From the wide acceptance of pornography, to the cheeky double-entendres in children’s movies, our culture is obsessed with sex. Sex is neither as important nor as seemingly unimportant as our culture makes it out to be. Rather, understood biblically, it is a good gift from God to be enjoyed inside of marriage, and helps us to understand something of the nature of o...

The injunction to not commit murder is fairly clear, so that little needs to be said concerning its merits or application. However, the command means more than just not ending life, but also in supporting life and upholding and honoring the image of God within humans. We are not fulfilling this command simply by not taking life; we must be those who fully support it.

As we have worked through Deuteronomy, looking at how Moses has explained the 10 Commandments to this point, many of the links between the commandments and the explanations have been clear. Not necessarily today, however. How do instructions for submission to judges, a future king, the giving to Levites, and the determination of true prophets relate to honor your father and mother? The family is t...

The Sabbath is one of the most divisive theological issues in Christendom. Believers throughout time have disagreed on whether we are to keep it today; some believing that the mandate is as old as creation, while others see it as a ceremonial relic from the law. Today, we look at the fourth commandment as it is explained in Deuteronomy 15-16:17, and attempt to focus on the hope this command is mea...

The command to no take the Lord's name in vain means much more than simply using his name flippantly. It means that God's name is being given to his people, and as such, they bear a grave responsibility to model his nature to the world.

Jesus is risen! This truth is the bedrock of Christian belief and of Christianity since its first days. It is the reason Christians are reconciled to God, the assurance of things not seen, the justification of the work and life of Jesus Christ. We have many reasons to believe that this event is not a mere work of fantasy, a nice myth that helps us with our pain and provides hope to the hopeless. W...

In Mark 15 we see an unjust trial against a perfect king, a sinner set free, and the wrath of God satisfied.

As Jesus faced the last week of his life, he entered Jerusalem during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, a week-long celebration about God’s deliverance of Israel during the Passover. It is no accident that Jesus would give his life during this week, and we ought not to miss the significance of this great act. Much can be learned from the themes of God’s act of deliverance, and both the way it was to...

Psalm 19 is David’s Testimony of God’s faithfulness in his life. David is not speaking as a king and a man of many accomplishments but as a servant, a humble servant, of the one true God. His direction for this Psalm is to the Choirmaster so that the Nation of Israel may sing this Psalm as a song of praise to their God.

The second command seems far from us today. We are unlikely to make graven images in the form of God, so that we might bow down to them and worship them. But thinking this way shows a fundamental misconception about the nature of the commandments, and the importance of loving God above all else. Israel's worship of idols was more than just a breaking of a commandment, it demonstrated first and for...