Crossway Baptist Church

They did not nail him then, but simply bound him. And he, placing his hands behind him, and being bound like a distinguished ram [taken] out of a great flock for sacrifice, and prepared to be an acceptable burnt-offering unto God, looked up to heaven, and said,

“O Lord God Almighty, the Father of thy beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ, by whom we have received the knowledge of Thee, the God of angels and powers, and of every creature, and of the whole race of the righteous who live before thee, I give Thee thanks that Thou hast counted me, worthy of this day and this hour, that I should have a part in the number of Thy martyrs, in the cup of thy Christ, to the resurrection of eternal life, both of soul and body, through the incorruption [imparted] by the Holy Ghost. Among whom may I be accepted this day before Thee as a fat and acceptable sacrifice, according as Thou, the ever-truthful God, hast foreordained, hast revealed beforehand to me, and now hast fulfilled. Wherefore also I praise Thee for all things, I bless Thee, I glorify Thee, along with the everlasting and heavenly Jesus Christ, Thy beloved Son, with whom, to Thee, and the Holy Ghost, be glory both now and to all coming ages. Amen.”

Source: www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.iv.iv.xiv.html

One of the lessons from last week’s Sunday School class was to petition God with specific requests. Why? Well, one reason is so that we may glorify God when we see Him answer those specific prayers. This is what happened to me today.

First, our Sunday School class was full.

Second, nearly the entire body was gathered together for Sunday morning worship.

Third, we were blessed to have guests with us this morning.

Fourth, both brothers Jeremy and Charlie preached clearly, passionately, and powerfully from God’s Word.

I was so excited to see God’s gracious answers that I started sharing them with my family as we were pulling out of the parking lot.

Blessings in Christ,

David

By John MacArthur. As Adapted from Our Awesome God in Do you Draw Near? by Tony Cappocia at Bible Bulletin Board.

Αcceptable worship doesn’t happen spontaneously- you must prepare yourself. Let’s look at Hebrews 10:22. “Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” That verse begins with the phrase “let us draw near”-it is our call to worship. What follows are four checkpoints to help you prepare for worship.

The Checkpoint of Sincerity – We are to draw near “with a sincere heart.” That speaks of a genuine heart, devoted to pursuing God. It is hypocritical to be worshiping God when you are really apathetic or preoccupied with self. Draw near to God with your whole heart.

The Checkpoint of Fidelity – We are to draw near “in full assurance of faith.” The Hebrews were clinging to Old Covenant forms of worship to find acceptance before God; but the coming of Christ put an end to ceremony and sacrifice. Each person had to be willing to say, “I’m coming to God in full confidence that I am not saved by a system of ritual. I come fully by faith in Jesus Christ.” You too are to be fully assured that God accepts your worship, not because of what you do, but because of what Jesus did in providing atonement for you.

The Checkpoint of Humility – We are to draw near to God “having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience.” That is, you come to God with the knowledge that you are unworthy to be in His presence. The only reason anyone can come to Him is the blood of Christ, which was shed on the cross as a cleansing for sin.

The Checkpoint of Purity – We are to draw near having “our bodies washed with pure water.” That refers to the daily cleansing by the Word of God. The process of sanctification ferrets out sinful thoughts and exposes sinful behavior. Before you worship, confess the sins that God uncovered through His Word so you can draw near in purity.

Every time you worship, whether corporately or privately, try preparing yourself by asking these questions:

• Am I seeing God anew in the Word through discovery and meditation so I am compelled to draw near to Him?
• Am I being sincere? Is my heart fixed on Him and undivided?
• Am I fully assured that only faith in Christ can bring me to God’s throne?
• Am I coming humbly, realizing I can draw near only because of what Christ has done for me?
• Is there any sin in my life I haven’t dealt with?

Brothers and Sisters, think about these 6 points.

Adapted from Direction how to hear Sermons by George Whitefield.

1.  Come to hear them, not out of curiosity, but from a sincere desire to know and do your duty.

2.  Do not only prepare your hearts before you hear, but also give diligent heed to the things that are spoken from the word of God.

3.  Do not  entertain any the least prejudice against the minister.

4.  As you ought not to be prejudiced against (the preacher), so you should be careful not to depend too much on a preacher, or think more highly of him than you ought to think. For though this be an extreme that people seldom run into, yet preferring one teacher in apposition to another, has often been of ill consequence to the church of God. It was a fault which the great Apostle of the Gentiles condemned in the Corinthians. For whereas one said, “I am of Paul; another, I am of Apollos: are ye not carnal,” says he? “For who is Paul, and who is Apollos, but instruments in God’s hands by whom you believed?” And are not all ministers sent forth to be ministering ambassadors to those who shall be heirs of salvation? And are they not all therefore greatly to be esteemed for their work’s sake?

5.  Make a particular application of every thing that is delivered to your own hearts.

6.  If you would receive a blessing from the Lord, when you hear his word preached, pray to him, both before, in, and after every sermon, to endue the minister with power to speak, and to grant you a will and ability to put in practice, what he shall show from the book of God to be your duty.

You can subscribe to sermons from the pulpit of Crossway Baptist Church by going to this website:  www.cwbaptistpulpit.blogspot.com

The audio from tonight is unavailable due to a technical error on my part.  I didn’t change the batteries in the mic.  Sorry.

I’ll begin teaching a new Bible study on Wednesday, January 7, 2009.

This new Bible study is “a hands on guide to reading and using the Bible” from matthiasmedia called Postcard from Palestine.

From the back cover of the book:

Postcard from Palestine shows you how God’s Word, originally delivered so long ago and so far away, is still addressed to us today. Author Andrew Reid provides examples and practical ‘hands on’ exercises, so that you can see how to make the most of reading the Bible, and then try it for yourself.

It looks to be a good study! I hope I’ll see you there.

Blessings in Christ,

David

We wanted to do something special for our Church Family, so we decided to cyber-carol you!

Click here for a Cyber-Carol!

Merry Christmas!

Here is the audio from this evening’s Ordination Service in which Crossway Baptist Church set aside Charles Henderson, David Rosati and Jeremy Weaver as Elders.

Steve Weaver officiated and preached the charge to the Elders and the Church and D. J. Cimino led the congregation in singing worship to God.

Ordination Service

…to be hated?  I uploaded David Rosati’s sermon from last Sunday this morning.  Go take a listen.

After the beginning of the year we will be changing our kid’s class.  Currently, the kids are meeting on Sunday evenings.  This will change to Wednesday night.  This will allow them to participate in the Sunday evening services with the rest of us, as we will be changing our Sunday Evening service into more of a standard Church service.

On Wednesday nights, Magaly will continue teaching ages 3-9, and I (Jeremy) will be starting a new class for ages 10+.  This will allow our kids to receive more age specific teaching in these classes.

My goal in the 10+ class is to begin teaching our children Bible doctrine, how to study the Bible, and how to serve God.

Magaly has some good God-centered lessons ready to go for the younger kids.

If anyone would like to help with either of these classes, let me know.

Jeremy Weaver