Cross Centered Life

(This was a post I made a while back, but I think it is a good reminder)

Cross Centered Life

Recently, God has been teaching me to keep the cross first. Life is all about the cross. Whatever I am studying, it all goes back to the cross. Believers need to be filled with the cross.

I've heard of some people who are not looking forward to Christmas, because they already heard the story before. They say it's old. We need to move on. But what should we move on to?

Talking about Paul, C.J. MaHaney says, "From his first epistleto his final letter to Timothy, Paul kept the atoning death and resurrection of Jesus at the center of his teaching. He 'reseolved to know nothing...except Jesus Christ and him crucified'(1 Corinthians 2:2)
And this wasn't a cold theological forula, either. Paul Lived a cross centerd life because the cross had saved and transformed his own life."

D.A. Carson writes, "He cannot long talk about Christian Joy, or Christian ethics, or Christian fellowship, or the Christian doctrine of God, or anything else, without finnally tying it to the Cross. Paul is gospel centered; he is cross centered."

I'm sorry, but we need to study the cross even more than we do. There's so much in the cross. The apostle Paul, who wrote many books of the New Testament, in all his books of the Bible he would always mention the cross. The cross was Paul's life. Even after 30 years of his conversion, he was still fascinated by the cross. What excuse do I, do we, have to be bored with the cross. The cross gives us life!

The cross wasn't just one of Paul's messages, it was the message Paul taught!
It is the centerpiece of Paul's theology.

If it was the centerpiece of Paul's theology, shouldn't it be our aim too, we need to be gospel centered. We need to be Christ centered. We need to be Cross Centered!


In Prayers,


-Justin

                                                              Hey guys!
I hope that all of your weekends went spectactularly! I'm actually looking forward to going to school tomorrow..haha call me crazy!

So Pastor Mark started a new series this week. It's called, "Im Free" based on the book of Galatians..and lemme tell ya..the sermon this morning was absolutely spectactular! here's the link for the notes incase any of you missed the message or are just interested...http://www.calvaryb.org/sermons.asp...just find the Message of Galatians series, and click on today's Sermon notes. 

Sunday School seemed to go really well too. I think, (At least for the girls) it was encouraging to be able to go through the list of qualities together and discover that there were several things that stuck out to us.  It was cool to know that we can help eachother come together and seek after Christ through our actions and mindsets. 

(For those of you who missed Sunday School this morning....I'm sorry!! you can go to www.therebelution.com and get the notes!  The titles are, "A real Man/Woman....does hard things."  It ties in with what Justin and Natalie already posted, and goes along with our topic on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.  If you can't find the notes there...just let one of us know, and we'd be happy to get them to you! They're quite interesting and really points out struggles that one might deal with.)

Also, i hope that you all are planning on going to Snowblast!  Even if there isn't snow (which i really really hope there is!!) it will still be great. Pastor Mark will be our Speaker (I'm soo excited!).  It's just a really awesome time for our Youth Group to bond on a level beyond hanging out in the Teen room.  We'll have a ton of fun activities, discussion times, and skits/games. The part that im most excited about is the revealing of our 2007 Missions Trip location! I can't wait! Don't miss this weeked! It's February 9-11!

We (Me, Natalie, Hannah, Justin, and Phil) really want to know what is going on in all of your lives, and totally would love to pray for any of you! If you have any requests, feel free to leave a message or comment, if you'd like, you can also call us or pull us aside at Chruch!!  Let us know what's going on in your lives

Also, feel free to make any suggestions of what you'd like to see happen in Youth Ministry..any concerns, ideas, or encouragements would be wonderful!!

Remember, this is our Youth Group's blog, and we'd love to use it in any way that you guys see fit! So let us know what you think!!

Have a great night, y'all!

In Christ,

Anna Jean!

The Rebelution