CrossPoint Community News 10/02/26

(Photo Credit: Robert H. Thune, Will Walker – The Gospel Centered Life Leader’s Guide)

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, 

       My hope for each one of us is that we are growing in our understanding of the gospel as we continue to age and mature. One of the realities that comes with a growing understanding of the holiness of God is a comparably growing understanding of our own sinfulness. The closer you bring a light source to a dark room, the more you can see of the mess that is inside.
       The problem is that instead of turning to Jesus, we go back to our own tendencies. We try harder; we make excuses; we pretend that there really isn’t a problem or that it’s not a big problem. Or we go the other direction and live with increased guilt, shame, fear, despair. For those of us who follow Jesus, there is a better way!
       We can, as James 5:16 points out, confess our sins to each other and pray for one another that we may be healed. We tend to be fine with confessing our sins to the Lord – after all, he knows everything. But confessing our sins to others? We fear that they may judge us or stop loving us, or leave us. So we work to save face by only confessing our sins to the Lord.
       But confessing our sins to another person allows us to better recognize our sin because we say it out loud. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in his book “Life Together” – “The last stronghold of self-justification is abandoned. The sinner surrenders; he gives up all his evil. He gives his heart to God, and he finds the forgiveness of all his sin in the fellowship of Jesus Christ and his brother. The expressed, the acknowledged sin has lost all its power. It has been revealed and judged as sin. It can no longer tear the fellowship asunder. Now the fellowship bears the sin of the brother. He is no longer alone with his evil, for he has cast off his sin in confession and handed it over to God. It has been taken away from him. Now he stands in the fellowship of sinners who live by the grace of God in the cross of Jesus Christ. Now he can be a sinner and still enjoy the grace of God. He can confess his sins and in this very act find fellowship for the first time. . . . If a Christian is in the fellowship of confession with a brother, he will never be alone again.”
       So, who are you letting know you openly and honestly? (CPC’s Measure 2a) With whom do you confess your sin, bringing it to Jesus and finding forgiveness, through our God who is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and purify us from all unrighteousness?

       Please continue to pray for the nations of Iran/The United States and Israel/Gaza and Ukraine/Russia and Sudan. May God grant peace and bring an end to these wars.

Further announcements can be found in the weekly spotlight. And other church wide announcements can be found in our weekly bulletin.