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Writings on Christianity

An Open-air Sermon

On August 5, 2019 I preached an open-air sermon at our hymn sing in downtown Naperville. Here’s the text from it: Thank you for coming out tonight to our hymn sing. We call this a hymn sing, because it is not a concert, but an invitation for you to SING hymns with us in worship […]

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Writings on Christianity

Naperville Belongs to the LORD

“The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.” (Ps 24:1) Sometimes when I walk around Naperville, I reflect on this verse. Every inch of Naperville belongs to the LORD: every tree, every animal, every person, everything. All of it is His, and rightfully so, for He is […]

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Writings on Christianity

What Child is This? Cookies & Carols 2018 Message

Here’s the text from the Cookies & Carols 2018 message I gave. Friends, thank you all for coming out tonight. My name is Tom, and I am the pastor of Cross of Christ Fellowship. We are a church that rents space here at the DuPage Children’s Museum on Sunday mornings at 9:30. We are glad […]

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Writings on Christianity

Cross of Christ Fellowship Year End Update and Stories

CROSS OF CHRIST FELLOWSHIP YEAR END UPDATE AND STORIES In case you missed it or are not signed up to our church plant newsletter, here’s the year end update and some stories. Thank you to all who regularly pray and give to the church plant. You are partners with us a huge help as we […]

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Writings on Christianity

Walking by Faith in Naperville

Martin Luther once said that, ‘All of Christian’s life is one of repentance.’ I think we could easily say that all of a Christian’s life is one of faith (note: I believe faith and repentance are essentially two sides of the same coin, true faith will show itself with repentance and true repentance will be […]

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Writings on Christianity

Living as a Christian in Naperville: 3 Additional Challenges

We continue our series “Living as a Christian in Naperville.” (To see the earlier posts, click here for our Introduction to the topic of how living in a location impacts one’s faith in Christ, here for how living in Naperville can help a Christian live for Christ, and here for the reality of 4 idols […]

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Writings on Christianity

Living as a Christian in Naperville: Considering the Challenge of IDOLS

Today we continue our series “Living as a Christian in Naperville.” You can find the introduction post here, and how living in Naperville can be beneficial for a Christian’s faith here. In some ways it is very EASY to be a Christian in Naperville: no one is physically persecuting me, I have freedom to go […]

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Writings on Christianity

Entrusted With a Child’s Heart

Entrusted with a Child’s Heart This past year our church, Cross of Christ Fellowship in Naperville, hosted a year long study called “Entrusted with a Child’s Heart.” It was the first year we tried it as a church, and we found that it was worth the time and energy. Each week some of the mothers […]

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Writings on Christianity

Culture Will Impact our Faith

Our Culture Will Impact the Soundness of Our Christian Faith To be “sound in the faith” is to embrace the truth of the gospel message without being distorted by false teaching and false practice. We see this in Titus 1:13-14, where Paul’s heart is that the Cretan believers would be “sound in the faith” and […]

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Writings on Christianity

Beauty of the Gospel Gives Me Courage

BEAUTY OF THE GOSPEL GIVES ME COURAGE EVEN WHEN I FEEL UGLY The gospel is the good news of God’s saving love for us in Christ. It is the message and truth that God, who dwells in unapproachable light and is infinitely holy, loves us and has reconciled us to Himself in Jesus. We were […]