The Fundamentals of a Church
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Luke 5:17-26 Jesus rewarded the faith of all the friends… it wasn’t just the faith of the paralyzed man. This demonstrates what it means to be a church. We are a family. Like a family, he church has a few roles in order to fulfill God’s design for it: To care for each other To carry each other To get each other in front of Jesus To chat about what God has done Crossroads – about heaven, earth, and the journey in between. Connect with us Crossroads Linktree:
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The Fundamentals: The Bible: Read it More
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Even atheists and agnostics would benefit from reading the Bible more. It is essential for understanding western culture. We wouldn’t have arrived here as a society without it. But besides that, the Bible is useful for us as Christians because it teaches us and informs us and shapes our actions toward the world around us: Isaiah 55:8-9 Romans 5:6-8 Genesis 1:27 Psalm 119:105 James 1:25-27 Romans 12:2 Do you engage the Bible as a tourist, visiting it 2-3 times per week? Or do you take up residency there, engaging it 4 or more times per week (more days than not)? When...
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Tales of the Sharpener
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1 Kings 19:1-5 God had used Elijah extensively, and he reached a point where he thought he couldn’t do it anymore. If he were a pencil, he would be dull. Over the course of God writing his story through us, we will get dull. So we have to sharpen ourselves to be prepared for his work. Here are some questions that we can answer to help determine how to sharpen ourselves: What sharpens you? Who sharpens you? To what end? Here are five things that can sharpen us as Christians: Remembering Prayer Service Community Rest Crossroads – about heaven, earth,...
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Tales of the Pencil
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Hebrews 12:1-3 Understanding that our lives are like a pencil that God is using to write his story can help us grasp the answers to some key questions. What is my purpose? What is God doing in my life? How do I align my life with God’s will? God is writing YOUR STORY. Psalm 139:16 God is writing THEIR STORY. Acts 17:26-37 God is writing HIS STORY 2 Corinthians 5:20 Crossroads – about heaven, earth, and the journey in between. Connect with us Crossroads Linktree:
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Back to School: Prayer
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As we get ready for going back to school, we can be praying for the students that will be starting a new school year. To aid us, we can think of these prayers in terms of the five “W’s” of writing. Who: God Genesis 1:1, 27, 31 Psalm 103:8-18 John 3:16 Deuteronomy 6:5-9 What: For needs For your worries For strength in temptation For direction and wisdom Matthew 6:32-33 1 Peter 5:7 1 John 5:14 Matthew 26:41 James 1:5 When: Ephesians 6:18 Where: Privately - Matthew 6:6 With others - Acts 4:31 Why: It’s God’s will 1...
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Taste and See
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Palm 34:1-8 Many of us have already surrendered the easy things, but now God is calling us to surrender everything else… the really hard parts. When we experience God and his goodness, it’s hard to to praise him. God works for our righteousness more than we do. When we come to church, it’s like a spiritual buffet: Sample everything Just like when you take leftovers home after a large meal at a restaurant, if you didn’t get a chance to absorb everything from a church service: Pack it up Don’t let those thing that you take home go unused: ...
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Spiritual Maturity
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John 15:1-17 We are like branches of a grapevine, and we can only bear fruit if we’re connected to the vine, which is Jesus. Bearing this fruit equates to spiritual maturity. Spiritual maturity is summed up by Jesus’ command to love, and to do that, we are called to lay down our lives for one another. Here are three ways we can gauge and improve our love: Love quicker Love broader Love deeper Crossroads – about heaven, earth, and the journey in between. Connect with us Crossroads Linktree:
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Communion
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Matthew 26:26-30 1 Corinthians 11:23-29 Jesus instituted the sacrament of Communion at the last supper during the Passover, and the church has carried on the tradition ever since. Why do we receive Communion? It’s hopeful For now. For future. Blessing and crying out. It’s communal Sons and daughters. All equal. It’s hospitable Given. Give. It’s covenantal With Jesus. With the body It’s confessional Reconciliation with God and with people Crossroads – about heaven, earth, and the journey in between. Connect with us Crossroads...
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Reaching: Don’t invite Your Friends to Church - Part 2
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5/31/26 John 1:35-51 Most people are not really interested in just being invited to church because they’re not interested in just adopting our morality or our religion. We do a lot of things just based on instinct. We are taught to bring people to church with us, and that becomes our default response, but there’s something deeper going on that we should be inviting people to. Instead of inviting people to your church: Invite them to experience “Come and see” Invite them to explore Spirituality. Reality. Self. Invite them to engage Invite them to be loved ...
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Reaching: Don’t invite Your Friends to Church - Part 1
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1 Corinthians 9:19-23 For some, when we invite people to church, they hear: “believe what we believe, give up the things we gave up, spend time with only the people we spend time with, and even vote the way we vote.” That’s not what most people want. And yes, we do want to invite people to church, but there’s some groundwork we should think about laying before the invitation. So instead of just inviting people to church, we need to: Learn to speak their language Find our testimony Invite them to their answer Crossroads – about heaven, earth, and the journey in...
info_outlineMatthew 26:36-56
Jesus’ struggle in Gethsemane demonstrates to us some things we should be aware of as we go through our own trials while following God. It teaches us what to do when we experience difficulties we believe God should remove, but he doesn’t. We need to be aware of:
- His presence
- His sovereignty
- His love
Crossroads – about heaven, earth, and the journey in between.
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