Crossroads Church

As Jesus made His way throughout Galilee the report about Him began to grow and spread. He wasn’t just teaching with authority, He was living with authority. In the span of a view verses Jesus cast out a demon, heals his mother in law, and leaves town as the crowds grow. There was a purpose and intention to His actions and life the speaks to a clarity of mission that most of us miss. Rightly order...

As Jesus entered his hometown synagogue, expectations were rising. Reading from scripture, He Invited all those present to experience the hope of HIs Kingdom, and yet they refused to believe. Freedom was in front of them, but instead they chose the chains of what they knew. Jesus has come that we may have life, why do we continue to choose death?

In our moments of weakness, where do we find strength? When you are filled with doubts, where do you look for truth? As Jesus is led into the desert for forty days He is confronted by lies of the enemies. But in these moment He shows us how to combat lies and He begins a show a new way forward for all of Humanity.

Who are you? This a question that seems simple but can often haunt us. People are quick to tell us who we are or who we should be, but whose voice matters most. The beginning of Jesus was marked by a clear declaration of who He was and is. Luke also reminds us that this good news is not just for some, but Jesus has come for all.

Many of us have found the road of life to be a little bumpier than we hoped. And for many of us, we have made things more complicated and harder than necessary because we have forgotten what is most important. Before Jesus was to burst on the scene John the Baptist was called to prepare the way. To make straight the paths that were crooked, to level the hurdles so that those of his day may better...

An old man, who lived a faithful and devout life, waiting for the comfort of his people to come. Why the days of his life were growing dim, the light he awaited grew bright. The light had come and everything would change. The man who long awaited the blessing of God on his people would now bless the savior of the world

Far from a palace, in the quiet of the fields, shepherds were tending their flocks. When the night came alive around them. Good news of great joy for all people, a message just as much for the shepherds as it is for us today. Good news of great joy, Jesus has come!

We find a pair of panicked parents looking for a lost son. After 3 days of searching, they finally find him sitting among the teachers, eagerly learning, asking questions, and lingering at the temple. The boy, Jesus, just wanted to be in His Father’s house. Where do we eagerly desire to be? And how can we begin to foster and practice an intentional rhythm of being with the Father?

Filled with the Spirit, Zechariah lets forth a poem of praise. His son would help prepare the way for the coming Messiah. And this messiah would bring light to those who sit in darkness. This is the good news of Jesus’ incarnation, that light has come and it shines forth even in the gloom of despair.

God is on the move and not only that He is moving into the neighborhood. This move toward humanity marks a coming shift as God’s Kingdom will not look like the Kingdom of man. But this is good news for those who feel lost or less than.

Mary was not expecting the visitor she received, nor the message that would be brought, but even in this her faith in God fueled her peace. Mary proves to be an example to us of what it means to say yes to God even when we do not fully understand.

Zechariah and Elizabeth had experience in losing hope. They had no children and assumed those days were long gone. For many in Israel, hopes of a savior seemed just as lost. God had been so quiet and yet in the midst of silence would come a rumble of unexpected hope. Luke’s account of Jesus’ life begins with the unexpected and the quiet beginnings of hope would begin to stir once again.

Questions to think through: How do we remember and celebrate past events? How does the end of Esther complete the arc of reversal in the entire account? What are the rhythms of remembering for us today?

Questions to think through:  What do we learn about God in this passage?  How do we answer those who see these moments as the actions of an angry and violent God?  Why is this such a pivotal moment in the Hebrew Scriptures?

We have all heard the phrase, pride comes before the fall, and yet we are still surprised when the fall comes. When we become blind to our faults, our faults seem to find us. If we consume the wrong things, they end up consuming us. This is the lesson that Haman would learn too late. The very power he was pursuing, would end up consuming him.

All the plans were coming into place and yet one sleepless night would change everything. It can often seem as though God is absent, quiet, or just missing from the world around us, but He is always there and He is always working. On a night when King Ahasuerus could not settle his mind and sleep, Haman would be humbled.

Three days after her conversation with Mordecai, Queen Esther finds her way into the court of the King. While she had made a decision, action would still be required and this action could lead to death. Esther would eventually share a meal with the King and Haman. But we soon find that a place at the table is not enough for Haman, he wants more. Haman’s pride would be his undoing, and in his life,...

There are defining moments in our lives where we know the decision before us has vast ramifications. This is where we find Esther. All has been culminating to this moment. The girl with two names will have to decide who she really is and in whom she will trust. While our circumstances may not rival Esther’s, we are all faced with a defining moment to decide who we are and in whom we will trust.

History has a funny way of appearing in the present. Past actions have a way of showing up in ways we do not expect. Things that are not dealt with don’t disappear, they only tend to grow. In this section of Esther, we are introduced to Haman, a man who would seek to destroy all the Jewish people in the Persian empire. His bent toward destruction had deep roots of death that were never dealt with....

Compromising our standards, our values, and our faith, is not something we ever intentionally set out to do. Living a life that is uncompromising is especially hard when you seem to be swimming upstream. Mordecai and Esther were exiles raised in a foreign land, with foreign gods, and a foreign faith. To live as people of faith in exile, is to be in the world but not of the world. But how do we liv...

As we enter into the story of Esther we enter into a kingdom of excess. We see a palace pursuing power, pleasure, and opulence. To push against this way of life had significant consequences but to live this way of life was to forfeit true significance. As we set the stage for all that is to come we will discover that this kingdom is not too far removed from the world we are in today.

When trouble comes, where do we turn? When our hearts ache, to whom do we look? When our thoughts betray us, where do we find peace? A divided mind often plagues us in times of distress. In this Psalm, David reminds us to unite our hearts to fear God’s name.

There is a theme throughout Scripture that reminds us that we are not home. So how do we live as sojourners? David who spent a great deal of his life uncertain of where he would sleep but certain of what God had spoken over him, sings our way forward. How do we live well in a land that is not home? How do we live well in a place where evil thrives? We live with our eyes fixed on the Lord, certain...