Crossroads Church of Lillington

It is possible to study the Scriptures, know many of the basic teachings, and particpate faithfully in religious services and still not know and trust Jesus. Each of us must decide what we will do considering the claims of Christ.

After an intense time of prayer with His disciples, Jesus sees the spiritual struggles of His friends. Jesus’ heart is always for the gracious restoration of those who will acknowledge their sins and turn to HIm with full trust.

Jesus is about to face the supreme test of His life. The disciples’ faith will be tested like never before. Jesus is prepared for His test, but the discples are not. How do we prepare? Just as Jesus did - by spending time with the Father in deep and sincere prayer.

The hope of the Christian is an eternal hope that is given by God, preserved by God, and obtained through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is our Everlasting Father. He not only provides the only way to God, but He shows us who God is. Forever, Jesus is our provider and our protector. Sin separated us from our Heavenly Father, but through Christ, we can be adopted as God’s children.

Jesus is our mighty God. His heroic power over all our enemies is at work in His people’s lives, using His power to save us, to keep us faithful, and to offer us life as He meant it to be lived.

There was a time when we didn’t belong to God or to His Family. In Christ, the hosilities cease (or, are supposed to). We find our peace and sense of belonging and identity in Him.

Jesus is our Wonderful Counselor. He is the living Word, the infallible source of guidance, the inexhaustible widsom, the Truth, and the Way. His salvation is given to those who rest on Him.

Peter fails spectacularly after Satan is allowed to test him. Jesus assures him (and us) that in times of testing we are being prayed for by the Son of God and that after repentance and restoration, we are to help our brothers and sisters.

Christ redefines what it means to lead and be great. Greatness in God’s Kingdom is defined by our willingness to serve others, not by our desire for power or recognition.

In celebration of the Passover with His disciples, Jesus gives a new ceremony for His disciples to do until He returns. This remembrance is about the ultimate and never to be repeated sacrifice He was about to make for our reconciliation to God.

We can be named among the close firends of Jesus and still be struggling with a secret sin, be deeply influenced by Satan, and love self more than we love Jesus. All of those things led to Judas’ great betrayal of Jesus. Judas’ story didn’t have to end the way it did. How will your story end?

In light of Christ’s return, believers are instructed to look for the signs of His coming and to live in light of His return.

Because of what our sovereign God has already determined and done for us, we are commanded to stand up and look up into the face of Jesus who is coming for us. Life is hard and will get harder, but Jesus has saved His people!

In a surprising story, Jesus commends one of the poorest women in Jerusalem for her great generosity and faith in God. Giving that pleases the Lord is not always large in the world’s eyes, but is always sacrificial and from a heart that loves Him with abandon.

Bad theology will always lead to bad living. If we get it wrong about who Jesus is we’ll get it wrong about everything else. True faith flows from acknowledging Jesus as the unique Son of God who came to us in human flesh and is the only one who can save us.

It has often been said that death is the great equalizer, since we all must die. Yet resurrection is the great opportunity, since we all have a chance to enter into eternal life.

Jesus, in answer to another attempt to trap Him, said His disciples should give to the government what it requires (taxes), but reserve for God what only He should be given. Christians simultaneously live in tow kingdoms. [ Philippians 3:20 ]

We must either fall before Jesus in submission and worship Him or He will fall on us in judgement against our sin and rebellion

Jesus possesses God’s true authority. The whole Bible speaks clearly and powerfully God’s plan and purpose, and points to redemption being fulfilled only in Christ. In Jesus we are all confronted with this: Who do I recognize as my ulimate authority?

We should follow Jesus because He is Lord, not just because of what He can do for us. We bow in submission to Him because He King of all creation and the only one who can save us from our sin.

Jesus, almost to Jerusalem, calls His disciples to faithful living when He will physically leave them for a while. When He returns, He says we must give an account of what we did with what He gave us.

Lord’s supper worship.

Jesus consistently declared His mission was to seek and save lost people. Zacchaeus was a man whose mind and heart were captured with a desire to find out more about Jesus. When we are saved the inner work of God will be seen in changes of our outward actions.

Blindness and sight are both powerful realities and metaphors that reveal Jesus as the unique Son of God who can heal and save people. When Jesus opens your eyes, you will know who He is, follow Him, and glorify Him with your life.