Crossroads - Weekend Messages

Peter reminds us that we are recipients of so many gifts in Jesus. We have the Word of God preserved over millennia; we have faith communities and churches to belong to; and, of course, we have His mercy. The Life of Faith requires us to close the distance between what we ultimately want and what Jesus has to offer us.

We can often think a life of faith is a list of things not to do, but 1 Peter shows us that it’s so much more than that. Faithful living isn’t just avoiding what's wrong, but actively placing our hope in Jesus, pursuing a life set apart for God, and loving one another with a pure heart.

Persecution can cause anyone to question and even doubt their deeply held beliefs. But, according to Peter, questioning and doubting can be a sort of refining furnace for one’s faith. For anyone who places their faith in Jesus, the fire, though unwelcome, can produce a more genuine article. A life of faith must be tested, yet this is not a bad thing; it is essential to the believer's growth.

The final commandment in the Big Ten might be the most silent sin. It has been said that it is also the least confessed sin of them all. You shall not covet. What makes this commandment so important is that it is a sin of the heart. How we hold what we see. And whether we are willing to acknowledge it or not, it is something that we all struggle with.

We’ve all heard the saying “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.” But that’s not true, words do hurt. They matter and leave a lasting impact in the lives of those around us. In a world where gossip spreads quickly, half-truths feel normal, and people are paid to tear others down. God’s command in Exodus 20:16 reminds us that truth still matters. Join us as we explore...

We shouldn’t be surprised that God is just. The Lord values things being done well and in an honest and equitable way. It might surprise us that God wants us to honor personal property. He invites us to own things and asks that we respect each other’s things. That is the heart of the commandment not to steal. But there is still much for us to unpack on this powerful commandment.

Everything we're tempted with has a life cycle. We perceive something, we dwell on it, and eventually, we act on it. Adultery is no different. It has a beginning, middle, and end, and Jesus shows us that it is as much a matter of the heart as it is a harmful act. But this command is not only a warning. It is also an invitation into deep, undivided faithfulness, the kind of faithfulness God has alr...

Oftentimes, we take for granted things that seem obvious to us. As we are now looking at the second tablet of the Ten Commandments, we see how the Lord wants society to be ordered. Many of these commandments seem obvious to us but they teach us some very important things about God and about ourselves.

Honor. A word and concept we often hear–but it can feel heavy, complicated, or even be misunderstood. Yet, the Bible shows us that God has a lot to say about how we honor and care for one another. As we continue in The Law of the Heart series, we’ll see the commandments begin to shift from our relationship with God into our relationships with others. Join us as we explore what it means to live as...

Everyone knows that rest is needed for survival. God created humans to rest every single day. It may seem like an inefficient use of our time, but most people use at least one-fourth of every day for rest. But what about finding rest in your waking hours? That is a different story. Our culture is littered with issues from a lack of rest in our hearts and souls. We hear about burnout, stress, and a...

Names are so incredible because they carry identity, history, and meaning, and God’s revealed name is a declaration of who He truly is. The third commandment isn’t just about avoiding misuse of God’s name in speech, but about how we “carry” His name in every part of our lives as people who belong to Him. As those who have taken on God’s name through relationship with Him, we are called to honor it...

God is committed to making you into a breathtakingly beautiful being. But in order for Him to fully do that, you must give yourself completely over to Him. This holy submission will require each of us to submit our ideas of who God is to His revealed nature in Scripture. When we worship the real God—not a substitute–we don’t lose anything… We gain everything! 

Have you ever wondered why laws exist? It’s not something that we regularly think about. But at its most basic level, laws provide a framework for a society. The children of Israel, newly delivered from the bondage of Egypt, needed structure so that they could flourish and blossom. On Mount Sinai, God met with Moses and handed him the Ten Commandments, which is the cornerstone of the entire Mosaic...

It’s Resurrection Sunday! We love to celebrate Easter as a society. As fun as the celebration can be, the lived reality of the resurrection for the follower of Jesus is infinitely more astounding. Jesus’ conquering of sin and death through His death and resurrection has such far-reaching implications that it is staggering to consider. Yet, there is no greater way to celebrate the finished work of...

Palm Sunday has always been an important day in the life of the people of God. It marks the official beginning of Holy Week, which commemorates Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and it also sets the stage for Jesus’ death and extraordinary resurrection that we celebrate on Easter Sunday. Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem fulfilled many Old Testament prophecies. This Palm Sunday we will look at the...

When Adam and Eve allowed their own desires to drive them, they made the tragic decision to take what God had forbidden. That single choice fractured the relationship between God and man and reshaped the world we live in. Yet hope was not lost! Even at humanity’s lowest point, God’s faithfulness was already greater than our failure.

It has been said that people have the freedom of choice but not freedom from the consequences of those choices. This is a very sobering idea. It reminds us of the power of our God-given agency to make choices. It is amazing to have freedom of choice, but with that freedom comes tremendous responsibility. We must think consequentially. Our present human condition is the direct consequence of Adam a...

Genesis 3 is such a pivotal chapter in the Bible. This is where everything changes. Where brokenness enters the story. Where fear, shame, and hiding take center stage. We also see the heart of a God who continually pursues. The Fall didn’t begin with loud rebellion, but with quiet suspicion, putting more trust in doubt than in God’s Word. Today’s passage reveals that in the midst of our hiding, Go...

Whether we like it or not, to fail is to be human. YouTube is filled with compilations of home videos showing human failures–cars crashing, people doing illogical things, animals making messes. You name it, and there is a video of failure. But there was one most epic fail–Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. This weekend we will begin a new series in Genesis 3 to help us understand ourselves and ou...

In this message, we explore the seventh day of creation and see that Sabbath is part of God’s original vision for a good and flourishing world. God’s rest reveals faith that the world can be sustained without our constant striving, hope that points us toward the coming renewal of all things, and love that delights in what has already been given. From the beginning, Sabbath was never meant to be a...

What does it mean to be human? How shall we live? What is our role in the grand design of all things? These are the big questions that we ask ourselves. How we answer these questions is so important because the answers become the fuel for how we live our lives. God, our glorious Creator, had some very specific intentions in mind in creating humans. As we look at the sixth day of creation, we will...

God’s creation and the order in which He created it has deep significance for us today. The birds of the air and the fish of the sea all teach us about God’s unique character and qualities. What God speaks into existence, He also sustains. What God calls good, He also calls forward. If creation itself has purpose, so do you.

As we continue in the All Good series, day four reveals that the sun, moon, and stars are more than beautiful lights in the sky. They were made to guide our days, mark the seasons, and reveal God’s intentional order and design. Just as these lights are used to shine in the darkness, God also uses His Light to illuminate the darkest places of our lives. In this passage, we’ll discover how His desig...

We see in the creation account that God is ordered and precise. Ever-wise and all-knowing, on each successive day of creation He places the next necessary piece in place. Before God could create humans and the animals that would inhabit the world, He needed to create the places that they would live. On the third day of creation, the Lord organized the land and water so that He could inhabit them w...

Have you ever looked up at the sky and felt astonished? We all have. Whether it is admiring a gorgeous sunrise or sunset, seeing the innumerable stars on a clear evening, or just feeling soo small amidst the vastness of the heavens, the sky is always an echo to us. As we move into the second day of creation, we discover that the sky is more than beautiful. It was intentionally designed by God to r...