Crosswind Church

As Christians we are people who believe in the Prince of Peace. An important question to ask ourselves is, what we’re going to bring to the table: hatred and fear or grace and love? That is the question for the Church today. As followers of Jesus, it is our duty to show the world what "peace" really means. From the beginning, the issue of race was central to that message of peace.

In this life, God has given each of us three resources: Time, Talent, and Treasure. Where we invest these resources determines where our heart will be. The best investment we can make is to put our resources towards heavenly things. This means that if we want our resources to grow, we have to give them away!

It's hard sometimes to see the end from the beginning. We live in a culture of instant gratification, so when we talk about long term investment, it can be hard to wrap our minds around it. When it comes to our time, talent, and treasure, the Bible is clear, we are work towards the long-term investment. Our eyes should be fixed on the eternal hope of Heaven and not the things of this world.

By worldly standards we look at someone's financial health in terms of how much they have saved, how much they have to spend, how much their investments are worth, etc. This determines their net worth. Jesus tells us Matthew, however, that we are to lay up treasures in Heaven and in doing so, we need to expand our understanding of financial value.

In the story of Lazarus, we see a side of Jesus that no other story shows us. In the midst of death and grief, Jesus enters in and allows himself to grieve with the people. We find that we have a savior that not only feels and understands the pain of loss, He has the power to overcome death itself!

In the story of the blind man being healed we find that the tables get turned on us! We are the ones who are blind. Our sinful nature makes us spiritually blind to the Truth, but in Jesus, we find the Light of the World and our sight is restored!

One of the guarantees in life is that we will go through storms. There a moments when we find ourselves lost in the dark, out at sea, and the entire world seems bent on destroying us. When the storms blows and waters rage, we need to remember that we serve a God who walks on the water! Jesus finds us in the midst of the storm, calling us to not be afraid.

Life can be overwhelming. We face seemingly insurmountable problems and difficulties sometimes and we feel powerless. What Jesus shows us in his miracle of feeding the 5,000 is that no problem is too big, no person is too weak, and no hunger is too deep when you add Him to the equation!

We have all had days or weeks when we've thought that we could go no further. Everybody knows what its like to be at the end of their rope. The good news is that we don't have to stay down in the dumps, crippled by out limitations or current situation. With Jesus, we have the power to get up and walk!

We often talk about our Christianity being a "faith walk" because our faith is journey. It's never in an instant that one becomes a Christian and is immediately strong, has perfect faith, and understands all the ways of God. With Him, faith is a constant journey, taking our life on expected roads and pit stops, all to help us grow and become more like Jesus.

In John's Gospel, the sign miracles are the ones that point the heart to who Jesus really is. The first sign miracle in John's Gospel is when Jesus turned water to wine. When we look at this wedding celebration we see four distinct gifts that Jesus brings us!

It was never intended that we would go through this life alone. We need other people in our lives. For some of us, the temptation can be to not let people get close to us because we don't want to get hurt, feel to vulnerable, or perhaps we are just too busy. The Bible, however, is clear that we are better, stronger, and have more life when we are together with other people.

The Word has a lot to say about worship! You don't have to dig far to realize that true worship is about Him, not us. If we want to breathe fresh air back into our relationship with God, we need to refocus our minds and affections back on to Him. One of the best ways to do this is through worship.

The Bible is much more than a book. It is possible to view it as out-dated and irrelevant, but to do so would be to miss the point that the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.

Too often, things that are routine can become mundane and prayer is no exception. Jesus, however, taught his disciples a method for prayer that is both life-giving and refreshing. When we look closely at the Lord's Prayer, we can find a way to put some life, and breath, back into our prayer life.

At some point or another, we've all been depressed. Some people even deal with depression their whole lives. Elijah, although a great prophet, was not exempt from dealing with it. His story is a great example of how we react to being depressed and God's plan to draw us out of the cave.

The old adage says that failure is not the falling down, but the staying down. Life can knock us down and we have a choice how we will fight back. The good news is that with Jesus, failure is never final. Jesus is always there to help us recover from failure.

What's the worst storm you've ever been through? Unfortunately, everyone of us will go through storms at some point and navigating them can be difficult. The hope we have is that we know The One who has overcome the world!

Jesus' ministry can be summed up by His words in Luke 19:10, “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” For us, being lost implies that we have value. When Jesus talks about saving the "lost" he is saying that people are worth saving. Despite our circumstances in life, we are worth being found.

What does it mean to truly have power? Throughout the Bible we see people who on the outside seem weak, but through God's power, do amazing things! These stories echo Paul's words in 2 Corinthians when he reminds us how God's power works best through our weakness.

Temptation can knock us down in a bad way. Samson found out just bad it could knock you down when he finally gave into Delilah. What can we do if we've given in? Is there hope? The story of David shows us just how powerful repentance and grace truly are to restore a sinful heart.

When we look at the lives of Noah, Abraham, and Moses we see amazing stories of how God tested their faith. Sometimes in our lives, we too can get knocked down by tests. The key thing to keep in mind is that faith helps us to keep believing, obeying, and persisting.

To often worship can be seen as an individual experience. While it does come out of a strong personal relationship with God, worship is also a highly communal activity that is designed to take place in the Body of Christ as a whole.

What does it mean to truly be generous? Over the years, the Church has sometimes gone to extremes when dealing with the concepts of possessions and wealth. What Jesus shows us in the Bible is that true wealth is found in Him and gives birth to a spirit of giving.

One of the biggest lies today is that we can find fulfillment on our own. Self-actualization is sometimes seen as the highest goal of human experience, but in the end it falls woefully short. What we see when we read the Bible is that Jesus tells us that humans can only reach our potential by connecting with other people.