CrossWords Ministry

The Divine Swap: God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so  that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. - 2 Co 5:21. God so loved the world - a love unknown to us which God was to manifest  in the person of Jesus to show the full extent of His love by a unique  sacrifice that still leaves us in awe. An exchange takes place  when the believer is baptized, placin...

What gets in the way of proper adulting? The Heart. We confuse our "yes's" and our "no's". We lose integrity because we get too proud and manipulated by our passions. As parents we need to teach our children the difference between "yes" and "no" before they turn 1. We need to teach them to say "yes" and "no" with conviction and respect others when they say "yes" and "no". With this training we tea...

Wisdom and training are needed in order to be influential on social media in a godly way. Satan capitalizes on our greed and curiosity - he makes worldliness attractive. What can you do to get your child's heart longing for God instead of the world and become a force for good? Take a listen. 

Jesus' prayer in John 17 shows His care and focus on unity. To be part of the answer to His prayer we need to make sure we are members of His body, taking up His mission to preach the Gospel. The Spirit was given to us to help us in our weakness because we don't know how to pray. We will examine a passage that gives us a new acronym for prayer in 1 Tim 2:1. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we can...

Jesus teaches us how to deal with abandonment and rejection when He was at the lowest point of His life on Earth. Accepting our human vulnerabilities is a major lesson Jesus illustrates with His life. Salvation is found when we accept our humanity, including our lot and the vulnerabilities that come with it, and humble ourselves before God. When we own the hurt of life, God teaches us to use our h...

Who is more powerful, a lion or a lamb? A roaring lion or a slaughtered lamb? It may seem obvious to you, but things are not as they seem. Jesus teaches us about power when He washed His disciple's feet. Would you let Jesus wash your feet? Those who refuse His foot washing have no part with Him. Those who let Jesus wash their feet continuously purify themselves and will sit at His feet in heaven....

Jesus says, "I am making everything new!" (Revelation 21:5). Here in the world people are always looking for the next big thing; the next upgrade, the latest and the greatest. All we can imagine here pales in comparison to what God is preparing for us. When Jesus was transfigured on the mountain the curtain of this virtual life is peeled back and we see something eternal for a brief moment. A look...

Who are you? Do you really know who you are? What do you define yourself by? Are you swayed by what people say about you, or who or what you should be? Are you grasping at the straws of society's definitions of who you ought to be? Knowing who Jesus is will bring about the discovery of who you really are.  Listen in to discover the grandeur of who Jesus wants you to be.  You can also wat...

Jesus was undeterred in His loyalty towards us. Even when facing opposition, ridicule and death threats, He was not deterred in accomplishing His goal for our sake. He makes an invitation for us to come to Him and surrender ourselves to His yoke, so that rivers of living water can flow from us. Jesus wants to make us sources of living water for many around us as we share His good news.  Here'...

Many experience burnout, discouragement and lack of fulfillment. Jesus says it is the result of spiritual malnutrition! "Don't work for the food that spoils", He says. "Work for the food that endures to eternal life."  He adds that the work of God is to believe in the One He has sent - Jesus. Wake up to what God wants to do with your life!  Here's the sermon on YouTube: https://youtu.be/...

Satan Cannot Drive out Satan - Using the weapons of divine power to win others - not the weapons of the world. Satan means to divide God's people, but by our faithfulness to Jesus we will overcome.  Also available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/cGN0Fn0JeRM

How do we fight the tidal wave of evil threatening to desensitize us on a daily basis? Is fighting back through the same channels the world uses what God has in mind? Can I, a single person, make a difference against this overwhelming flood? Your life is a force for good or for evil. How are you living it? What kind of influence are you having on others? Are you influencing the world or is it infl...

Opinion is not truth, emotion is not Spirit - yet many think worship is something God can accept as long as we are true to our own heart and conscience. Nothing can be further from the truth. As we continue to explore Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well, we learn what kind o f worshipers God seeks. Dare you listen to it?  Watch the sermon on YouTube: https://youtu.be/JBf5dJh...

What does it look like to impact someone with the Good News? How did Jesus interface with people? How did he overcome prejudicial barriers to make impact on contact? What was Jesus' strategy to grab and hold the Samaritan woman's attention? Learn from the Master Evangelizer as we seek to follow in His footsteps.  Watch the Sermon on YouTube: https://youtu.be/oOzpNepif9s

The concluding episode of the nine blessings Jesus imparted on Kingdom Citizens.  The Ultimate Blessing is very contradictory to the worldly. Only Kingdom Citizens can understand and accept it with great rejoicing!  How do you know you're going to Heaven? Take a listen. The Sermon on the Topic on YouTube: https://youtu.be/s5NpfoQt2CI

Expecting to be blessed materially? Is that enough? Are your own thoughts about yourself and what you think success is, enough for you? Let Jesus bring your full potential into being - unleashing the real you - God's design for you. Learn about it in the 9 blessings that kick off Jesus' Sermon on the Mount - The Beatitudes. We will discuss the first two groups of blessings in this podcast.  L...

Kingdom Attitudes – Matthew 5-7 is known as The Sermon of the Mount – Jesus’ study concerning the character of Kingdom Citizens. The initial 9 blessings Jesus utters at the beginning of this sermon are known as the beatitudes .  Jesus expands upon this purpose with these 9 blessings that kick off His Sermon on the Mount. Each one starts with the word blessed. From the Greek makarios , meaning...

¿Sabías que Dios quiere que tú, un ser humano, participes en Su naturaleza divina? ¡Ese fue el plan de Dios desde el principio de la creación! Pero un espíritu celoso y malvado ha intentado sabotear ese plan, engañando al hombre y halagando a su ego hasta el dia de hoy. ¡Es hora de que dejes  esos pensamientos y dudas falsos y te rindas totalmente a Jesús, Rey de Reyes, quien, por Su miserico...

Did you know God wants you, a human being, to participant in His divine nature? That was God's plan all along! But a jealous,  evil spirit has tried to sabotage that plan, misleading man and flattering his ego to this day. It is time for you to cast aside those false thoughts and doubts, and surrender fully to Jesus, King of Kings, who, by His mercy, has given us another opportunity to make s...

Jesus' Vision for ministry success that results in glorifying the Father is laid out in Matthew 9:35-38.  1- The Need is Urgent 2- The Motive is Love 3- The Trigger is Prayer 4- The Potential is Vast Matthew 9:37-38 (NIV) “The harvest  is plentiful but the workers are few.   (38) Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

Summertime is when you feel alive and energetic, wanting to be outside, enjoying the weather and the community. Light is appreciated during the summer months - longer days! As salt needs to go out of the shaker to give flavor to your food, likewise we need to let our faith spill out into the community in order to give people the taste of Jesus.   Today's message was all about getting ready fo...

Whereas in the previous episode we dealt with internal persecution, this one explores how the Christian ought to deal with external persecutions coming from hostile work environment, family, etc. What should our mindset be as we go through these tough situations?  Why are we going through this? What's the point?

Jesus felt marginalized, ostracized and disenfranchised by His very own people. What do we do when we experience that in our own church group? What do we do when we experience it from a culture hostile to Jesus?

Jesus cleanses the temple. He shows zeal for the House of God, the church. Are we keeping ourselves clean? Are we zealous, as Jesus was, for holiness and for the good works He prepared for us to do? We will talk about worldly zeal vs godly zeal in this episode. 

Tying up Episode 3, the excuses we make. Following Jesus in our social interactions - The Wedding at Cana . What  we learn from Jesus' first sign (miracle) about our walk with Him.