The Crossing Church Sermons

In today's passage we see 6 reminders of how we can have inexpressible and glorious joy even while we walk through grievous suffering.

Peter begins to address the church by calling them chosen exiles. Descriptions common to OT Israel but now apply to the Gentiles as they believe in Jesus and join the church. Peter also reminds them of how God (Father, Son, and Spirit) are intimately involved in their choosing, saving, and sanctifying which will lead to their obedience.

In Peter's 1st epistle, we begin our study by examining who Peter is and his role as one of the lead disciples and one of the primary leaders in the early church and how some of his experiences influenced this letter.

Biblically, why is abortion wrong? But also why the sanctity of human life is more than an abortion issue

How does the Great Commandment and Great Commission drive us to pursue ethnic harmony?

How does the Great Commandment - to love the Lord our God with all we are and love our neighbor as ourselves drive our engagement with God in prayer?

How does the Great Commandment - to love the Lord our God with all we are and love our neighbor as ourselves drive our engagement with God in His Word?

Believers pray when we are in sorrow, we praise in prayer when happy, when sick we ask for prayer and pray for one another believing God can and will act according to His perfect will

Part of how God keeps our salvation is through believers pursuing other believers who may be wandering away from the faith. So when we see each other struggling - we go after them to bring them back.

Because we have received much grace from the Judge, we can be incredibly patient with fellow strugglers and extend that grace and not our grumbling to them.

All of us face hard circumstances in life which tempt us to want to escape, rebel or revolt. James teaches us the value of being patient because Jesus is coming soon and that gives us hope in hard circumstances.

The local church is made up of healthy church members who pursue Jesus and engage on God's mission

God has given the local church elders and deacons who exist to help serve and lead the local church to engage and stay engaged on God's mission to make disciples among all people.

Gathering as one body on the Lord's Day helps us together see our hearts and minds drawn upward to help fuel the inward and outward aspects of being a disciple of Jesus

Sunday gatherings focus our hearts upward. Missional Communities help focus our hearts outward. DNA groups help focus our hearts inward to see Jesus continually change us.

We have been given a new identity in Jesus through His gospel and we seek to live out the reality of these new identities in structures that are called missional communities.

What is the church supposed to do with to accomplish their God-given vision? Make Disciples of Jesus who make disciples of Jesus. More than any other mission we could be about - this is the one Jesus has given us.

Why do we Exist as a church? So that all people can find their ultimate joy in Christ alone in all of life.

We have such a desire, sometimes good, to fix people and their brokenness. But only God can fix what is truly broken in people. We have a role to play, but it's never one that is harsh or judgmental or critically sinful. Jesus can help us stay in our lane and let God do the work only He can do.