Crosspoint Fellowship Messages

When Jesus appeared to his disciples after his resurrection, he proved that powerful and victorious miracles happen and God is in control. But he wasn’t just proving a point - Christ resurrected himself in order to resurrect us and showed power over death in order to empower us. If you know Jesus, you are loved by the Father, you are sent by the Son and you are empowered by the Spirit.

The Old Testament taught God’s people about the coming Messiah and Jesus himself told his followers in person how he would die and rise again... but still they were surprised by the events of the cross and resurrection. Sometimes we are waiting for God to speak to us but often He already has - we just aren’t listening. We don’t need Jesus to do the things Scripture has already deemed appropriate. And not listening is not an excuse for not knowing or inaction.

Mary Magdalene was one of the first to see Jesus after his resurrection. When the disciples felt as though Jesus had abandoned them, Mary held out hope and looked for him. When we lose sight of Jesus, he is still present, calling your name and waiting for you to return to him. And when you do, he wants you to go and find others who have lost sight just like you did and lead them back to him. 

The resurrection of Jesus is the most significant supernatural event in human history. On Easter, we celebrate the forgiveness of sins by Jesus’ death on the cross but also the power of God to defeat death and offer life. Life is given to followers of Christ here and now but also after physical death - we know that a new life begins. We have to move from nonsense to knowledge, believing that Jesus rose from the dead and we now have life in Him. 

The world is starting to turn around on the human trafficking issue and the Church needs to be at the forefront of that battle. It’s a 150.2 billion dollar industry and it’s not going away on its own. Worth isn’t something that’s wrapped up in an occupation - it is innate, cannot be taken from us and is given to us by God. Our goal should be to restore dignity and give life. That starts with seeing the women trapped in the sex industry not as objects or as dirty sinners but as valued daughters of God who need rescue. 

In Matthew 25:33-40, Jesus made it clear - we have an obligation to feed the hungry and help the needy. In fact, he really is saying that feeding people is akin to feeding Jesus. 11% of Americans are “food insecure” and in Missouri, that number is higher: 15%. The church needs to be unselfish for personal gain and be like Jesus: meeting people’s spiritual needs and physical needs. Get to know the Community Kitchen in Republic that is doing just that, and is one of our beloved mission partners.

Jeremiah 1:5 teaches us that life begins before conception ever takes place and that God sets the preconceived apart. Being pro-life is more than being anti-abortion. We need to provide mothers the resources they need to make abortion not seem like their only option and the RPRC does just that. Hear from Mary Jackson, director of the local Pregnancy Resource Center, about how they care for babies, mothers and fathers in our community.

Each week in this series, we’re going to be highlighting a different missions partner that CrossPoint has. The first week, we’re learning about the Missouri Baptist Children’s Home, a ministry that started in 1886! Giving care to children and adults in many different ways, we invite you to pray for them as we give them monthly support to see their work continue.

Prayer is not a spiritual luxury, it is essential to spiritual growth. And yet, Christian find themselves only going to God in prayer during the hardest of times. The truth is, though, is that we need prayer more than even God does - it connects us to Him like nothing else. Our private life with Christ is as important as our public life with Christ. Spend some time in prayer this week!

The world today seems to be absent of love, trading it for viciousness and one-upmanship. We’re more prone to prove each other wrong than we are to love each other the way Jesus us taught us to do. The cycle has to be broken at some point and Christ’s people are the ones to do it. Love is what keeps us together and the absence of love is nothing. Watch what you say and how you say it and allow Jesus’ love to be seen through his Church.

Colossians 3:18-4:1 make it very clear how we are to interact with each other within our homes, but also in our workplace. It has instructions for wives, husbands, parents, children, business owners and employees. Though they are challenging, they are Biblical commands and they are God’s design for our lives.

As Christians peace must be the arbitrator of our hearts. While anxiety views life as a test with every decision as another chance to fail, peace views life as a journey with every decision as another adventure and as an opportunity to trust God. Anxiety can be a sign of arrogance, since it can come from a place of self-reliance rather than leaning on God for help. We should instead be peaceful and, therefore, grateful people. Being a person of gratitude is biblical, and it’s the will on God.

Galatians 3:1-14 shows a very clear distinction between what we were, and what we are to be. We were once ruled by our flesh (our earthly desires and sin) but we are now ruled by Christ. So, when we let the flesh win, we are praising the “God of want”, rather than the God we have. Paul’s charge here is to switch our thinking from things that are temporarily important to eternally important. Christ makes us new, it’s time to act like it.

It is way more important as Christ-followers to be known as people of substance rather than people of style. The struggle towards legalism (treating ceremony as morality) is real amongst Christians. But we need to treat the practices that we involve ourselves in as what they are - just a shadow of the real holiness that comes from Jesus. And, most importantly, we have to beware of false teachings as it can end up leading some to worship a false God.

To be dead isn’t a matter of brain activity or blood pumping. True death is to be separated from God. But that death has been interrupted by Christ, the fullness of God in man. Jesus has replaced death with life. And He didn't just conquer death - he made a public spectacle of it and mocked it. Because of this, we are the recipients of a powerful work of God in all of our lives - our record of debt has been cancelled and we are alive!

Christ is the creator of everything we see and everything we can’t see and he is the foremost of all creation. The goal for us is to keep Him at the forefront - ignore idols that would take his place and put Him ahead of all things in life. Christ is our reconciliation - the reason that we have right standing with God. Therefore, we need to stand firm on his teachings.

Jesus had two beginnings and two endings. He was originally the creator of the world and at Christmas He is the light of the world, coming down to earth to dispel the darkness. Why would a Prince leave his Kingdom and be a peasant in a World he helped create and be rejected, despised, spit upon, and crucified? The answer is simple: Love.This is our traditional Christmas Eve candlelight service - please grab some candles in your home and join us in lighting the way for Jesus at Christmas this year.

In a year filled with despair like we’ve had, it’s easy to lose hope. But we can’t live our lives living in the hurt and the pain, we can’t fail like others have failed. We can’t let what’s happening in the outside world affect what’s going on in our heart. It’s ultimately not about following the rules but following God that leads us to have a healthy relationship with Him. Pursue and encounter Jesus with joy and He will give you hope!

As believers, we must understand that the gospel reaches all people from shepherds to kings. The Wise Men's desire to find and worship the King should cause each of us to consider our own personal worship of the King. Not only does Scripture make it clear that it doesn’t matter what you have to offer God, it also says that it doesn’t matter where you are in your relationship with Him. Ultimately Jesus came for you and he deserves our worship.

Joseph had an immense amount of pressure on him when he found out that his betrothed was pregnant and not by him. He was a man of honor and wanted to divorce her quietly out of his love for Mary. Ultimately, he decided to stay as her husband at great personal cost and sacrifice because the truth of what's really going on is more important than the opinions of others. And, in your life, remember that obeying God is always going to be more important than following your traditions.