Crossroads Church of Lillington

The Church is dependent upon the power and work of the Holy Spirit. The day of Pentecost was one of the most important moments in the history of redemption. A Christian that is ignorant of the Holy Spirit and attempts to live free from the Holy Spirit will fail.

As Jesus ascended to heaven He left His disciples behind. We see them following His commands, praying together, and seeking God’s will. They show us that we can live with confidence when our faith is in a God who is Sovereign and whose Word is always true and authoritative.

After 40 days of regular appearances and conversations with the Disciples the time for His return to His Father arrived. Jesus gathered, gave final commands, and a promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit. In the event we find essential instructions for the Christian life and the ministry of the Church.

The story of what Jesus did and is still doing does not end in the Gospels. In Acts, we see that Christ lives and moves through the disciples and the Church He is building. The Gospel of Jesus spreads from Jerusalem throughout the world in the preaching of God’s Word.

God is faithful in all of His promises. What God has promised, He Himself will see brought to completion. We can trust that God is able to do far more abundantly what we ask or think. We live our lives with the attitude that Christ is preeminent in all things and that the greatest joy that we can have in our lives is when focus on giving God glory. We have the sure promise of Scripture that the future reward for believers is sure and that God will bring all His people to glory.

Psalm 126 moves from gratitude for all the great things God has done in the past to a faith-driven prayer that God would do great things again. It calls us to live lives of faithful service while trusting that God will give blessings and fill us with joy.

The circumstances of our lives are often overwhelming. Without the resurrection of Jesus, we will be lost in our sin, without hope, and consumed by fear. Jesus will save you, but He waits for you to see Him, believe in Him, and submit your life fully to Him.

On Palm Sunday, we see that Jesus is fully God and fully human. As fully human, we see that Jesus experienced emotions just like we do. As fully God, we see that He alone can atone for sin. This very Jesus is for all people groups. For thousands of years, Jesus Christ, the Suffering Servant, has drawn all men to Himself. The cross, the symbol of shame and death, of Christ does not revoke the glory; it amplifies it.

Christians were not created to practice Christianity alone, rather we were made to glorify God together in one accord, keeping God the ultimate center of our adoration. Similarly, in Psalm 134, the Psalmist commands us to give all honor, glory, and praise to the Lord of heaven and earth.

A church is a "hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints." If a church loses its focus on healing and transformation, it becomes a "building without a doctor" or a "resort" focused on internal comfort.

Psalm 131 is the simple, short call of the most important man in Israel to humbly trust the Lord and find complete satisfaction in His presence, confident that all we really need will be provided by Him.

We all stand guilty before a Holy and Just God. We can either keep that sense of guilt to ourselves or we can take it to the only actions. God is a God of redemption and the only source of rescue.

God’s covenant people were born into adversity and are told this will be a major part of our lives until Jesus returns. But we cry out to our sovereign God who promises to always be with us, He will sustain us, He will set us free from our captors, and bring healing to our lives.

Every gift that man receives is a blessing from God. Unless the Lord gives it, it is in vain. The presence of Godly and Christ- centered parents in a home cannot be overstated. God’s blessings for the home can extend to God’s blessings for the nation.

Acts 2:41–47 shows the early church united in faith, devoted to teaching, fellowship, prayer, and generosity as God grew their community daily.

Psalm 125 is a bold declaration of confidence that the Lord can be trusted, no matter what is going on in your life. This confidence is not in the strength of one’s faith, but in the bigness of God and in His ultimate provision and protection of the faithfull ones.

Are you wandering through life? Do you ever feel like something is missing in your life? Is this how you planned your life to be? Which has greater value for you: the journey, or the destignation?

David expresses the sheer joy of gathering with the people of God in worship. In his joyful reflections we see what God wants His Church to be: a place of spiritual unity; a community of grateful people; a commitment to God’s authority over our lives; and, people who live in the peace that only God can give.

Because only God is all-powerful, good, wise, and ever-present He alone is the one we should look to for help. This does not diminish your own abilities or those of others, but everything about us is weaker and less reliable than who God is.

THE BIG IDEA: There is a Godly way for the believer to live in the world that they are in. There is God’s way, and there is the world’s way. Far too often Christians attempt to address their problems through the world’s way. Psalm 120 gives us a picture of how a Christian can live in a fallen world while longing for the home that God is preparing for them.

THE BIG IDEA: In Psalm 23, the Christian is reminded of the One that they belong to. In this Psalm we see a God that loves, provides, protects, and preserves His people. The Christian is the one that has heard the voice of the Good Shepherd and has followed Him.

Our tradition of gift-giving is rooted in the very nature and practice of God. There are many differences between our giving and the Father’s giving but we can learn much by comparing our gift-giving to His. God gives the greatest and the most needed Gift ever!

Joy is simply the work of God in the soul of a person who chooses to make much of God and be obedient to what He asks of them. True joy is impossible to find apart from Jesus.

There was a time when we didn’t belong to God or to His Family. In Christ, the hostilities cease (or, are supposed to). We find our peace and sense of belonging and identity in Him.

The Christian has a sure hope that God cares for them. There is nothing too big or too small that the Christian cannot take before the Lord. The devil is real, and spiritual warfare is real. We are to resist him by the strength that God provides and in unity with other believers. The hope that the Christian has is certain and will be fully realized when we see our Savior face to face.

God gave His church leaders who are called to live by an even higher standard than other disciples of Jesus. His plan is simple - in the people they lead, leaders always get what they are. Leaders produce what they are displaying to the ones they lead.

Peter teaches us to anticipate and prepare for suffering. We need to understand the various reasons we suffer, the appropriate responses to suffering, and how to move forward after a time of suffering.

As Christians of any generation look around, we are reminded to live with awareness that Jesus’ return is imminent. That reality demands a particular set of responses from Christians in God’s church.

In Jesus Christ, the Christian has a clear example how they must live. The sins that they once held so dearly must be put to death. The world will live godless and sinful lives because that is what they love, despite possessing the knowledge that God exists. The Christian is the only person that can look death in the face and declare: Victory!

The ultimate solution to enduring hardships and suffering of this world is found in Christ. He suffered, died, and defeated all that seeks to destroy us, through His resurrection. Have you bowed before Jesus and trusted Him as your Savior, Lord, and King?

Peter challenges Christians to give Jesus such a central place in our lives that it piques the curiosity of those around us and leads to questions about what makes us different. Are we living that life, and do we know how to tell our story?

God, our Heavenly Father, longs for His children in the church to realize His expectations for our behavior. There is a particular relational ethic that Christians are called to live out which will radically increase our love for life, for one another, for our enemies, and for our Lord.

Peter’s insstructions to wives and husbands was not given so that spouses would neglect or mistreat their spouse. Instead, it was given as a tool of evangelism for unbelieving partners. God’s purpose in marriage is that we would be sanctified together, loving and sacrificing for themselves as Christ loves and sacrificed for the church.

Suffering and pain are a part of every life. The hardest of all is “undeserved suffering.” In a moment of deep and difficult to accept truth, Peter says we are actually called by God to endure sufferning. Peter then presents Jesus to us as our Savior, Example, and Shepherd.

A part of living life as a citizen of God’s Kingdom is being so honorable in our lifestyle and dealings that people are drawn to our God. One of the primary ways the Lord transforms rebellious hearts is to teach us to submit to earthly authority. We can almost think of it as training for submission to the Lord.

People will either stumble over Jesus or build their lives upon Him. God's design for His people is that we tell the world who He is. We exist to display and proclaim God's excellence to the world. We are royal priests called to point people to and declare the glories of our God and King.

There is a definitive moment in the life of the Christian where they are born again, but the Christian life does not stop at being born again. All Christians reach a point where they need to grow up, and the Bible provides us with the information on how to do that. The reason that so many Christians are struggling with their faith is because they have never grown up.

Peter teaches us that our living hope, our great salvation does not simply impact our future; it is to mark the way we live today.

The Christian life is a quest, not an adventure. In this life there will be trouble, but Jesus Christ has overcome the world. The temporary troubles that we go through now only makes the Christian better, and the Jesus that we cannot see now will more than make up for what we endure on His behalf here on earth.

Peter was a man who knew what it was to fail and not keep his commitment. He teaches us that God chooses us, not on the basis of our performance, but by His mercy. Salvation is the work of a Triune God - Father, Son & Spirit. God promises He will guard our salvation and complete it one day in heaven.

In the final chapter of the final book in our Old Testament, God warns all that a “great and awesome day” of judgment is coming. For the unfaithful and unrepentant it will be a terrible day, and for the faithful it will be an awesome day of salvation and complete healing. Which will it be for you?

Sometimes, in discouragement, self-pity, pride, comparisons, or depression we can begin to question the widsom of serving God. God sees you, treasures you, and will remember your faithfulness. I need to remember His faithfulness.

The purpose of missions and evangelism is that God is glorified amongst the nations. As the people of God go out into the world and proclaim the truths of the Gospel, we become a joy-filled community that lives to the praise of the Lord Jesus Christ. The blessings of God given to His people is a foretaste of the greater blessing that is to come.

God seeks more from us than just the right words. He seeks repentant hearts that, in complete trust in him, will receive his gracious work in purifying our lives. The evidence of God’s salvation will be that we turn away from our sin and to him.

When we try to navigate life on our own terms, the road becomes darker, and pitfalls become larger. When we take control of our own situations, unfaithfulness to one another becomes the norm, but when we allow a faithful God to take control of our life, our relationships with one another grow strong.

A church rises no higher than its pulpit. Where spiritual leaders fail, the spiritual health of the church fails. Even though there are numerous spiritual leaders that fail, there is a Great High Priest who is perfect in all His ways.

Half-hearted devotion and worship is not true worship at all. God will be praised whether you praise Him or not. God is deserving of all praise, honor, and glory, and if we are going to worhsip Him, we must do it in the way that He requires.

God’s love for people is so great that He promised immediately after sin entered the world that He would send us a Savior. He has entrusted this Gospel (Good News) to the Church and all disciples of Jesus. The call of God to the church and individual Christians can be summarized in 4 words: Love, Grow, Serve, and Go.

The righteous judgment of God destroyed all by 8 people and most of the animal world. In perfect mercy and grace, God chose Noah and his family for salvation and a new beginning for the world, but sin was still present. The fallen nature and sinful hearts of people mean we will always stand in need of a Savior. Only in Christ can we be saved.