Crossroads LIVE - 11:30 am

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] do [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] good morning crossroads would you please stand and worship with us [Music] who could carry that kind of weight it was my turn till i met [Music] arrived [Music] all my failures i tried to hide [Music] [Music] out of the darkness [Music] out of the darkness into your glorious day [Music] he has saved my soul [Music] is [Music] [Music] out of the darkness into your glorious day [Music] into your glorious day [Music] come on sing this out i need a rescue [Music] now you call me you were [Music] [Music] me [Music] into your glorious day [Music] [Music] well good morning and welcome to crossroads we are so glad that you are here if this is your very first time or your first time in a long time we are so glad that you are here to join us for back to school sunday here at crossroads and in just a moment we're going to join together as a church family on campus and online and we're going to lift up our students our teachers and our administrators also lord as we all head back to school but during this time we're gonna invite our students to join us on sage and if you're here with us in the crowd if you are a teacher an administrator or a student we would love for you to join us on stage as well and as all these students teachers and administrators join us would you join us as we worship the lord [Music] so [Music] there [Music] glory to [Music] come [Music] the on praise the spirit three [Music] praise forever to the king of kings [Music] you did not despise the cross [Music] knowing this was our salvation jesus [Music] glory [Music] praise forever [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] and the church of christ was [Applause] in his name it is freedom i am free for the love of jesus [Music] [Music] raise the spirits [Music] glory [Music] to see [Music] amen what a beautiful sight to see all of our students teachers and administrators on this stage and as we enter into a time of prayer we've asked austin broadnax a senior at timber view high school to come and pray for our teachers and administrators as they head back to school thank you will you all by your heads and pray with me thank you lord for this wonderful day that you've given us today lord i ask you to just give us the overwhelming spirit of peace as we all head back to school and i just pray for these teachers and administrators lord for you to give them wisdom on how to do their job lord the best way that you want them to lord i pray for them just have the spirit of god inside of them lord for you to guide them and for them to treat the children with loving kindness the kindness that you give us every day lord i pray for you to just forgive us for all the things that we've done in the password and for us to walk into the future with new eyes word in jesus name effort amen amen and as we continue in prayer this morning we've asked nick cannon our pre-teen minister to come and lift up our students to the lord let's pray father god i thank you so much for today lord i thank you for these students lord as we see each and every one of them up here on this stage lord i pray just that we can see uh the potential for impact lord in our school systems and so lord i pray for these students as they head back to their classes back to their schools lord to see friends uh to see people who they haven't seen in months and lord i just pray for um everything that has happened this summer or whether it's been things that have happened to them at camp lord at knl's lord even just on sunday mornings lord decisions they've made um things that they've come to understand about you lord i pray that that these changes that have been made this summer in each and every one of their lives lord that they would take those into their school lord that people who knew these students before lord that they wouldn't be able to recognize them because of how they've so boldly began begun to follow you and so lord i pray that through their words this year lord through their actions lord that they can point other students towards you lord that they can build this kingdom lord they won't won't for a second think oh i'm too young i'm too i'm too small i'm too i'm too little i don't know enough to to build god's kingdom but lord that you will put a boldness in their heart lord to allow them to share with others who you are lord who your son is and what your son has done for them and every single person so lord i pray that you give them this boldness lord i pray that you keep them safe within these school systems but lord i can't wait to see the change that you bring among every single person in this area bring about that change through these students lord it's in jesus name i pray amen amen in christ i just want you to take a moment look at these students this is the next generation and as a church we're coming alongside you as parents we're coming alongside of these students these teens these kids and we're praying for them we're encouraging them and we're building them up in the ways of the lord so that they can go to their schools they can go to their teams they can go to their community and even their families and show the love of jesus christ and so our prayer is that we won't just be praying for these students and these teachers and administrators on one day a year but every day during the year that they will be a light to their schools that they are in and the gospel of jesus christ will be seen and will be heard by all that we do right here at crossroads and beyond these walls as these students make their way back to their rooms and once again hear about the amazing message of jesus christ would you continue to worship with us this morning [Music] [Music] broken as my life baby i will give you every piece and i hear [Music] i say yes lord [Music] here i am counting on your grace again [Music] just wanna see [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] i am [Music] my heart is [Music] here i am here i am [Music] here i am here i am you can have here i am here i [Music] can am it all here i am here i [Music] here i am here i am [Applause] [Music] here i am [Music] [Applause] [Music] let it be [Applause] [Music] [Music] for the one who gave me life nothing is a sacrifice oh use me how you want to god [Music] yes lord i am [Music] hello crossroads we join me in prayer as we prepare for communion heavenly father we thank you so much for this day that you bless us with we thank you for your love your mercy and your grace lord we praise your mighty name for there are none other like you we desperately need you in each and every situation father i just pray that you'll give us a strength and courage to boldly live and proclaim the name of jesus each and every moment of our lives and father as we prepare to take the communion at this moment i pray that all distractions all thoughts will be left outside these doors our focus will be on jesus and when we take the bread that we remember that jesus hung on that cross and sacrificed his body and when you drink from the cup help us to remember that each drop of blood shed was for the sins of the world and that those that proclaim the name of jesus as their lord and savior will have eternal life father we thank you in this it's in his name we pray amen [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] this week as our kids go back to school let's continue to keep our main priority sharing the gospel of jesus christ with as many people as possible we do that here at crossroads every season every week of every year and the giving of our crossroads family makes that possible with your faithful generous giving lives are being changed every week and we're praying that you'll partner with us to make this school year one that changes more lives than ever before you can give today at crossroadschristian.org give scan the qr code on the seat back in front of you or even drop your pink envelope in one of our giving boxes truly one of the great great privileges of life is being able to give and uh if you don't have a motivation that uh stirs in your heart to give maybe seeing a platform full of all these kids uh that's worth our investment of not just our finances but our time our example and here at crossroads we don't care how you give we just want you to give give generously and thank you to all of you who have given so generously so we could do what we've done to this point but there's so much left to do and your giving makes it possible our special speaker today is from myrtle beach south carolina matt wilson his wife tina began a church they have seven children which makes him uh very qualified to speak on back to school uh sunday started church in their living room uh seven years ago and uh today even after covet they average over 1200 uh every sunday they just purchased two more properties because their church is growing they need more space it's an amazing story one of the fastest growing churches in the nation he's a very passionate uh fired up young man loves the lord and we have a special connection with him because of wayne smith my mentor he was wanting to start that church in myrtle beach south carolina and nobody would help them and i was actually in the hospital room with wayne wayne was on the phone with his mom she was asking is there anybody that can help us and he said well i have the i have the man in my room that can raise all the money and i said whoa wait a minute what are you talking about and he got off the phone told me that he needed me to go to myrtle beach california and take doug crosier from the salomon foundation with me and i told him i said wayne i can't take any more trips i'm spending all my money coming up see you and i called doug and doug said i've i've had too many trips this year i can't add another one but he said i'll send one of our uh executive vice presidents so russell johnson went and uh went down there and said yeah we'll help you and because of the partnership with the solomon foundation this is one of the fastest growing churches in the country and if you're ever in myrtle beach south carolina you need to go to church and echo see a christian church a great church you'll love it and but because of our connection with um wayne i always knew wayne and marge you know and they're both in heaven now but they used to go to myrtle beach every year for vacation i never knew why they went they went to spend time with matt wilson's mom and dad and their very dear friends so it's been it's an amazing small world it's amazing how we're all connected and that's why matt and tina and wilson are very special to us and their church and you're going to be blessed in an incredible way he's going to come in a moment to speak for us when he does let's give him a a crossroads welcome okay a real crossroads welcome and uh before he comes i'm gonna pray then there's a short video that you'll get to watch and then he'll come let's pray father we thank you for the privilege you give to us to give you you give us everything we have so really we're not getting anything of our own we're giving what you've already given us but god bless each person bless each family as they give generously for your kingdom god it's what's eternal counts forever everything else counts only for time and temporariness and god help us to make investments that will last forever investments in children and youth like we've seen here this morning investments in ministries like crossroads that will help make a difference in the world for christ and take people to heaven god thank you for matt and tina being with us this weekend we ask you to speak to him one more time to challenge us god as we all really are going back to school in one way or another help us to not just be finders of christ but to be followers of christ now bless us now father in jesus name i pray amen watch the screens hey everybody skit guys here my name is tommy and my name's eddie how's it going everybody hey uh what yeah is eddie uh we just wanted to tell you it's backstage school time everybody back to school time is everybody ready go back to school yep yep i got my new backpack for back to school and your name is an old um and what is that what i got is a uh hipster bendy pack right here right here this is what all the cool kids are going to be doing taking they're taking their stuff on their hip to school buddy that's a lunch box no what's that yeah i got i got my pencils in here my lunch money's right here i haven't got a place for my hipster spoon nope that's a spoon because i thought oh yeah it's a lunch box look oh someone calling me hello bam it's gone shut my fanny pack hipster lunch pail so welcome back to school welcome back to school folks it's gonna be awesome completely awesome yeah hey if you have one of those don't wear that you're gonna you're gonna get beat up cool kids not cool all day long not cool enough all day long he's gonna get beat up hashtag all day long there you go i'm with you it's great to be in texas i'm gonna talk to the lady in the furthest corner in the back how are you doing good to see you thank you for coming to crossroads today all right so are you guys ready like this is the third service let's put all we got into it okay cause i can sleep on the plane going home this y'all really didn't match me in that are you all ready okay this is texas y'all supposed to everything's bigger in texas even the cheering right okay man i'm so excited to be here and i'm gonna tell you y'all got to hear a bit from pastor barry um so y'all don't think y'all multi-site but you really do like you guys are responsible for churches all over america and if it wasn't for if it wasn't for you guys it's just amazing the reach that crossroads has had to breathe life into other churches and in our church you know for them to say that we are one of the fastest growing churches was a huge shot in the arm and it was great because we were in a place where churches die and if it wasn't for having you guys in our life um i can honestly say i don't know where we'd be um we were we were kind of in a place when when you guys got with us and started so you all don't know the whole story so when we were planning a church we had no experience we had no training we had no one behind us and being able to come here and see what was going on here and get encouragement and discipleship from you guys has been life-changing this isn't my first time coming to crossroads it's just the first time they've let me talk this long but coming here the first time i came here because i just needed some encouragement i i have seven kids we're all in it together my kids were little kids helping set up and tear down as a mobile church the first time they saw a big church like they were like oh dad who has to set and tear who has said that and tear that down like it scared them to death but we came looking just to be encouraged but we got so much more we got inspiration and we came and and i just have to say this for you you are so blessed because your church doesn't just say what churches are supposed to say you do it and in that yeah come on man talking to you guys is the highlight is such a highlight for me because being able to come here and say thank you to the people who have been such an inspiration to us so many churches just they talk about this all-powerful god who is capable of everything and you guys actually build an environment where people come and are in awe of what god can do we'll talk about that as little as we go through but i i had to say to you guys thank you before i went any further from the bottom of my heart from south carolina ecclesia christian church is completely inspired and thankful to you guys so thank you for being faithful in all that you do all right all right so the best thing i can say is you guys don't just teach you disciple and that's biblically what we're commanded to do and right now we're we're saying we're going back to school and we're taking our kids but the truth is everybody's going back to school kids are going in person or they're going virtual learning some are going to private school some are going to home school and and we've got young adults that are now going into college or grad programs and you've got so many that are going into the workforce but it's all of us because the world is constantly changing the world is shifting around us and it's so hard to keep up with it has anybody noticed that um there's there's covid that's something that's going around do you all have that here y'all you don't what part of texas you from but every like everywhere in south carolina it's like it's up and it's down and and they have this new variant of it that we just got i don't know if you guys have got the update but we just got the delta version and we were flying here my wife was like you want to take delta or american airlines i was like definitely american airlines not delta uh their spirit i'm like i'm not ready to go yet so uh anyways as as we're getting ready to go back we're all becoming disciples and that's the biggest thing that we have to focus on but we have a teacher and our teacher is jesus christ and he gives us a textbook it's his word because right now we've got coveted political unrest confusion about sexuality faltering faith that's all around us and we're having to navigate this and the truth of it is as we really dig into this i want you guys to understand it's hard for our teachers because they're having to take a stand in a culture that is hard they're having to take a stand while there are teachings that they're having to navigate their way through while being a light it's hard for our kids and it's hard for all of us because we live in a world that's forgotten when when i was young they still i was at the tail end of them praying in school anybody in here can remember when we prayed in school and it was it happened at the beginning we did the pledge of allegiance and we said a prayer and i remember it when that ended but there was a foundation on the word of god so in my day when you were a kid someone could say well the bible says that's wrong and the bible said it was wrong there was authority in the word of god so you accepted that today you can look at somebody and say well the bible says and they're like what's that it's just another book the bible is not the authority for people because we've not made it the authority and instead of just saying the bible says now we have to live out be an example show people and when they ask how do you have the life you have the bible it's our textbook it's what guides us we learn from jesus christ we learn through each other and that's that's really what the gospel is and when i see crossroads i'm amazed because what we have in south carolina that we don't have anything like this in south carolina most of our church is a little a-frame buildings like this if y'all do y'all have a-frame churches here they look like uh like little houses and stuff like this and they got a little steeple on the top and they were built like 80 years ago and they've done nothing since then and they're little churches and it's not that there's not great things happen in little churches but they got done and now they protect the way they've always done things in the tradition and that's as far as they want to go and the problem with this is we take our kids and we raise them saying there is an all-powerful god who is limitless in all that he can do and nothing can compare to him he created the entire world in six days and then we take them to these little buildings and put them in these little bland rooms and we give them flannel graphs to illustrate things if we're lucky and then we give them little little printed out pieces of paper that they can color and pacify themselves and say we're teaching them the word of god and we wonder why they don't believe in god when they don't see any evidence of his greatness and then we send them to a system that has all the resources at their disposal where they have art music drama they've got they've got state-of-the-art facilities ipads for the kids and in this they're telling them god didn't create it in this they they can glorify in our workplaces and everywhere we go we glorify the fact that people are now sexually confused we glorify debates and arguments we glorify so many things and we don't lift up god and the bible is just a book and all religions are religions and they're the same and our kids step back and look at the evidence of which system seems to be more prosperous you guys man you guys paved the way not only do you disciple in truth not only do you build foundations of strength in people's faith but you build a facility when kids come here that's greater than any place they could ever imagine i don't know how the secular government can compete with crossroads because disney can't keep up with you guys i mean my kids i'll take them to disney i didn't bring them here because i can't compete with this they'd be going home be like dad can we do that no we can't but the truth of it is you guys do what the church the church talks to but you walk it you put your heart and your faith and your finances and everything right where we say we're going after people we got to bring authority back to the world and we got to bring authority to the word through our lives and in order to do that we go back to school so open your textbook it's your bible i'll be a textbook to the book of revelations chapter 2. pastor barry preached about courageous faith last week so i'm going to quote todd wagner and he says god rarely shows up early but he's never late and there's a lot of times in your life you're like where you at god what are you doing and kovit's been all around us we've had all these issues our world is in turmoil and they're trying to divide the church against itself they're trying to split us up in the congregations of the kingdom of god to a point to where we're warring with each other and can i share something with you in the in the kingdom of heaven when we are standing in the presence of god almighty for eternity you will have no labels other than his children okay so in this we're wondering what's going on but i'm going to tell you god's not late he's just waiting for the right moment last year we had a lot of parents that were concerned because their kids missed the kindergarten experience but you guys opened up early so kids would not miss the church experience and in that you guys opening early open the doors for us because we said if crossroads can do it we can do it and when we did it in our community other churches started doing it the ripple effect of bold faith spread from texas to south carolina in one week that was awesome all right so we're going to continue in discipleship our teacher jesus christ writes to the church in pergamum and they're dealing with cultural issues and struggles that are going on and we're going to grade them as we go through this so revelation chapter two start with verse two i know your deeds your hard work your perseverance i know that you cannot tolerate wicked people that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not and have found them false man like these guys they're already awesome right i mean they're they're keeping their they're keeping the house clean they're keeping the church straight they're walking a tight line they know their deeds they got perseverance and here's the best part you've persevered and have endured hardships for my name and have not grown weary like that to me is if i could walk and that's what jesus would say to me is you did it you did a good job you persevered and you didn't get weary like man this is third service i'm already tired and jesus is writing to this church that's facing persecution he's like you have not got tired of this you've not given up but then while we're sitting here looking at an a with extra credit jesus brings out something else there's an elementary part that they're failing at we can get so good at everything else and then we'll miss an elementary truth this is kindergarten right here is what jesus says yet i hold this against you have you ever had somebody tell you good job and then they come up but there's there's one other thing anybody else's wife do that to them you sir me and you there's a special place in heaven for us okay but somebody has to love you to be able to say that or else you just got people tell you what you want to hear he says yeah i hold this against you this is so this is so personal for me you have forsaken the love you had at first let's feel that for a second man you work good you do the job good you don't give up you're not tired you're faithful to the job the christianity the kingdom building this work aspect you are killing it you're nailing it but you've forsaken the love you had at first you're missing something you don't love look at what he says right here this is so powerful because he says consider how far you've fallen consider how far you've fallen you're doing the job but you don't have you ever caught yourself serving god out of obligation not out of love and we gotta go to church because we gotta go they need us do you get up and look at your kids and i guess we gotta feed them if we don't they'll die i remember first time i changed one of my babies now because i got seven kids y'all six girls pray for me god is teaching me your sin comes back later not that i sinned i was an angel but don't laugh at that but the thing is i remember the first time i had to change a diaper like they're so cute right but stuff comes out you know what i mean you gotta love to do that because you don't look at your baby and like i guess i have to change that diaper because it's it gets sticky after a while and it's harder to clean sorry barry won't let me come back after this it's third service man all right so check this out consider how far you've fallen repent and do the things you did at first we love someone and we do the hard stuff not because we have to because we love them you know what i mean we do for people we love not because we have to i don't serve jesus because i have to it's not my job i don't get up and say oh i they need me to go to church i don't do that you know what i do i feel like superman if a building's on fire and i'm the only person can reach and i'll be like i guess they need me i'm like they need me that's my thing because i love being able to serve god he loves me i love doing for someone who loves me my wife there's a reason we got seven kids because she loves me you know what i mean i love her i don't look at her and be like i guess i gotta kiss her again i'd be like chap sticking it up when i serve jesus i'm sorry i'm from south carolina people i'm learning when i love jesus i don't get up and drag i remember the love and and when i do catch myself dragging i have to remember god loved me so much he did everything for me not because he had to because he loved me and when i serve him i remind myself sometimes i have to remind myself i'm not doing this because i have to i'm doing this because i love him but if i'm going to do it because i love him then i've got to realize everything i do is not just because i love him it's because he loves them and the people he loves are not always the people i want to love sometimes they hurt me sometimes they offend me but jesus hung on a cross and said don't hold this against them they don't know what they're doing and i got to realize it's not fun to point at somebody and say you're a thinner and you're going to hell no christian should ever enjoy that moment it should hurt us to know someone god loves that much is going to perish no we should never enjoy telling someone they're going to hell but if we love people we would never keep that from them the knowledge of knowing there's judgment coming that'll be really important in a minute listen to this next part he says if you do not repent i will come and remove your lampstand from its place what are we repenting of not loving do you ever think we have to repent of that repent means to return so we come from god we have a purpose returned to that purpose then he says this last part of that he says but you have this in your favor you hate the practices of the nicolasians which i also hate that's bad theology in the church at that time whoever has ears let them hear what the spirit says to the churches to the one who is victorious to those who endure to those who are standing firm in love serving jesus christ reaching the lost i will give the right to eat from the tree of life which is in the paradise of god can i give you something i want to eat from the tree of life that's eternal life okay but where's that in the paradise of god when's the last time you thought of heaven as paradise not just saying the words because growing up i i didn't picture heaven as paradise you want to know what i i pictured heaven as the senior citizens toga party in heaven like like you know what i'm talking about like it was it was like a sorority for people that just wanted to sing like southern gospel or operatic music forever in white robes gathered around zeus's throne and if we got off key threw lightning bolts at us and the only reason i wanted to go there was it wasn't hell you know what i mean but that's not heaven paradise paradise with god how many people in here are christ followers can i share something with you christ never stopped moving christ is always going i'm not a christ-finder i don't find jesus and hold on to him and say i'm done i find jesus and then i follow jesus and he doesn't stop i don't stop and when i think about heaven i see that the same way god almighty that created everything the creator the god of all creation in six days created that do you think he just retires and all christians just go to heaven and it's done and it's over and he has run out of ideas or for eternity do you think you're going to be with god almighty with him showing off for his children for eternity being loved in a space where there's no sickness no death no pain your friend is your friend today and tomorrow and no one judges you culturally or how you voted but only on your love for god and those who are lost i like heaven pretty good check this out we're going to go to 1st john chapter 2. here is john writing to people about how they need to prepare to go back to jesus school of bold faith in verse one first john chapter two verse one my dear children i write this to you so that you will not sin this is kind of like when i tell my kids not to do something i know they're to do it but i'm telling them so they don't do it you know what i mean he says i write this so that you will not sin but if anybody does sin we have an advocate with the father jesus christ the righteous one remember there's a judgment but we have now an advocate who's going to be there and that's jesus christ our savior who died for us who on the cross would cry out forgive them they don't know what they're doing check this out he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins so here we are the church now check this out and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world it's not just those that worship with me that's he is the atoning sacrifice longing to save even the people i view as wretched the apostle paul we view as this saint but if you were to label him today when he was saul persecuting the church you would call him a jihadist because he was a religious extremist that was putting christians to death and imprisonment today he would be a terrorist and we say he's a saint because that's the difference that jesus makes don't quote paul as a saint if you can't see hope and redemption in the terrorists in your life he's the atoning sacrifice for all of us the whole world those that have done despicable things and those that have hidden them really well that we can't see them check this out we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands the bible always has ifs and buts okay y'all with me on that always has ifs and buts i'm not going to go there we know that we've come to know him if we keep his commands whoever says i know him but does not do what he commands is a liar and the truth is not in that person we don't do it because it's the job we do it because we love him we're thankful but if anyone obeys his word love for god is truly made complete in them this is how we know we are in him how do i know i know jesus how do i know i'm in him i'm listening and obeying his commands i'm being faithful to him why because i love him it says for love for god is truly made complete in them this is how we know we are in him whoever claims to live in him must live as jesus did now i'm not perfect i can't walk on water i can't do the things jesus did but what i can learn to do is out of love say not my will father but your will be done i can learn to love judas while he's betraying me i can learn to call tax collectors i can learn to defend those who are called in adultery to tell them go sin no more but to let them see love in their lowest moment i can believe in the next generation and give them opportunities to be led by the holy spirit just like we believe our generation has been i love this he says dear friends i'm not writing you a new command but an old one which you have had since the beginning the old command is the message you have heard yet i'm writing you a new command its truth is seen in him and in you because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining you know what he's saying right there the church is rising up darkness is passing and the light of god's kingdom is starting to rise we need to bring this scripture to life today guys you have been an inspiration but can i ask you to do something on top of all that you've done don't give up too many of us are watching you too many of us are inspired because of you and too many of us have been led by you don't give up the world needs crossroads right now the world needs a united church like this the world needs a brave church like this this is not the season we wait god may not show up early but if we march forward he will be on time it's time you guys have had an amazing godly family in this church your pastor has done so much and you guys are ready to pick up a mantle on march forward and the next generation in the next era is going to have to see this same bold audacious faith through you people the world's not done with you yet in the kingdom the kingdom desperately needs you to shine the light anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness and that's easy for us to read but can i share with you politics can have no place in the kingdom debates no place in the kingdom we can't hate people we can't we can't hate him with our actions we can't hate them with our words we have to stand for truth but we have to see every person as someone god loved so much he sent his son to die that jesus loved so much for the joy set before him he endured the cross anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother a sister is still in darkness anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light there is nothing in them to make them stumble but anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness they do not know where they are going because the darkness has blinded them man crossroads this community needs you but around globally people need you they need to see the love that's been here the love that's felt when you pull in the parking lot when you're greeted at the door they need you and the hebrew writer continues to take them back to school here and he starts telling them we have much to say about this but it's hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand our world lives in darkness and they don't even want to hear the truth anymore have you noticed that when we debate we don't listen to both sides of the argument we just bash each other and cancel culture each other until we're done with them when we sit down we don't bring to the table our hurts and our grievances and share back and forth what do we do we come and we're angry if we don't just get everything we have sexuality that is to the point children are growing up not knowing who they are who they were designed to be that they're in the image of god and children are growing up confused and without people being able to sit and speak truth and get everything out in the open we just walk away angry and condemn each other there's a lot of hurt and pain masquerading as freedom yes we take a stand but we have to ask ourselves what's hurt you how do i help you and how do we heal following the creator's path going to the textbook he said in fact by this time you ought to be teachers you need someone to teach you the elementary truths that's kindergarten you need to go back to spiritual kindergarten of god's word all over again you need milk not solid food and anyone who lives on milk being still an infant is not acquainted with the teachings about righteousness but solid food is for the mature who constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil i hear churches and people all the time especially my generation that thinks they're theologians walking around talking about we need meat we need meat not milk they ain't eat meat they're eating impossible whoppers they got vegetable-based protein they're consuming we got people today have you had an impossible whopper they say it tastes just like a regular whopper that's a lie straight from hell you know what i mean but we have generations that have had spiritual theologians teaching them this this this non-spiritual meat that's this imitation and they're calling it meat and they've never even had real milk and we're growing up here's the reason we know this because true spiritual meat is knowing the difference between good and evil and in the church we teach this clouded distorted word of god that is defending sin instead of standing against it and the truth is love stands against sin and is willing to crawl into a pit to defend someone to rescue them from it amen therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about christ and be taken forward to maturity taking forward too mature i don't know that i'll ever grow up i used to call myself peter pan i i love i love being young i love doing i'll be honest i love doing immature things you know why i don't shave my chin there's no spiritual purpose it's because my mother-in-law wouldn't let me take my wife out when we were dating because i didn't shave so i was like all right here we go 20 years later pow immature you know what i mean i'll confess it i ain't it i mean now she loves me it's okay but the truth of it is there is a defiant part in me there's an immaturity in me i drive too fast i ride motorcycles and do stupid things sometimes and i'm like hey if i go i go but i do immature things i like loud music i i put mayonnaise on everything i eat i'm probably going to die of cholesterol at 45 but i i'm not mature enough to make some of those decisions well but spiritually it's time to grow up and we think as we grow up we doubt god more but the truth of it is spiritual maturity should be that we have more childlike faith to be in that place to where we trust our daddy and that's going to be where we come to this next part because here's where he comes here is spiritual maturity here's how we get out of kindergarten not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death we are spiritually immature today because we don't think there are certain things we can do that lead to death and there are and the church has to stop defending those and we need more churches like this right here that will stand up and say sin is sin love causes us to say that and to hope for repentance it says to faith in god look around at the bold faith the audacity the audacity the audacity to believe god is so good that you could do what you guys have accomplished it says instruction about cleansing rights all you gotta do is walk out these doors over here and this is talking about baptism and baptism biblically we know this is repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins to receive the gift of the holy spirit the apostle paul said it's a death burial and resurrection he says it's crucifixion with christ this is beautiful we see it from the old testament to the new testament we get this and you guys have put in a baptismal outside that is the most magnificent place i've seen and you guys baptize people back to back your baptizers have back problems by the time you are done because you get it you understand it laying on our hands that's receiving into fellowship accepting one another and sending them back out the resurrection of the dead we will spend eternity with jesus christ and the eternal judgment god permitting will do so i told you we were going to come to the eternal judgment right that's elementary teaching and here's the truth we are going to be judged but there's a couple things we need to know in order to get our head straight because we live in a society that says judge judge judge judge we all judge three o'clock in the morning there's a knock at the door you look out the peephole why because you're going to judge whether or not you open that door and the person out there you judge them whether or not you'll open the door for them if somebody's out there in a hockey mask and a battle axe you don't open the door right but we're used to living in a world where we judge people and we're judged by people constantly we have a judgment that's coming up but there's something we need to realize one we have an advocate before the father who for the joy sat before him endured the cross cried out on that cross understanding when we didn't know what we were doing for more time and more grace and he will be interceding with the father next thing is this who is the judge we fear god we picture zeus and lightning bolts and we get to this place to where oh oh i'm going to stand before the judgment seat of god let me tell you if i could pick anybody to be my judge i would pick god over my mother i would pick god over my wife and my children why because he's my daddy because my daddy loved me so much in the midst of my sin that he was he was willing to pay the most emotionally draining and painful price imaginable because he saw something in me and my brokenness when i stand before god i don't stand before someone who's longing to bring capital punishment to me i stand before someone who has longed to redeem me we have love to take to a world and people need to see who the judge is going to be they need to know what's coming but they need to know who's giving it and as we stand as christians before the judgment if we love him as he's loved us and we love them and that should be the greatest day we could ever see we're going to pray father god you are holy you are mighty and there is no one like you thank you father for the opportunity to be able to come and say thank you to these believers god thank you so much for the opportunity to be able to share as we all go back to school our children and us but father more than anything renewing us to love so we can be the light to the world in jesus name we pray amen god bless you guys thank you before we move into a time of prayer with our church online family i want to encourage you that if god is working in your life today and you would like to make a decision you can either text the word next to 55757 or you can go ahead and connect with one of our hosts in the chat right now would you pray with me father we thank you for today's message we thank you for a church that believes in church online and a church that stands upon your word and father i pray that god if you've worked in our lives today and that you're convicting and encouraging us to step forward in our faith whether it's to accept jesus for the first time that father right now we will do just that father maybe we've ran off maybe we've tried to run away from you or run away from the calling you've placed upon our lives and father today we need to turn back around and come back to you and father today if we need to rededicate our lives i pray that we will connect with someone online one of the ministers and we will let them know our decision father today may be that we've accepted jesus already but we've never showed the world around us we never showed our community we've never showed our family and today we need to make the decision to make our faith public through water baptism father whatever our decision is i pray that we will take a step forward in our faith and our journey with you it's in jesus name we pray amen once again if you've made a decision today as you're watching church online you can text next to 55757 or just go ahead and jump in the chat and engage with one of our hosts well thank you so much for joining us online today here at crossroads and we would love to see you either online or on campus next week at 8 45 10 or 11 30. thanks for joining us we'll see you soon [Music] you

Channel: Crossroads Christian Church

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Id: wpaE1g3Jc-U

Length: 90min 3sec (5403 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 15 2021