Welcome to the weekly podcast of Church at the Cross in Grapevine, TX, led by Pastor JR Vassar. Our mission is to help people and places encounter Jesus. Wherever you are today, our hope is that you would be encouraged, challenged, and inspired to take the next step in your relationship with Jesus.
For more info, visit churchatthecross.com!
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Scripture: Ephesians 6:1–4 + From a Child-Centered Home to a Christ-Centered Home + From Outsourcing to Owning. “All this that we here suffer is through you: you should have taught us the things of God, and did not; you should have restrained us from sin and corrected us, and you did not; you were the means of our original corruption and guiltiness, and yet you never showed any competent care that we might be delivered from it...Woe unto us that we had such carnal and careless parents, and woe u...
Scripture: Ephesians 4:29-5:2 + De-skilling = unlearning or never learning basic relationship skills + 5 Directives: Communicate Constructively Stay In Step With The Spirit Take Out The Trash Commit To Kindness Freely Forgive Directive #1: Communicate Constructively Proverbs 12:18 NIV + What you speak to people, over time, they will start to live up to, or down to. Directive #2: Stay In Step With The Spirit + Challenge: Pray for your spouse. Directive #3: Take Out The Trash “Of the seven deadly ...
Scripture: Genesis 2:15–25 “So, in the one-flesh union of marriage... the married couple comes together completely, as long as they both shall live. In real terms, two selfish me’s start learning to think like one unified us, building a new life together with one total everything: one story, one purpose, one reputation, one bed, one suffering, one budget, one family, and so forth. Marriage removes all barriers and replaces them with a comprehensive oneness. It is this all-encompassing unity that...
Scripture: 1 Timothy 4:1-5 Acts 20:29–30 NIV 2 Corinthians 11:4 NIV + Marriage is Proof of the Goodness of God. + Marriage is a Picture of the Gospel of God. Companionship Procreation Sanctification Proclamation Ephesians 5:22–32 Marriage is a Covenant not a Contract. Marriage is a Covenant of Grace not Works. Colossians 3:12–13 NIV...
Scripture: John 5:21–29 +Jesus gives Forever Life. Acts 17:31 NIV + Jesus gives Full Life. John 11:25–26 Ephesians 2:4–5 NIV John 17:3 NIV John 3:36 NIV
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 4:16–5:10 + We will be made glorious like Jesus. + We will be at home with Jesus. Most people, if they had really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want and want acutely something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise. The longings which arise in us when we first fall in love, or think of some foreign country, or first take up some su...
Scripture: Romans 1:18-25 + Creation reveals God’s glory Acts14:11-17 “The universe, which to the atheist is full of darkness and confusion, to the Christian, is resplendent with light and glory.” – Archibald Alexander + Jesus reveals New Creation Romans 8:20-23 + The Church reveals Christ to the World...
Scripture: Matthew 22:34-39 1 John 4:19 “But what uniquely frightens about Putnam’s work on social capital is the dramatic trend line he unearthed through his analysis: across all these diverse contexts for human connection, Putnam found that from the mid-twentieth century onward, participation in every sort of collective activity was going down.” – Matthew Bingham, A Heart Aflame for God. 3 Tips to Better Love Others 1. Be Present 2. Be Listening 3. Be Serving...
Scripture: Proverbs 4:23 “Life is getting faster. And while some might be inclined to dismiss this accelerating pace as neutral or even beneficial, there are good reasons to suspect that our habitual exposure to this hyper-paced world has serious consequences for our capacity to slow down and pay attention to things that really matter.” – A Heart Aflame for God, Matthew Bingham. “The Greatest difficulty in conversion is to win the heart to God; and the greatest difficulty after conversion is to ...
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 3:4-18 The Average US adult spends 7 hours and 2 minutes a day onscreens. “The algorithm doesn’t just curate information. It catechizesimagination… What you take in shapes how you see everything.” — Jim Essian + The Fruit of your focus tells you something about the value of the thing that holds your focus. Be encouraged. Be Realistic. Be intentional. Psalm 119:35–37...
The sermon emphasizes that what you love most is paramount, shaping your life more than beliefs. Drawing on Augustine, it explains the concept of "ordered loves," arguing that loving things according to their intrinsic value is crucial for joy and flourishing. The speaker illustrates how misplaced affections lead to personal and societal disorder, citing real-world examples and David Foster Wallace's insights on idols. Ultimately, the episode encourages listeners to prioritize an incorruptible love for Jesus Christ through self-examination, intentional spiritual practices, and seeking divine encounters to experience true, enduring joy.
Scripture: Genesis 27:1-46 Genesis 25:27–28 + Value Character more than Success + Character is destiny + Character will eventually show itself + Trust God’s Ways to secure God’s Ends Proverbs 3:5–6 Psalm 106:13–14 + Don’t assume a strong finish Hebrews 12:1–2...
Scripture: Genesis 26:1-35 + We can pass down a spiritual legacy, and we can pass down sinful patterns. 1 Kings 22:41–43 1 Kings 22:51–52 + We can live in faith, or we can live in fear. Exodus 14:10–14 + We can live for the favor of people, or we can live for the favor of God Exodus 33:15–16 John 12:42–43...
Scripture: Genesis 25:7-11 , 19-34 “You contribute nothing to your salvation except the sin that made it necessary.” – Jonathan Edwards + God uses our prayer to fulfill His promises + God uses our weakness to fulfill his promises + God uses our opposition to fulfill his promises. Philippians 3:18-21 “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot im...
Scripture: Genesis 24 + A life that experiences God is one oriented toward God’s purpose. “…you might ask, “Why should God speak to me? What am I doing in life that would make him speaking to me a reasonable thing for him to do? Are we in businesstogether in life? Or am I in business just for myself, trying to ‘use a little God’ to advance my projects?” – Dallas Willard, Hearing God. + A life that experiences God is one of faith-filled action. + A life that experiences God is one that is growing...
Scripture: Hebrews 11:8-19 + Faith alone secures ouracceptance with God. Genesis 15:6 Ephesians 2:8–9 Romans 4:1–5 + Faith alone demands humilitybefore God and others. + Faith obeys God's word withouthaving all the details or all the answers. James 2:21–24 + Faith is future oriented "There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark rocky peak high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope r...
Scripture: Psalm 136 “For his mercy endureth for ever.We shall have this repeated in every verse of this song, but not once toooften. It is the sweetest stanza that a man can sing. What joy that there ismercy, mercy with Jehovah, enduring mercy, mercy enduring for ever. We are everneeding it, trying it, praying for it, receiving it: therefore let us for eversing of it.” – Charles H. Spurgeon + Give thanks to the Lord, forwho He is. Psalm 136: 1-3 + Give thanks to the Lord, forwhat He does. Psalm...
Scripture: Acts 2:32-47 And we believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets. And we believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen. + The Holy Spirit We are not powerless Romans 8:9 Galatians 5:16 + The Churc...
Scripture: Philippians 2:3-11 Who, for us and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; he suffered and was buried; and the third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father… John 17:5 John 17:24 "...the supreme mystery with which the gospel confronts us...lies not in the Good Friday message of atoneme...
Scripture: John 1:1-5; 14-18 + The Incarnation Philippians 2:5-8 "...the supreme mystery with which the gospel confronts us...lies not in the Good Friday message of atonement, nor in the Easter Sunday message of resurrection, but in the Christmas message of Incarnation. The really staggering Christian claim is that Jesus of Nazareth was God made man - that the second person of the Godhead...took humanity without loss of deity, so that Jesus of Nazareth was as truly and fully divine as he was hum...
Scripture: John 1:1–3; John 1:14, 18 "Without exaggeration it can be said that every church and every Christian ought to know the Nicene Creed." – Kevin DeYoung, The Nicene Creed. + Nicene Creed We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substanc...
Scripture: Genesis 21:1-21 Proverbs 13:12 + God is the God who gives laughter Psalm 126:1-3 + God will deal with every threat to our joy Luke 1:67–69 Luke 7:11–17 John 16:20–22 Galatians 4:21–23 Galatians 4:28–31 + One day our Joy will never be threatened again 1 Peter 2:12 "Gandalf! I thought you were dead! But then I thought I was dead myself. Is everything sad going to come untrue? What's happened to the world?" "A great Shadow has departed," said Gandalf, and then he laughed and the sound wa...
Scripture: Ephesians 2:1-10 "The whole range of human miseries, from restlessness and estrangement through shame and guilt… to the agonies of daytime television—all of them tell us that things in human life are not as they ought to be." – Cornelius Plantinga + The default mode of humanity is dead, defiant, and doomed "Behold my heart, O God, behold my heart which you had pity upon in the bottom of the abyss. Now let my heart tell you what it was seeking there, that I should be gratuitously evil,...
Scripture: Genesis 20 + God is Faithful even when we are faithless 2 Timothy 2:11–13 Isaiah 49:15–16 + God is vigilant when we are careless Psalm 19:13 Psalm 119:133 + God blesses the world through his people Philippians 1:19 Genesis 12:3 Galatians 3:8 John 5:23 John 3:36
Scripture: Genesis 19 Key Takeaways: + The Spiritual Condition of Sodom Ezekiel 16:49 + The Spiritual Condition of Lot Hebrews 11:8-10 + The judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah is a dress rehearsal for a future and greater judgment Jude 1:7 Luke 17:26-35 Romans 5:8-10 Matthew 11:20-24 + Judgement begins with the household of God 1 Peter 4:14-19 1 John 2:15-17 "Sin is never at a stay; if we do not retreat from it, we shall advance in it." – Puritan Writer "But we can guess why He is delaying. He wants...
Scripture: Genesis 18:16-33 Key Takeaways: + God is a comprehensive judge + God is a just judge Genesis 15:6 Psalm 32:1 + God is a merciful judge Isaiah 53:11- 12 Hebrews 7:25 John 15:15-16
Scripture: Genesis 18:1-15 Key Takeaways: Ephesians 3:20 + God's presence is the guarantee of God's promises 2 Corinthians 1:20-22 "I regard myself as the most wretched of all men, stinking and covered with sores, and as one who has committed all sorts of crimes against his King. Overcome by remorse, I confess all my wickedness to Him, ask His pardon and abandon myself entirely to Him to do with as He will. But this King, filled with goodness and mercy, far from chastising me, lovingly embraces ...
