Just as Jesus spoke with authority towards demons, casting them out and commanding them, that authority is given to believers by the Spirit. This authority is unique to believers and the demons know it, people can try to imitate it, but will not have any luck, the best they can do is try and trick people, just like Satan. The glory of God is shown when imitators are exposed and the truth is shown. We have a responsibility to invoke the name of Jesus when evil attempts to appropriate Christianity...
May 12, 2024•29 min
In the face of intense persecution, the Church devoted itself to prayer. Not only does God hear our prayers but He acts on them. God’s actions in freeing Peter show His power over man, that despite Herod’s best efforts to keep Peter from working for the Gospel, those chains were powerless before God. When in the face of persecution, whether by man, Satan, or ourselves, bringing the Church together to pray is our best option, because “if God is for us, who can be against us?” Sometimes we find ou...
May 05, 2024•35 min
Most of us have heard the story of Paul. The Apostle to the Gentiles, arguably the greatest missionary in history, and author of 13 books in our New Testament. He didn’t start this way though, he was one of the primary instruments of persecution against the early Church before Jesus decided enough was enough. This process took the faithful actions of multiple believers to accomplish, starting with a man named Ananias, who was called by Jesus to share the Gospel and baptize Paul, the very man who...
Apr 28, 2024•31 min
The Spirit leads and equips us to impact in ways we could not imagine. Philip is led to a seemingly random individual to explain the Scripture to him. Through Philip’s faithful actions, the man believes, and carries that belief back to Ethiopia. That single act by Philip led to a great spread of Christianity in Ethiopia, leading them to officially adopt Christianity in 330 AD, making them one of the first nations to declare themselves “Christian.” We often don’t know why we’re being led somewher...
Apr 21, 2024•28 min
The Spirit equipped the early Church to do both great miracles and also to speak beyond their natural ability. Through the Spirit we have the ability to completely change people’s lives for the better. It doesn’t take a formally educated or trained individual to share the Gospel in powerful ways. It takes someone willing to step out in the boldness of the Spirit and rely on Him as their Helper. The only reason we get to witness the extraordinary in this moment is because of the obedience of the ...
Apr 14, 2024•28 min
The Apostles, having lived with Jesus for 3 years, only to see him be killed and rise again, are left having to say goodbye again as Jesus ascends to Heaven. Knowing how we are, Jesus didn’t leave His followers to fend for themselves, and promised to send them a helper, the Holy Spirit. The gifting of the Holy Spirit is the fulfillment of the promise that God will not leave us nor forsake us. Keeping his commandments comes with the promise of the Helper. We are promised an eternal presence who r...
Apr 07, 2024•34 min
Jesus died on the cross to take our place, to take on the sin that we committed. Let’s face it - our sin put him there, we are the reason he was condemned to die. But that’s not where the story ended - he miraculously rose from the grave and he lives for us today. The introduction of Sin necessitated the coming of Christ. Everyone has sinned, and everyone falls short. Sin separates from God. To be justified means to be declared righteous. God made the free gift of salvation available to all peop...
Mar 31, 2024•34 min
How can we be real with evangelism and discipleship? What’s our motivation, power source, audience? God’s motivation for evangelism begins and ends with His love for people. Loving others like God does causes us to have compassion for them. Our perspective on evangelism would change if we truly viewed others as lost sheep and not lost causes. A Christ-like perspective comes from a Christ-centered life.
Mar 24, 2024•30 min
How are we empowered to stand against a world that is ready to reject us? The world is sick. The Gospel is the cure. We are called to be ambassadors of the Kingdom of God. We are all called to go and take the cure for sin to the world. God cares. We aren’t the authors of the message, we’re simply delivering it. We have a responsibility to the world around us.
Mar 17, 2024•33 min
We can walk the walk but do we talk the talk? Those who don’t know Jesus will only learn about him if we tell them. Are we verbalizing our faith? If your faith isn’t important enough for you to discuss, do you truly value your faith? We have a Gospel message and it is worth delivering that message to others. People can't believe in a message that hasn't been delivered to them. We must walk the walk, so that people don’t automatically disregard what we have to say when we try to talk the talk....
Mar 10, 2024•29 min
What about our lives gives those around us a curiosity for the Hope living in us? Our lives will either will either support or undermine our claims for Christ. We must always be prepared to share the hope we have in Christ. Theologian Alexander McClaren states, “Only he who can say 'the Lord is the strength of my life' can go on to say, 'of whom shall I be afraid?'". Holding Christ in the proper regard removes the fear of promoting our faith. Any chance that we have to point others to Christ tha...
Mar 03, 2024•31 min
The Church is the human representation of the Kingdom of God. The Church is a vital piece of any believer’s walk. This week we look at what the Church should be. The Church is the human representation of the kingdom of God. We talk about two different “churches” in Christianity, the global Church and the local church. The global Church is the body of Christ and encompassing all believers around the world. Together, we do the work of God’s Kingdom. The local church exists to provide a family of b...
Feb 25, 2024•32 min
The Lord’s Supper is the representation of Jesus’ final meal with his closest followers. We take the Lord’s Supper to remember the sacrifice that was made on our behalf. The Lord’s Supper is the representation of Jesus’ final meal with His closest followers. As believers, we partake in the Lord’s Supper of bread and fruit of the vine, as Jesus did, which symbolize His broken body and blood spilt at the cross. When we do this, we do so in remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice. As Christians, this is ...
Feb 19, 2024•29 min
We submit to baptism because Christ submitted to baptism. It is a chance to publicly proclaim that we are a new creation in him. Jesus submitted to baptism, signifying the beginning of His ministry. Likewise, He asks us to be baptized as a public profession of faith, as the next right step following Salvation. Believers are baptized by water in order to reflect the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. If you choose to be baptized at CrossPoint Fellowship, it occurs through full immersion. B...
Feb 11, 2024•27 min
The Scripture is God’s revelation to man. It’s the Christian guidebook. We need it, we need to know it, we need to follow it. The Bible is the Word of God. The 66 books encompassed by the Old and New Testaments were all inspired by God to instruct and lead people to Him and to righteous living. Though multiple translations are available in multiple languages, God’s truth is made apparent to all people by guidance of the Holy Spirit through prayer and study. Therefore, the Bible is faultless and ...
Feb 04, 2024•33 min
Who needs salvation? Everyone. What is Salvation? Forgiveness. Why do we need salvation? Sin. When should we accept salvation? Immediately. All people have sinned and will sin. The due punishment for this rebellion against God is eternal death, which is separation from God. The only way to restore our relationship with God is by accepting the gift of grace, through faith, that Christ provided through His death and resurrection. Therefore, anyone who accepts this free gift by submitting their lif...
Jan 28, 2024•29 min
The Holy Spirit was a gift from Jesus to his disciples and all future believers. A promise of his presence is what comes with the Spirit. The Spirit emboldens us and encourages us to follow Christ. The Holy Spirit is the final person of the Trinity, God with us. The Spirit calls all people to repent of their sin and is gifted to everyone who has repented and surrendered their life to Jesus. Through the Spirit, God equips His believers and guides them to truth so they can fulfill the plan God has...
Jan 22, 2024•29 min
Jesus is God the Son. He received his authority from YHWH his father. He is the perfecter of our faith and our salvation. He lovingly went to the cross to die for our sins and the perfect life he lived meant that his gift of sacrifice was sufficient to bring about the forgiveness of our sins. Jesus Christ, the Son, is God born as a man. He is the second person of the Trinity and the only way to salvation. Born of a virgin, He lived a perfect life. Through this perfect life and His willingness to...
Jan 15, 2024•28 min
God gave Moses his name as YHWH translated the “I Am.” God simply is whatever he needs to be - all powerful, all knowing, all everything - to his people. On this day, we discuss the Father. God the Father is the head of the Trinity and the creator of the universe. He is all powerful, all knowing, all loving and all wise. God is the foundation of love and truth. As His creation we are subject to His teaching, guidance and correction revealed through His Son, the Holy Spirit and His Scriptures. Ge...
Jan 07, 2024•26 min
In the end, it’s all about love. It’s why his Father sent him to Earth and it’s why he died for us. The original Greek for the words translated into "gave" and "loved", are both written in the Aorist Active Indicative. Which indicates actions undefined by time that are present and future occurring. The love of Christ focuses on sacrifice and servitude. You are loved by God. One of the reasons people fail to believe that they are loved by God is that they haven’t been loved by God’s people. We ge...
Dec 24, 2023•18 min
Joy is what we experience when hope is realized. For many, Jesus brought about joy that they didn’t know existed. Jesus is an eternal giver of joy. Jesus promises those who experience sorrow that it won't be a permanent condition. We experience joy because Jesus went to the cross to solidify our faith, and did so for our joy. Joy is a sign that salvation has taken place. The cure for discouragement is to find joy that can be had. “Happiness is an emotion, whereas joy is more of a state of being....
Dec 24, 2023•34 min
Peace is the gift brought by Jesus for all mankind. We can find peace in Jesus regardless of our circumstances! The first way that Jesus' peace is made present in our lives is through the restoration of relationships. Our propensity to sin leads us to hurting each other. When we realize that what’s most important is the connection we have to one another through our commonality of being loved by Christ, that which separates us disappears and is replaced with peace. The second thing that comes wit...
Dec 18, 2023•27 min
Hope - that’s what people were looking for with the coming Messiah. It may not have gone down exactly as they had wanted it to. But, hope is what he came to bring and that’s what we have with him today. The first great thing about receiving gifts is the anticipation. Jesus is our reason to hope in what otherwise feels like a hopeless situation. The second great thing about gifts is realizing what you have received. This is the hope we have in Jesus - that we can approach Jesus while crippled by ...
Dec 03, 2023•29 min
God is so good to us. But do we want him to be good to others? Jonah was glad that God had been merciful to him but was angry that he had been merciful to the Ninevites. God sends an object lesson to Jonah to show him there’s a real irony in that. We have no right to be angry with God for being God. Too many of us get upset because others experience the goodness of God which we so willingly accept ourselves. God, slow to anger, seeks to reason with Jonah rather than punish him. Too often our ang...
Nov 26, 2023•34 min
When we run and we repent the next right step is obedience. Jonah does what he should have done in the first place, which was to step outside of his comfort zone in faith. There is no running from God's command on your life. We have no control over how people respond to the message God calls us to deliver, but that doesn’t lessen our responsibility to deliver it. We see that repentance is marked by response and reaction. Leaders lead in word and deed. God's heart is that all repent and none be p...
Nov 20, 2023•32 min
Jonah sank to the bottom of the sea until God sent a giant fish to swallow him up and therefore save his life. God sometimes gives second chances and Jonah was certainly a recipient of that. What should be our response to God in those moments? Is it possible we are drawn closer to God during valleys rather than mountaintops? The natural reaction to finding ourselves in the belly of the whale would be to ask for deliverance, but Jonah’s prayer was one of thanksgiving. Circumstances often lead us ...
Nov 12, 2023•24 min
Jesus mentioned Jonah while he walked on earth, but who was this man? Over the next 4 weeks, we’ll be diving deep into one chapter at a time from the book of Jonah, learning what we can from his story. This week, we’re looking at how God called Jonah to run to Nineveh to preach to them … but instead he ran in the opposite direction. And away from God himself. Pray Listen to God Don’t run from God Care for others
Nov 05, 2023•27 min
It’s tempting and, some days, easier to “fly solo” and say we can do this life on our own. But all of us can point to times where we’ve not only needed God but also others to stoop down and pick us up. The 11 disciples knew they needed a 12th man to help them build the church Jesus started. The fact is that they needed each other - and his disciples are the same today. Major discussions should be approached in accord with other believers through prayer and petition. Sometimes there's no wrong ch...
Oct 29, 2023•28 min
You’d think that after 3 years of following Jesus, seeing the things He did, hearing the message and prophecies He spoke, the Apostles would be without doubt. Yet, there was still doubt among them. Thomas, like so many of us, asks for proof before he will believe, his skepticism (potentially pessimism) doesn’t let his faith thrive. Our faith must thrive without seeing and hearing Jesus “physically.” As Jesus says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” No matter what barrie...
Oct 22, 2023•26 min
Peter was chosen by Jesus to be the rock on which He will build His church, yet Peter wasn’t a perfect man. Peter denied knowing Jesus 3 times during the moments leading up to Jesus’ death. Despite this, Jesus forgave Peter and called him to “feed my sheep,” reaffirming Jesus’ call on Peter’s life. Each of us must know the true identity of Jesus if we seek to follow him faithfully. To truly know Christ is to be blessed. It would seem that it is possible to be both foundational and faltering....
Oct 15, 2023•22 min
