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Crossroads Christian Fellowship

Stop at the Crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it.
Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls.
Jeremiah 6:16

November 24, 2013

Hosea: Present Wrath...Future Hope

Do you get depressed from listening to the news? Do you get discouraged about your life: feeling old, hopeless, seem hard to carry on some times? God has a message of hope for you from Hosea. We will look at the way God spoke hope and a future to His people in the Old Testament and how the New Testament apostles saw that these words are for us today.

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Hosea 2

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

1 Peter: Faith, Love, and Joy Unspeakable

Do you love Jesus? Do you and I really love Jesus? Why do you love Jesus when you haven't even seen Him? Peter says the Christian loves an unseen Jesus because he or she does see Him by faith and that leads to what he calls an unspeakable joy.

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John 21:15-17
1 Peter 1:1-9,2:7
1 Corinthians 16:22
Hebrews 11:1
2 Corinthians 4:18

    Am I the soul to whom the Lord has revealed the infinite excellence of Jesus Christ, and yet shall I think such a little affliction to be so grievous to me? Jeremiah Burroughs

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

November 10, 2013

1 Peter: If Need Be -- Proving and Purifying Faith

According to Peter: our faith is more precious than gold. As gold is refined through fire and proven to be pure so faith is refined through trials. God is encouraging His people in the midst of trials in this passage. We learn how to rejoice greatly and grieve at the same time.

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1 Peter 1:1-9
2 Corinthians 4:17
Luke 22:31-32
James 1:2-3
Romans 2:10,8:18

Words of our Forefathers:

    Every sound Christian has always something wherein he may greatly rejoice. Great rejoicing contains more than an inward placid serenity of mind or sensation of comfort; it will show itself in the countenance and conduct, but especially in praise and gratitude. The chief joy of a good Christian arises from things spiritual and heavenly, from his relation to God and to heaven. In these every sound Christian greatly rejoices; his joy arises from his treasure, which consists of matters of great value, and the title to them is sure. Matthew Henry
    But it seems somewhat inconsistent, when he says that the faithful, who exulted with joy, were at the same time sorrowful, for these are contrary feelings. But the faithful know by experience, how these things can exist together, much better than can be expressed in words. However, to explain the matter in a few words, we may say that the faithful are not logs of wood, nor have they so divested themselves of human feelings, but that they are affected with sorrow, fear danger, and feel poverty as an evil, and persecutions as hard and difficult to be borne. Hence they experience sorrow from evils; but it is so mitigated by faith, that they cease not at the same time to rejoice. Thus sorrow does not prevent their joy, but, on the contrary, give place to it. Again, though joy overcomes sorrow, yet it does not put an end to it, for it does not divest us of humanity. And hence it appears what true patience is; its beginning, and, as it were, its root, is the knowledge of God’s blessings, especially of that gratuitous adoption with which he has favored us; for all who raise hither their minds, find it an easy thing calmly to bear all evils. For whence is it that our minds are pressed down with grief, except that we have no participation of spiritual things? But all they who regard their troubles as necessary trials for their salvation, not only rise above them, but also turn them to an occasion of joy. John Calvin
    Great heaviness is often necessary to a Christian’s good: If need be, you are in heaviness. God does not afflict his people willingly, but acts with judgment, in proportion to our needs. There is a conveniency and fitness, nay, an absolute necessity in the case, for so the expression signifies: it must be; therefore no man should be moved by these afflictions. For yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto, 1 Thessalonians 3:3. These troubles, that lie heavy, never come upon us but when we have need, and never stay any longer than needs must. Matthew Henry
    If need be; the condition is to be taken for a cause; for he purposed to shew, that God does not, without reason, thus try his people; for, if God afflicted us without a cause, to bear it would be grievous. Hence Peter took an argument for consolation from the design of God; not that the reason always appears to us, but that we ought to be fully persuaded that it ought to be so, because it is God’s will. John Calvin
    Afflictive dispensations, in whatsoever form, are necessary, by the will of God, who has appointed them, and therefore must be, and ought to be, quietly submitted to, and patiently borne, on that consideration; and are also necessary, on account of Christ the head, to whom there must be a conformity of his members; and likewise on their own account; for the humbling of their souls; for the weaning of them from the things of this world; for the restraining, subduing, and keeping under the corruptions of their nature; and for the trial of grace: and it is only "if", and when there is a necessity for them, that they are in heaviness by them; otherwise God does not delight to afflict and grieve the children of men, and much less his own; John Gill
    The faith of good people is tried, that they themselves may have the comfort of it, God the glory of it, and others the benefit of it. Matthew Henry
    Jesus Christ will appear again in glory, and, when he does so, the saints will appear with him, and their graces will appear illustrious; and the more they have been tried the more bright they will then appear. The trial will soon be over, but the glory, honour, and praise will last to eternity. This should reconcile you to your present afflictions: they work for you a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Matthew Henry
Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:
  • How can we both greatly rejoice and grieve at the same time?
  • Why did people used to use the phrase If needs be in the past?
  • How do trials test the genuineness of our faith?
  • How do trials purify us and what do they produce in us?
  • Why should we hang on until Jesus returns according to Peter?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

November 3, 2013

1 Peter: What God Has Done, Is Doing, and Will Do

It is so easy for us to let our day to day trials and troubles to sink our hearts into discouragement or worse...complaining. Peter was addressing people who were suffering. And he himself knew great suffering. But he learned to overcome these discouragements by remembering what God has done, is doing and will do for us believers.

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John 3:1-9,1:13
1 Peter 1:1-6,1:23
Ephesians 2:1,2:4-5

Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:
  • What did Peter say God has done for us in the past?
  • What is He doing for us in the present (in this text)?
  • What will God do for us in the future?
  • Why is Peter reminding the believers of these great realities?
  • How is the knowledge of these things supposed to affect our outlook today and every day?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

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