Colossians: Circumcision of the Heart

In Colossians, Paul takes up the Old Testament call for Heart Circumcision and shows it's New Covenant fulfillment; encouraging us all in our battle against remaining sin.

2 Corinthians 3
Colossians 2:16-17,2:9-11,3:1-12
Deuteronomy 10:12-11:1,30:6
Jeremiah 4:3-4
Acts 15:1,15:24
Romans 2:25-29,6:6,6:11-12,8:13
Philippians 3:2-3
Galatians 5:24,5:6,6:15
1 Corinthians 7:19
Colossians 2:11

Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:

• What does circumcision of the Heart mean?
• How is this tied in with Christ as the second Adam?
• How does this impact a person's life?
• How does it make them different than someone who is not circumcised of the heart?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

How Should I Live: As a Son Not a Slave

How should I live? When people were trying to move the Galatians back to legalism... Paul says "Live like sons not slaves".

Galatians 3:1-4:11,4:28,5:1-6,5:13-14,5:16,5:18,5:22-23
Matthew 23:23-28

Sermon discussion topics for parents to use with their children:

• What is legalism?
• What is wrong with it?
• What did Paul say to the Galatians when people wanted to put them back under the Law?
• What was the purpose of the Law?
• When were sons and slaves treated the same, and when were they treated differently?
• What did Paul conclude was the status of the Christian and how the Christian should live?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Free to Love

Does any medical procedure or ritually performing any works bring anyone closer to God? Or are these just stumbling blocks on our journey? Can the Holy Spirit's presence be earned? Paul says these efforts avail us nothing! Only the grace of God grants us the freedom to love through faith.

Galatians 5:1-6,3:1-5,3:13-14,4:6-7,6:2
1 Corinthians 15:10
Romans 14:7,8:14
2 Corinthians 5:14-15
1 John 3:18

Sean Byham
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

The Gospel in the Old Testament: Law and Spirit (Old Covenant and New Covenant)

The Old Testament law is hard to keep, actually impossible... but the New Covenant blessing of the Holy Spirit working a new heart enables us to fulfill the requirements of the law.

Jeremiah 31:31-34
Galatians 5:13-26
John 1:17
Hebrews 8:13
Romans 7:12,7:14,8:3-4,6:14
Ezekiel 26:25-27
2 Corinthians 3:3,3:5

Sermon discussion topics for parents to use with their children:

• What is the difference between the Old and New Covenants?
• What place does the Holy Spirit have in our lives, in light of the law of God?
• What does it mean to be led by the Spirit?
• What practically does it mean to walk in the Spirit?
• Why should we be all in?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

The Gospel in the Old Testament: Loving Others

As we continue to explore evidence of the gospel in the Old Testament, we find the second tablet of the Ten Commandments gives our duty to our fellow humans. Jesus deepens our understanding and summarizes it by loving your neighbor as yourself. This is hard to do and it shows us our need for Christ and He helps us make real progress!!

Deuteronomy 5:1-21
Romans 13:8-10,12:17-21
Matthew 5:17-22,5:27-28,5:38-45

The Purpose of the Law:
1. To reveal God’s holiness: special, pure, supreme
2. To reveal what it means to have a relationship with the holy God:
   1. What a holy life looks like
   2. As a pathway to life: human flourishing and blessing
3. To reveal how sinful we are
4. To reveal our need for Christ:
1. For the forgiveness of sins
2. For a new heart to overcome sins

Sermon discussion topics for parents to use with their children:

• What are the commandments on the second tablet?
• How did Jesus summarize these laws?
• How did He help us to understand their true meaning?
• What does it mean to love our neighbor?
• What are some practical ways we can do this better?
• How do these commandments show us our need for Christ?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

The Gospel in the Old Testament: Loving God

In the Old Testament, God gave the first tablet of the Ten Commandments outlining our duties to Him. Jesus summarized this as loving God with everything we have!! What does it mean to love God supremely and how do we do that?

Exodus 20:1-17
Mark 12:28-34
Matthew 5:17-20
Ephesians 5:5

The Purpose of the Law:
1. To reveal God’s holiness: special, pure, supreme
2. To reveal what it means to have a relationship with the holy God:
   1. What a holy life looks like
   2. As a pathway to life: human flourishing and blessing
3. To reveal how sinful we are
4. To reveal our need for Christ:
1. For the forgiveness of sins
2. For a new heart to overcome sins

What a privilege to have God as our God! What a happy condition when nothing can hurt you! If one loses his name, it is written in the Lamb’s book of Life. If he loses his liberty, his conscience is free. If he loses his estate, he owns the pearl of great price. If he meets a storm, he has a harbor; God is his God, and heaven is his heaven. If God is our God, our soul is safe. It is hidden in the promises, in the wounds of Christ, and in the decrees of God. If God is our God, then all that is in God is ours. How happy is who not only inherits the gifts of God, but inherits God Himself! If God is our God, then all that is in God is ours. How happy is he who does not only inherits the gifts of God, but inherits God himself! In his wisdom, he is ours to teach us, his power shall support us, and his mercy shall save us. God is an infinite ocean of blessedness, and there is enough in him to fill us. He gives us peace in trouble, and when there is a storm without, he will make music within. The world gives trouble in peace, but God gives peace in trouble. He loves us, and we are the 'beloved of his soul' (Jeremiah 12:7). Thomas Watson Voices from the Past – Puritan Devotional Readings/Banner of Truth

Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And an outstanding reason for choosing some sort of God or spiritual-type thing to worship… is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things — if they are where you tap real meaning in life — then you will never have enough. Never feel you have enough... Worship your own body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly, and when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally plant you... Worship power — you will feel weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to keep the fear at bay. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart — you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out... Look, the insidious thing about these forms of worship is... they are unconscious. They are default-settings. David Foster Wallace This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life

Sermon discussion topics for parents to use with their children:

• How did Jesus summarize the Law?
• What is an idol?
• What are the idols we have to resist?
• What will an idol do to you?
• What does it mean to love God with all we have?
• What should we do when we fail?
• How can we get to where Jesus calls us to be in all this?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

The Gospel in the Old Testament: Being Related to the God Who Saves

If you are the infinite, holy, great, immense, loving God... how do you reveal this to mere mortals. The answer is progressively, over time, and dramatically at times. In the Old Testament, Mount Sinai is one of those pivotal, powerful revelations of who God is. And it is important for us to grasp His message.

Exodus 19:1-20:21,14:11-12,16:2-3,17:3
1 Thessalonians 4:16
1 Corinthians 15:52
Proverbs 9:10
Job 28:28

Sermon discussion topics for parents to use with their children:

• How does God answer the question: What are You like? In this text?
• Why did God reveal Himself in such scary ways on Mount Sinai?
• What were some of the reasons God gave the Ten Commandments?
• Why is the fear of God the beginning of wisdom?
• What are the advantages to those who understand how great God is?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

The Gospel in the Old Testament: Redemption from Egypt

Redemption is a key word in the Gospel of Christ, but the concept was first fixed in the mind's of God's people in the Old Testament by the powerful work of God in freeing the captives from Egypt. Their response was profound worship... as ours should also be!!

Exodus 14:1-15:18
Matthew 20:28
1 Corinthians 10:1-4,10:11
John 8:34,14:30,8:36
Ephesians 2:2
Galatians 3:13

Sermon discussion topics for parents to use with their children:

• What would it have been like to flee from Egypt?
• What did they feel when the Red Sea closed back in?
• What was the response to this great redemption?
• What are the three things holding us in captivity?
• How has Jesus redeemed us from all three?
• What should our response be?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Who Am I?

Our culture is so self absorbed that the only answer to the question Who am I? leaves us without much hope. Maybe the question should be Whose am I?.

Galatians 2:14-21

Who am I? They often tell me
I stepped from my cell’s confinement
Calmly, cheerfully, firmly,
Like a Squire from his country house.

Who am I? They often tell me
I used to speak to my warders
Freely and friendly and clearly,
As thought it were mine to command.

Who am I? They also tell me
I bore the days of misfortune
Equably, smilingly, proudly,
like one accustomed to win.

Am I then really that which other men tell of?
Or am I only what I myself know of myself?
Restless and longing and sick, like a bird in a cage,
Struggling for breath, as though hands were compressing my throat,
Yearning for colors, for flowers, for the voices of birds,
Thirsting for words of kindness, for neighborliness,
Tossing in expectations of great events,
Powerlessly trembling for friends at an infinite distance,
Weary and empty at praying, at thinking, at making,
Faint, and ready to say farewell to it all.

Who am I? This or the Other?
Am I one person today and tomorrow another?
Am I both at once? A hypocrite before others,
And before myself a contemptible woebegone weakling?
Or is something within me still like a beaten army
Fleeing in disorder from victory already achieved?

Who am I? They mock me, these lonely questions of mine.
Whoever I am, Thou knowest, O God, I am thine!
Who Am I? Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Sermon discussion topics for parents to use with their children:

• In whom do we find our true identity?
• Why do we need to seek righteousness?
• What does it mean to be justified through the faithfulness of Christ?
• What does it mean to be new and loved?

Scott Graubard
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Mark: But Are You Willing?

Mark describes a man with leprosy who believed Jesus was powerful but wondered if He was willing to help Him. How many people find themselves in that situation?

Leviticus 13:38-46,14:1-20
Mark 1:40-45
John 14:6

Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:

• Why would it have been hard for the sick man to come to Jesus?
• Why is Jesus so willing to help?
• Why did the man have no questions about Jesus' ability?
• Why do we desperately need Jesus?
• Will He treat us differently than this man?
• What would it be like to see this healing?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

The Curse

Galatians 3:10-14,2:4,1:8,2:11-12,5:4,2:20,4:6
Romans 2:14-15,4:25
Revelation 20:15
Nahum 1:2-6
Hebrews 10:31,10:12
2 Corinthians 5:21
Isaiah 53:4-5
John 19:30
Genesis 12:3,15:3,22:16
Ephesians 1:13-14
1 Timothy 2:13

Sean Byham
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Appreciating Salvation: Redemption

We cannot fully appreciate salvation until we grasp the deep significance of the concept of Redemption. The rescue mission Jesus accomplished has profound implications on how we view God, ourselves, and life itself. What an amazing thing it is to be redeemed!!

Romans 3:21-26,6:23,7:14,6:16-18,8:23,8:31-35
Ephesians 1:7
Colossians 1:14
1 Peter 1:18-19
Hebrews 2:14-15
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Titus 2:14
Matthew 20:28

Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:

• What did the word redeemed mean to the people in the first century?
• What was the Kinsman-Redeemer?
• How has God redeemed us?
• What were we held captive to?
• What does it mean I was bought with a price?
• How should that affect us??

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Appreciating Salvation: What We Are Saved From

Often we do not appreciate our salvation enough because we do not really understand what we were saved from. This is a momentous salvation and our danger that we were rescued from is almost indescribable in its greatness. So to be delivered from that which Jesus said we should fear more than

Romans 1:18-32,3:9-20
Matthew 1:21
Proverbs 6:16-19
Luke 12:4-5
Hebrews 10:31

Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:

• What is our biggest problem according to the Bible?
• What does Jesus say we should fear more than anything else?
• What happens if we take the matter of sin lightly?
• What is God’s wrath?
• Is it God losing His temper?
• Why does understanding this make us appreciate salvation all the more?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

The Most Polarizing Issue in the Church Is...

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Genesis 2:21-24
Leviticus 18:22,20:13,11:7,22:11
1 Corinthians 6:7-11
Romans 1:18-32,3:23
Luke 9:23
Matthew 19:11-12,15:19-20,5:17
1 John 4:8
2 Peter 1:16-21

Ben Beck
Central Community Church
Transfer, PA

The Doctrine of Justification (Part II)

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Leviticus 25:47-55
Luke 18:9-14
Romans 3:19-26,4:4-5
Deuteronomy 25:1
Proverbs 17:15

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

The Doctrine of Justification (Part I)

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Luke 18:9-14
Romans 3:19-26,8:33-34,4:5-8,5:1-2
Deuteronomy 25:1
Proverbs 17:15

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Galatians: Promise, Law and Flat Tires

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Galatians 3:15-29,3:6-9

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Galatians: Works of Law vs. Hearing of Faith

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Galatians 3:1-14,2:16,21

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA