Trusting God as a Lifestyle

It is easy in our information age to make worry and anxiety our default setting... almost a lifestyle. But God calls us to make trusting Him our lifestyle. So Psalm 37 encourages trust, delight, commit, and rest. Quite a pleasant lifestyle!

Psalm 37
1 Peter 5:7
Song of Solomon 2:15
Philippians 4:6-7
Luke 12:22-23

Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:

• What are the main themes of this Psalm concerning:
  1. The upright person?
  2. The wicked?
• What are the root meanings of trust, delight, commit, and rest in this Psalm?
• Why should we chase out the foxes?
• Why is trust the ultimate honor?
• How can we make trust a lifestyle?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Facing the Future Determined to Trust

Jesus exhibited a determined resolve to trust His Heavenly Father and not Himself... from Him we learn to trust!

Deuteronomy 8
Matthew 3:13-4:4,4:11
Genesis 3:1-5
2 Corinthians 9:10
1 Corinthians 3:6-7
Philippians 4:19

Sermon discussion topics for parents to use with their children:

• How is the Devil's approach to Jesus and to Eve similar... how about to us?
• Why did Jesus not make the bread?
• Why did God test Israel in the wilderness?
• What were they supposed to learn?
• How did Jesus show He learned the lesson?
• Why can we trust God?
• Why is trust an act of the will... like hanging on the rope and not the stump?
• Will you trust God for this year?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

The Power and Authority of God

As we witness real storms in the world we see the awesome power of God. God the power to destroy, yet He also has the poor to create and restore life. And He still loves and cares about little us.

Revelation 22:17,4:11
2 Peter 3:6
Isaiah 23:11
Psalm 37:38
1 John 3:8
Matthew 6:19,7:13,10:20,28:5
Philippians 3:19
Genesis 1:1
John 1:3,3:16
Exodus 7:1-7

Henry Russo
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

The Gospel in the Old Testament: The Bronze Serpent

Jesus pointed to a bronze serpent on a pole — that Moses was instructed by God to make in the Old Testament — as a teaching tool to help us understand what an wonderful thing He did to save us!

Numbers 20:1-21:9
John 3:13-18
2 Kings 18:4
Revelation 2:1-5
1 Peter 2:7

Sermon discussion topics for parents to use with their children:

• Why is complaining against God so bad?
• Why was the serpent both a chastisement and a gracious thing?
• How does this point to Jesus?
• Why are people still in danger of perishing?
• Why did the bronze serpent need to be destroyed?
• What does this teach us?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

The Gospel in the Old Testament: Learning to Lean

God sometimes takes dramatic action to get us to have face time with Him and to learn to lean on Him and not on our own strength. But it doesn't have to be this way as his lesson from the Old Testament reveals.

Genesis 25:21-23,25:27-28,27:27-29,29:20,31:49,32,33:14
Hebrews 12:16
Matthew 6:6

First, 'Pray to thy Father which is in secret.' God is a God who hides Himself to the carnal eye. As long as in our worship of God we are chiefly occupied with our own thoughts and exercises, we shall not meet Him who is a Spirit, the unseen One. But to the man who withdraws himself from all that is of the world and man, and prepares to wait upon God alone, the Father will reveal Himself. As he forsakes and gives up and shuts out the world, and the life of the world, and surrenders himself to be led of Christ into the secret of God's presence, the light of the Father’s love will rise upon him. The secrecy of the inner chamber and the closed door, the entire separation from all around us, is an image of, and so a help to that inner spiritual sanctuary, the secret of God's tabernacle, within the veil, where our spirit truly comes into contact with the Invisible One. And so we are taught, at the very outset of our search after the secret of effectual prayer, to remember that it is in the inner chamber, where we are alone with the Father, that we shall learn to pray aright. Andrew Murray With Christ in the School of Prayer

Child of God! listen to your Teacher. He tells you that when you go to private prayer your first thought must be: The Father is in secret, the Father waits me there. Just because your heart is cold and prayerless, get you into the presence of the loving Father. As a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth you. Do not be thinking of how little you have to bring God, but of how much He wants to give you. Just place yourself before, and look up into, His face; think of His love, His wonderful, tender, pitying love. Just tell Him how sinful and cold and dark all is: it is the Father's loving heart will give light and warmth to yours. O do what Jesus says: Just shut the door, and pray to thy Father which is in secret. Is it not wonderful? to be able to go alone with God, the infinite God. And then to look up and say: My Father! Andrew Murray With Christ in the School of Prayer

Sermon discussion topics for parents to use with their children:

• How would you describe Jacob as a person?
• How did his approach to life work for him?
• Why did God not answer his prayer initially?
• Why did He make him wrestle?
• Why did He dislocate his hip?
• How was Jacob changed?
• Why is it important to get alone with God often?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Quit Worrying

Jesus commands us to stop worrying... then He gives us many reasons to consider why we should stop.

Luke 12:1-34
Psalm 27:1,27:3,3:5-6,56:3-4
1 Peter 5:7
Philippians 4:6-7
James 2:5

Sermon discussion topics for parents to use with their children:

• Jesus commands us to quit worrying. What are the reasons He gives for this commandment?
• What is the one main reason we do worry so much?
• How can we come to trust God better?
• What does it mean that faith includes: knowledge, conviction, and finally, entrustment?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Mark: Not My Will... Yours (Part II)

In order to say "Not My will but Yours" in this emotional passage from Mark, Jesus had to act in a radical obedience and trust. In this we should be moved to love Him and to imitate Him.

Mark 14:32-42
2 Corinthians 12:1-10
John 6:38,4:34,10:17-18
Philippians 2:8
Job 1:20-22,2:9-10
1 John 4:9-10
Romans 8:31-32

Sermon discussion topics for parents to use with their children:

• What does this text show us about Jesus' obedience?
• What can we learn from His example?
• What does it show about His trust?
• What can we learn from His example in this, as well?
• Have you ever been faced with trusting God when you didn't understand what He was doing?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Trusting God When You Don't Understand What He is Doing

It is hard to trust God when we do not know what He is doing or why. But we are called to trust Him and in this message we explore how that is done.

Job 1:1-2:10
Proverbs 3:5-6
Romans 8:31-32,8:28

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs
And works His sov’reign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flow’r.

Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.
William Cowper God Moves in a Mysterious Way

One of the most difficult things to do when the road is rough or when the billows are passing over us is to feel that God still loves us. It is the last thing we can accept. But we are not called to feel; we are called to believe. In his book In Their Afflictions, Murdock Campbell tells of a minister in the north of Scotland who suddenly list his spiritually-minded wife. As he prayed that night in the presence of friends he said, "if an angel from heaven told me that this would work for my good I would not believe him but because of thy Word says it I must believe it." We are to measure God's love not by His providence but by His promise. "When we cannot trace God's hand we can trust God's heart', says C.H. Spurgeon. When providences are dark it is difficult to read them. It is the Word that tells us how to view them. John J. Murray Behind a Frowning Providence

There is much that remains a mystery and for which there is no immediate answer. This lies at the very crux of the matter. It may seem a strange paradox but it was when Job was willing not to understand that he began to understand. And why should this not be so? God is God and man is man. It is in keeping with the greatness of God. In a sermon entitled Dark Providences Made Clear in Due Time, Ralph Erskine explains God's purpose in dark providences thus: "It is to discover Himself in a way suitable to Himself and His glorious perfections and to show that His thoughts are not our thoughts nor His ways our ways. If He should work according to our thoughts and imaginations how would it appear that He is Jehovah, a sovereign God that acts like Himself. God owes us no explanations. We owe Him implicit trust and obedience. It is not easy to trust God when He appears to be silent, as He was with Job, but trust we must." John J. Murray Behind a Frowning Providence

Dr. Ronald Dunn has these wise words to say on the problem of the silence of God in suffering: "I think this is the hardest part of all. You can take just about anything, if you know why. Everywhere I go, every meeting, I'm asked... 'Why?'... I'm going to tell you something: God will very seldom answer your question of Why. It is not that there are no answers, it's just that you and I probably wouldn't be able to comprehend the answer if God were to tell us, and besides that, we have to learn to trust Him without knowing why. We ask Him questions. What we're usually doing is saying, 'Lord explain yourself', calling God into account."John J. Murray Behind a Frowning Providence

People are usually more anxious to get rid of the problem than they are to find the purpose of God in it. "Afflictions" says Matthew Henry "are continued no longer than till they have done their work." It is also our responsibility to pray that our afflictions will be sanctified to us. In his book Why Us Warren Wiersbe speaks of a friend who found herself in a sea of troubles. Attempting to encourage her one day he said "I want you to know that we are praying for you." "I appreciate that", she replied, "What are you praying to God to do?" Wiersbe found himself struggling for an answer and mentioned some things. "Thank you", she said, "but please pray for one more request. Pray that I won't waste all this suffering." John J. Murray Behind a Frowning Providence

I had a million questions to ask God; but when I met Him they all fled my mind and it didn't seem to matter. Christopher Morley

Sermon discussion topics for parents to use with their children:

• Why is it hard to trust another?
• Why is it hard to trust God?
• How do people prove themselves trustworthy?
• How has God?
• Why should we not lean on our own understanding?
• What should we lean on?
• What are the implications of the phrase We are not called to feel; we are called to believe?
• Why is it easy to trust God?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Mark: Lessons from a Fig Tree

Jesus curses a fig tree then uses the event to teach us about... Fruitlessness, Faith, and Forgiveness... in the masterful way only He can teach from this passage in Mark!!

Romans 4
Mark 11:12-26
Luke 13:6-9,3:8-9
1 Corinthians 13:2
James 4:2-3
1 John 5:14-15
Matthew 18:19-20
Acts 10:20

Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:

• Why did Jesus curse the fig tree?
• What three lessons did He teach from this event?
• What should we learn about fruitlessness?
• What should we learn about Faith?
• What did He mean when He spoke about moving mountains?
• What should we learn about Forgiveness?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

The Gospel of the Meantime - From Suffering to Glory

How should we spend the meantime -- the time between the present age and the age to come; between the resurrection of Christ and His second coming; between the suffering and the glory? Paul describes this as a time of eagerly waiting, patiently hoping, and praying.

Romans 8:15-27,5:1-2,8:1,8:11
Matthew 5:11
Psalm 130:5
Titus 2:13
2 Corinthians 4:17

Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:

• Why does creation groan?
• Why are many Christian's concept of salvation too small?
• Why do Christians groan? (3 reasons)
• How do we explain the Spirit groaning?
• How are we to wait?
• How are we to live in this present age, as we wait for salvation to be completed?
• What is the source of our hope in this age of suffering?

Scott Graubard
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Mark: Making Progress?

Are you making progress in your faith? Does Jesus agree with your assessment? Mark tells us He challenged the disciples in this area and still does today.

Mark 7:31-8:26
1 Corinthians 1:22-23
2 Timothy 3:7-9
Romans 8:22-23
2 Corinthians 5:1-2
Ephesians 6:16

Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:

• Why did Jesus heal these two men differently than most?
• What was Jesus' concern for the progress of the disciples' faith?
• How is our faith?
• Are we making progress?
• Are we making the connections?
• How can we nurture our faith?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Mark: Keep Rowing and Trusting

What makes you scream like a little girl? Seeing a ghost? Facing a terrifying storm? Or something more routine like finding a mouse? Mark tells us the disciples screamed when they saw Jesus walking on the water. Where was their trust and why were their hearts hardened?

Mark 6:30-56,1:35
Matthew 6:6
John 20:29

We do not obey God properly and substantially unless we simply follow whatever He commands even though it conflicts with our ideas. God always has the best reason for His purpose, but He often hides it from us for a time so that we may learn not to be wise in ourselves but to depend entirely on His will. John Calvin

Now by going up the mountain He was seeking the possibility of praying free from all interruption. We know how easily warmth in prayer can be quenched or at least cooled by the least distractions. He wished to warn us by His example to be careful to use all the helps that will disengage our minds from the snares of the world, so that we may be carried up to heaven. The most important thing is solitude. Those who set themselves to pray with God as their only witness will be more watchful, will pour forth their hear into His bosom, will examine themselves more carefully, and, knowing that they have to do with God, will rise above themselves. John Calvin

Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:

• Why did Jesus spend so much time in prayer?
• Why did He often get alone to pray?
• Why are the disciples described as having hard hearts?
• How should they have responded?
• In what ways do we respond to circumstances in life with hard hearts?
• How can we do it differently?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

No Condemnation

Romans 5:12-21,8:1-4,6:1,4:1,1:2-3,6:23
Genesis 2:15-17,15:7-12,15:17-18
Deuteronomy 6:4-5,28:15-19

Scott Graubard
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Preparing for a New Year

As we look upon a new year we will no doubt face both joy and challenges, peace and trials. How can we prepare to face it with faith in God and in a way that honors Him? David gives us a good example of how to overcome difficulty by strengthening oneself in the Lord.

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1 Samuel 30,27:8-12
Deuteronomy 25:17-19
Psalm 18:1-3

"Then David strengthened himself in the Lord his God". Alexander Maclaren has rightly underscored this point. There was ever a danger in Israel of holding to the official covenant faith without having a vital personal faith. It could be all too easy to speak of the "Shepherd of Israel" (Psalm 80:1) but not be able to say "The Lord is my shepherd" (Psalm 23:1), just as church folks might affirm Jesus is the Son of God but would not dream of calling Him "the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). As Maclaren has said, David could no longer say, "My house", "my city", or "my possessions", but he could say, "My God". That is where the strengthening must begin. Dale Ralph Davis 1 Samuel

The Lord our God is but one only living and true God; whose subsistence is in and of Himself, infinite in being and perfection; whose essence cannot be comprehended by any but Himself; a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; who is immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, every way infinite, most holy, most wise, most free, most absolute; working all things according to the counsel of His own immutable and most righteous will for His own glory; most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him, and withal most just and terrible in His judgments, hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty. (1 Corinthians 8:4,6; Deuteronomy 6:4; Jeremiah 10:10; Isaiah 48:12; Exodus 3:14; John 4:24; 1 Timothy 1:17; Deuteronomy 4:15-16; Malachi 3:6; 1 Kings 8:27; Jeremiah 23:23; Psalm 90:2; Genesis 17:1; Isaiah 6:3; Psalm 115:3; Isaiah 46:10; Proverbs 16:4; Romans 11:36; Exodus 34:6-7; Hebrews 11:6; Nehemiah 9:32-33; Psalm 5:5-6; Exodus 34:7; Nahum 1:2-3) 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith

Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:

• How did God get David out of his spiritual decline and sinful self-reliance?
• Why was it important for David to turn to God at the worst moment?
• What might he have done otherwise, and what would have been the consequences?
• How did David strengthen himself in the Lord His God?
• What was the application of this passage to us as we look to this new year?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

1 Peter: Casting Cares on Him

We live in what is called the Age of Anxiety? Why are we so anxious when we have unprecedented wealth, safety, health care, and social nets? God has some very specific and wonderful things to say about how to overcome worry and have not anxiety but the peace that passes understanding.

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Luke 12:22-34,10:40-42,8:14,21:34-36
1 Timothy 5:3-5
1 Peter 5:6-7
James 2:5
Philippians 4:6-7,4:19
Psalm 50:7-12
Romans 8:31-32

Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:

• What is the dangers of worrying to our soul?
• What are the possible consequences to those who become distracted by worry?
• Why should we cast our cares on God?
• What do we know about Him that should make this such a source of peace?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

1 Peter: God's Big Plan

The present worldview today is so small, meaningless and hopeless. A world with no God, no eternity, no accountability...only things, pleasure, here and now. How this contrasts with God's huge plan of salvation...planned before the world began and brought about in Jesus. What a call for faith and hope!!! Do you have lots of faith and genuine excitement (hope) about how God's plan is working out?

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Acts 2:14-39,3:14-15,3:18-21,4:8-10,4:19-20,4:33,5:29-32
1 Peter 1:10-21,1:2
Matthew 13:17,28:18
Romans 8:31-32

Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:

• What is God's big plan?
• How much did He plan before the world was created?
• Did the plan include His Son?
• Why did His Son agree?
• Why is the resurrection important?
• Why should we believe it happened if we did not witness it?
• Who is Jesus now Lord of?
• Do they know it?
• How should we respond to all of this according to Peter?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

God's Indescribable Gift

What does it mean when the Bible talks about God's Indescribable Gift? What an amazing thing when we realize this gift is a Person, a Person dear to God the Father and a Person who sacrificed everything for us!! Truly Indescribable!!!

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2 Corinthians 9:15-10:1,5:21
Romans 8:31-32
Philippians 2:5-8
John 10:17

Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:

• In what ways is God's gift indescribable?
• How did giving this gift cost God?
• How did it cost God's Son?
• How should we look out upon the future of our lives because of what God has done?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

The Lord's Prayer: Prayer is an Expression of Dependence and an Exercise of Trust

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Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Living a Life of Trust

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Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Trusting: It Shouldn't Be This Hard

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Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA