Acts: The First Missionaries

In God's great love for all the world, He sent the gospel to all nations. In Acts we see the humble beginning of this great redemption of the world in Paul and Barnabas taking the first missionary journey. But we see much more — we learn how to share the gospel; we learn how to apply Biblical principles to even the strategy of evangelism; and we see men passionate about Christ, the gospel and the lost... and they inspire us to be better.

Acts 13

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

How Should I Live: Loving Neighbor

When asked how one should live Jesus said the two biggest duties in life are: love God with all you got, and love your neighbor with the same concern you have for yourself. Ever realize how radical that actually is?

Luke 10:25-37
Matthew 22:34-40,5:43,7:12
Galatians 5:14
Romans 13:8-10
John 4:9,8:48
James 2:15-16

Sermon discussion topics for parents to use with their children:

• What does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself?
• Why is this so radical?
• Why did the priest and the Levite not do this?
• Why is the Good Samaritan such a good role model?
• Why does this require a deeper sanctification than normal?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Acts: Shifting Directions

After concentrating on spreading the gospel to mainly Jewish audiences Acts takes a sudden shift to focus on evangelizing to the Gentiles. We can be very thankful that Jesus' grace extends to all the world.

Acts 13

Chris Bowser
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Put to Death Your Flesh

Are you feeling like you want to love God, but can't seem to make Him the top priority in your life? This is your call for action: to walk in the Spirit you must put to death the sinful desires of the flesh. Are you ready to suffer in order to accomplish this?

Romans 8:1-17,11:20-23,6:11-12
Genesis 19:12-29
Mark 7:20-23
Galatians 5:16-23,2:20
Hebrews 7:25,12:1-2,11:1
2 Peter 2:6-10
Philippians 1:6
Ephesians 5:8,2:4-6
2 Corinthians 5:10-12
1 Peter 4:1-4
Luke 9:23-24

Sean Byham
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

How Should I Live: Loving God

As Christians how should we live? We are to love God with all of our heart, soul, and mind. That's the number one thing. Everything we have is a gift from God. We are so blessed, even when we're not thinking about Him! To know God is to love God.

Isaiah 40
Matthew 22:34-40

She was always best when she was most with God in a corner. She has many a whole day been pouring out her soul before God for the nation, for Zion, and the great concerns of her own soul, when them about her did judge it more expedient that she had been in her bed, by reason of some bodily infirmity that did hang upon her; but the divine pleasures that she took in her closet did drown the sense of pain. Thomas Brooks Strength in Weakness

But the most obvious fact about praise — whether of God or anything — strangely escaped me. I thought of it in terms of compliment, approval, or the giving of honor. I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise unless... shyness or the fear of boring others is deliberately brought in to check it. The world rings with praise — lovers praising their mistresses, readers their favorite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favorite game — praise of weather, wines, dishes, actors, motors, horses, colleges, countries, historical personages, children, flowers, mountains, rare stamps, rare beetles, even sometimes politicians or scholars... I had not noticed either that just as men spontaneously praise whatever they value, so they spontaneously urge us to join them in praising it: "Isn't she lovely? Wasn't it glorious? Don’t you think that magnificent?" The Psalmists in telling everyone to praise God are doing what all men do when they speak of what they care about. My whole, more general, difficulty about the praise of God depended on my absurdly denying to us, as regards the supremely Valuable, what we delight to do, what indeed we can't help doing, about everything else we value. I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed. C.S. Lewis Reflections on the Psalms

Sermon discussion topics for parents to use with their children:

• Why do we not love God as we ought (or Why do we need fixed)?
• Why do people and angels who know God well love Him?
• What are some of the multifaceted ways God is beloved?
• What are the results from loving God?
• How should loving God impact:
  1. our personal devotions?
  2. our praise of God?
• What practical suggestions were given concerning How to love God?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Acts: A Shining Example

A confused and hurting world is increasingly today a divided and broken world. People get along less and less. Unity in the country, city, or even home seems almost impossible. It leaves people lonely and unconnected vitally in a community. Here is where the church is to shine like a city on a hill... by its unity and closeness. All people should know we are His disciples because of the love we have for one another. In our study of Acts we will explore the very first time the disciples were called Christians. And we will see the implications of that name for us today.

Acts 11

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

How Should I Live: Jesus' Priority

How should I live out my Christian faith.. so many opinions, issues... what does Jesus say?

1 Corinthians 13
Matthew 22:34-40
John 13:34-35
Galatians 5:14
Romans 13:8-10,2:10
James 2:8
1 Peter 4:8,3:8
1 John 3:11,3:10,3:23
2 John 5
1 Corinthians 13:1-3
John 15:12-13
Matthew 7:12,5:43-44
1 John 4:7-11

Sermon discussion topics for parents to use with their children:

• Why is it challenging to know how to live out our faith?
• Why do folks tend toward legalism or lawlessness?
• What did Jesus say was the most important thing?
• Do I ask constantly, Am I loving this person?
• Why does it help that God does this?
• What role does the Holy Spirit have in helping us love?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Acts: The Power of Prayer

In studying Acts 12 we see the power of prayer which leads to being active in God's will.

Acts 12

Henry Russo
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

The Gospel in the Old Testament: The Suffering Servant

In this conclusion to discovering The Gospel in the Old Testament we see that Jesus is the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53. Why would such a glorious person to come for me? What wonder is this gospel!"

1 Peter 2:18-25
Acts 8:26-35
Isaiah 52:13-53:12
John 5:39,12:37-38,12:41
Romans 4:25
2 Corinthians 4:16

You have as much of God as you desire. If you have no more, it is because you do not desire any more. The Christian people of today, many of whom are so empty of God, are in a very tragic sense, 'full,' because they have as much as they can take in. If you bring a tiny cup, and do not much care whether anything pours into it or not, you will get it filled, but you might have had a gallon vessel filled if you had chosen to bring it. Of course there are other conditions too. We have to use the life that is given us. We have to see that we do not quench it by sin, which drives the dove of God from a man’s heart. But the great truth is that if I open the door of my heart by faith, Christ will come in, in His Spirit. If I take away the blinds the light will shine into the chamber. If I lift the sluice the water will pour in to drive my mill. If I deepen the channels, more of the water of life can flow into them, and the deeper I make them the fuller they will be.

And let us remember that, if we are full of faith, we shall be full of the Holy Spirit, and therefore full of wisdom, full of grace and power, full of goodness, full of joy, whatever our circumstances. And when death comes, though it may be in some cruel form, we shall be able to look up and see the opened heavens and the welcoming Christ. Alexander MacLaren Alexander MacLaren's Expositions of Holy Scripture

Sermon discussion topics for parents to use with their children:

• Who is the Suffering Servant?
• What stands out for you from the poetic Isaiah 53, about Jesus, His sufferings, and what He has done for us?
• Why is it a wonder that:
  1. Such a glorious person was needed to fix the problem?
  2. We would need such a substitute?
  3. Our sin would fall on such a glorious person?
  4. That He would do this for you?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Acts: The Role of the Holy Spirit

What is the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of a Christian? Should we expect a second experience? What are the differences between the baptism of the Spirit and the filling of the Spirit? Is speaking in tongues the sign of the baptism of the Holy Spirit? Questions like these have challenged Christians for a long time. Most tend to rely heavily on the book of Acts to prove their position. In our study of Acts, we are going to look at what the Word of God teaches about these vital questions.

Acts 1-11

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

The Gospel in the Old Testament: Melchizedek???

The mysterious figure Melchizedek appears suddenly in the Old Testament and just as suddenly is gone... yet through him marvelous things about Jesus are revealed!

Genesis 14:18-20
Psalm 110
Mark 11:27-28
1 John 2:1-2
Romans 8:33-34
Hebrews 5:1-6,5:9-11,6:20-8:3,9:11-15,9:27,4:14-16

Sermon discussion topics for parents to use with their children:

• Who is Melchizedek, and why is he important?
• Why is it important for us that Jesus is the Great High Priest?
• Why is He superior to the Old Testament priests?
• How will He help us:
  1. When we face the challenges of life?
  2. When we face God in person?
• Why are unbelievers alone?
• What does Jesus say to them?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

The Gospel in the Old Testament: David's Son and Lord

Jesus quoted the Old Testament and then pointed out that David's distant relative will also be his Lord... what are the practical implications for everyone (literally everyone and everything)?

Psalm 110
Matthew 22:41-46
Acts 2:32-36,7:55-56
Romans 8:34
Ephesians 1:20-23,2:5-6
Colossians 3:1
Hebrews 1:3,1:13,8:1,10:12-13,12:2
1 Peter 3:22
Hebrews 2:8-9
Ephesians 1:10
1 Corinthians 15:20-28

Sermon discussion topics for parents to use with their children:

• What did Jesus ask about Psalm 110?
• What are the practical implications of the fact that Jesus has been exalted to head of all things?
• What is the plan that God is currently working out?
• What are the two ways this should personally impact us as outlined in the sermon?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

The Gospel in the Old Testament: Photograph of the Cross

The Old Testament's Psalm 22 is quoted by Jesus on the cross, and is a powerful photograph of the sufferings Jesus willingly underwent for us. This should produce a dramatic effect upon us.

Matthew 27:15-54
Psalm 22:1-19

"Thou:" I can understand why traitorous Judas and timid Peter should be gone, but thou, my God, my faithful friend, how canst thou leave me? This is worst of all, yea, worse than all put together. Hell itself has for its fiercest flame the separation of the soul from God.

...he could only utter moanings and groanings as men do in severe sicknesses, like the roarings of a wounded animal. To what extremity of grief was our Master driven? What strong crying and tears were those which made him too hoarse for speech! What must have been his anguish to find his own beloved and trusted Father standing afar off, and neither granting help nor apparently hearing prayer! This was good cause to make him "roar."

But I am a worm, and no man. This verse is a miracle in language. How could the Lord of glory be brought to such abasement as to be not only lower than the angels, but even lower than men. What a contrast between "I AM" and "I am a worm"! yet such a double nature was found in the person of our Lord Jesus when bleeding upon the tree. He felt himself to be comparable to a helpless, powerless, down trodden worm, passive while crushed, and unnoticed and despised by those who trod upon him. He selects the weakest of creatures, which is all flesh; and becomes, when trodden upon, writhing, quivering flesh, utterly devoid of any might except strength to suffer. This was a true likeness of himself when his body and soul had become a mass of misery - the very essence of agony - in the dying pangs of crucifixion.

Turning from his enemies, our Lord describes his own personal condition in language which should bring the tears into every loving eye. I am poured out like water. He was utterly spent, like water poured upon the earth; his heart failed him, and had no more firmness in it than running water, and his whole being was made a sacrifice, like a libation poured out before the Lord. He had long been a fountain of tears; in Gethsemane his heart welled over in sweat, and on the cross he gushed forth with blood; he poured out his strength and spirit, so that he was reduced to the most feeble and exhausted state.

Thou hast brought me into the dust of death; so tormented in every single part as to feel dissolved into separate atoms, and each atom full of misery; the full price of our redemption was paid, and no part of the Surety's body or soul escaped its share of agony. The words may set forth Jesus as having wrestled with Death until he rolled into the dust with his antagonist. Behold the humiliation of the Son of God! The Lord of Glory stoops to the dust of death.

Charles Spurgeon The Treasury of David, Psalm 22

Sermon discussion topics for parents to use with their children:

• Why can Psalm 22 be called a photograph of the cross?
• What hit you as you listened to Jesus' sufferings described?
• How did the illustration of the man who went to prison for what his dog did fit into the sermon?
• Why should this all have a dramatic impact upon us that is
  1. Pervasive?
  2. Always?
  3. Forever?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Acts: The Bigger Picture

We'll take a step back in Acts and look at the big picture surrounding the situation with Peter and Cornelius. A lot of things are happening simultaneously. Peter's vision of the unclean animals is an important turning point in the breaking of established traditions for the early church.

Acts 10-11

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

The Two Most Influential Men of the Gospel

According to the Apostle Paul the two most influential men of all time are Jesus Christ and Adam. In Romans 5 Paul argues for how the influence of each affects our eternal destiny.

Romans 5:12-21
2 Corinthians 1:20
John 5:39
Luke 24:25-27
1 Corinthians 15:45
Psalm 139:18

Sermon discussion topics for parents to use with their children:

• In What ways are Adam and Christ similar?
• In what ways are we related to Adam?
• In what ways are Adam and Christ different?

Scott Graubard
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Acts: Shattering Traditions

In Acts the gospel has been shared and growing in Jerusalem and Judea. Now it makes that big move into the Gentile world. This is breaking down walls that have been in place for hundreds of years.

Acts 9-10

David Ruhl
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: God's Anointed

We tend to think of the gospel as being a New Testament thing, but it is throughout the Old Testament, even from the very beginning. A thousand years before Christ we find that God has appointed a world wide, forever King! That is both marvelous, glorious, and can be scary!

Psalm 2,89:20,89:27,110:1
Acts 4:23-31,13:22-36
Romans 9:5,1:3-4
Ephesians 1:20-23
Philippians 2:9-11
Matthew 28:18-20
1 Corinthians 15:24-26

Sermon discussion topics for parents to use with their children:

• Why do modern people struggle with the concept of authority?
• What is God's response in Psalm 2 to the nations' rage?
• What are the blessings of having Jesus as God's anointed King?
• Why should this be scary to some?
• What is the glorious plan?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Justice Will Prevail

Christians often have a deep set fear of being persecuted for their faith. However the level of that perceived persecution varies greatly. Jesus told us persecution is definitely coming but not to fear it! We've read the end of the book and already know who wins!

Matthew 10:24-33

Pastor Bob Zoba
Second Union Church
Guaynabo, PR