The King and Hope

Jesus is King, the rightful King, the forever King and the King who restores. He will have no rivals... who is your King? Are you your King?

Matthew 2:1-19
Isaiah 9:6-7
Micah 5:2
Zechariah 9:9
Genesis 49:9-10
Daniel 7:13-14
1 John 5:19,3:8,
John 12:31
Revelation 11:15,19:11-16
Philippians 2:9-10,3:20-21
Titus 2:11-14
Romans 8:18-19,8:23
Psalm 2

They all were looking for a king
To slay their foes, and lift them high:
Thou cam'st a little baby thing
That made a woman cry.

O son of man, to right my lot
Nought but thy presence can avail;
Yet on the road thy wheels are not,
Nor on the sea thy sail!

My fancied ways why shouldst thou heed?
Thou com'st down thine own secret stair:
Com'st down to answer all my need,
Yea, every bygone prayer!
George MacDonald That Holy Thing

Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:

• What does it mean that the Baby is a King?
• What does it mean to be a King?
• What did He come to do?
• Why is He the rightful King?
• What did He restore?
• What is the proper (the Wise Men) and the improper (Herod) response to the King?
• What is your response to Him?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Enthusiastic Angels Scaring Folk

Who would have thought the birth of the incarnate Son of God would include: a barn, a teenage Mom, questionable characters called shepherds peaking into barns and sheds at night, a hay trough... why all the nobodies.. and a special Somebody!

Luke 1:26-38,2:1-20
1 Corinthians 1:26-29
James 2:5
2 Corinthians 8:9

Sermon discussion topics for parents to use with their children:

• How many nobodies do you know?
• What is God's intentional strategy concerning nobodies?
• In what ways did Gabriel explain her future Son to Mary?
• Why did this event include shepherds?
• Why is this all so important for you personally?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Willing to Be Greatly Inconvenienced

Jesus was sent on a mission which would involve an amazingly deep level of sacrifice, loss of status, and pre‑incarnate glory. All for you?

John 10:1-30,1:1-4
Philippians 2:5-11
Colossians 1:16-17
Galatians 2:20

Sermon discussion topics for parents to use with their children:

• Why do we not like to be inconvenienced or lose status?
• What was Jesus' situation like before He came to earth?
• What was the proposed mission?
• What did He answer and why?
• Can you personalize this?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Strange and Marvelous

Celebrating the birth of a displaced refugee peasant as God is both strange and marvelous.

Isaiah 9:6-7,11:1-5
Matthew 1:18-2:18
Luke 1:11-20,1:26-38,2:1-20
Hebrews 1:1-4

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Irrepressible Wonder and Praise (Part I)

When you look upon the incarnate Christ it should cause irrepressible wonder and praise. This series during Advent is a study of the greatness of Jesus before He came to earth as we focus on passages that speak of the glory and majesty of Christ in His preexistent state. Its goal is to cause us to adore Him for becoming flesh!

John 1:1-18,3:31-32,14:6
Genesis 1
Psalm 33:6
Proverbs 8:27-31
1 John 1:1-3
Revelation 19:12-13

Sermon discussion topics for parents to use with their children:

• What is behind the concept of the Word?
• What is the significance of in the beginning... was with... was God?
• What was the Word's role in creation?
• What is the significance of the phrase the Word became flesh?
• What are the implications of this for the whole world?
• For us?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Insignificant... Beloved... Significant

Sadly the prevailing worldview of our culture today has no answer to the problem of insignificance... but thankfully Christianity does, and in a glorious manner!

Psalm 8
Isaiah 40
John 14:1-3,17:24

Sermon discussion topics for parents to use with their children:

• In what ways are we insignificant?
• In what ways are we Beloved?
• In what ways does God's love make us significant?
• Why do secular people have no answers to the problem of insignificance?
• How does Christianity provide the answer?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Embrace and Excel

There are cultural givens (presuppositions the culture holds) that have damaged our views of children, family, and the exalted calling of motherhood. But the Bible can restore us to its givens and restore the family as God has purposed it to be.

Psalm 127-128
Matthew 20:25-28
1 Chronicles 25:5

Sermon discussion topics for parents to use with their children:

• Describe these cultural givens: Live is primarily about me; children are to help me fulfill myself; children are a liability.
• Describe these Biblical givens: Life is primarily about serving others; children are a blessing from the Lord; motherhood is an exalted calling.
• How do the Biblical givens help us understand the role of mothers?
• What should you do with this Biblical perspective?
• How should it impact or change your life?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Love Gives

True love gives to its beloved. Jesus gave everything for us and the impact of this on us, when we grasp it, will be immense.

Luke 2:1-21
2 Corinthians 8:9
John 1:1-2,15:12-14
Galatians 2:20

Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:

• How was Jesus rich?
• In what way did He become poor?
• How are we poor?
• How has Jesus made us rich?
• What does it mean that love gives?
• How does all of this impact how we view Christmas?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

What Child is This: Pre-existence... or... Where Did He Travel From?

What child is this...? is the question the hymn writer asks. The answer begins in eternity past and in great glory. To appreciate what Jesus has sacrificed in just coming to earth we must look at the glory He had before His incarnation.

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John 1:1-18,6:38,14:9,17:5
Hebrews 1:1-3
Colossians 1:15-17
Revelation 4:1-6
Genesis 1
2 Corinthians 8:9

Love is in God, as light is in the sun, which does not shine by a reflected light, as the moon and planets do, but by its own light, and as the great fountain of light. And from God, love flows out toward all the inhabitants of heaven. It flows out, in the first place, necessarily and infinitely, toward his only-begotten Son; being poured forth, without mixture, as to an object that is infinite, and so fully adequate to all the fullness of a love that is infinite. And this infinite love is infinitely exercised toward Him. Not only does the fountain send forth streams to this object, but the very fountain itself wholly and altogether goes out toward Him. And the Son of God is not only the infinite object of love, but He is also an infinite subject of it. He is not only the Beloved of the Father, but He infinitely love Him. The infinite essential love of God, is, as it were, an infinite and eternal, mutual, holy, energy between the Father and the Son: a pure and holy act, whereby the Deity becomes, as it were, one infinite and unchangeable emotion of love proceeding from both the Father and the Son. This divine love has its seat in the Deity, as it is exercised within the Deity, or in God toward Himself. Jonathon Edwards Heaven, A World of Charity, or Love

Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:

• What was Jesus' life like in heaven before He came to earth?
• What does the Bible mean when it says Jesus was with God and He was God?
• From what you heard in this sermon, what would it be like to see God in heaven... what would you see, hear and feel?
• What are some of the contrasts between what Jesus experienced in heaven and what He experienced on earth?
• Why did He even come here... what motivated Him?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

1 Peter: Those Hungry Newborns

Have you ever had to watch a nursing baby and the mother came home late? If you did you know exactly what Peter is talking about. (It's not difficult to imagine he must have experienced this too!!) He calls us to desire God's word with this type of intensity. How can we get to this intensity and stay there?

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1 Peter 1:22-2:3,1:7,1:18
James 1:18
Romans 10:14
Psalm 19:10,119:103
Luke 24:32

Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:

• Why does Peter compare people to grass?
• How does he contrast people and grass with the Word of God?
• What did he mean by his illustration about newborn babies?
• Are you drawn to the Word of God like that?
• If not, what should you do?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Revolutionary Love

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Luke 1:30-33
Philippians 2:1-11
John 4:31-34,5:30,6:38-40,7:15,8:45-50,9:4,10:37,12:49-50,14:31,15:10,17:4,3:16
Matthew 20:28
1 Timothy 1:15

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

The Baby is King: Imagine the Implications

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Luke 1:32-33,35,43,2:11,19:14,27
Matthew 2:2
Revelation 19:16
Acts 2:32-27,3:13-15,10:36,39-43,17:30-21
Philippians 2:9-11

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

God and Man in One Person

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Luke 1:26-38
Hebrews 4:14-16,5:7-9,2:10,2:14-18
John 1:1
Colossians 2:9

It was not because the Son of God needed to experience it to become accustomed to the emotion of mercy, but because He could not persuade us that He is kind and ready to help us, unless He had been tested by our misfortunes: and this like other things He has given us. Whenever, therefore, all kinds of evils press upon us, let this be our immediate consolation, that nothing befalls us which the Son of God has not experienced Himself, so that He can sympathize with us; and let us not doubt that He is in it with us as if He were distresses along with us. John Calvin

Sympathy with the sinner in his trial does not depend on the experience of sin but on the experience of the strength of temptation to sin which only the sinless can know in it's full intensity. He who falls yields before the last strain. B. F. Westcott

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

A Dangerous Place for a Baby

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Matthew 2:1-18
Revelation 12:1-5
Genesis 3:15
Romans 8:7

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA