Colossians: On Old Stumps and Stubborn Mules

Paul is telling the Colossians that Christians are to be grounded and steadfast to the end... no matter what... never quit! How do we get so deeply rooted?

Colossians 1:9-23,2:6-7
John 10:25-30
Romans 8:30,8:38-39
Philippians 1:6
Ephesians 1:13-14
Philippians 2:12-13
Matthew 10:22
Luke 8:13
1 John 2:19
1 Timothy 4:16
Luke 6:48
1 Corinthians 15:58

For faith is not like mere opinion, which is shaken by various movements, but has a firm steadfastness, able to withstand all the machinations of the hell. John Calvin The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians

Sermon discussion topics for parents to use with their children:

• What are the questions raised when the warning passages are read?
• What are some of the answers?
• What is Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility, and how do these realities fit into this discussion?
• What do old stumps and stubborn mules have to do with Colossians 1:23?
• How do we get this deep, persevering faith?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving should mark us as Christians and it should be both spontaneous and intentional... how can it be both?

Luke 17:11-19
Acts 16:16-25
Psalms 92:1,69:30,95:2,100:4,107:1
John 6:11
Philippians 4:6
1 Timothy 2:1,4:3-4
Ephesians 5:4,5:20
Colossians 3:17,4:2
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Romans 1:21
Philippians 2:14-15,3:1,4:4
Acts 5:41

What! 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, when I have had the sight of such glory in Christ as is worth more than ten thousand worlds? Jeremiah Burroughs The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment

Sermon discussion topics for parents to use with their children:

• What if God took away anything we failed to thank Him for?
• Why is it right to give thanks to God?
• Why is it good for us to be thankful?
• Why and how is thanksgiving to be spontaneous?
• Why and how is thanksgiving to be intentional?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Mark: Condemned For Me

The Son of God condemned to death... an innocent man executed... and how this should deeply impact us at multiple levels. Mark exposes this chilling and emotional scene.

Mark 15:1-15
John 18:28-19:6
Matthew 27:19
Acts 7:55-56
Romans 8:31-32

Sermon discussion topics for parents to use with their children:

• Why should we be shocked at a passage like this given Jesus' dignity as the Son of God?
• Why should He be more deeply endeared to us as we meditate on these scenes?
• How should this impact our relationship with God and our view of who we are?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Death is Gain: Resurrected Bodies

When believers die and their souls go to heaven they are in paradise and yet look forward to an even more glorious day. That is the day Christ returns and they receive glorified bodies. What does that mean...glorified bodies? In this message we will examine the great change and future for the believer in Christ.

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Titus 2:13
John 5:24-29
Philippians 3:20-21
Romans 5:18-23
1 Corinthians 15:3-58
Matthew 13:41-43

He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us a dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine. C. S. Lewis

But God tells us that in heaven our bodies will be filled with energy. We will not know what weariness is. A new dynamism will possess us, new physical powers, so that the swiftest, strongest Olympic athlete would appear feeble in comparison with a believer in glory. Edward Donnelly

Try for a moment to imagine the sheer physical well-being of heaven. Just as the pains of hell are more excruciating than any conceivable on this earth, so are the pleasure of heaven infinitely more delightful than any we can presently imagine. Our bodies here are subject to the results of the Fall. Even the youngest and strongest do not know what real health is like. We have no idea of the exhilarating sense of well-being that will course through our veins in heaven. It will be physical pleasure of the most intense kind. Edward Donnelly

My dearest child, the true love of God strengthen you in virtue, you who are yet so young, and whom I must leave in this wicked, evil, perverse world. Oh, that it had pleased the Lord that I might have brought you up, but it seems that it is not the Lord's will...Be not ashamed of us; it is the way which the prophets and the apostles went. Your dear father demonstrated with his blood that it is the genuine faith, and I also hope to attest the same with my blood, though flesh and blood must remain on the stake, well knowing that we shall meet hereafter. Young mother from prison 1573

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA