Colossians: The Substance is Christ

The devil loves religion and encourages it. If it will take us away from Christ. This is Paul's warning to the Colossians and to us today.

Colossians 1:13-19,2:6-3:5,3:12
Hebrews 10:1
Galatians 5:1,5:3

Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:

• Why does the Devil love religion?
• What kinds of religions did Paul warn the Colossians about?
• What is so dangerous about those types of religion?
• Why is it so key to be rooted in Christ?
• What dangers, like these Paul warned about, do we face today?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Anticipating Heaven: Holiness and (Is) Happiness

Heaven is a holy place; have you even considered that Holiness is Happiness and the sheer pleasure of living where there is no sin?

Isaiah 6:1-7
Psalm 11
Revelation 21:27,6:11
2 Corinthians 5:21
Philippians 3:8-9
Colossians 3:10
1 John 3:1-3
Hebrews 12:22-24
Ephesians 1:4

Perfect tranquillity and joy in heaven. — Charity, or holy and humble Christian love, is a principle of wonderful power to give ineffable quietness and tranquillity to the soul. It banishes all disturbance, and sweetly composes and brings rest to the spirit, and makes all divinely calm and sweet and happy. In that soul where divine love reigns and is in lively exercise, nothing can cause a storm, or even gather threatening clouds.

There are many principles contrary to love, that make this world like a tempestuous sea. Selfishness, and envy, and revenge, and jealousy, and kindred passions keep life on earth in a constant tumult, and make it a scene of confusion and uproar, where no quiet rest is to be enjoyed except in renouncing this world and looking to another. But oh! what rest is there in that world which the God of peace and love fills with his own gracious presence, and in which the Lamb of God lives and reigns, filling it with the brightest and sweetest beams of his love; where there is nothing to disturb or offend, and no being or object to be seen that is not surrounded with perfect amiableness and sweetness; where the saints shall find and enjoy all that they love, and so be perfectly satisfied; where there is no enemy and no enmity; but perfect love in every heart and to every being; where there is perfect harmony among all the inhabitants, no one envying another, but everyone rejoicing in the happiness of every other; where all their love is humble and holy, and perfectly Christian, without the least carnality or impurity; where love is always mutual and reciprocated to the full; where there is no hypocrisy or dissembling, but perfect simplicity and sincerity; where there is no treachery, or unfaithfulness, or inconstancy, or jealousy in any form; where there is no clog or hindrance to the exercises or expressions of love, no imprudence or indecency in expressing it, and no influence of folly or indiscretion in any word or deed; where there is no separation wall, and no misunderstanding or strangeness, but full acquaintance and perfect intimacy in all; where there is no division through different opinions or interests, but where all in that glorious and loving society shall be most nearly and divinely related, and each shall belong to every other, and all shall enjoy each other in perfect prosperity and riches, and honor, without any sickness, or grief, or persecution, or sorrow, or any enemy to molest them, or any busybody to create jealousy or misunderstanding, or mar the perfect, and holy, and blessed peace that reigns in heaven! And all this in the garden of God — in the paradise of love, where everything is filled with love, and everything conspires to promote and kindle it, and keep up its flame, and nothing ever interrupts it, but everything has been fitted by an all-wise God for its full enjoyment under the greatest advantages forever! And all, too, where the beauty of the beloved objects shall never fade, and love shall never grow weary nor decay, but the soul shall more and more rejoice in love forever!

Oh! what tranquillity will there be in such a world as this! And who can express the fullness and blessedness of this peace! What a calm is this! How sweet, and holy, and joyous! What a haven of rest to enter, after having passed through the storms and tempests of this world, in which pride, and selfishness, and envy, and malice, and scorn, and contempt, and contention, and vice, are as waves of a restless ocean, always rolling, and often dashed about in violence and fury! What a Canaan of rest to come to, after going through this waste and howling wilderness, full of snares, and pitfalls, and poisonous serpents, where no rest could be found!

And oh! what joy will there be, springing up in the hearts of the saints, after they have passed through their wearisome pilgrimage, to be brought to such a paradise as this! Here is joy unspeakable indeed, and full of glory — joy that is humble, holy, enrapturing, and divine in its perfection! Love is always a sweet principle; and especially divine love. This, even on earth, is a spring of sweetness; but in heaven it shall become a stream, a river, an ocean! All shall stand about the God of glory, who is the great fountain of love, opening, as it were, their very souls to be filled with those effusions of love that are poured forth from his fullness, just as the flowers on the earth, in the bright and joyous days of spring, open their bosoms to the sun, to be filled with his light and warmth, and to flourish in beauty and fragrancy under his cheering rays.

Every saint in heaven is as a flower in that garden of God, and holy love is the fragrance and sweet odor that they all send forth, and with which they fill the bowers of that paradise above. Every soul there, is as a note in some concert of delightful music, that sweetly harmonizes with every other note, and all together blend in the most rapturous strains in praising God and the Lamb forever. And so all help each other, to their utmost, to express the love of the whole society to its glorious Father and Head, and to pour back love into the great fountain of love whence they are supplied and filled with love, and blessedness, and glory. And thus they will love, and reign in love, and in that godlike joy that is its blessed fruit, such as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath ever entered into the heart of man in this world to conceive; and thus in the full sunlight of the throne, enraptured with joys that are forever increasing, and yet forever full, they shall live and reign with God and Christ forever and ever! Jonathan Edwards Heaven, a World of Love

Sermon discussion topics for parents to use with their children:

• Why is Heaven a holy place?
• How can we go there if this is true?
• How will we be changed?
• What is it like to be perfectly holy?
• How is holiness and happiness related?
• What did you feel when heaven was being described?
• Do you want to go there?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
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

He Is Willing to Cleanse If There Is Faith to Come

Leprosy brought with it exclusion, separation, and shame. It was essentially incurable. Yet the Old Testament detailed a means to be reinstated to society if the priest declares the leper clean. Our sinful hearts are a lot like leprosy and separate us from God. Our High Priest Jesus is willing to cleanse our hearts if we are faithful to come to Him for healing.

Mark 1:40-45
Leviticus 13:45-46

Sean Byham
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

The Presence of the Lord Jesus in His Church

Christ shows John a vision of seven golden lampstands which represent seven churches. He then tells John that He walks among the lampstands. He is serious about His Church. He knows everything about the Church and specifically about each one of us.

Revelation 2-3,1:20,1:17
2 Peter 1:12
Matthew 16:18,18:20,28:18
Colossians 1:18
Acts 20:28-30
Psalm 139:1-4,139:23-24
1 Thessalonians 4:3
Hebrews 12:14
2 Corinthians 11:3,5:17,5:15
James 1:16,1:26

David Ruhl
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Achieving Heaven: Are You Sure You Want to Go to Heaven?

Many people believe there is a third option to choosing between heaven and hell: living in the here and now as if it won't end. Let's hear from three persons who have experienced heaven and get their view on why we need to make heaven our life-long goal.

Revelation 4,2:7
2 Corinthians 12:1-6
Luke 23:43
Ezekiel 1:26-28
John 17:22-24,14:1-3,14:6

Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:

• Why do people not want to go to heaven?
• Who told us what heaven is really like?
• When heaven is called paradise, what is that word supposed to bring to mind?
• What does it mean that God's presence dominates heaven?
• Explain how glory, love, and holy describe God and the atmosphere of heaven.
• Do you want to go to heaven?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Why Shouldn't I Sin?

If grace abounds then shouldn't I keep sinning so I can receive more grace? Paul might disagree.

Romans 6:1-14,5:6-10,5:20-21,6:15,6:19-23
Jude 1:4

Scott Graubard
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

The Holiness of God: Part 5

When one grasps the fact that God is holy in all that means it leads to a question: Why would such a God move to save us? And the answer to that question leads to wonder, love, and praise!

2 Samuel 7
Habakkuk 1:13
2 Corinthians 5:21
Hebrews 10:19-23

Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:

• What does it mean that God is holy?
• How does God look upon all sin, including our own?
• Why is it astounding that God moved to save us?
• How did David respond to God's goodness toward him, and what should we learn from that?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

The Holiness of God: Part 4

God is Holy. Then He says... "Be holy for I am Holy". What does that mean for us? What is holiness?

1 Peter 1:13-19
Leviticus 11:44-45,19:2-3
2 Corinthians 7:1
Hebrews 12:14-17
Colossians 3:1-13
Romans 13:8
Micah 6:8
Titus 2:14

A Quick Comparison of Religion and the Gospel Tim Keller

Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:

• Why does God want us to be holy?
• What does it mean to be holy?
• How do we become holy?
• Why is this NOT earning our salvation?
• Do we find holiness desireable?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

The Holiness of God: Part 1

The Holiness of God is such an important doctrine and reality to understand. It will help us all appreciate God's specialness and majesty as well as how wonderful it is that He has provided a way for mere creatures to come to Him and be adopted by Him.

Exodus 19:10-24,15:11,3:2-6,20:18-21,33:17-23
Psalm 50,104:1
1 Samuel 2:2
Hosea 11:9
Revelation 15:4
Judges 13:22

From this it already appears that it is not correct to think of holiness primarily as a moral or religious quality, as is generally done. Its fundamental idea is that of a position or relationship existing between God and some person or thing.

It is this holiness of God which Otto, in his important work on Das Heilige,... includes such ideas as "absolute unapproachability" and "absolute overpoweringness" or "aweful majesty". It awakens in a man a sense of absolute nothingness, a "creature-consciousness" or "creature-feeling" leading to absolute self-abasement.

...the response to it: "Mere awe, mere need of shelter from the 'tremendum', has here been elevated to the feeling that man in his 'profaneness' is not worthy to stand in the presence of the Holy One, and that his entire personal unworthiness might defile even holiness itself." Louis Berkhof Systematic Theology

Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:

• Why is it so important to understand God's Holiness?
• What significance is the fact that the basic idea of holiness is to separate?
• Why is God's holiness also understood as God's specialness and His aboveness?
• How did God teach these things to Moses and the people of Israel at the burning bush, at Mt. Sinai and when Moses saw God pass by?
• What are the implications of all of this for us?
• What will it be like to see God for the believer?
• For the unbeliever?
• For you?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

1 Peter: Precious Blood

Peter says the blood of Christ is precious...more precious than gold and silver. The angels and saints in heaven as well as God the Father Himself certainly see the blood as precious. Do you? This sermon examines the preciousness of Christ's blood.

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Hebrews 9:1-15
1 Peter 1:13-21,1:7
Matthew 20:28

Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:

• If you died tonight and God said "why should I let you into heaven?" what would you say?
• Why is the blood of Jesus precious?
• Why do we need His blood?
• Why will the blood be precious to us on Judgment Day?
• Why will it be precious when we are in heaven?
• Is the blood precious to you now?
• Why should this precious blood motivate us to live holy lives?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

1 Peter: Father -- Judge???

Peter tells us we are to love God as our Father and fear Him as our Judge. How does that work? Why does the Bible say we will be judged by our deeds and yet salvation is by grace and not of works? How does that work? What is the nature of Judgment Day especially how are Christians supposed to view it? Are we ready?

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1 Peter 1:17-19,1:2-5
Matthew 25:14-46,16:27,7:21-23
2 Peter 2:9
Jude 1:6
Revelation 6:17
Romans 2:16-17,14:12,2:2-6
Hebrews 12:23
John 5:22-30
Acts 17:31
2 Corinthians 5:10
1 Corinthians 3:13-15
James 3:1

The consideration of God as Judge is not improper for those who can truly call Him Father. Holy confidence in God as a Father, and an awful fear of Him as a Judge, are very consistent; to regard God as a Judge is a singular means to endear Him to us as a Father. Matthew Henry

Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:

• How are we supposed to relate to God when He is both our Father and our Judge?
• What does it mean to me that He is my Father?
• What does it mean that He is my Judge?
• What will take place on Judgement Day?
• How can I best be prepared?
• Should I warn others?
• How without not sounding like a fool?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

1 Peter: Motivations to Holiness

God is Holy and He calls His children to be holy. What does it mean to be holy? What actually is holiness? And how does one become holy? These are the topics Peter covered in this message.

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Galatians 5:16-26
1 Peter 1:2-21,2:17
Romans 12:2
Micah 6:8
Philippians 2:14-15

Sermon discussion questions for parents to use with their children:

• How can we best not conform to the former lusts?
• What are these lusts that we struggle with now?
• What does it mean to be holy?
• How have we had wrong thoughts about holiness?
• How am I supposed to both love God and fear Him?

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Death is Gain: Heaven is God's Home

Heaven is God's home! He lives there and it has all the powerful realities of being at His place where He reveals Himself most fully. Consequently it is a place of Glory, Love, Peace, Holiness and Joy!

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John 13:31-14:6
Isaiah 63:15
Psalm 33:13-14,23:6
Revelation 22:4-5
Luke 2:9,9:29-31
Acts 9:3,7:55
Exodus 40:34-35
Genesis 28:16-17

Heaven is a part of creation that God has built for this end, to be the place of his glorious presence, and it is his abode forever; and here will he dwell, and gloriously manifest himself to all eternity.

And this renders heaven a world of love; for God is the fountain of love, as the sun is the fountain of light. And therefore the glorious presence of God in heaven, fills heaven with love, as the sun, placed in the midst of the visible heavens in a clear day, fills the world with light. The apostle tells us that "God is love;" and therefore, seeing he is an infinite being, it follows that he is an infinite fountain of love. Seeing he is an all-sufficient being, it follows that he is a full and over-flowing, and inexhaustible fountain of love. And in that he is an unchangeable and eternal being, he is an unchangeable and eternal fountain of love.

There, even in heaven, dwells the God from whom every stream of holy love, yea, every drop that is, or ever was, proceeds. There dwells God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, united as one, in infinitely dear, and incomprehensible, and mutual, and eternal love. There dwells God the Father, who is the father of mercies, and so the father of love, who so loved the world as to give his only-begotten Son to die for it. There dwells Christ, the Lamb of God, the prince of peace and of love, who so loved the world that he shed his blood, and poured out his soul unto death for men. There dwells the great Mediator, through whom all the divine love is expressed toward men, and by whom the fruits of that love have been purchased, and through whom they are communicated, and through whom love is imparted to the hearts of all God’s people. There dwells Christ in both his natures, the human and the divine, sitting on the same throne with the Father. And there dwells the Holy Spirit — the Spirit of divine love, in whom the very essence of God, as it were, flows out, and is breathed forth in love, and by whose immediate influence all holy love is shed abroad in the hearts of all the saints on earth and in heaven. There, in heaven, this infinite fountain of love — this eternal Three in One — is set open without any obstacle to hinder access to it, as it flows forever. There this glorious God is manifested, and shines forth, in full glory, in beams of love. And there this glorious fountain forever flows forth in streams, yea, in rivers of love and delight, and these rivers swell, as it were, to an ocean of love, in which the souls of the ransomed may bathe with the sweetest enjoyment, and their hearts, as it were, be deluged with love, and that forever! Jonathan Edwards, Heaven a World of Love

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

The Holiness of God

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Hebrews 12:1-14
Isaiah 6:3,5
Habakkuk 3:16
Job 40:4
Matthew 17:5
1 Peter 1:15-16

Ron Beil
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Ephesians: Personal Sanctification and Holiness

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Ephesians 4:17-32
Colossians 3:1-12

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

God Revealed Through the Cross

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John 3:16
Romans 5:5-11,8:31-32
1 John 3:16,4:7-11

The heart of God is the original seat or subject of love. Divine love is in Him, not as in a subject that receives it from another, but as in its original seat, where it is of itself. 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 loves 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

God cannot, cannot, cannot resist the cry of the blood of Christ. Abel’s blood demanded vengeance and it had it. Christ’s blood demands pardons and it shall have them, must have them – our God cannot be deaf to the cry of His Son’s own blood.

C.H. Spurgeon

Pastor Todd Jaussen
Crossroads Christian Fellowship Church
Greenville, PA

Holiness Happens…Don’t Mess It Up!

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Deuteronomy 29:12-18
Hebrews 12:14-17
Philippians 1:6
Romans 8:29
1 Thessalonians 5:23
Romans 3:23

Kim Costanza
Cranberry, PA