So every time I preach a sermon, at the very top of the document
where I am writing the message, there are three questions that I
have to answer. And if I have done a good job
preaching at the end of the sermon, if I were to ask you
those three questions, your answers that you give should, If
I've done a good job, this is not about you.
If I've done a good job, should be very close to what I wrote at
the top of the page. I'm going to tell you what the
questions are. The first question is, what do I
want them to know? What do I want you to know?
It might be I want you to know that God's way is the best way
in every area of your life. It could be I want you to know
that a sin or a behavior is damaging your life and damaging
your future. It might be how to overcome a
temptation. Or I want you to know how God
views a marriage or how God sees you.
I want you to know what do I want you to know?
The second question is, what do I want you to feel?
What do I want you to feel? This is all about the emotions
that you experience during a message.
Is Clayton just some angry prophet who's screaming at us
about how bad we are? I try not to do that all too
often. Is Clayton just coming alongside
of us saying, hey guys, we can do this together?
What do I want you to feel? Do I want you to feel encouraged
or maybe a little remorseful? Do I want you to feel empowered?
I want to do this. Do I want you to feel inspired?
I can do this. Or do I want you to feel
equipped, like, let's go, let's get it done.
So much of this comes down to the tone of how I speak to you.
And what I try to do is I try to match my tone with the tone of
the text. I want to do my very best to try
to speak to you the way God is speaking in the text.
So there are times when you are reading a text and it's very
comforting. And I try to have a very
comforting tone. And there are times where it is
super clear and strong. And I try to have a clear and
strong tone. And I don't always get it right,
but there's at least some intentionality behind it that I
thought you should know. But the third question is the
most important question. What do I want them to do?
This is about revealing what God's Word says and doing what
it says. And this question is the most
important question. Hear me.
It is not what you know that makes the difference.
It is not what you feel that makes the difference.
It is what we do that makes the difference and it makes all the
difference. It is in the doing that
everything changes. The knowing and the feeling are
in service to the doing. If we get that reversed, if it
is all about knowledge, we become spiritually obese and
Kingdom useless. If it is all about how you feel,
we have made ourselves out to to be an idol and we are worshiping
ourselves. We are evaluating our church.
We're evaluating the worship. We're evaluating the sermon on
how did it make me feel? But when we focus our attention
on the doing, the only way for us to be a disciple of Jesus is
to do the things that Jesus calls us to do.
The reason I try to put humor in my messages for those of you
like I wish he would just settle down a little bit is because
when I was in Bible college, one of my professors did his
doctorate in the use of of humor during the presentation of
information. And here is what was found that
when people laugh, their defense mechanisms come down.
When we laugh, our mind and our heart re engage in the
information. When we laugh, our retention
goes up. So at the end of a sermon, when
people are talking all about blizzards and ice cream cakes or
how fat I am or whatever, I'm going.
Yeah, but I got you because you remember that I was talking.
Now, I rarely go into the office on Mondays.
I usually stay home and I work on the sermon.
And I work on the sermon until it's done.
And I don't feel it's like a woodpecker because Thursday's
coming. So it's like just get the sermon
done, get the sermon done. Jennifer's talking to me.
I'm like, get the sermon done, get the sermon done, phone call,
get the sermon done, get the sermon done.
All I can think is I got to get the sermon done.
And I don't have a sermon. I might have a speech, I might
have some points, I might have a little devo, but it is not a
sermon until I have answered those three questions and they
are crystal clear in my mind. I am building every message that
I've ever preached to you with the end goal of you doing what
God's Word says because a core belief that I have is God's way
is the best way. How serious are we at the
crossing? Well, every single week we have
a moment in the sermon. You all know what it is where we
say we are moving to a time of decision.
You guys pay attention. Implied in this statement is
that there is something for us to do and we must decide whether
or not we're going to do it. I want to welcome all of you
joining at all of our different locations, whether you're here
at our 48th Street campus or Macomb, Kirksville, 929 Pike
County, Hannibal, Lima, Mount Sterling, Keokuk, Monmouth,
Jacksonville, Weaver inside watching online.
We are so glad that you guys are here.
And today we are concluding a sermon series called Some
Assembly Required. Not all assembly required like a
grill or a smoker. If you've ever put one of those
things together, good grief, it is not no assembly required like
a printer or a trailer, but some turn to your neighbor and say
some, some assembly required. We have something that we are
supposed to do. This is not all on God.
There is a part for us to play, and this series has been part
what we believe is a church, part why we do what we do as a
church, but most importantly, it has been designed to help you
build a meaningful encounter with God.
That's why we've talked about baptism.
That's why we've talked about gathering.
That's why we've talked about communion.
That's why we've talked about worship.
And if you are new to the crossing, I would encourage you
to check out this entire series if you haven't watched it yet.
It will help you get a better understanding of who we are and
what we're inviting you to be a part of.
And you can grab that at all the different places.
I know where the crossing church.
I know where the crossing, but those were all taken.
So you just got to be smart to go here if you want to find
whatever we're whatever we're doing.
It's one crossing. Yeah.
There you go. All right, today we are going to
answer the question that is at the very heart of our church.
It is the thing that we do that when other pastors come and
visit, go. I wish my church did this.
If I had a magic wand, it would be that every church would do
what we do when we do this. Now, there might be some of you
and you might be going, I see you guys do this thing, but I
don't know why we do it. You picked a perfect week to
come to church. You like, man, some of you,
you've been coming here for a little while and you're like,
this is really stinking strange. Some of you have done it and you
don't know why you did it. You just did it.
Some of you have been here forever and you've never done
it, but you've always thought about it.
You might have been here a long time and you've wanted to do it.
You haven't done it, but maybe today will be the day that you
do do it. What are we talking about?
We're talking about coming to the steps to pray now.
So let's just answer the question, why do we have people
come to the steps to pray? It's a great question.
Like why out of all the things that we do, do we have a little
moment where we have people come up here and come to the steps
and pray? Well, I'll tell you in Second
Hesitations, chapter 4, verse 13, we find these words upon the
completion of the sermon. Have the heathens come forward
and bow at the steps. The steps are to be made of wood
and shall be covered in cheap carpet.
Thou shalt have Kleenex and boxes covered in cloth so that
the sinners may wipe their eyes over how bad they are, or more
often, how bad the sermon was. It's in there every like I OK,
now let's say Full disclosure. All right, one that was all
made-up. For those of you who didn't get
the joke, keep coming because we're going to teach you the
Bible. Some of you I said second
hesitations and you're like, that's got to be Old Testament
and I have I'm a New Testament Christian.
Like that's you know, you're you're in the back part of Jose.
You're like, it's in there. It's got to be there.
OK, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen.
This is this is so you got to know this, OK, because I'm
exposing a vulnerability. Having people come to the steps
is not in the Bible. I need you to know that I know
that it is not nowhere, nowhere in the Bible.
One of the favorite things that we do here at our church is not
in the Bible. So when you're talking to
somebody and they say that's not in the Bible, you're going to
say you're exactly thinking, right?
It's in Second hesitations, chapter 4, verse 13.
Coming to the steps is something that we do culturally.
So while the action is not in Scripture, the intentionality
about what happens at the steps is all over the Bible.
Recently at one of our elders meetings, our chairman gave a
devotion and when he was giving the devotion, I start, I flipped
my page over and I started writing all kinds of notes.
Now let me give you unpack this. So our elders are a group of men
who they, their job is to govern the crossing.
They are not paid. They don't get a check for doing
this. I'm the only person who gets a
check for, for doing this. Like they, they don't don't,
they don't get paid. It is a volunteer role.
They pick who's in charge and they oversee our church.
And as a staff, we are answerable to them.
And these guys are in charge of an awful lot.
They oversee making sure that our doctrine is in alignment
with the Scripture, that we're not saying things that aren't in
the Bible. They are the ones who dictate
our mission as a church. You don't get to pick the
mission of our church. I don't get to pick the mission
of our church. Our elders pick the mission of
our church. They are the ones who establish
our core values. They're the ones who say this is
the kind of church we're going to be.
They set and approve our finances.
They're the ones who are in charge of the budget.
They're the ones and what we say yes to and what we say no to.
And they make all of our key decisions.
And we gather once a month and our teams turn in big reports
and they read all 45 pages of all the different stuff that's
happening at our church. And they make the decisions.
And so when we gather before we start making all the decisions
as a church, we spend a little bit of time praying and a little
bit time focusing on the Lord, which would be a good thing to
do for people who, you know, are in charge of running a church.
And he opened his devotion with these words.
We tend to become the decisions we make.
If that statement is true, the more we choose something, the
more we become that something because with each decision we
make, we pick up momentum in the in the direction of that
decision. If we are making decisions to do
the things that move us forward in our relationship with Christ,
as opposed to the worldly things that will pull us away, there is
no way we won't grow spiritually into the person that God wants
us to be. Where we can get ourselves into
trouble. Where we slide backwards is we
want what is right and important, and we know that it's
a good thing, But at the exact same time, we do not commit to
doing the things that we know that will produce in us the type
of Christian life that we want to live and enjoy and that God
called us to be. Who we really want to become is
the result of daily choices that we make.
In other words, the decisions we make end up making us.
Recently I was talking to a guy in our church who had lost a ton
of weight. I was speaking to him from a
position of jealousy and I said, So what have you done to lose
this much weight? And this is what he said
recently or overall it implied a timeline.
Then he began to tell of a decision that he made over a
year ago and then the daily decisions that followed.
You can right now, by looking at me, tell whether or not I am
making daily decisions in the direction of weight loss.
If you have trouble seeing. I ate a Portillo's cake this
week, All right, I wasn't going to eat a piece.
I just brought it home for the family.
But then there were six that nobody took and I was like, I'm
here. Lord, send me, hear me.
One decision did not make that guy lose weight.
That one decision with another decision with another decision
with another decision made all the difference.
Talk to any person who has experienced financial success
and chances are there were a bunch of daily decisions that
led to their financial position. One of our pastors was talking
to one of the staff members we have here at our church, a
really young couple. And for a period of time they
worked a ton of jobs. Like I can't remember if it was
four or seven jobs, but their goal was they wanted to buy a
house debt free. And so there is a couple on
staff at our church in their late 20s, early 30s who have a
debt free home. Getting there required daily
decisions in the direction of their goal.
And people who have an intimate personal relationship with Jesus
would tell you that the depth of that relationship with Jesus did
not occur overnight, but through daily commitments to grow and
walk with Jesus. Knowledge is not the difference
maker. Obedience is.
If knowledge were enough, I would be looking at a room full
of skinny rich people. Don't look around.
Don't. Don't.
Don't be judgy. He's talking about you.
That's why I brought you this week.
You're fat and poor. OK?
I I'm fat and poor, but I'm tall.
OK, that helps. I mean, Can you imagine this
body if it was 5 three? I mean, I'd be around.
I'd roll everywhere I go. Jesus actually addressed this at
the end of his magnum opus, the Sermon on the Mount.
You've heard me teach this a ton of times.
It's one of my favorite verses in all of scripture because it's
also one of the most convicting. Luke chapter 6.
This is what Jesus says. Why do you call me Lord, Lord
and do not do what I say? Jesus is looking at this crowd
and he is acknowledging the fact that this is a gigantic
oxymoron. Jesus is saying you call me
Lord, you call me King, you call me Master, you call me the one
in charge, but then you do not do what I say.
If I'm your Lord, if I'm your King, if I'm your master, if I'm
in charge, then you should be doing what I tell you to do.
So you call me Lord, Lord, and you do not do what I say, which
means you are not doing what I say, which means I am not your
Lord, your Master, your King, the one in charge.
Now Jesus, he's such a kind, kind man.
Jesus is such a kind, kind God that after he exposes this to
them, he teaches, he gives them a picture to understand what
happens. This is not hear me.
This is not just about following God.
This is about four our good because he goes on to talk about
two groups of people, those who hear and obey and those who hear
and do not obey. Let's look what happens.
As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them
into practice, I will show you what they are like.
They are like a man building a house who dug down deep and laid
the foundation on rock. When a flood came.
The torrent struck that house. But could you guys say the next
3 words could not shake it? How many of you would like a
life that cannot be shaken? If you didn't want that,
California is a great place to live.
OK, Because it was well built. Why was this house well built?
Why was this house something that could not be shaken?
Two things. They heard the word, they lived
out the word. Let's keep going.
But the one who hears my words and does not put them into
practice is like a man who built the house on the ground without
a foundation. The moment.
The torrent struck that house, it collapsed, and its
destruction was complete. In both examples, they hear the
word of God. Hearing is good.
Hearing is better than not hearing.
Hearing is good. Knowledge is good, but knowledge
without obedience is of little value.
It is what happens after the hearing that makes all the
difference in both examples. Let's first just a second.
I'm not taking, I'm not taking shots.
No emails for just a second. I'm not taking shots.
I just need a way to clarify it. If we were to call the people
who hear and obey Christians and the people who do not hear and
or who do hear and do not obey non Christians, do both groups
go through storms? Yes.
So for anybody who you listen to when you're scrolling, that is
like a health and wealth person that if you fall in love with
Jesus, if your whole life will be up and to the right, that is
a false prophet, an evil teacher, and they will be judged
by God for it. And do not listen to it.
Hear me. When you read the New Testament,
you find out there are all kinds of people who loved Jesus and
their life sucked. It's horrible, bad things
happened. Being a Christian keeps you out
of some storms. It keeps you out of some storms.
If you're a Christian and your spouse is a Christian and you're
both chasing after Jesus, you probably won't have to go
through the storm of divorce. If you are honoring God with
your purity, you probably won't have to go through the storm of
a sexually transmitted disease. There are certain storms that
you will be saved from, but you will not be saved from all
storms. Do Christians get cancer?
Yeah. Do non Christians get cancer?
Yeah. Do Christians have crazy kids?
Oh God. Yeah.
I've heard stories and I don't know any personally.
Do non Christians have trouble with their kids?
Do Christian kids get in fights at school?
Yeah, yeah. They've been listening to their
mom and she said hit them harder.
OK. Do do non Christian kids get in
fight at school? Do Christians lose their job?
Do non Christians lose their job?
Do Christians have to navigate inflation?
Do non Christians have to navigate inflation?
Hold on, hold on, hold on. What's the difference?
When the Christian goes through the storms of life, they've
built their life on a different foundation.
So blow wind, blow rain, come down, waters rise.
Because eventually it will stop raining.
Eventually the wind will stop blowing.
Eventually the waters will recede and I'll still be
standing is a promise for those who hear and obey.
After the storm, after the rain, after the wind, the destruction
is complete. One person hears and obeys and
they dig down deep. They do the work.
They lay their foundation on the rock.
One person hears and does not obey and puts their house on the
surface of the sand. And when the storm comes, one is
saved, one is destroyed. That is why every week at the
Crossing, we make time for people to make a decision.
And hear me not making a decision is making a decision.
Next question. So do you have to go to the
steps to make a decision? No, no, no.
But yeah, let me explain. I believe that there is
something special that happens when you come to the steps to
pray. This is not in the Bible.
This is me. I believe that something special
happens. Sometimes we think about going
to the steps and praying, and we're worried that if we come to
the steps, people, you know, are going to see us.
And we don't want other people to wonder, why are they going up
there? What are they going through?
What did he do this time? I know we have women here, judgy
little women. I know, I know, I know you're
here. I know it.
You guys might remember a long time ago, we did a sermon on
porn. Can you imagine trying to get
people to go to the steps on porn weekend?
Everybody was like, hey, those steps are saying, you know what?
It was one of the most full weekends we had because we asked
people to cover the people that needed it.
So for if you're ever wondering, like, do I go to the steps?
People are going to be looking at me.
Can I just tell you two things? One, nobody's watching.
They're focusing on them and what's going on in their own
life. They're not looking at you,
They're worried about themselves.
Number one, they are. You come to the steps, you get
down your knees, you do business with God.
They're not looking at you #2 they're looking at you.
They are. Let them watch.
You're going forward means that you care way more about what God
is doing in your heart than what other people are thinking.
You're going. I care more about me getting
right with God than what everybody else is wondering.
And if you're not going to cheer me on when I go to the steps,
forget you, because all I want is what God has for me.
If there's any place on planet earth that you should be able to
realize that you're not who you're supposed to be yet, it
should be at a church. If there's any party that's
going, my relationship with Jesus isn't where I wanted to be
yet, it should be OK to raise your hand and say, yeah, that's
kind of me. It should at least be out of
church. If there's any place where you
should be encouraged and cheered on as you try to get right with
God, it should be in the church. And when you move, you give
other people permission to move to.
When you chase after God, you give other people the
encouragement to do the exact same thing.
This is just me talking. When you walk to the steps, it
wages war on your pride. Because pride is what keeps us
from becoming who we are supposed to be in Christ.
Pride is what keeps us from surrendering to Christ.
Pride is what keeps us from repenting of our sins.
Pride is what keeps us from acknowledging our need for Him.
God can't do anything with a prideful heart.
He can't save a prideful person because a prideful person
doesn't need saved. God can't turn things around in
the life of a prideful person because a prideful person sees
themselves as having done nothing wrong.
But God can do anything with a humble heart.
He could do anything with a heart that's craving for him.
He can do anything with a heart that's saying I'm yours, do what
you want. And walking to the steps humbles
us. We are admitting a heavenly
need. We are owning that things are
not right. And there's a promise in
Scripture, James chapter 4, verse 10.
Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will lift you up.
Sometimes the reason you don't feel lifted at church is because
you were never in a position to be humbled.
It's only when you humble yourself that God goes, all
right, I'll lift you up. If you want to stand on your own
with unbent knees and a straight back, no way to lift that person
up. But when a person gets down and
says, God, I'm chasing after you.
I'm sorry for the areas that I've failed you.
I'm sorry for the areas where I've let you down.
God, it's me again with the same request from last week, and I
still haven't got it all figured out.
You know what God says? I'll take a humble heart and I
will lift it up. In Deuteronomy chapter 30, Moses
is giving his goodbye speech to the people of Israel, and his
final words are found in Deuteronomy chapter 30.
Moses is in the plains of Moab. Turn to your neighbor and say
Moab, and this is what he says. Now what I'm commanding you
today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.
It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask who will ascend
to heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so that we may obey it.
Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask who will
cross the sea and get it and proclaim it to us so that we may
obey it. No, the word is very near you,
it is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may see.
I sat before you today, life and prosperity, death and
destruction. For I command you today to love
the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to Him, and to keep
His commands, decrees, and laws. Then you will live and increase,
and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering
to possess. But if your heart turns away and
you are not obedient, if you are drawn away to bow down to other
gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will
certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the
land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess this day.
I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I
have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.
Now choose life so that you and your children may live, and that
may that you may love the Lord your God.
Listen to his voice and hold fast to him, for the Lord is
your life. These steps are my Moab where I
proclaim to you life and death, blessing and destruction, and
with my whole heart I urge you, choose life.
Walk in obedience. God's way is the best way in
every area of your life. Later Joshua in his farewell
address said this in Shechem. Turn to your neighbor and say,
Shechem, you guys know this. You've all been to Hobby Lobby.
Some of you guys got two of these in your house.
Joshua chapter 24. But if serving the Lord seems
undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you
will serve, whether the gods your ancestors serve beyond the
Euphrates or the gods of the Amorites and whose land you are
living. But As for me and my household,
we will serve the Lord. These steps, when you come to
them, they become your Shechem, your place where you choose on
this day that, As for me and my house, will serve the Lord.
Every time we gather together as a church, we get a chance to
choose, and the decisions that we make end up making us.
We're moving to a time of decision at all of our other
locations. I'm kind of excited that I get
this moment with you because it doesn't happen all that often.
Your campus pastors do such a great job, and I don't like
stepping on their air hose and having this moment.
But I really wanted to have this moment with you.
So I know it's less personal because you know I'm not there,
but would you please, would you please lean in?
Other people walk into this church and they see these steps,
but these steps, they're my Moab, they're my Shechem,
they're my Mount Carmel, where Elijah looks out at the people
and he says this in First Kings chapter 18.
Elijah went before the people and said, how long will you
waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him.
But if Baal, if false gods are God, follow him.
This is where you and I get a choice.
Are we going to choose God or not?
Other people, they come to the crossing and they see these
junky steps at all of our locations.
But I see the plane of Dura. Where Shadrach, Meshach and
Abednego said, I'm not bowing to an idol.
I'm not worshiping anybody but Jehovah God.
I'm not worshiping anybody but Yahweh.
And they say, hey, if you don't bow down and you don't worship,
we're going to put you in the fire.
And they said, well, then put us in the fire.
And they said, well, we'll turn up the heat.
And they said turn up the heat. And then they put them in the
fire. They put Shadrach in, Meshach
in, Abednego in. And then they counted.
We put Shadrach in, Meshach in, Abedigo in, but there's four.
We put Shadrach in and Meshach in and Abednego in.
There's a fourth one in the fire.
This is where God meets me in my pain says I will be with you in
what you're going through. You see steps.
I see the plain of Dura. Other people come here to the
church and they see steps. I see Jericho, where I get down
on my knees and I walk around and around and around the
strongholds in my life, believing that one day they will
be victorious. And it's not going to be by my
might, it's not going to be by my strength, but by the power of
the Lord coming down into an area of my life that I cannot
defeat on my own. You see steps, I see Jericho,
you see steps. I see the valley of Eli where
David bends down on one knee and he picks up five smooth stones
and he says it's time to slay a giant.
I get down here on my knees and I go.
I'm tired of this sin. I'm tired.
I'm tired of this giant having control in my life.
I'm tired of him terrorizing my family.
I'm tired of him terrorizing the people I care about.
I get down on my knees here and I pick up my 5 smooth stones and
you and I both know that that's those stones did nothing to
defeat the giant. But boy when you pick up
whatever you got next to you and you give it to God, He could do
a mighty thing through. You see steps, I see the valley
of Elah, you see steps and I see Luke chapter 15 where I pray for
all the prodigals in my life to come running home.
You see steps, I see the garden of Gethsemane where I get a
model. What my Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ did, He got down on his knees and he prayed God, not my
will, but your will be done. So I get it, steps aren't in the
Bible, but making decisions for him is.
And what is the point of us being here if we're not going to
make decisions in the direction of Jesus?
And so if you're here today and you've never started an intimate
personal relationship with Jesus Christ, if you have not been
obedient in the area of baptism, it is time for you to make a
decision. But remember, not making a
decision is a decision, and the decisions that you make end up
making us. So today, would you make a
decision in the direction of Jesus?
The world has had enough of you. It's time for them to get Christ
in. You give them Jesus.
And so just a few moments all across this region, people are
going to stand and pray. Some of them are going to sing.
Hopefully a lot of them this week are going to come to the
steps and pray. And while they're making their
move, would you make yours? Your campus pastor is going to
be up at some spot in the auditorium, and would you go and
talk to them and say it's time for me to get some things right
with God? To the rest of you, maybe today
will be your very first day where you make these steps, your
steps. Would you stand with me?
God? These people are not my people.
They're your people. I'm not the shepherd you are.
They belong to you. And so, God, I pray that you
would create in US a holy desperation for your presence.
Instill in us the desire to not just make a decision today, but
to make daily decisions in the direction of you.
We are fallen creatures. We're prone to wander.
We're accustomed to failure. And so the only way this happens
is if we have hearts that are turned in the direction of you
that yearn for you. But we can't change a heart God,
only you can. God, I keep aching for me and
this church to become the people that you want us to become.
I keep aching. For us to be able to realize
that this has become the hardest place on planet Earth to get the
hell from. But we are such a long way from
that. But God, with your help and our
obedience, there's no telling what could happen.
God, I know that right now there are people who are thinking all
kinds of things in their head. There's some who are going.
I can't wait to get to the steps.
God, I know there's other people who are going.
I feel like if I don't go to the steps, it's going to be really
weird, and I don't want that for them.
God, I just want our people to be desperate for you.
I just want them to choose you. In your name I pray.
Amen.