Welcome to the one Crossing podcast here.
You can find past sermons along with other exclusive content.
Our prayer is that God will move in your life, even when you are
on the go, we hope you enjoyed this message.
Well, Crossing Church. So glad to be able to be with
you today. I would love for it to be under
different circumstances than it is because in Adams County,
we've had to close down the three locations we have.
In Adams County because of this uptick in viruses, virus
incidents that we've had. And so here I am back in an
empty Auditorium preaching to a lot of empty seats.
But I know that I'm going to be getting into a lot of human
hearts today. I know that there's a lot of our
locations that are open and you are all fellowshipping and
spending time together. I'm so incredibly thankful for
that and while that's happening, we're many of you Are we are
back at home and watching online in Adams County and you know
it's one of those things where you feel like you're taking a
few steps forward and then some steps backward and I imagine
that's the way it's going to be for a while.
But in spite of all of this, the word of God is undeterred and
it's still going out. And I'm so thankful that you're
tuning in and that together we can have our hearts open and we
can not only take in the word of God but we can allow it to
change us and to mold us into people that we never dreamed.
We could ever be because that's what the Holy Spirit does.
He can literally transform us and I'm excited for that but I
have to tell you this last week or so it's just been really hard
because when you feel like you're making all this progress
and then all of a sudden you have to go backward, it's just
not easy. I have One of the one of those
pet peeve guys that when I go on vacation somewhere, like the
worst possible thing that could ever happen is that I would have
to actually stop, turn around, go back and get something.
And that's one of the places where I have to really work on
my anger, but I don't remember it ever being more difficult for
me than when our first child was born.
When when bin was born and I'll tell you why.
Allison and I brought him home from the hospital and what
happened was we were watching him and he went from a pink
little baby too, kind of a, an orange colored baby.
We called up the are doctors and they said you need to bring him
back in and I can't tell you how difficult it was to be able to
take our little baby home, and then they have to take him back
into the hospital. It'll with some sort of a
condition that we didn't know about turns out that Alison and
I had two different kinds of blood types.
And what that had created is a pretty common problem in
infants, which is called bilirubin emia and it's where
your liver is not developed enough to take all the
impurities out of the blood and it kind of shows up as a
jaundice, kind of a yellowish Orange.
On their skin and it was so difficult because I remember how
helpless we felt both of us. Like, we had failed, like we had
done something wrong and and then to watch, as they would
take care of our little child. And I mean, it was some of it
was just really hard to see like, when they would take blood
and and they would take this like a little razor blade and
and they would cut his heel and he would just scream and cry and
then they would be squeezing to get blood out and they did that
over and over and it got to the place where Alyson said, Jerry
you just can't even you can't even be in here because I would
get so angry because that was my little boy and they would strip
him naked. And they would put him in this
special. Little bassinet that was plastic
with these ultraviolet lights over these Billy lights.
They were called to try to To burn out those impurities.
And he was there for a few days and it was just so hard for us
and you know what, we had to deal with that for three of our
four kids and I just recall that I'll always be like an indelible
impression on me that we felt so helpless and they're what that
helpless feeling is like and it never got easier for the other
kids. And in many ways, I felt the
same way. A that's similar kind of
helplessness in the midst of this virus, and I'm sure that
many of you have felt the same way this like, you're powerless,
like, you're helpless. Like what?
I don't understand why, what can I do, how can I change this?
Maybe you've had some loved one that has been actually sick with
it. Maybe you have an elderly family
that you can't get close to right now.
Maybe you have family that is immunocompromised and so you're
a lot more. A frightened that it could could
really hurt someone or even take their life, maybe you've got
someone with pre-existing conditions but you know what?
It's even it seems to me it's even more palatable when it's a
baby because babies are just so helpless like babies, just can't
do anything, right? I mean, think about it for a
second. What responsibilities do babies
have when they come into your family, What is your expectation
of them? You know, the answer is, there's
none there zero expectation, right?
All the expectations, all the responsibilities are placed on.
You, they're placed on the parent.
That baby will cry and you won't know why?
You won't know. Well, are you crying because you
need your diaper change? Or you're hungry or you're hurt,
or you're angry, or you're tired.
And over time, you're going to have to figure out what those
different cries mean because that little child can do
anything, can't communicate, can't walk.
Can't talk. Really can't do much of anything
for themselves, right? And so they need constant care
and constant attention. And if they don't get it,
they'll just die. Now, I want you to apply that to
the sermon series that were in called The Cure and more
specifically we are in the book of First Thessalonians and I
want you to just kind of capture that idea of helplessness and I
want you to see it in the context of the Apostle Paul.
So we're going to read from Acts chapter 17, verses 2 to 4
because that's where it records. The birth of the Thessalonian
Church. Let's read it together.
It says, as was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue and on
three Sabbath days, don't forget that, three Sabbath days.
He reasoned with them from the scriptures explaining and
proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead.
This Jesus, I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah, he said and
some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas as did
a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent
women. Well, that's the sound.
So positive, doesn't it? I mean, he's only in this town
for three weeks. He's preached his on three
Sabbath days and all of a sudden there is a nucleus of a church
that's formed. But after those three weeks,
here's what happens. There's a riot in.
The city. Seems that a lot of devout Jews
that don't believe in Jesus had come, and they set the town on
edge to the point that there was going to be a riot.
And because of that, the Apostle Paul and Silas had to flee the
city. So this church was just three
weeks old, think about it, just three weeks old an infant and
then suddenly without warning, it was on its own or at least,
it would seem that way. I wonder how that made the
Apostle Paul and Silas feel about this new church in about
the people that they had met and about their new faith in Jesus
Christ. I bet you like, any parent, the
Apostle Paul would have felt totally helpless Like I can't
just leave them after only three sermons, I can't just leave them
when there's so much more that they need to understand.
Matter of fact, the Apostle Paul refers to this in first
Thessalonians chapter 2, verses 7 and 8.
He says, just this line just as a nursing mother cares for her
children. So we cared for you.
Right there it is. The Apostle Paul views.
This church like he's a parent like they're the infant.
Like it's the responsibility of taking care of this church, has
on him and yet he's not able to do it.
He's precluded from doing it because of this riding in the
city and then being driven out of the city.
I mean, I connect with that, especially right now, in the
midst of this pandemic, the midst of this series called The
Cure. I connect with that.
Because sometimes I feel like that about our locations about
people right now. Her just exploring what it means
to have this new life in Jesus Christ.
And I feel the weight, I feel this responsibility of providing
the very most that we can. And at the same time, just being
above reproach when it comes to protecting Everybody's Health
and well-being. The problem with that is that I
can spend so much time. Looking at my part, like, what
my responsibility is that I may feel to realize something that's
very, very powerful that I want us all to learn from the book of
1st Thessalonians, that God has apart.
And that God will always do his part.
He's a faithful God, and He will always do his part.
And his part is actually so much greater than I part you know
what, as I look back all those years ago to my kids and that
bilirubin anemia that jaundice, you know what God did he did.
His part found out that we could bring our children home.
We could set them in a window and just a sunshine coming in
from the window would have an effect that God had already
placed a cure in the sunshine for children that are dealing
with. Bilirubin anemia.
Plus we got great Medical Care and all of our kids had loving
parents to walk through that, that situation with them and see
them to the other side. You know what, just like God
took care of my kids. All those years ago, he was
going to take care of the Thessalonians because that's
what God does, he takes care of us.
I want you to look at a scripture that emphasizes this
in first Thessalonians, S5. The Apostle Paul says this, Our
Gospel came to, you not simply with words, not just words, not
just a good sermon with good illustrations.
But also with power with the Holy Spirit and with deep
conviction, You know, my initial thinking when I was reading
through this was how in the world could a church survived
when it only had three sermons, preached it.
And they didn't have any of the tools that were necessary in
order to survive. Remember this church had no
leaders. Three weeks is not enough time
to develop leaders. It had no New Testament that
hadn't even been written yet. Had no way to contact Paul.
Nobody has cell phone. Nobody could put him on.
Speakerphone, nobody could get a zoom call together.
There was no way that they were going to be able to contact Paul
and yet the answer was right in front of them because the answer
is that God provided all that needed to be provided through
the Holy Spirit. You know what, after reading the
other letters of the Apostle, Paul, I know that that there
were spiritual gifts that were imparted before they left
because the Holy Spirit was active in moving in the
Thessalonian Church before Paul and Silas escaped.
And I think just like then God Is providing for us right now.
Exactly what we need to stay strong in the middle of this
pandemic because his holy spirit is right here with us right now.
The Apostle Paul talks about this, he writes about this, and,
and he says that the holy spirit is actually manifesting himself
in three distinct ways are characteristics to the
Thessalonian people. And we read this in first
Thessalonians 1:3, it says this, we remember before our God and
Father your work. Listen work.
Produced by faith, your labor, prompted by love.
And Your endurance inspired by hope in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well, that sounds like a sermon right there.
Three points. Right there.
Together. Something about the work of
Faith. Something about a labor of love
and something about endurance inspired by hope.
I want us to look at these three characteristics and I want the
to apply them to us right now. So, almost immediately, when I
go into this, when I look into this, I'm confused.
I'm a little confused because of the first two even though they
make a good outline, I don't know that they make much of a
difference, right? When I first read them work
produced by faith, labor prompted by love well work and
labor to me. That's pretty much the same
thing, isn't it? You can talk about how you labor
or how you work, but But they're synonyms.
They're really not much difference, that's why I'm
confused. So what is the difference?
What's the difference between work and labor?
I'm going to need to know that if I know how to if I'm going to
know how to apply this to my life.
Well, there's two different words in the Greek language that
are used here. And the first word, the word for
work is actually a secular one and the second one.
That's that's translated. Labor is a spiritual one.
That makes all the difference in the world.
So when Paul is talking about their work and Faith their work,
that's produced by faith. He's actually talking about what
they do for a living, he's talking about their secular jobs
and then all of a sudden that opens up a whole different
concept to me. All right?
Because that's the way most, all of us are right at all of our
locations. Right now, we all have a job.
We all have something that we do.
Do that is part of society, right?
And so, what we do for a living becomes an opportunity for us to
show faith. They're your job is an
environment. My job is an environment and
what was happening to the Thessalonians is that they were
reflecting their faith in that job environment.
And you know what, that's a challenge for you, and that's a
challenge for me today. Many of us need to see our work
place as an environment as an opportunity to shine.
For Jesus Christ to show what faith in Jesus Christ.
Really looks like now. As you read through this letter
and I hope you're doing your your regular reading through the
Cure through the New Testament. What you've been told in first
Thessalonians is that, that church, the admit individuals
not Church were experiencing severe suffering.
There are only three weeks old when Paul leaves, they're
experiencing suffering and yet they're standing strong.
And if they can stand strong, we can stand strong even in the
middle of a pandemic, right? Not just because we have all the
bells and whistles and tools we need.
But because the holy spirit is here with us, and we need to
shine the light of faith in our everyday lives, in our everyday
relationships, and in our workplaces.
The second thing, that the Apostle Paul refers to in these
characteristics is their labor prompted by love.
Now the word this word that's translated labor in your Bible
is actually describing sweating like Sweat Equity and this was
The Sweat Equity that they were putting into their spiritual
lives. Now, think about that, the
Apostle Paul's using a word talking about how you're
working, so hard on your spiritual growth on your
spiritual strength. Even though you're three weeks
old, you're not taking anything for.
For granted, they're putting a lot of effort into their
spiritual life to spiritually survive.
These baby Christians are going to have some really hard labor
in front of them, but the love that they've experienced.
That's why they call it the labor of love.
The love that they've experienced, you know, actually
what it does. Is it accomplishes so much in
their life and then they're experiencing just how worthwhile
it is. How worthwhile it is to to
strive for your faith, to be a child of God and to live out
what you've learned want to ask you, what kind of Sweat Equity
right now? Are you putting into your walk
of faith? Are we being motivated by this
incomparable, love that Jesus Christ.
Has for each one of us. And is that translating into a
love for the people that are around us because it's happening
in us, you know, we've said that many times at The Crossing that
the Holy Spirit wants to work in us and through us, right?
And is there a labor of love going on inside of us?
So that we can not only Shine. Jesus Christ out in a secular
world, but that that love that. We're feeling from him is
translating through Us in to others.
The third characteristic that the Apostle Paul refers to, in
this defining scripture is the endurance of Hope.
How are you doing right now in the area of Hope?
Let's just get real. How hopeful are you right now?
You know what I bet you're not doing very well.
I'm not doing very well, the second I give allow myself to
have a little hope something. Just jerks the rug out from
underneath me. I feel like no sooner.
Do we make a little bit of Headway with this virus that it
comes back again with a vengeance.
And there are so many reasons right now is that they're just
all the way across the Panorama of our culture to just feel
hopeless and it feels like it's coming from all sides at once.
So the Thessalonians had to feel this way to like write the very
moment that they find out that who Jesus is and what their life
can be like with Jesus then all of a sudden their teachers,
their leaders are gone and they don't have anything that they
really need to move forward. And I would imagine a time like
that, it could be a difficult time to possess or hold onto any
hope. One of the things that they've
been taught about was the return of Jesus.
And so a lot of them latched onto that Jesus is coming back,
Jesus is going to return and so some of them just kept taking
that a step further, and they believe that Jesus was going to
come back at any moment. So, some tests alone he's
decided not to even go to work anymore.
Christians, like I Think Jesus is coming back.
There's no point in me. Going to work, there's really no
point in me. Sharing my faith with anybody
else because it's going to happen in any moment.
I We were literally packing their bags.
And they were missing what the Apostle Paul had taught them.
So Paul needs to set the record straight and he does that in
first Thessalonians chapter 4. He does it in verses 13 through
Verse 18. And I have to tell you that this
scripture is one of the most hopeful scriptures in the entire
New Testament. It's a scripture that I use for
any believer when we're at a graveside and And a family is
mourning, the loss of someone that they love, but that belongs
to the Lord. And I want to share that
scripture with you right now. Brothers, and sisters, we do not
want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death.
So that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind who have no
hope for we believe that Jesus died and rose again.
And so we believe God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen
asleep in him. According to the Lord's word, we
tell you that we are still alive and who are left unto the coming
of the Lord will certainly not precede those who have fallen
asleep for the Lord. Himself will come down from
heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the Archangel, the
trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise.
First after that, we are still alive.
And are left will be caught up together with them.
Them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
And so we will be with the Lord forever.
Therefore encourage one another with these words now I need for
you to really listen to me right now.
I need for you to really key in on what I'm saying right now.
This pandemic won't be here, forever.
The unrest will die down. The elections will come and go
race. Relations will get better, the
economy will bounce back, you'll be able to take care of your
family, your kids will, eventually go back to school.
Toilet paper will be in full Supply will get to eat out with
our friends. We will shake hands and we will
hug again. The church will return to normal
and a thousand other things that Feel up ended right now in your
life. And somewhere down deep inside
of you, you know, that that's true.
But that's not really where the hope is.
I want you to see where the hope is.
The Hope is that Jesus has not forgotten you.
That he loves you and that he has a plan for you.
That is love and care. Are greater than any pandemic
because we are not forsaken. His love is greater than any
political situation or election cycle because we're not
forsaken, his love is more powerful than any division or
animosity brought on by racial differences because Of all
colors are not forsaken. His provision is in Greater
Supply than any government program and his watch care over
your life and your ability to provide for your family.
Is that no matter, no matter the difficulty, or the challenge,
you are not forsaken. His provision is there for you.
Now your marriage, your family, your children because we are not
forsaken. His provision surrounds, you
your Christian family surrounds, you his angels surround you, his
spirit is in you. His resurrection power animates,
you his forgiveness absolves you his blood covers, you his wisdom
enlightens, you his leadership precedes.
You his lamp guides you, his strengthen power defends you and
his presence will sustain you. And if this life is ever taken
from you, he'll give you a new one.
Because the dead in Christ are not forsaken.
And if you close your eyes in death, you will immediately open
them in eternal life. Because we are not forsaken.
We have a responsibility to let this broken world.
No, we are not forsaken. We are blessed beyond, measure
your blessed beyond measure because Jesus has given his
children, all they will ever need and you are one of those
children if you're in an intimate personal relationship
with Jesus Christ. Christ.
So look up my brother. Look up my sister look up Jerry.
Because your Redemption. Is it Han?
Now we're moving to a time of decision.
Thank you for joining us. A special thank you to those of
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