Oh, crossing family, I am so glad you're here today because I
believe that Jesus can change everything.
I want to welcome all of our different locations.
Those of you here at 48th St. those of you watching in Macomb,
Kirksville, 929 Pike County, Hannibal, Lima, Mount Sterling,
Keokuk, Monmouth, Jacksonville, Weaver to those of you who are
part of our online family, we miss you.
Welcome back. Thanks so much for being
gracious to us during the At the Movie series.
And to those of you who are a part of The Crossing Inside, we
are incredibly thankful for you. Already 89 baptisms this year in
The Crossing Inside and more than that, since launching to
The Crossing Inside 10 years ago on July 5th, we have had 982
baptisms. Here's the deal.
I'm hoarse because I did a full send all weekend long with
pastors and our men's conference.
So if yeah, my my man's, my gosh.
Oh, cult is my spirit animal. I don't even have to know who
that was. I also want to welcome those of
you who are new here, whether it's your first time or your
first time in a long time, it is our honor as a church to have
you with us today. And if if you have not stopped
by the new here booth in all of our lobbies, please do so.
And if you're watching online, just say, hey, I'm new.
Pay attention to me. Now to those of you who've been
with us for a while, you may remember that in 2022 we
preached through the book of Ecclesiastes, which is in the
Old Testament in a sermon series called Chasing Shades.
And then we did the Gospel of John in 2023.
We stepped it up just a little bit and did a 15 week sermon
series through the book of Romans and we created a
devotional to accompany in it. Then in 2024 we did 50 for 50,
which was a game changer for many of you.
And then in the latter part of last year we did 14 weeks
through the book of Exodus. However, today we begin our most
ambitious Bible engagement project yet.
For the next 17 weeks, we are going to take a deep dive into
the New Testament book of First Corinthians.
The book that you've hopefully picked up is our largest
investment we have ever made in the area of Bible engagement.
Now, real quick, I know there's some of you.
When you went to high school, you sat at the very front of the
room and we're glad that you, you know, come to our church.
But most of the people who attend the crossing, we sat in
the back and made paper airplanes.
OK, so the journal that you have that little book that you're
getting ready to chance to go on, it starts after the sermon
next week. So there's a spot for you to
take notes today, but it actually starts after the sermon
next week. And you can go into all of our
lobbies and you can buy it. It'll cost you like 10 bucks.
If you don't have 10 bucks, turn to somebody next to you and go.
You look rich. Can I have 10 bucks?
If that person says I'm not rich and they don't have 10 bucks,
you know, steal it. OK, You're blessed.
All right, so you might ask yourself, why do we do these
series? I'll tell you #1 we believe that
the Bible is the word of God unapologetically.
We believe that it is one of the most powerful tools in the life
of a believer. It is a guide for making
disciples and training ourselves for godly living.
It is a defense against sin, a light in a Dark World, a weapon
against the enemy. Second reason why we do things
like this is because God loves obedience.
In fact, obedience is the love language of God.
You don't have to take my word for it.
Look what it says in first John chapter 5 verse 3.
In fact, this is love for God to keep his commands.
Raise your hand if you want to love God.
If you didn't, you don't have to raise your hand here.
If you're like, that's not me yet, that's fine.
But that's you're our favorite people, OK?
If you are in a place, though, that is ready to cheer you on as
you pursue an intimate personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
And so if you're a person who wants to love God, your life
should be defined by obedience to God's commands.
And how can you obey his commands if you don't know them?
And how can you know them unless you spend time in the Word of
God #3 Being Bible engaged is a game changer for daily living.
A couple years back there was a massive study of over 200,000
people between the ages of eight years old and 80 years old, and
they charted them over a period of time.
After day one, not much had changed.
After day 2, not much had changed.
They did not start to notice a difference until day three
because on day three things began to change.
When I say Bible engaged, the survey came up with people who
are in the Word of God at least four times a week, and here's
what they found in that group of people.
Here are the effects of you becoming a person who engages
with the Bible at least four times a week.
Loneliness drops 30%. Bitterness drops 43%.
Anger drops 32%. Porn consumption drops 42%.
Self harm drops 60%, connectedness goes up 30%, and
self esteem goes up 30%. So if you're a person who wants
to be less lonely, less bitter, less angry, watch less porn,
hurt yourself less often, get connected more, and have a
higher self esteem, you are going to love this series #4.
We want to make this region the hardest place on planet earth to
get the hell from. And that means that we must make
disciples of Jesus Christ. And the Bible helps us
understand God. It helps us understand what
Jesus has done on our behalf, and it tells us of the power
that we have through the Holy Spirit.
The Bible tells us about our identity in Christ and the
heavenly promises that are available to us today.
So before I launch all the way in, this book was a massive
undertaking by our team. They do this though because we
love you deeply. We want to be in your corner for
every step that you take in the direction of Jesus.
Our staff have had a profoundly full summer.
We went straight from camp where we set all time records to at
the movies where we set all time records.
And I cannot begin to tell you of the hundreds of hours that
went in to making the book that we have for you, from the
graphics to the devotionals to the editing rounds, to the
publishing, to the theological framing.
I mean, our team labored over this.
And so I just in front of you, I want to honor them and all of
the people that work at our church because I'm so proud of
what God has assembled at each of our locations.
Would you give them just a big round of applause?
They it is such an honor to be able to serve alongside of them.
All right, so why first Corinthians?
Well #1 when we did 50 for 50 and we had all of you read
through the New Testament in 50 days, as I was doing my
anchoring time in the morning, I started reading through First
Corinthians. And I was like, I wonder what a
person who is new to their faith is thinking because I'm guessing
they have 1000 questions after reading First Corinthians.
And I was like, we should have done a better job of setting
them up to win as they read through that book.
And I was going, man, we need to, we need to do something
about it. And so this series is US doing
something about it. Second reason why we're doing
First Corinthians is because the church in Corinth might be the
single most jacked up church in all of Scripture.
There are a host of issues in Corinth, issues culturally,
economically, relationally, spiritually, that threaten the
very future of this community of believers.
If they are not careful, the church in Corinth could miss out
on the gospel impact that their region desperately needed.
And as I look around at our communities, I think we would be
wise to heed the warnings, the teachings, and the counsel that
Paul gives to this church so that you and I together can
avoid missing out on the impact that our community and our
region desperately needs. What you're going to see as you
go through the book of First Corinthians is that God can do a
mighty work in the messiest of places.
Corinth would be the modern day Las Vegas if you want to get a
master's degree in sin, and Stupid Frontier flies there
twice a day. OK, you won't be able to feel
your butt when you get there, but you can get there.
But just so you know how incredible our God is, God is
always doing an incredible kind of work in places just like
that. In fact, as I stand on this
stage right now, four of the largest churches in America are
headquartered where Las Vegas. You want to know why?
Because wherever there is sin, there is a Jesus waiting to
save. Third reason why we're doing
this book of First Corinthians is because this is education
Weekend. Teachers, administrators,
support staff are all making their final preparations.
This month, my kids will join thousands of other kids all
across this region in going back to school.
And so for a majority of their first semester, we will be in
this study of First Corinthians. And as you're going to see, Paul
is writing to a church that he desperately loves and at the
same time makes him want to pull out all of his hair.
Paul's an educator, and I think what he has to say and how he
says it and how he navigates it could be a blessing to you.
So let me begin by saying something to all of you who work
in the public school system, top to bottom, thank you.
I know that you're about ready to embark on long days.
You're going to have to navigate angry parents, challenging
expectations, limited resources, and above all, heartbreaking
stories. And I want you to hear me say
thank you. Thank you for re enlisting to
serve on the front lines of our society.
Thanks for shaping, guiding and directing the minds and the
imagination of our most precious possessions, our kids.
Thank you. Thank you for pushing through
your own pain to minister to the pain of others.
Thanks in advance for being kind when you are hurt, generous when
things are tight. And I want you to know that this
church, all 12 locations across this region, 10,000 square miles
wide, is in your corner. We are in your corner every step
of the way. When you call, we are on our
way. But more than that, if you will
allow God, He will be your strength when you don't have
any. He will be your patience when
you can't find it, He will be your kindness when you are on
empty. He will be your gentleness when
you are prone to lean into the other emotions.
And more than that, through the power of His Spirit, He will be
your love. You pay attention to this.
You are the pastor of your hallway, you are the pastor of
your office, you are the pastor of your teachers lounge, and you
are the pastor of your classroom.
You are going to have a louder voice over the next nine months
than any of our pastoral staff in the life of those kids.
You will have a louder, more significant voice than many of
the parents that you will teach. You're going to get to spend
more time, more energy shaping, molding, directing.
And the gospel demands that you steward that opportunity well.
And so my prayer for you is that you will be the very best
teachers, the ones with a line out your door because kids want
to be in your class regardless of what you teach.
That you'll be the teacher that every other teacher wants to
have on their team because when they're with you, they are seen,
they are loved, They're treated with dignity.
And so as we get ready to begin this series, and as we have all
these teachers here, can we just take just a quick moment and
pray? Heavenly Father, this church is
nothing. This sermon is nothing.
This series is nothing. I'm nothing.
We're nothing unless you're in it.
Suddenly, Father, I'm asking you to do what only you can do in
ways that only you can do it. That you would start a fire in
this church that Satan can't put out.
We've heard stories of region wide repentance.
We know what you did in Nineveh and we're asking you to do it
again and to do it again in us. So Heavenly Father, we come to
you today in the name of the only one who can save, the only
one who can turn things around, the only one who fully knows us
and fully loves us. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
So let's begin. How do you read First
Corinthians? Well, First Corinthians is an
epistle. The Bible, much like your wife,
has multiple personalities. And as you are reading through
the Bible, there are different literary genres.
And when I say literary genres, this is what I mean.
There is origin story, historical narrative, poetry,
prophecy, gospel, epistle, and apocalyptic.
And knowing what genre you are in helps you understand the
personality of the text. First Corinthians is an epistle,
which is a very old formal or way of saying a long formal
letter. It has an author and it has an
audience. And so when you are getting
ready to read an epistle, there are two things that will help
you get started. One, treat the entire letter
like you are listening to one side of the conversation.
You guys have been in the car with your spouse and she takes a
phone call and you don't know who she's talking to and you
don't know what's going on right out of the gate.
But the longer you listen, the more you hear her response, you
are able to start figuring out who she's talking to and what is
going on. There's a reason why she is
saying the things she is saying. It is in response to something
that you can't hear. But the longer you listen, the
more it makes sense. Some of you guys, you've been in
the car and you've been trying to have a high level
conversation with your spouse about another issue and you're
trying to do it in such a way that the kids don't understand
what's going on. And so you talk quieter and you
keep having it, and then all of a sudden your kids start making
gigantic assumptions about what they've overheard, which is the
most frustrating part of parenting.
So let me give you this pro tip. If you don't want your kids to
hear you, talk to them in an audible voice and yell.
If you want them to pay attention to every word you're
saying, start whispering. I think they should go to bed
early. They'll hear that one every time
now. So when you are when you are
reading an epistle, you are only hearing one side of the
conversation, but you can get a pretty good idea of what's going
on. The second thing you can do is
you can go to the book of Acts to see if it gives us a back
story, especially anytime you are in a a letter written by
Paul, you should go to the book of Acts.
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. The 5th book of the New
Testament is the book of Acts. Why go to Acts?
Because Acts is a documentation of the 1st 30 years of the
church. And so for First Corinthians, if
you were to go to Acts chapter 15 all the way to Acts chapter
18, verse 21, you will hear about the church in Corinth.
Paul goes there on his second missionary journey.
He comes out of Jerusalem, goes all along the coast and visits
most, most of Greece. In fact, tomorrow morning I'm
going to be sending an e-mail to all of you letting you know that
in 2026, we will be taking a trip to Greece to actually walk
the footsteps of Paul. And so if that is something that
you're interested in doing, make sure that our church is not in
your junk mail because we don't want to hang out with your junk.
We want to hang out with your bills, you know what I mean?
Or whatever else you have in there, your subscriptions.
Now Paul ends up staying in Corinth for 18 months, which I
know to you doesn't seem like a lot of time, but he only stayed
one other place longer, and that was three years.
The rest of the time he got kicked out of basically every
place he went. I kind of like that about Paul.
He kind of shows up, tells people about Jesus, they don't
like him, they kick him out. And so he's like, all right, I'm
going to go back in. They're going to kick me out
again, then I'll go someplace else.
One time he got stoned and by stone, people threw rocks at him
until they thought he was dead, not, you know, visited a
dispensary. He got stoned like the old
school way, which is getting hit by rocks.
And they thought they'd kill them and but they didn't.
And so he got up. And you know what he did?
He went back into town to finish his sermon.
He's kind of bad to the bone like that.
So he stays here in Corinth for 18 months.
And then he leaves and goes on the rest of the missionary
journey and he starts another one.
So about 5 or 6 years later, after he left the church in
Corinth, he writes to them the letter First Corinthians.
Why does he write the letter? I'll tell you because the church
in Corinth was a complete disaster.
It was a dumpster fire. As you'll see in just a second.
Paul is playing whack A mole with problems all over the
church everywhere you look. The church is falling apart.
Here are the problems in the church in Corinth.
The first one is unity. First Corinthians chapter one,
verse 11 through 12 says this. My brothers and sisters, some
from clothes household have informed me that there are
quarrels among you. What I mean is this.
One of you says I follow Paul. Another says I follow Apollo's.
Another says I follow a Cephas, Another says I follow Christ.
It seems like nobody in clothes Household has been to prison
because if you've been to prison, you know, snitches get
stitches. But somebody from clothes
household got word to Paul saying these people aren't
acting right, so they're like, we got to do something.
So they got word to Paul. And for good reason.
The church is being divided. People are picking their
favorite pastor and they're developing A cult like following
around them. That's why as a church we try
not to advertise who's preaching on a weekend because we just
want you to show up because you want to hear a word from God,
not from the preacher. We want God to move in our
lives. The second problem in Corinth is
sexual immorality. First Corinthians chapter 5
verse one, it is actually reported that there is sexual
immorality among you and of a kind that even pagans do not
tolerate. In short, there are a bunch of
people in this church having sex with people that they shouldn't
be having sex with. It was so bad that Paul says
that even non Christians would not be engaging in the kind of
behavior that the Christians are engaging in.
Which makes you wonder how bad was the sex that the people in
Corinth were having? Well, if you want to, you should
go home and read your Bible. If you don't, you can come back.
And I think Week 6 is where we're going to be talking about
all the people you shouldn't have sex with.
We're going to preach this church back to COVID.
You'll all be wearing masks by the time we're done.
OK? You're like, my room's crowded.
Not for long. OK?
Notice Paul keeps bringing up the fact that the behavior is
being reported to him. He's playing whack A mole with
all the problems in the church. He keeps hearing about this.
He's like, Dang it, stop. Here's about this.
Dang it, stop. In fact, the entire rest of the
letter is Paul addressing issue after issue.
You're going to hear a version of this phrase over and over
again as you read first Corinthians.
Now about turn to your neighbor to say now about now about the
matters you wrote about, and he launches into marriage issues.
Now about what to do with all the virgins in the church.
And he addresses unmarried issues now about food, idols and
freedom. And he goes, hey, when you guys
get together, I hear that there is injustice and drunkenness at
the Lord's Supper. And you're like, how do you get
drunk during communion? Well, they figured it out.
We learned from it and made sure that it doesn't happen here.
You should read your Bible. Then he goes.
Now about pride and chaos at the worship gathering.
Then he goes, now about the gospel that I preached to you.
And then he launches into resurrection theology and how
the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a verifiable fact, an event
that actually took place, verified by over 500 witnesses,
which is why it forms the basis of our faith and the power
behind the hope that you and I have as Christians.
And then he concludes his letter the same way we often conclude
our services at the crossing with this now about the
offering. And he discusses the upcoming
collection. Like I said earlier, there were
a lot of problems in the church in Corinth.
Tons. But I believe that if you're
willing to look closely, I believe that you will see in the
book of First Corinthians that Paul welcomes every confused
Christian and every broken church into a new reality.
I also hope that as we go through this series, you will
see how Paul handled every single one of these issues every
single time he does two things. The first is he addresses the
issue directly and the second is that he resolves the issue with
the life changing power of the gospel.
And in the resurrection life found in King Jesus, Paul
doesn't avoid any of the problems that are brought to his
attention. He doesn't skip over him.
He doesn't ignore him, He doesn't downplay him, he doesn't
sweep them under the rug. He addresses it directly.
Don't miss this. I'm just talking to the
Christians for a second. Come here.
All too often we will watch people light their lives on fire
and do nothing to put it out because we don't think it's our
place. We worry what they will think
about or what they will think about us.
And in that moment we are not loving God, we are not loving
them. We are worshiping ourselves.
That is idolatry. Paul is way more concerned with
holiness, righteousness, the cause of Christ, the whores of
hell, and the glory of heaven. For Paul, there is a Kingdom
cause, a narrow path, and Paul genuinely believed that God's
way is the best way. So when he saw people walking
away from it, he went and he addressed the issue directly.
And second thing, he pointed to the power of the gospel and the
resurrection found in King Jesus.
He pointed to the scriptures and then he reminded them of the
cross shaped love that is to define us since it is the very
thing that saved us and the resurrection is the proof that
it took place. Paul believed that in the risen
Jesus and through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit and
in the empty tomb that there is enough power of God to overcome
any issue in your life and any issue in your church.
I'm going to preach for a second.
What problem is going on in your life that you need God to solve?
What's the problem in your family that you need God to
solve? What's the problem in your
marriage that you need God to solve?
Every single person here has a problem.
And while I don't know what your problem is, I know that every
single one of us has them. And so while it's impossible for
me to know every problem represented in this church or at
your campus or all across the region, I do know the solution.
Because I know what He has done for me, and I have full
confidence that He can do it in you.
Because I know that I am not the only one who has gathered here
today who, because of Jesus in the power of the resurrection,
has been accepted, adopted, awakened, blessed, built up,
brought near, changed, comforted, and covered.
I know that I'm not the only person in here who's been
delivered and declared righteous.
I know that there might be somebody in here who'd be
willing to say that because of Jesus, you've been equipped,
empowered, embraced, freed, forgiven, filled, guarded,
helped, included, inspired, ignited, and illuminated.
That when you come into a relationship with Jesus Christ,
absolutely everything can change.
Say what you want about the power of God, but I know that it
justified me, kept me, loved me, led me, lifted me, and has been
lavished on. He made me new.
He has overcome my sin, protected me from the evil, 1
purified me, and He has pardoned me from my sin.
I stand before you today fully rescued, redeemed, restored,
refined, and revived because of Jesus.
I'm saved, strengthened, sanctified, satisfied, and He
sustains me. He has transformed me and He has
triumphed on my behalf. He has unburdened me, vindicated
me, and he has washed me. Some of you picked up what I'm
doing. You're going.
How's he doing? The exes?
My sin was examined and then it was exterminated when my king
was exalted. And as a result, my fear has
been expelled. He yelled victory over my past,
and He created in me a zeal for other people to find what I have
found in Jesus. Like I said, I'm so glad you
came to church today because I believe that Jesus can change
anything. We're moving to a time of
decision. To those of you in here today
who have never started an intimate personal relationship
with Jesus Christ, I just need to tell you two things.
And this is my story, but I would tell you that the IT
following Jesus Christ is the single greatest decision that
I've ever made. And my biggest regret is that I
didn't do it sooner. And I like to have this
conversation about four times a year because I know that there
might be some of you in here who are new here or new to Jesus.
Maybe somebody brought you and we're getting ready to go on a
journey that I believe could be transformative for your faith.
But some of you are ready to actually start a relationship
with Jesus today. And you might be going, but
Clayton, that's a really cool work that God's done in your
life, but there's no way that he could do it in me.
And I want you to know, while I may not know you, I know
somebody an awful lot like you. While your testimony might be
different than mine, it's not different from every testimony
that has been written across this region.
And so I just want to prove something to you.
If you're here today and you would join me in saying that the
single greatest decision that you ever made is making Jesus
Christ the Lord and save your life.
Would you put your hand up and leave it there?
And if you're willing to say that your single biggest regret
that you didn't start it earlier, would you put your
other hand up? See, it's not just me, which
means it can be you. And the moment you want it, you
can have it in just a few moments.
The people around you, some of them are going to stand and
sing. Some of them are going to come
to the steps and pray. And I want to encourage you to
walk right over there next to the baptistry.
If you're watching online, you just type in the chat, Save me
and somebody's going to come alongside of you in that chat
and help you find what we have found in Jesus.
There is no reason for you to put it off any longer because
you can start the relationship that you were created to have
with the Heavenly Father today to the rest of you in the room,
to those of you who are already Christians, this journey is a
big one. The time that you're going to
spend and the word is a big one. I'm just going to how do I do
this right? I got time.
I was talking to some men in our church on on Friday night and
this has been the story of my life.
Every incredible ministry moment has been simultaneously
accompanied by an unbearable low.
I have never been able to come home from one of my best sermons
on a best weekend with everything going right and not
had something down here. Pain and temptation and hurt are
constant companions. And I was one of the preachers
for our men's conference. He said he had a guy in his in
his church who gave him some counsel about how to do that
because it's not just me. You guys probably have a similar
story. And he was a pilot in the Army.
And he said you only get shot at when you're over the enemy.
You only get shot at when you're trying to take the ground.
And so here's can I just tell you when you are getting ready
to try and get people all across this region to get serious in
the word of God, that wakes Satan and the demons up.
And so you may have more opposition in your home than
you've ever had before as you try to spend time in the Word of
God. There might be more temptation
for there to be dysfunction in your marriage or your parenting
than ever before as you and your wife maybe for the first time
start reading the word of God together.
This church is we're getting ready to try and all go in the
same direction, might have its unity threatened like never
before. And so while I am super pumped
that we're all going to start reading our Bible, can I level
with you? I think there's a lot that could
happen down here. And so can I just ask that if
you're a person who loves Jesus, that you would spend some time
praying over the people who are getting ready to go on this
journey. That you would pray over this
church, that you pray over your family, that you would pray over
this series, that God would take all the ground and that Satan
would lose every bit of it. If we are going to make this
region the hardest place on planet earth to get to hell
from, Satan is going to push back the good news.
We have already won in the end, but there are battles that must
be fought today. Would you stand with me,
Heavenly Father? I'm asking.
I'm asking you to do a mighty work, not just in this region,
not just at our campuses. God, I want you to do a mighty
work everywhere. God, I know there are people
here that have been following you for a long time who haven't
grown as much as they should have.
There's people who are just now starting a relationship with you
and they don't even fully understand what that
relationship looks like. I know that they're people who
have been following you for so long and they're super excited
about this series. And I know there's other people
who are wanting to tune out on this series.
And God, I'm just surrendering all of that to you right now.
That you'd create a desperation in us for you and for your
Kingdom and for Your word and for the empowering of Your Holy
Spirit. And God as we get down on our
knees, that you would hear our prayers, God, that you'd respond
to them. That you'd keep us from sin and
keep us from temptation. And God, that when the enemy
attacks, that we would have all the resources to push back.
And your name I pray. Amen.