-
00:00:00
- He is the cornerstone.
-
00:00:02
It doesn't move, it doesn't
budge, you can't break it.
-
00:00:06
Whereas I and you are
merely vessels of clay.
-
00:00:12
- Hey, I'm Kyle.
Welcome to Crossroads.
-
00:00:14
We're here solely to
help guide and equip you
-
00:00:16
for the adventurous
life that God has for you.
-
00:00:18
Now there are some things
that are a virtual certainty,
-
00:00:21
right? Like death, taxes,
-
00:00:22
all three Spider-Mans in
the new Spider-Man movie,
-
00:00:25
but one that's not
talked about so much
-
00:00:27
is struggling with faith.
-
00:00:29
We're talking about
this current phenomenon
-
00:00:30
called deconstruction
-
00:00:32
and how it's affecting
so many of us
-
00:00:34
and the faith that we have.
-
00:00:35
Today our senior pastor,
my mentor, Brian Tome,
-
00:00:38
is going to help
us through this.
-
00:00:42
- Hey, I'm Brian, great
to be with you today.
-
00:00:45
We're ending our
series on Rock Solid,
-
00:00:47
and this message
actually ties really well
-
00:00:49
to the last message
-
00:00:50
where we talked
about deconstruction.
-
00:00:52
What is deconstruction?
-
00:00:54
Deconstruction,
as I'm defining it
-
00:00:57
is allowing your
doubts and the doubters
-
00:01:00
to destroy your faith.
-
00:01:02
We live in an age of skepticism.
-
00:01:06
People love to be cynical.
-
00:01:07
People love to
find fault in things,
-
00:01:10
find fault in people,
to see the flawed logic,
-
00:01:13
to call hypocrisy
whenever we see it.
-
00:01:15
And we get so used to trying
to see through somebody
-
00:01:19
that we never
actually see something
-
00:01:21
that we want to
build our life on.
-
00:01:23
C.S. Lewis, who
was later in life
-
00:01:26
a convert to Christianity
and wrote amazing books.
-
00:01:29
C.S. Lewis said this:
-
00:01:48
There is this great
fixation that many have
-
00:01:50
of finding faults in faith,
-
00:01:52
finding faults in Christendom,
-
00:01:54
instead of actually
building our life.
-
00:01:57
What are we trying to see?
-
00:01:59
What are we
trying to hold on to?
-
00:02:01
What's our life becoming?
-
00:02:03
I don't see many
deconstructionist
-
00:02:06
who see through the
false claims of Christianity
-
00:02:08
and then build a great life.
-
00:02:10
Cynicism and
skepticism is a foundation
-
00:02:13
that is not stable enough
that's going to enable you
-
00:02:16
to get as high as you
actually want to get.
-
00:02:19
See, the problem for many of us
-
00:02:21
is not so much with Jesus.
-
00:02:22
The problem is with the
people who represent Jesus.
-
00:02:27
People will always
let us down. Always.
-
00:02:34
People are flawed individuals.
-
00:02:37
People who align
themselves with Jesus,
-
00:02:39
who talk about Jesus, like
me, I am a flawed individual.
-
00:02:44
I want to tell you right now,
-
00:02:46
do not place your
faith in Brian Tome.
-
00:02:49
I'm doing my best
to follow Jesus
-
00:02:50
with all my life
and all my heart,
-
00:02:52
and I'm doing better at it today
-
00:02:55
than I was five years ago,
than I was 20 years ago.
-
00:02:59
But I'm just telling
you right now,
-
00:03:00
if you're looking for somebody
-
00:03:02
who has doesn't have
any faults, don't look here.
-
00:03:04
If you're looking for
somebody who's going to be
-
00:03:07
the foundation for your
faith, don't look here.
-
00:03:11
You need to look
to Jesus, not me
-
00:03:14
or any other pastor
you may have heard of
-
00:03:17
or any other Christian author.
-
00:03:18
In the Book of
2 Corinthians 4:7-8,
-
00:03:21
the Apostle Paul talks about
this dynamic when he says:
-
00:03:45
Apostle Paul says I
have this great possession
-
00:03:48
of the presence of God,
-
00:03:49
of the very spirit
of God in my life.
-
00:03:52
But it's inside
of a jar of clay.
-
00:03:57
That's what we are,
we're jars of clay.
-
00:04:00
Some of our jars look
nicer than other jars.
-
00:04:03
Some of our jars are dressed
up better than other jars.
-
00:04:07
But all of us are in a
vessel that's very fragile
-
00:04:13
and very flawed.
-
00:04:15
Kind of crazy that
inside of this vessel
-
00:04:19
of Brian's Tome God
deposits the truth of Jesus
-
00:04:23
inside this vessel,
-
00:04:24
inside of your vessel,
if you received Him,
-
00:04:26
God deposits the
very Holy Spirit of God.
-
00:04:30
We are vessels that
have amazing truth,
-
00:04:33
and yet they're just --
-
00:04:37
that was supposed to
break, actually, it should.
-
00:04:40
And yet, let's
try this one here,
-
00:04:41
and yet, I'll help this one.
-
00:04:43
And yet we're just
vessels. That's all we are.
-
00:04:50
We're entities that
are going to break
-
00:04:55
because we're flawed.
-
00:04:57
Now compare our
fragility, if you will,
-
00:05:03
with actually The Rock of Jesus.
-
00:05:06
The Book of Matthew
21:42, Jesus said to them:
-
00:05:24
So Jesus contrasts himself
with myself, with yourself.
-
00:05:30
He is the cornerstone,
he's the foundation stone.
-
00:05:35
It's solid. It doesn't
move. It doesn't budge.
-
00:05:38
You can't break it.
-
00:05:40
Whereas I and you are
merely vessels of clay.
-
00:05:46
When Jesus says
He's a cornerstone,
-
00:05:47
He's not just saying
that He's hard,
-
00:05:50
He's stable, He's
not going to crack.
-
00:05:52
What He's also saying is,
-
00:05:55
"Upon me will be
built a movement
-
00:05:57
that will be going in
the right direction."
-
00:06:02
And you, if you
want your life to go
-
00:06:04
in the right direction,
to go higher and higher,
-
00:06:08
you and I should build
our lives on Him, on Jesus.
-
00:06:12
And when we don't have
our lives built on Him,
-
00:06:14
we should deconstruct
anything in our life
-
00:06:17
that isn't built
on Christ alone.
-
00:06:20
- Quick interruption.
-
00:06:22
I'm going to talk about
giving for 30 seconds.
-
00:06:24
Start the timer, go.
-
00:06:26
1 Thessalonians 5:18 says:
-
00:06:28
Give thanks in all circumstances
-
00:06:30
for this as God's will
for you in Christ Jesus.
-
00:06:32
See, we believe that giving is
-
00:06:33
more than just cutting a check.
-
00:06:35
But it's actually
a spiritual act,
-
00:06:36
one of the best way you can
show your gratefulness to God.
-
00:06:39
Yearend giving is a big
deal for a lot of non-profits.
-
00:06:42
And it is for us too.
-
00:06:43
By the way, for someone
who gives, thank you.
-
00:06:45
This is only possible
because of you.
-
00:06:47
And if you want to jump
in, if you want to try giving,
-
00:06:50
we have options for you.
-
00:06:51
Go to Crossroads.net/giving.
-
00:06:54
- For our 25th anniversary
we wanted to bless
-
00:06:57
a number of our
reachout partners locally
-
00:06:59
and internationally
by giving away
-
00:07:01
an additional $2.5 million.
-
00:07:04
We want to bless as
we've been blessed.
-
00:07:07
What does $2.5 million
look like in life change?
-
00:07:11
49,000 meals for the
homeless in Greater Cincinnati,
-
00:07:15
1500 more impoverished
children fed for a year
-
00:07:19
and assisted with education
and spiritual development
-
00:07:22
in places like South
Africa, Nicaragua, and Haiti.
-
00:07:27
After care for more
than 100 girls rescued
-
00:07:29
from sex slavery
in India and Nepal,
-
00:07:33
hundreds of children freed
-
00:07:34
from childhood slavery in Haiti.
-
00:07:37
It looks like additional
investment in CityLink,
-
00:07:39
which allowed them to
raise even more funds
-
00:07:42
towards the sustainable
growth of their partners.
-
00:07:44
Through Undivided,
thousands more people
-
00:07:47
to enegage in the work
of racial reconciliation.
-
00:07:49
It looks like additional
disaster relief help
-
00:07:52
for dozens of families impacted
by storms, floods, and fires.
-
00:07:56
Ministry during and
after incarceration
-
00:07:58
for hundreds of people
and their families,
-
00:08:00
coaching and resources
-
00:08:02
for dozens of
faith-based entrepreneurs,
-
00:08:04
healing and hope for dozens
-
00:08:06
of impoverished, addicted,
and trafficked people
-
00:08:08
in the Price Hill
area of Cincinnati,
-
00:08:10
25 more cars for people
in a transportation crisis,
-
00:08:14
hundreds of individuals
receiving the care
-
00:08:16
and services to
overcome addiction.
-
00:08:18
Thousands of people
around all of our sites
-
00:08:21
blessed by the church
-
00:08:22
by increasing the resources of
non-profits in their local area.
-
00:08:27
And we are just getting started.
-
00:08:29
This is how we run.
-
00:08:31
Changing the world is a
core part of who we are,
-
00:08:34
and your generosity
increases hope
-
00:08:36
and fuels life
change. This is God.
-
00:08:41
- I have a very -- it's kind of
-
00:08:43
a bit of a difficult
time for me right now.
-
00:08:46
I've had two people
close to me die.
-
00:08:50
One of them brought me to
Christ. His name was Denny.
-
00:08:54
In high school, he
brought me to Christ,
-
00:08:56
and then he disciple me,
-
00:08:58
and he mentored me in
understanding leadership.
-
00:09:03
If you've ever been
affected by my life at all,
-
00:09:06
you're on Denny's downline.
-
00:09:09
He's pretty --
a pretty impressive guy.
-
00:09:12
And Denny was a jar of clay.
-
00:09:17
Denny had problems,
Denny had quirks,
-
00:09:21
Denny had hang ups, Denny had --
-
00:09:25
It was just as is
with me, as with you,
-
00:09:29
as was with anybody,
he was a jar of clay.
-
00:09:34
And yet he was able
to bring people like me
-
00:09:37
to the foundation of Jesus.
-
00:09:41
Denny, he hired me one summer
-
00:09:45
to do a construction project.
-
00:09:46
He wanted to build an
addition onto his house
-
00:09:48
and he figured oh, Brian --
-
00:09:50
Denny also didn't like to
pay people a lot of money.
-
00:09:53
He didn't.
-
00:09:54
He wanted to cut corners
financially whenever he could,
-
00:09:56
which is a good idea.
-
00:09:57
You should always try to
be wise with your money.
-
00:09:59
So it's like, "Well, why
should I hire a contractor?
-
00:10:01
I know Brian, he worked
last summer in construction.
-
00:10:04
I'll just have him
do my addition."
-
00:10:07
And so I ended up doing it.
-
00:10:09
It was a larger addition
than the actual house itself.
-
00:10:12
And what was the payment terms?
-
00:10:14
The payment terms where
he gave me his motorcycle.
-
00:10:16
It was a Honda Nighthawk 550.
-
00:10:19
He gave me his old
couch and love seat.
-
00:10:21
And he gave me $500 a
month spending money.
-
00:10:26
That's what he gave me.
-
00:10:28
I said, "Great, I'll
take it. I'm all in."
-
00:10:32
I had to get the
guy with a backhoe
-
00:10:34
to go into the side of his house
-
00:10:36
and start digging down
and scraping back the house
-
00:10:40
where we were going
to put the foundation.
-
00:10:42
And I learned
something that day.
-
00:10:43
I learned why that original
house had stucco on it,
-
00:10:47
white stucco, actually,
-
00:10:49
the actual technical
term is dryvit.
-
00:10:51
Why it had that wrapped
around the house.
-
00:10:54
It was because it
was hiding the cracks
-
00:10:58
that were riddled
through the house.
-
00:11:01
When we peeled away that dirt
-
00:11:03
on the very bottom
of the foundation
-
00:11:05
where cinder blocks, you
could put your fist through.
-
00:11:09
And those cracks continued
up into the normal house,
-
00:11:13
you just couldn't see
it built over with stucco.
-
00:11:15
So the first problem had
to do is fix the foundation.
-
00:11:18
The blocks themselves
were just rested on dirt.
-
00:11:23
They had no cornerstone.
-
00:11:25
There was no
concrete footer for it.
-
00:11:28
So I had to go underneath
that and dig it out
-
00:11:31
section by section, underpin it,
-
00:11:32
and put put some
foundation there.
-
00:11:34
This is the way it is for us.
-
00:11:37
We could look really
good on the outside:
-
00:11:40
Beautiful makeup,
beautiful biceps,
-
00:11:43
beautiful financial accounts,
wonderful looking friends,
-
00:11:48
wonderful looking, whatever.
-
00:11:49
We can look really,
really good on the outside,
-
00:11:52
but it can also just be stucco
-
00:11:55
that's covering the
cracks of our hearts.
-
00:11:58
The cracks of feeling
like I'm unworthy,
-
00:12:01
the cracks of depression,
-
00:12:04
the cracks of the way
we feel like we are failures
-
00:12:08
and we're not measuring
up, the cracks of performance
-
00:12:12
of you have to keep
doing and doing and doing
-
00:12:15
or else believing that
God doesn't love us
-
00:12:18
and care for us,
instead of the foundation
-
00:12:20
that Jesus already done for us.
-
00:12:23
He's already died
on a Cross for me.
-
00:12:24
He's already
performed for the Father
-
00:12:26
and I don't have to
perform for the Father.
-
00:12:28
If I believe I have to
perform for the Father,
-
00:12:30
I'm going to be very
tired and very weary,
-
00:12:32
and there's going to be
cracks in my foundation
-
00:12:34
because I'm not
on the cornerstone
-
00:12:35
of the one who has done for me
-
00:12:38
what I can't do for myself.
-
00:12:43
Jesus was a Jew, and
inside Judaism some people
-
00:12:47
would have called
Him a deconstructionist
-
00:12:51
because He was
challenging the status quo.
-
00:12:55
But He wasn't
deconstructing Judaism
-
00:12:58
the way that some
people are known
-
00:12:59
to deconstruct
Christianity in that
-
00:13:01
He wasn't just trying
to tear something down
-
00:13:04
and he wasn't -- and he
was offering solutions instead.
-
00:13:07
He wasn't
deconstructing Judaism.
-
00:13:08
But He says some things
that are very challenging,
-
00:13:12
not just to them the first
century, but to us today.
-
00:13:16
We're going to take a look
at some of those things.
-
00:13:18
The Book of Matthew
5:17, here's what it says:
-
00:13:42
The ancient Jewish scriptures
-
00:13:43
are divided up
into three sections:
-
00:13:45
the law, the prophets,
and the writings.
-
00:13:49
The writings are the
wisdom literature: Proverbs,
-
00:13:52
Psalms, Ecclesiastes,
Song of Solomon.
-
00:13:55
Those books no one really
has much of a problem with.
-
00:13:58
They're pretty, pretty
helpful standard stuff,
-
00:14:01
that's really,
really good stuff.
-
00:14:02
But we tend to have a
real problem with the law,
-
00:14:05
which is Genesis, Exodus,
-
00:14:07
Leviticus, Numbers Deuteronomy.
-
00:14:09
Those things in there,
does that really relate to me?
-
00:14:12
Why is it say things about
scraping mildew off walls,
-
00:14:16
or why did it say --?
-
00:14:17
Or the prophets, which is,
you know, Jeremiah, Isaiah,
-
00:14:22
Malachi, Habakkuk,
on and on and on.
-
00:14:25
And Jesus says, "Look,
don't think I've come
-
00:14:26
to eliminate those
hard parts of the Bible?
-
00:14:29
No, no, no. I'm not coming
to eliminate those things.
-
00:14:31
I'm not coming to
deconstruct those things.
-
00:14:34
I've come to fulfill those
things, fulfill those things."
-
00:14:38
I believe in all Jesus says,
-
00:14:40
"All of it, I believe in it,
-
00:14:42
and I'm going to fulfill it."
-
00:14:44
And then what He does in
the Sermon on the Mount,
-
00:14:48
He gives a bunch of
things where He says,
-
00:14:50
"You've heard it said this"
and He quotes the law.
-
00:14:53
"But I tell you this."
-
00:14:56
And then He'll say,
"You've heard this,"
-
00:14:58
and then He quotes
the law and says,
-
00:15:00
"But I'll tell you this."
-
00:15:03
Let's read some of those and see
-
00:15:06
is He deconstructing His faith
-
00:15:09
or is He doing
something different?
-
00:15:11
Let's -- there's
a bunch of them.
-
00:15:13
I'm just going to
do a few of them.
-
00:15:14
Let's take a look at
Matthew 5:27, Jesus says:
-
00:15:33
You've heard that was said.
-
00:15:35
Where it was said, it was
actually said in the Bible.
-
00:15:38
But I say to you, I say to you--
-
00:15:42
You'd think He'd
almost say to you,
-
00:15:43
"But I say to you, it's OK to
have an adulterous affair."
-
00:15:50
Or I say to you it's OK.
-
00:15:52
No, He says, "I say to you,
-
00:15:55
it's not just about
the adultery,
-
00:15:57
it's about your mind.
It's about your eyes.
-
00:16:01
Are you looking at
somebody with lustful intention,
-
00:16:05
lustful thoughts, having
fantasies about them,
-
00:16:09
nurturing that,
spending energy on that?
-
00:16:12
If so, you're
objectifying that person
-
00:16:15
and you're hurting God
because that's His child.
-
00:16:20
And you're spending energy on
-
00:16:22
a sexual fantasy
that's not helpful,
-
00:16:24
and you can't build your
life on the cornerstone
-
00:16:27
and have it go
some place that way.
-
00:16:28
That's one example He does.
-
00:16:30
You've heard it said
this, but I say that.
-
00:16:33
In other words, He
takes it and He amps it up.
-
00:16:36
When I hear people
deconstructing today,
-
00:16:38
they always deconstruct in a way
-
00:16:40
that makes their life easier.
-
00:16:43
They always take the
standards of the Bible
-
00:16:45
and then they knock them down
-
00:16:47
to make them
something that they like,
-
00:16:49
it'll be easier
for them to fulfill.
-
00:16:50
Jesus, He articulates
all the standards
-
00:16:53
of his Jewish faith, and
bam, he bumps them up.
-
00:16:56
Let me give you another one.
Verse 31:
-
00:17:19
So they had a common practice
-
00:17:21
in a male dominated
society of husbands
-
00:17:24
doing whatever they
wanted with their wives,
-
00:17:26
including divorcing the
wife whenever he could.
-
00:17:30
This is part of the law.
-
00:17:31
There was official
divorce procedure
-
00:17:33
that was in the law,
in the scriptures,
-
00:17:36
and you would kind of
write a divorce certificate
-
00:17:39
and then it was, you
know, it was over.
-
00:17:40
But there was an official
provision in the law,
-
00:17:42
but it was never an
official provision in the law
-
00:17:45
that anybody for any reason,
including just had a bad day
-
00:17:48
or I saw somebody better
looking could just divorce
-
00:17:50
his wife and go on
to somebody else.
-
00:17:53
But this is happening
and people are actually
-
00:17:55
within the literal
confines of their religion.
-
00:17:58
Jesus says, "You've heard
this said, but I say to you."
-
00:18:02
He says, "I say to you,
you can't have a divorce
-
00:18:07
unless there's sexual
immorality that's taking place.
-
00:18:10
That's what I say to you."
-
00:18:11
See, again, He takes it and bam.
-
00:18:13
This not only elevates
the status of women
-
00:18:17
and keeps women
from being protected
-
00:18:20
and not being widows
who are out in the street
-
00:18:21
in that ancient culture.
-
00:18:23
It also protects our heart
-
00:18:24
because what's wrong
with the heart who wants
-
00:18:27
to divorce somebody that quickly
-
00:18:28
when God doesn't
divorce himself against us?
-
00:18:33
That's a crazy thing.
-
00:18:34
God weds himself to you,
-
00:18:36
and you and I give
him grounds for divorce.
-
00:18:39
And yet He stays
wedded to us. Crazy.
-
00:18:41
Let's do another one.
-
00:18:43
Let's go down to
verse 39, it says this:
-
00:19:15
Well, you know what?
-
00:19:16
Sometimes you know the
Word of God is alive and active,
-
00:19:18
sharper than any
double edged sword.
-
00:19:21
And I just realized here,
-
00:19:22
give to the one
who begs from you.
-
00:19:25
I've got to admit that
my general demeanor
-
00:19:28
with somebody who's
begging on a street corner
-
00:19:31
is to ignore them
and go by them.
-
00:19:34
This verse actually tells me
-
00:19:35
to actually give
something to them.
-
00:19:36
I'm challenged by that. Hmm.
-
00:19:39
Don't you hate
when the cornerstone
-
00:19:41
helps you see something
that you've read over
-
00:19:43
a bunch of times?
-
00:19:45
You thought, Man, I can't
remember the last time
-
00:19:47
I gave a person on a
street corner money.
-
00:19:50
Hmm.
-
00:19:52
I've got all my reasons
why not to do it,
-
00:19:54
but the cornerstone
tells me I should.
-
00:19:57
Anyway, it says here
you've heard it said
-
00:19:58
eye for eye, tooth for a tooth.
-
00:20:00
This is in the
Bible, and it's meant
-
00:20:03
for people who are judges,
have official positions
-
00:20:06
of being a judge to
when they give out justice,
-
00:20:10
that when someone has
lost an eye, they take an eye.
-
00:20:12
It's like equal, equal justice.
-
00:20:15
If someone j-walks,
you don't want
-
00:20:17
that person having
life in prison, right?
-
00:20:19
It's got to be an
eye for an eye.
-
00:20:21
It's going to be commensurate.
-
00:20:22
But the problem
is now everyone's
-
00:20:24
taking justice in their own
hands, according to Jesus.
-
00:20:26
So, unless I'm
an official judge,
-
00:20:29
that's not my job
to judge somebody.
-
00:20:31
It's not my job.
-
00:20:33
Instead, I have to
turn the other cheek.
-
00:20:36
I have to let them have
their injustice with me.
-
00:20:39
Turning the other cheek
is what that's known
-
00:20:41
or it also talks about if
you're hit on the right cheek.
-
00:20:45
How are you hit
on the right cheek?
-
00:20:46
You're hitting the right
cheek with the backhand
-
00:20:48
in a right handed culture.
-
00:20:50
Jesus is not saying if you
are physically accosted,
-
00:20:54
just allow somebody
to beat you up.
-
00:20:57
He's saying when you're
insulted, bam, a backhand,
-
00:21:00
that sort of back hand.
-
00:21:01
When you're
insulted, don't feel like
-
00:21:04
you need to return
insult for insult.
-
00:21:07
What would Jesus say
about our social media,
-
00:21:10
our social media patterns,
-
00:21:12
just returning
insult for insult.
-
00:21:14
He says instead, instead
turn the other cheek,
-
00:21:18
live on a higher level.
-
00:21:19
Again, you've heard this
and, bam, takes it up another.
-
00:21:21
Let me give you
one more, verse 43:
-
00:21:36
Hate your enemy, hate the
one who maybe is an oppressor
-
00:21:38
who's going to come
across the border
-
00:21:40
with swords and kill
you, in that context.
-
00:21:42
But Jesus says,
"Look, I say, love them."
-
00:21:44
Here's the problem. The
problem with us today is this:
-
00:21:49
as believers, if
you're a believer,
-
00:21:50
if you're calling yourself
on top of the Rock,
-
00:21:53
the problem is we're
way more into our ideology
-
00:21:56
than our theology.
-
00:21:58
We're way more into
our political ideology,
-
00:22:01
our racial ideology,
our justice ideology,
-
00:22:04
or abortion ideology,
or whatever ideology
-
00:22:07
is all across the spectrum,
instead of our theology.
-
00:22:11
Our ideology is informing
how we go to church.
-
00:22:15
Our ideology is telling us
-
00:22:17
what preachers
to turn on, turn off.
-
00:22:18
When's the last time you
actually opened up your Bible
-
00:22:22
in your theology and
formed your ideology?
-
00:22:25
When I talk with people
who have a problem
-
00:22:26
with certain things that
that I may preach on.
-
00:22:29
"I just don't feel..." I say,
-
00:22:30
"Well, tell me what's your
scripture verses for that?
-
00:22:33
Where's your biblical?"
-
00:22:34
(stammers) They don't
have any so frequently.
-
00:22:38
If someone does have verses
that's different than mine,
-
00:22:41
great, we can have a
conversation about that.
-
00:22:43
But the number of people
who have conviction,
-
00:22:45
who have ideological conviction,
-
00:22:47
not theological conviction
and theological means,
-
00:22:50
theos, the study of
God. That's what that is.
-
00:22:53
Theos, the word for God
in Greek, ology, study of.
-
00:22:56
It's very, very weak
and therefore --
-
00:23:00
therefore we're deconstructing
-
00:23:03
because we haven't
had a foundation,
-
00:23:06
because we're weak,
we're uninformed,
-
00:23:08
were ill formed spiritually.
-
00:23:14
We want to help your faith
-
00:23:17
this coming calendar
year as it comes up.
-
00:23:20
We've got -- we
have a spreadsheet
-
00:23:21
that a bunch of people work on
-
00:23:23
and we've been praying about
-
00:23:25
and we are going to
work really hard in 2022
-
00:23:27
of increasing our
biblical infrastructure.
-
00:23:30
We're going to look at
books like Daniel, Philippians.
-
00:23:35
We're going to look
at the Book of Genesis
-
00:23:38
and actually get our theology,
-
00:23:41
get our mindset
right in this book
-
00:23:45
and equip you this
year to be for yourself
-
00:23:48
inside of this book.
-
00:23:51
We want this because
-
00:23:53
we want you to be
on the Cornerstone.
-
00:23:55
We want you to be on
the Rock of Salvation.
-
00:23:57
We don't want you to be
following jars of clay like me.
-
00:24:00
We want you to be following
the actual Rock of Ages,
-
00:24:03
Jesus Himself, the
Chief Cornerstone.
-
00:24:06
When you follow Him,
you have a life that can build
-
00:24:10
and can soar and be rock solid.
-
00:24:13
Let me pray for you.
-
00:24:14
God, thank You for Your patience
-
00:24:17
with broken, cracked
vessels like me.
-
00:24:24
Thank You for Your salvation
and for Your foundation.
-
00:24:32
We serve You this week. Amen.
-
00:24:36
- That is exactly right.
-
00:24:37
Listen, your faith
cannot stay personal.
-
00:24:40
If you want a secure
foundation to live a life
-
00:24:43
that's founded
on the solid rock,
-
00:24:44
you have to do
it as a part of a
-
00:24:46
community. And that's
exactly what this is.
-
00:24:49
There is a community,
our online community,
-
00:24:51
that you can join and be a
part of, jump into this week.
-
00:24:55
There's actually
several things for you
-
00:24:57
to do to jump into it.
-
00:24:58
One, we believe in worship.
-
00:25:00
Outside of this experience,
we've made a tool for you
-
00:25:03
to carry through your week.
-
00:25:04
We've actually mashed
together two songs:
-
00:25:06
Doxology and God
of the Breakthrough
-
00:25:08
and turn it into a
video you can play,
-
00:25:09
you can sing along with
throughout your week.
-
00:25:11
It'll be available right
here and also on YouTube.
-
00:25:14
Also, we have a Night of Prayer.
-
00:25:16
Prayer is a powerful
to experience.
-
00:25:18
If there's something
you need prayer,
-
00:25:20
prayer's just something
that's always felt weird,
-
00:25:22
I don't understand
it, all that stuff.
-
00:25:23
Join us for a night of
prayer on December 2nd.
-
00:25:26
And last, we need mentors.
-
00:25:28
We need people
who can lead others.
-
00:25:30
We've got a lot of volunteers
coming out of The Journey
-
00:25:32
and there's a lot of
people to care for.
-
00:25:34
If you're somebody
who's feeling called
-
00:25:35
to take a step forward
to mentor others,
-
00:25:38
we would love to hear from you.
-
00:25:40
You can find details
about all that stuff
-
00:25:41
at online.crossroads.net.
-
00:25:43
And by the way, if I can
help you with anything,
-
00:25:46
you can always e-mail me
kyle.ranson@crossroads.net.
-
00:25:49
And you've got a
story of gratitude,
-
00:25:50
something God's
doing in your life,
-
00:25:52
it's that season, I
would love to hear it.
-
00:25:54
That's it for now.
-
00:25:55
We'll see you next
week on Crossroads.
-
00:26:22
- We all are in search
of peace this time of year.
-
00:26:27
Come and here
the Christmas story
-
00:26:28
told through
unexpected eyewitnesses
-
00:26:31
and gain a new,
peaceful perspective
-
00:26:33
on a familiar story.