CrossLife Church

The Lord's Prayer

Prayer is perplexing. Prayer is both natural and unnatural, easy and difficult. Prayer is natural and easy as we were created to know, worship, and be in a relationship with God. As a result of our sin and the fall, prayer is now unnatural and difficult.

First, sin has broken our fellowship with God. As Isaiah 59:2 says, "Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear."

Second, born in our sin, we are self-reliant. We want to do what we want and we want to live how we want. In his book A Praying Life, Paul E. Miller gives some helpful insight. “If we think we can do life on our own, we will not take prayer seriously. Our failure to pray will always feel like something else—a lack of discipline or too many obligations. But when something is important to us, we make room for it. Prayer is simply not important to many Christians because Jesus is already an add-on."

In Luke 11:38-42, the disciples asked Jesus, "Teach us to pray." Don't miss the wisdom of their request. They did not ask "how to pray" but "teach us to pray." They were not asking for theory, they were asking how they could know and pray to God, the Heavenly Father as Jesus knew and talked with Him. 

Priorities

Like it or not, goals, time management, and to-do lists are an unavoidable part of life. How a person spends their time, money, mental, and physical energy reveals what they see as most important. What we deem as most important is what we will prioritize.

God has hard-wired us to for creativity and productivity. Unfortunately, we have limited resources like time, money, and energy. We cannot do all we want to do, nor can we do all we feel we need to do. This forces us to act based upon our prioroties whether we realize it or not.

This also results in great fear, anxiety, and stress. Many questions arise as a result: Are we doing the right thing? Do we have what it takes? Do we have enough resources to meet our perceived needs?   

In Luke 11:38-42, Jesus challenged the prevailing and still dominant view of priorities. When Jesus and his disciples visited Mary and Martha's house. The sisters had different priorities. Mary sat at Jesus feet and listened to his teaching, while Martha was busy working behind the scenes hosting and serving the group. Mary appeared to be lazy and avoiding service. Martha appeared to servant-hearted and productive.

Jesus's chilling words to Martha's concern over Mary's lack of service were, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary" (Luke 11:41-42).

This is a lesson from our youth series on spiritual disciplines and the life of King Josiah.

Timestamps:

2:07 - The Importance of Prayer

4:25 - What does Jesus say about prayer?

10:20 - What did Paul say about prayer?

16:55 - The Cure to Anxiety

21:18 - The struggles we face when praying

26:47 - The secret to improving your prayer life?

32:07 - Does prayer really work?

The Joy of Living Sent (part 2)

After Jesus sent seventy-two of his disciples out to share about the arrival of God's Kingdom, they returned changed. In Luke 10:17-24, the disciples debriefed with Jesus about their first mission trip. Luke says, "The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name"(10:17). Jesus's answer revealed that they had merely scratched the surface of the adventure that was before them.

There was no way for the disciples to understand the magnitude of the mission they had joined. Jesus gave them a glimpse into the cosmic war that was, and still is, raging in the visible (physical) and invisible (spiritual) realms. They had just experienced a great victory but it was just one battle. There would be many more. What Jesus shared with them would be foundational to sustaining them for the challenges that lied ahead.

All the tribulations and triumphs that awaited them would never compare to the fact that "their names had been written in heaven" (10:20).    

Have you ever been on a trip somewhere and found the place did not fit the description? Have you ever bought something and found it to be less than advertised?

There have been a few times when I have talked with individuals who have claimed to have tried "Christianity" out and determined it wasn't for them. I have spoken with several through the years who wondered if there was more to the Christian life. They were doing the church thing but questioned if it was "adding value" to their life. I find these testimonies to be perplexing. My experience has been that the Christian life can be difficult at times but it has never been boring. 

After Jesus sent seventy-two of his disciples out to share that the Kingdom of God was near, they returned changed. In Luke 10:17-24, the disciples debriefed with Jesus about their first mission trip. Luke says, "The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name"(10:17). Jesus's answer revealed that they had merely scratched the surface of the adventure that was before them.

Secondly, there was a greater cause for rejoicing. All the tribulations and triumphs that awaited them would never compare to the fact that "their names had been written in heaven" (10:20).      

In this message, we explore the JOY of LIVING SENT!

The Cost of Following

What does it mean to be a Christian? Can someone be a casual Christian?  

There has been a number of concerning trends over the past couple of decades among those identifying as Christian. There is a decline among those identifying as Christian or affiliating with any particular religion. "In 1972, when the GSS (General Social Survey) began asking Americans, 'What is your religious preference?' 90% identified as Christian and 5% were religiously unaffiliated." By 1998, the religiously unaffiliated had grown to 14% and by 2021 the number was 29% (www.pewresearch.org). "During this time, the share of U.S. adults who identify as Christian has fallen from 78% to 63%."

Another growing concern is how few professing Christians actually hold to a Biblical worldview. "According to this latest report, the level of biblical worldview varies by the pastoral position held. Among Senior Pastors, for instance, 41% hold a biblical worldview—the highest incidence among any of the five pastoral positions studied. The next highest was 28% among Associate Pastors. The study found that only 12% of Children’s and Youth Pastors hold a biblical worldview" (Worldview Study). Needless to say, the number of Christian laymen with a Biblical Worldview is in the single digits. 

One of the clearest implications of these studies is that people are confused about what it means to follow Jesus and why it matters. In Luke 9:51-62, Jesus makes three separate statements regarding the cost of following after Him. The idea that a person could just casually follow after Jesus was never part of His teaching. Jesus never hid the cost but made it clear upfront. Do you know the meaning and cost of following Jesus?

Lesser Than

Studies have shown that comparing yourself to others can have a positive result in self-improvement and growth. Studies have also shown that self-comparison often results in feelings of defeat, inferiority, insecurity, dissatisfaction, and guilt. How do you compare and measure up against others?  

The dangers of comparison are not new. However, it is alarming to see how social media has resulted in an epidemic rise in all the negative consequences of self-comparison and a decline in social and psychological well-being. It is fascinating to consider that in the age of self-help, self-care, and expressive individualism, societal mental health continues to unravel and decline.   

Could you tell me what the cause is and if there is a solution? When people are confused about their identity (who they are) and purpose (why they exist) they will struggle to find meaning and value in their life and the life of others.  

In Luke 9:43-50, Jesus gives his disciples a preview of the suffering awaiting him. The disciples were confused by Jesus's words but instead of contemplating them, they played the comparison game. They began to argue about which one of them was the greatest. 

Their response revealed they did not understand Jesus's role, their role, or the role of others in God's great plan. Jesus did not rebuke them for playing the comparison game. Instead, he played along by giving them a standard to measure their greatness. Jesus invites a child to stand next to him and said, "he who is least among you is the one who is great."

Power & Authority

Have you ever considered the source of power and authority? Power and authority can be established or exercised by muscles, money, or might. Today we see power and authority increasingly exercised through technology and the control of information. Regardless, of how power and authority are obtained or maintained, what is their purpose?

The late nineteenth-century British historian, Lord Acton, famously observed, "Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely." It is a well-established fact, both today and historically, that humans have never exercised power and authority in a perfectly just and righteous way. From a Christian worldview, we understand that this results from a broken and fallen world. 

In Luke 9:1:11; 37-43, Jesus sends the twelve disciples out to proclaim the Kingdom of God and he sends them with his power and authority. From this, we are reminded that power and authority do not belong to humans it is borrowed and entrusted. We also learn in Luke 9:37-43, that power and authority among humans are always temporal and limited.  

So what is God's purpose for us as followers of Jesus? It starts with understanding that we have been empowered by Jesus with His power and authority for a specific and urgent purpose. We are to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus and the Kingdom of God.  

Feeding the 5000

Do you have what it takes? Do you have the resources, experience, ingenuity, and ability to address the challenges you will face in the future? You may have been at the top of your class and highly successful. You may have been proven to be incredibly resourceful and gifted at strategic problem-solving, but everyone has limits.

God lovingly leads us into situations where we are confronted with the reality that we do not have what it takes. The problem is too big and the needs are beyond our capacity to supply. We lack the resources or ability to fix the problem. 

In Luke 9:12-17, after an exhausting day of teaching and healing, Jesus and his disciples were surrounded by a crowd that had grown to over 5,000. The people were so eager to be close to Jesus that they were ignoring their basic needs for food and housing. Instead of sending the crowds away, as the disciples requested, Jesus told his disciples to give them something to eat. In the absence of any fast-food franchises or Uber-eats the disciples could only secure 2 small loaves of bread and a couple of fish. 

Once they were confronted with limited resources and abilities, Jesus began to work. In the same way, there are countless people starving for something this world will never be able to provide. Jesus has provided what they need, the problem is that someone needs to carry the baskets!

Questioning Jesus

Are we allowed to have questions about Jesus? Jesus never had a problem with people asking questions. Jesus even encouraged it.

In Luke 9:18, Jesus asked his disciples, "Who do the crowds say that I am?" Then Jesus asked, "Who do you say that I am?" Jesus knew that his disciples had a growing, but incomplete, understanding of who he was and why he had come. 

Jesus went on to describe and predict how he was going to die and be raised. It is clear the disciples did not understand what Jesus was telling them. For the first time, Jesus spoke prophetically of his suffering, rejection, death, and resurrection. Jesus perfectly described the fate that awaited him in Jerusalem and that we commemorate 2,000 years later every Easter. 

Jesus also invited those who desired to follow him. In his invitation, he described the path of his followers. Those who followed Jesus would have to carry their own cross daily, walking a similar path. Two thousand years later, following Jesus remains the same.