Crossroads Church

In The Winners Circle, explore the power of ambition and modeling, turn freedom on its head and ultimately discover Jesus’ path to greatness.

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The Anchor Verse

...but among you it shall not be so. Rather, let the greatest among you be as the youngest, and the leader as the servant. –Luke 22:26

John 13:1-20

1Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him.

Having the right PERSPECTIVE on serving.

And during supper 3Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, 4got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. 5Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him.

6He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" 7Jesus answered, "You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand." 8Peter said to him, "You will never wash my feet." Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no share with me." 9Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" 10Jesus said to him, "One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you." 11For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, "Not all of you are clean."

12After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you?

Matthew 26:6-10

Luke 22:23-27

Luke 7:36-50

It is a movement to where serving is seen as not something we HAVE TO DO, but something we GET TO DO.

Looking to the PERSON who embodies serving.

13You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. 14So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. 15For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. 16Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them.

Philippians 2:3-11

It is movement to where serving is not just SOMETHING YOU DO but an expression of WHO YOU ARE.

17If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

Understanding the PROMISE to those who are serving.

It is movement toward understanding that it is more BLESSED TO GIVE than to RECEIVE.

Acts 20:35

...you are blessed if you do them.

Living into the PRACTICE of serving.

It is movement to where SERVING becomes a WAY OF LIFE.

Places to serve:

STRUCTURED Places: keeps us in the HABIT of serving

SPONTANEOUS Places: keeps us open to NEW OPPORTUNITIES to serve

SECRET Places: keeps us HUMBLE in our serving

SHARED Places: keeps us GROWING in our serving

What is God inviting you into today?

1. I want to renew/become a member for the 2022/23 Ministry Year!
2. My family would like to attend the Annual Ministry Celebration Lunch for Members and Regular Attenders on November 20th.

In The Winners Circle, explore the power of ambition and modeling, turn freedom on its head and ultimately discover Jesus’ path to greatness.

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The Winners Circle: Paving your (unlikely) Path to the Top | Week #01

The Ambush of Ambition | October 30th

What’s the Issue Anyway?

We want to be WINNERS.

We want SUCCESS and GREATNESS. We call this desire AMBITION. Ambition tends to AMBUSH us.

"Sometimes, our highest goal becomes our big enemy when we move towards our goal blindly without focusing on the path we follow." –Durgesh Satpathy

What Wisdom does Jesus offer us in Luke 22:24-27 regarding our ambitions?

The disciples desired greatness in the eyes of their PEERS. (24)

Jesus does not CONDEMN them for their ambition. (25)

Jesus REDIRECTS their ambition. (26)

Jesus redefines GREATNESS as serving when you deserve to be served. (27)

Don’t Miss This!

Jesus offers an UNLIKELY path to greatness: The Ambition to Serve.

How can I live this in my everyday, normal life?

Acknowledge that our ambition is easily directed inward rather than OUTWARD. Develop an ambition to serve as a member of the SCATTERED church.

SHARE your power

Put the needs of others FIRST

Help others develop and perform as HIGHLY as possible

Develop an ambition to serve as a member of the GATHERED church.

How does this make me a better person and the world a better place?

An ambition to serve paves a path for DIVINE LOVE in this world.

An ambition to serve leads to the WELL-BEING of the people and communities to which we belong.

What is God inviting you into today?

1. I want to renew/become a member for the 2022/23 Ministry Year!
2. I will attend the next three weeks and grow in my ambition to love.
3. My family would like to attend the Annual Ministry Celebration Lunch for Members and Regular Attenders on November 20th.

Thought-provoking questions:

1. Do you think of yourself as ambitious, too ambitious, or not ambitious enough? Why do you think that?
2. Can you think of a person in your life that models ambition in a healthy way?
3. Do you tend to think of ambition as a negative, positive or neutral emotion?
4. Why do you think the disciples got so caught up in who was the greatest among them?
5. Jesus offers a path to greatness by teaching his disciples to serve when they deserve to be served. Do you have any places in your life in which you deserve to be served because of your position or title? How have you been able to serve in those spaces?
6. What is one practical thing you could do this week to develop an ambition to serve at home, work and your neighborhood?
7. Tell us about a person that modeled servant leadership to you and was crucial in your own personal growth and success.
8. Do you think membership in the local church is important? Strange? What might draw a person into membership or keep a person from becoming a member?

In this series, we will expose the lie of living to the edge of our limits. We will look together at how to build margin into our emotions, moral choices, time and finances—and finally discover the key to all margin.

What’s the Issue Anyway?

Mental exhaustion is a response to THINKING overload.

Emotional exhaustion is a response to FEELING overload.

Mental and Emotional exhaustion are RELATED.

Our spiritual traditions often unintentionally SHAME us in our fatigue. Continual emotional and mental exhaustion leads to BURNOUT. SUCCESS is often the sacred object.

What Wisdom does Jesus offer us?

Matthew 11:28

Jesus HONORED people’s exhaustion.

Jesus offered a GENTLE and HUMBLE space to unpack the pain. Jesus knew that REST was the starting point for healing.

Jesus knew we needed an ALTERNATIVE viewpoint.

Don’t Miss This!

Jesus offers a NON-JUDGMENTAL space to acknowledge, rest and recover.

How can I live this in my everyday, normal life?

If you’re feeling emotional/mental fatigue don’t ISOLATE. LOOK for causes and try to reduce or remove them.

Practice emotional and mental SELF-CARE.

Take advantage of a mental/emotional health PROFESSIONAL.

How does this make me a better person and the world a better place?

GRACE for others grows in our emotional and mental margin.

What is God inviting you into today?

1. To simply pause and reflect on the amount of exhaustion I am currently feeling 2. To take a break, schedule time to rest and recover

3. To reach out to a mental/health professional because I am in burnout

       Thought-provoking questions:

1. Are there seasons in your life where you feel a sense of emotional and mental exhaustion? What are the contributing factors?
2. Can you think of a time where you began to feel emotional and mental exhaustion but you were able to rest and recover before it became overwhelming?
3. Who in your life is a non-judgmental presence that will listen and offer rest?
4. How do you “come to Jesus” when you are weary or burdened? What spiritual practices help you find rest?
5. What are some of your current self-care practices?
6. Do you agree that there is a relationship between how we love ourselves and how we love other people? Why or why not?

Quick Review

Anchor Verse: The Devil, the ultimate ____________, has always hated the truth because the truth brings freedom from his control. So, deception and destruction just come naturally, it’s his character. All lies flow from him like water from a fountain. John 8:44 (Ryan’s Paraphrase)

Week 01: Margin ____________ the con and reduces the _________ of overload.

Week 02: Creating and maintaining margin is only possible when we go through the loss and death of the ____________ ____________.

Week 03: Debt as a substitute sacred object enslaves us, limiting our freedom to _________.

What’s the Issue Anyway?

We too often don’t have the ____________ energy to match our ____________ drive. _________ activity and __________ activity both destroy our physical margin.

The Con: _______ _________ gives you wings.

When we ignore our physical limits we eventually __________ and _________.

What Wisdom does Proverbs offer us?

____________ is not the solution. (Proverbs 10:4-5)

Emotional/Spiritual health is a contributing factor to ____________ health. (Proverbs 14:30)

A lack of Physical Margin is a _________-____________ problem. (Proverbs 25:28)

Don’t Miss This!

Physical Margin is found in ____________ the right energy source not the substitute sacred object of “youth and beauty.” (Isaiah 40:31)

How can I live this in my everyday, normal life?

Monitor your ____________ Heart.

Monitor your ____________ Heart.

Don’t underestimate the power of ____________ ___________.

How does this make me a better person and the world a better place?

The ______________ to _________ flourishes in the margins of our physical life.

What is God inviting me into today?

1. To build more physical margin by being more intentional about my work, sleep and eating habits
2. To let go of the sacred object of beauty and youth as a path to wholeness
3. To build more physical margin by intentionally getting active with a friend

Thought-provoking questions:

1. How rested do you feel when you wake up in the morning? Are you ready for the day or longing for more sleep?
2. Have you ever felt the desire that comes from the sacred object of beauty and youth? How have you tried to get through the “prohibition of age”?
3. Do you feel more energy for life when you are in a healthy place spiritually? Why or why not?
4. Think about an area of your life that you have lots of self-discipline and an area where you would like to have more. What is the difference in those two areas? Why do you think self-discipline is harder in some areas of our lives?
5. What are two practical ways you can add physical margin into your life?

Quick Review

Anchor Verse: The Devil, the ultimate CON-MAN, has always hated the truth because the truth brings freedom from his control. So, deception and destruction just come naturally; it’s the Devil’s character. All lies flow from the Devil like water from a fountain. John 8:44 (Ryan’s Paraphrase)

Week 01: Margin EXPOSES the con and reduces the RISK of overload. 

Week 02: Creating and maintaining margin is only possible when we go through the loss and death of the SACRED OBJECT. 

What’s the Issue Anyway?

What is the sacred object that MONEY prohibits you from having?

Our MIMETIC desires take us down dangerous paths of debt.

When we think debt can make our DREAMS come true, we often find ourselves having financial NIGHTMARES.

What Wisdom does Scripture offer us on Financial Margin and Debt?

Debt has ENSLAVING qualities. (Proverbs 22:7)

Our spiritual ancestors perceived debt as a PAINFUL CONSEQUENCE for unwise behavior. (Deuteronomy 28:15; 43-44)

The only appropriate debt is the debt to LOVE. (Romans 13:8)

Don’t Miss This!

Debt as a sacred object enslaves us, limiting our FREEDOM to love.

How can I live this in my everyday, normal life?

Embrace a NON-DUALIST mindset regarding debt. 

Embrace that nothing on the other side of the financial prohibition can fulfill the desire the PROHIBITION creates.

Engage in healthy FINANCIAL practices.

How does this make me a better person and the world a better place?

Financial margin affords us the opportunity to live the BLESSED LIFE.

Financial Margin is where GENEROSITY flourishes.  

What is God inviting you into today?

1.      Realize I have been using debt as a substitute object and begin to work hard to break free from it.

2.    Create financial margin this week so I can live the blessed life of loving others through financial generosity. (i.e. Give away some money to a person or cause you love.)

3.    Learn more about the 7-week Financial Health Workshop on Tuesday evenings beginning October 11th

Thought-provoking questions:

1.      When have you felt the least amount of stress around your personal finances? When have you felt the most stress?

2.    Have you ever experienced the desire for something that your finances prohibited you from attaining? What did that desire feel like emotionally and physically?

3.    How have you experienced “mimetic” desire in your life?

4.    Do you think there is debt that does not make the borrower slave to the lender? What could that be?

5.    How could you as a peacemaker be a lender that doesn’t enslave a borrower?

6.    If you could give $1,000,000 dollars away as an act of love, who are the people or organizations you would give it to? What good would you hope to come you’re your generosity? What about $20? How could you give $20 away as an act of love?

7.When have you ever experienced someone living the “blessed life” of generosity?

What’s the Issue Anyway?

Have you ever felt the discomfort of DISCONTENTMENT?

We believe that something out THERE can make me whole in HERE.

This longing for wholeness or completeness is the experience of LACK.

The thing we think will deliver us from lack becomes a type of SACRED OBJECT.

Something often stands in the way of the sacred object: PROHIBITION.

How can I be FREE from the excessive drive for the sacred object to enjoy a life not weighed down by the negative power of lack: A Life Hidden in Christ.

What Wisdom do Paul, Christ Crucified and Christ Resurrected offer us?

Paul removed all PROHIBITIONS. (1 Corinthians 10:23)

Paul knew that LACK was built into existence. (Philippians 4:10-14)

Christ Crucified is the TRAUMA of the loss of the sacred object. (Mark 15:34) Christ Crucified is the DEATH of the Sacred Object. (Mark 15:38)

Don’t Miss This:

Creating and maintaining MARGIN is only possible when we go through the loss and death of the sacred object.

The Good News is that Death is NEVER the end. The Christ Resurrected is the PRESTIGE.

How does this make me a better person and the world a better place?

By embracing the radical meaning of the Crucified Christ, the true enemies of margin (prohibitions and the desires they fuel) lose their power, freeing us to to LIVE BY FAITH.

Thought-provoking questions:

1. Think of a time when you felt a deep sense of contentment. Can you describe the circumstances surrounding that moment?
2. What do you think the Gospel writers are trying to teach us with Jesus crying out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”
3. Have you ever felt forsaken by God? What were the circumstances surrounding that moment in your life?
4. How could freedom from the obsessive desire for an object that we only think can bring wholeness allow you to create margin in your life?

What’s the Issue Anyway?

FOMO is a real thing!

Progress is the great ILLUSIONIST of our day.

Most of progress has dealt with the PHYSICAL or COGNITIVE world.

Most of our pain is in the SPIRITUAL (Social/Emotional) world.

The greatest con on earth is that with progress our limits DISAPPEAR.

When we live without limits, we experience the pain of STRESS and OVERLOAD. Something inside us BREAKS.

RELATIONSHIPS will disappear right before your very eyes.

What Wisdom does Scripture offer us?

One of the PRIMORDIAL lies: We can have NO LIMITS. (John 8:44; Genesis 3:4-5) On the seventh day God created MARGIN. (Genesis 2:1-3)

Don’t Miss This!

Margin EXPOSES the CON of progress.

How can I live this out in my everyday, normal life?

Redefine progress in terms of VIRTUE not wealth.

How does this make me a better person and the world a better place?

Relationships FLOURISH in the margins. Margin brings a holistic sense of PEACE.

What is God inviting you into today?

1. Attend each week in this series with an open heart.
2. Read (reread) the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 this week.
3. I am at my limit and would like to talk with a care minister.

Thought-provoking questions:

1. Where have you experienced the proverbial “brick wall” or complete “burnout?” How did that experience effect your relationships?
2. As you think about the Jewish creation myth, what are some of the big, primordial human shortcomings represented in this story?
3. Where might you be at risk of overload in your life?
4. Where could a bit of margin bring health to your relationships? How would your friends, partner, coworkers, children answer that question for you?
5. What are some success indicators in our world? Which of these are consistent with Jesus’ definition of success found in the Sermon on the Mount? Are any of these antithetical to the peacemaking path of Jesus?
6. What relationship would you like to see strengthened over the next 6 weeks as you try to add margin into your life?

It's time to going groups & today's podcast begins with the audio from a video we have explaining groups. Think about joining a group. Online or in person.

Below are this week's talk notes filled in so that you can access it late. Ryan teaches on Crossroads 2023 - week 2. If you missed last week's check out the previous podcast, week 1!

Have a great week!

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Crossroads 2023: Focused | Week #02

Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing | September 11th

What’s the Issue Anyway

Distractions eventually DERAIL us.

What Wisdom does John 4:31-38 offer us

The Judeans and Samarians had a VIOLENT history.

Jesus knew the power of VISION and TIMING.

John knew the power of PARTICIPATION.

John is writing the story of Jesus for his community that has welcomed the “OTHER.”

Don’t Miss This!

In 2023 we will stay focused on offering Jesus’ countercultural, radically inclusive, path of peace that heals our WOUNDS, transforms our MINDS, and redeems our PAIN.

Living this as the Gathered Church in 2023

In 2023 we will experiment with new and innovative weekend WORSHIP practices. In 2023 we will implement The Path of Peace curriculum for KIDS and STUDENTS. In 2023 we will develop and launch “THE PEACEMAKERS PATH” series.

A Fresh Perspective: Learning a New Way of Seeing

101 The Peacemaker’s Path: Where the way of Jesus leads

201 The Peacemaker’s Faith: Believing Like Jesus

301 The Peacemaker’s Love: Living in Christ

401 The Peacemaker’s Hope: Resurrection and the Mystical Body of Christ

Participate in the Peacemaking vision through MEMBERSHIP.

How does this make me a better person and the world a better place

Participation is a tangible way to be a part of something BIGGER than ME. Participation brings HOPE and HEALING to the hurting in our world.

What is God inviting you into today

1. Sign up for a Crossroads group (Enter Group Code from Catalog on Connect Card)
2. Explore the different groups available to support my peacemaking journey.
3. Learn about how I can participate in the vision by becoming a member of Crossroads Church.

Thought-provoking questions:

1. Can you think of a season in your work or a significant relationship that was marked by a major distraction? How did that distraction affect the health of your work or relationship?
2. What do you think of the idea that this story in John is more than a story of an individual, but a story that speaks to a bigger reality of the work of Jesus in healing animosity between groups? Does it make the story more or less powerful?
3. Have you ever experienced healing of a wound, transformation of your mind or redemption of your pain by following the peacemaking path of Jesus? Share about that experience.
4. Why do you think people are hesitant to commit to something like membership?
5. Jesus talked about some sowing and some reaping, but everyone playing a part in the work of God. How could you participate in the work through the ministries of Crossroads?
6. Do you think being a part of something bigger than ourselves is important? Why or why not?

What’s the Issue Anyway?

Moralistic religion creates an unhealthy _____________ in our lives.

What Wisdom does Matthew 9:35-38 offer us as it relates to our work?

Illness and Disease made you an ________________ to the synagogue. (35)

Jesus’ heart was marked by ___________________ for the outsider. (36)

Jesus knew the _____________ would always outweigh the _____________. (37-38)

Don’t Miss This!

Jesus modeled the way of divine work: ______________________ ________________.

How can I live this out in my everyday, normal life?

Where is your _____________ filled with sheep in need of a good shepherd? Will you be an _____________ ________ of hope in that field in 2023?

Have you counted the ________ of laboring in this field?

How does this make me a better person and the world a better place?

A commitment to compassionate inclusion builds ________ _____________ _________.

“The more we strive to secure a common good corresponding to the real needs of our neighbors, the more effectively we love them. Every Christian is called to practice this charity, in a manner corresponding to their vocation and according to the degree of influence they wield in the polis.”. —Pope Benedict

What is God inviting you into today?

1. Look for ways to live out compassionate inclusion at work this year.
2. Commit to living the peacemaking values of wisdom, inclusion, generosity, fun and creativity in the fields of my everyday, normal life.
3. Pray for eyes to see other peacemakers at work and labor together.

Thought-provoking questions:

1. What is the most frustrating or worst job you have ever had?
2. How do you suppose people in the synagogue received Jesus’ message regarding the Kingdom (reign) of God compared to those in the crowd looking for healing?
3. What about Jesus’ life experiences (do you think) made him so tender and compassionate to the outsider?
4. Do you think the Holy Spirit is more concerned with where we work or how we do the work? Why or why not?
5. What are the “fields” in your life in which you feel called to labor with compassionate inclusion? When is inclusion the most difficult for you? Who do you struggle to invite into your life?
6. Where is your local community succeeding or failing in building The Common Good? Are there any local issues that you would like to understand better so you can more effectively build The Common Good?