Crossroads Sermons

God calls us to renounce and put off our old selves. The point is that within us we have already become new creatures in Christ, we have a new identity, but in the flesh and its desires we still struggle with our old way of living. The Christian life is one that is marked by a constant search for the new life in Christ and the continual putting off of our former selves.

How we serve and function according to our design is how we grow in Christ. Our service affects others. When each member is functioning properly within the church, many will see the wonderful image that is called grace, kindness, love, joy, peace and above all they will see Jesus.

If we wish to reach those outside the church, we must be willing to set aside some of our own preferences. We must develop the attitudes Paul speaks of in order to reach the unity that is Christ, and live our lives worthy of the calling God has given us.

It is not just about believing something in an abstract way but becoming that which you believe and God says He has done for you and desires for you, it means that you experience a change in every area of your life. Being a Christian is more than just believing in a set of teachings. It is more than attending church or being a moral person.

God's revealed mystery was that once He put an end to sin by Christ's death on the cross, He would establish a new chosen people, a royal priesthood, a new living temple and a spiritual body called THE CHURCH. Through which He would bestow the responsibility of carrying His message of salvation to the ends of the earth. This new creation is composed of believers from every tongue, tribe and nation.

Our lives are not meant to be isolated. What does it mean to go from being an outsider to being part of God's family. Where do we go from being strangers to God's kingdom to having rights and status as citizens. God's work of giving us a NEW life not only makes us a new person, but also makes us part of a new family.

God's grace has been extended to us through only one means: the cross. Jesus is God's only means of forgiveness and redemption. People want to approach God on his terms, but that will never happen. The cross is God's cure for the cancer of sin and Christ is the only means to have a relationship with God.

Paul's prayer for the Ephesians was that they would truly know and believe these things: that the eyes of their hearts would be enlightened, that they would truly know the hope they have in Christ, the riches and glory of their inheritance, and the power that is theirs in Christ: power over death, over every enemy in heaven and on earth, this power being manifest in the church of Christ even now.

God has already given us everything we needed, need and will ever need, in spiritual and physical life. It all began in heaven, and it all depends and is in Christ. Before the world was created, God had already chosen you and me. God in His love and divine grace chose us to be rescued and to bless us with these spiritual blessings.

God has already given us everything we needed, need, and will ever need in spiritual and physical life. It all began, all depends, and is in Christ. Before the world was created, God had already chosen you and me. God in his love and divine grace chose us to be rescued and to bless us with these spiritual blessings.