Cross Church Denton

Vision: the capacity to create a compelling picture of the desired state of affairs that inspires people to respond; that which is desirable, which could be, should be; that which is attainable. A godly vision is right for the times, right for the church, and right for the people. A godly vision promotes faith rather than fear. A godly vision motivates people to action. A godly vision requires risk-taking. A godly vision glorifies God, not people. Bob Logan. Visions are easy to criticize. In fact, visions even attract criticism. This sermon deals with how to continue building the vision despite the adversity and opposition of the enemy.

In week two of our series "It's Time To Build" we see how it took faith for Nehemiah to accept the call to tackle the tough job of building the walls of Jerusalem and it will take faith for us the build in our own lives, families, community and church.

Nehemiah tells his story in the twentieth year of the reign of Artaxerxes (who is the husband of Easter) king of Persia. (Detail the story)As we start the book of Nehemiah, God is about to instigate another movement back to the Promised Land. Prayer is one of the overriding themes of the book and the secret to Nehemiah’s success. Friends, if we are going to build in 2016 we have to develop a lifestyle of prayer. I want to suggest this morning that Nehemiah went through a process of prayer that has great application and relevance to us today. I like to call them the four “Cs”.

Christmas is a miraculous time of year. The spectacular display by the angels in the sky over the fields where the shepherds were was truly a miracle.The fact that Jesus was born in Bethlehem fulfilling one of many prophecies about the birth of the Messiah was a miracle. And, in this sermon we’re going to look at the real miracles of Christmas, the Miracle of the Manger.

Our Christmas sermon series is Experience the Miracle of Christmas. It is not enough to just know about the miracle of Christmas. We need to experience the miracle of Christmas in our own hearts and lives. So today we want to focus on the Miracle of the Message.

Our theme this year for Advent is Experience the Miracle of Christmas. It is so easy to get all wrapped up (no pun intended) in the activity of the season that we miss the miracle of Christmas. This Christmas season, let's spend some moments reflecting on what the miracle of Christmas is all about and that’s of Christ's birth. For the next 3 weeks we will deal with specific miracles today being “The Miracle of The Moment”.

There are many prayers recorded in Scripture. From Moses, to David, to Jehoshaphat, to Daniel - we’re exposed to powerful, earth shaking prayers, but the prayer of the church at Antioch show us that God DOES pay attention.

It is common for many of us to feel we don’t know how to pray or what to say – and James understood that so he gave us an example of how we can pray. He wrote: "Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops." (James 5:17-18)  In other words... if you want to have a good model of how to pray, look at how Elijah prayed. SO that’s what we’re going to do in this message.

In this sermon we discuss that getting rid of our baggage is absolutely essential. However, it can only happen when we allow the Lord to DEAL WITH IT for us. Who’s ready to deal with their baggage and put it down?

We are carrying a lot of unnecessary excess baggage in our lives. Maybe you are a one-bag person, maybe you have multiple bags, or even a trunk stuffed full of things you don't need. Carrying excess baggage through life is not the way God intended life to be lived. God wants to take all of us somewhere better than where we are, but before we take flight we have to get rid of the excess baggage that we carry or the journey will cost us more than what we would like to pay. In this message, we desire to build an atmosphere of freedom, and an opportunity to empty your life of all those things you have packed away and are dragging around. Our object is to Let it go! Travel Light! Live Free!

During hard times we think God has left us but really we’ve pulled away from Him focusing more on our problems that believing in the one who is the problem solver! Most of the time we feel this way because we only see God as the big God upstairs, like the wizard behind the curtain. We know about God but don’t know God - have a personal relationship with HIM. So the questions today is Can I Know God Personally? And if so, HOW?

Almost everyone who has heard of Jesus has developed an opinion about Him. This is to be expected, for He is not only the most famous person in world history, but also the most controversial. In this message we answer the question: Is Jesus Really God.

Because God is greater than we are, we cannot fully understand or explain all of the problems we encounter. However, we can be certain of God’s perfect power, His perfect timing, His perfect purpose, and His perfect love.

Why is it so difficult to believe in God? Because it can be hard to believe in someone or thing that can’t be understood or rationalized. However, in this sermon we discover that the existence of God is an unavoidable fact. Evidence comes from creation, morality, intelligence, and love. Once we establish that there must be a God, we are ready to discover who God really is.

My prayer for this message is that you will see giving as a matter of love between you and God.

We find our money running out before our life does and in-between we have all kinds of problems. We can’t give to the Church the way we want too, we can’t save for the future the way we know we should, we can’t help others in a way that we’d like because we are under heavy financial stress. USA Today reported that 300,000 Americans seek help with credit counseling every month! Probably the most important topic we can discuss is not how we increase our earning power but how we discipline our spending habits and spending our money wisely.

The pull of the world can easily steal our affections away, and cause us to live for the wrong things. See, stuff is not bad, and it is not evil to own stuff, to have money, possessions, nice cars, etc. But when our stuff becomes the priority in our lives over God and others then we have a problem. God gives us a choice – serve God and let Him provide for my physical needs, including a job and money or serve your selfish desires. This sermon helps us set our hearts on things above!

We all have been under the weight of finances and this series shows us how to Biblically manage our finances God's way.

God desires to see the blessed you, the prosperous you, the confident you, the talented you, the healthy you, the spiritual you, the happy you. Why? Because on the inside of us is a person who is created in the image of God and He wants to transform our lives to reflect that image.