Crosswind Church

So after we have been born again, how do we live it out? This week we look at 4 practical step we can take to ensure that we walk fully in the new life Christ has given us.

How does being born again make the believer different from the non-believer. How exactly does being born again work? For Nicodemus, it did not seem as simple as Jesus was making it sound. To be born again is to have faith in Jesus and to receive the Holy Spirit.

What does it mean to be "born again". In our culture today this term can have a negative meaning. Some Christians do not even want that label put on them. For Jesus, however, there was no other way to follow after him without being born again.

In directing our lives we have two options. Cultivate a small heart and thus avoid relationships, disappointment, and pain. The other is to open our hearts, and to live big and love big. One option seems like the easy road, safe and less messy. The other option is full of risk, unknowns, and unpredictability. Which type of heart does following Jesus cultivate?

When Jesus cleanses the Temple by overturning tables and driving out money changers, He did so to reveal a problem in the human heart about reverence and worship. We see in this passage the deep and passionate desire of our Savior to bring righteousness back to humanity.

In John 1:38, Jesus' would-be disciples are approaching Him and He questions what they are seeking. People come to Jesus for lots of different reasons, but ultimately, Jesus wants for you to come to Him to be a disciple. In order to truly follow after Him, and become one of His disciples, we have to be willing to check our own motivations, ambitions, and selves at the door.

From it's beginning, Christianity has been centered around a person. Jesus had a magnetism that drew people to Him. In this opening conversation in John chapter one, we see how powerful an attractive personality can be. John the Baptist shows us what a life looks like when it is founded in its identity in Christ.

As Christians, they key to our entire belief system is faith. We all need to have faith. Hebrews tells us that faith is something hoped for, but not seen. Our Goals can be a declaration of what we hope for in God. What are you trusting God to do in your life?

What is worth the investment of my time? Time is a resource and how we use it is important. Unfortunately, too often we waste time chasing after or doing things that aren't worth it. The good news is that in Ephesians 5, Paul gives us four great ways to learn time management.

Once we establish what our Goals are, it's important to then chart a financial future that will allow us to be successful. This could mean saving money for school, investing, or whatever else may need to happen in order for our Goals to become a reality. The Word says that where your money is, there your heart will be also. So the question is, how do we successfully chart a financial future?

Where is your life headed? It can be an intimidating question, but it is an important one. Studies show that 95% of Americans have never written down a goal for their life. The truth is that goals have power and when we align our goals with God's plan, we are able to chart a course of blessing and joy.

Peace is something a lot of people go without these days. Life is busy and the calendar is filled, keeping us moving from one thing to the next. Usually this lack of peace comes in words like "tired" and "stressed". When the prophet Isaiah spoke of the coming Messiah, one of the titles given to Jesus was The Prince of Peace. Through all the business and chaos of life, He is the one we must look to for true peace.

Jesus came to earth, not just to make a way to heaven, but to change things. He came especially for the poor, the prisoner, the blind, the oppressed. Today, we often call them the “Disenfranchised.” As Christians, we are called to bring change to their lives!

As Christians we are people who believe in the Prince of Peace. An important question to ask ourselves is, what we’re going to bring to the table: hatred and fear or grace and love? That is the question for the Church today. As followers of Jesus, it is our duty to show the world what "peace" really means. From the beginning, the issue of race was central to that message of peace.

In this life, God has given each of us three resources: Time, Talent, and Treasure. Where we invest these resources determines where our heart will be. The best investment we can make is to put our resources towards heavenly things. This means that if we want our resources to grow, we have to give them away!

It's hard sometimes to see the end from the beginning. We live in a culture of instant gratification, so when we talk about long term investment, it can be hard to wrap our minds around it. When it comes to our time, talent, and treasure, the Bible is clear, we are work towards the long-term investment. Our eyes should be fixed on the eternal hope of Heaven and not the things of this world.

By worldly standards we look at someone's financial health in terms of how much they have saved, how much they have to spend, how much their investments are worth, etc. This determines their net worth. Jesus tells us Matthew, however, that we are to lay up treasures in Heaven and in doing so, we need to expand our understanding of financial value.

In the story of Lazarus, we see a side of Jesus that no other story shows us. In the midst of death and grief, Jesus enters in and allows himself to grieve with the people. We find that we have a savior that not only feels and understands the pain of loss, He has the power to overcome death itself!

In the story of the blind man being healed we find that the tables get turned on us! We are the ones who are blind. Our sinful nature makes us spiritually blind to the Truth, but in Jesus, we find the Light of the World and our sight is restored!

One of the guarantees in life is that we will go through storms. There a moments when we find ourselves lost in the dark, out at sea, and the entire world seems bent on destroying us. When the storms blows and waters rage, we need to remember that we serve a God who walks on the water! Jesus finds us in the midst of the storm, calling us to not be afraid.