Broadcasts are organized by series and air-date below.
If you have trouble finding a particular broadcast, feel free to email us at: [email protected]
SPECIAL MESSAGES
Various Dates
Overview – Those of you who are regular listeners to our program know that the vast majority of messages come from what are called “sermon series” from books of the Bible. Long ago, I have found that the power of preaching is in the Word of God, not necessarily in the speaker! God takes His word as it is shared and does with it what He chooses, in the hearts of people like you and me.
From time to time on “CrossHope”, we will share a stand-alone message that is not a part of a regular series. We call those special occasion messages such as one we shared on Father’s Day or Christmas. These messages are still Biblically based, just different in that they are not part of a series. Maybe they will speak to your heart about something in your life!
MIRACLES FROM MARK
22 Weeks – 4/5/2019 to 9/9/2019
Mark is the shortest of the four gospels. It contains no genealogy and no account of the birth and early ministry of Jesus. One author describes the gospel of John as a “studied portrait” of Jesus. Next, he says Matthew and Luke are “colored slides” of Jesus. Then he says Mark is the “motion picture” of the life of Jesus. That is a great description about this book we study! It is graphic, constantly moving, and immediate. Let this series speak to you right now about your Lord and Savior!
WHO’S YOUR SHEPHERD?
22 Weeks – 10/29/2018 to 3/29/2019
Overview – Everyone follows a shepherd. A shepherd is anyone or anything that “leads” your life. It can be a person, it can be a philosophy, it can be a belief system. It can even be an inanimate object. Whatever you take your cues from in life, which is by default your shepherd.
King David in the most beloved Psalm said that the “Lord was his shepherd.” In Biblical times, the shepherd was leader, protector, provider, and care giver! He really believed that the God of the universe was his leader, protector, provider, and care giver. Do you and I believe that?
This series of 22 messages, not only supports that belief; those messages expound on how the Lord is indeed our shepherd in the fullest sense of the word. God bless you as you listen to these messages. Hopefully He IS your shepherd already. If not, maybe these messages will aid you in choosing the One who glad chooses you!
A WILD CHURCH IN A WICKED CITY
23 Weeks – 5/21/2018 to 10/18/2018
Overview – According to many Bible scholars, the city of Corinth was the most wicked of its day. There were pagan temples everywhere you turned. Priestess prostitutes often filled those temples and roamed the streets around them. Corinth would not have made the top 10 places to raise a family! And yet, the Lord God Almighty used the Apostle Paul to plant a church in that place!
It was church with problems, however. Pride, division, and immorality were probably the most prominent. Pride, division, and immorality damage families and churches today in 2018. How have they impacted your family or church in the last 6-12 months? You probably know already! Listen to this series, and see how it may just speak to you, your family, and your church.
THE CHURCH,HIS BODY
13 Weeks – 2/12/2017 to 5/18/2018
Overview – No other book of the New Testament describes the church like Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. Secondly, no other book of the New Testament describes the Christian’s battle and struggle with evil that does Ephesians. We need both in 2018! There is a battle for the soul; there is also a battle for the church. Satan would like nothing more than to destroy both! Hopefully, these messages will speak to both issues in your life and mine. Christ died for the church, His body. Christ died for you and me personally to redeem us from the penalty of sin. God bless you as you listen to these messages.
THE GOD WITH A PLAN
20 Weeks – 9/4/2017 to 2/9/2018
Overview – The title of this series is actually taken from one of the most quoted verses in the book. You’re likely to see it on a 3 X 5 card on a home refrigerator. Then again, you may find it on a plaque a Christian book store. It’s the 11th verse of chapter 2 that says, “For I know the plans I have for you”, declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Some believe it means that God wants me to have the best car, the nicest house, and the latest iPhone. Personally, I think the verse is a reflection of the character of God! I also think it’s a reference to that which truly gives a future and a hope: a relationship with the God who made us through His Son, Jesus Christ! There is no hope or future without Him. That is ultimately the plan for your life and mine. Let these 20 messages speak to you about the Lord’s plan for your life.
SIMPLE GOSPEL 51-69
19 Weeks – 4/24/2017 to 9/1/2017
Overview – William Barclay of Scotland wrote that “a minister sees people at their best; a lawyer sees people at their worst; and a doctor sees people as they are.” The writer of the gospel of Luke was a doctor. Perhaps he saw people as they are and realized they needed the Christ he wrote about in his gospel. Luke’s gospel is “simple”, meaning not complex or complicated. He wrote what many think is the most beautiful of the four Gospel accounts. He tells the story of Jesus in an unadorned, unembellished way. It’s the longest series that I’ve ever preached and will ever preach. Let the simple Gospel touch your life!
When an American asked a British theologian by the last name of Denny if he could recommend a good account of the life of Christ, Denny responded, “Have you ever read the Gospel of Luke?” I pose he same question to you! Let it speak to you through the text and these messages.
SIMPLE GOSPEL 26-50
25 Weeks – 10/17/2016 to 4/17/2017
Overview – William Barclay of Scotland wrote that “a minister sees people at their best; a lawyer sees people at their worst; and a doctor sees people as they are.” The writer of the gospel of Luke was a doctor. Perhaps he saw people as they are and realized they needed the Christ he wrote about in his gospel. Luke’s gospel is “simple”, meaning not complex or complicated. He wrote what many think is the most beautiful of the four Gospel accounts. He tells the story of Jesus in an unadorned, unembellished way. It’s the longest series that I’ve ever preached and will ever preach. Let the simple Gospel touch your life!
When an American asked a British theologian by the last name of Denny if he could recommend a good account of the life of Christ, Denny responded, “Have you ever read the Gospel of Luke?” I pose he same question to you! Let it speak to you through the text and these messages.
SIMPLE GOSPEL 1-25
4/25/2016 to 10/14/2016
Overview – William Barclay of Scotland wrote that “a minister sees people at their best; a lawyer sees people at their worst; and a doctor sees people as they are.” The writer of the gospel of Luke was a doctor. Perhaps he saw people as they are and realized they needed the Christ he wrote about in his gospel. Luke’s gospel is “simple”, meaning not complex or complicated. He wrote what many think is the most beautiful of the four Gospel accounts. He tells the story of Jesus in an unadorned, unembellished way. It’s the longest series that I’ve ever preached and will ever preach. Let the simple Gospel touch your life!
When an American asked a British theologian by the last name of Denny if he could recommend a good account of the life of Christ, Denny responded, “Have you ever read the Gospel of Luke?” I pose he same question to you! Let it speak to you through the text and these messages.
LAST WORDS
1/11/2016 to 4/8/2016
Overview – Ray Robinson is an author, journalist, and magazine editor. He compiled a book called, “Famous Last Words”. It contains the remembered or recorded last words of famous people. One of the most interesting is the first in the book, from Douglas Fairbanks who said these words moments before his death, “I’ve never felt better!”
The last book or letter that the Apostle Paul wrote chronologically is 2nd Timothy. He was in Rome, awaiting execution. He writes a powerful, poignant letter to a young minister named Timothy. What he said to Timothy, speaks to us today in 2016! We include two messages to another young minister named Titus at the end of the series. (The message on servanthood from Titus 1 was one of the most requested messages given. It includes the lyrics of Bob Dylan’s song, “You Gotta Serve Somebody.”)
BLUEPRINT
10/12/2015 to 12/4/2015
Overview – Most of us know what it’s like to have someone who knows more than we do about a job, a task, or a place, showing us the “ropes”. Sometimes it’s a family member, a co-worker, or a mentor. The Apostle Paul was just such a person to a young minister named Timothy.
Timothy was the minister or pastor to a congregation in a place called Ephesus. He begins with telling Timothy of the importance of love in a church. Nothing makes up for a lack of love in a home, in a marriage, or in the body of Christ! He then gives instructions about worship, leaders in the church, dealing with “false teaching”, responsibility for widows, and warnings about getting too close to money!
Paul’s letter is both personal and church wide. It is timeless and completely appropriate for our lives today! He ends with the admonition, “guard what has been entrusted to your care.” We all have been entrusted with things and people by the Lord. We are accountable!
SEVEN PRAYERS TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE
8/24/2015 to 10/09/2015
Overview – It’s an old spiritual phrase you may even remember from a plaque you saw on someone’s wall in your childhood: “Prayer changes things….” It’s a rather quaint saying, yet according to the Word of God, it’s true. For seven weeks, we look at actual prayers from the book of Psalms that not only can change your life in theory; they have real time power in your life today.
Each week, we discuss the prayer and then make suggestions about praying those prayers out loud in your own prayer closet. They deal with the sin that’s in each of our lives, the burdens and pressures of life, and the hope we need to even function in the world in 2015. God bless you as you listen to them!
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
6/8/2015 to 8/21/2015
Overview: Perhaps you have described someone as looking at life through “rose-colored glasses”. It means they have a somewhat distorted view of things because of the lenses in front of their eyes. The book of Second Corinthians provides the “lens” of God’s will and word for our eyes about many things in life.
In this series, we look at a lot of issues faced in life through the lens of God’s spirit. We discuss things like grief, hardship, death, reconciliation, repentance, and spiritual warfare. The Apostle Paul speaks directly to all these subjects and more in this 11 week series.
The last message speaks about God using our weakness, to demonstrate His strength. That doesn’t make sense through the “lens” of the world system today. But it makes perfect sense to the Lord! Find out how and why!
WHEN GOD CONVICTS
4/27/2015 to 6/5/2015
Overview: Nothing weighs heavier in a person’s life than the conviction of sin by the Lord Himself. King David was under such guilt for the sins of adultery and murder that he could hardly function in life. In seven of the 150 Psalms in the Old Testament, David speaks of his conviction, his guilt, his remorse, and his confession of his sin. These Psalms are some of the most evocative written by David. Their power and emotion speak to the sin in our lives, in ways we don’t necessarily understand intellectually.
Ultimately, he recognizes that his sin was against the Heavenly Father. So is your sin and mine! It’s very personal. Let these messages not only speak to issues of guilt and remorse, but let them affirm the words of Psalm 130:4, “But with the Lord, there is forgiveness.” The God who convicts is also the God who forgives!
WHEN GOD PURSUES
3/16/2015 to 4/24/2015
Overview: My five year old grandson not only loves the story of Jonah, he can tell it to you from memory with vivid detail and sound effects! And yet, it’s not simply a children’s story, it’s a message of power for today. Jonah is referred to as the “angry prophet”. He initially refused to obey God’s command to go and preach repentance to the city of Nineveh, in modern day Iraq. (The ruins of Nineveh are across the Tigris River from the city of Mosul. If you watch current events at all on television, Mosul is in the news often.)
Jonah runs away from the Lord’s command by buying a boat ticket to the farthest port of the day from Israel. He ends up in the Mediterranean Ocean, swallowed by a great fish, then after three days, spit out on the shore. Then the story gets really hard to believe! You can read it in 20 minutes.
No other book of the Bible is made fun of or is dismissed as myth more that the Old Testament book of Jonah. And yet the greatest argument for the veracity or truthfulness of the book was given by Jesus Himself! He said that in the same way that Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights, so the Son of Man (referring to Himself) would be in the “belly of the earth”. It was a reference to His death, burial, and resurrection. Jesus believed in Jonah’s story, so should we!
JESUS IS…
12/08/2014 to 3/13/2015
Overview: If you were describe who you are in one to several, words, how would you do it? Yet, that was the task of our 14 week series, “Jesus is…” on CrossHope from the New Testament book of Hebrews. The Hebrew writer was very descriptive of Jesus by the phrases he used about the life and ministry of Jesus.
It’s safe to say, there is no one like Jesus! The words and phrases used to describe Jesus are not only unique, they are exclusive. No one could ever be depicted in the terms he used, other than the Messiah, the Way, the truth and the life.
In chapter one, Jesus is the “radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being”. Pretty exclusive to say the least, isn’t it? In chapter two, He is the “author of salvation” and the “One who makes men holy”. In Jewish culture, no one is held in higher regard than Moses. Yet, in chapter three Jesus is referred to as “greater than Moses”.
In chapter four, He is the “great high Priest” and “without sin”. And so it goes through the entire book until the last chapter where Jesus is depicted as the “same yesterday, today, and forever!” Jesus is unlike anyone else! That’s the One we call people to, week after week. God bless you as you listen to this series.
FUTILE: THE MEANING OF LIFE?
10/13/2014 – 12/5/2014
Overview: Most people have heard a song from the 60’s taken from the book of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament. They just don’t know the source. The American rock group known as “The Byrds” had a hit in 1965 called, “Turn, Turn, Turn”, by Pete Seeger. Remember? “To everything, turn, turn, turn, there is a season…..”
The book of Ecclesiastes, written by Solomon, expresses his despair and disillusionment with life. He had everything, and I mean everything. Yet, he felt empty. He thought life was an exercise in futility. Thus, the title of this 8-week series is, “Futile: The Meaning of Life.”
Solomon ends the book by saying the whole duty of man at the end of the day is to fear God and to keep His commandments. It was true then; it is true in your life and mine! We don’t have anything near to what Solomon owned and experienced. We do have the same need for a relationship with the God who made us!
STREET CREDIBILITY
8/11/2014 – 10/10/2014
Overview – Only nine messages long, this series deals with the practical side of life as dealt with in the book of Proverbs. We chose the passages that speak to being a person of credibility in 2014. Credibility has to do with the capacity to be believed as genuine. Does that describe you and me?
We looked first at the issue of possessing wisdom; seeing life from God’s point of view. We then looked at love and faithfulness, two of the most important words in your life. (They really are the two most important words of your marriage!)
We then considered what we called the “blueprint for your life”, that began with guarding your heart. Our hearts are the wellspring of life; everything else flows from that spring. We moved on to discussing the seven things God hates from Proverbs 6. Many are surprised by the list and some don’t even know this is in scripture!
Adultery was discussed from Proverbs 5, 6, and 7. We worked from an outline that states that adultery is “disappointing, destructive, and deadly”. Next we talked about “integrity” from chapters 10, 11, 13, and 20. Integrity has to do with wholeness and completeness as a person.
The seventh message dealt with the subject of the “tongue” from selected passages from the book of Proverbs. The strongest being 18:21 that says, “The tongue has the power of life and death!” From there we went on to look at what’s called, “The better passages” in selected verses. This message speaks to marriage, family, and social life!
The last message was about friendship from Proverbs 27. We looked at five principles taught in this chapter to speak of a very sensitive area of your life. God has ordained friendship, whether you know that or not!
How’s your credibility in these areas of life? How believable are we?
WHAT JESUS DID, HE DOES!
5/26/2014 – 8/8/2014
Overview – Most people talking about the actions of Jesus usually use the past tense. It’s always referred to as an event long, long, ago. The Gospel of Mark is big on what Jesus did. More than any of the gospels, Mark emphasizes what Jesus did, more so than what Jesus taught.
The purpose of this series is to stress that what Jesus did, He can and does do! He had power and authority over disease, the demonic and even death itself. He still does! That power and authority were not limited by a date on a calendar or a specific era in history. He was Lord then; He is Lord now!
We need to know what Jesus did. Why? It helps us to know the range of His power and authority in our lives today.
THE FINAL WEEK – 7 DAYS THAT CHANGE THE WORLD
4/7/2014 – 5/23/2014
Overview – One of my college courses spent an entire semester (four hours a week) just studying the final week in the earthly life of Christ. Starting with what is called the “Triumphal Entry” of Christ into the city of Jerusalem, and ending with the resurrection of Christ from the dead, it was a detailed study.
We are sharing seven messages taken from those events. Knowing what Christ said and did during those days can have an impact on your life and mine in 2014. Everything that is recorded in the Gospels is for our benefit, that we might know that Jesus is truly who He claimed to be. He was not a hero, a philosopher, a martyr, or the champion of a cause. He claimed to be God! In one of these messages, He said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.”
That’s the One we look at over this 7-week series. It can change your life because of Him! God bless you as you listen to these messages.
REAL LIFE CHRISTIANITY
12/9/2013 To 4/4/2014
Overview – Many people actually think that the Bible doesn’t deal with “real life issues” that we all face in 2014. You can’t read the New Testament book of James and hold that opinion. We deal with a number of those issues in this series called, “Real Life Christianity”. What are they? Chapter one alone deals with facing trials, temptations, and tribulations of all kinds. It goes on to talk about anger in your life and mine. We are all victims of someone’s anger and we are victimizers to one degree or another. Truth be known, we are both! (This message holds the record of being the most requested message given in 30 years!) Chapters 2 and 3 deal with showing favoritism, demonstrating genuine faith, taming the tongue, and living out a life that impacts others. Chapters 4 and 5 speak to what causes quarrels and arguments among us, slander (speech that injures), and boasting about the future. It ends with some thoughts on praying to the God who responds. Personally, this entire book is about “real life”. Yours and mine!
THE END: PREPPED OR PANICKED?
09/09/2013 – 11/29/2013
Overview – From time to time, people ask where to find material about the Second Coming of Christ. Actually, there are many places in both the old and new Testaments. I usually direct people to two letters that the Apostle Paul wrote to a Greek congregation in the city of Thessalonica. That’s the foundation in this study of 12 messages. We are either prepared for Christ’s return, meaning we have a relationship with Him, or we are not and do not! It just may be the most important decision you make in the coming year! If you and I aren’t prepped, it will be a time of panic when He returns.
LIGHT, LOVE, AND LIFE
8/5/2013 – 9/6/2013
Overview – Sometimes a brief letter can be misleading because of its brevity. Yet the letter can contain a powerful, important message. Such is the case with the book of First John. It’s not long like some of Paul’s letters, yet it contains a most important message of who Jesus was and is. There were false teachers of the day who didn’t recognize the deity of Christ. Morally, those teachers minimized the seriousness of sin. In First John, the apostle deals directly with both issues. John says that I cannot deny the sin in my life, but need to acknowledge it to the One who can forgive. This Jesus not only has the power and authority to forgive the sin, but He has the power to cleanse me of all unrighteousness. That’s no small thing! John would go on to say that everyone who confesses (affirms and believes) that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. Every spirit that does not confess that Jesus is who He claimed to be is not from God. Forgiveness through Christ the Messiah is our greatest need!
BELIEVE
6/10/2013 – 8/2/2013
Overview – The word believe or belief just may be the most important word in your vocabulary. We are the result of what we believe! What you believe about the people in your life impacts how you treat them and relate to them. Most of all, what you believe about the Lord impacts what you do with Him and for Him! This series deals with eight different aspects of believe in our lives. Jesus would say in John 8:24, “I told you that if do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins!”
THE BOOK OF JOSHUA
3/11/2013 – 6/7/2013
Overview – The Old Testament book of Joshua gives the early history of the Israelites and their coming into the “promise land”. Joshua is a model of spiritual leadership even for us today! Joshua realized that more important than skill, ability, or authority was having the presence of God in his life. That was his primary qualification for leadership with God’s people. So it is today. This is a 13-week series looking at how God directs, leads, and provides in our lives. Joshua made one of the most important challenges in all of the Bible when he said, “Choose this day whom you are going to serve!”