Kevin Hardy

A Fresh Brewed Life

There is nothing like a Fresh Cup of coffee in the morning! Even if you don’t drink coffee, the smell of a fresh brewed pot is refreshing.  Imagine if you were having a cup of coffee with Jesus!  Meeting Jesu s is an invitation to wake up your soul! Do you remember the first time you met him?  Everything changes, life, even if you push Him away, you’ll never be the same!  The Gospels are full of people just like you who encountered Jesus! Men and women from strikingly different backgrounds encountered Jesus! The devout, the curious, the skeptical, the proud, and the confused respond to Jesus in Life changing ways. You're invited to experience a Fresh Brewed Life with Jesus! Join us at Crossroads Church for this new sermon series!

Mary & Martha – Attitude Adjustments

Blind Man – Overcoming Spiritual Blindness

A Paralytic – Healing a Paralyzed Life

Peter – Failure with a Capitol F

Zacchaeus and the Rich Young Ruler – Life is more than Money

Philip and Thomas – Moving from Sensible Faith to Radical Faith

Reading the Bible Makes a Difference

Recently, Crossroads Church has started a 40 Day Bible reading journey!  Over the last 20 years of pastoral ministry, I have discovered a direct link between regular Bible reading and spiritual growth. Recent research done by Back to the Bible has confirmed my unscienfitic findings.  I am attaching the research paper which verifies my experience and a video by the leader of SDMI, Dr. Woodie Stevens.

Download Scientific_Evidence_for_the_Bible Engage

 

HARDCORE for JESUS!

Walking with God is not always easy!  If you are not a totally dedicated Christian, who has sold out to Jesus, then you will find yourself making compromises in your life!  Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.  Luke 9:23   Following Christ is not always easy, actually it will cost you your life!  What is holding you back?  Is it a relationship, a habit, the truth, your reputation, etc.  

Jesus loves you!  He gave His life in exchange for your life!  If you have tried Jesus half heartedly, I would encourage you to go HARDCORE!  Go RADICAL!  Get REAL and die out to your self!  Let Jesus be #1!

COMMENTS?

The Battle to Live a Holy Life

“He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us,

and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing what is right.”

Titus 2:14 NLT

One of my favorite influencers in my life is Dr. Tom Barnard.  He was an encourager in my life at Eastern Nazarene College and he continues to encourage me through his bi-weekly emails.  Recently he wrote in a post the following;

Choose any traditional definition of sin. Refer to all the biblical expressions that define it. Do a word study of the original languages. Limit the topic in any way you like. Bottom line: Sin and Righteousness are incompatible. God will not tolerate it. Heaven will not be the reward for those who embrace it. Sin is everything that is contrary to the holy character of God. Jesus died to free us from its very power.

 

Edward Pusey said, “Christ will not dwell in our hearts, if we fill our hearts with things which He hates.” The Apostle Paul wrote to the Galatians, “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (5:16 NKJV).

 

I like the story of a man who watched a sculptor at work. He asked the artist what he was creating. “An elephant,” the sculptor replied. The observer than asked, “How do you sculpt an elephant?” The artist thought about the question for a moment and then replied, “You just chip away anything that doesn’t look like an elephant.”

 

Wesley was right: “Come, O my Saviour, cast out sin, and form my soul anew.” Cleansing always precedes doing. Doing what is right begins with a heart that is clean and pure.

Dr. Tom Barnard's Book

Engaging Culture - The Start of Discipleship

The church has fallen into a bad habit in the USA!  We have been sitting back saying to our culture "Come and See" what we have to offer.  We have tried to make Christlike disciples by "ATTRACTING" people to the church.  We have come to believe that if we had the right building, the perfect music, great preaching, awesome children and youth ministry, stunning multi-media, etc. then the church would be full of people!  Somehow we have allowed this American culture of entertainment to penetrate the church, so that we focus so much on our "programs" that we have lost the ability to ENGAGE our CULTURE!

The church is like the Kevin Costner character in the film Field of Dreams being told by a disembodied voice, "If you build it, they will come."  In many ways the church can longer have this attitude!  The church must start to engage people in the community with the love of Christ.  The church is no longer a respected voice in the community!  It is deemed as irrelevant and it has lost its place of honor in the community!  There was a time in the USA when the church was the center of the community!  But at least for me and the church I pastor, the church is just a building to so many in the community.  Michael Frost says in his book, The Shaping of Things to Come, "the missional church recognizes that it does not hold a place of honor in its host community and that its missional imperative compels it to move out from itself into that host community as salt and light." (19)  

A missional church or a biblical church, is one who engages the community!  A missional church has "GO-TO-THEM" mentality!  Christians must wake up from their slumber and look around at the harvest field around them.  We must start making relationships with people beyond our comfort zones and live out our faith in authentic ways!  How do you engage the culture?

1.  Pray for your neighbors!

 I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. As you make your requests, plead for God’s mercy upon them, and give thanks.  1Tim. 2:1 (NLT)

2. Look for ways to SERVE! 

Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and lookat the fields! They are ripe for harvest.  John 4:35

3. Develop a relationship with unbelievers!

4. Invest and Invite!  

“Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.  But who can ask Him to save them unless they believe in Him?  And how can they believe in Him if they have never heard about Him?  And how can they hear about Him unless someone tells him?”  Rom. 10:13-14 (LB)

  
The church will never fulfill the mandate of Christ to make disciples, if we just sit back and wait for people to walk into church on Sunday morning!  It will only happen, if we the people of God, GO TO THEM - ENGAGE CULTURE!