Doug Wampler

I love that our church is named Crossroads because the reality for all of us that we are standing at a crossroads almost everyday. After you make one decision there seems to be another one waiting for you to make. This pattern is repeated time and time again. I came across Proverbs 16:25 in my devo time today and it caused me to think. With all of the choices that we have to make on a daily basis there are many that make sense and seem right from a human perspective, but the reality is those choices can lead to death if we are not following God’s priorities for our life. The way that seems right may feel good and look easy based on the fact that there is little work or sacrifice you will have to make to do it. All of us are looking for short cuts in life. If we can find a quicker route to our destination we can just choose that option on Garmin or Tom Tom, and BAM we have the shortest distance and the fastest time possible! We do the same thing in life. The right choices we are to make may require hard work and self sacrifice; a price that a lot of us are not willing to pay. I mean come on, the road to the Cross was an easy road for Christ, RIGHT? Don’t be lured into the short cuts in life, they may seem right, but may lead to death.

I gotta start out by giving it up to God for everything HE has done in and through CrossRoads this year. It is crazy to think the year is half over but the one thing I must say is buckle up because as we head into the fall I know God is getting ready to blow the roof off this place!

We just got back from Summer camp with Emerge Students and it was awesome to see students come together and worship God during the services. There is something that ignites in me when students raise their hands in admiration of the ONE who paid their sin debt and gave them life. The one thing we all must do to stay focused on the task God has for us is to lay aside all the distractions that get in HIS way in our lives. I know that social networking consumes a lot of time in not only teens lives but adults as well. We become more focused on what others are saying and doing instead of listening to the one we should be concerned about listening to. I am not saying that twitter, facebook, and myspace are bad, but when we spend more time on them then we do with God that is when it becomes a problem.

Take the time right now and evaluate yourself. At the end of the day you are only responsible for you. Think about it………..

Is it not awesome that from the moment we accept Christ in our hearts we become in dwelt with the Holy Spirit! At our Winter Freeze this past February I was talking to our students and I challenged them to tell others that they are a Christ Follower instead of saying they were a Christian. (Roll with me here) Now I know what your thinking when we accept Christ we are Christians. And to that I say you are right on! But the truth is over 83% of Americans claim to be Christians. Now answer this for yourself, does 83% of Americans live like they are Christians? I think not. If we claim to be Christians what does that mean exactly? I think over time the term Christian has been used way to casually and for me and the challenge I put out to our students was for them to say “I am a Christ follower”. I don’t want to live my life in the status quo category. I not only want to claim to be a “Christ Follower” I want my life to scream it! Many times we see Paul calling himself a “Slave” of Jesus Christ. I am thankful that I can hold fast to the promise from Philippians 1:6  ”And I am certain that God, who began a good work within you, will continue this work until it is finally finished on the day when Jesus Christ returns.” Everyday I cling to this promise knowing that everyday HE is working in my life helping me to become the man, husband, father, leader, and Pastor HE wants me to be. We can’t be afraid to fail, instead we have to embrace it and learn from our mistakes. How do we do this??????? By being truly being a “Christ Follower”

There are many times in the bible we are reminded to not look back. Churches to day are filled with too many people who have their hands on the plow but the problem is they keep looking back. In Genesis 19 we see Lot and his family fleeing Sodom and Gomorrah before the city is destroyed. As his family was running from the city one of the angels yelled “Don’t look back or stop anywhere in the valley”. This is a warning that Christ would repeat in the NT also. The only things is Lot’s wife looked back… 

    Why do you think his wife looked back? Where was her heart truly? How many times in your life have you felt like looking back? When Lot’s wife turned back she turned into a pillar of salt. We see in Luke 17 Jesus talking to His disciples in vs. 32 Jesus says “Remember what happened to Lot’s wife”, He goes on in vs. 33 “If you cling to your life you will lose it, and if you let your life go, you will save it. The church is filled with too many people looking back. In Luke 9:32 Jesus gives a warning about looking back again but Jesus told them, “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.” OUCH! I don’t know about you but that hits me square between the eyes. 

    I ask you, “Are you looking back?” Are you one day all in and the next one pulling back? Take ahold of the plow with both hands with your eyes fixed on the ONE who paid it all! Keep plowing for Christ and in the end it will be worth it. (1 Corinthians 15:58) Don’t look back…………….

Many times I believe we forget all that God promises to those who will follow Him whole heartedly. I am reminded of when God told Moses  to tell His people that He was going to give them what was referred to as the “Promised Land”. It was the land flowing with milk and honey. This would be the place where Moses would break the Israelites into 12 different tribes.

     There is a catch to the story though, before they could inherit the land they must first pass a test. In our lives before something big happens it seems like there is always test to pass. God allows them to stay in the wilderness for 40 years. He gives them everything they need to survive in the wilderness for that time. God purposely tested His people to see if they would hold on to Him and follow His ways while they were in the wilderness. Yet time after time they continued to get themselves in trouble with God. There were a few times God got so mad at the people’s attitudes that He wanted to kill them. But Moses always took the heat and would go before God and plead his case on why He should not kill His people. The Bible says that God changed His mind. I wander how many times in our lives we become the Israelites in the wilderness, we become complacent and we get comfortable where we are and our attitude changes. It is the time we spend in the wilderness with God where true spiritual growth takes place. All of this happens when we come to the place in our life where the only thing we can do is look up and lean on the only ONE who can get us out of the wilderness.

   Just a little over 2 year into their 40 year wilderness experience is when the Israelites finally blew it. They sent 12 spies to check out the land God had promised them to see who the enemy was and develop a game plan to defeat them. God was going to give them the Promised Land this was the last thing they would have to do to in order to get it. When the 12 spies came back 10 of them had come back with a bad report saying their enemies were giants and that their kingdoms were well protected and they would not be able to defeat them. TIME OUT! What was up with the Israelites? Did they forget that God just got done flexing His supernatural muscles and got them out of Egypt? Wait and if that wasn’t enough He parted the Red Sea so they could cross over into the wilderness safely. For me I think if  I was there to see the Red Sea part I am going to have some serious faith rolling after that. Yet for us as Christ followers we serve the God who parted the Red Sea, who rescued the Israelites out of Egypt and we still waver in our faith. Some of us are being dared to move for God and to have the impossible done through us yet we focus on the GIANTS in the way instead of focusing on the GIANT MOVER! When God calls us into something He is not going to leave us high and dry. He is going to go with us through the storms that life throws at us and when we come out of the storm our faith will be so much more deeper it will blow your mind! BACK TO THE STORY…………

      When God saw their negative attitudes and lack of faith in Him he said that was going to be it. He went on to tell the people 20 years and older would not enter the promised land because of the lack of faith in Him.

    This is where it all ties in…… Joshua and Caleb were told that they and the younger generation under 20 years of age would be the ones to enter the Promised Land because they followed Him whole heartedly. They had faith that God would deliver them from their enemies once they went into the Promised Land to conquer and possess it.

   Joshua was the leader that eventually led them in. He goes into the Promised Land with his strong faith and belief in God and wipes out all the enemies that got in his way.

Apply it…….

      What is your Promised Land? I feel that the Promised Land promised to the Israelites applies to the “Call” in a Christians life  today. The thing is are you willing to whole heartedly lay your life down to get into the Promised Land. That means laying down your life for the one who gave His life on your behalf. Are the type of person that focuses on all the obstacles, the hurdles that get in the way preventing you from crossing over to your promised land or are you like Joshua and Caleb you take God at His word when He says I will deliver those giants and obstacles in your way just trust me. God puts a calling in every Christians life, and thing is it may take years of preparation to get to it but just know He who is faithful to call you will be faithful to get you there. The question is do you have what it takes to follow Him whole heartedly not looking back on what could of been but looking forward to what lie ahead. Forget plan “B” follow God’s plan and that is plan “A”. I DARE YOU TO MOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!