What to Do When You Don’t Know What to Do [When You Don’t Know What To Pray, part 7]

2nd to Last Crosscreek Sunday — Looking Christian Isn’t the Same as Following Jesus

Looking Christian isn’t the same as following Jesus. Real faith begins with receiving his love and allowing it to transform how we live and love others. Main Ideas: Crosscreek never existed just to keep Crosscreek existing. There is a difference between learning how to look Christian and allowing Jesus to transform who we are. If the Jesus we’re following always agrees with us, then we may not actually be following Jesus. The appearance of godliness is often more important to us than actually becoming like God. Religious culture and religious routine are not the same as following the King. God isn’t asking for religious performance. He asks for us. Following Jesus is about knowing Jesus and allowing that relationship to reshape us One of the clearest signs that we are following Jesus is that, over time, he changes how we love. Wherever you go from here… Keep following Jesus. Invitation: KEEP DISCOVERING JESUS  * Read the Sermon on the Mount. (Matthew 5-7) * And as you read ask yourself…  * Does this sound like the Jesus I think I’m following? * What comforts me? * What confronts me? * Where am I tempted to explain his words away? KEEP ENJOYING THE LIFE JESUS GIVES * Take time each day to thank Jesus for the love you don’t have to earn or maintain.  KEEP SHARING JESUS’ LOVE * Ask: What does Jesus’ love look like right now? * Then do the next loving thing. —- ✍️  | 5 DAY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE → https://substack.com/@crosscreeksalem [https://substack.com/@crosscreeksalem] 🍞 | GATHER TOGETHER → https://www.yourcrosscreek.com/#gather [https://www.yourcrosscreek.com/#gather] | 4:30pm on Sundays. 👋 | SAY HI → https://www.yourcrosscreek.com/welcome/ [https://www.yourcrosscreek.com/welcome/] 🤝 | DONATE TO CROSSCREEK → https://www.yourcrosscreek.com/donate/ [https://www.yourcrosscreek.com/donate/] #bible #biblestudy #christianity #christian #church #followingjesus #god #religion #jesus #christ #jesuschrist

What to Do When You Don’t Know What to Do [When You Don’t Know What To Pray, part 7]

Psalm 143 shows us how to seek God’s direction when we feel overwhelmed, uncertain, and unable to see the way forward. Main Ideas: When the stakes are high, the pressure to make the right decision can be completely overwhelming. Faith doesn’t always make the fear disappear. Sometimes faith looks like telling God how afraid you actually are. What God has done before reminds us WHO He is NOW. God’s love gives us a firm foundation from which to take our next steps. God’s not only concerned with where we walk, but with who we are becoming as we walk. Following Jesus isn’t a way to guarantee the outcome we want. It means becoming like the One we’re following. We may not know exactly where the road leads, but we know who we are following. Invitation: Think of one situation where you can’t see the way forward. Pray: Let me hear of Your love Show me the way I should go. Teach me to do Your will. Lead me by Your Spirit. —- ✍️  | 5 DAY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE → https://substack.com/@crosscreeksalem [https://substack.com/@crosscreeksalem] 🍞 | GATHER TOGETHER → https://www.yourcrosscreek.com/#gather [https://www.yourcrosscreek.com/#gather] | 4:30pm on Sundays. 👋 | SAY HI → https://www.yourcrosscreek.com/welcome/ [https://www.yourcrosscreek.com/welcome/] 🤝 | DONATE TO CROSSCREEK → https://www.yourcrosscreek.com/donate/ [https://www.yourcrosscreek.com/donate/] #bible #biblestudy #christianity #christian #church #followingjesus #god #religion #jesus #christ #jesuschrist

When You’ve Prayed and Nothing Changes [When You Don’t Know What To Pray, part 6]

Psalm 130 shows us how to keep praying and waiting with hope when nothing changes by trusting God’s forgiveness, faithful love, and abundant redemption. Main Ideas: Waiting in the unknown is one of the most desperate feelings in the world. Even when nothing is changing, we can wait with hope because God hasn’t changed. Sometimes the most faithful prayer is just: “God, please listen to me.” Our failures don’t make God turn away from us. We can wait with confident hope because we can trust the character of God. Waiting on God isn’t knowing what He’ll do next. It’s trusting who He is before you know what happens next. Our hope is based on God’s faithful love, forgiveness, and abundant redemption There is more redemption in God than there is brokenness in us. In Jesus, God has already shown us that He is for us. We can’t see the future, but we can look to Jesus. Invitation: Four Practices When God Seems Silent: Name the depths: “God, I feel stuck in __________. I don’t know what to do. Please listen to me.” Remember God’s forgiveness: “God, thank You that my failures don’t put me beyond Your mercy. With You there is forgiveness.” Wait with hope: “God, I don’t know what You’re going to do. Help me trust who You are and keep looking for the light.” Don’t wait alone: “Give me people who will help me remember Your faithful love.” —- ✍️  | 5 DAY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE → https://substack.com/@crosscreeksalem [https://substack.com/@crosscreeksalem] 🍞 | GATHER TOGETHER → https://www.yourcrosscreek.com/#gather [https://www.yourcrosscreek.com/#gather] | 4:30pm on Sundays. 👋 | SAY HI → https://www.yourcrosscreek.com/welcome/ [https://www.yourcrosscreek.com/welcome/] 🤝 | DONATE TO CROSSCREEK → https://www.yourcrosscreek.com/donate/ [https://www.yourcrosscreek.com/donate/] #bible #biblestudy #christianity #christian #church #followingjesus #god #religion #jesus #christ #jesuschrist

How to Trust God When Life Feels Out of Control [When You Don’t Know What To Pray, part 4]

When you can’t control what happens next, Psalm 121 reminds us that we are kept by the God who never stops watching over us. Main Ideas: If you feel it, you can pray it. Deep down, we know how little control we actually have. You can’t control what happens next. But you can trust the God who never stops watching over you. The One who created the mountains is not intimidated by the mountains in front of you. Feeling abandoned and being abandoned are not always the same thing. Your life is never unattended. God’s promise isn’t that you’ll never be harmed. It’s that no harm can ever separate you from him. God didn’t keep Jesus from the cross. God kept him through the cross… and raised him beyond it. You can’t keep everything together… but God will keep you. Invitation: Pray: God keep me. And God, keep them. —- ✍️  | 5 DAY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE → https://substack.com/@crosscreeksalem [https://substack.com/@crosscreeksalem] 🍞 | GATHER TOGETHER → https://www.yourcrosscreek.com/#gather [https://www.yourcrosscreek.com/#gather] | 4:30pm on Sundays. 👋 | SAY HI → https://www.yourcrosscreek.com/welcome/ [https://www.yourcrosscreek.com/welcome/] 🤝 | DONATE TO CROSSCREEK → https://www.yourcrosscreek.com/donate/ [https://www.yourcrosscreek.com/donate/] #bible #biblestudy #christianity #christian #church #followingjesus #god #religion #jesus #christ #jesuschrist

Why Does Life Feel So Unfair? What to Do When Others Seem to Have It Better [When You Don’t Know What To Pray, part 3]

When life feels unfair and other people seem to have it better, Psalm 73 shows how to overcome envy, comparison, and bitterness by finding a deeper security in God. Main Ideas: Life isn’t fair. But we think it should be. If you feel it, you can pray it. When we compare, life almost always starts to feel unfair. Envy is resenting that they have it… because somewhere inside us, we believe we deserve it more. Our proximity to God helps shape our perspective. Temporary success is not the same thing as a secure life. Comparison and envy blind us to reality. Comparison keeps us staring at what others have until we forget what we have in God. If life has ever looked unfair… It looked unfair at the cross. Life isn’t fair. But God is still good. Invitation: Start noticing the comparisons that are shaping you. Whenever you catch yourself comparing your life with someone else’s, write it down. Ask: What am I believing their success could give me? What have I forgotten about what I already have in Jesus? Then turn it into prayer. —- 📝 | TRANSCRIPT → https://www.yourcrosscreek.com/media/2026-07-12.pdf [https://www.yourcrosscreek.com/media/2026-07-12.pdf] ✍️  | 5 DAY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE → https://substack.com/@crosscreeksalem [https://substack.com/@crosscreeksalem] 🍞 | GATHER TOGETHER → https://www.yourcrosscreek.com/#gather [https://www.yourcrosscreek.com/#gather] | 4:30pm on Sundays. 👋 | SAY HI → https://www.yourcrosscreek.com/welcome/ [https://www.yourcrosscreek.com/welcome/] 🤝 | DONATE TO CROSSCREEK → https://www.yourcrosscreek.com/donate/ [https://www.yourcrosscreek.com/donate/] #bible #biblestudy #christianity #christian #church #followingjesus #god #religion #jesus #christ #jesuschrist