Spirit Lake Campus

In Acts 15, the early church faced one of its most important questions — is salvation through Jesus alone, or does it require something more? The answer changed everything, but it also raised a new challenge: will people use their freedom in Christ to build each other up or tearing each other apart? This message we see what spiritual maturity looks like in real life.

What if the way you take communion could get you killed? That's not a hypothetical — it actually happened in the early church in Corinth, where believers turned the Lord's Supper into a drunken feast while the poor went hungry. God's response was swift and severe. This week we dig into 1 Corinthians 11 to rediscover what the Lord's Supper where it came from, and why Jesus cares so deeply about how we come to His table. You won't look at that little piece of bread and cup the same way again.

Should pastors be paid? If so, how much? What benefits should their family enjoy? What sacrifices should they be expected to make? In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul explains the responsibility of every church pastor. Join me as we learn how we should take care of our pastors.

Each week, we hear about conflicts. There are fights at home. Disagreements at work. Battles in government. While many things we fight over aren’t worth the disagreement, some things are worth standing your ground. As we continue our studies in Acts, we see the message of how Jesus saves us was being distorted, and why it was worth fighting for to get it right.

The 2014 movie, "Unbroken," tells the true story of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner who served as a World War II pilot. His plan crashed in the ocean, where he survived on a raft and was eventually captured by the Japanese. He was tortured in a Japanese prisoner of war camp until the end of the war. The movie tells the story of his perseverance through hardships. In Acts 14, we read another heroic story of perseverance as Paul and Barnabas take the good news of Jesus to the region of Galatia. We learn the importance of not giving up. It is as we persevere through hard times that God accomplishes his work through us.

What does it look like to forgive like Jesus? Reporter Jason Wright tells of a conversation he had with a woman next to him on a flight across the country. She was 69 and had recently lost her husband. Jason asked her about marriage and what the years had taught her about how to have a successful one. Her immediate response was about the importance of forgiveness. She told him about her first marriage. She married when she was 16. After five years and three children, the couple divorced. But they decided not to hate each other but instead to forgive like Jesus. Years later, when her mother died, and she was broke and single, her ex-husband offered to pay every penny of the funeral, no strings attached. Why? He wasn’t married to her, but he forgave her and loved her like Jesus. In Acts 13, Paul talks about the incomprehensible forgiveness Jesus offers us. Join me as we discover how good it is to have a Jesus who forgives sinners like you and me.

Where is history heading? Is life an endless cycle of birth and death without purpose? In Acts 13, we get to hear Paul's first sermon in this book. He presents Jesus as the one toward whom all history is moving, the one who fulfills all the prophecies about God's Messiah, and the only one who can justify us before God. If you are unsure about Jesus, join us in this study, as we examine Paul's razor-sharp logic which proves that Jesus is the only one who can save us.

Many of us live an average life. How could we live a high-impact one? How can we make a lasting change in this world? As we continue in Acts, we learn what it takes to be part of a church that reaches the world.

The Bible is filled with people who resisted God. Adam and Eve resisted God. It didnt' end well. It brought sin into the world. All in the world perished in a flood, except for Noah, because of resisting God. In this chaper we meet Herod, a man of great power who tried to fight God. It ended in his brutal death. Join us as we discover the wisdom of obeying God and the futility of fighting against Him.

Imagine finding the ultimate love note from written about someone who is sweeter than honey, and always true? Imagine that in the the love note were words that are the secret to our happiness, more delightful than chocolate cake. That is Psalm 119. It describes how we should love the Bible, God's love note to us. This is why Paul, in 2 Timothy, charges us to stick with the Bible. Don't let the busyness of life pull you away. Are you ready for the most engaging love letter ever written? Your move starts today.

As we make New Year's Resolutions, we must remember that a relationship with God is much more than a line item on a list. In fact, he comes before any checklist we could create. We should make an effort to ensure that we live a life honoring to God, not putting Him in a box on our one-and-done to-do list. Because it's not community or ourselves who will make change happen, it's God who truly does.

What would it look like for us to increasingly focus on Jesus and the message of the gospel this Christmas? Join us this Sunday at CrossWinds Church in Spencer as we consider the answer from Hebrews 2.

Everything God has done for us in Jesus is greater in every way. One of the greatest things God has done for us in Jesus is the completeness of our forgiveness. We can not be any more forgiven than we already are through Jesus!

In C.S. Lewis' novel, Prince Caspian, there is a famous scene where Lucy rushes to Aslan the lion, falls between his front paws and buries her face in his mane. Aslan the lion represents Jesus. When Lucy is resting in his mane, she says these famous words. "Your bigger!", says Lucy. Aslan says, "That is because you are older, little one… every year you grow, you will find me bigger." C.S. Lewis' point is the more we grow in Christ, the bigger Christ becomes. In the first message of this Christmas series, we study the opening verses of the book of Hebrews to help us see that Jesus is greater and bigger than we can comprehend.

What is it about a Christian's character that will lead to their church either leaping or stumbling into the future? Acts 11 tells the story of two churches and how clinging to the unhealthy parts of our past hinders the progress of the gospel.

What are the essentials to be saved by Jesus? What kind of can be saved by Jesus? These are the important questions we answer in Acts 10. Join us as we discover what we need to know and believe to be saved from our sins by Jesus.

Who are the people you wouldn't have over for dinner? Why wouldn't you have them over? Peter needed to understand that Jesus died for all people. Not just some people. He needed to open his home to everyone so they could hear about Jesus.

When God looks around for an individual He can use strategically for His kingdom, what kind of person does He choose? In this study, we discover the qualities of a life God uses to grow His kingdom, as well as what can hold us back.

Fatalism is the feeling that our marriage will never improve, our children will never repent, and our work will only get worse. As Christians, no matter what we face, we are not fatalists. We do not lose hope because of Jesus. In this study, we learn how, when we least expect it, Jesus can turn impossible situations around.