Cross Examine Theology

A lot of people skip Romans 16 because it reads like the end-credits for a movie; just a long list of names and boring information. But let's dive into the last chapter in the book of Romans and see what we can glean from Paul's outro to this book of the Bible.

For the Apostle Paul, the gospel was everything. It motivated his every waking action. It's what kept him from visiting Rome. It's what made his first visit to Rome one where he spent the whole visit in prison. And it's what eventually got him killed. Let's look at Romans 15 and see why the gospel should be our motivation in life as well.

How can Christians disagree over an issue like abstaining from alcohol, or worshipping on different days, or any number of issues, and still remain united in Christ? How are we to conduct ourselves when we come across those who are “weak in the faith?” Paul has some great insight for us in Romans 14.

In what is probably the most cited passage of 2020, Paul outlines what it means for Christians to be good citizens. Do we always submit to anything the government says, just because they said so? Or do we get to ignore anything the government says because they're not Christian? Let's look at God's word as see what He has to say about it.

A lot of people offer their own definitions for what they think love looks like. Well, in Romans 12, Paul offers his own definition of what love should look like in the church. Let's dive in and uncover the true meaning of “brotherly love.”

In one of the most well-known passages of Scripture, Paul begins to outline what it means for Christians to live as Christians. Let's dive into the seemingly contradictory phrasing of what it means to be a “living sacrifice.”

In one of the weirdest (and often most misunderstood) passages in Romans, Paul talks about being grafted into the olive tree. How does this relate to the partial hardening of Israel? And where do the Gentiles fit into all of this? Let's see if we can make sense of Paul's analogy in Romans 11.

As Paul continues in Romans, he anticipates the question from his audience, “did God reject Israel?” Is that why they chose to reject Christ? How does all of that fit into God's plan for salvation? Let's dive into the question and see how Paul responds.

Tune in as we wrap up Romans 10 and discuss the essential calling on the life of the believer to share the good news. How will people believe if they don't hear?

In this episode, we begin to work through Romans 10 where Paul outlines how we, fallen sinners, can be saved in Christ. Confess with your mouth, and believe with your heart.

Is God just like us? Does He repent? Does He change His mind? In this episode we look into the complicated issue of God “repenting” of His decisions.

The Unforgivable Sin - Unpopular Teachings from Jesus by Cross Examine

In this episode, we wrap up Romans 9 and work through Paul's response to the anticipated question based on his explanation of God's sovereign choice. If God works and will all things according to His purposes, is He really just in sending people to hell if they refuse to believe in Christ?

This is it. The moment we've been waiting for. Romans chapter 9. Let's do what we can to set aside tradition and denominational mandates and simply take God at His word. What does it mean when Scripture says that God loved Jacob and hated Esau?

End of the age? Wars and rumors of wars? The abomination of desolation? What does all of this mean? And are all of these preachers right in saying that we are in the end times? Let's look at the words from Jesus in the Olivet Discourse and see if we can uncover the meaning of this important prophecy.

In this episode, we cover the timely topic of Christians and politics. How do we, as followers of Christ, navigate the divisive landscape of political candidates and issues. How do we put the kingdom first and truly fight for people's hearts instead of fight people? Let's dive in to God's word and see where He takes us.

In this episode, we continue working through Romans. Here, we wrap up chapter 8 and read of the eternal security we find in Christ.

In this episode, we continue working through Romans. Here, we work through verses 18-30 of chapter 8 where we read of God's perfect plan of redemption for His people.

In this episode, we discuss the purpose of tithing in the church, and the abuse or misuse of passages like Malachi 3 when it comes to encouraging believers to give generously.

In this episode, we cover the popular idea of “naming it and claiming it” from the word of faith movement. How much power do our words really have?

In this episode, we continue working through Romans. Here, we work through verses 9-17 of chapter 8 where we see the security that we can have in the family of God, knowing that we were adopted.

In this episode, we continue working through Romans. Here, we work through the first 8 verses of chapter 8 where we see that there is no condemnation for those in Christ.

In our culture, it seems that forgiveness is often seen as weakness or as a form of injustice in itself. Let's look at a difficult teaching from Jesus to see if we can uncover the Biblical standard for forgiveness.

In this episode, we cover one of the most misunderstood teachings from Jesus: the cursing of the fig tree, and the prayer to move a mountain. Let's dig into the meat of this story and see if we can uncover what Jesus meant by these teachings…

In this episode, we continue working through Romans. Here, we work through chapter 7 where Paul explains the tension in the life of a believer being both simultaneously justified and sinner.

In this episode, we continue working through Romans. Here, we work through chapter 6 where Paul explains the incredible truth that we are dead to our sin and alive to God.

In this episode, we look at one of the hardest and one of the most often misunderstood teachings from Teachings: Do not cast your pearls before swine. What did Jesus mean by this? and what does it mean for us today?

This content is from a post I shared on Facebook back in June. I figured it was worth sharing here as well. The basic summary is this: If we want true and lasting change in the hearts of men and women in our world, the only solution proven to work is the Gospel.

In this episode, we look at our preaching and evangelism and ask what the line should be for offense with others. Should we expect people to be offended? Should we avoid offense to preserve our message?

In this episode, we wrap up Romans 5 and cover what is meant by the theological term, Federalism.

In this episode, we work through verses 6-11 of Romans 5 and discover the great love that God has for his people.

In this episode, we look at the foundational Christian belief that Jesus is both fully God and fully man. Is it supported in scripture? And what can we learn from church history?

In this episode, I want to look at theology. A lot of people have baggage they carry with them when they hear that word. But what does it really mean? And is it something that Christians should pursue?

In this episode, we discuss the first five verses of Romans 5 and discover how we, as undeserving sinners can have peace with a Holy God.

In this episode, we work through Romans chapter 4 and see Paul's demonstration of how Abraham was saved by faith, not by strict adherence to the law.

In this episode, we discuss the hard question that, unfortunately, many are afraid to ask: does God hate anyone? We know what the Bible says, but what does it mean for us?

In this episode, we discuss the hard teaching from Jesus in Matthew 7: I never knew you, depart from me, workers of lawlessness. What did Jesus mean when he said this? And what does it mean for us today?

Is there a strong case for removing the famous story in John about the woman caught in adultery? Let's take a closer look and see what we find!

I've been wanting to make this video for a while. I wanted to take an honest look at what God says on the topic of women in leadership in the church and how that relates to God's outline for the role of a pastor.

In this video, we'll wrap up Romans 2 and see that no one, not a single person, keeps the law perfectly. And that fact points us back to Christ.

In this episode we'll start Romans chapter 2 where we read about how we can take God's kindness, which is meant to lead us to repentance, and twist it for our own gain.

In this video, we examine the famous verse, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." We'll at what Paul really meant when he said this phrase, and how we can keep it in context.

Here, we'll cover the latter part of Romans 1 where Paul begins to dig into the Gospel and goes into detail about some hard truths.

In this video, we cover Romans 1:8-17, get an insight into why Paul wrote this letter, and what he thinks about his mission from Christ.

We're kicking off a new series on the book of Romans! We'll be going through each chapter and verse in order to pull out the meaning of what Paul wrote. In this first video, we cover the history and context of the letter, and then go through the first seven verses.

In this episode, we'll look at the famous saying from Jesus, "where two or more are gathered in my name, there am I among them," and how we end up taking it out of context.

In this video we continue our deep-dive into what Jehovah's Witnesses believe when it comes to the Holy Spirit, the Crucifixion, and their Bible.

A brief conversation I had with a Jehovah's Witness sparked my interest in digging more into what they believe. So I thought I'd share that with you all!

In this episode, we take a really deep dive into God's character in order to determine what specifically took place on the cross.

In this video, we discuss how we can properly keep Jesus' statement of "my yolk is easy and my burden is light," in context.

Do aborted infants go to heaven? What about miscarriages? Or babies who die soon after they're born? And what about people with cognitive disabilities that prevent them from understanding the Gospel? We're going to look at all of these questions and see what the Bible has to say about them.