CP Online Media

Doug Bell

5.0 (2)
Christianity
Updated Biweekly

CrossPointe Church Weekend Messages

1d ago

The Way Up is Down

Where do our fights really come from? In Part IV of Street Smart, we turn to James 4 and discover that the conflicts around us often begin with something happening within us. Behind our anger, arguments, frustration, and offense are often unmet desires—a need to be right, respected, recognized, comfortable, or in control. James challenges us to stop looking only at the person across from us and examine the battle happening within our own hearts. Sometimes we're not peaceful people who suddenly get provoked; we're already carrying hurt, anger, exhaustion, and unmet expectations that spill out when something finally pushes us over the edge. But Scripture offers another way. Rather than adopting the world's mindset of grabbing, winning, climbing, and getting more, James calls followers of Jesus toward humility and surrender. God doesn't abandon us when we fail—He gives more grace. Through James 4, we discover five steps toward handling conflict differently: Recognize the source of the conflict. Realize there are consequences. Repent of the attitude. Resist the devil. Rest in God. Real peace isn't found in finally getting everyone around us to behave the way we want. It's found when we submit ourselves to God, draw near to Him, surrender our pride, and allow Him to work within us. The world tells us the way up is to climb over everyone else. James gives us a radically different kind of street wisdom: The way to the top is to get down.
Aug 9

Street Language

What do your words reveal about your heart? In James 3, we’re reminded that one of the smallest parts of our body carries incredible power. Our tongue can steer the direction of our lives, build people up, tear people down, bring life, or cause lasting hurt. In fact, our words often reveal far more about what’s happening inside us than we realize. In Part III of Street Smart, we take an honest look at our “street language”—not simply the words we use at church, but the unedited version of ourselves that shows up at home, at work, in the car, online, and in our closest relationships. But this message isn’t simply about trying harder to watch what we say. Jesus isn’t looking for a quieter, more filtered version of us—He wants to transform us from the inside out. Because ultimately, the tongue isn’t the root of the problem; it’s a reflection of the heart. The hope isn’t found in fixing the tongue. It’s found in allowing God to transform the heart. When He changes what fills us, He changes what flows from us.
Aug 2

Growing Up

We track our lives by milestones — first steps, first day of school, graduation — and then somewhere along the way, the tape measure gets put away. But God never stops measuring the growth that matters most. This week we looked at Noah — a man who found grace in the eyes of the Lord before he ever built a thing. His story reminds us that growing up in faith always starts with grace, never performance. And when Noah grew, that growth became an ark for everyone he loved. So what does it look like to actually grow? We walked through four simple steps: Gather. Show up to weekend services — to evangelize and encourage. Get Planted. Find your place through Starting Pointe. You can't flourish somewhere you were never planted. Get Connected. Join a small group, where real growth actually happens — where iron sharpens iron. Join Our Team. Serve on a Core Team. You serve, and the serving is what grows you. God isn't done with you yet. Watch the full message and take your next step.
Jul 26

Take A Look In The Mirror

Why is it that we can hear the truth, agree with it, even be moved by it — and change absolutely nothing? Week 2 of Street Smart takes us further into James 1, where the call shifts from what we believe to what we do. James tells us to be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger — because human anger doesn't accomplish God's righteousness. And if our own effort can't produce that righteousness in us, we're pointed to what actually can: humbly receiving the word God has already implanted in us, able to save our souls. But hearing isn't the finish line. James warns that a hearer who isn't a doer is like someone who looks in a mirror, walks away, and immediately forgets what he saw. So this week we run three tests in front of that mirror: the Coat Test (what are you still wearing that should have come off years ago?), the Soil Test (you don't grow what you like — you grow what you plant, so what's actually growing in your life?), and the Mirror Test (the last time God clearly showed you something, what did you actually do about it?). Uncommon wisdom doesn't stop at agreement. It shows up in what we do next.
Jul 19

When Life is Hard

Two men. Same company, same layoff, same parking lot. Two years later, one is deeper, steadier, and stronger than he's been in decades — the other is bitter, angry, and hardened. Same trial, opposite outcomes. Why? In week one of Street Smart, we open the book of James and discover that every hard thing in life puts us at a fork in the road: the same circumstance can be a trial God uses to grow us or a temptation the enemy uses to destroy us. Along the way, we take three tests that reveal which boat we're in — the Math Test (are you only feeling the cost, or counting the profit?), the Fork Test (whose hands are on the wheel?), and the Blame Test (God tests, but He never tempts). Because wisdom doesn't start with having the answers. It starts the moment we stop white-knuckling the wheel and say, "God, I don't know what to do — would You show me?" And when you come to God like that, He doesn't reproach you. He approaches you.
Jul 5

Free Indeed

This weekend America celebrated 250 years of independence — fireworks, cookouts, the whole thing. But underneath all of it sits a quieter question: are you actually free? Not politically. Not financially. Deep down, where nobody else can see. Here's the hard truth we sat with: you can live in the freest nation on earth and still carry chains nobody notices. The chain of approval. Of success. Of bitterness. Of feeling like you're never enough. Modern chains rarely look like chains — they come wrapped in things that look like freedom. In this Fourth of July weekend message, Pastor Ann Starker opens Galatians 5:1 and Isaiah 61 to talk about the kind of freedom that doesn't fade when the fireworks die out. The freedom Christ purchased isn't just freedom from something — it's freedom for something. And stepping into it means taking off the grave clothes we've grown used to wearing. Your body can leave Egypt long before your mind does. This is an invitation to let both go free.
Jun 28

The Hungry Heart

What do you do when you've been overlooked, sidelined, or forgotten — and the promise God gave you still hasn't shown up? David knew that feeling. Left in the field while his brothers stood before Samuel. Not even invited to the table. And yet — God looked past everything everyone else was measuring and saw straight to his heart. This week, Pastor Doug Bell takes us deep into the story of a shepherd boy who became a man after God's own heart — not because he lived a perfect life, but because of the direction he ran when he messed up. From the anointing to the cave, from his greatest failures to his deepest grief, David's life reveals a truth we all need to hear: your hunger for God doesn't disqualify you. It defines you. Because the gap between a promise and its fulfillment is never wasted time. That's where your character is formed. Key Scriptures: 1 Samuel 13:14 · 1 Samuel 16:7, 11 · 1 Samuel 30:6 · 2 Samuel 12:23 · 2 Samuel 18:33 · Psalm 42:1–2 · Psalm 51:10 · Psalm 63:1 · John 6:35
Jun 21

A Man Who Never Said a Word

What if the most powerful father in history never said a single recorded word? On Father's Day, Pastor Doug takes us back to one of the most overlooked figures in the Christmas story — Joseph, the man handpicked by God to raise His own Son. Not a king. Not a prophet with a famous speech. Just a faithful man who kept getting up. Four times in two short passages, God spoke. Four times, Joseph rose and obeyed — no negotiation, no credit, no applause. He took a pregnant fiancée no one believed. He fled to a foreign country in the dark with no map and no plan. He started over when God said come back. He raised the Son of God in an ordinary town that people mocked, and quietly faded off the page with no recorded farewell. His legacy wasn't a statement. It was a posture. He rose and he did it. This message is for every man who's tired, discouraged, or running on empty — and still showing up anyway.

5

out of 5

2 Ratings

CrossPointe Church Weekend Messages

Creator

Doug Bell
Years Active

2020 - 2026
Episodes

289
Rating

Clean
Copyright

© 2026 Crosspointe