TMG
Tom’s Midweek Greeting
Crossroads Community Church
Nevada, MO
March 1, 2018

Dear Crossroads Family…

I’m looking forward to another uplifting Sunday with you this weekend. Our sermon Sunday morning will be from Acts 15, “The Way to God.” Take a look at it ahead of time. It’s an amazing episode in the growth of the Lord’s work in the world.

Just a reminder, there will be no Adult Bible Study this Sunday, March 4th. We will resume our ABS on Sunday, March 25th.

There will be Youth Group this Sunday evening, 6:30-8:00, at the Y, for Middle School and High School students. All middle schoolers and high schoolers and their friends are invited!

Thanks to everyone who serves on Sundays – worship leaders, greeters, Children’s Church & Nursery teachers and assistants, youth group leaders, set-up & tear-down volunteers! Thank you!

We had a fun, encouraging home group last night with 14 in attendance. Thanks, Cris & Donna, for opening your home up so regularly to us. Next week Donna will be sharing some things with the group that she has been learning about Scripture memorization. I hope you’ll make a point to join us on the 7th at 6:30 at the Rodriguez home!

What a blessing our Cottey students are to us! We will miss all of you while you’re gone on Spring Break! We wish you the best and look forward to your return!

From the Moss House

Thanks to everyone who volunteered to help move a client of the Moss House yesterday. I received this message from our friends at the Moss House:

“We are very grateful for all the help that Crossroads provides in these moves. We couldn’t do it without you and your willing members. You guys really do rock!”

Holding On!

Over the Christmas break, I heard someone list five principles to hold onto against fear, and she used the Old Testament story of King Jehoshaphat to illustrate those five principles.

You might remember the story of King Jehoshaphat who reigned in Jerusalem in the 800s BC. He’s the one who, when Judah was being threatened by foreign invaders, said to the Lord, “We don’t know what to do,… but our eyes are on You”
(2 Chronicles 20:12). You have to admire the courage and sincerity of a leader who says, “We don’t know what to do! Help!” But, the key, of course, was his willingness to trust God to do something.

God’s response to Jehoshaphat was, “Do not fear,… for the battle is not yours but God’s.” And also, “Stand and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf.” God’s instructions to Jehoshaphat were to send out his soldiers with singers and musicians leading the army. The story says that when they began singing and praising, the Lord set ambushes against their enemies.

Five principles to hold onto in times of fear, as seen in the story of Jehoshaphat, are the following:

• the Wordof God                  We can trust it.
• the characterof God          What do you know to be true about God ?  You can trust that too.
• prayer
• worship
• singing

These are good principles to incorporate into our relationship with God at any time, not only in times of fear.

During this new year, I’ve especially tried to be more intentional about singing during my morning quiet times with the Lord. I’m simply working my way through a hymnbook I received years ago as a gift from my previous church when I was installed there as their new pastor. One hymn per day, and those hymns minister powerfully to my spirit. Here are the words from the hymn I sang this morning. I hope they will minister to you. I especially like the line, “With healing balm my soul He fills, and every faithless murmur stills.” I hope you’ll get into the habit of holding onto these five principles.

Sing praise to God who reigns above, the God of all creation,
The God of power, the God of love, the God of our salvation.
With healing balm my soul He fills, and every faithless murmur stills.
To God all praise and glory!

The Lord is never far away, but, through all grief distressing,
An ever-present help and stay, our peace and joy and blessing.
As with a mother’s tender hand, He leads His own, His chosen band.
To God all praise and glory!

Thus all my toilsome way along I sing aloud His praises,
That all may hear the grateful song My voice unwearied raises.
Be joyful in the Lord, my heart! Both soul and body bear your part!
To God all praise and glory!

Let all who name Christ’s holy name give God all praise and glory.
Let all who own His power proclaim aloud the wondrous story.
Cast every idol from its throne, for Christ is Lord and Christ alone.
To God all praise and glory!

-Tom

TMG
Tom’s Midweek Greeting
Crossroads Community Church
Nevada MO
February 20, 2018

My email is coming out a little early this week in order to let you know that Home Group will happen this Wednesday at the home of Angi and Shane Dahmer, at 6:30 pm. We would love to have you join us for a good time of fellowship and midweek encouragement! (There will be no 5:45 prayer group this week.)

Contact us for directions.

Hope to see you Wednesday night at 6:30 at the Dahmers!

This coming Sunday morning, the 25th, we’ll have a special message from Acts 13-14, “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). Come find out why Paul said this was true, and what it means for us as we go through life’s “tribulations.” 10:00 at the Y.

Adult Bible Study will meet at 9:00, and we’ll continue our series in the Ten Commandments, taking a look this week at the sixth commandment, “You shall not murder.” The Lord Jesus had a lot to say about sins of the heart and speech that are just stations on the line whose terminus is murder. How can we stay off that line altogether and experience more peace in our lives?

God’s work in us occurs from the inside out.

No matter how hard we try, the work God does in the life of a Christian is a slow work that occurs from the inside out, not from the outside in.

I’m reminded of the quote from Ray Stedman that we referenced last Sunday morning:

Though moral purity is important to our Christian walk, we should not define ourselves primarily by our negatives, by what we refuse to do. The grace of God has been made manifest to us in a positive way, through a positive love for God and others, and through positive new qualities such as joy and peace. The world is neither impressed by, nor attracted to, the negative rules Christians keep.

I find that refreshing and helpful. God has a great work to do inside of me which will, with time, show itself externally. “Don’t do this,” and “Don’t do that” are not the starting points for the Christian. “Do know me, and live closely with me,” says the Lord, and all the necessary changes will work themselves out, from the inside, in time.

Theologians use a big word to describe this process — “sanctification.”

To be sanctified simply means to be set apart. There are three kinds of sanctification that take place in your life, if you are a Christian:
• Positional sanctification: If you have trusted in Christ as your Savior, you are saved; you have been set apart for him. You belong to him.
• Practical sanctification: If you have trusted Christ, there is a process taking place in your life by which God is setting you apart experientially. Day by day, God is changing and refining your attitudes, action, and speech, making you to be more like he intended you to be. How does he do that? He does it through the Bible, through prayer, through fellowship with other Christians, and through other means as well.
• Perfect sanctification: One day in heaven we will be fully as we ought to be, set apart completely for him.
Practical sanctification is occurring in three places in our lives:
• … in my mind – what I learn
• … in my heart – what I love
• … in my will – how I live.
Dr. Warren Wiersbe asks if some of us are maybe only one-third, or two-thirds, sanctified.

For example, many Christians seem to be experiencing sanctification only in the mind. They know the truth, … but it’s all in their head. There’s not much love, and there may be little action. This is often a person who likes to argue about the Bible or doctrine. They can upset a Bible study by getting off on a tangent or abstraction of some kind. When they read the Bible, they see words – and principles – but they don’t see Jesus.

Some Christians are all heart. There’s a lot of feeling and emotion in their spiritual walk … but little basic doctrine. They want to be helpful; they sincerely want to love God and others, but they lack discernment. God’s wish for us is that our love be accompanied by knowledge and discernment (see Philippians 1:9-10).

Other Christians are all about action: Spiritual life for them is made up of action. “Look how busy I am for the Lord!” And yet, they may not pause to consider what God’s Word says his priorities actually are. Or their motives may not be truly out of love.

God wants us to be set apart in our mind, in our heart, and in our will. Ephesians 6:6 speaks of “doing the will of God from the heart.” There we see action (doing) and the heart. Elsewhere, in Ephesians 5:17 (and also in Romans 12:2), a reference is made to “understanding what the will of God is.” There we see the mind (understanding), and also action (doing the will of God once we’ve understood it).

When I hear some of you speaking about the spiritual growth you’re experiencing, what’s really happening is sanctification. Our minds, our hearts, and our wills are being changed from the inside out. What we’re learning, what we’re loving, and how we’re living is being impacted by our loving Lord.

I hope to see you tomorrow evening (Home Group) and Sunday morning (Adult Bible Study, and worship) for some more changes from the inside out!

— Tom

 

Dear Crossroads Family & Friends,

This has been a good week already at Crossroads.  Let me share a few things I’ve been able to see going on:

Our new Elder Board met for the very first time Monday evening.  It was a good meeting of sharing vision and thoughts about where Crossroads is at, where we hope it to go, and what we want to be as an Elder Board.  Some of the themes that were discussed concerning the church were these:  how to better connect people’s abilities and talents with practical opportunities to serve; how to have a more visible presence in Nevada; how to increase our interaction with each other in the areas of spiritual growth we’re experiencing; how to have more fun times together as a church.  I left the meeting grateful for the heart of our new elders, and thankful for your prayerful participation in getting this new Board going!  Thank you for praying for us!

I’ve had opportunities to interact with several of you who are going through the Ten Steps discipleship course, and others of you who minister at Crossroads.  I continue to be impressed by the heart God has given all of you to serve Him and to serve people!  There is real spiritual growth taking place at Crossroads – several of you have mentioned this – and I believe such growth will necessarily bear fruit to the glory of God.  Thanks for your dedication to the Lord, and for your reliance upon Him for strength and direction.  I’m always excited to hear of people serving people… in the church and in the community.  I’m very grateful that you reach out to each other.  You are being the church.  Thank you!

I look forward this Sunday to our Crossroads 101 course, and I invite any of you to join us for this membership course.  It’s really an introduction, first of all, to the Church as God describes it in the Bible; then, more about our local church, our denomination (the Evangelical Free Church of America), and how God is calling us to be the church together.

Don’t forget about Home Group tonight – 6:30 at the Rodriguezes home.  If you are in need of a midweek re-fueling, you won’t want to miss it!  If you would like to join a small group for prayer before Home Group, come at 5:45.

This Sunday

I hope you’ll join us Sunday morning!  We need the fellowship, encouragement, and support, don’t we!  God says this in Hebrews 10:25 – “… not forsaking our own assembling together, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”  That “day” (of the Lord’s intervention in the world, and the return of Christ to judge and to rule) does seem to be near!  But whether it’s near or still some distance away, we need the encouragement and support that comes from being together as God’s people.

Our sermon on Sunday will be from Acts 9 and 10 —  “People Who Need Healing.”  We’ll take a look at a great series of miracles and healings God performed through the Apostle Peter.  Which one was the greatest?  What kinds of miracles is God still doing today in our lives?  Where do you and I need healing?  Worship begins at 10:00 at the Y.  Children’s Church and nursery are available for 5th grade and under during the sermon time.  Thank you to our team of teachers and helpers!

Our Adult Bible Study at 9:00 is a fun, informal time of studying and applying God’s Word.  This Sunday we’ll look at the sixth of the Ten Commandments, “You shall not murder.”  On the surface, this appears to be a commandment few, if any of us, have broken.  And yet, the Lord Jesus had a lot to say about what it means to be murderer!  Underneath the surface is our struggle for peace.  Join us in discovering why we struggle with peace, and how we can find it by better understanding this commandment!

The Baby Bottle Boomerang project ends this Sunday.  If you have a baby bottle which you’ve been filling up with loose change for our local Birthright ministry, please bring the bottle and money to church this Sunday.  Thank you for participating!

Youth Group for High School and Middle School students this Sunday evening, 6:30, at the Y.

One Thing

You know that I’m a planner and don’t function well unless I understand the purposes and goals of what I’m doing!  There are strengths and weaknesses to that, I suppose, but I do see God as being One who has purposes and a “course” for us to follow (sort of like the courses we went through at school, with each level becoming a little more difficult, or stretching).

Occasionally in the Bible, we come across sentences that use the phrase “one thing,” or some variation of it.  You remember probably the story (Luke 10) where Jesus was visiting the home of Mary and Martha and Lazarus.  Martha was busy in the logistical preparations of the visit, but Mary was simply spending time listening to Jesus.  Jesus told Martha that only “one thing” was necessary, and that Mary had found it.  Here are some “one thing” passages in the Bible that help us understand the Lord’s priorities for our lives:

To worship God is a “one thing” we should be doing in life.

“One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek:  That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life”  (Psalm 27:4).

To put Christ above all else is a “one thing” I must do.

“One thing you lack:  go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me” (Mark10:21).

To sit quietly and attentively at the Lord’s feet, learning His Word is “one thing” that is necessary for me.

“The Lord answered and said, ‘Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary’” (Luke10:41).

Another “one thing” that is necessary is to tell others what the Lord has done for you!

The blind man Jesus healed said of the Lord, “Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see!” (John 9:25).

As followers of Christ, “one thing” we do is to look forward.

“Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet ; but one thing I do:  forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-15).

“One thing” we ought to be doing is getting ready for the return of the Lord.

“But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.  The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.  But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.  Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness” (2 Peter 3:8-11).

I hope that at Crossroads, this week and this weekend, we can have a personal experience of God:

• O taste and see that the Lord is good.                Psalm 34:8
• All His garments smell of myrrh, aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces.        Psalm 45:8
• My sheep hear My voice.                    John 10:27
• Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see             Matthew 5:8

Hope to see you Sunday!

— Tom