TMG
Tom’s Midweek Greeting
Crossroads Community Church
Nevada MO
April 11, 2019
www.nevadacrossroadschurch.org
Hello Crossroads Family!
We’re going to have a wonderful time at worship this coming Sunday, Palm Sunday! High school and middle school Bible study at 9:00, followed by some time for fellowship, then worship at 10:00. I hope you’ll be there! We’ll take a look at the Palm Sunday story and what God was communicating to the various people involved on that exciting day so many years ago. What does it mean for us today?
Also, coming up:
Men’s Discipleship & Fellowship this coming Monday, April 15, 6:30 pm, at Precision Coffee, 127 E. Cherry Street, in Nevada.
Guys, this is a once-a-month chance to interact with other men in order to be sharpened spiritually and personally. I hope you’ll join us on Monday. We’ll finish by 8:00.
Easter Breakfast & Worship, April 21st
Do you have a desire to experience a meaningful Easter? Easter Sunday at Crossroads is going to be loaded with meaning, fellowship, and celebration. I hope you’ll be there…and bring a friend! Breakfast will be served at the Y starting at 8:30. Then worship will follow at 10:00. There will be no high school/middle school Bible study on Easter Sunday. We’ll have a hunt for Easter eggs after the worship service.
Walk the Walls – Sunday, May 5th, following worship
Everyone is invited to take the next step of walking the walls with Joe Chenoweth on Sunday, May 5th. Joe is coming down to meet with as many of us as he can immediately following the worship service for discussion, input, and planning next steps . We’re following Nehemiah’s example in strengthening the gates (ministries) at Crossroads and making a place for everyone to serve. “Let us arise and build!” was the cry of the people in Nehemiah’s day. So far we’re off to a good start re-building the gates at Crossroads with our Sunday Morning Team and our Follow-Up Team. How can we continue to fill out those teams and also consider other gates to be worked on? If Crossroads is your church home, I hope you’ll plan to join us on May 5th!
Seeing God at Work
God’s doing some good things at Crossroads these days, and in the process he is showing us more and more of himself.
Last night, several of us finished up our winter session of Wednesday night Home Group. After it was over I asked myself, “What was accomplished in Home Group this semester?” Here are some things that came to mind:
- Good, much-needed fellowship in the middle of the week. The Bible says not to forsake our assembling together, but to encourage one another (Hebrews 10:25). One of the main reasons for church members to come together at any time is for encouragement. We received that on Wednesday nights this semester.
- Good food shared around the tables by people of all ages. Much of the food was provided by Donna and Cris – thank you! – but others contributed as well. What a blessing to have an evening in the middle of the week not to have to worry about food preparation!
- Connections made … between young people aging in range all the way from Middle School to college students and beyond; between adults and young people investigating matters of real importance for our lives.
- A study of Job was the focus of our adult group, and through it we saw God in new and stimulating ways.
A.W. Tozer said in his book The Knowledge of the Holy that the most important thing about us is what comes into our minds when we think about God. “Were we able to extract from any man a complete answer to the question, ‘What comes into your mind when you think about God?’ we might predict with certainty the spiritual future of that man.” During the Job study, it seemed that in some respects we found it harder and harder to give a precise answer about how we perceive God. His nature seems to escape our comprehension. We start to grasp it, then we find there’s a “flip side” to what we were saying. What an amazing and wonderful God he is!
Earlier this week, as I was doing some personal Bible reading, I jotted down some of the characteristics of God I found in a couple of passages. Here’s the list I came up with:
Psalm 91
- refuge
- fortress
- trustworthy
- faithful
- shield
- bulwark
- dwelling place
Psalm 92
- faithful
- loving and kind
- great
- possessing deep thoughts
- dwells “on high”
- upright
- righteous
Deuteronomy 4
- a consuming fire
- jealous
- compassionate
How amazing he is! How good it is to belong to him, even if we fail to understand him fully! Job certainly found that to be true. God brought Job through his terrible trials, back out into the sunshine. I wonder what other trials Job faced later in his life?
Other Ways God is Working
- Please continue to pray for the development of a Young Life ministry in Nevada. Some important concrete steps are being taken this spring. The leadership team will need our prayer support, financial support, and even hands-on practical help. Talk to Donna about what’s going on with Young Life, a ministry that has reached thousands of young people in a life-impacting way.
- I am in conversation with a person who works for an organization that helps the YMCA in America lean into its Christian mission (putting the “C” back into YMCA, as he puts it). What his group is doing at YMCA’s all over America is very exciting, and there’s a possibility Crossroads could be a part of this project here in Nevada. I would especially appreciate your prayers as we seek God’s leading and opening of doors. I’m grateful Crossroads has been given such a good welcome by our Osage Prairie YMCA all these years.
- Several at Crossroads are undergoing physical trials or are in transition times in life. God works through these trials and times of decision too! Let’s pray for each other and remember to watch for God’s faithfulness and provision of all our needs!
- I have a busy several weeks coming up. Easter Sunday is always an important Sunday, as hearts are open and sensitive to the meaning of the day. Pray that the message would be clear, and that the worship service Erin and I have been planning would invite people to draw near to the risen Christ. I’ll be in Springfield in the afternoon and evening of April 23rd for part of a retreat for E-Free pastors in Missouri and Arkansas. I’ve been invited by the senior class at Nevada High School to give the “Senior Sermon” (what was called “Baccalaureate” back in my day) on May 12th. I will lead the Celebration of Life service for Bob Scheibe in Marysville, Kansas, on May 18th. Then our choirs will sing as part of graduation at NHS on May 19th. The following week the kids and I will take off for South Carolina for the wedding of my oldest son, Andrew, and Molly Lewis.
A blessing God taught Moses and Aaron to give to the people of Israel … and the words of a song we’re learning in our choirs at the high school:
The Lord bless you, and keep you;
The Lord make his face shine on you, and be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up his countenance on you, and give you peace.
Numbers 6:24-26
See you Sunday!
— Tom
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