TMG
Tom’s Midweek Greeting
Crossroads Community Church
Nevada MO
January 15, 2020
Hello, Crossroads Family!
I’m excited to start our “You Asked For It” sermon series this coming Sunday, January 19th!
Here’s the schedule for that series of sermons you’ve asked for:
January 19
Depression & Mental Health
What does God have to say about the depression that afflicts so many of us?
What helps are found in the Bible?
January 26
Tithing
What is a tithe? Why do we give tithes and offerings?
February 2
King David
Why did he have to wait so long between being anointed King of Israel, and actually becoming king?
What are God’s purposes in times of waiting?
February 9
Dave Wood will be preaching, as I will be out of town.
February 16
Matthew 24-25
How are we to understand these passages having to do with the end times and the Lord’s judgment?
February 23
Where did God come from?
If the existence of all things can be traced back to God, where did God come from?
We’ll attempt to know Him better through a discussion of this question raised by one of our Crossroads family members.
This is quite a wide variety of sermon topics! Please pray for me as I prepare! I believe God has some good things to teach us — and some new ways to grow us in Him — through this series of sermons! I look forward to seeing you Sunday at 10:00 at the Y!
Notes & Announcements
Baby Bottle Boomerang
The baby bottles for Birthright’s fundraising campaign will be available to us this Sunday morning. Take as many as you would like. The purpose is to fill the bottles with loose change and return them on Sunday, February 23. This is the main method by which Birthright of Nevada raises the funds it needs to minister to women and children in our area. Thank you!
Congregational Meeting
Thanks to all who attended our congregational meeting last Sunday! Cris Rodriguez was elected to a second 3-year term on Crossroads’ Elder Board. We approved a church budget for 2020. Giving at Crossroads was up significantly last year, and the number of giving units (families or individuals who give) was also up last year over the previous year. Thank you to all who participate in the life of the church by supporting it financially! This is a part of our worship, and a part of our service to God and others.
Crossroads 101
Thanks for being a part of the last two Sundays of “Crossroads 101.” If you are not currently a voting member of the church but would like to be, please let me or one of the other church elders know you are interested. Thank you!
Home Group
The next Home Group will take place Wednesday, January 29, 6:30-8:00, at the home of Cris and Donna Rodriguez, *contact us for location*. Everyone is welcome!
In Battling Depression…
One of our helps in fighting depression, grief, or just those low times in life, is to maintain a life of worship.
I’ve been struck this week by the wonderful worship presented to us in Psalms 65 and 66. Two themes that are found in these psalms are “Shout for joy!” … and … “Sing!”
What causes us to shout for joy? I’m afraid the only thing I’ve shouted about recently was the Chiefs’ playoff win against Houston! Is there something about God that makes me want to shout? Psalms 65 and 66 tell us that all of creation shouts for joy because it belongs to Almighty God: the dawn and the sunset (65:8), the hills (65:12), the meadows (65:13), the valleys (65:13), and all the earth (66:1)! Have you heard it? One day we will!
Why do we sing as a part of worship? Songs allow us to put into words the feelings we have in our heart. Singing allows us not only to express our feelings, but to do so in a way that extends the words and gives emphasis to what we’re saying. Songs and singing are gifts to us. There are good new worship songs and good old worship songs, all of which help us express our love for God in new and old ways. In fact, Jesus, in one of His parables, said a disciple of the kingdom brings out of his treasure things new and old (Matthew 13:52).
According to Psalms 65 and 66, worship involves…
Recognition. “Your works, Your power, Your name, Your enemies.” We recognize who God is and what He does. He is the God of all the earth, and He is specifically the God of Israel (66:5-6). We should not forget that our Bible, and our Savior, came through the Jewish people.
Resolve. “I shall come. I shall pay my vows. I shall offer” (66:13-15). Worship is an offering, a renewed resolve to give our whole lives to the Lord. To give myself to the Lord is perhaps even more necessary in the low periods of life than when I’m on the mountaintop. We worship God. He is our only ultimate hope.
Rejoicing. In the last portion of Psalm 66 : my mouth, my tongue, my heart, my prayer. The writer of the psalm rejoices and prays. He rejoices in answered prayer, even as a new prayer is on his lips.
Daily worship. Weekly worship as a church family. Shouting and singing for joy. Recognition, resolve, rejoicing. Simple steps that help in a small way to keep us focused and overcoming in life’s struggles!
See you Sunday!
–Tom
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