TMG
Tom’s Midweek Greeting
Crossroads Community Church
Nevada MO
January 28, 2021
Hello, Crossroads Family!
I think of each one of you throughout the week. What a joy it is to watch how the Lord is directing our lives! He is the Good Shepherd, and we can trust Him fully to lead us where we, the sheep, need to go. In Psalm 23, we find the reassurance that He will lead us in paths of righteousness. I like what Colin Smith said in the video we watched at the Momentum Home Group last Sunday night: The Bible tells us that we should trust God and doubt ourselves (i.e., “lean not on our own understanding,” Proverbs 3:5-6). For most of us, just the opposite is happening – we trust ourselves, and we doubt God. God is trustworthy. He gives to His children what they need.
I would love to have you join our Sunday night study. It’s not too late, but after this coming Sunday you might really have missed too much to catch up. We’ll try to do the series again some time later in the year, but if you’d like to get in on a great study and good fellowship now, join us this Sunday evening at my house, *contact us for address*, 6-7:15 pm. It’s a study on the Beatitudes, from Matthew 5. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” was the theme last week which made for a good, surprising, and challenging start!
It’s amazing how blessed we are when we allow God to patiently build and develop relationships between us! I received Facebook and email messages earlier this month from a couple in France who were part of our church there in the 1990s. I had been in contact with them only once (by email when Diana died) in nearly 30 years. Yet, we were able to reconnect quickly, as they shared about their journey since we were last together. They have weathered a storm, as their oldest son (who was a young 20-something back when I was their pastor) died unexpectedly just last year on Christmas Eve. Yet, they have journeyed forward and continue to walk with the Lord. It was uplifting to hear from them, and they recounted in their email (in French!) a prank they had played on me on April Fool’s Day somewhere during that time! (I remember it very clearly, and apparently they do too!)
Another friend, who has also experienced joys and losses in her journey, stays in touch with us by watching Evan’s Nevada High School basketball games online. As she does so, she’s also learning lots during the broadcasts about things like Buzz’s Barbecue! We laughed and exchanged text messages during the game last Saturday in Frontenac.
Let’s take to heart Paul’s admonition to the Ephesians to “be completely humble and gentle, patient, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:2). It will pay off as God knits together long-lasting, Christ-based relationships!
Other Things Going on at Crossroads
Worship Sunday morning at the Y, 10:00
I hope you’ll join us! We’re meeting in the lobby at the Y where it’s warmer than in the gym! There will be plenty of room for everyone! We’ll continue our sermon series on “Building a Community.” Having considered God’s gift to a church community of fellowship, the next two Sundays we’ll focus on worship. Come this Sunday for a good discussion of what worship really is … why we worship … what we worship … why music is a part of worship … and why music in the church keeps changing! Should be fun! And important! I look forward to your being there. We need weekly worship and fellowship with the Body of Christ.
Baby Bottle Boomerang
If you didn’t get a baby bottle last Sunday to help raise loose change for ministry operations at Nevada Birthright, feel free to get one this Sunday. The bottles will be due back on February 21. Reach out to Kim Reedy if you have questions. Thank you!
Youth Group
Youth Group is starting back up for young people ages 16 through college. Save the evening of February 24th on your calendar for a first get-together at the Rodriguez’s home!
A Prayer for Those Who Are Carrying Burdens
Here’s part of a prayer from A Diary of Private Prayer, by John Baillie, that was a help to me earlier this week:
O Lord my God, who dwells in pure and blessed serenity beyond the reach of mortal pain, yet looks down in unspeakable love and tenderness upon the sorrows of earth, give me grace, I beseech Thee, to understand the meaning of such afflictions and disappointments as I myself am called upon to endure. Deliver me from all fretfulness. Let me be wise to draw from every dispensation of Thy providence the lesson Thou art minded to teach me. Give me a stout heart to bear my own burdens. Give me a willing heart to bear the burdens of others. Give me a believing heart to cast all burdens upon Thee.
The last part of that prayer comes from Galatians 6 where we’re instructed to “bear each other’s burdens” (verse 2), and also told that “each one will bear his own load” (verse 5). I’ve heard that passage explained a number of different ways without feeling sure that I really understood the nearness of two seemingly opposite thoughts. I suppose in life we actually do some of both – we bear our own loads, and we share burdens. But the great reminder to me in this prayer is that we’re also told in the Bible to “cast our burdens upon the Lord” (1 Peter 5:7; Psalm 55:22). I hope you’re doing that too. Lord, give us a believing heart to cast all burdens on You!
Come enjoy worship this Sunday morning! I look forward to being with you. If you’re unable to come, the sermon will be posted on the Crossroads Facebook page by Saturday evening.
— Tom
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