TMG
Tom’s Midweek Greeting
Crossroads Community Church
Nevada MO
October 25, 2018
Hello Crossroads Family!
I’m excited about this coming Sunday’s worship service and message from Proverbs 3:1-12. I hope you’ll read through the passage before Sunday morning. It’s about trust, and it contains a familiar verse:
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” (Prov 3:5-6)
Have you noticed that part of this verse is clearly visible from Austin Boulevard as you drive by the chapel on the Cottey College campus? A great reminder! Can we trust Him? Can He trust us? Those will be topics we’ll look at this coming Sunday.
Worship at 10:00 at the Y.
There will be no Adult Bible Study at 9:00 this week only.
Youth Bible Study will meet as usual at 9:00 this Sunday at the Y.
I hope to see you there for good worship, fellowship, and encouragement!
Some other reminders
Ladies Retreat, “Chosen,” this Saturday, 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m., at The Lavender Patch, near Ft Scott. If you have any questions, or need further information between now and Saturday, please contact Erlinda (contact us via the contact page). Emma Harms (my daughter, and one of the leaders of Women’s Ministry at The Springs Church in Springfield) will be the speaker. Emma will also be sharing with us on Sunday about a women’s retreat in February that The Springs has invited our Crossroads women to join them at in Branson.
November 11, special speaker, Dale Losch. My good friend and President of Crossworld Mission in Kansas City will bring the message to us on Sunday, November 11. Dale and his wife Jerusha were missionary colleagues of ours in France. Now they are serving the Lord and the missionary community all over the world. They have been examples to me of what it looks like to be a true disciple of the Lord Jesus. You won’t want to miss Sunday morning on the 11th, as we consider our involvement in God’s vision for reaching the whole world for Christ! Check out Crossworld Mission at www.crossworld.org.
November 18, Walking the Walls. Our November 18th worship service will be especially devoted to sharing some of the vision God has given our church leadership through the Walking the Walls curriculum Joe Chenoweth has been coaching us through. I hope everyone at Crossroads will be present. We’ll talk about the condition of the “walls” at Crossroads and a couple of ways we can all be involved in strengthening our community.
NO Home Group or Youth Group this Wednesday, October 31.
Echoes from this past week
Great men’s discipleship gathering on Monday night. Our topic was “Obedience to the Lord no matter what others think.” We considered the obedience (and lack of obedience) of the Apostle Peter. On the night of the Lord’s arrest and crucifixion, Peter…
- … lashed out wildly, slicing off the ear of one of the men with the party that had come to arrest Jesus
- … followed the Lord at a distance
- … eventually swore that he didn’t even know Jesus.
Peter, however, lived to see the Lord raised from the dead, and following that resurrection received the grace and restoration we are all promised from Him. As a result, some seven weeks later, on the day of Pentecost, Peter preached boldly in Jerusalem concerning who Christ actually was – Lord and Savior.
At the study on Monday night, we asked ourselves these questions:
- How does natural courage compare or contrast with supernatural, God-given courage?
- Where do you need today to take some step of obedience “no matter what others think”?
Our next Men’s Discipleship & Fellowship evening will be Monday, November 19, and we’ll meet at Wood’s Deli.
At Home Group last night, we had follow-up discussion to last Sunday’s sermon on singleness, from 1 Corinthians 7:25-40. This is a challenging chapter of Paul’s letter. Yet, underneath the practical teachings on marriage, divorce, celibacy, singleness, and widowhood seem to be these themes:
- God’s desire for us to experience peace – v. 15: “… but God has called us to peace.”
- God’s desire for us to be fully devoted to Him no matter what our present marital status may be – v. 35: “… to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord.”
- God’s guiding hand in all of our lives. Everything we have received from Him is a good gift. v. 17 – “As the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each, in this manner let him walk.”
Elisabeth Elliot has written: “It is within the sphere of our life circumstances that we meet the Lord. It is there (single, married, or widowed) and nowhere else that He makes Himself known to us. It is there that we are allowed to know Him and to serve Him.”
We asked ourselves:
- Is there something in my life (not just my marital status, but anything) which I have been reluctant to say is a gift to me from God?
- What is one step I could take personally to secure “undistracted devotion to the Lord”?
I look forward to seeing you Sunday!
— Tom
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