Preparing For Worship: November 2, 2008

This week is a very special week, and I won't spill the beans just yet as to why, but let's just say we've got a "big" surprise waiting for you this Sunday. It should be a unique experience, and one that helps us treasure the work of Christ on the cross just a little bit more.

That being said, all of our worship songs this week will focus on the cross, and rejoice in the fact that all God's wrath was poured out there onto Christ and not onto us!

We'll start the service with "How Deep The Father's Love For Us" and go right into "The Wonderful Cross." Pastor Todd will come and lead us in prayer for the morning, and we'll go right into "It Is Well" and "At The Cross."

After this, Pastor Todd will teach us from the Sermon on the mount in Matthew 5. His sermon is called "You Can Fail With an A-" and he will preach the words of Jesus which say that unless our righteousness is greater than the scribes and pharisees, we will never enter the kingdom of heaven! Those scribes and pharisees were pretty righteous, or at least they thought they were, so how in the world are we supposed to surpass their righteousness??? Answer: The Cross. We have received Christ's perfect righteousness, and no longer have to worry about trying to meet God's standard on our own.

The idea of achieving righteousness on our own is such a pervading thought in our culture and society today. In a time of pluralism, and "tolerance," many people feel that as long as one tries to be good, and believes whatever they believe sincerely, and are devoted to it, they have a shot at heaven. Having a shot seems like a pretty big risk to take when almighty God is involved, and in view of his standard of perfection, a "shot" sounds weak and frail. Christ is no shot. He is a sure thing, and because of that, our righteousness is a sure thing, and "there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!" (Romans 8:1)

We'll respond to the message by taking communion together, and singing "The Power Of The Cross" as we do so. As we close our time together, we'll sing "Once Again" and go out into the world with the phrase "thank you for the cross my Friend" echoing through our minds.

Happy preparation!

Thinking Globally: Pray for Orissa, India!

I received an email this morning with a prayer request for the horrible situation in Eastern India. This is a very tense situation, and all those ministering there need our fervent prayers!

"Dear beloved sponsors and friends of Good News India. We have never seen
anything like this. We knew that Orissa was the most resistant and hostile
State in India as far as the Gospel is concerned. And we brushed off the
continuous threats and harassment we faced as we went about His work. But
none of our staff imagined that they would see this kind of carnage.... And
it seems to be totally under the radar of the Western Media ....

Let me explain.... A militant Hindu priest and 4 of his attendants, who were
zealously going around the villages of Orissa and 'reconverting' people back
to Hinduism, were gunned down by unknown assailants in Central Orissa last
weekend. Immediately the Christians were blamed.. The cry rose up...'Kill
the Christians!' And the horror began.... In the past 4 days, we have first
hand witness to hundreds of churches being blown up or burned and many, many
dozens of Christian tribals have been slaughtered. For no other reason than
they bear the name of Christ.

Night and day I have been in touch with our Good News India Directors spread
across 14 Dream Centers in Orissa... they are right in the middle of all
this chaos. In Tihidi, just after the police came to offer protection, a
group of 70 blood-thirsty militants came to kill our staff and destroy the
home. They were not allowed to get in, but they did a lot of damage to our
Dream Center by throwing rocks and bricks and smashing our gate, etc. They
have promised to come back and 'finish the job.'

Our kids and staff are locked inside and have stayed that way with doors and
windows shut for the past 3 days. It has been a time of desperately calling
on the Lord in prayer. More police have come to offer protection. In
Kalahandi, the police and some local sympathizers got to our dream center
and gave our staff and kids about 3 minutes notice to vacate. No one had
time to even grab a change of clothes or any personal belonging. As they
fled, the blood thirsty mob came to kill everyone in the building. We would
have had a mass funeral there, but for His grace. In Phulbani, the mob came
looking for Christian homes and missions. The local Hindu people, our
neighbors turned them away by saying that there were no Christians in this
area. So they left.. We had favor. The same thing happened in Balasore.

All our dream centers are under lock down with the kids and staff huddled
inside and police outside. The fanatics are circling outside waiting for a
chance to kill. Others were not so fortunate. In a nearby Catholic
orphanage, the mob allowed the kids to leave and locked up a Priest and a
computer teacher in house and burned them to death. Many believers have been
killed and hacked into pieces and left on the road.... even women and
children. At another orphanage run by another organization, when this began,
the Director and his wife jumped on their motorbike and simply fled, leaving
all the children and staff behind. Every one of our GNI directors that I
have spoken to said: 'We stay with our kids.... we live together or die
together, but we will never abandon what God has called us to do.' More than
5000 Christian families have had their homes burned or destroyed. They have
fled into the jungles and are living in great fear waiting for the
authorities to bring about peace. But so far, no peace is foreseen.

This will continue for another 10 days.... supposedly the 14 day mourning
period for the slain Hindu priest. Many more Christians will die and their
houses destroyed. Many more churches will be smashed down. The Federal
government is trying to restore order and perhaps things will calm down. We
ask for your prayers. Only the Hand of God can calm this storm. None of us
know the meaning of persecution. But now our kids and staff know what that
means. So many of our kids coming from Hindu backgrounds are confused and
totally bewildered at what is happening around them. So many of their
guardians have fled into the jungles and are unable to come and get them
during these trying times.

Through all this, I am more determined than ever to continue with our goal:
the transformation of a community by transforming its children. Orissa will
be saved... that is our heart's cry. If we can take these thousands of
throw-away children and help them to become disciples of Jesus, they will
transform an entire region. It is a long term goal, but it is strategic
thinking in terms of the Great Commission.
What can you do? First, please uphold all this in fervent prayer. Second,
pass this e-mail on to as many friends as you can. We must get the word out
and increase our prayer base for this is spiritual warfare at its most basic
meaning. We are literally fighting the devil in order to live for His
Kingdom. The next 10 days are crucial. We pray for peace and calm to pervade
across Orissa.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please pass it on and help us
to get as many people to partner with us on this cutting edge effort to
fulfill His mandate: Go and make disciples of all nations.... Prayer works!
Blessings,
Chip & Sandy Wanner Col 2:2
MBI Team Facilitators to YWAM frontlines"

Preparing For Worship: October 26th, 2008

I think Autumn has been attempting to poke through the blanket of hot Southern California weather this month, to little avail, and as we head to November we are forced to seek the charm of Autumn in Starbucks' seasonal beverages and other artificial reminders.

Looking ahead to the coming months, and in particular the Christmas season, I want see if there would be any interest in forming a Crossroads Christmas Choir that would minister to the church during the month of December. If you're interested, leave me a comment at the end of this post, or shoot me an email: phoover@lifeatcrossroads.org.

As we focus on how to prepare for this coming Sunday, Pastor Todd will be taking a break from the Sermon on the Mount series to address an important topic, one that is especially timely in the light of the upcoming elections.

He will be talking about what the Bible says about marriage. While I'm sure many of us would agree with way the Bible says marriage must be ordered, there are likely many different opinions, and intensity of opinions, as to how this should be played out in the public realm, with regards to government and non-Christians. Pastor Todd will give us not only the Biblical teaching on marriage, but the implications that they have for us as we strive to be "salt and light" in the world.

As we begin the service, we'll declare our weakness, frailty, and hunger for God by singing "Hungry." It's a great song to corporately seek God's work in our church body as one, and in our lives as individuals.

Pastor Todd will come and lead us in prayer to commit the service to the glory of God, and then we'll have a few minutes to meet and greet before we keep singing.

For the next set, I've chosen a few songs that talk about God's holiness. "Holy" is the idea of being set apart, and God is infinitely set apart, and over and above everything we know. His holiness is displayed in his various perfections: perfect justice, perfect love, perfect mercy, perfect power, etc. So we will corporately recognize his infinite holiness, and as a result, acknowledge our infinite shortcomings in meeting the standard of perfection he maintains. We'll sing "Holy is the Lord" and "God of Wonders" which really express God's holiness in profound ways.

As we consider the holiness of God, we must realize that God has commanded us to pursue holiness (1 Peter 1:13-16). How in the world are we supposed to be holy as God is holy?? We are battling the sinful nature within us, and can hardly go hours without sinning in some fashion! We realize that while we pursue holiness in our daily lives, and often fall short, IN CHRIST we have been granted perfect holiness through his death and resurrection! We'll sing the hymn "It Is Well With My Soul," which expresses this truth in such beautiful language:

My sin,
(oh the bliss of this glorious thought!)
My sin
(not in part, but the whole!!)
Was nailed to the cross
And I bear it no more!
Praise the Lord,
Praise the Lord oh my soul!

I love how the author interrupts himself twice because he's so excited and overwhelmed by the power of the gospel over sin.

Pastor Todd will then come and teach us what the Bible says about marriage, and the responsibility it places on us as the preserving moral agents living in a fallen world.

We'll respond corporately by singing "Surrender" in submission to God's perfect Word, and his commands for how we should live. And we'll end the service by singing "Be Unto Your Name," again proclaiming the holiness of God, and his infinite greatness and worthiness of all praise.

That's what's going on this week. Looking forward to seeing your faces and worshiping with you!

Happy preparation!

Spontaneous Ministry of the Spirit

Bob Kauflin posted this powerful video from the recent Worship God conference.

Click HERE to go to the post, but here's the gist:

Pastor Jon Payne was leading worship during this session, and felt the leading of the Spirit to minister to those who had experienced the death of a child. He spontaneously came up with the song in the video, which was extremely powerful (even to me, despite the fact that I neither have children, nor have lost one).

This is a great example of being sensitive to the leading of the Spirit to edify fellow believers in the corporate setting, which is one of the primary reasons we gather together each week to worship (1 Cor. 14:26-33).

Preparing For Worship: October 19th, 2008

What a great Sunday we shared last week with Pastor John Dunkin visiting! I also wanted to thank those of you who mentioned your appreciation of the new song we sang together; it is my pure pleasure and joy to serve the body by crafting God's powerful truth together with song that we can all sing together!!

That said, some of you "2nd-service-ites" asked me for another chance when I told you I thought that the 1st service gang had done a better job of learning and singing our new song. So, this week, you get your chance! I realize that there are a TON of words, and it does take some work on your parts to learn the song, and be able to sing it confidently, but take a listen to the recording I posted, and you should be ok.

We're going to start with "Better Is One Day" and echo the voice of David in the Psalms when he compared one day in the presence of the Lord to 1,000 days anywhere else! This side of the cross we are ALWAYS in the presence of the Lord via his Spirit dwelling within us, but as we come together Sunday corporately, we want to express the beauty and joy of being in God's presence TOGETHER, to worship.

Pastor Todd will lead us in prayer to surrender the morning to God's perfect will, and then we will watch a short video together about an upcoming ministry opportunity for the whole church to serve at the Union Rescue Mission.

After that, we will sing "Perfect Savior" again, and we'll see which service comes out the winning choir [nothing wrong with a little friendly competition right? :)]. We'll follow that with a song that reminds us that Christ died for the sins of the whole world, and how is the whole world to hear about it unless we tell them?? "No Other Name" will also help us prepare for the message Pastor Todd will bring us from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, (Read the passage as you prepare!) where Jesus tells us that we are salt and light, and what our responsibility is as such.

After the sermon, we'll respond with remembering that Jesus came down as a light into a world full of darkness, and that we must do the same as his ambassadors and redeemed: "Here I Am To Worship." Then we'll end with another Psalm of commitment that our words, thoughts, and deeds would be pleasing to our God in the ways he has instructed us through his word: "May The Words (Psalm 19)."

Our C4 class is studying the book of Colossians, so come and dive deeper into the richness of God's word in a more seminar/classroom style environment. The class meets upstairs during 2nd service.

So that's what's going on this Sunday; happy preparation!

Preparing For Worship: October 12, 2008

This week we have a special guest speaker with us by the name of John Dunkin, from Whitney Baptist Church in Boise, Idaho. God's timing is of course perfect, and it's all the more obvious this week as Pastor Todd left the office on Thursday feeling like he was coming down with something, so it'll be nice for him to be able to rest and recuperate this weekend. Keep him in your prayers!

As for our singing, we'll start by singing an old hymn with a new chorus: "The Wonderful Cross" is a great way to focus on the reason we gather, and the means by which we can offer God our worship: the cross.

We'll sing the new song I posted earlier this week: "Perfect Savior" and continue to remind ourselves of who Christ is by singing: "The Solid Rock" and ending with a prayer that Jesus would keep us "Near The Cross."

Pastor John Dunkin will then come and wrap up the first part of the Sermon on the Mount, by preaching to us from the last beatitude in Matthew 5:10-12 which teaches us that we are blessed when we are persecuted.

We'll respond in song to this truth by singing "Everlasting God" that reminds us that in the face of trials and testing, our strength is perfected in the Lord as we wait on him, and when we remember that he does not grow tired or weary, but will lift us up on wings like eagles! We'll finish the service by singing "Blessed Be Your Name" that teaches us to find comfort in God's sovereignty, and that whether he gives or takes away, he is still in control, and we still need to choose to bless his name!

Our C4 class is starting a study of Colossians this week, so if you haven't yet been to one, why not come to the 9:00 service, and check out C4 at 10:30?

So that's where we're headed this week; happy preparation!

New Song: Perfect Savior

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

-Jeremiah 53:4-6

We'll be singing this new song together this week that proclaims the perfection of our Savior. It celebrates not only that he was perfect, in a sinless sense, but that he was EXACTLY what we were desperate for in our sinful state. We needed him in the deepest, most urgent way, and he has infinitely filled that need.

The person of Jesus has come under attack many times throughout history, and for many things: people saying he was not God, others saying he wasn't fully man, others saying he never existed at all, and still some saying he was just "a good teacher." (I personally love C.S. Lewis' argument against the possibility that Jesus was just a good teacher, check it out HERE)

It was one of these attacks on Jesus that occurred in the fourth century that prompted the first council of Nicea. A man named Arius had set forth a teaching that although Jesus was divine, God the Father had created him at a specific point in time, and that there was, therefore, a time when Jesus did NOT exist. This contradicts the teaching of the trinity, and the words of 1 John: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God..."

Emperor Constantine convened a council of around 300 bishops, and they reviewed the major beliefs that all Christians held. It was a significant event because it was the first time the church sought consensus through a representative assembly.

I have adapted the bridge of this song from the portion of the Nicene Creed that deals with the person of Jesus. When we sing this bridge together, we will affirm what the Bible and the historical church have taught since the beginning, and we will echo the centuries of Christians who have read this creed aloud in their meetings.

Here are the lyrics:
(verse 1)
I was a dead man walking
So little good was in me
I was ruled by my sin
He was a perfect Savior
All that was good was in him
He laid it all down for me

I lived my life for myself
Not wanting to surrender
Or know the cost of my sin
He gave his life for all men
Submitting to the Father
He knew the cost of my sin

(Chorus)
So you died on that cross; died the death I deserved
So that I'd have new life; all God's wrath satisfied
Until you come back again
May I forever proclaim
Redemption poured out for men
Through you the pure spotless Lamb
Yes you are the perfect Savior!

(verse 2)
You conquered sin and the grave
You rose again in three days
And you're alive, Lord, today!
Thirsting for righteousness now
Follow your Spirit's leading
Renewing me from within

God you are ever faithful
Meeting the needs of my heart
Making me more like your Son
I want to sing it louder!
I want to shout it out now:
"This sinner's heart's been made new!"

(bridge)
We believe in you Lord Jesus
The only Son of God
Begotten of the Father
God from God, Light from Light
Very God from very God
Begotten and not made
One being with the Father
Through you all things were made

For us and our salvation
From heaven you came down
Born of the virgin Mary
To take on man's design
For our sake crucified
Suffered death and burial
But the third day rose again
Just as the Scriptures said

You ascended into heaven
Sat down at God's right hand
You'll come again in glory
Judge the living and the dead
Your kingdom has no end Lord
Forever you will reign
You've sent your Holy Spirit
He'll be with us to the end!

Crossroads Welcomes New Director of Student Ministries: Stephen Barshaw

This past Sunday we officially welcomed Stephen and his wife, Candace, to the Crossroads family. Pastor Todd invited them to the stage where our elders, and some of our Foundation volunteer staff joined them, and we all prayed for their ministry to the youth of our church.

Here are some pictures so you can be sure to welcome them the next time you see them.

Praise God for his faithfulness!

Preparing For Worship: October 5th, 2008

Happy October to all of you! One of my favorite signs of autumn is the MLB postseason, and this year is no disappointment, given the performance of our LA Dodgers!

This week marked my one year anniversary of ministry at Crossroads, and I can't thank God enough for the blessing that this church has been in my life! I get to work with an awesome senior pastor, a great worship team, and a wonderful church body; I'm sure I have the best job out there.

Let's turn our attention to this Sunday as we anticipate gathering for worship through singing, preaching of the Word, giving, prayer, and edification.

We're going to start with the hymn "All Creatures Of Our God and King" which is a call to worship in the truest sense: all creatures of our God and King, lift up your voice and with us sing hallelujah!

Pastor Todd will lead us in prayer and then we will get a chance to corporately welcome our new Director of Student Ministries: Stephen Barshaw.

We'll continue singing after this as we focus our hearts and minds on the character of God. "Lord Jehovah" and "For You Are The Lord" help us to think about the magnitude and complexity of God's character, and all the things he is: merciful, loving, everlasting, creator...

This will help prepare us to hear the words of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount. Pastor Todd will be teaching us from Matthew 5:9 "Blessed Are The Peacemakers."

Jesus was truly the ultimate peacemaker in reconciling us to a right relationship with the Father. His death brought peace to our infinite conflict with God's righteousness! We get to celebrate this through taking communion together after the sermon.

We'll sing "This Is Love" as we remember and thank Jesus for his sacrifice for us.

We'll close with a song that still might be new to you, so be sure to give it a listen before Sunday: "Stronger." This song celebrates the finished work of Christ for us, and rejoices in the perfect power of the Lord over sin forever!

The chorus goes like this: You are stronger! You are stronger! Sin is broken; You have saved me! It is written: Christ is risen; Jesus, You are Lord of all!!

Amen!

Happy preparation!

Good Christian Music: Grits

I'm always trying to expand my musical appreciation for different styles, and I came across this album in a review, and it's really grown on me.

It's the new album from the Christian hip-hop group Grits, called "Reiterate."

It's really well produced, and musically there's a lot going on. There's a clear influence from jazz, and many of the underlying chord structures contain jazz chords.

According to Wikipedia, their name is an acronym for "Grammatical Revolution In The Spirit."

Check out their artist pages on:

Christianity Today

Myspace