Preparing For Worship: April 29th, 2009

We are happy to welcome the newest member of the Crossroads Ministry Team: Rachel Roleder! Rachel will be serving as our Administrative Assistant on a part time basis.  This is a big help to Pastor Todd and myself, as Rachel will take care of many of the day-to-day operations of the church (bulletins, sermon slides, website updates, etc.).  Welcome Rachel!

This Sunday we're going to start with some energetic songs that remind us of God's faithfulness: "Forever" and "Unchanging."  This will help set the tone for the morning, as we prepare to hear from Jesus on how we are to ask for things in prayer, knowing that God is perfectly faithful, and always gives good gifts to his people.

Pastor Todd will come do his usual prayer and welcome segment, and give us a few seconds to say hi to people, and greet visitors (possibly weirding them out if you do the holy kiss thing, but hopefully making them feel welcome!).

Then we'll keep singing and exploring the theme of trusting God's faithfulness with the songs "It Is Well With My Soul" and "We Trust Your Will."  This is one of those areas in life that is really easy for us to say we trust God, but in our gut we still fear so much of the reality of life that we effectively stifle our belief and trust.  Hopefully as we constantly remind ourselves of the faithfulness of the God we serve, we'll learn to implement it more consistently in our lives.

Pastor Todd will then come and preach to us from Matthew 7:7-12, so read up and prepare for the Holy Spirit to further teach these truths to us as we submit to the power and authority of His Word.

We'll have a few songs after the sermon that will help us respond to the message, and connect our minds and our hearts so the truth will sink in more deeply: "Change My Heart" reminds us that God is the shaper of our lives, and he is molding and shaping each of us for a specific purpose, and how we need to trust and submit to that.  "From The Inside Out" is our prayer to God to consume us as we give over control of our lives to Him, and reminds us yet again of His faithfulness; that though we fail 1,000 times, His mercy remains, and will remain until we are perfected in His presence!

That's what's going on; happy preparation!

Preparing For Worship: April 19th, 2009

What a great time we shared celebrating Christ's resurrection last weekend!  I hope you were as blessed as I was by the time we spent at the foot of the cross on Good Friday, and then remembering the joy of Jesus' victory over sin and death on Sunday morning.  If you didn't get a chance to see our video of testimonies: Hope, check it out on the Crossroads homepage

This week we jump back in to our study of Christ's sermon on the mount in Matthew.  We'll be thinking through what it means to have a critical spirit, and to self righteously pass judgement on others.  He instructs us to remove the plank from our own eyes before we point out the speck in a brother's eye.

When I first started playing music, I really loved this one Christian band called Plankeye, and this passage always reminds me of them for obvious reasons.  I loved the name on both an aesthetic level (because it just sounded good to me), and on a symbolic level that the guys in the group wanted to be constantly aware of the things in their lives that they needed to change before pointing out the "specks" in a brother's life.

Pastor Todd will teach us to evaluate the judgements we make, and to know if they are harsh, hypocritical, or holy.

For our singing, the menu this week includes a call to worship to draw us together, and focus our scattered minds; including "Beautiful One" and "Ancient of Days."  Focusing on the nature and character of God helps put us in the right mindset to really engage with God's Word, and with each other!

Pastor Todd will lead us in prayer to ask God's blessing on our time, and to dedicate it solely to his glory.  We'll also get a sneak peek at our new ministry: "Family Matters."

We'll keep lifting our voices to heaven with "Holy, holy, holy" which, according to the book of Revelation, is good practice for eternity!  And transition to our time in the Word with "Offering."

Pastor Todd will come and teach us from God's Word, and hopefully you'll CLICK HERE to read and digest the passage a little bit before then for maximum benefit.

After the message, we'll respond with "Overwhelmed" which hopefully represents our hearts' response to the judgement that was placed on Christ in our stead as payment for our sin, and finish with "Majesty" as we remember that we have truly now found "the greatest love of all!"

See you Sunday, happy preparation!

Preparing For Worship: April 5th, 2009

I'll miss worshiping with you all this weekend, as I'll be away with our Young Adult Ministry (YAM) on a retreat at Lake Arrowhead!

I'll be back for Easter Sunday, and Good Friday, so I'm excited to celebrate these important days with you.

My college buddy Ryan Patterson will be filling in for me leading you in worship this Sunday, and I know that he's going to do a phenomenal job! Hopefully he doesn't do so well that Pastor Todd hires him and gives me the boot..."we want what God wants"..."and sorry Paul, God told me he wants Ryan here instead of you!" I can see it now...

Here are the songs Ryan will be leading, so make sure you're familiar with them, and that you're good and warmed up for Sunday (sing in the shower, in the car, drink some tea, etc.).

"Your Grace Is Enough"
"Indescribable"
"Everlasting God"
"From The Inside Out"
"Jesus Paid It All"

Should be a great set of songs to sing together!

Pastor Todd wraps up his three-part "God's Search and Rescue Mission" series in Luke 15:11-32, and we look forward to celebrating Christ's death and resurrection the following week!

See you when I get back, happy preparation!