I Just Wanna Testify!

Dear Crosswalkers,

 

Years back there was a hit song that said, "I just wanna testify what your love has done for me."  It was, of course, a love song, but the words apply to our relationship with Jesus.  His love has done and continues do to so much for us! 

 

Recently, Dave Stokes, one of our own, had a health crisis and was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS).  I am very pleased to report that most of his symptoms have abated and many of you know he was in church last Sunday.  With his permission, I am sharing with you an email he sent sharing the lessons he has learned:

 

Dear Pastor John,

Thank you for taking the time to visit me in the hospital last week.  Your visit was perfectly timed and very uplifting.   As you may have noticed the MS significantly interrupted my ability to walk, my stamina, my eyesight and even my general cognitive ability.   I am home from the hospital and on the mend.  My walking and stamina are making rapid comebacks.  My eyes and my intellect are on their own slightly slower pace of recovery.  I am very appreciative of your prayers and the prayers of the Church staff.
As inconvenient as this unscheduled medical issue was God absolutely used it to teach me a couple of things.  I would like to share a couple of them with you.
First and foremost He comforted me in my pain.  He reminded me of His love for me on the cross.  He covered me with protection as Satan came in the middle of the night with fears of a diminished and crippled earthly life.  I threw myself under His care and He did not let me down.  What an awesome, powerful and loving God we have! Regardless of how these medical conditions work themselves out I now know I would be living a meaningless and frustrating life had Jesus not reached out to me a few years ago.
Secondly He showed me just how much I need this church family.  I used to think I was not a needy person, that I was self sufficient.  I was the one to provide help and not the needy one.   I could not have been more wrong!  I stand here convicted of my humble dependence on my Church family.  I need their prayers and their emotional support.  I am just so grateful for the outpouring of support I received..
Best Regards

Dave Stokes

 

Thank you, Dave, for testifying what the Love of Jesus and his people have done for you!  

Let's all agree to testify what the Lord's love has done in our lives! 

 

Here are a few things I wanna testify about:

• Praise God!  Our total Faith Promises have reached $117,920!!  Thank you, Crosswalk family, for being a church in mission!

• Thanks for the positive response to last Sunday's message!  Many of you asked for the link to the Jesus Rap we played at the end of the sermon.  You can click on this link to see it again:  http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=WUQYJ77qa50

• This Sunday the Myth we will bust is this:  "All Religions are Alike," or "All Religion lead to the same God."  The aim of this message is not to "put down" other religions.  Its purpose is not to intimidate people, but to introduce people to their heavenly Father!  So don't be afraid to invite your friends to come worship with you!  Hopefully, you will have a lot to talk about after this message!

Lastly, please make a note that on Sunday, May 16 we will have a brief congregational meeting to make a minor adjustment to our By-laws.  Ballots will be available that day if you cannot stay for the meeting.  Details will be in the next two worship bulletins!

 

Love in Jesus,

 

Pastor John

Worship Warriors!

Dear Crosswalkers,

 

 

Worship songwriter Brian Doerksen has written a number of popular songs such as: "Refiner's Fire" (1990), "Faithful One", "Come Now is the Time to Worship" (1998), "Hope of the Nations," (2003), "Holy God", and "Today (As For Me and My House)".  His passion is to lead God's people into authentic worship.  In the most recent issue of "Men of Integrity" magazine, he shares these thought provoking words:

 

The gathering of the church is meant to be a number of things: a hospital to heal the sick and wounded; a family where everyone is accepted; a school where we are taught the Word of God; and an army that engages and defeats the Enemy to see the kingdom of God advance. 

 

I like this array of metaphors for the church!  Now read on as he expands on the last one:

 

Becoming a worshiper means becoming a warrior... surrendered to God. Warriors who know that their authority comes because they are under authority—warriors willing to wait (even when everyone else is rushing ahead) or act decisively to walk in obedience.

 

We can be little 'w' warriors because our King is a capital 'W' Warrior. He's a warrior, not because he loves to kill and destroy, but because he defends and protects his own. Our King is a warrior because there is a rebellion against his rule and reign.

So our worship experience is designed to be part healing, part teaching and encouraging, and also part overcoming spiritual forces that would defeat us.  Worship involves claiming our position as a warrior for God who wants us to defeat evil and live a triumphant life!  Let's embrace this challenge!!

 

GOOD NEWS:  Our Faith Promises now total $107,000!!  This breaks through our goal, and with one more Sunday to collect Faith Promises we can do even greater!  I am blessed to be a part of a church family with this much faith in God to provide, even in a challenging economy!!

 

MORE GOOD NEWS:  Our Children's Pastor, Peggy Graves, had a successful hip transplant last Tuesday and for that we praise God!   Please continue to pray against any infections and for a full recovery!

 

EVEN MORE GOOD NEWS:  This Sunday we continue our "Mythbusters" series where we will bust through the myth that our Lord Jesus was merely a good moral teacher.  The message is entitled, "The Truth About Jesus!"  See you Sunday!

 

Blessings,

 

Pastor John  

Mythbusting Modern Art

Dear Crosswalkers,

 

Here's an interesting story that appeared in the on-line edition of the Times out of Great Britain.  According to this article, the Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow, Scotland, is hosting a series of exhibitions called "Made in God's Image."  Sounds intriguing, does it not?  The exhibition includes Untitled 2009, which consists of a simple, opened Bible.  Hmmmm.  Next to the Bible is a container of pens and a notice which reads, "If you feel you have been excluded from the Bible, please write your way back into it."  What?!!

 

This is craziness on several levels.  First, there is no one who is excluded from the Bible!  It is God's word to us!  "For God so loved the world..."  People may feel excluded, but the fact is they are not!  This book is for everyone!  Furthermore, the Bible is not an ongoing human project that can be added to at any-ones whim.  There are very stern words about those who would want to add to the Scripture and "write your way back into it." 

 

The response to this "Modern Art" has been disconcerting.  Visitors to the exhibit have written some fairly pernicious and angry comments.  According to the article, one person wrote: "This is all sexist pish [a word used to express deep disdain], so disregard it all." Another wrote on the first page of Genesis, "I am Bi, Female, and Proud. I want no God who is disappointed in this." Others have even taken the opportunity to change Bible verses they didn't like, including Genesis 1:1, to prove that everything about the Bible and God himself is man-made!  The producers of the exhibition said they would expunge the most offensive pages.  Nevertheless, believers in the U.K. are upset that the show had been staged at all. "This is symbolic of the state of our broken and lawless society," said Andrea Minichiello Williams, director of the Christian Legal Centre. "We have got to a point where we call the desecration of the Bible modern art. The Biblestands for everything this art does not: for creation, beauty, hope, and regeneration."  AMEN!

This Sunday we continue our series entitled "Mythbusters."  The myth we will attempt to bust is the one that says, usually dismissively, "The Bible is full of errors."   The intended takeaway is that the Bible is not to be trusted.  We are going to blow this myth out of the water!!  Please come and join us! 

 

Shifting the topic to missions, our Faith Promise missions program has now jumped forward to $87,820!!  We praise God for this response!  We are less than $13,000 shy of our goal.  Please consider making a Faith Promise if you haven't already done so!  God made us for missions! 

 

Have a wonderful weekend and I hope to see you Sunday!

 

Affectionately in Christ,

 

Pastor John

Mythbusters: Seeing Red!

Dear Crosswalkers,

 

     Don't some things leave you seeing red?  On the Mythbusters TV show, that popular myth was BUSTED!  It turns out that Spanish matadors began using a red cape in bullfighting some 300 years ago.  From those humble beginnings, people have perpetuated the myth that red makes bulls go wild.  To test this myth, the shows producers decided to put makeshift matadors into an arena, each holding a flag of a different color, and wait to see if an angry bull would really "see red."  It turns out, the motionless red, blue and white flags got equally half-hearted attacks from the bulls. In order to elicit an aggressive charge, the flags had to be waved.  Even then, the color red isn't what causes bulls to attack, it is whatever object is moving the most.  The bulls don't care what color it is!  Another popular myth is BUSTED!

 

     On Easter Sunday we began a new series of messages entitled "Mythbusters."  We are looking a popular myths people have about God, the Bible, Life, and What it means to be a follower of Jesus.  THIS SUNDAY WE WILL BUST TWO OF THE BIGGEST MYTHS THAT KEEP PEOPLE FROM COMING TO FAITH IN JESUS!!  This would be an excellent time to invite a friend or family member who is not yet a believer to come and check it out!

 

     We have received a very good response from this series so far!  Please join me in praying for its effectiveness in reaching those who have been held in spiritual bondage to the subtle yet pernicious myths of our day! 

 

      By the way, our Faith Promises for 2010-2011 now total $77,380!  I am stoked by the faith we have in these tough times that God will provide for us to make a difference in this world through missions!  Personally, I am hoping we hit the $100,000 mark.  If you have not yet made a Faith Promise, you can do so once again this Sunday! 

 

Love in Jesus,

Pastor John 

A Correction, A Report, and A Quote

Dear Friends,

 

I have three things to share with you today:

 

A CORRECTION - In yesterday's email I inadvertently put the normal time for our school chapel service, but because tomorrow is Good Friday, our special chapel service  for our school will be at 11:00 a.m., not the earlier time I mentioned yesterday.  All are welcome!

A REPORT - We ended up receiving $88,045 for our 2009/2010 Faith Promise year!  Many thanks to those who gave at the eleventh hour because it really made a difference in our ability to support our missionaries during these hard times.  This means God provided 72% of our total amount promised, which is very good in our challenging economic environment.  And after just one Sunday, our Faith Promises for the 2010/2011 year are $59,080!  Again, historically it takes several weeks for all our Faith Promises to come in, so this is a great start!  If you have not yet participated in our Faith Promise adventure, there will be forms available in our worship center for the next few weeks.  Let's see if we can't demonstrate great faith in hard times by breaking the $100,000 barrier!

 

A QUOTE - Here is a fascinating quote that is attributed to an anonymous 18th century Scottish writer:

The average age of the world’s great civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through the following sequence...from bondage to spiritual faith...from spiritual faith to courage...from courage to liberty...from liberty to abundance...from abundance to selfishness...from selfishness to complacency…from complacency to apathy...from apathy to dependency...from dependency back to bondage.

 

Where is America in this sequence?  Some have suggested we are moving from complacency to apathy.  Resurrection Power is what gives us the ability to reject apathy and work for the Kingdom of God!  This Easter, may we know with the apostle Paul, "the power of his resurrection"!

I hope to see you at tonight's Holy Thursday Communion service!

 

Because He Lives,

Pastor John