Here's What's Happening...

Great day this past Sunday as we shared Part 2 of our current series Game Plan.  Again, TONS of first-time attenders!  I talk to people in the ministry all the time.  People like church planters and pastors, and they will tell you that averaging 15 to 20 first-time attenders a week, in a church our size, in a town our size is just something that is not normal.  I shared with many of you some months ago, that I really sensed that a wave of growth was coming in the Fall for Crossroads, and I think we are seeing the pre-cursor of that wave finally hit the shore.  I really believe that God is up to something big on the earth, and in our community, and the truly remarkable thing is, He has invited you and I to participate in it.

With that invitation though comes a responsibility, and it's a respinsibility not to be taken lightly.  It's as if God - as He is doing in many, many churches around the world - has passed the baton to Crossroads, and He's saying, "Look, I'm putting this in your hands.  Don't drop it.  It's precious and it's important".  We need to know that God has invited us to play a significant role in what He is up to, and we have to ask ourselves, "Are we up for what He is up to?"  It's gut-check time.  We must grasp the reality that for you and me perhaps the most significant thing we do, not in the church but with our lives, is to care for His church, to nurture it and help it grow, so that we might hand it off healthy to the next generation.  I am up for it.  How about you?

This coming Sunday is probably the single most important service we've ever had at Crossroads.  Please make every effort to be there.  If you are up for what God is up to, you do not want to miss this coming Sunday.  We're halfway through our series Game Plan, and it's the perfect moment (halftime) to head for the locker room and get the game plan for the second half of the game.  Every time we take the field in life, we have a choice.  We can choose to finish each play strong, or we can choose to let up and let others take responsibility for covering our assignment.  But as we choose, we're wise if we understand that finishing each play is ultimately the only way to win the game.

Yeah, yeah, I like football, okay?  I dig sports metaphors.  And the reason I do is because what happens on the field of play so accurately depicts the reality of many of the struggles and challenges we face in life.  In closing, I offer this absolutely rock solid promise to you: this Sunday's service at Crossroads will be completely unlike anything you have ever experienced here before.  Be here, as we dig in to learning more about God's game plan for our lives. 

Come with the expectation that God will speak to your heart.  See you Sunday.

 

WEEKEND UPDATE (091911)

Greetings and salutations Crossroads family!  Smashing day Sunday as we "kicked-off" a new football-themed series called Game Plan.  I don't know about you, but this series is EXACTLY what I need in my life, and the timing couldn't be better!  This series, though not original to Crossroads, is like every series we do, in that I personally learn as much as anyone, and I get as much as anyone out of it.  I trust that you get everything God has for you out of the next four weeks, and that you're able to apply what you are learning to your life! 

Here's a few of the many things that stood out to me yesterday:

• The trend continues with first-time attenders!  We are experiencing a HUGE wave of growth in the number of people coming through our doors!  Reach out to those coming for the first time.  Walk across the lobby to shake hands with someone you've never met before.  And continue to invite BIG!
• Many people made high quality life-changing decisions to renew their relationship with Christ, or to go public with their faith through baptism!  (Don't forget: Beach, BBQ & Baptism, Sunday October 9th, 3:00PM Lake Tholocco, East Beach)
• Loved the band Sunday!  Great job on worship and the 'Queen' tune!  You guys absolutely ROCK.  I think Crossroads is blessed with the most awesome worship team going, period!
• This new series is incredible.  Just sayin'.  If you were not there on Sunday, you must-must-must go to our website, click on media and watch Game Plan, Part 1! 

Here's just a few of the things you might have heard if you were there Sunday:

• "There IS a God, and this God has a GREAT PLAN for your life!"
• "If you don't understand the Fundamentals of the Game, you're not going to understand the Game Plan."
• "When you understand Who Jesus is, and the potential on the inside of you, you live life on a higher plan (like Lazarus, the second time around)!"
• "God's answer to the question, 'God, what is Your will for my life', is this: "I AM your life!"
• "When you understand that God IS your life, and not just a COMPONENT of your life, you begin to understand that the focus of your life is not a FUTURE.  The focus of your life is a person.  Jesus."
• "When your focus is on Jesus (and not on a future), He leads you to the future He has for you!"
• "Maybe you have heard that God loves you, and that's true.  Maybe you have heard the God is for you, and that's also true.  Maybe you have heard that God is with you, and that is true as well.  but maybe you have not heard that God is actually LIVING on the INSIDE of you!"
• "As you shift your focus from your FUTURE to your SAVIOR, the BIG QUESTION of our lives actually changes from 'God, what do you want me to do with my life?', to 'God, what do you want me to do with YOUR life, that is WITHIN ME?'"

    Favorite comment from Connection Cards on Sunday:

• (In reference to the way I was dressed), "It's a referee!  It's a Foot Locker employee!  It's Pastor Gene!"

Remember how we ended things Sunday: "For the next seven days, will you just allow God to be God, and stop trying to control the future?  For the next seven days, will you simply...rest?"  Have a GREAT week.  See you next Sunday for Part 2 of Game Plan!

GUEST BLOGGER: Dave Clark (Prophet/Mystic Cajun)

Third in a continuing series of guest blog posts from my friend Dave Clark.  No editing.  No disclaimer. 

OF LUST AND RESONANCE AND TRIPPING SPIRITS

Some time ago, I worked for a Christian organization. One day an employee, a woman who was a counselor, came into the front office to fill out an accident report about an incident that happened that morning. In going down the stairs of the building, she had tripped and twisted her ankle. Thankfully, her injury was minor. But in relaying the incident to the clerk for the report she said this had happened due to a “spirit of tripping”. That's right, that's why I put it in quotes; direct from her mouth. Now as I often do when impacted by the absurd, I joked. So I asked her, had this tripping spirit, did she suppose, not done to well in demon school, top honorees garnering such powerful evils as lust and greed, while the lesser darknesses were left to reign over horrors such as tripping and nose-picking? She was not amused. 

I joked with her because what I wanted to ask her was, 'could it be possible you tripped on the stairs because of female vanity'. (She was always dressed very well and liked high heels though stairs were a mandatory part of our job). I thought the joke would be slightly less dangerous to my health than this comment. 

The woman comes from a prevalent religious background that sees spirits behind virtually all events and spiritual warfare a constant, like gravity. Please hear me clearly; I most surely believe the spirits exist and that warfare with them is possible and for a Christian, inevitable. But they are not the whole story, or even the major part of the story. 

The story is about us, and what we are made of. You see, the demons don't stand outside us trying to trip us (though surely tripping is what they wish us). No, the demons are on the inside, trying to get us to join in their fun and games. And far too often we listen. They sing a song that so many times strikes a responsive chord in us, and we resonate to it. Jesus said it this way: “You are from below; I am from above. You belong to this world; I do not” (John 8:23). 

Jesus was tempted like us and yet didn't sin (Hebrews 4:15). Why? The usual response, from the temptation stories, was that he quoted Scripture back to Satan. Now I am sure that bathing in the Word is of great use in combating evil. But that isn't the whole picture. I am certain that also there was no resonant chord in Jesus for Satan to strum. Not so much with us. 

This realization allows those, who are willing, to be humble before God, knowing they are fatally flawed and only he can mend them. 

But we would rather think there is a spirit tripping us down the stairs than to acknowledge we like our sexy high heels and the way they make us feel. It is much more comforting to man our watchtowers gazing diligently into the dark, than it is to admit the enemy is already inside the gate sitting down to dinner with us. “Pass the gravy, please”.

Weekend Update (9-11-11)

Greeetings in the name of Jesus Christ!  It's been more than a week since I shared a blog post - a week filled with pressing deadlines and uphill climbs, a week fraught with potholes and speedbumps, and a week that saw tragic circumstances for one of our beloved Crossroads families as they say goodbye to a cherished loved one.  It was also a week in which we mourned as a people for those lost on September 11th, 2001. 

That said, I greet this Monday morning with the peace of God which passes all understanding, and joy in the Holy Ghost!  Jesus is alive and well and beckoning us into a life-changing, soul-saving relationship with our heavenly Father!  God be praised!

Sunday, as we honored the memory of all who were lost on 9-11 by observing a moment of silence and praying for our nation, we wrapped up our series City of Progress sharing from the 8th Chapter of the Book of Nehemiah.

I strongly encourage you - if you missed even one week of this compelling teaching series, go HERE right away and catch up on the services you missed.  I promise you, it will be time well spent!  Here's just a few of the things that stood out to me:

• "The RUBBLE in your life reveals the TROUBLE in your life".  The rubble isn't the problem.  Just like for the people of Jerusalem, the rubble was an indicator of how far they had wandered from God's purpose for their lives.  Nehemiah is the guy that says, "Look past the rubble of financial meltdowns, problems in your relationships, marital discord and dissatisfaction with your jobs, and see that all of those troubles are rooted in wandering from God's purpose for your life".   
• "The TROUBLE in your life comes through the GATES in your life".  Though none of us could be expected to control many of the challenges, difficulties and tragic circumstances that come our way, if we're honest, many of the troubles in our lives are events (or sequences of events) that we ourselves have authored.  Nehemiah is the guy that says, "Honoring God means that we must be dilligent and responsible Gatekeepers".  We're not responsible for the thoughts that come our way, we're only responsible for what we do with those thoughts after they've arrived.  When we allow potentially destructive or dangerous things to enter unabated and ancontrolled through the gates of our eyes, ears, and mind - and we decide to allow those things to stay so that we might dwell on them for a while - they captivate us, and ultimately capture our hearts.  Just as God's people we're taken captive for 70 years in Babylon, you and I can be taken captive by the things we allow to walk right in to our lives.

So many great things came about as a result of this series, I don't have time to mention but a few of them.  Here's a HUGE one: we averaged 20 First-Time Attenders each week of City of Progress!  Way to go Crossroads family!  Way to reach out into your world and invite BIG!  Also...Huge thanks to Nic, Janna and the band for letting me sit in with them a couple of times during this series.  That was SO COOL!

 

Next Sunday, September 18th we kick-off a brand new series called GAME PLAN.  Don't miss a week!  Have fun in small groups this week as you dig in to DRIVE!  Remember to pray for the lost, and continue to pray and believe God for 50 to be baptized at Beach, BBQ and Baptism on Sunday October 9th!  Peace.  

 

GUEST BLOGGER: Dave Clark (Prophet/Mystic/Cajun)

This is a continuing series of weekly guest posts by my friend Dave Clark.  No editing.  No disclaimers. - Gene 

"Love Wins”, Rob Bell's new book has caused a sensation, even garnering a Time magazine cover. People at church are talking about it too. So here's my two cents. The reason for all the controversy is Bell's belief (held by a prominent Evangelical) that there is no hell. Reaction has been fast and furious, mainly accusing him of attacking the truth of the Scriptures. More on that some other time. I don't think the problem lies with his view of Scripture but with his view of God. 

Freedom requires hell. There can be no love given truly and freely to God if there is no possibility of rejecting him. We know that even from this life. If someone coerces another into 'loving' them, we may call it many things, but not love. Can the infinite lover be any different? And if freedom to reject God must be honored, what state of being could that be? Rob has taken the view of so many Christians that hell is punishment and retribution. So a god that would promote it would be sadistic and cruel. Bell rightly rejects that view of God's character. But that is a misreading of the New Testament. Yes, there is imagery of fire and suffering but look at the full picture and the main thrust is summed up in the words of Jesus; 'I never knew you, depart from me your evildoers' (Matthew 7:23). The primary truth is separation from God. If you finally just can't stand God, where can you go? All beauty, all truth, all love and affection, all creation belong to God. If you reject the one who is everywhere, where is there for you to be? And if the only others with you are 'like minded' having rejected God and turned inward into endless self-absorption, what would you call that existence? Hell, maybe? 

Hell is primarily eternal quarantine in a self made sewer, and that instructs on Gods' character and purpose. He isn't consumed with hatred for 'the damned'. What if the prodigal son didn't “come to his senses”? Some never will, you know, and they won't ever come home. The father in Jesus' parable is a picture of God who suffered waiting for his son. God has made us and loves us and nothing can change that, not even hell. So for those who accept him, joy and relationship are eternally theirs and God rejoices in that fellowship. But those who reject him will never leave their Father's heart. For them he suffers eternally. That is, I’m certain, at least part of the meaning of Jesus' eternal scars. They speak of a God who loves us always, even if we never love him back; a God who chooses to suffer forever. 

It is a hard and terrible reality this freedom we have. With it we can love God and other humans, his very image, or use and abuse people and strike at the very heart of God. 

I think if Bell, or anyone else, would look at it that way they would see that no one will suffer because of hell any more than God.

BATTLE READY-TO-WEAR

When I came out of the bedroom this morning, after getting ready for the day, and came in the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee before heading out, I thought nothing of the fact that I was wearing an old pair of shorts, a comfortable shirt, and my running shoes.  Until I realized that it wasn't Saturday yet.  Oops.

While my attire was certainly comfomfortable - and totally appropriate for relaxing at home, or doing office work over the weekend (or going to church, haha!) - I was totally underdressed to be on a construction jobsite, or be in my office in a professional capacity, or attend a formal ceremony, or meet with clients, or do any number of other things that would happen on a normal work day.

Something we all recognize is that there is an appropriate way to clothe ourselves, depending on the situation we are in.  Whether your daily clothing is a military uniform, a suit and tie, a pair of scrubs, blue jeans and workboots, khaki's and a polo shirt, or whatever, you KNOW when you are dressed right, and when you're not.  You wouldn't think of showing up for formation in the same clothes you wear to the beach, or walk in the X-ray room at work in a party dress.  The strange thing is...we often miss the importance of putting on the right "spiritual clothing".  As a result, we often march right out of the house to face the biggest challenges of our lives buck-naked! 

How should we dress then?  The Bible says that our struggles in life are not simply against the things that we can see, but against unseen "spiritual forces of evil".  The Apostle Paul writes: 

"Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God".  (Ephesians 6:12-17)

Next time you're getting ready for the day, take a little inventory.  Got the right shoes, shirt, pants, belt, hat and tools for work?  Great!  But know this:  you and I aren't really dressed at all, until we're clothed with the full armor of God.  

So let me ask you, are you just dressed for work?  Or are you dressed for battle?