Archive for March, 2010

The Gospel Part 4

Icebreaker: What is something someone has said to you that changed the way you live?

Read Luke 23:34 Luke 23:43

Who was Jesus most concerned about here? Why? (they may have had no idea who he was or what he may or may not have done).

Have you ever had to forgive someone that wronged you and they did not even know it?  Why?

What is paradise to you? What is paradise in the text?

What did this criminal see that the other did not see in Jesus?

Why is forgiveness so important? (Beyond the fact that it is part of how we get to heaven.)

Psalms 22- Psalms 69:21

Why would Jesus quote Old Testament scripture? Have you ever felt forsaken by God? Explain?  What was the result?

John 19:26-27 John 19:28

How do we take care of those earthly things and take care of those spiritual things? What are your thoughts on the humanity of Jesus in these verses?

Challenge for rest of week: Find someone you do or don’t know and say something to them you feel like will leave a lasting impression?

Here’s what to look for this weekend:

College World Series Mission Trip – June 18-20 is a date to set aside for a road trip. We are going to Omaha, NE to hand out bottles of water to people who are thirsty. The bottles will have a label that explains who Jesus is and how he is the only one who can quench our thirst (John 4:13-14). If you have never been on any kind of mission trip or you or would like a way to help people with your whole family (all ages), then this trip is for You! There is a sign-up sheet at the back of the chapel and there will be more information there for you this week.

GPS Lunch, Divide, and Conquer – This Sunday the 28th. Come to Webster at 12:30pm for lunch and to get to know your staff and their God story. After lunch we will divide up and take the 500 GPS packets all over town. We need your help!

Remember the Cafe is open from 5:30pm until worship starts and will be open after worship until 9:00pm. Bring a friend!

EF

Hey All!  I’m starting a series on the implications of worship.  Most of my blogs are just afterthoughts derived from the book “Worship Matters” by Bob Kauflin, so if you want to understand what Biblical worship better looks like, you should definitely check this book out (it’s not just for worship pastors).  This particular blog is about worshiping with our hears: what do we love?  Let’s jump right in!

For those of you who don’t know, a couple weeks ago Pastor Eric cut his finger  with a mandolin knife.  For the record, I have no idea what a mandolin knife looks like or even how sharp it is, but what I can assure you of is this: Jesus’s words cut far deeper than the sharpest of instruments this material world has to offer.  As we turn to Matthew’s Gospel we’ll find some of Christ’s heart piercing words.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21).

I don’t know if that falls heavy on you or not, but it sure does me.  To “treasure” something simply means “This is where you place your highest value.”  In knowing that we can say, “Whatever it is that you place highest value in, ‘there your heart will be.’”   Alright, now lets look at the meaning of the word “heart” in the second part of the verse.  According to Dictionary.com someone’s heart is “the center of [their] total personality.”  So if  the definitions I gave for the words “treasure” and “heart” are correct then we can rightly say, “Whatever you place highest value in, there the center of your total personality will be also.”

So what is it that you spend your time, energy, and money on?  If it’s not spent on Jesus, then you’re simply not finding your highest value in Him. Period.  Read these words from the heart of King David as you take a minute to let the Holy Spirit examine what you really treasure in life:

Whom have I in heaven but you?  And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.  My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
(Psalm 73:25-26 ESV)

Jesus paid too high a price for our half-hearted lip service.  We can’t fix our problems by merely reading our Bible, praying, or having fellowship with other believers.  The purpose of these disciplines is to cultivate affection and adoration in our hearts for the greatest love that ever lived: Jesus Christ.

Let the words of Bandon Heath’s song, “No Not One” stir your hearts in the worship of our great God.

\”No Not One\” – A Brandon Heath Cover

One of the biggest concerns of a pastor (whether or not it’s right) is to keep the status quo. We don’t want any one that comes to the worship service to feel uncomfortable or out of place. We don’t even want that in our weekly encounters and relationships. The problem is when it comes to following the spirit, there is no status quo. And comfort, that’s out the window. When things get awkward…well…it’s just weird. Anxiety sky rockets, blood pressure rises, and panic usually ensues. Awkwardness, surprisingly enough, isn’t a feeling that always need to be avoided. On Evotional.com, Mark Batterson gives a new perspective on feeling awkward:

I think awkwardness is one key to spiritual growth. Are you willing to do things that feel awkward like kneel at an altar or obey a spirit-prompting or have a hard conversation? If you are, then God can use you! Those things involve a degree of awkwardness but they often lead to spiritual breakthroughs. I’m at a place in life and ministry where I crave awkwardness. I want to look awkward. I want to feel awkward.

On Friday I met with a group of students and something came over me as I prayed for them. I’d never even met any of them before but I cried as I prayed. It was a little awkward. But sometimes that is the difference between generic prayers and prophetic prayers. At our Saturday night service, I didn’t feel like God was done with us so we went into overtime. I felt like there were things that people needed to submit to the Lordship of Christ. It was a little awkward. But one of our prayer leaders told me that she prayed with someone who gave her life to Christ during that time.

Let’s not avoid awkwardness. Let’s create it, cultivate it, and celebrate it.

You can check out Mark at Evotional.com

EF

Just wanted to throw out some announcements in a way that shows how we are keeping in line with the Discipleship Process that God has put in place at CrossPoint. Here are some things currently going on at CrossPoint.

Connect: Every Saturday night we connect with you and try to create an environment conducive to you connecting with Christ.

Grow: We currently have 2 Grow Groups. 1 on Monday nights at 6:30 and 1 on Tuesday nights at 6:30. Now is the perfect time to get involved in one of our groups. We are always looking to start new groups. If you like to hang out with like-minded people and discuss that week’s sermon than a Grow Group is for you.

Serve: There are always plenty of opportunities on Saturday nights. If you would like to help with childcare, greeting, the cafe, or use whatever gifts you have, we have a place for you. We are also collecting materials for “Buckets of Hope” in an attempt to serve other countries. Also each Grow Group comes up with a service project to do as a group each quarter.

Reach: We have two mission trips planned for this spring and summer. The first is April 18-19 to inner city Des Moines, Iowa to help with a woman’s retreat. The second is June 18-20 in Omaha, Nebraska handing out free water at the College World Series. We will also take part in GPS (God’s Plan for Sharing) March 28th at 12:30 meeting at Webster. For more info on any of these just let us know.

Back for another edition of Weekend Prep… Hope your ready!

Saturday night will be the grand opening of the newest addition to our repertoire here at CrossPoint Salina.

“The Point Cafe” will be open at 5:30pm this week. Come to worship early and enjoy a drink and something to eat. The Cafe team has been working really hard to make this a place for you to relax, reflect, and relate. Bring a friend!

Just a reminder to bring all of your “Buckets of Hope” items Saturday night so we can put those together and send them off to Haiti. Please feel free to stay and help put the buckets together and have a cookie! Lets be honest…we are definitely bribing you with cookies.

Sunday, March 28th we would like for you to meet us here at Webster for lunch and to help us pass out our GPS (God’s Plan for Sharing) packets. These packets are directly tied to the commercials that you might be seeing on national prime time TV. Both the TV ads and the packets will point people to www.findithere.com. You will also get to hear some of the staff share about their story and testimony. We will be hanging the packets on doors throughout Salina so that people might get to hear about how much Jesus loves them and wants them to know who he is! Lunch will start at 12:30. Don’t miss this!

Hope to see you Saturday night as Andy is continuing his series on “The Gospel”.

EF

Ok, I have a confession to make!

I am a post-it note junkie!

If it were not for the little pieces of pure genius my life would be a disaster. I have them everywhere and use them for everything from bookmarks to copying recipes that stick on the inside of my kitchen cabinets. (Although I have found they don’t stick to well to things in the freezer!)  My favorites are stuck around my computer and hidden in my daily calendar. They are thoughts from sermons, authors and my quiet time.

One of the challenges as staff is to blog consistently on our site. Another confession is about to take place. I am not a writer or blogger and have not done my job well! So at the encouragement of Eric I will be sharing Post-it note thoughts! I will do my best not to include recipes or weird notes to myself. The following is one that is stuck on my computer after hearing the thoughts of Michael Roberson, a Collegiate Staff member at camp last summer, on servanthood. It’s a great reminder of who we are!

*Servanthood– a condition of being a servant—state or condition of something

* A servant sees people through compassionate eyes and seeks to minister to them.

*A servant sees a situation and seeks to improve upon it.

Small note, but big truths. The last one is the one that has stuck with me. It is much like the challenge that Pastor Andy gave us several weeks ago. Go ahead and try it! See it and improve upon it! It may be at the line in Wal-Mart, at the restaurant, the work place, the parking lot, the lunch room, in Math class, or maybe even in your own home. It is the way Jesus lived for the hungry, the sick, the dead, the lonely, the sinner! He improved things everywhere he went. It may take some sacrifice and risk. It sure did for Jesus! We should know, he did it for us!

Thanks to Michael for the sticky note thoughts! She not only explains it well, she lives it out!

Happy Weekend!

So many cool things are coming up for CrossPoint Salina! Here are a few of the things you can be looking forward to this weekend:

• This week we start an new series called “The Gospel”. For the next five weeks we  will be really digging into the testimony of the four men who wrote about living with Jesus. This is better than any Barbara Walters interview! The last message of this series will be on Easter weekend. Don’t miss this great opportunity to invite people who need to understand who Jesus is and what He did for us.
• We are collecting items for “Buckets of Hope” to send to Haiti. There are specific instructions on what they need and how to pack it. Click here for more information. Find out more Saturday night.
• Only one more week to invite people to the CONNECT event at Central High School. We will have more flyers for you to pick up tomorrow night. If you have not already joined the CrossPoint Salina Facebook page, sign -up and then you can invite as many people as you want from the CONNECT event page. Over 200 invites have already been sent, I think we can double that this week!

See you tomorrow night

EF

F5 – Rapidly rotating winds that can level homes to their foundations, over turn vehicles and scatter debris over hundreds of yards.

F5 – Coordinate for a possible sink of an Aircraft Carrier, Battleship, Cruiser, Patrol Boat or Submarine in the game Battleship.

F5 – Friday’s @ 5PM – Designated time for prayer for CrossPoint Salina.

Why F5???

• It’s a transition point into the weekend – many people are in their car on their way home from work… a perfect time to turn off the music and spend some time with God!
• It’s 24 hours before set up begins for our Saturday service at CrossPoint.
• And well, since you’re supposed to have at least three good reasons… it’s just a good time to pray!

F5 Prayer Requests:

• God would bring people to fill the seats of CrossPoint Salina to hear the message of Jesus!
• Live Streaming Details & Technology
• Leadership @ all campuses
• Worship Band
• The children and childcare workers of CrossPoint
• That our fellowship would grow in their personal relationship with Christ and their desire to serve others!

Set your cell phones or alarm clocks to remind you of F5… stop and pray and let’s see how CrossPoint’s F5 will change the community!