| The LifeLine | ||
| February 2010 | ||
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from Pastor Tom’s Desk R ecently we had our yearly elder’s retreat at The Fellowship Deaconry. Our retreats usually comprise of prayer, praise and planning, and okay some Apples to Apples, it’s quite competitive. A verse of Scripture, that has motivated me since the 80’s for ministry methodology at Crossroads, was front and center to our strategizing. The verse is:The men of Issachar, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do
If you look around in your church today, two-thirds of the young people who are sitting among us have already left in their hearts; soon they will be gone for good. This is the alarming conclusion from a study Answers in Genesis commissioned from America's Research Group, led by respected researcher Britt Beemer. The results may unnerve you - they may shake long-held assumptions to the core - but these results need to be taken seriously by the church. Already Gone reveals: • Why America's churches have lost an entire generation of believers
The study found that we are losing our kids in elementary, middle school, and high school rather than college. This is an alarming wake-up call for the church, showing how our programs and our approaches to Christian education are failing...and our children are paying the price. Though the statistics reveal a huge disconnect taking place between our children and their church experience, Already Gone shows how to fight back for our families, our churches, and our world. We can make a difference today that will affect the statistics of tomorrow in a positive and Christ-focused way! Some stats include...
With this information mind, and our children at Crossroads in our hearts we will be laying out a comprehensive strategy for all our youth ministries. This includes: Youth Group, Sunday School, Children’s Church, Friday Night Kid’s Klubs and VBS. It will not be done all at once, that would be overwhelming. But it will be implemented over time. Our expectations are that leaders would get behind this, that parents would be appreciative to the elders for concern and oversight of Youth Ministries and most of all our greatest hope is to raise young people who love and follow Jesus Christ. For more info: www.answersingenesis.org
Resolved, to examine carefully, and constantly, what that one thing in me is, which causes me in the least to doubt of the love of God; and to direct all my forces against it. Jonathan Edwards What could God give us to enjoy that would prove Him most loving? There is only one possible answer: Himself! If He withholds Himself from our contemplation and companionship, no matter what else He gives us, He is not loving. John Piper Christ died not in order to make God love us, but because He did love His people. Calvary is the supreme demonstration of Divine love. Whenever you are tempted to doubt the love of God, Christian reader, go back to Calvary. A.W. Pink The greatest sorrow and burden you can lay upon the Father, the greatest unkindness you can do to Him is not to believe that He loves you. John Owen I measure Your love for me by the magnitude of the wrath I deserved and the wonder of Your mercy by putting Christ in my place. John Piper While God is not pleased with my sin and may discipline me in order to turn me from destructive paths and practices, His love for me does not diminish in any degree. He gave Himself for my sins in their entirety, so that I might have His love in its entirety… Accepting this reality of God’s unchanging regard is necessary for us to make progress in the Christian life. Bryan Chapell Christ’s atoning work does not change God’s wrath to love, for God’s love is itself the source of the atonement. George Eldon Ladd The extent of God’s love at Calvary is seen in both the infinite cost to Him of giving His one and only Son, and in the wretched and miserable condition of those He loved. God could not remove our sins without an infinite cost to both Himself and His Son. And because of their great love for us, both were willing – yes more than merely willing – to pay that great cost, the Father in giving His one and only Son, and the Son in laying down His life for us. One of the essential characteristics of love is the element of self-sacrifice, and this was demonstrated for us to its ultimate in God’s love at Calvary. Jerry Bridges
The love of God can be a profound answer to just about any human struggle, but sometimes we can use it in such a way that it becomes a watered down version of profoundly rich truth. For example, sometimes, because of shortcomings in us rather than Scripture, this answer misses the call to "consider others better than yourselves" (Phil. 2:3), or it ignores personal repentance. Sometimes it still allows us and our needs to be at the center of the world, and God becomes our psychic errand boy given the task of inflating our self-esteem. Edward T. Welch If we want proof of God’s love for us, then we must look first at the Cross where God offered up His Son as a sacrifice for our sins. Calvary is the one objective, absolute, irrefutable proof of God’s love for us. Jerry Bridges In some way, it is natural for us to wish that God had designed for us a less glorious and less arduous destiny; but then we are wishing not for more love but for less. C.S. Lewis Down through the years God’s love has shined through misery, tears, and sin like a shaft of sunlight on a dark day. We see God’s love in His revelation, in His mercy, in His patience, and in His redemption. We see the love of God as the infinite One becomes an infant in Bethlehem’s manger. We see it in His life and ministry. And most of all we see it as He hangs on the cross, dying for our sins. George Sweeting We mistakenly look for tokens of God’s love in happiness. We should instead look for them in His faithful and persistent work to conform us to Christ. Jerry Bridges Who can add to Christmas? The perfect motive is that God so loved the world. The perfect gift is that He gave His only Son. The only requirement is to believe in Him. The reward of faith is that you shall have everlasting life. Corrie ten Boom Jesus did not come to make God’s love possible, but to make God’s love visible. Author Unknown The Cross is the ultimate evidence that there is no length the love of God will refuse to go in effecting reconciliation. Kent Hughes Nothing binds me to my Lord like a strong belief in His changeless love. C.H. Spurgeon The only ground of God’s love is His love. The ground of God’s love is only and wholly in Himself. There is neither portion nor proportion in us to draw His love. There is no love nor loveliness in us that should cause a bean of His love to shine upon us. Thomas Brooks The words "God is love" have no real meaning unless God contains at least two Persons. Love is something that one person has for another person. If God was a single person then before the world was made, He was not love. C.S. Lewis God loves each one of us as if there were only one of us to love. Augustine
William Wilberforce (1759 – 1833) English philanthropist; antislavery crusader Born in Hull, Wilberforce studied in desultory fashion at Cambridge, then in 1780 entered Parliament and became a strong supporter of William Pitt, who persuades Wilberforce to devote himself to the abolition of the slave trade. In this cause he opposed many in the empire who had powerful vested interest, and he opposed those who regarded slavery as "a natural and scriptural institution." The reformers finally triumphed in 1807 when the slave trade was done away with, though abolition of slavery itself had to wait until 1833. Wilberforce, who had been converted at twenty-five, was the most famous figure associated with the Clapham Sect, which sought to do for the upper classes what Wesley had done for the lower. They used their wealth and influence in Christian outreach. He supported missions, fought to improve the condition of the poor and prisoners, and in 1804 helped to form the British and Foreign Bible Society. He also supported Catholic emancipation. Wilberforce, who was once described as "the unauthorized interpreter of the national conscience," published in 1797 his Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System, which ran through many editions. THOUGHTS by Chambers The Divine Commandment of Life . . . be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect —Matthew 5:48 Our Lord’s exhortation to us in Matthew 5:38-48 is to be generous in our behavior toward everyone. Beware of living according to your natural affections in your spiritual life. Everyone has natural affections— some people we like and others we don’t like. Yet we must never let those likes and dislikes rule our Christian life. "If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another" ( 1 John 1:7 ), even those toward whom we have no affection.
The example our Lord gave us here is not that of a good person, or even of a good Christian, but of God Himself. ". . . be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." In other words, simply show to the other person what God has shown to you. And God will give you plenty of real life opportunities to prove whether or not you are "perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." Being a disciple means deliberately identifying yourself with God’s interests in other people. Jesus says, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" ( John 13:34-35 ).The true expression of Christian character is not in good-doing, but in God-likeness. If the Spirit of God has transformed you within, you will exhibit divine characteristics in your life, not just good human characteristics. God’s life in us expresses itself as God’s life, not as human life trying to be godly. The secret of a Christian’s life is that the supernatural becomes natural in him as a result of the grace of God, and the experience of this becomes evident in the practical, everyday details of life, not in times of intimate fellowship with God. And when we come in contact with things that create confusion and a flurry of activity, we find to our own amazement that we have the power to stay wonderfully poised even in the center of it all. MISSIONS "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' – Jesus (Matthew 25:40) Rebuilding Haiti If you wish to contribute to the relief and rebuilding of Haiti following the aftermath of the recent earth quake please consider donating through Amour~En~Action www.amourenaction.org.Manny Duvelson: Vice President. (Manny and his wife Perette are active members of Crossroads. Perette’s father is a pastor in Haiti.) Amour~en~Action is a non-profit Christian Organization dedicated to providing humanitarian and educational services to the needy citizens of Haiti. Our mission is to improve their living conditions while creating hope for a brighter future. 100% of donated funds go to the rebuilding needs in Haiti. Contributions are tax deductable. Contributions may be sent directly to the organization: Check payable; Amour~En~Action, c/o Manny Duvelson, 1306 Shetland Drive, Union, NJ 07083
2 million more people have access to Scriptures: Faith Comes By Hearing audio Scriptures allow people access to the Gospel in their own language; they do not have to be literate. International (MNN) ― Thanks to persistent translations efforts around the world, audio New Testaments are available in 14 more languages. An additional 2.1 million people spanning 12 countries and four continents have access to the Scriptures in their own languages now--whether they are literate or not. All of this is because of the work of Faith Comes By Hearing and their partners. FCBH has a passion and goal to reach 2,000 languages with audio Bibles by the year 2016.According to FCBH, "Forty-eight percent of the world's population, or 3.3 billion people, are too poor to afford a Bible and are unable to read." These recordings allow even more people exposure to Scriptures and the message of Christ's love because they can listen without being literate. "The lack of literacy does not mean these people are less intelligent," said Morgan Jackson, international director for FCBH. "When oral tools are used to disciple and reach people with God's Word, the impact is powerful. When they hear God's Word in an oral form, in their mother tongue, the insights they have are profound." With these new recordings, FCBH moves even closer to their goal of helping more of these people. To date, FCBH has 482 audio Scriptures in 414 languages, and of those recordings, more than 445 are available as free downloads. The Bible Times Rift widens in Jesus ‘ camp Bethany, c. AD 33 Discontent among followers of Jesus boiled over here for the third time in as many weeks when they complained about a money-wasting gesture bestowed on their teacher by a grateful supporter. Mary the sister of Lazarus who Jesus brought back to life recently, anointed the miracle-worker with a flask full of expensive perfume. It was probably a thank-you gesture for the safe return of her brother. ‘It was a total waste of money,’ said an exasperated Judas Iscariot, who act as treasurer for the inner circle of 12 disciples. ‘If she didn’t want the ointment we could have sold it and given the proceeds to the poor.’ Jesus defused the outburst by pointing out that there will always be poor people who need help, but he will not always be with them. ‘She did it for my burial," he added, ‘so leave her alone.’ Rifts among the formerly close-knit group had widened earlier is Jericho, on the journey here. There was a strong argument after James and John, two of Jesus’ closest aides, had pressed him to appoint them as his chief advisors and ministers. They were encouraged to seek clarification of the future shape of Jesus’ work by the forbidding figure of their mother. Jesus ruled that there will be no pre-appointed successor to him, and that places in his leadership team will not be allocated in advance. He is therefore discounting the possibility that he will set up an alternative ‘kingdom’ organized on imperial lines. He repeated his standard – and seemingly impractical – assertion that in his group it is a matter of ‘first come, first servant’; the most ambitious member of his team must serve rather than direct others. He cited his own example of having served them, and warned them that they might have to ‘drink the cup that I shall drink’. He appears to imply that they are called to suffer human and perhaps even divine wrath. Other rumblings of discontent are occurring in the Jesus camp among followers who are openly skeptical about the wisdom of going to Jerusalem at this time of year. The jealous and jittery religious authorities are said to be looking to arrest Jesus on many charges they can make stick. Jesus has added to their fears by speaking repeatedly about the inevitability of being betrayed and condemned. He add mysteriously that he will ‘rise again’, and without understanding him his close followers seem at present prepared to trust his judgment – just. (Matthew 20:17-28; Mark 10;32-45; luke 18:31-34; 22:24-27.) Ask Pastor Tom... These questions can be theological and non-theological in nature: Q: What is the point about the prophet who lies and deceives another prophet, and that deceived prophet is killed by a lion?A: The story is recorded for us in 1 Kings 13:1-34 and at first glance one wonders why the lying prophet isn’t immediately judged like the prophet he deceived. I believe that if we understand that direct obedience to the LORD supersedes all then the passage makes sense why judgment fell quickly to this prophet. It also serves as a sign to the disobedient king Jeroboam, who refuses to repent. To Obey is better than SacrificeYouth Group Some of our youth could benefit from earning money and jobs are hard to come by. If you have a chore that needs to be done contact Dan Schaeffer who will match a teen(s) who is best suited to handle that assignment. Even if you cannot pay for their services, still contact Dan as Christian volunteer service has perhaps even more value. Contribution towards Youth retreats/events. Dan 732.233.1300 Twins! Congratulations to Lee & Liza Lunique for the birth of their twins Makayla and Emmanuel Lunique born 1-16-10 at 4:09 and 4:10pm.
We extend our deepest sympathy and heartfelt prayers to the family and loved ones of Cheryl Rapacon and Lily De Torres, yet we rejoice that they are safe with Jesus. Currently we are working on providing headsets for Spanish speaking listeners during the 11:00am Service. The equipment needed is a little costly, but will be worth it. Each person will need their own headset (cost: approx: $200). If you would like to contribute to this ministry see me or Chuck Russo in the Tech Ministry. We will also need translators for this ministry.
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