Preparation for Sunday, November 29, 2009
We will be celebrating the Advent season at Crossbridge over the next 5 weeks. During the service this Sunday, Chuck will be explaining Advent and why it is so important for us to remember the promised coming of the Messiah to the Jews, the coming of Jesus being born in Bethlehem, the promised return of the risen Christ in final victory, and the continual coming of Christ into the lives and hearts of believers. Advent is also a time where we will sing gospel centered hymns that are particular to this season. I will not list all of these hymns that we will be singing but I wanted you to know that you will not want to miss the first 5 minutes of the services during Advent!
Song Preparation: I encourage you listen to these songs each week so that you are familiar with them by the time we sing on Sunday. I always find that becoming more familiar with the lyrics to a song gives me more freedom to be led by the Holy Spirit as I worship. We won’t play these song exactly as they sound below but this is a good start!
Songs:
Liturgy:
The liturgy this week will revolve around the explanation of the Advent season and the lighting of the Advent candles. Again you do not want to miss the first 5 minutes of the services during Advent!
I hope you all have a gospel centered Thanksgiving and look forward to worshipping the Lord with you this week.
Ben
Crossbridge Church is Feeling the Effects of the Recession
The first half of 2009 was looking good for our general giving. However, the past few months have been very tight. In September alone we fell below our expenses by more than $14,000. We are watching our expenses very closely.
Our building fund giving has been dropping behind most of the year. We will need to re-address this issue by the first of the year. Please be in prayer for our church family as many have lost jobs or taken pay cuts this year. Also pray for our church ministries that God will continue to provide as He has so faithfully in the past.
Preparation for Sunday, November 22, 2009
As we corporately worship Jesus each week I hope that you find this blog to be helpful in your time of preparation.
Song Preparation: I encourage you listen to these songs each week so that you are familiar with them by the time we sing on Sunday. I always find that becoming more familiar with the lyrics to a song gives me more freedom to be led by the Holy Spirit as I worship. We won’t play these song exactly as they sound below but this is a good start!
Songs:
Liturgy:
When we sing in our time of corporate worship it should be something that comes from the overflow of our hearts. The time we have together on Sunday’s should be a continuation of our personal worship to the Lord. It is so hard to be consistent with our worship unless we continue to preach the gospel to ourselves. Psalm 7 is an awesome chapter that reminds me who the Lord is in my life. We will focus on verse 17 as we sing on Sunday.
During our time of confession we will focus on scripture from Hebrews 12:1-2. We will say a prayer together that reminds us to lay aside our burdens and cling to the cross of Christ! Meditate on this scripture and this prayer before we meet together on Sunday.
Prayer of Confession and thanks for the cross:
O my Savior,
I thank you from the depths of my being
For your wondrous grace and love in bearing my sin on the cross.
By the cross crucify my every sin;
Make it the ground of all my comfort,
The liveliness of all my duties,
The sum of your entire gospel promises,
The comfort of all my afflictions,
The passion of my love, thankfulness, grace,
The very essence of my religion;
And by it give me that rest without rest,
The rest of ceaseless praise.
Heavenly Father,
You have led me singing to the cross
Where I fling down all my burdens and see them vanish,
Where my mountains of guilt are leveled to a plain,
Where my sins disappear, though they are the greatest that exist,
And are more in number than the grains of sand;
At the cross there is free forgiveness for poor and meek ones,
And ample blessings that last forever.
May I always know
That a clear heart full of goodness
Is more beautiful than a lily,
That only a clean heart can sing by night and by day,
That such a heart is mine when I abide at Calvary.
Amen.
I look forward to worshipping the living God with you on Sunday!
Ben
Serve Your Community, Nov 25
NOVEMBER 25, SERVE THE COMMUNITY WITH SECOND MILE
If you are in town on Wednesday, November 25 and would like to be on mission for Jesus, Second Mile is serving thousands of needy families at the Stafford Centre.
And even If you have children 6 and up, they are invited to serve along side of you in the children’s area, where volunteers will help children with crafts, games and read stories. Second Mile is expecting 1,000 children to attend with families.
They need 7 volunteer families per shift, and here are the shifts:
8:30 am – 11 am
11 am – 1 pm
1 pm – 3 pm
If you do volunteer, they need supplies too….they are asking if volunteers would bring 240 crayons (can find boxes of 64 for $1 at Michael’s or Dollar Stores). Feel free to bring books to read to the kids or any games.
If you are interested, please contact Pam Liang at 281-343-5674 or liangpamela@hotmail.com. Hope to see you there!
FOOD DRIVE, Last Two Sundays!
Hurry! Time is running out for you to donate food to help 700 needy families in Aleif! Donate this Sunday or next (Nov 15 or 22)!
Ready to help local families in need?
We have an easy way for you to do this…..and it’s a GREAT way to include your children and teach them about giving this holiday season.
Crossbridge is partnering with My Brothers Keeper Outreach Center to help provide Thanksgiving meals to 700 families. This 501-C3 non-profit Outreach Center provides assistance to families in crisis in Alief. You can learn more about the center at www.mybkoutreach.org.
The list of food items is below, you can donate any of these or all of these. Please do not donate anything extra that is not listed on this list. The church is collecting food every Sunday through November 22, so don’t wait, there are only 2 Sunday’s left!
Leave your food donation in a paper bag near the coffee bar at church, and we’ll take it from there!
And lastly, are you in town on November 25? People ages 18 and up are needed to volunteer to help sort and distribute the food at My Brother’s Keeper Outreach Center. There will be a day of sorting all food donations the week of Thanksgiving, and a day prior to Thanksgiving to distribute the meals at the Center to the families. If you are interested in helping, email Renae Nelson at: renae.nelson@mybkoutreach.org
My Brother’s Keeper Outreach
Thanksgiving Donation Food List
Cans of:
Cranberry Sauce
Yams
Green Beans
Corn
Peas
Mixed Vegetables
Mashed Potatoes (box)
Bags of Rice
Gravy Mix
Rolls
Corn Bread (box)
Stuffing Mix
Dessert:
Jello
Cake Mix
Brownie Mix
Cookies
Drinks:
Juice
Kool Aid
Water
$15 Gift cards to
Fiesta or HEB
Preparation for Sunday, November 15, 2009
As we corporately worship Jesus each week I hope that you find this blog to be helpful in your time of preparation.
Song Preparation: I encourage you listen to these songs each week so that you are familiar with them by the time we sing on Sunday. I always find that becoming more familiar with the lyrics to a song gives me more freedom to be led by the Holy Spirit as I worship. We won’t play these song exactly as they sound below but this is a good start!
Songs:
Liturgy:
Sometimes I think it is important to remember why we do the things that we do in a worship service. Singing is not something that most of us do on a regular basis but the bible commands us to sing praises to our Lord! We will focus on that wondrous command on Sunday when we read Psalm 68:32-35.
During our time of confession, we will say a prayer together based on Ephesians 4:17-5:2. Spend some time meditating of these scriptures and this prayer before we worship together on Sunday. We will speak the bold parts together.
Lord God,
Paul describes the life of sin as futile,
like fumbling in the dark,
like having a heart as hard and unfeeling as rock.
That is not the way we learned Christ.
For surely we have heard about him
and were taught in him.
The truth is in Jesus.
We have been taught to put away our former self,
to set it at the curb with the rest of the trash.
We have been called to put on a new self,
the self we were created for.
Forgive us, O Lord.
The old self hangs in our closet.
We pull it out now and again
and try to convince ourselves it still fits,
it still works.
Forgive us, O Lord
when we flip off the light switch
and choose to fumble in the dark,
when we ignore that pain in our chest
as we allow our hearts to harden.
Forgive us, O Lord.
Bring us into the light and truth.
Restore to us a heart of flesh.
Clothe us in forgiveness and grace,
righteousness and holiness.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.
I am excited to worship along side of you this Sunday. Please pray that God uses “hot dogs on the patio” to advance his gospel!
Ben
Preparation for Sunday, November 8, 2009
As we corporately worship Jesus each week I hope that you find this blog to be helpful in your time of preparation.
Song Preparation: I encourage you listen to these songs each week so that you are familiar with them by the time we sing on Sunday. I always find that becoming more familiar with the lyrics to a song gives me more freedom to be led by the Holy Spirit as I worship. We won’t play these song exactly as they sound below but this is a good start!
Songs:
Liturgy:
Some focus scriptures as we sing “Your Grace is Enough” on Sunday will be Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 5:20b-21 and 2 Corinthians 12:9.
During our time of Confession our focus scripture will be Hebrews 3:12-14. Below is the prayer we will say together to confess our sins to the Lord. Feel free to meditate on this prayer before Sunday.
Leader:
God of exodus and wilderness,
God of refuge and help,
Hear us now as we make our confession to you.
Congregation:
In times of temptation
We forget what you have done for us.
You give us everything we need,
Yet we often remain unsatisfied;
And spoil what we have been given.
You show us the way we are to follow,
Yet we often continue on the path
Of self-indulgence and self-centeredness.
Forgive us, we pray
In the name of Jesus Christ,
Who, in spite of his temptations,
Was faithful to your saving word. Amen
I look forward to worshipping with you this Sunday. Grace and Peace!
Ben
Three Tips on Inviting to “Hot Dogs on the Patio”
Jesus has called us to share His message, the Gospel, to the entire world (Matthew 28:19-20). We believe that begins with those around us. While, talking to someone else about our faith can feel like a daunting task, here are three tips that we believe will help you see you friends come to church for this special Sunday or any other:
1. Pray and ask God that the subject of church would come up naturally in conversation.
I regularly pray and ask God to guide my conversations with people I want to invite to church. I am amazed by how often someone will say, “I’m just praying that God will work it out.” It’s in moments like these that wise people see the open door that God is giving us. It’s very natural to say, “Speaking of prayer, my church is having a special service this weekend and I think you’d really enjoy it.”
2. Give them an invite card
The reason we give you invite cards is so that you’ll always have one to give a friend. The invite card gives them all the information they need to make a decision to attend one of our services. This way, they can check out our website and see what Crossbridge is all about and get some of their questions answered.
3. Pray for them even after they have said yes to attending
I am amazed at the crazy situations the Devil throws at people when they decide to come to church. Pray that God would wake them up on Sunday, that their kids would behave, that the whole family would come to church, and that their heart would be open to hear God.
I know that God wants to use you to reach your friends and family. Just think, the reason you and I are Christians is because someone reached out to us. I pray we would return the favor by reaching out to someone else and watching what God can do in the life of someone we care about.
