Note from Ben
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
As we celebrate our Independence as a nation this weekend, let’s not forget that the freedom we have in Christ is what truly sustains us!
I really enjoy our times each Sunday where we can join together as a church and worship God. It is always a special time when we read scripture together, sing songs together, hear the truth of the bible together and take communion together. “Reverent corporate worship truly brings to expression the very being of the church,” Wayne Grudem says. God has not given his church an option to worship him, but, rather, it should be a direct expression to our ultimate purpose for living. And what is our purpose for living? To glorify God and to fully enjoy him forever! I can miss out on this at times and treat Sunday’s as just another thing on the schedule to complete, but I really get the most out of corporate worship when I prepare myself during the week, and I focus on what genuine worship can really accomplish. Here are a few results of genuine worship:
We delight in God: David wrote in the book of Psalms that, “In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” We probably experience delight in God more during worship than any other activity in life.
God delights in us: Isaiah 62 says, “the Lord delights in you… as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.” This scripture should really bring encouragement to us, for as we worship God, we are bringing joy and delight to his heart.
We draw near to God: Hebrews 10:19-22 says that we can have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus. We have the amazing privilege to enter directly into the holy of holies when we worship!
God draws near to us: James 4:8 says, “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.” We should come to worship with clean hands and pure hearts and we can expect God’s presence to be with us.
God ministers to us: When we worship God, he meets with us and directly ministers to us—strengthening our faith, intensifying our awareness of his presence, and granting refreshment to our spirits. Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace in time of need.”
The Lord’s enemies flee: 2 Chronicles 20 talks about how when God’s people would sing and praise, he would fight for them against their enemies. Even today God will fight our enemies when we worship him.
Unbelievers know they are in God’s presence: Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14:25 that if there is genuine worship “the unbeliever will disclose the secrets of his heart” and “worship God and declare that God is really among you.”  Wouldn’t it be amazing to see unbelievers come to Christ because of the worship that is happening at Crossbridge!
I would encourage you to constantly be preparing yourselves for our worship services on Sunday. We have a Preparation for Sunday blog that goes out every week that has the songs and readings that we will do for the upcoming worship service. We also provide scripture for those songs so that you can see where the lyrics we sing are in the bible. This is just one of many tools that you can use to prepare yourself to encounter the great God of the universe each week. Let’s be a church of genuine worshippers who live to glorify God and fully enjoy him forever!!
Please continue to pray for the 18 students and 4 adults going to summer camp on July 10. We are taking our 3rd-5th graders to experience God in a fresh way up in the piney woods near Lake Livingston. Pray for our safety, health (it’s beyond hot), and for God to move in the hearts of ALL of our kids. Also, on July 4 a group of our people will be traveling on a mission trip to El Salvador to drill a fresh water well.  You can pray for them by name if you pick up a card at the info table and keep it in your bible or on your fridge as a reminder.
Sunday, July 4th is this Sunday, so don’t forget: we’ll have ONE service at 10am. It’s a family service, so all children (babies too) will be invited to worship together. Dress them up in red, white, and blue and they will get a fun little surprise that day!
And also, remember that our 2nd Annual Floats on the Porch is coming on July 18. This is an ideal day to invite a friend to experience the church AND have ice cream. What else would they want to do on a Sunday morning?? Don’t leave Sunday without snagging some invite cards at the Info Desk!
I hope you have a great rest of the week, and I look forward to worshipping our great God with you on Sunday!!
Ben
