Crossroads Bible Fellowship

What does a phrase like this mean? How would we do it? Is it something you do? Is it something you would want to do?

I would love to hear your thoughts.

As we are wrestling with who we are as a body, we will be trying to put some of our thoughts in writing. Periodically I will post some thoughts here, giving you the opportunity to interact with them. Here is the first opportunity.

WHO WE ARE
We are a group of people who recognize that we are all needy.  Our common need stems from the belief that we are sinful and disobedient to God.  This means we don’t deserve anything good from God.  In fact, we deserve only punishment.  However, we believe that God has been so good and loving that He was willing to receive our punishment for us in Jesus’ death.  Because Jesus is God he overpowered death.  Through these beliefs, God changes us for the better, but does not take away our neediness.  We remain a people who are happily needy.

So, what do you think?

This is a great post by Ligon Duncan on how to pray for your leaders. I appreciate it because it gives a good focus that I would love for people to pray for me. If you do not attend Crossroads, consider praying these things for those pastoring you.

Here is the introduction to whet your appetite.

Because I have a congregation that loves me more than I deserve, I am often asked by them: “how can I pray for you?” I’ve tried to put some thought into how I answer that question. So, maybe these ideas will help you pray for your pastor, or tell others how they can pray for you.

Pray -

1. That [your pastor] would know and love the living God, would have a saving interest in Christ, being purchased by His blood, and thus would be bound to the Lord by the indissoluble bond of the Holy Spirit.

2. That [your pastor] would know, embrace and ever more deeply understand the Gospel and be shaped by it in life and ministry.

Hey all!

I just posted my plan for reading Scripture this year on the Discerning Mind site. Check it out here.

If you want to join me, pick up Ephesians and post a comment here saying you want to. Kirk and I have already started but would love company.

Michael

I posted this on the Discerning Mind site, but not all of you check that site so I thought I would post it here too.

Are you thinking about what you can do differently this next year? I know I am. It almost seems hard wired in me to evaluate my last year and to make plans to do better this next year. That can be both good and bad.

I have to constantly remind myself that according to the gospel, I am accepted even with the failures of this last year. Jesus covers it all! How comforting and yet humbling that is. I can start over knowing that it is not my performance that will get me closer to God. Jesus keeps me close. This makes me want to start over.

Having said that, it is a good time to evaluate and plan. If you are also in that mindset and want to systematically read through the Bible this next year, let me recommend a few plans by pointing to Justin Taylor’s blog Between Two Worlds. He has listed many different plans that might suit you. In fact, I would recommend his blog for regular reading. I check there often.

Another plan I have heard about that seems really helpful is this flexible one from Tim Chester on his blog. Check it out.

In the next few days I will lay out the plan I am going to try this year. Please pray for me to follow through and if you let me know what your plan is for this next year, I will pray for you.

Thanks and have a great New Year’s day! I know I will.

Hello family! Here we are starting the blog up again and I just wanted to ask for your prayers. The fact is that all the stuff that has been happening at Crossroads and the things that I have been studying for the last 6 months have been discouraging (in the sense that things are not going as I would have hoped), but they have also been wonderfully clarifying. The fact is that there is a great need for me to depend on our great God for security. While I have been wrestling with what we should do as a body and what has been wrong, it seems that at least part of it is because Crossroads is being led by me, a sinner. That means that things are not always going to go as they should. When we add to that equation the fact that Crossroads is made up of sinners, we are in big trouble. Except…

God leads and directs His church. He is the “Senior Pastor”!

Please join me in praying for our little local body. We have a great opportunity to display His greatness because we are so weak. He uses the foolish to confound the wise and that means He can use the likes of us. (1 Corinthians 1:26-31) My plea to you is that we really pray for His mercy and help. We must plead with Him to care for us because we will not survive if He doesn’t. This way we will be boasting in God and not ourselves. That is a good place to be.

The interesting part about this is that this is true of all churches, but we don’t always think about it that way. We all depend on Jesus and that is the way it should be.

Please join me in praying. Maybe even stop by my house and physically pray with me! I might do the same with you. I am so thankful for all of you. God is gracious to give us one another.

Your brother,
Michael

Hello everyone!

I have not been posting here very often lately, but I am trying to get back on track slowly. I just posted a reflection on some music that is gospel related at my other site. I would encourage you to check it out.

More later. Michael

I ran into a great quote today by Keller on the topic of prayer and I wanted to share it with you.

“Jesus always gives you what you would have prayed for if you knew everything He knows.”

Michael

Hello again everyone!

So, what did you think? Do you have any questions from Sunday? As we discussed meditation and really “Eating theh Word,” I hope you were encouraged and energized to love Chrst more. What are you wrestling with in this area?

I look forward to your comments and questions.

See you tomorrow with more comments on meditation continuing our series. I hope to meditate with you through a few passages very soon.

In Him, michael

Maybe we need to back up a bit and give a simple definition of meditation as we continue. Here is Keller’s definition or summary of what meditation actually is.
“Meditation on the Scriptures is pondering, relishing, imagining, applying and rehearsing God’s truth until it becomes real to the heart and permanently affects your attitude and behavior.”
From Gospel Christianity Course 2 page 32.

How does that do for a start? We often think about meditation as thinking on Scripture, turning it over in our minds like a cow chewing its cud. I think that is a helpful way to think about it, but I think Keller has helped us to go a bit further. What I like about this definition is the stated goal of meditation. We should meditate so that…
1.    Truth becomes real to my heart.
2.    My attitude and behavior are affected permanently.
What great goals! The first is more of a tasting of God and His goodness in Scripture and the second is that the truth of God changes us. It has to! My life will be different.

Now, Keller connects meditation to prayer and reading in the following way. He calls meditation a “middle practice which bridges between reading and prayer.” I think his point is this. As I read, it becomes difficult to pray over what I have just read unless it becomes part of me. If I meditate like we described above, that will inform and change my prayers.

Personally I struggle with prayer if I am not reflecting on some part or aspect of Scripture. When I pray and do not think about Scripture, I tend to say the same things and fall into the same ruts. How many times have you prayed and afterwards noticed that you said the same things that you had the day before? This happens often to me when I pray to thank God for my meals. I go into default mode and often did not think about what I was saying. I was on auto pilot. This is why Scripture helps my prayers. If I have been meditating on some portion of Scripture, I am thinking about and affected by many things God is saying, so I can pray about those things.

If these things are something you have struggled with in the past or still struggle with, I would suggest the following messages by Don Whitney. I have listened to them over and over and they have helped me to think about meditation and prayer through Scripture in a very healthy way. Check out these three messages here.

Back tomorrow with more if God desired me to be. ☺ James 4:13-17
Michael