WELCOME Dear Crossing Friends and Family, School is back! The hustle and bustle of life is once again upon us (for some it never stopped). As you get back into the school mode I want to encourage you to continue reading your Bible and using your Life Journal. You may think that now isn’t the time but I would say now you need it more than ever! If you don’t have a Life Journal yet you can stop by the Resource Center table in the foyer to purchase a copy. If this is your first time with us today I pray that you leave here feeling a sense of family as we draw closer to one another by drawing closer to God.
Pastor Greg & Tamara Dumas Lead Pastor
Your Pastor, Greg and Tamara Dumas, Lead Pastor
UPCOMING EVENTS KP3 Enroll now for fall 2010 – 2011 school year. Application deadline Sept. 15. For more info Checkout www.crossingonline.org/kp3.
Job Position Available Part Time Bilingual (Spanigh/English) Administrative/Ministry Assistant for the Spanish Campus. Contact Irma Colón-Ewing at icewing@crossingonline.org or (813) 626-0783 Ext. 132.
Submit a God story on “MyStory” Go to www.crossingonline.org/mystory and be encouraged by reading how our Lord has been touching the lives of fellow believers, or you may anonymously share your personal testimony ...You never know how your story may change the life of someone else!
Local Missions Today, as you leave, stop by the table in the lobby and meet our Local Mission Agency, LifeCare of Brandon, and see how you make a difference in the life of an unborn child.
Care Classes Care Ministries Classes provide support to those seeking healing from hurts, habits, and hang-ups through Jesus Christ. The goal of Care Ministries is to provide critical care in areas of need, then encourage class members to move back into the LifeGroup setting. Check out care classes online at www.crossingonline.org/care-ministries.
Crossing Women’s Bible Study Classes begin Thurs, Sept 2nd at 9:15am & 7pm in the Life Center. Childcare is available w/ pre-registration. Register at www.crossingonline.org/news.
Baby Dedication Our upcoming opportunities to dedicate your child are September 18th and 19th. For questions or for more information, please contact Tiffany Ogborn at (813) 626-0783 ext. 151 or togborn@crossingonline.org.
The 26.2 Discipleship Process is an 18-week process that will help you discover and apply Biblical truths in your everyday life and learn how God has designed you to connect, serve, grow, give, and reach. We encourage everyone to join in the race. Register for the 26.2 Discipleship Process at: www.crossingonline.org/262DP. • Warm Up: September 19, registration closes September 12 • 26.2 Discipleship Process: Beginning August 21 and 22
For more announcement details: www.crossingonline.org/announcements
Saturday, August 28 Sunday, August 29
WELCOME TO THE
CROSSING CHURCH
THE MINOR PROPHETS
Hosea 13:6; Joel 2:12; Amos 5, 6
Lead Pastor: Greg Dumas
SCRIPTURE Amos 5:13-15 (MSG) 13 Justice is a lost cause. Evil is epidemic. Decent people throw up their hands. Protest and rebuke are useless, a waste of breath. 14 Seek good and not evil— and live! You talk about God, the God-of-the-Angel-Armies, being your best friend. Well, live like it, and maybe it will happen. 15 Hate evil and love good, then work it out in the public square. Maybe God, the God-of-the-Angel-Armies, will notice your remnant and be gracious.
Amos 5:21-24 (MSG) “I can’t stand your religious meetings. I’m fed up with your conferences and conventions. 22 I want nothing to do with your religion projects, your pretentious slogans and goals. I’m sick of your fund-raising schemes, your public relations and image making. 23 I’ve had all I can take of your noisy ego-music. When was the last time you sang to me? 24 Do you know what I want? I want justice—oceans of it. I want fairness—rivers of it. That’s what I want. That’s all I want. 21
Amos 5:21-24 (MSG) 3 Woe to you who are rushing headlong to disaster! Catastrophe is just around the corner! 4 Woe to those who live in luxury and expect everyone else to serve them! 5 Woe to those who live only for today, indifferent to the fate of others! Woe to the playboys, the playgirls, who think life is a party held just for them! 6 Woe to those addicted to feeling good—life without pain! those obsessed with looking good— life without wrinkles! They could not care less about their country going to ruin. 7 But here’s what’s really coming: a forced march into exile. They’ll leave the country whining, a rag-tag bunch of good-for-nothings.
OBSERVATION • • • • • •
The Major and Minor Prophets were written to underscore God’s standards and served to warn Judah and Israel of God’s immanent judgment. Throughout the words of the Prophets, idolatry, infanticide, greed, oppression, immorality and moral decay were rampant. Once a nation, or a people, or an individual loses his or her moral and objective standard of truth, he or she proceeds to do what is right in one’s own eyes. Doing life apart from God’s life-giving standard brings forth judgment, loss of freedom and ultimately total destruction. The church in America has largely capitulated to the culture. The church MUST regain its FAITH in God and His Word if we are to preserve our future.
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APPLICATION I. America is in trouble: “The Manhattan Declaration” •
The sanctity of life is on the line.
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The sanctity of marriage is on the line.
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The sanctity of religious liberty is on the line.
II. We must have a Reformation Joel 2:12-14 (MSG) 12 But there’s also this, it’s not too late— God’s personal Message!— “Come back to me and really mean it! Come fasting and weeping, sorry for your sins!” 13 Change your life, not just your clothes. Come back to God, your God. And here’s why: God is kind and merciful. He takes a deep breath, puts up with a lot, This most patient God, extravagant in love, always ready to cancel catastrophe. 14 Who knows? Maybe he’ll do it now, maybe he’ll turn around and show pity. Maybe, when all’s said and done, there’ll be blessings full and robust for your God!
1. Reformation through a Family of Faith •
Remove Aloneness
Acts 2:42 (NLT) They joined with the other believers and devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, sharing in the Lord’s Supper and in prayer. Break the Spiritual and Moral Starvation. 42
Amos 8:11 (MSG) 11 “Oh yes, Judgment Day is coming!” These are the words of my Master God. “I’ll send a famine through the whole country. It won’t be food or water that’s lacking, but my Word. Romans 10:17 (NASB77) 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
2. Reformation through Prayer and Action Joel 2:12-14 (MSG) But there’s also this, it’s not too late— God’s personal Message!— “Come back to me and really mean it! Come fasting and weeping, sorry for your sins!” 13 Change your life, not just your clothes. Come back to God, your God. And here’s why: God is kind and merciful. He takes a deep breath, puts up with a lot, This most patient God, extravagant in love, always ready to cancel catastrophe. 14 Who knows? Maybe he’ll do it now, maybe he’ll turn around and show pity. Maybe, when all’s said and done, there’ll be blessings full and robust for your God! 12
Isaiah 58:6 (MSG) “This is the kind of fast day I’m after: to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts.
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APPLICATION We ask you to Pray and Act: A. PRAY We need to be in prayer regarding these three principles. We must get down on our knees in humility and pray to God from 2 Chronicles 7:14 on a regular basis. If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. The national 40-day fast will be built on: Joel 2 (righteousness) and Isaiah 58 (authentic biblical compassion). The fast will begin at 7:14 am (based on 2 Chronicles 7:14) Eastern Time, on September 20 and end at 7:14 am, October 30, 2010. Although many will follow only a liquid diet, persons can fast as God directs them during this 40-day span.
B. A.C.T. A-ffirming the Basics – by signing on at www.ManhattanDeclaration. org – Nearly 470,000 persons have signed this elegantly written statement; we need to see it exceed one million persons affirming • Sanctity of life • Sacredness of marriage • Preservation of religious liberty.
C-onforming our Lives - to our talk • Personal integrity of lifestyle, being authentically biblical Christ-followers, in the spirit of a Joel 2 fast. • Serve others by compassion and action for the less fortunate, alleviating human suffering and systemic poverty in our communities in the spirit of an Isaiah 58 fast (encouraging compassionate acts during the fast and beyond).
T-ransforming the Culture - by a restoration of values • Serve the common good by speaking up winsomely for the sanctity of life, sacredness of marriage and religious liberty in our workplace and with our friends and neighbors, and with the teachers who teach our children in schools, colleges, in the media and particularly in the Church. • Being consistent by voting in all elections for candidates who affirm the sanctity of life in all stages and conditions, the integrity of marriage as the union of one man and one woman, and religious liberty and respect for conscience.
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PRAYER RESOURCES • • • •
National Pastor’s Gathering: Dallas, September 8-9, 2010 www.jamesrobison.net www.ManhattanDeclaration.org www.prayandact.com - Jim Garlow, Skyline Church & Renewing American Leadership, Co-led with… Chuck Colson, Founder Prison Fellowship & BreakPoint And…. Che Ahn, Harvest International Ministry Vonette Bright, Co-Founder, Campus Crusade for Christ, International Bishop Keith Butler, Founding Pastor, Word of Faith International Christian Center Jim Daly, President & CEO, Focus on the Family Lou Engle, TheCall to Conscience, TheCall Father Joseph Fessio, Editor in Chief, Ignatius Press, San Francisco Maggie Gallagher, National Organization for Marriage Professor Robert George, Princeton University Professor Timothy George, Dean, Beeson Divinity School Jack Hayford, Founder and Chancellor, The King’s College and Seminary Mike Huckabee, Former Governor of Arkansas & Host, The Mike Huckabee Show Bishop Harry Jackson, Jr., High Impact Church Coalition Cindy Jacobs, Generals of Intercession Alveda King, Silent No More Awareness Campaign Richard Land, The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission Ron Luce, Founder, Teen Mania & Battle Cry Bishop Richard Malone, Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland (Maine) Eva Muntean & Dolores Meehan, Co-Founders, West Coast Walk for Life, San Francisco Penny Nance, Concerned Women for America Tony Perkins, Family Research Council James Robison, Life Outreach, International Samuel Rodriguez, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference Alan Sears, Alliance Defense Fund Chuck Stetson, Let’s Strengthen Marriage Campaign Steve Strang, Publisher, Charisma magazine Tim Wildmon, American Family Association
PRAYER Lord, it’s clear that we are entering what might be the final hour for our precious nation. In short, we have trampled your grace and made a mess of your righteousness. You are always gracious and kind and compassionate, but our arrogance and insolence have gone too far. We are a nation, a people, full of idols. We mock you openly and trust in manmade concepts and images. We are a nation, a people full of immorality. We have handed over our bodies to sensuality and depravity. We trespass on our own temples and grieve The Spirit you have placed in us. We are a nation, a people, who have spilled the blood of millions of innocents. We are careless and reckless with our sexuality and our children have paid the price. We repent, on our faces before you. I bow down before you to repent, to tell you that I am sorry for my sin and to receive your mercy and loving-kindness. Heal me, heal us, save us from the coming calamity.
LIFEGROUPS Use the following as a resource for your LifeGroup to go deeper with this week’s message. We hope this helps you as you “do life together”.
Opener: We promise you are going to have to get past the silly feeling of this opener. Simply take turns one-by-one standing in front of your LifeGroup members and make a declaration about yourself - something true - something that defines you to your core. Example: “I have an intense desire to worship the Lord all day long,” or, “I am ridiculously in love with Buccanneer football.” The answers can run the gamut. Digging Deeper : Prayerfully read together the Manhattan Declaration found at www.manhattandeclaration.com. Take each section one at a time, and read the Scriptures and discuss among your group concerning why these core princicples should drive the heart of every Christ follower. Application: After reading and considering all the truths listed in the Manhattan Declaration, you may choose to sign the declaration announcing your heart’s intention to be a bearer of truth and action in our country.