Dear Friends and Guests, This week we are kicking off a five-week teaching series, which will equip and encourage you in the relationships in your life. Whether you are single or married, you will learn biblical principles involved in creating and maintaining Godly relationships. If this is your first time here, we are certain that you will take away lessons that will change your life! Sincerely, Greg and Tamara Dumas Lead Pastor
Interested in Volunteering? www.crossingonline.org/serve Want to join a LifeGroup? visit a leader in the 26.2 CafĂŠ Office Hours Monday - Friday 8.30am - 5pm
Church Office Closed The Church offices will be closed on Monday, July 5.
Breakaway is looking for actors Crossing Kids is looking for men and women who are actors, storytellers and hosts. We will have open auditions July 22, at 7 p.m. in room 242. Ages 15 and up please. To receive a script or for more information, contact Sherri Haas at shaas@crossingonline.org.
Before You Say Your Vows... Whether you’re engaged or dating, we want to help you establish a foundation for an enduring union. This two-day pre-marriage class will provide practical tools to help you maintain a strong, successful marriage. Each two-day class consists of a Friday night session, 7 to 9 p.m. and a Saturday session, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Summer Pre-Marital classes will take place on Friday, August 6 and Saturday, August 7. The cost to participate is $60 per couple. Please register online at http://www.crossingonline.org/pre-marital-class.
Next Weekend at The Crossing Bill & Pam Farrel are authors of several books including Men are Like Waffles, Women are Like Spaghetti. The Farrels write a regular newspaper column in several cities and have been guest speakers on Focus on the Family, Parent Talk, Family Life Today and Moody Broadcast Network. They will be sharing from their hearts how to develop and nurture lasting relationships. Bill and Pam Farrel will also speak at a special workshop for singles offered on Saturday morning, July 10, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. in the new Student Ministry Center. Register online for the event and childcare at crossingonline.org/news.
KP3 Academy KP3 is a key component to our ministry here at The Crossing. As part of this vision, we offer a KP3 Academy to raise, train and empower each new generation of leaders. Enrollment is now open. For more information visit http://www.crossingonline.org/ kp3.
The 26.2 Spiritual Race is intricately designed with you in mind! Through the different 26.2 Experiences, you can learn more about The Crossing and its leadership, become involved in a LifeGroup, and understand more about your spiritual gifts. We encourage everyone to join in the race. Register for all the 26.2 Experiences at: www.crossingonline.org. The next experience dates are: • Warm Up: August 22, registration closes August 15 • Starting Line: September 11, registration closes September 5 • Mile 1: October 2, registration closes September 26 • Pushing Through: October 23, registration closes October 17 • Momentum: November 13, registration closes November 7 • Pass It On: December 4, registration closes November 28
For more announcements: www.crossingonline.org/announcements
Saturday, July 3 Sunday, July 4
WELCOME TO THE
CROSSING CHURCH
MARRIAGE/ SINGLE VOWS 2 Samuel 11:1-5
Lead Pastor: Greg Dumas
SCRIPTURE 2 Samuel 11:1-4 (NIV) In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem. 2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, 3 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” 4 Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (She had purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she went back home. 5 The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.” 1
OBSERVATION •
No one enters a marriage or a relationship planning to have an affair. • You have to plan to “NOT” have an affair and establish safeguards early. • You have to realize that you are susceptible. • You can be a Christian person and full of integrity and still be drawn into an affair. • If you lack judgment and don’t have a plan you are statistically likely to have an affair. • Divorce devastates the nuclear family and God’s redemptive picture of community and love. ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________
APPLICATION 1. Realize we are all susceptible. (1 Corinthians 10:12-13; Romans 9:20) 2. Consider the devastation. (Proverbs chapter 5:3-11; Proverbs 6:23-35) 3. Establish safeguards when you are strong. (Proverbs 4:23; 14:22) Do not: (Galatians 6:7) 1. Spend time alone with the opposite sex. 2. Discuss your marriage with opposite sex. 3. Frequent questionable environments (television, internet, chat rooms, texting, bars and clubs, porn shops). Do: (Proverbs 16:3) 1. Nurture your relationship with Christ together. a. Pray together b. Read the Bible together c. Come to church together 2. Build up your spouse. 3. Always water your own garden. ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________
PRAYER
Lord, thank you for fidelity. Thank you for covering my sin, my mistakes, and my poor choices with your redeeming blood. Thank you that I am washed in your grace and clean before your eyes. I am recommitting my ways to you Lord. I want to serve you and love you. I want to know you more. I commit the members of my body to you as a living sacrifice and I know that you receive them as a Holy act of worship. It’s not hard to nurture my relationship with you because I realize how much you have already sacrificed to meet me where I am. I know I need the Word of God and I need to know you through the communion of prayer. I will build up my spouse (special person) by being built up in you and I will pour into their life what you are pouring into mine. I understand the gift of my sexuality and the context for which it’s to be shared. I am in submission to your perfect will for my life and I know that you have excitement, liberty and joy planned for my marriage bed.