Crossroads Church

Today we worshiped at Crossroads Church, 1000 Crossroads Drive, Oakdale, PA 15071, 412.494.9999, www.crossroadsumc.org, Steve Cordl, Lead Pastor.

Scripture – NLT

Genesis 1:26 –

Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”

Proverbs 14:12 –

There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death.

Romans 8:6-8 –

So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.

Psalm 55:2 –

Please listen and answer me, for I am overwhelmed by my troubles.

Philippians 2:5 –

You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

Galatians 2:20 –

My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Galatians 5:22-23 –

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

Zechariah 4:6 –

Then he said to me, “This is what the Lord says to Zerubbabel: It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”

Bob’s thoughts:

Most of those we passed on the way in said hello and someone directed us to the restrooms and the Chapel. A few people near us also said hello during the Passing of Christ’s Peace.

The Chapel was pleasant with wood paneled ceiling and a large wooden cross with a purple drape. I noticed some large banners on the wall and smaller wooden crosses across the face of the stage.

The praise team was enjoyable with bearable volume; I appreciated the enthusiasm and smiles.

The congregation was requested to fill out the connection card inside the bulletin or alternatively to use the Crossroads app on their cell phone. This was one of the few times when the time allowance for personal confession was adequate for what I remembered the need to confess.

Later, during Communion, the elements were offered verbally and served after a time of confession.

The sermon, “How to Deal with how we Feel,” developed well and was supported scripturally. The pastor shared some personal experiences on how easily we can be led to trust our feelings before consulting God.

For the first time I realized the value of an outline of the message to work through. Most times, if I tried to take enough notes on the sermon, I missed too much of what was said and would end up with a lot of notes but little that I could put back together. Today I was free to follow God’s leading a little closer.

We have had very rewarding experiences when the opportunity came to minister to someone who was grieving; the message today was divinely inspired to encourage us to be more receptive to those God puts in our path who are grieving.

The hymn “It is Well” was also God-inspired today. Our son was killed on a Saturday, and when Sunday morning came, we didn’t know what else to do so we went to church. “It is Well” was what was sung as we were relying on good friends and Jesus to be able to stand. It will forever evoke strong memories.

Jan’s thoughts:

I have enjoyed listening to Pastor Steve via podcast, but today we got to hear a different pastor at this Crossroads location.

This large campus is meticulously designed with mostly muted colors and plenty of signage. A greeter held the door open for us, and others were posted in various locations in the entranceway. Upon asking the direction for this service, we were pointed in the direction beyond the refreshment table, and while there two Marines noticed Bob’s shirt and extended a warm greeting.

After preparing a cup of coffee (with a lid), we entered the Chapel for the early contemporary service and the first thing I saw was a huge wooden cross beautifully draped correctly in purple.

I am always amazed when a contemporary service starts and I look around to see maybe 10 people, and most of the chairs are filled by the time the first song has ended…and that was the experience today also.

The praise band was energetic, I enjoyed the lead singer’s voice, and the back-up vocalists provided excellent, harmonious support.

The message was presented by Executive Pastor James Roberts and was part of a series (which I have been following) entitled “Transformed: How God Changes Us.” The series is based on Rick Warren’s series of the same name, and this third week the focus was on “How to Deal with how we Feel.”

After establishing that our emotions are a gift from God (Genesis 1:26), and that it is best to avoid the extremes of emotionalism (“all that matters is how I feel”) and stoicism (“feelings aren’t important at all”), he stated that we must learn to manage our emotions because feelings are often unreliable, not always true, and can cause us to feel wrongly. God can’t be God of our life if we put our emotions on the throne.

When it comes to unwanted feelings, he said there are two steps: name the feelings that are causing us an issue, and tame it…allow God to shape and change our feelings. Sometimes we need to channel unwanted feelings, find a way to use them to help others. Our greatest ministry is often born from our greatest pain.

His final - and best – suggestion for managing our feelings was, every day before getting out of bed, ask God to fill us with His Spirit and guide us through our day.

Communion is celebrated weekly at this service, and I was grateful for the time of confession beforehand as well as the verbal offering of the elements.

Our prayer for this church:

Father, we pray this congregation always remembers Christ when they deal with how they feel. Amen.