Crossroads Church

Today we worshiped at Crossroads Church, 8533 Peters Road, Cranberry Township, PA 16066, 412.494.9999, xr.church, Mike Arnold, Campus Pastor.

 

Scripture – NIV

Jeremiah 29:11 –

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

2 Kings 7:4-9 –

If we say, ‘We’ll go into the city’—the famine is there, and we will die. And if we stay here, we will die. So let’s go over to the camp of the Arameans and surrender. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, then we die.”

At dusk they got up and went to the camp of the Arameans. When they reached the edge of the camp, no one was there, for the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a great army, so that they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us!” So they got up and fled in the dusk and abandoned their tents and their horses and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives.

The men who had leprosy reached the edge of the camp, entered one of the tents and ate and drank. Then they took silver, gold and clothes, and went off and hid them. They returned and entered another tent and took some things from it and hid them also. Then they said to each other, “What we’re doing is not right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let’s go at once and report this to the royal palace.”

 

Bob’s thoughts:

I was entertained today by a young cutie and her brother; the smiles, chatter, and notes were a highlight, a reminder of how I got the nickname the Baby Whisperer at our last church. When I was allowed to comfort infants was when I felt closest to God…kind of a mini picture of how He comforts us. Today was a small reminder of a good time as we basked in the sun as we worshiped in the parking lot. It was hard not to feel close to God on such a beautiful fall day.

The message today dealt with a city under siege and the utter hopelessness as it dragged on. The lack of freedom down to the basic lack of food drove the despair with no hope in sight.

Laying siege to a city could last years, not just the few months that we have been denied our right of religious freedom.

There were lepers who were forced to live outside the city, and lacking the means to survive, decided to throw themselves on the mercy of the attacking army, thinking death could not be worse than their current plight.

But upon entering the camp they found their prayers had been answered: God had routed the attackers from the camp with such haste that the food and spoils of war were left, they were able to share God’s salvation of the city with their countrymen.

Might this time of isolation forced by our government be more of a blessing than a curse if we use this time as God would have us? Share your hope in Christ with those who are lost. Share your hope with those you know and maybe more importantly, with those you don’t know yet. Don’t blame God for this time, but thank Him for the opportunity to witness in His name.

We were greeted by a number of people and I was thanked for my service. We also met a member of the Young Marines and his father.

Jan’s thoughts:

Today was a treat: an outdoor worship service and a double-birthday lunch with our family after church.

I’m still amazed at God’s providence: the parking area was paved November 1, 2019, long before anyone had a clue that it would be the only space available for worship this entire summer. Even the weather cooperated, causing only two cancellations. God’s blessings.

Some events are starting up again in small ways, such as a half-day women’s retreat, men’s get-togethers, and kids’ happenings.

This is the final installment of the current message series, A Hope and a Future. The pastor reminded several times that God always wants what is best for us.

The Israelites were in exile in Babylon when Jeremiah 29:11 was prophesied to them. They were in the midst of a hopeless situation.

The passage from 2 Kings tells the story of four lepers. Their condition was highly contagious, they were isolated, they’d lost everything, and were told it was all because God was angry with them. They were understandably hopeless. But when they stumbled into a wealth of food, supplies, and treasure, they chose to share instead of hoarding it.

He stressed that hope is designed to be shared with others, and it actually fades if we hoard it but it grows when shared.

In order to get past our personal frustration and share hope, the pastor referred to an initiative from their past called BLESS, an acronym for:

B = begin with prayer

L = listen

E = eat (or another shared experience)

S = serve

S = share your story

He then told a most extraordinary story which began with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor and theologian and anti-Nazi dissident who was martyred just before the end of World War II. Bonhoeffer had written a poem for his fiancée Maria called Next Year 1945. Unfortunately, Dietrich and Maria never married as he was hanged in the concentration camp.

Years later, author Joseph Bayly lost three of his sons to death and he fell into such despair he gave up writing. He was given Bonhoeffer’s poem, Next Year 1945, which reignited Bayly’s hope, and Bayly went on to write a book called Heaven.

Twelve years later, in a Massachusetts hospital, there was a woman dying of cancer. She had no family, and a chaplain gave her a copy of Joseph Bayly’s book Heaven. She was enthralled and read the entire book overnight, and died the next day with hope. The woman was Bonhoeffer’s fiancée, Maria.

The pastor closed with the admonition that we never know what God will do with our words.

Indeed…we cannot begin to guess. This story gives me such a deep hope. God is able do so much more than we can begin to imagine with the little we are able to offer Him.

 

Our prayer for this church:

Father, we thank You for the opportunity to be drawn close to You today. May we serve You as directed. Amen.