Worship Service for January 16, 2022
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Annie Dean and Gale Arthur will be hosting another 12 week Grief Share group that will begin this Tuesday, January 18th at 12 noon at the church. If you or someone you know could benefit by attending these sessions, please give Annie a call at (330) 807-8148.
We thank Annie Dean for taking the lead in providing you with information about the February 19th Polar Bear Event. We encourage you to participate in this wonderful event in any number of the following ways: (1) jumping in the lake and/or walking or running, (2) volunteering your time to block roads during the walk/race, or (3) purchasing one or more $ 50 raffle tickets. The first prize ticket holder will receive $3,000, second prize is $ 1,500 and third prize will be $500. Last year, our own Kathy Sheppard held the first prize ticket. I highly encourage you to visit the Chippewa Lake Lion’s Club website to register and/or to buy a raffle ticket.
CALL TO WORSHIP
One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the debate (between Jesus and the Sadducees who insisted here is no resurrection from the dead). He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: (and Jesus quotes the Shema, meaning ‘hear’ from Deuteronomy 6) ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: (and here Jesus quotes Leviticus 19:18) ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
Mark 12:28-31
OPENING WORSHIP SONGS
Come Now Is the Time to Worship
Doerksen, Brian
Come, now is the time to worship.
Come, now is the time to give your heart.
Come, just as you are to worship.
Come, just as you are before your God…
Come.One day every tongue
Will confess You are God.
One day every knee will bow.
Still the greatest treasure remains
For those who gladly choose You now.Come, now is the time to worship.
©1998 Vineyard Songs (UK/Eire) (admin by Mercy/Vineyard Publishing)
Come, now is the time to give your heart.
Come, just as you are to worship.
Come, just as you are before your God…
Come.
CCLI License No. 1843349
Love the Lord
Brewster, Lincoln
Love the Lord Your God
With all your heart,
With all your soul,
With all your mind,
And with all your strength.Love the Lord Your God
With all your heart,
With all your soul,
With all your mind,
And with all your strength.With all your heart,
With all your soul
With all your mind,
With all your strength.Love the Lord Your God
With all your heart,
With all your soul,
With all your mind,
And with all your strength.I will serve You, Lord
With all my heart,
With all my soul,
With all my mind,
And with all my strength.I will serve You, Lord
With all my heart,
With all my soul,
With all my mind,
And with all my strength.With all my heart,
With all my soul
With all my mind,
With all my strength.I will serve You, Lord
With all my heart,
With all my soul,
With all my mind,
And with all my strength.I will love You (echo)
I will praise You (echo)
I will serve You (echo)
I will trust You (echo) LORD!With all my heart,
With all my soul
With all my mind,
With all my strength.With all my heart,
With all my soul
With all my mind,
With all my strength.I will love You, Lord
With all my heart,
With all my soul,
With all my mind,
And with all my strength.I will love You, Lord
With all my heart,
With all my soul,
With all my mind,
And with all my strength.I will love You, Lord
©2005 Integrity’s Praise! Music; c/o Integrity Media, Inc.
With all my heart,
With all my soul,
With all my mind,
And with all my strength.
CCLI License No. 1843349
Awesome in Power
Founds, Rick
Oh God, awesome in power.
Oh God, gentle in love.
Oh God, You are my God
And I love You.Oh God, full of compassion
Oh God, faithful and true.
Oh God, You are my God
And I love You.Oh God, You are my God.
©1990 Maranatha Praise, Inc.
And I love You.
CCLI License No. 1843349
OPENING PRAYER
Our gracious Heavenly Father, on this Lord’s Day, some of us come empty, others full, some weak, others strong, some depressed, others jubilant, some exhausted, others full of vim and vigor. Whoever we are, regardless of what is happening in our lives these days, help us, Lord, to love You with all of our heart, mind, strength, and souls. For we know that as we do, we will be blessed beyond measure in Christ, our Lord, amen.
OFFERING
If you would like to send your offering through the mail, our mailing address is:
CrossPointe Community Church
P O Box 126
Chippewa Lake, OH 44215
As we think about God’s call upon our lives to give, let’s be inspired by one of the Proverbs of Solomon: “Honor the Lord with your wealth and the first-fruits of all you produce” (3:9).
OFFERING/PRAYER SONG
Consuming Fire
Hughes, Tim
There must be more than this
O breath of God come breathe within
There must be more than this,
Spirit of God, we wait for You.Fill us a-new we pray.
Fill us a-new we pray.Consuming Fire, fan into flame
A passion for Your name.
Spirit of God, fall in this place.
Lord have Your way,
Lord have Your way…with us.Come like a rushing wind
Clothe us with power from on high
Now set the captives free
Leave us abandoned to Your praise.Fill us anew we pray
Fill us anew we pray.Consuming Fire, fan into flame
A passion for Your name.
Spirit of God, fall in this place.
Lord have Your way,
Lord have Your way…Consuming Fire, fan into flame
©2002 Thankyou Music, PRS, admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing.
A passion for Your name.
Spirit of God, fall in this place.
Lord have Your way,
Lord have Your way…with us.
CCLI License No. 1843349
MORNING PRAYER
Brad Winter
Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for this beautiful and blessed day and bringing our family in Christ here safely to worship you.
Lord, consuming fire! Your flame burns inside each one of us. Help us to understand that the more we live for you and serve and love others, the hotter your flame burns within us and your consuming fire burns up evil! We know you are a jealous God and your flame within us is not fueled by worldly acts, idols and temptation, but it is fueled by our passion to live our lives for you, love for others and righteousness!
Please continue to bless the ministries we have here at Crosspointe and their leaders. We pray that we will soon be able to offer all our ministries that have been postponed or altered due to the pandemic. Empower each of us to get excited about Each One Reach One and invite others to learn about you!
Guide us to stay focused and to continually live and support the mission of this great church – Sharing God’s grace with our community.
We lift up in prayer those who are on our prayer list and those who are not able to be with us today. We pray for safety, strength, healing, and mercy for each of them.
Please be with the men, women and families of those who are serving our country, serving in the military and public safety. Please protect them and keep them safe.
As we depart today we pray that you will shield us from evil and guide us to focus on the great things in life and take in the beauty of the wonderful universe you created!!!!!!!
In Jesus name, Amen
SCRIPTURE
Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone. He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities. He then left on his trip.
The servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and earned five more. The servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more. But the servant who received the one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid the master’s money.
After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, “Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest, and I have earned five more.”
The master was full of praise. “Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!”
The servant who had received the two bags of silver came forward and said, “Master, you gave me two bags of silver to invest, and I have earned two more.”
The master said, “Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!”
Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said, “Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.”
But the master replied, “You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate, why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.”
Then he ordered, “Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver. To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Matthew 25:14-30
MESSAGE
Servants Rejoice
Randy K’Meyer
Today, I have the privilege of reminding all of us about the virtue of Christian servanthood. As Jesus made clear in today’s parable, all of His followers have been given the calling and the gifts to faithfully serve Him. He also made His listeners painfully aware that we have a choice about whether to embrace or ignore that calling and those gifts.
We can believe in the Lord with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength, but there is a key piece missing in our walk with Christ if we do not put that faith in action by serving Him in the same spirit as well.
Six chapters after recording the Shema, Moses tells God’s people, “carefully obey the commands I am giving you today, and love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and soul” (Deuteronomy 11:13).
And so today we recognize the value in serving the One who served us by offering His very life on our behalf.
Although we are focusing today on serving in the church, I joyfully remind you that Christian servanthood is not limited to serving in the church.
A few years ago, Leadership Journal ran an article about serving that relates how the leader of the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther, was approached by a man who wanted to know where he could serve God. Luther asked him, “What is your work now?”
The man said, “I’m a shoemaker.”
Much to the cobbler’s surprise, Luther replied, “Then make good shoes and sell them at a fair price.”
Luther didn’t tell the man to make ‘Christian shoes.’ He didn’t tell the man to leave his shoe business and become a monk.
As Christians, we faithfully serve God in a variety of vocations and jobs. And we don’t need to justify that work in terms of its spiritual value or evangelistic usefulness. We simply pursue our calling with new God-glorifying motives, goals, and standards. 1
Let us rejoice in the fact that, for sure, we can serve Christ wherever we happen to be. However; today, I want to focus on those who serve God in and through His Church.
Last Sunday, we recognized those who serve Christ and us as leaders in our church; our Trustees, who have oversight of the building and grounds, our Leadership Team, who oversees our mission and ministry, and our Succession Team, who oversees the hiring of a future new pastor.
As a segue, I think it worth mentioning how those who do not serve in an official leadership capacity may serve those who do.
The first is to pray for them, asking God to give them guidance, wisdom, and stamina to carry on their vital work for the sake of Christ’s Church. In I Timothy 2 the Apostle Paul writes,
I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. This is good and pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth. For, There is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus. He gave His life to purchase freedom for everyone. (1-6)
Because the latter is so important and true, Paul asks us to pray for our leaders, who will be making important decisions that will reflect our ability to faithfully carry out the mission of reaching others with the good news!
In II Thessalonians 3, Paul asks his readers:
Finally, dear brothers and sisters, we ask you to pray for us. Pray that the Lord’s message will spread rapidly and be honored wherever it goes, just as when it came to you. (3:1)
So the first way that we must serve those leaders who stood before you last week is to pray for them on a regular basis.
Secondly, the Bible is clear that we are to follow, or should I take that a step further and say, or maybe not, obey our leaders? Before you bristle, allow me to remind you that Hebrews 13:7 says:
Obey your spiritual leaders, and do what they say. Their work is to watch over your souls, and they are accountable to God.
We need that reminder because some of us are pretty independent. Some of us baby boomers grew up rebelling against authority and even though we are Christians some of that rebelliousness lingers. Perhaps there have been times when you have disagreed with some decision that our leaders have made. If that’s ever happened to you, please be aware that our leaders always make their decisions based upon what they perceive is in the best interest of Christ’s Church. So, you can, in all confidence, obey them.
So we can all serve them by simply praying for them and (gulp) obeying them.
Beyond that, as it concerns serving, both the Old and the New Testaments are clear that all God’s people are to serve in order to further God’s Kingdom.
What Samuel said to the people of God in his farewell address recorded in the Old Testament book that bears his name is just as applicable to God’s people today: “But be sure to fear the LORD and serve him faithfully,” how? “with all your heart;” and then he gives the rationale for such a decision; “consider what great things He has done for you” (I Samuel 12:24).
Paul echoes Samuel: “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor,
serving the Lord” (Romans 12:11).
And Peter writes, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms” (I Peter 4:10).
And how ironic is this: in God’s kingdom, those who serve are actually leaders.
In his book, Leaders Eat Last, Simon Sinek explains how he discovered this truth. Sinek found himself amazed, even a bit humbled, by the character of the men and women in our armed forces. But where does this character come from?
Initially, Sinek kept arriving at the same assumption: “These are just a special class of people; they’re better than us.” But while working in Afghanistan alongside our service personnel, he revised this premise.
He saw in them that service means giving to others with no expectation of anything in return. “Fulfillment, calm, security, peace of mind, confidence, all come from a willingness to serve others. Because only when I decided that I would serve others did I find calm, security, peace of mind.”
He discovered that our service folk are not just in a class by themselves. He concludes that all of us can become a good leader by serving others:
The rank of office is not what makes someone a leader. Leadership is the choice to serve others with or without any formal rank. Leaders are the ones who run headfirst into the unknown. They rush toward the danger. They put their own interests aside to protect us or to pull us into the future. Leaders would sooner sacrifice what is theirs to save what is ours. And they would never sacrifice what is ours to save what is theirs. This is what it means to be a servant-leader. 2
Do you remember what Jesus said to His disciples the day they were arguing over who was the greatest among them? “The greatest among you will be your servant” (Matthew 23:11).
Today we take time to recognize and express our combined gratefulness for all those who serve the Lord and therefore lead at CrossPointe.
Before I recognize names of those that serve, I apologize for anybody I may leave out.
Chuck Lemmon who serves the Lord by leading our Recovery Ministry.
Gale Arthur and Annie Dean who serve the Lord through Grief Share.
Annie Dean and Sheri Back for serving the Lord through Divorce Care.
Annie Dean, Karen Tate, and Brad and April Winter for serving the Lord through Divorce Care for Kids.
Jim Arthur and Suz Lemmon for serving the Lord by meeting with folks who ask our church to provide financial assistance.
John and Amy Topola for serving the Lord by shopping and preparing the food for our monthly Community Meal.
Katie Albright, Jerry and Sandy Barnes, Sheri Back, Tom and Sara Copley, Alisha Mooney, Sue Palko, Drema Riser, Alan and Vanna Robbins, Ilo Stockman, and Phil Strauss, who have either served or delivered the food to those who drive in to pick it up.
All those who have served the Lord by participating in our Gather to Scatter Mission Projects over the last 8 years.
All those who have participated in many ways in the annual Lion’s Club Polar Bear Event over the last 10 years.
All those who have served the Lord by serving people through our Thanksgiving Boxes and Christmas Adopt-a-Family.
Those who have served by doing repairs around the building: Jerry Barnes, Jim Brandenburg, Lee Kehoe, Lee Kortan, Joey Nader, Frank Noble, and Larry Warner.
Gale Arthur, Heidi Cantlin, Annie Dean, Gail Hruska, and Kathy Sheppard.
for serving the Lord as Financial Secretaries.
Jim Arthur and Karen Tate for leading our youth ministry.
Those who volunteer in the Nursery: Katie Albright, Sheri Back, Julianna Brandenburg, Stephanie Kinney, Suz Lemmon, Vanna Robbins, Amy and Abigail Topola
Those who lead Kids’ Worship: Sara Copley, Lyle Morse, Kathy Sheppard, Karen Tate, and Robyn Tresch.
Then there are those who serve by offering their gifts to serve in our music ministry: Jim Brandenburg, Barb Schuster, and John Topola who play instruments, and Lindsay Brandenburg, Dawn and Robyn Tresch who sing.
And last but certainly not least, those who have led us in prayer during worship: Annie Dean, Deb Haumesser, Alan Robbins, Karen Tate, Brad Winter, Robyn Tresch.
Today I give thanks and honor all you who serve the Lord with gladness for all of you play a vital role in making CrossPointe everything it could be and should be. Your participation in the life of the church is critical to the church’s future health.
And so I echo the words of our Master: “Well done, good and faithful servants!” (Matthew 25:21).
I love this closing story because it illustrates the principle that loving service has a significant impact on other people and therefore God’s Kingdom. The story is told of a pastor in a small European village. He was greatly loved by the people and they believed he had an especially close relationship with God. He disappeared every Friday and could not be found for several hours. The villagers boasted that he ascended to heaven and talked with God.
There was a newcomer to that village. He was a skeptic who made fun of the faith of all the other people. He got increasingly irritated by all the claims about the minister, and so he determined to find out where he really spent his Fridays.
So he hid near the preacher’s house. He watched as the preacher rose early, spent time in prayer, and left his house in the clothes of a peasant. The young skeptic followed the old man from a safe distance. He watched him cut down a tree and chop up a large stack of firewood and load it into a wheelbarrow. He continued to watch as he made his way to a shack in the poorest part of the village and stacked the wood. It was the home of an old woman and her sick husband. After leaving the couple enough wood to last them a week, the preacher quietly returned to his own home.
And so it was that the villagers were startled the next Sunday when the young newcomer attended their church. They were even more surprised when he became a Christian shortly thereafter. He thought so highly of the church’s godly minister that upon his death, he became his successor.
And for the rest of his life, whenever he heard one of the villagers speak of his predecessor and say, “On Fridays, he would ascend to heaven,” he would softly add, “If not higher.”
“Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.” (Matthew 25:23).
PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO THE MESSAGE
[I encourage you to pray as you feel led by the Spirit of God].
CLOSING SONG
I Give You Me
Mula, Candace
I stand amazed at Your awesomeness
That You would love and guide me
That You have taken all my sorrows
And promised me a beautiful tomorrow.
What can I say to tell You ‘Thank You’?
What can I do to show my heart?
For what You’ve done and who You are,
Oh, Lord, I give You me.I give You me…all that I have
Not holding back…but every part.
All that I am…and hope to be,
Lord I am blessed when I give You me.Take me all the way…until the day
We embrace…for eternity.
Take me all the way…until the day
We embrace…for eternity.I give You me…all that I have
Not holding back…but every part.
All that I am…and hope to be,
Lord I am blessed when I give You me.I give You me…all that I have
Not holding back…but every part.
All that I am…and hope to be,
Lord I am blessed when I give You me.Lord I am blessed
©2002 Candace Mula/Healing Place Music
When I give You me.
CCLI License No. 1843349
BENEDICTION
Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians 3:20-21
1 Tullian Tchividjian, Our Calling, Our Spheres, Leadership Journal
(Summer 2010), p. 98
https://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/2010/september/2091310.html
2 Simon Sinek, Leaders Eat Last, (Portfolio, 2017), page 116
https://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/2019/june/secret-to-team-success-is-serving-others.html