Worship Service for January 23, 2022
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Next Sunday is Gather to Scatter Sunday. Our focus will be on the upcoming Chippewa Lake Lions’ Chippy’s Back fundraiser.
CALL TO WORSHIP
(This passage appears as Peter and John were being questioned by Jewish religious authorities for preaching Jesus and the resurrection.)
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and elders of our people, are we being questioned today because we’ve done a good deed for a crippled man? Do you want to know how he was healed? Let me clearly state to all of you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the man you crucified but whom God raised from the dead. For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says, ‘The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’ There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”
Acts 4:8-12
OPENING WORSHIP SONGS
Shout to the North
Smith, Martin
Men of faith rise up and sing
Of the great and glorious King.
You are strong when you feel weak,
In your brokenness complete.Shout to the north and the south,
Sing to the east and the west:
Jesus is Savior to all,
Lord of heaven and earth.Rise up women of the truth,
Stand and sing to broken hearts,
Who can know the healing pow’r
Of our glorious King of love.Shout to the north and the south,
Sing to the east and the west:
Jesus is Savior to all,
Lord of heaven and earth.Rise up church with broken wings;
Fill this place with songs again,
Of our God who reigns on high:
By His grace again we’ll fly.Shout to the north and the south,
Sing to the east and the west:
Jesus is Savior to all,
Lord of heaven and earth.We’ve been through fire,
We’ve been through rain.
We’ve been refined by the pow’r of His name.
We’ve fallen deeper in love with You,
You’ve burned the truth on our lips.Shout to the north and the south,
Sing to the east and the west:
Jesus is Savior to all,
Lord of heaven and earth.
Shout to the north and the south,
Sing to the east and the west:
Jesus is Savior to all,
Lord of heaven and earth.Lord of heaven and earth,
©1995 Curious? Music UK (admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing)
He is Lord of heaven and earth.
CCLI License No. 1843349
One Way
Douglass, Jonathon/Houston, Joel
I lay my life down at Your feet
Cause You’re the only one I need
I turn to You and You are always there.
In troubled times it’s You I seek
I put You first that’s all I need
I humble all I am all to You.One way, Jesus
You’re the only one that I could live for.
One way, Jesus
You’re the only one that I could live for.You are always, always there
Every how and everywhere
Your grace abounds so deeply within me
You will never ever change
Yesterday, today the same
Forever till forever meets no end.One way, Jesus
You’re the only one that I could live for.
One way, Jesus
You’re the only one that I could live for.One way, Jesus
You’re the only one that I could live for.
One way, Jesus
You’re the only one that I could live for.You are the Way, the Truth, and the life
We live by faith and not by sight for You.
We’re living all for You.You are the Way, the Truth, and the life
We live by faith and not by sight for You.
We’re living all for You.
You are the Way, the Truth, and the life
We live by faith and not by sight for You.
We’re living all for You.You are the Way, the Truth, and the life
We live by faith and not by sight for You.
We’re living all for You.One way, Jesus
You’re the only one that I could live for.
One way, Jesus
You’re the only one that I could live for.One way, Jesus
You’re the only one that I could live for.
One way, Jesus
You’re the only one that I could live for.One way, Jesus
You’re the only one that I could live for.
One way, Jesus
You’re the only one that I could live for.One way, Jesus
©2003 Jonathon Douglass/Joel Houston/Hillsong Publishing
You’re the only one that I could live for.
One way, Jesus
You’re the only one that I could live for.
(admin. in the U.S. and Canada by Integrity’s Hosanna! Music)
CCLI License No. 1843349
Shout to the Lord
Zschech, Darlene
My Jesus, my Savior,
Lord there is none like You,
All of my days, I want to praise,
The wonders of Your mighty love.
My comfort, my shelter,
Tower of refuge and strength.
Let every breath, all that I am,
Never cease to worship You.Shout to the Lord, all the earth let us sing,
Power and majesty, praise to the King.
Mountains bow down and the seas will roar
At the sound of Your name.
I sing for joy at the work of Your hands.
Forever I’ll love You, forever I’ll stand.
Nothing compares to the promise I have, in You.My Jesus, my Savior,
Lord there is none like You,
All of my days, I want to praise,
The wonders of Your mighty love.
My comfort, my shelter,
Tower of refuge and strength.
Let every breath, all that I am,
Never cease to worship You.Shout to the Lord, all the earth let us sing,
©1993 Darlene Zschech (Hillsong)
Power and majesty, praise to the King.
Mountains bow down and the seas will roar
At the sound of Your name.
I sing for joy at the work of Your hands.
Forever I’ll love You, forever I’ll stand.
Nothing compares to the promise I have,
Nothing compares to the promise I have,
Nothing compares to the promise I have… in You.
(Admin in U.S. & Canada by Integrity’s Hosanna! Music)
CCLI License No. 1843349
OPENING PRAYER
Holy Father, it boggles our minds that people would be upset that Peter and John were preaching the death and resurrection of Your Son Jesus. For He means everything to us. And nothing compares to the promise of eternal life in His name. You are the only One we could live for. So, please help us to live our lives in such a way that people in our sphere of influence might bow down at the sound of Your name and come to know the wonders of Your mighty love for we ask this in the only name by which we might be saved, 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
OFFERING/PRAYER SONG
Near to the Heart of God
McAfee, Cleland
There is a place of quiet rest,
Near to the heart of God;
A place where sin cannot molest,
Near to the heart of God.O Jesus, blest Redeemer,
Sent from the heart of God,
Hold us, who wait before Thee,
Near to the heart of God.There is a place of comfort sweet,
Near to the heart of God;
A place where we our Savior meet,
Near to the heart of God.O Jesus, blest Redeemer,
Sent from the heart of God,
Hold us, who wait before Thee,
Near to the heart of God.There is a place of full release,
Near to the heart of God;
A place where all is joy and peace
Near to the heart of God.O Jesus, blest Redeemer,
©Public Domain
Sent from the heart of God,
Hold us, who wait before Thee,
Near to the heart of God.
CCLI License No. 1843349
MORNING PRAYER
Alan Robbins
Please join me in prayer.
From the words of today’s prayer song
There is a place of quiet rest
A place where sin cannot molest
There is a place of comfort sweet
A place where our savior meet
There is a place of full release
A place where all is joy and peace.
Near to the heart of GodThese song lyrics are so powerful and meaningful. Sent from the heart of God. We can find our place of quiet rest.
My ongoing prayer is that we know you will stay by our side. We know you will listen and guide our prayers to Reach Out, to Hold, to give Help, to give Love, to give Peace, to give Joy and to Call the Holy Spirit to those that are grieving, for those that are ill, for those that are hurting in any way and prayers for our own needs.
Let’s take a few moments to silently pray for those in need and those on the Church prayer list.
Thank you Lord, as we give God’s Glory, and Grace, and Joy, and Refuge, and Strength, and Love, and Peace, and the Holy Spirit to our community and the world in which we live.
In Jesus name we pray. Amen
SCRIPTURE
Jesus entered Jericho and made His way through the town. There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector in the region, and he had become very rich. He tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree beside the road, for Jesus was going to pass that way. When Jesus came by, He looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. “Zacchaeus!” He said, “Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today.”
Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy. But the people were displeased. “He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner,” they grumbled.
Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, “I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!”
Jesus responded, “Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”
Luke 19:1-10
At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know Him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to Himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to Him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And He gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making His appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
II Corinthians 5:16b-21
MESSAGE
Sowing Seeds
Randy K’Meyer
In my opinion, for what it’s worth, one of the most important scriptures in the Bible can be found in Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians 5:19:
For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them.
I suggest that it is one of the most important verses in the Bible because the big picture of the Bible is that God is all about ‘reconciliation.’
The need for reconciliation originated in the Garden of Eden, where we find not only the first man and woman but also the first computer. It was an apple, and it only took one byte for everything to crash. Paul writes about that crash in Romans 5:12:
When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.”
How terribly sad for us if that would have been the end of it. However; four verses later Paul give us the good news:
Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins” (5:16).
“Being made right with God;” in a word, reconciliation.
God is all about reconciliation. The reason that God sent His Son to die was so that people like you and I could be made right with God by having our sins forgiven. And when that happens through our faith . . . reconciliation.
I know it’s not right to ascribe emotion to God, but if I might, I would say there is nothing that makes God happier, more ecstatic, more jubilant, more thrilled, and euphoric than when one of His creatures is reconciled to His Creator.
Jesus conveyed this truth when telling the trifecta of Parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son, where He states there is tremendous joy in heaven when that which is lost has been found! Just think, when you came to faith in Christ, the bells of heaven began to ring out, the angels started singing, You Make Me Feel Like Dancin!
That’s why we sing “I’ll sing for joy at the work of Your hands, forever I’ll love You, forever I’ll stand, nothing compares with the promise I have in You!”
“For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them” (Corinthians 5:19).
But the verse continues: “And He gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.”
Or more clearly, in verse 18, “And God has given us this task of reconciling people to Him.”
Isn’t that awesome? God invites us to join Him in the greatest endeavor on planet earth; helping to bring about reconciliation between God and other folks.
The ministry of reconciliation occurs in two arenas.
The ministry of reconciliation happens through the ministry of the church. In fact, everything that a church does needs to be evaluated through the filter of ‘How is this going to enhance our ministry of reconciliation?’
But make no mistake about it; we as individuals are also called to engage in the ministry of reconciling people to God. Paul says, So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making His appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” (20), or some other suitable appeal.
This is our highest calling as Christ-followers! Our Lord Jesus, our commanding officer, our chief executive officer was absolutely, unquestioningly, and undeniably clear about that. Just before He ascended into heaven, Matthew records He said,
All authority on heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go, therefore, into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and Holy Spirit” (Matthew 20:19).
Mark, Luke, John, and the Book of Acts join Matthew in depicting the Lord Jesus giving these marching orders to all of His followers.
God is still at work ‘reconciling the world to Himself’ and He uses His people, people like you and I, to accomplish His goal. So the question is not whether we are an ambassador for Christ. The question is how effective are we at being ambassadors for Christ.
Jesus not only instructed His followers to reach others with His message of reconciliation, but He also modeled it for us.
According to The Word in Life Study Bible, there are more than 40 encounters between Jesus and individuals in which He points them in God’s direction. 1 Today’s story in Luke about Zacchaeus’ life altering encounter with Jesus provides just one example.
What can we learn from this and the other 39 encounters that will enable us to be more effective ambassadors for Christ?
Sometimes Jesus initiates the conversation; sometimes the other person will ask Jesus a question. But regardless of who starts the conversation, you will find that Jesus has no standard speech, but rather adapts the content of His message to the person’s needs.
Quite unlike what is often taught in evangelism courses. The first one I took required that I learn the basic salvation theology. It is still known as The Four Spiritual Laws method of reaching folks.
- God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.
- Man is sinful and separated from God. Therefore he cannot know
and experience God’s love and plan for his life. - Jesus is God’s only provision for man’s sin. Through Him
you can know and experience God’s love and plan for your life. - We must individually receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord,
then we can know and experience God’s plan for our lives.
All that is Biblically true; however, we never see Jesus employing that method in His ministry of reconciliation. On the contrary, He always adapts His message to their needs. When the rich young ruler asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus told him to sell his possessions and then follow Him because Jesus knew that it was His wealth and possessions that prevented Him from following. Jesus never gave that message to anyone else. He tailored His message to the needs of the person He was trying to reach in His ministry of reconciliation.
We’ll come back to this shortly.
Another thing we can notice in these encounters is that Jesus never twists peoples’ arms to make a decision on the spot.
He was content to simply tell people where to find bread and then left it up to them if they wanted to eat.
All of the evangelism courses that I have taken or taught contain instructions about how to push for a decision. In James Kennedy’s Evangelism Explosion, we were taught to challenge strangers to make an immediate decision by warning them that if they didn’t and they would die the next day, they would go to hell.
In How to Become a Contagious Christian, a course that can be helpful, chapter 7, titled ‘Crossing the Line,’ suggests we ask: “Is there anything to prevent you from committing your life to Christ right now?”
But Jesus was content to share the good news and then let it cook. He understood that new ideas, especially religious ideas need to simmer within someone before they’ll be ready to act on them.
In other words, Jesus was content to plant seeds. He was simply a sower of the word of God and left the response up to the listener.
In the Parable of the soils, which appears in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus likens the Kingdom of God to a farmer scattering seed. Some of the scattered seed fell on a footpath, some fell in rocky soil, some fell amongst weeds and some fell in good soil. Then He explains the parable in Mark:
The farmer plants seed by taking God’s word to others. The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message, only to have Satan come at once and take it away. The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word. The seed that fell among the thorns represents others who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things, so no fruit is produced. And the seed that fell on good soil represents those who hear and accept God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!” (4:14-20).
Here we have Jesus, who although He was anxious to scatter the good seed of the word of God; after all by His own admission, He came to “seek and save those who were lost” (Luke 19:10), was satisfied to conclude the telling of several of His parables, including this one with, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Luke 8:8).
In other words, “Here’s My message, do with it what you will.”
Let’s take our cue from Jesus and free ourselves of the pressure we often feel associated with our calling to participate in the ministry of reconciliation.
We often worry we are not going to say the right thing, that we can’t quote the Bible and that we’re going to muck things up. We fear that the other person will be offended, or ridicule us, or say no; and that we have; therefore, failed God. That’s a huge burden to carry when all we are being asked to do is plant seeds.
Again, from The Word in Life Study Bible: “Witnessing involves connecting your faith with people’s experience in a way that they can understand it, in their own time and manner. It means cooperating with whatever God’s Spirit may be doing with them and leaving the results to Him.” 2
Bingo! That’s exactly the way Jesus did it!
“It involves connecting your faith with people’s experience in a way that they can understand it, in their own time and manner.” When you are in a conversation with someone who expresses loneliness, “I’m glad I can be a friend, but you know there’s someone who can be a better friend to you than I can, because He is available to you all the time” (seed planted).
When you are in a conversation with someone who expresses frustration with someone else, their boss or spouse, “You know I get frustrated, do you know what I do?” (seed Planted).
When you are in a conversation with someone who expresses anxiety due to the state of the world, especially in these COVID days, “You know where I have found peace?” (seed planted).
When you plant seeds like that, one of two things will happen. Either there will be a pregnant pause, as most likely they know where you are coming from, in which case, you have already planted the seed.
Or they very well might follow up by asking you, “Who, or what, or where?” Now, you have not only planted a seed, but you get a chance to water it.
“It means cooperating with whatever God’s Spirit may be doing with them and leaving the results to Him.”
Plant some seeds, and then pray that God would use others to come along and water them and pray that God would make the seed come to fruition. Paul reminds the Corinthians:
I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow (3:6-7).
All of this teaching has direct application in the Each One Reach One challenge I put before you last Easter; to reach one person by this coming Easter.
I asked you to think of some folks who you personally know who need what Christ offers. I asked you to write down their names and began to pray for them; that God would open their hearts so that when you either invited them to church with you or shared a little of your faith with them they would respond in a Godward manner.
(And yes, simply inviting someone to attend worship with you is planting a seed).
So let’s pray for them and ask God to help us plant some seeds, and like Jesus, we will be content to leave the results up to God.
We are talking about what Paul calls the ministry of reconciliation. It’s the greatest calling in the universe. It is the greatest calling because it involves changing someone’s future for not only the rest of their lives, but for all eternity!
We can’t possibly go wrong for we have the greatest news anyone could possibly hear: The God who created them loves them so much that He came to seek and save those who are lost.
“All of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to Himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to Him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And He gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making His appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ” (II Corinthians 5:18-21).
PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO THE MESSAGE
[I encourage you to pray as you feel led by the Spirit of God].
CLOSING SONG
Pass It On
Kaiser, Kurt
It only takes a spark to get a fire going,
And soon all those around can warm up in its glowing;
That’s how it is with God’s Love,
Once you’ve experienced it,
You spread His love to everyone
You want to pass it on.What a wondrous time is spring,
When all the tress are budding
The birds begin to sing, the flowers start their blooming;
That’s how it is with God’s love,
Once you’ve experienced it.
You want to sing, it’s fresh like spring,
You want to pass it on.I wish for you my friend
This happiness that I’ve found;
You can depend on Him
It matters not where you’re bound,
I’ll shout it from the mountain top,
I want the world to know
The Lord of love has come to me
I want to pass it on.I’ll shout it from the mountain top
© 1969 Bud John Songs (Admin. EMI Christian Music Publishing)
I want the world to know
The Lord of love has come to me
I want to pass it on.
CCLI License No. 1843349
BENEDICTION
Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
1 Corinthians 15:58
1 The Word in Life Study Bible, New Testament Edition, (Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville; 1993), pp. 318-319.
2 Ibid.