Good Work! You Did Your Job Well.

Scripture for the Week

"The servant showed how he also had doubled his master's investment. His master commended him: 'Good work! You did your job well. From now on be my partner.'"
Matthew 25:22-23

Dear Friend,

Don't you want to hear Jesus say those words to you?

Just yesterday, we had a conversation with one of God's partners who wanted to help a young person get their life started. You know, one of those people who are always looking for ways to double the work of their hands. They just seem to thrive on how they can do the business of helping someone else. While they're doing that ... prosperity comes to them!

We also got an email. The subject line on the email was "Families in Need this Christmas." We thought it was people who were in need, writing us for assistance. No . . . instead it was a group of young business people who want to give gifts to families at Christmas time. What they "needed" were the names of families to bless! You can count on God partnering with these business people.

Last week, we went to Lansing to receive an award for the Crossroads Church partners. It was called "The Beacon of Light" award. Crossroads was one of 10 feeding agencies (out of 3,000) in all of Michigan to receive this award for fulfilling the mission of "Providing hope, help and security for the hungry people of Michigan." God's partners do their job WELL!

Today, as we pray for you, we echo the words of Paul to the church in Thessalonica...

Every time we think of you, we thank God for you.
Day and night you're in our prayers as we call to mind your
work of faith, your labor of love, and your patience of hope
in following our Master, Jesus Christ, before God our Father.
It is clear to us, friends, that God not only loves you very much
but also has put his hand on you for something special.

1 Thessalonians 1:2-4

Keep doing your job well,

Scott & Clare
Crossroads Church & Ministries

prayer for healing

Please pray for my co-worker Carol, her father had a heart attack earlier today and is on life support in the hospital. Carol's family is in Pennsylvania so she will be traveling as well. Please pray for her safe arrival and for her father's healing.

Thank you,

Jill

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You are so beautiful...to me

Scripture for the week:
How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger bringing good news, breaking the news that all's well, proclaiming good times, announcing salvation, telling Zion, "Your God reigns!" Isaiah 52:8 MSG

Dear Friend,

Remember Joe Cocker singing "you are so beautiful . . . to me"? Now the key part of the lyrics is "to me". Those words are filled with the doubt that anyone else thought she was as beautiful as he did. It's clear that Joe Cocker found the girl he was singing about to be the beauty "he" was looking for.

It's kind of like the feet in the passage of scripture above. How many of you think feet are beautiful? Our grandson does. One time I (Clare) came home from a trip and Dante came running shouting "Gramma's feet are home!" He then fell at my feet and hugged them. A little strange . . . but he thinks my feet are beautiful! (By the way, Dante has never said that to me [Scott]).

Are you planning to bring beauty into someone's life this week? Does seeing your feet coming mean that you're bringing beauty; the news that all's well, proclaiming good times, announcing salvation? People need you to be beautiful. In a world that is filled with such ugly circumstances and hideous news, you can be beautiful . . . to them!

Bringing home the beauty,
Scott & Clare
Crossroads Church & Ministries

Action Steps:
Look for someone who needs good news.
Give them a word of encouragement, a card, a flower, write a song, give them good times!
Afterwards, REJOICE that you were an instrument of beauty! What a great feeling.

Do You Want Joy?

Scripture for the week:
"Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.' I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent." Luke 15:4-7 (NIV)

Dear Friend,
Do you need JOY? Not happiness that depends on what's happening, but JOY. The kind that gets deep on the inside of you and changes your outlook, your in-look, your life! You can have it . . . are you ready? Look for lost people and help them find their way home to God. If this is your life pursuit, you will live so full of JOY people will want to bottle up and sell your attitude! Consider this: after all the miracles that heaven has witnessed, the view that is above and beyond the temporary and sees the future with total clarity. . . this is what makes all of heaven stand up and cheer! This gets out-of-this-world parties started! This is the kind of living that is others-centered not self-engulfed. This is where JOY happens.

Simple Thoughts for the week:

Jesus cares about the lost
Outward focus on the lost takes the spotlight off you
You become like Jesus

Do you need JOY? Look for lost people and help them find their way to God. Live like heaven and find this joy today.

Going for the JOY,
Scott & Clare
Crossroads Church & Ministries

What's in Your Future?

Scripture for the week:
Seek the peace and prosperity of the land to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.

Jeremiah 29:7

Dear Friend,

Take a minute. Imagine your ideal future. What does it look like? What does peace and prosperity mean for you, your family, our nation? Sometimes the best place to realize the possibilities for our future is in a place of exile. Exile from what we see as good, safe and abundant. This kind of uncertainty can awaken our desires for a blessed life. It can cause us to get up off our behinds and do something.

What do we do? A prosperous and peaceful future is intentional, not accidental. The quality life of freedom, respect, goodness and abundance requires two commitments: seek it out and pray it through.

Seek: the Hebrew word for seek is darash. It is an action word. It means to pursue, search and follow. We must search out, pursue and follow the quality life we long for. Follow the trail. Set your eyes on what you desire and be active in bringing freedom, respect, goodness and abundance to others. Do the homework as to how that God-kind of life is received and shared. Then . . . live it out.

Pray: The words peace and prosperity are rooted in the Hebrew word shalom. Shalom is a pregnant word, meaning: well, happy, friendly; also (abstractly) welfare, i.e. health, prosperity, peace. Wow! Looks like a campaign promise! God says to pray this for our land and it will come to us personally! It's not enough to just do the work of seeking. Even diligent seekers leave this life without experiencing a deeply satisfying and abundant life. People who pray prayers for their land experience that kind of peace alone and together. This kind of prosperity comes from the power of God.

So, because these words apply to us in solitude and community, let your vote be congruent with them. Before you vote next Tuesday, choose the candidate you see as pursuing and following God's ways. Let prayers of true shalom be spoken over our nation. You may not have the answers to all of life's problems, but you have two steps that lead us into God's plan for peace and prosperity. Begin today.

Prosperity and peace are created by those whose pursuit and prayers are larger than their own little world.

Shalom,

Scott & Clare
Crossroads Church & Ministries

Prayer:
Heavenly Father, I seek the peace and prosperity of our land. You promise that if it prospers I, too, will prosper. Give us leaders who will make your ways their ways and your thoughts their thoughts. Save us from the false choices and guide us into all truth. I commit to seek peace and prosperity for others, to see Your kingdom come and Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. For Yours is the kingdom the power and the glory now and forever. Amen

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