Love Me Tender. Love Me True...

"When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth." --Unknown
Dear Friend,

Has somebody ever lied about you? Misrepresented you? Misunderstood you? Has your name been unsafe in someone's mouth? The answer is-yes.
This morning we prayed for truth to come to light for a dear friend who is facing misrepresentation. As we prayed, we felt the truth of God's Word begin to rise on their behalf... on your behalf.
Lies come at us in many forms. Lies can masquerade in fear of the future, insecurity, unworthiness, distrust... and the only way to defeat falsehood is with the truth.

"They shall not be put to shame in the time of evil; and in the days of famine
they shall be satisfied." Psalm 37:19 (AMP)

"Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from
the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:39 (AMP)

"But you will not even need to fight. Take your positions; then stand still and watch the Lord's victory. He is with you, O people of Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid or discouraged.
Go out there tomorrow, for the Lord is with you!" 2 Chronicles 20:17 (NLT)

"Then said the Lord to me, You have seen well, for I am alert
and active, watching over My word to perform it." Jeremiah 1:12 (AMP)

The Bible says, "Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth" (1 Cor 13:6). The truth is: If God is for you who can be against you? (Romans 8:31) Really, who cares what or who is against you when God is on your side? The enemy of your soul would love nothing more than to misrepresent God's intentions toward you. God's name is not safe in the mouth of the enemy... neither is yours! Take the time to learn the truth about God...the truth about what God says about you... about your situation. Even when God corrects you, he tells you the truth tenderly. The Holy Spirit comforts you and counsels you into all truth. You will always find your name is safe in the mouth of God.

God TRUE-LY loves you,

Click here to join a 40 Days of Love Life Group.
Click here to sign up for March Madness...MAN UP!

Click here to send this eletter to a friend.
Click here to invite someone to 40 Days of Love.
Click here to watch 40 Days of Love messages

Scripture for the Week
"Love is Patient..." 1st Corinthians 13:4a

Dear Friend,

Love is patient. What? We know you don't have time to read about love being patient. It takes too long, requires too much effort and really there must be a more expedient way to get love. Yet life and most assuredly love requires patience. Most of our living is done in the position between "the now and the not yet." In other words, between the love we have and the love we are longing to experience, we have to wait and we have to be patient.

We could help develop your patience by writing a long laborious eletter but we'll try not to torture you. We just want to help you pay attention to the patient-love challenge given to us by Paul in 1st Corinthians. To use the words patient and love together like they belong to each other is a serious challenge! We could all be patiently loving if there were no people involved in the challenge. You know those people that don't do it your way, have let you down, irritate the heck out of you.

Maybe an illustration will help us move forward in patient-love. The story of the olive tree is exactly the image we need. It is said that there are olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemene that would have been there when Jesus prayed in the garden the night He was betrayed. Olive trees grow on barren, sandy ground with little water and nourishment. Yet, they can live thousands of years (that's longevity!) and are loved for their beautiful wood, olives and don't forget ...olive oil mmmmm. Seems that patient growth is worth it.

David communicated that he wanted to trust in, rely on, be patiently waiting for God's love. In Psalm 52:88 he penned these words "But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God's unfailing love forever and ever... sounds like patient love. Longevity at its finest.

Consider the relationships you have: Could this be God's love lab to develop patient-love in you? Can the disappointments you've experienced be the sandy soil God is creating your longevity with? Is the lack of water in those relationships causing you to go deeper in your faith or are you tempted to run or retire? Even if you're not getting all the nourishment you need --hang on! Keep growing in love! Be patient for ever and ever...

We would never suggest anyone stay in an abusive relationship. Never be patient with abuse! We are offering the patient-love challenge to those relationships God has given you, because in order to experience the beauty of longevity, we must develop patient-love. Honestly, it just takes patience :)

Patience practices:
Hold your tongue...listen attentively
Wait your turn
Give up the remote
Give the love your looking for...serve the one who hurt you
Stay where you are-like an olive tree
Last but not least --pray

Patience Blessings,

Scott & Clare

All You Need is Love

Click here to send this eletter to a friend.
Click here to invite someone to 40 Days of Love.

Scripture for the Week

1 Corinthians 14:1a (MSG)
Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it--because it does.

Dear Friend,

Do you believe the Beatles were right in saying "All you need is love"? What if we were to say that every area of your life depended on love... your job, your business, your money, your health, and your relationships? Do you think we're crazy? Maybe, but we think we're right!

What if we applied the principles of loving like our life depended on it to our jobs? That would include loving what we do, loving our employees and our bosses. Don't stop reading! Imagine a job where business decisions were made based on a person's highest good... like someone's life depended on it.

How about money? What if the financial investments we make, the spending we do and all our fiscal responsibilities were based on love? Could money become a product of love instead of the object of love? What if the treatment of finances reflected that life depended on it's being used well?

Lets talk health. Do you think we would be healthier if we realized that taking care of our health was about loving others and ourselves? If so, then could strong health and energy cause us to become a love machine that doesn't punk out, stress out or wear out?

And of course, relationships. Everybody knows love is at the core of our relationships... but is it really? Is our relational world giving us and those we're in relationship with the juice, the care and the love they deserve?

Consider the last conversation you had with those that have been given to you. Are you happy with the way that conversation ended? Is there something you can do to rectify it? How much attention are you giving to going after - pursing - apprehending love like your life depended on it? What should you do to remind yourself that your life depends on love? Here are some thoughts:

Value: Bring clarity to a person's worth. Take time today to tell or show somebody how important they are to you.

Empathy: Walk in someone else's shoes. Purposefully place yourself in someone's story. What do they need? Can you help meet that need?

Preference: Give another person first choice. Where can you lay aside your desires to fulfill another person's desire? What can you sacrifice to prefer or give deference to someone as an act of love?

In closing, we take this opportunity to invite you to our 40 days of Love series beginning this Sunday either live or via the internet (click here). For 7 weeks we will be devoting our Sunday messages and weekly e-letters to ways that we can encounter love personally and grow in giving love away. We also invite you to enjoy the adventure of 40 days of fasting and prayer. We encourage you to join us in fasting and prayer during these 40 days to see love increase in our lives and our world. To get you prepared for the 40 days, click here to watch last week's service. We believe these 40 days can change us and our world!

Galatians 5:14 The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."

Going after a life of love,

Do You Love Me?

Scripture for the week:
John 21:17-19 (MSG) Then He said it a third time: "Simon, do you love me?" Peter was upset that he asked for the third time, "Do you love me?" so he answered, "Master, you know everything there is to know. You've got to know that I love you."

Dear Friend,

Whoa! You can't blame Peter for being upset that Jesus thinks his love is "questionable". Imagine Jesus asking you this question 3 times! Put your name in the blank; " ________ do you love me?" This is one of those questions that gets to the heart of the matter, the center of your soul. No bull... no pretense or pretending... just tell me "________ do you love me?" Clearly, Jesus was trying to rattle or wake up Simon Peter's love... and all the readers (us) who would come after him.

Jesus has some answers to his question in the preceding and following verses. It appears that love is a verb. It's a moving, saying, doing kind of word. Yet God not only wants love to be a verb but then... an adjective. Simply put; God wants love to be experienced in you, through you and then maybe best of all... describing and defining who you are.

When was the last time you felt unquestionable love move through you to another person? You know, the kind of love that is so clear, so true, so passionate that it isn't questioned. Do you feel like your love is asleep or... in a coma? Ask yourself "Does God or anybody else know that I love Him or them?" Would the VIP's in your life say you are "loving"?

If love is a saying, doing, moving kind of force that leaves a trail behind us - that describes who we are - let's take 20 minutes and experience it:

Get alone - and say to God:

God I love you. I want to love you more.

Spend time with those words. Savor them... Write or sing them to God.

Then listen. Just listen. Hear what God wants to say to you. Receive those words into your heart... into your world. Write what you feel, hear or see.

Then respond. Allow your love to be a verb - and then become an adjective. Jesus finishes his love conversation with Peter saying, "Feed my sheep." Feeding is loving. Who needs you to lead them to the nourishment of God's love? Who desperately needs you to be loving with them today? Let a trail of love follow you and describe your experience with love.

Loving Him and you,

Ways to wake up the love:

Invite a friend to Crossroads to hear the message of God's love.
Click here to forward this eletter to a friend.
Sign up for a 40 Days of Love Life Group.

Super Sunday

Dear Friend,

Crossroads is celebrating Super Bowl Sunday this weekend. This would be a great weekend to invite a friend to experience church as the kick-off party. Watch for footballs and interviews with notable football types! : ) To invite a friend click here.

Super Bowl Sunday is a big deal to so many people. As one of our Steelers fans put it: "When your team is playing in the Super Bowl, it's like going to the prom. A lot of nervousness, build up, anxiety and hoping have gone into one night. Like your team, you want you and your date to be at your best. If things go badly you can wind up feeling like someone dumped a bucket of paint on your prom duds. If things go well, it's one of the happiest memories of your life. As you can tell, I care about the Steelers way too much!"

Football is a thrill, but wouldn't it be great if people had the same passion and build up for the things of eternal value? This Sunday the faithful "A2:42" play will come out of the playbook to get us started. Kick off party begins @ 9 and 10:45 a.m.

You're welcome to use a whole seat, but you'll only need the edge!

2:42 Hike,