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CrossPoint Community News 05/16/2025

by | May 16, 2025 | Announcement, CrossPoint Community Ministry, FrontPage-News | 0 comments

a man in red shirt holding placard with message while standing on the road
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,   
 
       Yesterday morning, in my devotions, I read a line in 2 Chronicles that caught my attention. It was during the reign of King Hezekiah (the son of the wicked king Ahaz, not the infamous Ahaz of Elijah’s day. That Ahaz was the king of Israel. The Ahaz and his son Hezekiah I’m talking about were kings in Judah). Anyway… in 2 Chronicles 30, Hezekiah intends to celebrate the Passover (something not done like this since the days of Solomon). So he sends a message to the people of Israel (who just a generation before had captured people from Judah). He encourages them to return to the Lord. We read in 2 Chronicles 30:8-9: 
       “Do not now be stiff-necked as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the Lord and come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever, and serve the Lord your God, that his fierce anger may turn away from you. For if you return to the Lord, your brothers and your children will find compassion with their captors and return to this land. For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him.” 
       What struck me about these verses is the fact that Hezekiah promises them that their repentance (returning to the Lord) will result in their relatives returning to the land. In other words, their repentance would benefit others they cared about. 
       Too often, and perhaps even most of my life, I have considered how repentance is an individual thing – I need to repent and believe in Jesus. And while this is true, I haven’t considered how my repentance benefits those around me. But returning to the Lord is both good for us and it is good for those around us. At bare minimum, repenting grants us humility (because we recognize our sins and our need for salvation). Humility towards the Lord leads to humility towards others (cf. 1 Peter 5:5-6). Moreover, as our lives are changed to be more like Jesus as we continue to return to the Lord, we will be loving, joyful, full of peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, since we will live by and keep in step with the Spirit (Gal. 5:22, 23, 25). So today, consider how you need to repent. Thank God that he is merciful and gracious. And Thank God that your repentance benefits the people around you. 
 
This Sunday, May 18th, the Youth Ministry is doing a STM fundraiser (The Annual 5k). Register here.  Also, the Empower Fellowship will start. That is our college student ministry which typically runs in the summer and during Christmas break. That begins at 7 pm at my home. 
 
Please continue to pray for the nations of Israel and Ukraine and South Sudan. Pray that the wars would end and the ceasefire in Gaza would be reinstated. Here is a suggested list of prayers if you are at a loss for words in how to pray: https://send.org/story/hh_pray_for_ukraine. And https://worldrelief.org/blog-prayer-for-israel-and-gaza/ And here are other prayers for peace in general: https://worldrelief.org/prayers-for-peace-in-the-world/ Thank you for kneeling on behalf of the people of Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Gaza and Lebanon, Sudan and South Sudan, and taking a stand (or a knee in prayer) against the forces of darkness in this present age. 

This Week (May 16- 22, 2025):

1. Tonight, May 16, 2025, the Living Stones Friday Night Bible Study is meeting from 7:30-9:30 to study “The Sign of His Light”. TC and Yajwu are leading. You can read John 9:1-33 if you want a sneak peek of the content! Join in person in Room A-218 or online via the following link at 7:30 pm:

https://zoom.us/j/685376249?pwd=cWtyUk1pckJiRHJxZVZCSGdJZWw2UT09  
Meeting ID: 685 376 249   
Password: 840840   
Join by phone:  +1 929 436 2866 US (New York)

Note: Next week, May 23, we will take a break due to the Memorial Day Holiday.

2. CrossPoint Community Sunday School meets this Sunday – May 18 in the Koinonia Room (A-216). We will be learning about Truth through the Intro to Apologetics Sunday School led by TC Tang. We will use the following link for those who wish to join online this Sunday:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/491248585?pwd=RnpLcnpjQ01nTGZLSmhaZ3l4L3dKQT09 
Meeting ID: 491 248 585 
Password: 403767 
Join by phone: +1 929 205 6099 US (New York) 

Note: There will not be Sunday School on May 25, due to the Memorial Day Holiday Weekend. But there will be a time for connection, sharing and prayer from 9:45 to 11 am in A202.

3. This Sunday, May 18, 2025, at 11:25 am, we will have our CrossPoint Community Worship service. Pastor Nathan (I) will be preaching. Pray for him (me)! Join us for worship at CBCGL.

Text: 1 Peter 5:1-5
Title: Doing Good in Church
Live stream via Youtube: https://www.cbcgl.org/live-stream/

4. Each Wednesday, such as this coming week (May 21) at 7:45 pm, you are invited, encouraged, and requested to join our weekly prayer meeting. We will not grow in Christ without growing in our dependence on God through prayer. In May, we will be praying with a focus on Special Events this month and summer. The link is found below in the section on prayer.

Administration / Events

1. We have a missions update (so check out the missions tab in the bulletin)! You can pray for Rev. Aritung Kikon. His recent update is from the Seminary that he runs in India to equip native church leaders to bring the gospel and lead churches in India. They just had a graduation! For more information, check out the missions tab of the bulletin. Also, if you’d like to help with providing mission updates for CPC – let Pastor Nathan know!

2. CPCM has reserved the Multi-Purpose Room on Saturday’s from 1:30 to 4PM for sports. In general, we can play any game: Ping-pong, badminton, pickleball, volleyball, basketball; we can do it all. The room is reserved only for CPCM members and their guests, so it is highly likely you will have lots of space and time to play whatever you want. The goal is to build deeper bonds through shared interest and activity. The contact person is Joshua Zhang.

3. Sunday Lunch Service is available at CBCGL with $5 lunches that are first-come, first-served. Pizza is $2 per slice and Ramen is available (priced variously according to size).

4. Women’s Bible Study – “KEEPING IT VERTICAL” meets the first and third Tuesday of each month to learn, share and grow in the Lord. We are studying the Fruit of the Spirit. Come join us and meet new friends and bring more friends along! Contact jeannemic50 (at) icloud.com (Please note, on May 20, this begins at 10 am.) May 20th will be the final meeting for the spring. This Bible Study resumes on Sept. 2nd, 2025.

5. VBS Registration is open for CBCGL’s VBS held August 4-8 (It’s Full Day this year!). To register please follow this link. Also, the VBS committee is looking for materials to make decorations. You can find that announcement here.

6. All other announcements can be found here (in our CrossPoint Community bulletin).

For Prayer:

1. From Bishop J.C. Ryle – “To be prayerless is to be Christless, Godless, and in the high road to destruction…It will always be found that when prayers are few, grace, strength, peace, and hope are small.” Please join our Wednesday night prayer meeting (7:45 – 9:00 pm) even if you can’t participate the whole time.

https://zoom.us/j/758587937?pwd=aS9sZUdxcm1janNNM2I2aXJ6Smx2QT09
Meeting ID: 758 587 937
Password: 030086
Join by phone: +1 929 436 2866 US (New York)

2. We’d be glad to pray for you. If you need prayer, you can submit your prayer request via the following link: https://www.cbcgl.org/pray/

In Christ, your servant, SDG,
Rev. Dr. Nathan Willems
Associate Pastor of CrossPoint Community – A Ministry of CBCGL