WELCOME

Pastor Greg & Tamara Dumas Lead Pastor

Welcome to The Crossing Church,

We pray your week has been good and all is well in your home. This week’s message is about unity. Have you ever just sat and watched an ant colony do there thing? When they work together they are able to accomplish just about anything! At The Crossing Church we value unity (not uniformity). We know that this place is a diverse group of people coming together in oneness to accomplish the impossible.

Your Pastor,Greg and Tamara Dumas, Lead Pastor

For more announcement details: www.crossingonline.org/announcements

UPCOMING EVENTS

The 26.2 Discipleship Process is an 18-week process that will help you discover and apply Biblical truths in your everyday life and learn how God has designed you to connect, serve, grow, give, and reach. We encourage everyone to join in the race. Register for the 26.2 Discipleship Process at: www.crossingonline.org/262DP.

• Warm up: November 7th – registration closes October 31st

Women’s Christmas Coffee Benevolence Event Interested in hosting a table? The event will be on Thursday, December 9. For more information on hostess responsibilities, please contact ashleysmith96@verizon.net.

Baptism ClassOur next baptism class for elementary-aged children (1st through 5th grade) is scheduled for Saturday, November 13 at 3pm in Room 229. All children are required to attend a baptism class before they can be baptized. Forms are available at the check-in desks upstairs and must be turned in one week prior to attending the class. For more information please contact Kim Gore at kgore@crossingonline.org or 626-0783, ext. 123.

Change in Hosted Prayer TimesWe are changing our hosted prayer times at the Crossing. We will now offer prayer on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 7am and noon. Hosted prayer is a time where our staff members meet in the café to pray for our church, community, and nation.

30-day Prayer and FastingYou have been hearing Pastor Greg talk about a 30-day prayer and fast beginning in October. It’s here! The Crossing Church will be joining together to ask God to change us personally, change our church, and our nation. The Bible teaches that through prayer and fasting God often speaks and humbles us. You are invited to join this important event. For more information about fasting visit our website at www.crossingonline.org/pray-and-act-30-day-fast.

Saturday, October 16Sunday, October 17

IS IT IN YOU?

The Crossing Core Values:Unity

Ephesians 4:3-8 Lead Pastor: Greg Dumas

WELCOME TO THE CROSSING CHURCH

SCRIPTURE

Ephesians 4:1-8 (NIV) 1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life “worthy” of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely “humble” and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the “unity” of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit-- just as you were called to one hope when you were called-- 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8 This is why it says: “When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men.”

• God has called you into His destiny for your life. He is asking you to walk on the path of His choosing. The path that He has chosen for your life is supplied by His grace.

• Humility and obedience toward God are basic to the Christian life. Humility isn’t for humiliation! Humility is for training in righteousness which leads to exaltation (promotion).

• Humble yourself before the Lord, before the church, and before individuals you can trust. It’s time to return to God with all of your heart! Choose to trust your Heavenly Father again. Choose to trust the church again. Choose to trust your leaders again.

• Make every effort to see and understand the big picture! You are here to know God, and to serve God. You are here to know others, and to serve others. We are all on the same team; we all have “One” focus and “One” aim, Jesus Christ. Choose to be in harmony (peace) with the flow of God’s movement in the body, that’s how we preserve unity amidst vast individuality.

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OBSERVATION

1. Unity: Unanimity not Uniformity (Ephesians 4:3) – be eager to keep the oneness of the Spirit! We have to celebrate our diversity in oneness. Unity doesn’t come through the gifts we bear; it comes through the fruit we share. We are uniquely one.

2. By the uniting bond of peace (Ephesians 4:3) – by the ligament, by the band, the bond, by the uniting principle of peace. We walk in wholeness, in one mind and in one accord.

3. We win and/or lose “jointly” (Ephesians 4:7; 1 Cor 12:4-31 MSG; 1 Thes 5:11)

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Lord, make us one! Use our individuality and our varied humanity to bring us to unanimity! Display the goodness and grandeur of our uniqueness in the array of our oneness. You are the sole focus of our lives! You are our goal, and you are the end of all of our allegiance. The peace you grant us through the presence of the Holy Spirit is the glue that holds us all together – a great bond that’s unbreakable throughout the earth. We have one heart and one mind to serve you, know you and to love you. We will walk together, amid our great diversity, singing one song. It’s the song of the redeemed, from every tongue and tribe and nation, we sing now and forevermore. We are different but unified. We are individuals but one whole. The cry of one man is heard, how much greater are the cries of the multitude which ascend the heights of the earth to implore heaven. You, oh Lord, are our only hope, and in You, we place our trust. We will follow You as one, for Your glory and to Your end.

APPLICATION

PRAYER

LIFEGROUPS

Use the following as a resource for your LifeGroup to go deeper with this week’s

message. We hope this helps you as you “do life together.”

Opener:

When you think of the word Unity, what picture pops into your mind? This weekend we

heard that our church is ONE. Think about it like a jigsaw puzzle. (The LifeGroup leader

will need to have a puzzle to use as an illustration and if the leader can find a jigsaw

puzzle for each person that will work even better.)

I had them handed out to you as a reminder of all who enter – we are all of equal value to

the overall picture of the Church! If even one piece were missing, then the picture would

not be complete. You are vital to the Church. When you accepted Christ as your Savior

you accepted the commitment that you would be more Christ-like and that you would

help his church any way you could. And that is admirable. He gave his life that you would

be saved, and you commit your life so that his church would be complete! So I ask you

this: What part are you currently playing?

Digging Deeper :

Let’s read together I Corinthians 12:12-31. If the human body was made up of only one

part, then it would cease to be a body – by definition, a body is made up of many parts.

But for the sake of argument, if it were possible for a body to be made up of only one

part, then it would be an extremely limited body. What are some of the problems we

would face if it was true that we are one body and all the same part? Think about it in

your family … what would be different? We also learned in 1 Thessalonians 5:11 that not

only are we one body made up of many members, but we are to encourage each other in

the gift of service He has blessed us with. What does it look like to encourage the people

around you in service to the church, and more importantly, to God?

Application:

I want you to notice that our responsibility is not to create the unity but to keep the

unity. There is a huge difference. Paul says: “Make every effort to keep the unity of

the Spirit through the bond of peace.” So what is the basis of this unity? What is it

founded upon?

As we end together I ask each of you … where do you fit in? Where are your talents and

gifts most beneficial to completing the Church? I want us all to keep these pieces of the

puzzle as a reminder that we are all a very vital link in the Church! Without any of you, it

would not be complete! May the Lord bless each and every one of you!