Joe & Becky Cruse

Hi friends, just sending you a last minute invitation to get on a bus, truck, plane or car and join us this weekend for our first ever 4th of July Freedom Fest Saturday from 5-9 on our new property, 13550 Hwy 290 W. located between Austin and Dripping Springs. Its a big birthday celebration for America with lots of good fun, good food and great fellowship together and then a patriotic concert @ 7:00 pm with fireworks to follow.

And that’s not all–

On Sunday, July 5th, @ 10:00 am we will be having church on the property with some of the best worship under the big sky and Ps Joe’s message–The Blessing Brings Freedom. Its sure to be a fun filled weekend. Now, it’s not too late. Decide right now, that you can’t miss this monumental occasion! You can help write history, or you can read about it!

Come on…see you Saturday!–PB

We were incredibly blessed to have been with our friends, Ps Kevin and Gaile Howell and the family at Covenant Christian Center in Tampa, Fl. this past week. The power of the Lord was present to heal, save, set free and deliver. Thank you dear friends for an awesome and inspiring week. We will never be the same!

This past Sunday, Ps Joe continued The Blessing series with Pt 2 of “The Blessing brings Transfer”. There were 4 key points about the blessing that are vital to us see the the transference of wealth in these last days.

1. The Blessing is on you for purpose and that purpose is to put Jesus first.

The Blessing is there so you can be a blessing. Without God’s blessing, we can’t help anybody. The blessing is not for self gain, or to build up “bigger barns”. As we put Jesus first, we realize that everything He blesses us with, we must use to further His Kingdom.

2. The Blessing is on you is to hear from God so you can know His plan for your life.

The Blessing will cause us to learn to hear and heed God’s voice. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had to learn to listen to the voice of God. Not only listen, but to obey. Obedience to God’s leading is the key to walking in the fulness of the blessing.

3. You must be faithful to do the work…it takes hard work.

Faithfulness is such a key to seeing the transfer of wealth! Are you faithful with what God has put in your hand? Can God trust you? Most people never see the blessing fully because they don’t stay with anything long enough to see it through. Isaac was faithful to sow seed in the time of famine. Jacob was faithful to serve Laban, even though Laban lied to and cheated him. Faithfulness to the Word of God and to the work of God will insure the blessing will be activated in your life.

4. You have to serve with integrity.

Integrity and honesty are key ingredients to walking in the blessing and seeing the transference of wealth. Over the last few decades, we have seen many people in the body of Christ fall because of issues related to these areas. Integrity is who you are when no one else is around. Integrity must be in you for you to be trusted with wealth for the end time harvest.

You see, the transference of wealth is not a new thing. Jesus left heaven, came to earth, gave Himself so that we could be transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. This is the greatest transfer of wealth. The treasure of heaven transferred into the life of the believer. We are His treasure. The greatest treasure to be transferred is the souls of men and women from darkness to light.

Friends, I don’t know about you, but I am ready for a transference of wealth! How about you? PB

I want to take this opportunity to express congratulations to those 2009 graduates of Institute for the Arts, as well as those receiving 1st and 2nd year certificates.

It was a great year and the graduation ceremony was the icing on the cake. We were privileged to have one of the leading worship leaders of our day, Cindy Cruse Ratcliff, worship leader for Joel Osteen Ministries, as our keynote speaker. As Cindy spoke, I felt a deep sense of eternal destiny being deposited into the students as well as parents, alumni, and instructors in attendance.

As the overseers of this ministry, Joe and I are always so encouraged during this time of the year. Habakkuk 2:2-3 tells us, “And the Lord answered me and said, Write the vision and engrave it so plainly upon tablets that everyone who passes may [be able to] read [it easily and quickly] as he hastens by. For the vision is yet for an appointed time and it hastens to the end [fulfillment]; it will not deceive or disappoint. Though it tarry, wait [earnestly] for it, because it will surely come; it will not be behindhand on its appointed day”.

To watch those graduates lead worship together for the last time, to hear the performance choir raise the anthems of heaven and to see the wonder of future ministries in students’ eyes, is very rewarding. Yes, the vision speaks. It speaks with a clarion call. It not only speaks, it shouts. It shouts to all from a very grass roots place that we are fulfilling God’s mandate. The Lord said to us, “(Joe-Becky), I love you and if you want to travel and lead worship around the world, that is okay with me. But what I would rather you do–is to take what I have put in you and put it into the hands and hearts of the next generation!”

And that my friends, is what we have done and will continue to do as long as we have breath! John, Violet, Chris, Raphael, James, Lily, Joe–this one is for you! Run now–it’s your turn!

Rather than a lengthy blog this week, I want to encourage you to download the sermon podcast from this past Sunday (May 17) by clicking on the podcast icon on this website.

In keeping with The Blessing series, Ps Joe shared an awesome message entitled, The Blessing Refreshes or Living Stress-free in a Stressful World. I was so blessed (and refreshed) as were many in the congregation–a sure reminder of what Jesus purchased for us and what the Holy Spirit has put on the inside of us.

One of the key scriptures he used was Acts 3:19 (AMP) which says, “So repent (change your mind and purpose); turn around and return [to God], that your sins may be erased (blotted out, wiped clean), that times of refreshing (of recovering from the effects of heat, of [a]reviving with fresh air) may come from the presence of the Lord.

Friends, I know that the presence of the Lord is the place to be to avoid stress and burnout and I know for us, that is how we have made it through all these years. Living in the place of praise and worship has kept us in God’s presence. Abiding in the secret place is the key. (Psalms 91–Message)

Do something good for yourself today, download the podcast, sit back and be refreshed!

Much love–PB

Well, I just finished watching tonights episode of American Idol and for the first time, I have to admit that I actually voted. I must admit though, I am not sure I voted with the right motive. I actually voted for someone in hopes that another someone would not win. Now, how crazy is that? It certainly is easy to get caught up in the frenzy of public opinion and start to take sides, after all, watching the show week after week, you just get sucked right in.

So now it’s time to write this blog and now I start to ask myself–what was that all about? And who will care or even remember this season’s winner this time next year? After all, most of the finalists are just “flashes in the pan” (as we used to say!) And while I’m on the subject, how often have we heard the late Elvis Presley referred to as “the king”?

I tell you the truth, there is but one true “Idol”, the darling Son of heaven, Jesus Christ, and in the age to come, He is and truly shall be King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Exodus 20:4 says, “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Folks, let’s keep things in perspective. No, I’m not saying you can’t watch TV, but I am saying that Jesus, the One we adore deserves all the praise, all the honor, and all the glory. As long as we give Him the praise He so richly deserves and recognize He is the One who gives us life, breath and talent, we take the focus off of the earthly things (or people) and put it on the real “HEAVEN IDOL”.

Let me close with this reminder: “Therefore God exalted him (Jesus) to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”.(Phil. 2:9-11 NIV)

Till next time–PB

Quite often, I have church members and staff who send me thoughts and words the Lord gives them. I am always so blessed and love to make them available for others to benefit from. This weeks posting comes from Ps Jess and Jenn Tomac, our Student Ministries Pastors for the ministry. Enjoy!

I desired to write and encourage you all today. We often speak of Melchizedek and the tithe that Abram gave him (Genesis 14). But what did Abram do with the spoils from the battle? Abram gave it ALL to the king of Sodom saying, “I have raised my hand to the Lord, God Most High, the Possessor of heaven and earth, that I will take nothing, from a thread to a sandal strap, and that I will not take anything that is yours, lest you should say, I have made Abram rich” (Genesis 14:22-23)

What happened next? Immediately following Abrams “resolve” Genesis chapter 15 records “After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Abram. I AM YOUR SHIELD, YOUR EXCEEDING GREAT REWARD.”

Abram gave it all refusing and fleeing from the appearance that man was his source. THEN the word of the Lord came to him. “I am your. . .” Hmmm! This is radical resolve, with action, causing radical results.

The story doesn’t end here, although that would be completely encouraging to us. It goes on to say that God gave Abram a promise. To outline the extent of this promise He took Abram outside to look at the stars, the impossible task. “Look now toward heaven and count the stars if you are able to number them…so shall your descendents be.” (Gen. 15:5) It says that, “And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.” (Gen. 15:6)

Now how many times do you suppose Abram looked up at the stars after this point and said “hey God where are those “stars”?

For a person who gives it all, God gives a promise and a reward. He seems to outline the promise with the impossible task, counting the stars. If we will believe, it will be credited to our account. We are required to be people of radical resolve, a people who know and believe their God.

Look at the result. “Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.” (Romans 4:16) Abraham’s reward was much bigger than just an immediate family.

I want to encourage you in a season where you might not be able to always see YOUR “stars”. Believe the Lord!

“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6)

“What the world needs now is love, sweet love. It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of.” Hal David and Burt Bacharach wrote that very familiar song. It was released on April 15, 1965, and reached number seven on the music charts in May. It’s a popular song that has been recorded again and again by various artists. The song’s message and its popularity reveal to us the heart’s cry of the world for love.

During the night of the Last Supper, Jesus told His disciples to love one another. It was so important that He told them this three times in the same evening (John 13:34; 15:12; 15:17). John was consumed with the love of God, and wrote about it profusely in his epistles. Paul and Peter also admonish us to love one another in their epistles. Loving one another is good, but we need to go a step farther.

One day a Pharisee lawyer asked Jesus which commandment of the law was of principal importance. Jesus answered him by quoting Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind (intellect). This is the great (most important, principal) and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as (you do) yourself” (Matthew 22:37-40). Well, we know we should love God with all of our being, but Jesus said we are to love our neighbor just like we love ourselves. We can love ourselves and take care of ourselves pretty good, and we need to extend this same love to our neighbors.

But who is our neighbor? Our family? The people who live in the same neighborhood? The people we work with? Jesus took love to a whole new level, and said that we should love even our enemies and pray for them (Matthew 5:43-48). It’s easy to love people that we like, and people that treat us right, but Jesus said to love our enemies as well. This can be a hard truth to swallow, but God loved us when we were His enemies. When were we God’s enemies? When we were in sin without God. And yet He loved us anyway, and reconciled us to Him through the death of His Son Jesus (Romans 5:6-10).

This is how the world will come to salvation. There’s another song from the sixties: a Christian song that said, “They will know we are Christians by our love, by our love. They will know we are Christians by our love.” It’s a tall order, but the love of God flowing through us is still the answer to the cries of the world.

So, what is love? How do we love? How does love act or respond in different situations? The following is an excerpt from Sparkling Gems From the Greek by Rick Renner. It is an “expanded interpretive translation” of I Corinthians 13:4-8 based on his intense studies in the Greek. It’s a little long, but well worth reading and meditating on:

Love patiently and passionately bears with others for as long as patience is needed:
Love doesn’t demand others to be like itself; rather, it is so focused on the needs of others that it bends over backwards to become what others need it to be;
Love is not ambitious, self-centered, or so consumed with itself that it never thinks of the needs or desires that others possess;
Love doesn’t go around talking about itself all the time, constantly exaggerating and embellishing the facts to make it look more important in the sight of others;
Love does not behave in a prideful, arrogant, haughty, superior, snooty, snobbish, or clannish manner;
Love is not rude and discourteous – it is not careless or thoughtless, nor does it carry on in a fashion that would be considered insensitive to others;
Love does not manipulate situations or scheme and devise methods that will twist situations to its own advantage;
Love does not deliberately engage in actions or speak words that are so sharp, they cause an ugly or violent response;
Love does not deliberately keep records of wrongs or past mistakes;
Love does not feel overjoyed when it sees an injustice done to someone else but is elated, thrilled, ecstatic, and overjoyed with the truth;
Love protects, shields, guards, covers, conceals, and safeguards people from exposure;
Love strains forward with all its might to believe the very best in every situation;
Love always expects and anticipates the best in others and the best for others:
Love never quits, never surrenders, and never gives up;
Love never disappoints, never fails, and never lets anyone down.

You might read this and think that you could never love this way. I know I come up short. But God is faithful to complete the work He has started in us. We can meditate on these things, and ask Him to work this love in our lives and in our hearts towards others.

Hey friends, just checking in to say hello and to let all of you know we are soon wrapping up another year at Institute for the Arts. It is really hard to believe that we have graduated students for seven years and it only seems that we have just begun. Of those students finishing the program, 75% of them have gone on to full or part time ministry and for that, we give God all the glory.

For us, it can be hard to let the students go..especially when they have been with you for three years but we know that God has called us to “equip and release” and that is just what we must do.

Here are some dates you might be interested in knowing about:

May 6 IFTA Night of Worship @ 6:30 pm (everyone is welcome)
May 7 Spring Recital 11 to 1 pm (everyone is welcome)
May 13 and 14 Final Juries for all students (students only please)
May 21 Third Year Banquet (graduates, their guests, and pastoral staff and faculty)
May 22 Alumni Reception @ the new property (09 graduates and all alumni, faculty, and guests)
May 23 Graduation @ Mt Olive Lutheran @ 2:00 pm (Commencement Speaker is Cindy Cruse-Ratcliff Everyone is welcome)
May 24 Sunday services with Marcus and Cindy Ratcliff ministering in the 8:30 and 11:00 services (Everyone is welcome)

For more information on these dates and Institute for the Arts, go to www.instituteforthearts.com

Join us as we celebrate these students and acknowledge their accomplishments! PB

To all our friends and partners of Worshipworks Ministries International, we want to take this opportunity to update you on a few of the great conferences and crusades since January and those coming up as well:

Rosenberg, TX

What a privilege to be with Fellowship of Fort Bend and Ps Joe and Nancy Cruse for some great nights in the presence of the Lord. For many in the church, it was their first opportunity to experience the ministry of WMI, and there was such receptivity to the worship and teaching. God is doing a mighty work in the church and we are blessed to be a part of the fresh move of God there.

Corpus Christi, TX

We just finished an awesome revival at Journey Church with Ps Jane and Dean Bearden. The church was filled every night to capacity, with hungry people pressing in to the deep things of God. Lives were touched and changed as we saw many return to their “first love”. There was a great sense of faith as we laid hands on those for healing and miracles and many saw a breakthrough in their finances as they stepped out to sow seed. The ministry was personally blessed by the giving of the church and also received a much-needed vehicle to continue to take teams on the road. To God Be the Glory!

Hamilton, Ohio

We covet your prayers as we head up north to Covenant Christian Center, Hamilton Ohio with our friends Ps Jim and Dianne Mullins, (calvary-hamilton.org) April 24th-26th. We have great expectancy and believe God will do mighty things.

Bangkok, Thailand

Every year the WMI team travels abroad in missions effort around the world. This summer we will be joining our friends Ps Varun and Da Laohaprasit and the River of Life churches in Bangkok Thailand for a great crusade during the week of June 23th-30th. Please pray for the meetings and for the finances to cover the airfare costs for the team. We will also be providing worship/music training for worship teams during the day.

We want to keep you posted as to the evangelistic arm of this ministry and we ask for your prayers as we move forward to build the Kingdom of God at home and around the world.

Ps Becky Cruse

Hebrews 11:13
All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. 14People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
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In Hebrews 11, often called the “faith chapter,” we read an account of some of the heroes of faith. We read that these men and women used their faith to elevate their view of the world and shift their allegiance from their earthly countries to a heavenly one. In fact, I believe one of the reasons they were enabled to be heroic in the faith – even unto death - is because, no matter what circumstances they faced in their own nations, cities and cultures, they understood that they were “aliens and strangers” on this earth. And so we must come to grips with this reality of our faith that even America – once called the greatest nation on earth – is not our true home.
I have always been a patriot, passionately in love with the United States and all that she has stood for. However, as I watch a new history unfold in America, I am acutely aware that the America I’ve known and loved all my life may not be the America that my children will know as adults. I think even people who are not the least bit interested in history and politics can sense this shift taking place at the very core of our nation. Lately, I have been tempted to grieve, mourn and wail over this historical makeover of our culture, economy, and political system. But as I pray over it instead, I am challenged by the Holy Spirit to consider the heroes of our faith and to begin to shift my patriotic allegiance from my earthly home to my heavenly home. As I put this into practice and begin to shift all of my patriotic passion for America, to the kingdom of God and the realization of the life, liberty and pursuit of pure joy that awaits me there, I am no longer dragged down by the worry over what’s happening in the United States. I realize that I am no longer limited by the political and economic decisions made by leaders for whom I did or didn’t vote. No matter what may come, my future and the future of my family are not ultimately governed by the current winds of history when my love and faith no longer depend on whether a nation or political system continue to exist.
From now on, I am fixing my eyes and ears and heart on a heavenly retirement plan, on a future built on the faith of things hoped for. Having money or a job or a college fund are no longer the issues because the goal is no longer realizing “the American dream.” Having my eyes fixed on heaven with a faith that cannot be moved and a joy that cannot be quenched by circumstances is the key to realizing the kingdom dream that God has always had for me and for all of His people. So I am sending my my hope, my loyalty and even my patriotism all ahead to a place that is still unseen. As I do this, I no longer think of myself as an American Christian. I am a Christian; what country I live in only matters inasmuch as it matters that I am in the place where God places me to live and to serve. My wholehearted national identity and allegiance now fully belongs to the kingdom of God! I am a citizen from there, with full rights and privileges to exercise here that no government on earth can take away.
Best of all, my King to whom I pledge my life, heart, and patriotic loyalty is coming back. None of us knows when but we do know that all history – even the history being made in our country today - is hastening that day. Our part now is to lift up our heads as we occupy and await His return, to look up and wait in hope – a hope, which the Bible says, purifies us. Until that day, our pledge of allegiance should be, “Maranatha, Lord Jesus! May your kingdom come, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven!” Nothing else matters more – not the food we eat, the clothes we wear, or the jobs we do. Instead, we are entitled by our citizenship in heaven, to be more than conquerors until we are safely home. While we are here, our real food is the Word, our real clothes are robes of righteousness, and our real job is to tell others about Jesus as we seek to relieve their suffering. And as we wait on Him and serve others, we can continue to practice the patriotic anthem that we will declare joyfully throughout eternity “All Hail, King Jesus! Worthy, worthy, worthy is the Lamb who sits on the Throne! To HIM be all the glory and honor and praise, forever and ever and ever. Amen!” LF for PB