Joe & Becky Cruse

Good News! I am writing today to remind you that are “blessed with every spiritual blessing by Christ Jesus”. (Eph 1:3)

We had such an incredible week of revival this past week. Every guest minister spoke the Word of God with such boldness. God did mighty things for all those in attendance. If you were not able to be in the night meetings, they should be available on video cast @ www.cityworship.com by the end of this week. I know your pastors will be listening to them over and over! And church, as always, we want to thank you for YOUR faithfulness in attendance and in you giving to our guests. We were able to really bless each minister because of your generosity. We are praying for a one hundred-fold return on every seed sowed! AMEN!

As we wrap up the last week of our fast, let’s really press in to finish strong. I know for myself, as the last few days approach, I seem to get weary in well doing but this is the time we must stay focused and not quit. These days are so important in the life of our church and in your lives as well. We must hear His voice and follow Him with all our hearts. Remember this, fasting doesn’t change God—it changes us and believe me, we are all being changed, “from glory to glory!” As a reminder, our corporate fast ends Saturday evening at sundown; however, if the Lord leads you to continue, be obedient. God will bless you abundantly as you consecrate yourself to Him.

As I close this writing, I want to leave you with this powerful passage of scripture from Hebrews 10—

19Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Church, we believe “That Day” is upon us and whatever we do for the Kingdom of God must be done now. As we finish consecrating this first month to the Lord, may His Kingdom be established in us, may His love pour out of us, and may our lives represent His saving power to a lost and dying world like never before.

Have a blessed week and we look forward to seeing you this week, either in prayer on Wed night @ 6:30 or Sunday morning @ 9:00 for Equip and 10:00 for our Sunday Explosion!

Blessings,
Ps Joe and Becky and the team

How is your week going? It’s really cold here in central Texas—they say the coldest winter in a decade! And it is also the winter we moved into the tent! The Lord has such a sense of humor! Brrr…

I am writing to remind all you wonderful people about our upcoming revival beginning this Sunday, Jan. 10th. We have some wonderful special guests that will be ministering in the evenings. Ps Dean and Jane Bearden from Journey Church in Corpus Christi, TX, Ps Melvin and Machelle Smith from Cedar Park, TX and Ps Mike and Vicki Hankins from Rockwall, TX. These dear folks are seasoned ministers of the gospel and you aren’t going to want to miss one service. It is going to be a powerful week of ministry and impartation! Will you just go ahead and pencil next week on your calendar, “appt. with God!” Revival runs Sunday-Friday and the services are nightly @ 7:00 pm. Come warm, casual, and comfortable and let’s press in as we are in the early stages of Fasting and Prayer in our Vision Month here at CWC. I believe God wants to speak to you personally and to all of us as a church. It’s gonna be awesome!

Early this morning, we were up spending time with the Lord and He took us to a very familiar passage of scripture;

Philippians 4 says—

4Rejoice in the Lord always [delight, gladden yourselves in Him]; again I say, Rejoice!
5Let all men know and perceive and recognize your unselfishness (your considerateness, your forbearing spirit). The Lord is near [He is coming soon].
6Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.
7And God’s peace [shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
8For the rest, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things [fix your minds on them].
9Practice what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and model your way of living on it, and the God of peace (of untroubled, undisturbed well-being) will be with you.

Several things that jumped out to me—“gladden yourselves in Him”. In other words, don’t wait for someone else to stir you up—stir yourself up! Get happy! It’s up to you!

“Don’t fret about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by PRAYER AND PETITION (DEFINITE REQUESTS)! In other words, be specific. And do it with Thanksgiving!

And God’s peace will “garrison and mount guard”. Church, what a promise!

Verse 8 says, “think on and weigh and take account of the things that are true, pure, lovely kind, gracious, virtuous and excellent”. In other words, don’t dwell on the things you that you didn’t do…dwell on the things that you did do and that the Lord has blessed! We all “coulda, shoulda, woulda”!!! But we can’t dwell on that…we have to rehearse the past victories and dwell on the wins!

And last but not least, Paul says we are to, “practice what you have learned.” In other words, “stay with what you know”. Don’t keep looking for the next new thing. Someone once said, “Dance with the one that brung ya!!!” And that is still a very good piece of advice! Many of us have been raised on the tenets of faith, trust and reliance on God and folks, we better stay with that!

During this season of prayer and fasting—why don’t you join us these next Wednesdays for prayer and praise in the cabin? I promise you—you will not be disappointed! The anointing of God is so powerful and you can feel Him changing you from “glory to glory!”

Friends, have a blessed week. We would love to hear what the Lord is doing in you or saying to you during the fast. Why don’t you take a moment and drop us a line with praise reports? It would be a blessing to many!

Another year of blessings,
Ps Joe and Becky and the team

Can you believe 2009 is wrapped up and 2010 is beginning to unfold? What an amazing year it’s been and if you think ’09 was good, just you wait and see!! I truly believe ’10 is going to be the year of blessing, favor and prosperity. Ten represents divine order and friends, things WILL come into divine order!

January is going to be a full month—VISION MONTH! We begin our corporate fast this coming Sunday, Jan 3rd-23rd. Our New Season Revival runs the 10th-15th and on Sunday, Jan 31st, we will lay out the vision for the coming year. (details on these and other activities will be in your worship guide or at www.cityworship.com.)

This month, we want to start the year off right! With the transition to our new home, Servant Leader Captains and Pastoral Staff are going to be running training sessions for old and new servant leaders (that’s what we call our volunteers or Helps Ministry) on Wednesday nights following prayer for 1 hour.. Also, on Sunday Jan 31st, we will be recognizing all our faithful servant leaders in the Sunday morning service and hosting a special luncheon in their honor.

Friends and family, its going to be a great month so grab your sneakers (and some warm clothes!) and join us this Sunday as Pastor begins the “FAST FORWARD” series and let’s dive into the new year ready for all God has for us.

I’ll close this week’s letter with Hebrews 12:1-2 (NLT)

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us

We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.

From all of us at Worshipworks Ministries International, we speak God’s abundant blessings and trust you have a very happy and blessed New Year!

Ps Joe and Becky and the team