Latrobe Regional Church of Christ

Christmas Day 2008 message

Sunday 28 December 2008 - Repentance

Blessings, LRCC blogger

From one of the great blogs I read Be About Your Fathers Business. I just had to share. It’s beautiful.

Today A Child Is Born

I paced the floor in anticipation….. I have waited many years for this event to take place. You see, I am the Father and it is My Son that is to be born. He agreed many years ago to take the form of flesh and be the worlds Savior, but today is the day it will come to pass.

I can only wait in excitement as the events unfold. No room in the Inn, the Innkeeper says. So I watch them settle down in a manger in Bethlehem. Even the animals seem curious about the birth. I will make this birth easy for Mary; she has known no man you see.

Ahh, My Son, count His fingers, count His toes, He is perfect! I love Him so! Mary has done well. Swaddled in a blanket the Savior is. Here in Bethlehem lays the Kings.

I will announce His arrival! Shine bright I tell the star. Show the world My Son is here. Tell the wise men and the shepherds too, today your Messiah has been born. I have fulfilled the promises of My Word. I’ve given you a Savior, He is My Son.

I can not hear the baby cry…. The angels in heaven are singing. They fill my ears with there music. “Hallelujah! Hallelujah!” There beautiful praises cry out. All of heaven is in Praise, not one is seated. All have stood to honor the King. “The King is here!” There voices cry out. There is celebration in heaven today.

Much will come for this child, but I will lead His way. He will be blameless when He meets His destiny. I do not want it but it is the only way. He will grow and teach the world how to come back to me. Then die on a cross at Calvary. I will raise Him up on the third day and death will be defeated forever that day.

I must sacrifice My Son you see or My other children could never come to me. Oh I do love them so. Enough to send Jesus to Calvary. You are all my children and I need you so, please accept My Son so you can come home.

Blessings, LRCC blogger

As the official LRCC blogger I’d like to say farewell to Andrew, who has been our interim minster for much of 2008. It can’t be an easy job, coming into a new church for only a short period of time, having to get to know us all, get to know the church, hear what God wants for us and then have to leave! And spending so much time away from his own church and his family - thank you to his family as well who have sacrificed for us, and for God.

He was probably one of the main reasons we managed to get this website up and running, so a special thank you for that from me! 

Andrew your presence here will always be remembered and I hope that you know that you will always be welcome to come back any time.

In the meantime, you can always spy on us through here.  

Sunday Message 14.12.08 10mb

Blessings, LRCC blogger

Survive the Wilderness Seasons of Life

Whitney Hopler

Editor’s Note: The following is a report on the practical applications of Marian L. Jordan’s new book, Wilderness Skills for Women: How to Survive Heartbreak and Other Full-Blown Meltdowns, (B&H Publishing Group, 2008).

If you’re going through a time that tests your faith right now, it can feel like you’re stuck out in the middle of the wilderness, exposed to the harsh elements and feeling the pain. But if you trust God as you endure hardships, you’ll eventually emerge from the wilderness transformed for the better.

Here’s how you can survive the wilderness seasons of life:

Realize that you’re not alone. Everyone finds themselves wandering around the wilderness at some point in their lives. Others are also dealing with whatever form of heartbreak is causing your current wilderness season, whether it’s a breakup, miscarriage, personal failure, illness, financial crisis, infertility, divorce, death, abandonment, illness, unemployment, or something else. Most importantly, Jesus Himself knows what’s you’re going through — and He cares. He suffered a lot during His time on earth, and He’s right beside you in your own wilderness, willing to guide you through it.

Walk through the wilderness of rejection. If you experience rejection, don’t allow it to define your worth. Ask God to help you see yourself as He sees you — as someone who is highly valued. Only God’s opinion ultimately matters, and His love overrules every other opinion, evaluation, and criticism. Jesus knows what rejection feels like, and He is with you in your time of need. Don’t despair. Instead, cry out to God, remembering that His promise never to leave or forsake you. Often, what seems like rejection is actually God’s protection from something you think you want, yet He knows wouldn’t be best for you. If you trust God, He will cause the circumstances of your life to work together to fulfill a good purpose. Don’t lose hope, because God remains in control. Ask God to give you His peace, even when you don’t understand why the rejection has happened to you. Decide to trust Him.

Walk through the wilderness of temptation. Behind every temptation you encounter lies insidious questions: “Does God really have my best interest at heart?”, “Can I really trust Him?” and “Don’t I know what’s best for me?”. During times of temptation, Satan often bombards you with accusations about God’s goodness and trustworthiness. Something vitally important is at stake — whether or not you will still love and worship God n the midst of temptation. When Satan tempts you to distrust God’s character, God watches to see if you’ll believe. Choose to be faithful to God in the face of temptation. You’ll never regret that decision. Also, keep in mind that God is worthy of your worship in every situation, simply because of who He is. When you choose to praise God even while you’re tempted to turn away from Him, you turn a dangerous situation into an act of worship.

Walk through the wilderness of despair. As a believer, you always have hope. God sees what you’re going through, hears your concerns, and understands your situation even more fully than you do. Place your hope in God alone — not in any circumstance you hope will come into your life. If you’re longing for a child yet facing infertility, hope in God rather than your physicians or medical technology. If you yearn to get married but are still single, trust God to lead you to your future spouse rather than placing your hope in your appearance or other efforts to attract a mate. If you want a certain job, look to God to open doors rather than placing your hope in your intellect, talents, or experience. Everyone and everything besides God is unpredictable, but God is completely reliable. Look beyond your circumstances to God. Set your mind on Him and focus on His goodness, power, and glory. Once you make that choice, your emotions will follow course and you will be lifted out of despair.

Walk through the wilderness of unmet desires. When you’re waiting for something you hope for to become a reality, you can feel like you’re stuck while other people’s lives are moving forward. You may wonder if God has forgotten you. Pray for God to give you the strength you need to avoid envy and be genuinely happy for others who are enjoying what you desire but don’t have. Ask God to guard your mind from comparing and coveting. Don’t try to manipulate your way into getting what you want; the easy way out will never truly fulfill you. Whenever a worry creeps into your mind, turn it into a prayer. Choose to trust God to meet your heart’s desires. If you encounter an opportunity to obtain your desires that seems too good to be true, don’t act impulsively. Instead, pray about it and make sure that it aligns with God’s will for you. Remember that God is good, and He will meet the desires of your heart that are best for you, in His perfect timing. Keep praying about your desires, honestly telling God how you feel, but making sure that you fully entrust those desires to Him. Imagine yourself taking each of those desires to the foot of the Cross and leaving them there for Jesus to handle. Learn how to rest and wait on God to work in your life, in His way and at His time.

Drink plenty of water. Jesus is the Living Water who will refresh your soul during your time in the wilderness. Find your daily source of life and fulfillment in Him. Meet Jesus in His Word, the Bible, and drink deeply from it every day. Set a specific time of day to meet with Jesus, begin your time with prayer, read and reflect on a portion of Scripture, and ask Jesus questions about what you read. Consider asking questions like these: “What do I learn about God (the Father, the Son, the Spirit) from this Scripture?”, “What do I learn about myself from this Scripture?”, “What commands/instructions should I obey?”, “What truth can I apply to my life?”, “What sin do I need to confess?”, “What promises can I claim?” and “What does God reveal about my wilderness season?”. You may want journal your thoughts and impressions that come as you read the Bible. The more you drink the Living Water, the more you’ll crave it.

Seek shelter. Jesus’ name is the ultimate shelter for when you’re going through a storm. Simply saying His name out loud invokes unique spiritual power and ushers in the peace that only comes from Him. Banish your fear with faith by praising Jesus for who He is and what He has done. Run to the shelter of the name of the Lord.

Beware of snakes. Satan appeared as a snake in the Garden of Eden, and he is still at work trying to tempt people to sin today. Be on guard against him, realizing that he wants you to doubt God’s heart for you, doubt God’s character, and doubt your own salvation. Whenever you encounter Satan’s deceptive ploys, respond as Jesus Himself did when He faced Satan in the wilderness — by quoting a biblical truth out loud in response to Satan’s lies. Take inventory of your thoughts and ask God to show you which ones reflect listening to or believing evil lies. Base your thoughts firmly on biblical truth. Realize that your thoughts lead to your emotions, and your emotions lead to your actions — so your thoughts are crucial to living a faithful life. Be careful not to entertain Satan’s lies, because doing so means allowing him to dictate your emotions and actions. Decide to stand in truth, especially in the wilderness.

Don’t eat the red berries. Beware of bitterness, which will poison your soul like a wild red berry can poison your body. Deal with unhealed wounds that cause bitterness by honestly and openly expressing your emotions, getting real before God, and asking for help to process your pain and heal. Deal with unmet expectations that cause bitterness by refusing to place the burden of your happiness or completion on someone or something other than God. Place your hope in God rather than on people or things in your life. Deal with unforgiveness that causes bitterness by releasing the debts you feel are owed by people who have hurt you. Answer God’s call to forgive, because He has forgiven you. Rely on God to help you through the process. Invite God to use the suffering you’ve gone through in the wilderness to make you a better person — better instead of bitter — by helping you grow in maturity.

Enjoy the adventure. Don’t miss the wild — God’s incredible plan — in the wilderness around you. All the pain is worth it if it helps you experience the wild adventure of trusting God in new and deeper ways. Trust Him, and enjoy the adventure of walking through any place with Him.

Adapted from Wilderness Skills for Women: How to Survive Heartbreak and Other Full-Blown Meltdowns, copyright 2008 by Marian L. Jordan. Published by B&H Publishing Group, Nashville, Tn., www.bhpublishinggroup.com.

http://www.crosswalk.com/

“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16).

From Zondervan Inspire blog

Sometimes these sermons don’t get uploaded straight away, but if you want a particular one, please email us here and we’ll try to get it up for you to listen to.

Sunday Message 23.11.08 10.6mb

Sunday Message 23.11.08 Fill-ins 40kb

Sunday Message 7.12.08 10.1mb

Blessings, LRCC blogger

We have a couple of special community events coming up, one on Saturday 20th December, aimed at the young’uns, and another one on Christmas Eve, where you can join us for carols.

Please watch this space for more details!!

Blessings, LRCC blogger

I know it’s minorly annoying that these files open sideways, I’m sorry about that, as yet I haven’t worked out how to change that. If you print it there’s no problem, but when you open it, there is an option to change the view in Adobe Reader so that should make it easier.

Special Christmas edition this month!!

The Mustard Seed December 08 1.41mb

The Mustard Seed December 08 Special Insert 92.kb

Blessings, LRCC blogger

While we were working out Christmas day plans with family, the discussion came up whether we would attend the Christmas service at church or use that time to open presents and travel the hour it takes to get to my parents for lunch.

Then I realised - how come at Easter and Christmas we get so many non-Christians, or special-occasion-Christians (for want of a better word), at church, and so few of the regular congregation? I know that at our church there aren’t many people there on Christmas day, and at Good Friday service as well (our church doesn’t run one, we combine with a few others as numbers are so few).

Why?

Why do we lessen the significance of going to church those days? Why do we put present opening and seeing our family above being with God to celebrate the birth of his Son?

I am ashamed to say that it has taken me so long to realise how rude this is. We ask Jesus to be with us always, and can’t even turn up to His birthday party.

No-one comes above Him anymore. Not presents, not family, not tradition.

It is His birthday and I’m going to go to church and sing as loud as I can so He knows just how much I love and appreciate Him.

So I hope to see all of you there too. It’s all about Him. Let’s show Him!!

Blessings, LRCC blogger