Latrobe Regional Church of Christ

5.4.09 Sermon “Victory through surrender” - Rob Lade

Blessings, LRCC blogger

Heartlight have some great resources, and send out email devotionals that often strike a chord with me. I liked this one and thought I’d share.

Made 2BN Community, by Phil Ware

Two families walk into a church foyer on the same Sunday. They use the
same door. They arrive minutes apart. By the time their church
experience is over, one family says, “That is the friendliest bunch of
folks we’ve ever been around.” The other family feels shunned,
neglected, overlooked, and unwelcome.

What’s the difference? Was it …

* expectations?

* facial expressions?

* choice of clothing?

* greeters?

* décor?

* personality type?

* knowing folks there?

* previous church wounds?

Sometimes we can know. Other times we will never fully understand.
Underneath it all, however, there is a truth we all have to face: we
are made to be in community. That’s the way God hard-wired us from the
beginning.

Sure, some of us connect best at a mega-church, or a small church, or a
church rich in traditions, or a small church, or even a less formal
home gathering. But all of us are made with the need to connect with
other people just like we are made with a need to connect with God.
Listen to just a few of scriptures that play off of this theme:

The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone …” (Genesis
2:18).

Two are better than one … a cord of three strands is not easily
broken (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12).

Calling the twelve together he [Jesus] sent them out two by two …
(Mark 6:7).

Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking
bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together
with gladness and sincerity of heart (Acts 2:46).

And these are just a sample.

Bottom line: we were made to be in community.

When asked what the greatest command was, Jesus talked first about
loving God. He then quickly added that there was a second command of
like importance: love our neighbor as we love ourselves (Matthew
22:37-40). Jesus didn’t leave open the option of being in relationship
with others if we were going to be in relationship with God. What Jesus
implied in this teaching, John makes clear in his writings (1 John
especially drives home this point!).

God made us to need to others. God also calls us to live a life of love
in relationship with others. In our love for each other, God’s love is
made complete (1 John 4:12) and we show we are followers of Jesus (John
13:34-35).

Opening ourselves up to others, however, is not easy. Many of us have
been hurt or have been neglected and betrayed by others in the past.
Connecting to others feels dangerous. Being involved with other people
is time consuming. Other people can be boring, presumptuous, unkind, or
unfair. So many of us shun this call to community because we do not
want to risk connecting to others because of past hurts.

At the same time, deep in our souls, we know we need others in our
lives. Many who went to the Alaskan frontier in the early days of
homesteading were never heard from again. While the winters were harsh,
the isolation of being alone for such long periods of time away from
community literally drove people mad. We are not meant to be alone!

In the 1950’s, as concern for health and hygiene dominated the health
news in the U.S., babies were kept in isolation from others. People
wore masks if they were going to be in the presence of newborns.
Touching babies, especially with bare hands, was discouraged. For a
time, bottle-feeding was preferred to breast-feeding. Infant mortality
began to rise. A condition called marasmus — or failure to thrive now
associated almost exclusively with malnutrition — started going up to
levels close to non-developed countries. In the U.S., marasmus was
caused by the lack of human touch and close community. We are made to
be in relationship with other people!

Jesus didn’t leave open the option!

Living in community, like living in family, is always going to be messy
and challenging. We lose control when we are in relationship with
others. This is the scary part of it. But, it is precisely when we live
the radical ethics of Jesus in community that we experience his
presence. As the Lord said, “For where two or three come together in my
name, there am I with them” (Matthew 18:20). There is something about
living in the dangerous place of influence, accountability, and
forgiveness with flawed people that opens our eyes to Jesus.

I carry around several folders of things I am studying. In one of those
folders is a picture of a person. When this person entered the life of
our church, this person resisted being connected with any group of any
kind. This person simply came to church. So when this person’s spouse
died unexpectedly, this person was without connections. And despite the
fact that others tried to reach out to this person, this person felt
neglected and alone, let down by everyone — friends, neighbors, and
church. Sometimes we avoid what we most need — community and
relationships — only to blame others for not giving it to us when we
are under stress, grief, crisis, or catastrophe. We end up hurting
ourselves by our avoidance of what we need.

All of us need to find some form of Jesus-based spiritual community. It
may not look the same for us. Jesus mentioned two or three gathering
together while the Jerusalem church had gatherings in the thousands and
small house-to-house gatherings. Yet if Jesus is going to be real to
us, if we are going to experience his presence, we are going to have to
risk living in real community.

Blessings, LRCC blogger

Here is the latest The Mustard Seed for you. The paper copy isn’t out at church yet, that’s not until tomorrow. So if you download it here you’ll be the very first!!

April 09 The Mustard Seed 1.09mb

Blessings, LRCC blogger

I have been having many computer and internet problems so its been a long time since I was able to get into the internet. Also I have spent almost all my time in areas where internet is not available, the few days I was back in Nairobi  I just couldn’t get into it. So that is why it has been a long time since you heard from me.

Last year I went to  Uganda  for a week  with Patrick a pastor from  Western  Kenya, we were invited to  speak at a  church conference.  Each day  I would speak first then  Patrick  would take over for the rest of the day while  I left to pray with people.  Patrick is an excellent speaker and  I was sorry I only  heard  him once during the conference.  The pastor of the church sent  this sms 7  weeks  after the conference: You prayed for Ben he has a job now. Florence has conceived after long time. Namulundu got healed.  Boy with head problem (mental problem) greatly improved.  Woman demonised now free her health improved no demonic attack. etc. God is so good!

From Uganda I went to Western Kenya where Patrick is pastoring a church he started about 4 years ago and is reaching out to surrounding districts starting others. He contacted me a couple of weeks after I had been there saying he now has a problem: there is no longer any room left in the initial church during services some people are having to sit out side.

From Western I went to Tseikuru in Nth Eastern Kenya, it is situated almost on the equator and very, very hot - I continually melt. The land is mostly flat with sandy soil, mostly scrubby trees and a few large ones. Water comes from the dry river bed where they dig hole until they reach the muddy water, this they scoop into 20 litre containers and when they have 4 or 5 of these tie them on a donkey to take it to where they live. This I think is my favourite place, it reminds me of the bible, so many things you see and experience are right out of biblical times. I spent almost two and a half months there and we prayed for over 300 people. People came from miles away: one lady used 5 different buses and it took her all day to get to us. A 14 yr old boy walked 10 ks with his 6 yr old  brother because he believed God would heal his brother if he brought him: God  did heal him. The boy had very bad weeping, painful and itchy sores over most of both his legs,
this started when he was just a few months old and he found it almost impossible to crawl, they had been to hospitals without any success. We prayed and 2 weeks later the pain and itching had gone and the sores were drying up. A boy of 15 came, his knee was bent at a right angle and he was unable to straighten it, he could only walk a few steps with great difficulty. He had injured his knee some time ago and gone to the doctor who put the leg in plaster, when the plaster was removed his leg was straight but he could not bend his knee, the doctor bent the knee and immobilised the leg, when he went back to have what was immobilising the leg removed his knee was bent at a right angle and he could not straighten it. Three weeks after prayer we heard the boy was now able to walk to school and his leg was nearly straight. The last week I was in the area the people heard I was finishing on Sunday so by Saturday there was such a large crowd of people  we
couldn’t  possibly pray for them all, we suggested that they come to the Sunday service and that we would pray for healing in the service. After preaching on Sunday we said we would now pray for the sick: we led all present to commit or recommit their lives to the Jesus then prayed for healing. When the service ended the pastor asked all those who had been healed to stand up - approximately 40 people stood up. We have an awesome God haven’t we?

Next week I’m going to Western Kenya to speak at a women’s conference over Easter and then a week of teaching at a leadership training course. Following this I will be spending a few weeks in a church in the area and another trip to Uganda.

Thank you all for your prayers and support,
May God bless you and keep you,
Your sister in Christ, Julia.

We have no pastor for the time being, and as a result, we get the pleasure of hearing a wide variety of messages from many people. Some are coming from other churches and while we do have “the regulars”, there are some from within our church who we might not have heard before.

This sermon was by Dan Lade, one I personally hadn’t heard before.

Sunday Message 29.3.09 “Whats Important” Dan Lade

Blessings, LRCC blogger