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Sermons
Pastor's Greeting
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STILL STANDING, PROGRESSING STEP BY STEP
4th Anniversary speech presented by Rev. Moses K. Ndereva,
Pastor – Lifeline Community Fellowship
September 10, 2010
Dearly beloved brethren, Ladies and gentlemen,
Today, by the grace of God, we gather here to commemorate the 4th anniversary of the launch of the Lifeline Community Fellowship. First and foremost, glory, honor and praise be to our God, who through His infinite wisdom and mercy predestined us to become partakers of the Lifeline vision. Having been scrutinized and weighed against the standards of men, we were found weak, wanting, and way off the standard for Kingdom service. This scrutiny notwithstanding, our heavenly Father found some noble use for us; notably, that of rescuing, recovering and restoring the least, the last and the lost. Once dismissed and discarded, today we stand firm in our commitment to bring the life-giving gospel to a dying world. We take it as an honor and privilege to be servants in this noble endeavor. Whatever our aspirations, position, task or ability, we have a place where we can exploit our gifts and talents for the advancement of the Kingdom of God.
Whereas four years are behind us, nothing is more sobering than the scripture that warns us against the slow silent killer dubbed complacency! In the book of 1 Corinthians 10:12, the scripture clearly admonishes, "So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!" Fallen people do not fall! It is the standing ones that may fall if they are not watchful. Going by this wisdom, it is true that we have journeyed on for four years; but it is also true that we have a long way to go. The "faded glory" trade mark may be good for the fashion world, but certainly not a fitting theme for our celebrations. God expects us to move from glory to glory. It is in the process of moving from glory to glory that we ought to watch our steps else we compromise our foothold and slip or fall musing ourselves with past achievements. Thus far we can say, "Ebenezer". However, we have an awesome responsibility to take good care of oneself and each other lest we fall. The duty of care that we owe to one another cannot be over emphasized.
The benefits of true brotherly love have been evident amongst us. To those who have given themselves to serve in various capacities or render help to those around them in one way or another, the Lord Himself reward you. As you served in ways we never even noticed, the Lord took account of your service. The leadership may be limited in assessing your sacrifices; but God is not unfaithful to forget your work and labor. He is the rewarder of the diligent.
1 Corinthians 15:58
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
Hebrews 6:10
For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
Whether it was a mission you attended, volunteered in the departments, served the community, participated in helping out for fun or encouraged a hurting soul, our Father will reward you personally. His promises do not and never fail!
On another note, the progress we have made so far has given rise to many responsibilities. The need for a more equitable service distribution and resource mobilization is no longer a wait and see affair. We are on a development path where if we are not proactive in our approach to service, our growth may overtake planning leaving us with sporadic and spontaneous interventions that will lead to inadequate or poor responses to emerging needs. With all humility therefore, I want to take this opportunity to ask all Lifeline adherents to take a participatory approach in contributing to the growth and welfare of our Church. Ours must of necessity be a path of shared responsibilities, purpose driven partnership, and one another’s keeper. Each of us must pledge his/her strength to each other and downplay each other’s weaknesses. We are complementary and not in competition with each other. Our individual achievement can only be measured in terms of contribution by others. This way, our team effort will be rewarded and our corporate goal will be realized. By putting our hands in each other, and believing in each other’s support, God will inevitably command a blessing to our unity according to Psalms 133:3. The converse is also true; divided we fall!
Clearly, the challenges we face call for improved planning, coordination and unceasing prayers. Any deviation from faith based initiatives leaves us with the arm of flesh that will eventually fail us. However, God is not an author of confusion. Lack of appropriate planning and coordination on our part will result in wasted time and effort. To this end, we will embark on creating appropriate human resource positioning, job descriptions and definition of communication links. It is hoped that these deliberate coordination mechanisms will enhance efficient utilization of available resources and improve interpersonal relationships in service. While these mechanisms are known to be useful tools in effective service delivery, they are not in themselves capable of delivering success. It is the underlying willingness of self-sacrifice, love and commitment to service that nurtures success. We must be committed to ideals of pure, simple and objective communication targeted at edification of the body, tolerance and forgiveness. Occasional collision may be inevitable in the line of duty, but by no means can this be perceived as a norm. The oil of courtesy, honor and respect must be allowed to lubricate and sooth our unintended abrasions and frictions that may arise from our interactions. Grudges must not be allowed to grind us down.
My friends in fellowship, we all have boarded the ship determined to sail to our destiny in God. We cannot turn back! Our sails are high and open to the wind of the Spirit. Nevertheless, the wind that we need to sail and make progress in our journey will inevitably give rise to storms, billows and waves that threaten our ship. Additionally if the waters are removed, our ship will run aground. Under this paradox, it is apparent that it is our behavior in the ship at sea that will guarantee our safety rather than the absence of the winds, waters and the storms. We must allow God to steer our ship and navigate the waters safely to harbor. Our destiny is shared. Our cooperation in the ship must be absolute. Our resolve to sail must be steadfast. Nothing will suffice or equal the joy of achieving our destiny in Christ. We must sail on when the winds blow. We must keep sailing when the billows roll.
Psalm 29:3
"The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD thunders over the mighty waters."
We can say with the Palmist in Psalm 93:3-5
"3. The seas have lifted up, O LORD, the seas have lifted up their voice; the seas have lifted up their pounding waves. 4. Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea—the LORD on high is mighty. 5. Your statutes stand firm; holiness adorns your house for endless days, O LORD."
Sermon:
- The voices from the enemy may be louder as we sail deeper and are nearer our victory.
- Problems may magnify themselves
- The pounding might be harder
- But the Lord is mightier. The glory of the Lord will thunder over those things that will thunder around us.
- What has lifted up against you? Call upon the Almighty God. He will thunder over your waves and restore calm and peace.
As we face the fifth year, one day at a time, step by step, we will make steady progress. It may not be with leaps and bounds, but it shall be progress nevertheless; for individuals and collectively as a body of Christ. We will not use human yardsticks to measure our progress but we will in humility allow the Lord to order our steps. We will not allow our weaknesses to dictate our steps because the Lord will manifest His strength in our weaknesses. Let the weak say I’m strong, let the poor say I’m rich and the sick say I’m healed, because of what the Lord has done for us. With the Lord’s help, we will light the candle in the dark places, rather than complain about the darkness. We will feed one hungry soul rather than engage.
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