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We awoke this morning on a
tight schedule. We are to meet the
Mayor (Ophelia Huff-Saytumah) at 9:45am. We are off at 8:30 and arrive at City Hall,
across from the UN building, about 9:15am.
Our appointment is at 9:45am but she doesn’t make it in until 10
till. She comes and gets us herself
and invites us into her office. She
listens intently for the 5+ minutes of my presentation. After that she says that she would be
very happy to serve on the committee and called to invite John Brandy, V.P.
of the Liberia Business Association, and invites him to our Monday
committees meeting. We took a
picture with her and gave her the Business By The Book book
by Larry Burkett.
We left her office and
hurried to Providence Baptist Church
for a meeting with Dr. Sam Reeves, pastor of Providence. The meeting was very good and he was
excited about the conference (it’s being held at his church) and agreed to
be a member of the Pastors’ Committee.
Immediately following our
meeting we went into the sanctuary for the start of the Good Governance
Commission launch. This is a
commission of the Liberia Church Council.
The ceremony lasted about 2 hours and I had a chance to speak for
about 4-5 minutes at the end about the conference. I saw several of the pastors who are
serving on the committee so it was good to speak to them again.
It looks like our
organizational committees meeting to will be Monday from 11am – 12:30pm at
a local restaurant called Panache.
We ate there last year while we were here and desperate for American
food. It has a separate meeting room
that we can use. Called most of the committees members to let them know the place and
time. We have room for 25. So far it looks like 19. If Brother Hendon, American pastor doing
the leadership meeting for Pastor Wesley, is still here perhaps he can come
as well.
Time is short and I need to
get home and prepare for the preaching service tonight at 5pm.
What a drastic change from
the morning to the evening. This
morning we were sitting with the mayor of a city of 1,500,000 people and
tonight we’re in the living room of a home where a new church is
starting. I’m thinking that the end
of the day is even better than the beginning. We are meeting with (as my pastor would
say) “the least of these my brethren”.
We have some trouble finding the place as, like many homes in Monrovia, it’s stuck back in an area that doesn’t look
accessible by car. The started at
5pm and are scheduled to finish at 7pm.
We are after 5:30pm getting there but they are signing and continue
to sing for several more minutes. At
our arrival there are perhaps 20 people and, by the end, there are 30+. (I remember when we first started Cross
Point in my office there were less than 20.) We were treated very nicely and the
congregation was attentive. There is
no electricity in this area of Monrovia
but there was enough light coming into the door that I could see my notes
and Bible. Near the end it was
getting very dark in the back of the room but they lit a candle to add a
little light. Pastor Mark Carr found
our website on the internet, saw that I was coming over during his 3 day
revival and emailed to see if I would preach one of the days. He took a chance on me so I took a chance
on him. It worked out just fine. His “theme” for the revival was “God’s
Prophetic Agenda for the Church”. I
stay out of Revelation whenever possible so I added “is that its members
know their purpose and do it”. Well, here’s the sermon outline (some of
it is from David Bearchell, some from Spiritual Leadership by the Blackaby’s and some I added in):
There are two kinds of
purpose:
1.
Universal Purpose – Same for everyone. Love God, love your neighbor, share
Christ, make disciples, etc.
2.
Unique – That special “part of the body” that God
has created us to be.
If Christ would not do anything on His own but only
what His Father said then fulfilling your purpose must be very important.
Examples of Christ doing only what His Father said:
I John 3:8b, John 17:4, John 4:34, John 6:40, John
5:30 and Matt. 26:39
Examples where Satan attempted to get Jesus to
abandon the Father’s purpose for Him and substitute His own:
Matt. 4:3 – Turn stones to bread. Satan is saying ‘There’s an easier way
than God’s way, with lower personal cost.”
Matt. 4:5,6: - Jump from
the temple. Satan is saying “God’s
way is not the only option in achieving the desired goals.”
Matt 4:8,9: - Bow down and
worship me. Satan is saying “Develop
your own plan. It’s really your job
not God’s anyway.”
What does the Bible say about our purpose? That Christ may be formed and lived out
in us.
Rom.
8:29 – He also predestined us to become conformed to the image of His Son.
Matt. 22:36-40 – Love God and Love your neighbor
Matt. 28:18-20 – Make disciples of all the nations.
Matt. 6:10 – Your kingdom come, your will be done…
No guarantee that fulfilling God’s purpose for your
life will bring only happiness.
Rom.
8:28 For all things (even the bad things that happen in our lives) work
together for good to those that love God and who are called by Him for a
purpose.
Service to others:
Mark 10:45 – For even the Son of Man did not come
to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.
Matt. 20:25-28 – You know that the Gentiles lord it
over them and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever
desires to become great amoung you, let him be
your servant.
Matt. 7:21-23 – Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord,
Lord’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven but he who does the will of My
Father in heaven.
You cannot know God’s purpose for you unless you
have a relationship with Him:
All have sinned
The wages of sin is death
God made a way through His son Jesus Christ
Repent and begin a relationship with the Heavenly
Father today.
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