Merredin Uniting Church

Praise God for His wonderful grace. Hallelujah!

The Mighty Men Conference last weekend (and for me, the meetings which preceded it) were a great inspiration. The messages were simple – We need to have a recent personal testimony of God’s action in our lives; We need to know the freedom which we have in Christ which unshackles us from the laws, demands and fabric of the world; We need to have personal time with God every single day; and men need to take their place as prophet, priest and king in their homes and families.

Most amazing was that men came from right across Australia, from every denomination, age and maturity in Christ. And we were one. Our group from Merredin got split up (may have been intentional on the part of the organizers) and so I shared a tent with two men from Adelaide and shared in worship with two men from Kangaroo Island. Who we were was irrelevant – we shared faith stories and encouraged each other in our Christian journey. It was good.

Our focus this morning follows something of this sense of unity. Using that wonderful text from Philippians 2, I want to show that our unity is derived from our attitude (the way we look and respond to things). It is ambition, conceit and self-centredness which creates disunity. Paul calls us to “have the same attitude as Christ Jesus” who made Himself less, took the role of a servant and laid down His life.” It is this Christlike attitude which brings unity, joy and peace into our situation. Strained relationships drain out all our joy and the answer is quite simple – make the relationship right, even if it means that you have to “lose the point”. And have a good heart about it.

Tonight at SNAC I want us to look at why we come to church, and why God comes to church. When we come for the same reason then we are truly blessed – not just for the moment, but in our hearts and lives. We need to come to church and God wants to come to church and when we meet together we are filled with the Spirit.

Finally, we are starting a Men’s Group on Wednesday evening at the church. We will start at 7pm with something to eat and time to relax with each other. We have some ideas about where we want to go with the group and it would be good to talk through expectations that you might have too.

Rev David de Kock

Greeting in the lovely name of Jesus…

Because a lot of our men are at the Mighty Men Conference in Perth this weekend, the services today at Merredin and Mukinbudin are given over to the ladies. And welcome to the Church of Christ congregation who are joining the service in  Mukinbudin.

I recently received some literature from the Frontier Services and was deeply moved by the amazing work that they do in the Outback and in the “not so out” Outback. Four things struck me in particular – the work in Aboriginal Communities, work amongst migrants, the crisis of mental illness in rural Australia and the Work Parties who gather to repair and restore church buildings in small communities. Frontier Services asked us to have a special service sometime to focus on their work which is often not very high on the agenda of the church. With this in mind, it is appropriate that Sal Marais leads our service today. I was asking people about their dreams recently and it came to light that Sal would really like to teach  Aboriginal children on a station. She wants to go to the   frontier, so who better to lead the service today!

But going back to the things that struck me. There is a wonderful article in Frontier News titled “One is the loneliest number”. It details the problem of  depression when one lives in an isolated community. And I can understand that. When you live inside your head and your only conversation is with yourself, it is easy to sink into depression. The article details the valuable  contribution of the Patrol Minister who brings companionship into the isolation. We as a Christian community can also play a vital role in this regard. I read of the Men’s Shed movement and I see its value in helping men who find themselves “alone in the midst of the crowd”. It’s a brilliant concept. Connected to this is our plan to start a Men’s Group in Merredin on March 10^th. Getting  together for an hour of fun and barbeque (with a beer or two perhaps) and then some input on God, life and relationships. More about that later.

Another helpful article was about the Work Party movement. Men and women who give up two weeks or more in some outback town to refurbish the churches. They take their caravan (if they have one) and enjoy the travel to some place 500 or more km’s away. They make good friends and bring a bit of new life into the community. A wonderful idea.

Enjoy the service and may the Lord be with you.

Rev David de Kock

Good morning to you all!

This is going to be a busy week – starting today! Four services today and then gathering steam to the Mighty Men’s Conference in Perth beginning on Friday. I will be going down on Thursday to attend a Ministry Supervision Meeting in the afternoon and the Ministers Pneuma Breakfast on   Friday morning. The Supervision Meeting is an experiment in the        Presbytery where six ministers have been selected to share insights in ministry together – the joyful days and the hard times. This will be our  second meeting and I am already gaining great benefit from the balance of new thinking, experience and academics in the group.

We are continuing today with our series in the Letter to the Philippians. Last week our focus was that we should have Confidence in God;      Compassion for people and Concern for Christian growth. This week we move on to Philippians 1:12-30. The points follow on from last week’s  concern for Christian growth. And this fits neatly with our own goal to reach out to others this year (42 in Merredin; 15 in Muka, 10 in Bruce Rock and 5 in Southern Cross).

If we want to reach out we need to know the great Possibilities that come with the Gospel. We need to understand the Gospel’s Priority and its   Purpose and the message of the Gospel needs to become a Pattern for our life.

The Kingdom of God does not grow simply because the church opens the doors on Sunday. No, the Kingdom grows because Christ Followers are everywhere and everyday living the Gospel in a way that attracts others to Jesus. By the example of our lives lived in an attractive way, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel, other people are drawn to its Good News. As someone once said, “Preach the Gospel at all times, and, if  necessary, use words.”

Tonight we will be showing the video of the Mighty Men’s Conference held in South Africa – it’s a documentary presentation by Angus Buchan of his vision. You will see the setting up of the biggest tent in the world and how it proved to be too small for the conference. I really encourage you to come along (and to bring something for shared tea). If you need a lift please call me and I will fetch you and deliver you home afterwards.

Rev David de Kock

Today is Valentine’s Day. Valentine was a Christian martyr. He was imprisoned for refusing to deny his love for Jesus and eventually he was        sentenced to death. Specifically he continued to conduct Christian marriages against the orders of Emperor Claudius II who had felt that young men were simply getting married to avoid serving in the Roman Army. He died on February 14^th 269AD having been clubbed to death and beheaded, leaving a note to the jailer’s daughter – a child with whom he had shared his love for Christ. She had become his last friend … he signed the note, “from your Valentine.”

This is very different to the romantic love that has become attached to    Valentine’s Day since Miss Esther Howland of Colorado in the USA sent the first Valentines Day card to her lover in the 1800’s. In a sense this   became an americanisation of the Roman pagan festival of Lupercalia. In early Rome boys and girls were kept strictly apart but on the Festival of Juno – the Roman Queen of goddesses, all the girls put their names in a jar and the boys drew them out and the couple so drawn were partners for the duration of the festival of Lupercalia. The idea was one of a short term romantic liaison – very different to Valentine’s concern for the sanctity of marriage.

So today, use the moment to celebrate your spouse. It is so easy for us to feel as if the love has grown cold, and the relationship has become boring, but from that’s not true. We have just drifted into taking each other for granted. Do something different today to show that your love is still as real as ever!

Please note that there will be NO SNAC meeting tonight. We decided last week to meet on the 1^st & 3^rd Sundays when I don’t go to Southern Cross. Next Sunday we will show the Mighty Men Video.

Be reminded that the Men’s Breakfast is on Saturday and the Parish Council meet will also meet on Saturday at the church.

From this week I will be in the church office on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings from 8.30am to 1pm. Once a month I will be in Bruce Rock on a Tuesday but I will give notice of that. Please feel free to make an appointment. My contact number at any time is 9041 1117.

God bless
Rev David de Kock

Today is a very special day in the life of the Manara family and indeed, in the life of the Merredin congregation; for today, Tafadzwa (Tee) the elder son of Constance and her late husband Christopher, will be baptized. His baptism is important for us too for this is the task of the church – to bring people to faith in Jesus Christ and to baptize them in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

This “baptizing” action has been part of the life of God’s people since the time of Moses. The ‘washing’ of Aaron’s body with water was the initial step in his ordination as the first priest of Israel, and Moses made it clear: “This is what the Lord has commanded to be done.” From that time on ceremonial washing was an essential part of Israel’s religious life. Baptism (and circumcision for males) was required for any non-Jew to convert to Judaism. When John the Baptist burst on the scene, he made the dramatic statement that even Jews needed to be baptized with a baptism of repentance because they had slipped from the life of faith and trust in God. And Jesus Himself was baptized in order to “fulfill all righteousness.” And He commanded us to be baptized as a sign of our covenant relationship with the Triune God.

So what does this covenant actually mean? Well, I’m going to leave the answer to that for the sermon. May your ears be open and your heart ready…

I will also partly address that question when we begin to look at the Ten Commandments at the SNAC (Sunday Night At Church) service this evening.  I want to address the fact that the power of the Ten Commandments (“Ten Words”, if we want to be literal) is not that they are laws but rather that they are descriptions of how we are to live in relationship with God. They turn the theory of our faith into a specific behaviour pattern. If I believe in God, then this is how my life is to be lived. Of course, I fail often. But the goal is not rendered impure just because I am not pure, this is why grace and forgiveness is so much a part of being a Christ follower. At the heart of my faith is my relationship with God, and because of His grace, our relationship holds intact, even when I fail. Hope to see you this evening.

Rev David de Kock