Friends In Bossier City, Louisiana

We had a safe journey to Bossier City, Louisiana this afternoon, arriving about 3:30. We have this appointment because a group from Airline Drive heard me speak at Memorial Drive Church of Christ in Tulsa earlier this year. I remember some of the people we met there ... including Carrol Floyd, who has a ready smile and a word of encouragement. A brother did a great job leading worship tonight before I spoke. While we were visiting with several before church, in walked Bill and Flo Green. The Greens were members at Cleveland, Mississippi during my early youth ministry years. Their daughter Renea was also present with her husband and beautiful daughter. One of the first people we met was Troy Freeman, who introduced me for the message tonight. After the services there was fried fish and fixin's to eat. We enjoyed so many great conversations. We sat across from Michael Keyes, who was visiting from Tulsa. He has a ministry with prisoners helping them transition back into society. I enjoyed very much our discussion on that matter. Sitting next to Michael was ADcoC member Gary Hatcher. After talking a bit, I found out that his dad is Weldon Hatcher. I have met Dr. Hatcher a few times. He was one time director of Sunnybrook Children's Home. He is still very active in serving others and helping them with their problems. We also met a lady who is a cousin to June Franks, wife of Al Franks who both edit the Magnolia Messenger. She asked me if I had ever heard of "Booger Branch", where they were all from. Of course, I have! I have also heard from Margaret's dad about a community in the Mississippi Delta named "Booger Den". This might be a record for how many times the word "booger" has appeared in any one post in this blog. Anyhow, I also met a lady from Cotton Valley who knew Dorice Mitchell WAYYYYY back when. Dorice preached at Central for over 30 years. Needless to say, it was such an enjoyable night and the message was received well ... though it challenges even some of my own comfort zones. In the morning we will have breakfast with the Green's and then head for the Mississippi Delta. Maybe I'll get a picture of Booger Den! Maybe not. Below are a few thoughts from my message tonight. Thanks for reading. WE BELONG TO EACH OTHER Romans 12:3-5 I will confess that I did not grow up knowing the size of God’s Family. I was taught to limit the members of that family to one particular group. I was taught that it was easy to step out of God’s Family. I was given the impression that growing churches merely provided entertainment - and that's why they are growing. While working for Magnolia Bible College in the early nineties, I preached once a month for a church that sprang from the non-class sect among churches of Christ. I realized that there was an entire Family of believers I would have never known. It dawned on me that the body of Christ has been robbed because we did not know how to love one another beyond our differences. Through e-mail groups I began to be more familiar with the Independent Christian Churches. By e-mail, I made friends with men who stood firmly on the gospel. More and more I realized that there are wonderful Christian men - another brotherhood I never knew about. Then a storm named Katrina destroyed our Coastal communities, and people from every faith family came from all over the nation to help us. Churches with whom we have vast theological differences stood by our side to help us recover. Why? Could it be that other groups are more aware than we - that we belong to each other? Some of my own brothers rejected us because we were serving arm in arm with those we normally would not have known much about. In many cases, and the only thing keeping us from one another is a matter of interpreting a very few verses of Scripture. It’s hard to know where to go from here. Much of this division was created by other people and handed down. Aside from the Gospel, the most pressing message of the New Testament is how we ought to live with one another. The words "one another" appear together 58 times in the New Testament. It is crucial that we function together as God’s people, treat each other with the love of Christ, cooperate in the work of the kingdom, and recognize our inability to do these things without each other. It does not mean that we always agree nor that we abandon our convictions. Romans 12 shows those who would be divided in spirit, how to maintain unity! It moves us to overcome the northside / southside mentality! We move away from a "they" to a "we" concept! We move away from dividing kinds of Christians in our minds. We move away from individuality and into collectivity! 1. SERVE TOGETHER IN SURPRISING PARTNERSHIPS (3) Watch how God will partner you up with others to serve! Look for opportunities to serve alongside those we traditionally may not. You may have to rebuild bridges that were torn down by others. Do not thwart the purpose of God by thinking you are better than another believer! You think too highly of yourself when... -You feel you have accomplished more in the faith than someone else. -You think you are more qualified for the prize than someone else. - You don't want to serve alongside someone in the Kingdom! Galatians 6:3 "If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself." Our cynical and dark world doesn’t believe our message because they do not see our Messiah in us. 2. SERVE TOGETHER IN IRRECONCILABLE DIFFERENCS (4) Serve together in your differences! There are great differences among us. We do not all have the same function! Two things in which God’s Family is alike: We belong to Christ and We belong to each other. Don't discount your brother, he may be the leg that you need to stand on one day! Do not let differences keep you apart. In churches of Christ, most of the divisions I have seen are personality driven. Within the Christian community at large I see a lot of political posturing, territorialism, jealousy, and walls of division that keep people apart. We do not have to ignore differences, or even agree - but we can all act like Jesus while we serve together to make a difference in the world. Our differences only make us different, not disinherited. 3. SERVE TOGETHER WITH CONFIDENCE (5) Our confidence is in Christ, not in our theological depth. Romans 1:16; Galatians 3:27-29; Colossians 3:11. Conclusion: The Bible is specific when it comes to the family atmosphere of the kingdom. We are a Family when we worship and serve as a family! We must get beyond rote religion, which is dead and dull, into living, vibrant, happy family life. That's where we find support through the storms. That's where we learn to treat one another. That's where we really can let our spirits loose to worship God. That's where we see the potentials that are available to us. Have you brought the Family of God closer together by your attitude, or driven in wedges of division? Are you committed to God as an individual so as to bless the whole? Ephesians 3:14, 15 "For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name."