Teamwork / Pulling together

This past Sunday, September 18th the sermon was focused upon the Concert that we held on Saturday evening at the Rodeo Arena here in Lake City.  Everyone pulled together so very well, and I am so very pleased with it all and with everyone.

Our headliner for the concert was a group out of Treynor Iowa called "Orphan's Cry".  It's fronted by Willy and Sarah Jane Roberts and honestly, they're amazing.  Here's a link to their website, check them out you won't be disappointed!

Orphan's Cry

And here are a few links to their videos on YouTube:

And here is a video of the opening act, "Topher Booth".

The concert was a blast and we had a group of youths that showed up from Fort Dodge and made it all more than worthwhile.  Take a listen to the sermon linked below to find out more about this group and how impactful it was for all of us as well as for Willy and Sarah Jane.  

I had several members even that night asking me if we were going to do this again next year.  It is certainly my hope that we can and will do this again, I'd like to see us add a band or two to the offering.  This year we started off with "Topher Booth" a young artist from Omaha who was also very good and the young folks seemed to really like him.  He was an incredibly pleasant soul and I enjoyed visiting with him.  If we do it again I'd like to see him come again along with Willy and Sarah.  When they were ready to head out Saturday after the concert, I asked them if they'd like to come back again next year if we did the project again, they all were more than anxious to return.

It's great music with a great message so I pray we are able to put it all together again next year.  We'll just have to be in prayer and discernment as we look to the new year.

The Sermon on Sunday was all about the concert and built around the following scripture:

1 Corinthians 12:12-26  NRSV
12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.13 For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

14 Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many members, yet one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”22 On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; 24 whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, 25 that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.

Additional scripture references were as follows:

Ephesians 4:1-6 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
1 I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

Ephesians 4:29-32 NRSV
29 Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up,[b] as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption.31 Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, 32 and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. 

1 Peter 4:8-11 NRSV
8 Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Be hospitable to one another without complaining. 10 Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. 11 Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen. 

Proverbs 27:17
Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.

Here is the sermon, it's in two parts due to technical difficulties during the recording.  Take a listen, it's not that long and I thought it was a pretty good message.

With that, I need to run.  Thank you all for dropping through this little corner of the internet, may it find you all well and blessed.

Be a blessing to someone today!

In His Care,
Roy