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Loving Christ (8th Sola 5 Conference Report)


This blog article summarises the salient points in sermons that were preached at the Sola 5 Conference held in Mbabane, Swaziland from 6th to 9th September, 2012. The theme of the  Conference was Loving God. Since the inception of Sola 5, it was agreed that there would, on an annual basis, be an assembly of all the churches within the Sola 5 Association which would be held in the month of September. The 8th Sola 5 Assembly therefore was held in the Kingdom of Swaziland, a beautiful mountainous nation bordered by Mozambique and South Africa.

On Friday evening of 7th September, 2012 when I joined the Conference from another Conference that I had been attending in South Africa, the preacher was Sybrand de Sward of Lynwood Baptist Church in Pretoria in South Africa. He preached on the topic: Loving Christ  at Work from 2 Thessalonians 3:6-12. In his sermon, he pointed out ways in which we can love Christ at work as:
1. We can love Christ at work when we stop dividing our lives into sacred and secular.
2. We plan our work around our priorities. These priorities were our first priority being God, second being our wives and third our children. He went to state: "I am horrified at how both Christian parents work in full time jobs and leave an unbeliever to raise their children". He further stated that: A workaholic cannot love Christ at work because they work for the wrong reasons. He concluded by stating that the way we work reveals the motives of our hearts. Our work should be redemptive.

On Saturday morning of 8th September, 2012, Gus Pritchard, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Johannesburg in South Africa was the preacher. His topic was Loving Christ at Play and the text was from Genesis 12:  He began by stating that the world to come has pleasure which the world now can only dream of. He then pointed out that the story of redemption is the story of man losing pleasure in Christ. Pastor Pritchard then posed the question: How can we love Christ at play? He answered that it was by:
1. Using all play to glorify and worship God.
2. Turning away from all forms of ungodly play.
3. Guarding our play from idolatrous hearts.
4. Reminding ourselves that real play as God intended is not to be had in this world.
5. Sacrificing play in this life for the sake of the gospel.

In the evening, the preacher was Irving Streggles pastor of Birchleigh Baptist Church in Johannesburg in South Africa. He preached on the subject: Loving Christ at Church using Ephesians 5:22-33 as the main text. He noted that the Bible speaks of four fundamental unions.
1.
2. When God joins a man and woman in holy marriage.
3. The union of a believer with Christ. This union will be for eternity.
4. The union of a Christian to all other Christians.

Pastor Streggles posed a question: How can the local church show to the world that this is a Church that loves Christ? He noted that one can't worship a Christ whom they did not love. He further cautioned against worshipping God on auto pilot and read from Romans 11:33-3. He stressed that the reason for God's love to us is God! Pastor Streggles then pointed out 8 Ways that the Church can practically show love to Christ by:
1. Membership
2. Discipline
3. Public Worship
4. Teaching and Preaching
5. Gospel Commitment
6. Loving each other
7. Communion Table


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