"ONE ANOTHER" Scriptures

Yesterday at LPC we were looking at our theme verse from 1 Peter 4 9&10 
Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: 

We were focusing on the part of the verse that says;
 "Use it (the gift you have been given by God) to serve one another..."  

Here is a short list of some of the scriptures we quickly covered yesterday... copies are also available at LPC! 

 

WELCOME TO OUR CHURCH

This is a GREAT video that really could have been made by the people of LPC... MAYBE you would come check us out this Sunday! 

 

Lectio Divina Sunday

Yesterday (April 15th)  we turned our regular morning service into a small groups all practicing one of the most ancient practices of Christian prayer called lectio divina, which is Latin for "divine reading".  

What we did was use the passage from 1 John 1:5- 2:2 as  our foundation....

After prayer and worship to quiet our hearts and be "still"... 

1) We read the passage slowly and with just personal reflection... no comment... just allowing it to "sink in" asking and listening for the LORD to speak to us through HIS WORD

2) Someone in the groups read the scripture slowly again.  After this... everyone was to give a word or a verse that caught their attention... no reason why... just what word or verse  or phrase that was  discovered in the first phase that found it's way into your heart. 

3) Someone in the groups read the scripture slowly again a third time. This time we made room to share and comment on why the word verse or phrase was important to you... gave some time for sharing... 

4)  A final reading of the passage.... then the groups prayed for and with each other.   A prayer that we may live out that what the LORD has shown us...

WE concluded the service with a time of communion together...

A beautiful morning it was...  and yes Hebrews 4:12 is true...

For the Word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing apart of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 






Here is another point of view from the website http://www.fisheaters.com/lectiodivina.html
(we are not endorsing what is being communicated on this web page.  It is just for more reading...)


 Lectio Divina (pronounced "Lec-tsee-oh Di-vee-nah") means "Divine Reading" and refers specifically to a method of Scripture reading practiced by monastics since the beginning of the Church.

The early centrality of reading of Sacred Scripture, and then meditating and praying over its meaning, is evident in the 48th chapter of the Rule of St. Benedict (A.D. 480-453), a book written by the Great Saint to guide monastic life.

But it was an 11th c. Carthusian prior named Guigo ¹ who formalized Lectio Divina, describing the method in a letter written to a fellow religious. This letter, which has become known as Scala Paradisi -- the Stairway to Heaven -- describes a 4-runged ladder to Heaven, each rung being one of the four steps in his method of Bible reading. Those steps, and Guigo's brief descriptions of them, are:
 

• lectio (reading): "looking on Holy Scripture with all one's will and wit"
• meditatio (meditation): "a studious insearching with the mind to know what was before concealed through desiring proper skill"
• oratio (prayer): "a devout desiring of the heart to get what is good and avoid what is evil"
• contemplatio (contemplation): "the lifting up of the heart to God tasting somewhat of the heavenly sweetness and savour"

Through the practice of Lectio Divina by monastics in group settings, three other steps are sometimes added to the four above such that the steps become:

• statio (position)
• lectio (reading)
• meditatio (meditation)
• oratio (prayer)
• contemplatio (contemplation)
• collatio (discussion)
• actio (action)

 

 

ALL FINISHED!

After 21 days of fasting and prayer... on EASTER SUNDAY MORNING... we broke our fast!

Since March 18th we have been fasting, worshiping and praying as a church family... and what a time it was! I have heard SO many stories of the things God did during these days...

I know in my our life I was MORE than amazed at the LORD's kindness and grace expressed to me as I worked at meeting with Him.

This verse became important to me fromHebrews 11:6
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God (that is us)  must believe that  (two things)
1) He is, and
2)  that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him

Barnes notes says about the "he is" part... "That God exists. This is the first thing required in worship. Evidently we cannot come to him in an acceptable manner if we doubt his existence. We do not see him, but we must believe that he is; we cannot form in our mind a correct image of God, but this should not prevent a conviction that there is such a Being. But the declaration here implies more than that there should be a general persuasion of the truth that there is a God. It is necessary that we have this belief in lively exercise in the act of drawing near to him, and that we should realize that we are actually in the presence of the all-seeing Jehovah."

Barns says about #2 "This is equally necessary as the belief that he exists. If we could not believe that God would hear and answer our prayers, there could be no encouragement to call upon him. It is not meant here that the desire of the reward is to be the motive for seeking God - for the apostle makes no affirmation on that point; but that it is impossible to make an acceptable approach to him unless we have this belief."

 Amen!

I look forward to hearing of the other things that we prayed about come to pass...

Keep seeking the LORD.. there is so much more to discover in HIM