Pastor Neli Atiga gave his farewell sermon at ENCS earlier today
To Every Nation Church in Brisbane he will soon be on his way
After we took communion and the congregation had all entered
His sermon continued the series on Colossians titled "Centered"
Our days are numbered so what we focus on really does matter
Pastor Neli laid out three ways to identify our focus on a platter
First is our passion, what we are willing to make sacrifices for
Second is our priority, in other words what we have at our core
And third is people, the ones and the values that surround us
If we are centered on Christ, everything else becomes a plus
Pastor then said that we have one job so need to get it right
The rest of his sermon thus focused on what we need to fight
Colossians one verses fifteen to twenty talk of Christ's pre-eminence
We were created by him and for him, his power and glory are immense
But God also dwells in him and reconciled with the world through him
If these four 'hims' were not all true, our future would look quite dim
So Jesus should be our passion and priority, who we try to emulate
By doing so, Pastor said, our walk on God's path will be kept straight
Colossians two refers to Laodicea, which sat on the river Meander
Jesus called them lukewarm in Revelation three with much candor
We must avoid meandering and having our faith be lukewarm
So about five potential causes of this Pastor Neli did us inform
First is our image, or how we might appear in others' eyes
If this drives us, our passion dissipates Pastor did advise
Second is trying to improve, for we should want to obey his law
This is what was written in John fourteen verse fifteen, we saw
Third is impulse, giving into the desires of former addictions
We should try to avoid temptation to adhere to our convictions
Fourth is immaturity, wanting others to feed us all the time
Instead, we should be doing things for the church in our prime
Fifth is idolatry, which Pastor Neli said is at the center of all sin
Letting other things take center stage is where problems begin
I note that Brisbane's big gain is of course Singapore's big loss
But either way, Neli will still be sharing the message of the cross
We will miss his musical talents, his jokes, his smile, and his size
Along with his ability to always find a way to spring a surprise
Thank Pastor Neli for all you have done for so many people
Go forth, young man, and change lives under a new steeple
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