September 15, 2014

STIRRINGS AT BETHESDA

A Weekly Publication of Bethesda Baptist Church

September 15, 2014
Upcoming Activities

1. Bethesda Academy, Monday, 6:30 p.m.
2. Ladies Book Study, Tuesday, 6:30 p.m.
3. Bible Study & Prayer Meeting, Wednesday, 7:00 p.m.
4. Sunday School, Sunday, 9:15 a.m.
5. Worship Service, Sunday, 10:30 a.m.
6. Discipleship Training, Sunday, 5 p.m.

Missouri Missions

Our emphasis on Missouri Missions continues through the month of September.  It’s not too late to contribute to our mission offering.

Men/Boys Camp Out

The camp out has been re-scheduled for Friday, September 26 beginning at 7 p.m.

 “”God didn’t say, ‘Keep the law, and I’ll bring you out of Egypt.’  He said, ‘I’m your God.  I brought you out of Egypt.  Now, keep the law.’””
J. Ligon Duncan

 Pastor’s Postscripts

I have something slightly different for you this week.  On Wednesday, we celebrate Constitution Day, 227 years since the Constitution of our nation was signed by 39 Founding Fathers.  Much has been said, in recent years, about our nation NOT being founded upon Christian principles.  Yet the lives of most of those signers imply otherwise.  So, in recognition of Constitution Day and the Christian roots of our nation, here are a few brief thoughts about some of the signers of the Constitution.

* Richard Bassett – Assisted in writing the Delaware state Constitution.  This document stated, “Every person who shall be chosen a member of either house, or appointed to any office or place of trust … shall … make and subscribe the following declaration, to wit: ‘I, ____, do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ His only Son, and in the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed for evermore; and I do acknowledge the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration.’”

* Gunning Bedford – A funeral speech he gave for George Washington read, “Now to the triune God, The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, be ascribed all honor and dominion, forevermore.”

* William Blount – He was a member of the Presbyterian Church who assisted in the creation of the Tennessee Constitution.  “No person who denies the being of God, or a future state of rewards and punishments, shall hold any office in the civil department of this State.”

* John Dickinson – Mr. Dickinson’s will read, “To my Creator I resign myself, humbly confiding in His goodness and in His mercy through Jesus Christ for the events of eternity.”

* Nathaniel Gorham – A Congregationalist and a man who assisted in the writing of the Massachusetts state Constitution. That document required a person to take the following oath to hold an office:  “I believe the Christian religion, and have a firm persuasion of its truth.”

* Alexander Hamilton – Hamilton proposed the formation of the Christian Constitutional Society, an organization to spread Christian government around the world. After the Constitutional Convention, he said, “For my own part, I sincerely esteem it a system which without the finger of God, never could have been suggested and agreed upon by such a diversity of interests.”

* William Samuel Johnson – Following the Revolutionary War, Johnson served as the President of Columbia University.  To the first graduating class after the War, Johnson said,  “Remember, too, that you are the redeemed of the Lord, that you are bought with a price, even the inestimable price of the precious blood of the Son of God.”

* Rufus King – He was selected as the manager of the American Bible Society.   When Missouri was requesting statehood, King made a speech in the Senate, saying, “I hold that all laws or compacts imposing any such condition [as involuntary servitude] upon any human being are absolutely void because contrary to the law of nature, which is the law of God.”

* William Livingston – Livingston once said, “I believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, without any foreign comments or human explanations… I believe that he who feareth God and worketh righteousness will be accepted of Him…”.

* James Madison – Madison, also our 4th President as well as a member of the Episcopal Church, once said, “The belief in a God, all powerful, wise, and good, [is] essential to the moral order of the world, and to the happiness of man.”

* Roger Sherman – Helped his church revise the wording of their creed to read, “I believe that there is one only living and true God, existing in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the same in substance, equal in power and glory. That the Scriptures of the old and new testaments are a revelation from God and a complete rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him.”

* George Washington – Yes, the general of the Revolutionary Army and 1st President.  He was a member of an Episcopal Church. During the war his army spent a horrible winter at Valley Forge.  Washington offered a prayer which included the following words:  “Almighty and eternal Lord God, the great Creator of heaven and earth, and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; look down from heaven in pity and compassion upon me Thy servant, who humbly prorate myself before Thee.”

* James Wilson – Wilson not only signed the Constitution, he later served on the United States Supreme Count.  Wilson, an Episcopalian and a Presbyterian, said, “Human law must rest its authority ultimately upon the authority of that law which is Divine … Far from being rivals or enemies, religion and law are twin sisters, friends, and mutual assistants”

So that’s a sample of the authors of our Constitution.  But I’m certain their background and their faith played NO ROLE in their development of our Constitution!  (Written with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek!)

May the Lord bless your week!