Good Morning Bethesda!
It was good seeing my brothers and sisters at Bethesda yesterday morning! It is always good to worship together on the Lord’s Day.
Debbie and I spent last week in Phoenix visiting family and did not return home until late Saturday evening. If I appeared to be glassy eyed at times yesterday, please forgive me. I’m still trying to recover from the great trip and the travel!
Remember, no prayer meeting this Wednesday due to the holiday. Check the calendar for upcoming events.
Urgent Prayer Requests
- Brida Lovett, recovering from heart surgery
- The Bunch family as they prepare for their Minnesota mission trip.
- Marilynn Norvell
- Pete & Brenda Koelling
- Brenda Koelling’s father
- Cynthia Wordlaw, her mother, father, and sister suffering physically
- Gene & Lois Schulze at home.
- Caroline, Anne Overton’s sister-in-law, fight with cancer.
- The Overtons as they search for a new church in Indiana.
- Our church and need for revival
“Pray, and let God worry.”
– Martin Luther
Upcoming Activities
- NO WEDNESDAY PRAYER MEETING this week (4th of July).
- Bethesda Women, Thursday, 6:30 p.m. at the church then to the Donut Shop.
- Bethesda Men, Saturday, 8:00 a.m., bring your breakfast and meet at the church.
- Sunday School, Sunday, 9:15 a.m.
- Worship Service, Sunday, 10:30 a.m.
- Discipleship Training, Sunday, 5:00 p.m. (Daniel)
- BUSINESS MEETING, Wednesday, July 11, 7 p.m.
Some Words on Worship
Article 22: Of religious worship and the sabbath day (continued from our previous newsletter)
6. Neither prayer nor any other part of religious worship is now under the gospel tied unto, or made more acceptable by any place in which it is performed, or towards which it is directed; but God is to be worshipped everywhere in spirit and in truth; as in private families daily, and in secret each one by himself; so more solemnly in the public assemblies, which are not carelessly nor wilfully to be neglected or forsaken, when God by his Word or providence calleth thereunto.
7. As it is the law of nature that in general a proportion of time, by God’s appointment, be set apart for the worship of God, so by his Word, in a positive moral and perpetual commandment, binding all men, in all ages, he hath particularly appointed one day in seven for a sabbath to be kept holy unto him, which from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ was the last day of the week and from the resurrection of Christ was changed into the first day of the week, which is called the Lord’s day; and is to be continued to the end of the world as the Christian sabbath, the observation of the last day of the week being abolished.
From the Second London Confession (also known as the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith).
“How welcome to the saints, when pressed
With six days’ noise, and care, and toil,
Is the returning day of rest,
Which hides them from the world awhile!”
– John Newton
Pastor’s Postscripts
This week we celebrate our nation’s Independence Day. Too often these days we are repeatedly told that our Founders were not Christians. Well, some of them weren’t. But many were and even those who were not had a respect for the Christian faith and some fear of the Divine Creator. And, yes, our nation was founded upon Christian principles. Here are the words of John Adams, one of the Founding Fathers and 2nd President, from a letter he wrote to Thomas Jefferson in 1813.
“The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.”
In a letter from 1816, John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, wrote:
“Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation, to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.”
And he is so right! God has placed us in a nation which has a voice in how it is governed. As Christians, we MUST participate in our government especially by selecting those who will govern us. Therefore, as I said yesterday morning, if you are not registered to vote I exhort you to do so this week.
May Christ be glorified in you this week!
Pastor Bruce
636-233-0645
TheSaxonHus@hotmail.com
