5th Sunday Q & A Archives - Bethesda Baptist Church

STIRRINGS AT BETHESDA
A Weekly Publication of
Bethesda Baptist Church
St. Charles, MO

June 23, 2014

Upcoming Activities

1. Bethesda Academy, Monday, 6:30 p.m.
2. Bible Study & Prayer Meeting, Wednesday, 7:00 p.m.
3. Sunday School, Sunday, 9:15 a.m.
4. Worship Service, Sunday, 10:30 a.m.
5. Discipleship Training (“The Attributes of God”), Sunday, 5 p.m.
Special Prayer Requests

* Cynthia sees the doctor today about further surgery.
* Betty Lesley is at home under hospice care.
* Debbie has additional foot surgery tomorrow (Tuesday).

Coming Sunday…

Next Sunday, the Lord willing, we examine Romans 1:11-15, “Preaching the Gospel”.

“Resistance to tyranny becomes the Christian and social duty of each individual. … Continue steadfast and, with a proper sense of your dependence on God, nobly defend those rights which heaven gave, and no man ought to take from us.”

John Hancock
1st Signer of the Declaration of Independence

Spurgeon Speaks

“Man’s intellect seeks after rest, and by nature seeks it apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. Men of education are apt, even when converted, to look upon the simplicities of the cross of Christ with an eye too little reverent and loving…the temptation with a man of refined thought and high education is to depart from the simple truth of Christ crucified, and to invent, as the term is, a more intellectual doctrine. …whoever you are, good reader, and whatever your education may be, if you be the Lord’s, be assured you will find no rest in philosophizing divinity. You may receive this dogma of one great thinker. or that dream of another profound reasoner, by what the chaff is to the wheat, that will these be to the pure word of God. All that reason, when best guided, can find out is but the A B C of truth, and even that lacks certainty, while in Christ Jesus there is treasured up all the fullness of wisdom and knowledge. … Jesus satisfies the most elevated intellect when He is believingly received, but apart from Him the mind of the regenerate discovers no rest. ‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.’ ‘A good understanding have all they that do His commandments.’”

“The Bible … is a book worth more than all the other books that were ever printed.”
Patrick Henry
Ratifier of the U.S. Constitution

5th Sunday Q & A Fellowship

Bring a drink and snack to share and join us for our next 5th Sunday Q & A Fellowship this coming Sunday evening at 6 p.m. immediately following Discipleship Training. I recommend you come at 5 and join us for both sessions!

Congratulations…

* Happy Birthday to Austin Wildgrube who celebrates his birthday on June 26.
* Happy Birthday to Ian Carapella who celebrates his birthday on June 29.

The Bethesda Academy

Tonight, with the introductory material behind us, we move into chapter 1 of the book of Revelation. So it is not too late to join us in our journey through this final book of the Bible. We meet for an hour beginning at 6:30 p.m. so come and study God’s Word with us beginning this (Monday) evening.

“While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion. To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian.”
George Washington
1st U.S. President

Pastor’s Postscript

Thank you to Brother Carl Schaefer for being willing to “pinch hit” for me yesterday morning. It is such an encouragement to find a fellow preacher who, on very short notice, is willing to step in the gap and proclaim the Word of God on behalf of another!

I guess I had some type of “bug” which lasted about 36 hours or so. I’m still not convinced part of my lunch on our way home from Springfield on Saturday didn’t have something to do with it! But I am much better this Monday morning other than being a little tired. I really missed not being with you for worship yesterday.

Debbie told me the service went well. Thank you, Brother Dan for leading the Scripture reading. Praise the Lord for the visitors we had.

Since I was unable to do so yesterday, let me say “CONGRATULATIONS” to Jon and Kate Bounds on the birth of their 3rd son, Samuel Philip, last Monday! Keep both the baby and his mother in your prayers over the coming weeks.

The Lord is good and greatly to be praised. May He bless your week!

STIRRINGS AT BETHESDA
A Weekly Publication of Bethesda Baptist Church
June 16, 2014

NEW MEMBERS!

Welcome to our newest members, Georgia and Glenda! Here is the information for your church directory:

Glenda Averett
   1248 Shirley Ridge Dr.
   St. Charles, MO 63304
   636-441-2476

Georgia Baggett
   1284 Shirley Ridge Dr.
   St. Charles, MO 63304
   636-441-2118

Upcoming Activities

Coming Sunday…

Yesterday we looked at “Prayer and the Gospel”. Next Sunday we examine Romans 1:11-15, “Preaching the Gospel”.

“Those things for which you are thankful tells you and others what you believe is really important in life.”

Spurgeon Speaks

“God has beloved ones in the darkest parts of the earth! There is all the more reason for them to be saints because they are surrounded by sinners. They must have had true faith, or they could not have confessed Christ between the jaws of a lion, for they lived in Rome, with Nero hunting after Christians as if they had been wild beasts! And yet they were not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ.”

5th Sunday Q & A Fellowship

Plan on joining us for our next 5th Sunday Q & A Fellowship. Bring a snack, a drink, and any questions you may have on June 29 and we will meet at 6 p.m. Even better, come at 5 p.m. for Discipleship Training and remain for our Fellowship!

New Additions to Our Church Library

* Another sermon by John MacArthur on CD entitled: “The Truth About False Disciplies”

“God, by His providence, regulates all that takes place. There is nothing with which Christians should be more habitually impressed than that God is the disposer of all events.”
Robert Haldane

* Cynthia has requested special prayer. She is struggling with her fluid levels.

Sermon Seconds
Verse 10 of yesterday’s text has an interesting phrase. The ESV renders it “… somehow by God’s will I may now at last …”. In the original Paul uses 4 simple words to convey his emotions on his desire to travel to Rome. The King James captures these words very well: “…if by any means now at length…” You can almost sense Paul’s yearning and hope that God will permit him to finally travel to Rome.

Those of you who know early church history know that Paul DOES finally make it to Rome: as a PRISONER! He travels there in chains by ship which is shipwrecked. Once there he is kept in prison for 2 years. A few years later he will return to Rome once again arrested and, finally, executed for his witness for Christ!

Pastor’s Postscript
To all who planned, organized, and brought to pass our church picnic, THANK YOU! It was a wonderful time on a wonderful day with wonderful people!

We welcome Georgia and Glenda to our church family! In the past 2 months three new members have joined Bethesda and they all live on the same street! (Perhaps we should rename Bethesda to Shirley Ridge Baptist!).

The Academy will restart tonight (Monday) with a close examination of the book of Revelation. This will not be a brief excursion so bring your Bible, your notebook, and your pen and prepare for an exciting journey.

I also encourage those members who do not normally attend our Wednesday evening service to make every effort to do so. We spend 15 minutes in Bible study and then commit the remaining 30-45 minutes for prayer. Presently our Bible study has been focusing on various Bible characters who are not mentioned very often in the Scriptures. Come out and look with us at the characteristics of these individuals. Perhaps you’ll find a character quality which might benefit your spiritual growth.

We are, once again, revising our deacon family ministry list given our new members. The list should be ready following our July Deacons’ meeting. Also, our church directory is being revised with a target publication date of August 1. If you have directory updates, please let the pastor know as soon as possible.

Lastly, anybody interested in learning Greek? It’s been a couple of years since our last class and I am open to doing another one. Or, if you are very brave, we could try and learn some Hebrew!

Praise our Lord for all the blessings He has poured out on each of us. And praise the Lord for the blessing of Bethesda Baptist Church!

May your life bring glory and honor and praise to Christ throughout this coming week.

Pastor Bruce