STIRRINGS AT BETHESDA
A Weekly Publication of
Bethesda Baptist Church
November 24, 2014
Upcoming Activities
1. NO Bible Study & Prayer Meeting this week.
2. Sunday School, Sunday, 9:15 a.m.
3. Worship Service, Sunday, 10:30 a.m.
4. Discipleship Training, Sunday,5 p.m.
Operation Christmas Child
As Pam reported yesterday, we packed 54 boxes and had extra items we could not pack since we ran out of boxes. Nevertheless, those items were sent as well and will be used to fill boxes. Thank you again for your generosity.
“Scottish minister Alexander Whyte was known for his uplifting prayers in the pulpit. He always found something for which to be grateful. One Sunday morning the weather was so gloomy that one church member thought to himself, ‘Certainly the preacher won’t think of anything for which to thank the Lord on a wretched day like this.’ Much to his surprise, however, Whyte began by praying, ‘We thank Thee, O God, that it is not always like this.’
Daily Bread, August 26, 1989.
Christmas Party
Yes, it’s that time of year again! Our annual Christmas Party will be held on Saturday evening, December 13, beginning at 5 p.m. Mark the event on your calendar and keep an eye on future newsletters and bulletins for specific information on the party. Everyone who attended last year had a great time and this year’s event should be as much fun! You don’t want to miss it!
Lottie Moon Christmas Offering
Southern Baptists have designated the Christmas season as the time when we collect funds to support our international missions endeavors. This offering, named the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, goes entirely to the missionaries and their work.
So as Bethesda Baptist begins our emphasis on this offering, I exhort you to seek the Lord as to what He would have you contribute this year to support international missions.
May God once again bless your generosity!
“Thanks to this Great, Sovereign Ruler for the eternal mercy He has. Despite the rebellion of many of His subjects to His Lordship, He continues to offer His mercy to them even today. Salvation is possible and available for He is a merciful God.”
Nominating Committee
The Lord has given each of His children spiritual gifts to build up the body of Christ. How does Christ want you to utilize your gifts through our church in 2015? Please contact Sandy, Debbie, or David, our Nominating Committee, and share your thoughts with them.
Pastir’s Postscript
Our national annual celebration of Thanksgiving was a result of President Lincoln’s proclamation in 1863 which established the last Thursday of November as the date (later changed to the 4th Thursday). Here is the proclamation in its entirety.
Washington, D.C.
October 3, 1863
By the President of the United States of America.
A Proclamation.
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widow, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.
By the President: Abraham Lincoln
William H. Seward,
Secretary of State
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and direct your thanks to our blessed God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
May He watch over you this week.
Pastor Bruce