STIRRINGS AT BETHESDA
A Weekly Publication of
Bethesda Baptist Church

August 25, 2014

Ladies Book Study …

continues TOMORROW evening (Tuesday, August 26) at 6:30 p.m.! Its not too late to join in!

Upcoming Activities

1. Bethesda Academy, Monday, 6:30 p.m.
2. Ladies Book Study, Tuesday, 6:30 p.m.
3. Bible Study and 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.
7. 5th Sunday Q & A Fellowship, Sunday, 6 p.m.

The Bethesda Academy

Tonight (Monday) we study chapter 8 on the topic of the judgment trumpets. Come out and join us at 6:30 p.m.

5th Sunday Q & A Fellowship

Our next Q & A fellowship is this Sunday evening from 6-7 p.m. Bring some snack to share and a drink plus your questions and enjoy the fellowship time.

Everyone is welcome to join us for this fun hour! Put it on your calendar and come out and join us.

Discipleship Training

The study of Spiritual Gifts continues during the Discipleship Training hour at 5 p.m. each Sunday evening. Were nearing the end but there is still time to join us!

Library Additions

More new sermons on CDs have been added to our church library.

* Jesus is Lord by John MacArthur
* Dont Waste Your Life by John Piper
* Loved by God by R. C. Sproul

Congratulations

* Happy Birthday to Isabel Mueller on Friday, August 29.
* Happy Birthday to Zachary Mueller on his birthday next Sunday, August 31.

”The word of God contains the most awful denunciations of the Divine wrath. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
Robert Haldane

Men/Boys Camp Out

Friday, September 12 at the church beginning at 7 p.m. There is a sign-up sheet on the table in the foyer for everyone who is interested in being a part of the campout.

Church Work Day

Did you update your calendar for this event? If not, stop reading now and go do so.

The work day is on Saturday, September 27. Be a part of the day and help us make some minor repairs to our facility.

“One of the reasons there is false faith is that some people think they are trusting Christ to bring them to the Father, when they dont even want the Father. They want their sins forgiven and they want to escape hell, but they dont want God. They dont love him. The very notion of knowing him and loving and wanting him above all things is foreign to them. So they may say that they are trusting Christ to bring them to the Father, but, in fact, they are trying to use Christ to get the gifts of God, not God.”
John Piper

Pastor’s Postscripts

Next Sunday is the last Sunday of the month which means we will observe the Lords Supper during our morning worship service. It is also the 5th Sunday of the month. Therefore, our next Q & A Fellowship will be at 6 p.m. this Sunday evening. And, of course, the Q & A Fellowship follows Discipleship Training at 5 p.m. So I encourage everyone to come out this Sunday and participate in the activities of our church.

I am pleased, but not surprised, to hear the good reports from the first week of the Ladies Book Study. The women are meeting again this Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. and it is not too late to be a part of this group. If you have never attended one of the sessions of previous book studies, I strongly recommend you come Tuesday night and give it a try.

May Jesus bless each of you this week as you strive to minister in His name!

December 30, 2013

Stirrings at Bethesda – December 30, 2013

Recent Prayer Requests

* Pete Koelling, in hospital with pneumonia
* Bounds family, fighting illness
* Audrey Crosby, ill
* Brenda Koelling, relationship with her daughters plus their salvation
* Special prayer for Zachary
* Cynthia Wordlaw, need for a kidney
* Dennis fighting kidney failure
* Marilynn Norvell
* Steve Brook and meeting with ordination council
* Our church and need for revival

Upcoming Activities

1. NO Wednesday service
2. Men’s Breakfast & Book Study, Saturday, 8 a.m.
3. Deacon ordination council, Saturday, 9:15 a.m.
4. Sunday school, Sunday, 9:15 a.m.
5. Worship Service, Sunday, 10:30 a.m.
6. Discipleship Training, January Bible Study, Sunday, 5 p.m.

“The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.”
The 1963 Baptist Faith and Message

Sermon Extras

Part of my message yesterday on the Supper focused on the words “unworthy manner” in verse 27. I noted the original word behind this translation (“unworthily” in the King James) was an adverb which actually modifies the verbs in the verse (“eats” and “drinks”) and not the word “Whoever”. Paul is not discussing an “unworthy” person but an “unworthy” observance of the Supper. The original adverb (anaxios in the Greek) may be rendered “in an improper way” further noting our need to make certain we observe this ordinance in the manner the Lord intends.

I challenge each of us to make certain we follow the prescribed method for worshiping our great God as noted in His Word. Let the Word of God not only regulate our life but also our worship!

Questions to Ponder: (1) Are you able to remember what the Lord has done in your life or do you not know Him? (2) What is your reaction when you enter the auditorium on a Sunday morning and see the table prepared for the observance of the Lord’s Supper?
“The Lord ends the need for the Passover, a meal looking forward to Him and His future sacrifice; He begins the Lord’s Supper, a meal looking backward to Him and His completed sacrifice.”

Some Important Items

First, the 12 boxes sent to our soldiers in Afghanistan all arrived! They were received with great gladness and thanksgiving!

Second, our church surpassed its Lottie Moon Christmas Offering goal of $1200. Thanks to each of you who gave for your generosity!

Third, I want to thank Audrey, Julie, and Steve for their assistance in making our Christmas Eve worship service so meaningful. I truly appreciate all your help!

“We are unworthy of this sacred feast, and if unworthiness could shut us out, who would dare to be here?”
Charles Haddon Spurgeon

January Bible Study

Yes, our annual January Bible Study begins next Sunday evening at 5 p.m. during our Discipleship Training hour. Brother Dennis will lead us in this study of the book of Colossians.

Please do your best to attend all the January Bible study sessions in the coming weeks. You will be blessed through the Word of God!

Pastor’s Postscripts

Happy New Year! May our Lord grow you spiritually in 2014 as well as bless you abundantly.

In two weeks (January 12) we will observe the ordinance of baptism with the baptism of Nolan Brook. Also, my message that morning will be on this ordinance. Yesterday morning I shared with you on the Lord’s Supper, a feast which has been argued and debated throughout the centuries since the institution of this ordinance. These debates have not only taken place between various religious denominations but also within denominations including Southern Baptist ranks. This is especially true when it comes to who may take the supper. As I read 1 Corinthians 11, I see Paul attempting to correct the incorrect practice of the supper by the Corinthians. What are they doing? They are, essentially, doing their own thing (see v. 21 – “own meal”). Paul then explains the supper and how it is to be observed. He closes his statement with verses 33 & 34 where he says the church is to “come together” (used twice) to celebrate the Supper. Nowhere in Scripture is any individual commanded to observe the Supper on their own (as they are their baptism).

Actually, if you reflect for a moment on what most churches call the Lord’s Supper, this truth becomes apparent. The most frequent word used by Protestant churches for the Lord’s Supper is “communion”. Why? Because the Supper is intended to be a time of fellowship of believers remembering the Lord and His sacrifice at Calvary. The Lord did not design the ordinance to be observed individually.

May the Lord bless your week. May He bring healing to those in our fellowship who are ill at this time.

December 23, 2013

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Recent Prayer Requests

* Pete Koelling, health concerns
* Brenda Koelling, relationship with her daughters plus their salvation
* Special prayer for Zachary
* Cynthia Wordlaw, need for a kidney
* Dennis fighting kidney failure
* Marilynn Norvell
* Lottie Moon Christmas Offering
* Our church and need for revival

Upcoming Activities

1. Christmas Eve service, Tuesday, 6 p.m.
2. NO Wednesday service
3. Sunday school, Sunday, 9:15 a.m.
4. Worship Service, Sunday, 10:30 a.m.
including the Lord’s Supper
5. NO Discipleship Training
6. 5th Sunday Q & A Fellowship, Sunday,
6 p.m.

Christmas Eve Worship

Come join us tomorrow (Tuesday) evening for a brief worship service celebrating the birth of our Lord. We’ll begin at 6 p.m., sing a few Christmas carols, and read the Word of God before heading to our homes in preparation for Christmas Day!

Gabriel’s Message
(Christmas 2013)

To Nazareth the angel came
Sent from heaven above
Gabriel was the servant’s name
His message was God’s love.

Young Mary was the recipient
Jesus the Heavenly Word
Blessing from God on her was sent
Most favored by the Lord.

The angel spoke, the young girl heard,
“Mary, God gives you grace”
Troubled by the messenger’s word
Her mind began to race

She thought “What does this word imply?”
Her mind could not perceive.
“Fear not”, the angel did reply
Her troubles to relieve.

“For you are the chosen of god
To bring forth His own Son
The Highest’s son will He be called.
He will be the great one.”

Then Mary said, “May it be thus
His will with me be done.”
So the Savior was sent for us
Jesus born, Christmas begun.

Bruce D. Walker

Sermon Extras

Most people are familiar with the King James translation of the Luke passage. In verse 6, the KJV reads “while they were there, the days were accomplished …”. I really like that rendering more than the ESV which reads “while they were there, the time came…”. The word behind “accomplished/came” is a word meaning “to fill or to end”. It is related to the word “fullness” in Galatians 4:4. God had a specific time for the birth of His Son and that time had come. God’s plan was fulfilled and Mary gave birth.

Actually, this is true of the birth of every person. God has set the time of that birth (see Ecclesiastes 3) and, when His time has been fulfilled (when “the days were accomplished”).

Questions to ponder: (1) Do you ever reflect upon the hand of God in your daily affairs? (2) When the Lord commands (via His Word or via His appointed ministers, e.g., “rulers”), are you prompt to obey? (3) Is your celebration of Christmas centered on the Christ of Christmas?

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son…”
Galatians 4:4

Pastor’s Postscripts

A couple of people have asked me where we are going relative to the Sunday morning messages. Having completed 1 Thessalonians and messages celebrating the Christmas season, what is next on the “sermon calendar”?

Well, I am open to any suggestions from the Lord but I still believe He wants us to continue the Thessalonian correspondence by turning our attention to 2 Thessalonians next. However, I do not plan on beginning that brief letter until the third Sunday of January.

That leaves the intervening three Sundays. Reflecting on my time here as your pastor, I recall preaching on the two ordinances of the church only three times: twice on the Lord’s Supper (last in 2011) and once on baptism. Since we are observing the Lord’s Supper this coming Sunday morning, the message will focus on that ordinance. And, since our present plans are to observe the ordinance of baptism on January 12 with the baptism of Nolan Brook, the message that morning will focus on baptism.

On January 5 I’ll present a message summarizing the 5th Psalm. When we began our exposition of John’s Gospel, my goal was to intersperse “chapter messages” from the Psalms at various breaks in the text. I was able to share with you on the first four Psalms but the “break points” in the Gospel were few in number and did not offer us the opportunity to look at other Psalms. So, our first Sunday in January will take us back to the Psalms.

That’s my plan. But, of course, the Lord is the One who has the final say. Whatever He decides will be the best for our church.

As I close the column this week, Debbie and I want to wish a very Merry Christmas to each of you! May the Lord pour out His blessings upon you especially at this time of year.