Stirrings at Bethesda - May 6, 2013

Good Morning, Bethesda!

Our Lord is gracious!  Two new visitors were with us yesterday morning.  While they will not likely return for some time (they live in Canada!), it is always a blessing when the Lord brings visitors to our church.

Urgent Prayer Requests

* Pete & Brenda, their health, especially Brenda’s back
* Brenda’s father who is very ill
* Brazel family and especially baby Willow
* Debbie, recovering from foot surgery
* Marilynn Norvell
* Cynthia Wordlaw, need for a kidney
* Aaron Wordlaw and his arthritis
* Dennis fighting kidney failure
* Gene & Lois Schulze at home.
* Caroline, Anne Overton’s sister-in-law, and family – terminal brain cancer
* Our church and need for revival

Upcoming Activities

1. BUSINESS MEETING, Wednesday, 7pm.
2.  Sunday school, Sunday, 9:15 a.m.
4. Worship Service, Sunday, 10:30 a.m.
5. NO Discipleship Training


“When a believer truly discerns the Lord’s direction for their life, they quickly step that way.”



Wednesday Evenings

This Wednesday evening is our monthly business meeting at 7 p.m.  Please make every effort to attend as we discuss matters facing our church.

Next Wednesday, the 15th, we will resume our study of “Brief Books” as we dive into the depths of the book of Obadiah!


Statement of Faith

Bethesda’s statement of faith is “The 1963 Baptist Faith and Message” and may be read at http://www.sbc.net/bfm/bfmcomparison.asp.  Here is the 1st part of the article on God.

II. God

There is one and only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections. To him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience. The eternal God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.

1. God the Father

God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes of His grace. He is all powerful, all loving, and all wise. God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. He is fatherly in his attitude toward all men.

Sermon Extras

Here is an interesting note concerning our text from yesterday.  Using the English Standard Version, the noun “fish” appears 7 times in these verses.  However, John (and Jesus!) use 3 different Greek words translated fish.

In verse 5 the word refers to a “relish eaten with bread” (a relish often made of fish).  The King James Version translates this word as “meat”.  This is the only time in the entire New Testament this specific Greek word is used.

In verses 6, 8, and 11, the original word is “ichthus”, which is the usual word for fish.  Ichthyology, the study of fishes, comes from this word.

Finally, verses 9, 10, and 13 translate a 3rd Greek noun, usually referring to cooked food (including fish) or “preserved fish”.

Ladies Fellowship!

Ladies, are you missing the weekly book study?  Would you simply like to get together with your fellow sisters from the church?  Here is an opportunity for you!

ALL ladies are invited to a special ladies fellowship at the church on Tuesday, May 21.  Activities will begin at 6:30 p.m. are you are invited.  Prior attendance at the ladies book study is NOT required.

Please come out and enjoy the evening.

“I believe the proclamation of the gospel in Word and deed is the work of missions.  Prayer is the power that wields the weapon of the Word, and the Word is the weapon by which the nations will be brought to faith and obedience.”
John Piper

Pastor’s Postscripts

I was truly blessed Sunday by the congregational singing.  The songs and the way everyone sang were very uplifting to my soul!  I also appreciate those who prayed that I would be able to speak given the way my voice opened the message.  The cough remains despite two weeks of antibiotics.  But the Lord was gracious and enabled me to complete the message without further problems with my throat and voice.

Some advanced warning:  June is a “5 Sunday” month.  That means June 30th will mark our first “5th Sunday Q & A Fellowship” for 2013 (the Lord used snowy weather to cancel our first scheduled fellowship back in March).  Therefore, any time you have questions you would like the pastor to answer, you may write them out and place them in the container by the front door.  Your name is optional.

If the Lord wills, we will finish John’s Gospel with three final messages.  See you Sunday with your Bible in hand!  May the Lord bless you this week.