CHURCH PICNIC!
Join us for our annual summer picnic on Saturday, June 22nd! Please bring an item for grilling along with a side or dessert. The church will provide drinks, ice and condiments. Weather permitting, we'll also have a small pool set up for the kids, while the adults relax, kick back and enjoy some quality fellowship time. We may even get a couple of games going!
Grilling starts at 12:00 PM, so we hope to see you there!
Urgent Prayer Requests
* Tom, significant storm damage
* Pete & Brenda, their health
* Brazel family
* Mueller family
* Marilynn Norvell
* Cynthia Wordlaw, need for a kidney
* Aaron Wordlaw and his arthritis
* Dennis fighting kidney failure
* Gene & Lois Schulze at home.
* Anne Overton’s family
* Rachelle in California
* Our church and need for revival
“Christian thanksgiving is an act of GRACE when a servant of God, GRACIOUSLY saved by God, expresses his GRATITUDE to a GRACIOUS God for His GRACIOUS provision.”
Upcoming Activities
1. Bible Study (Brief Books) & Prayer Meeting, Wednesday, 7 p.m.
2. Church Picnic, Saturday, Noon
3. Sunday school, Sunday, 9:15 a.m.
4. Worship Service, Sunday, 10:30 a.m.
5. Discipleship Training, Sunday, 5 p.m.
Sermon Extras
In the opening verse of 1 Thessalonians, Paul addresses the church by writing,
“...to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”.
Some of the older translations put the preposition “in” before both “God the Father” and “the Lord Jesus Christ”. However, the autograph (the original writing) only contains the first preposition. Paul is teaching all who read this verse at least two important truths.
1. God the Father and Jesus Christ are on the same “plane”. They are co-equals. The attributes of God the Father are the same as those of Jesus Christ. In other words, Jesus is, indeed, God in the flesh.
2. The church (a reference to saved individuals, not to a building) is established in, grounded in, built upon God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Only the true followers of Christ comprise the local church.
“Grace, God’s kindness to man.”.
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 article VI on the church, a Baptist distinctive.
VI. The Church
A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is a local body of baptized believers who are associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel, observing the two ordinances of Christ, committed to His teachings, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth.
This church is an autonomous body, operating through democratic processes under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. In such a congregation, members are equally responsible. Its Scriptural officers are pastors and deacons.
The New Testament speaks also of the church as the body of Christ which includes all of the redeemed of all the ages.
Outreach Effort
There are a few of the bags containing energy bars remaining in the foyer. Feel free to take as many as you need and hand them out to various folks you meet during the day.
“Their living faith was clothed upon with work; it was not a belief dead, barren, and alone.”
John Eadie
Pastor’s Postscripts
In those opening verses of 1 Thessalonians, Paul notes the hope in Christ the Thessalonian Christians have. He recognizes this hope in them because it has produced endurance. They endure; they persevere even in the midst of persecution and suffering.
Many Baptists are quite comfortable with the doctrine known as the “security of the believer”. This doctrine is Biblical. Passages such as Philippians 1:6 (my favorite verse) and 2 Timothy 1:12 support this teaching. If you have truly been saved (born again) then you are secure in Christ. You WILL have an eternal home in glory with Him.
But the Bible also teaches endurance or what is commonly known theologically as the “Perseverance of the Saints”. For a person to actually have that eternal home in glory they MUST persevere in Christ; they must endure. This teaching is revealed in Matthew 10:22, Matthew 24:13, 2 Timothy 2:12, and Hebrews 10:35-36. You MUST endure if you are to have an eternal home in glory.
While these teachings appear to contradict one another, they are actually complements. The true believer will persevere as a result of the hope that is in them, namely Jesus. Those who wander from the faith during their journey here on earth are, most likely, those who were never truly born again.
Are you steadfast like the Thessalonians? Are you enduring in your faith? Are you persevering because of the hope you have in Christ?
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