Weekly Encouragement
Good Wednesday Everyone,
Weekly blessings to all. This has been an eventful week. But despite the week’s “A.B.C.’s” (Activity, Busyness, Challenges) it’s almost over. We will conclude the week with a wonderful opportunity at fellowship with our first “Movie Night” on Friday, beginning at 6:00pm. This Friday we will play the movie “Jesus Revolution” and you will truly enjoy this film. This film is all about how the Christian big “C” Church, is always in the place God wants it to be physically via His local church, and where we need it spiritually via the local members of His church. Make plans to attend and come be with your Bethel Baptist family. You will see exactly what an obedient church can do through God’s power in a seemingly un-churched community.
Also, we continue our Sunday sermon series from Matthew – “Meet the Messiah”. We enter the bulk of Jesus’ ministry to the people of Israel primarily, but the impact Jesus had upon the gentile community cannot be ignored. Jesus brought with Him a real authority, impact, love, and truth no one had ever received from the religious leadership. And the responses to Jesus was two-fold: People followed Him, and people wanted to destroy Him. There does not exist middle of the road followers of Jesus Christ. Jesus provided people with either internal peace and eternal life with Him, or people received internal struggle and eternal danger in life without Him. As we are told so often, “The choice is yours!!” Jesus was bringing to life your best choice.
Today, the comforts of life seem to offer us many more choices than life or death. Consider how hard it would be to live without electricity, indoor plumbing, carpet, cars, clothing, entertainment, travel, and vacations. Not so long ago, and for many today, you lived to work, and you worked to live. This is not a daily reality for most. True there is a grind to life today, but nothing like the daily grind faced by our ancestors. But we still seek more. Jesus is the more. Jesus gives us more than we could ever imagine, and we find the more to life from the teachings of Jesus Christ.
The preachings and teachings of Jesus will dominate the rest of Matthew. Jesus will now take us to the clearly undisputed yet foolishly unbelieved fact that He is the Messiah. This is a fact, because of what Jesus Christ did on the earth, but also because of what He said while with us on the earth. Today, if you are a Christian, this means you are saved. Every person wants to be saved, “They just don’t know it yet!” The classic line we share together comes early this week. Because we are all dying and are desperately trying to save ourselves. Jesus will teach us that saving ourselves is not possible. If you need saving this means you are dying. If you’re not dying you don’t need saving. We are in an environment where we cannot overcome the forces against us.
Jesus Christ tells us how we can be saved, and it is not of ourselves we are saved lest any man can boast. This Sunday we emphasized the solid knowledge base we have regarding the miraculous birth and resurrection from the dead of Jesus Christ. We must not miss what Jesus taught us in-between these miracles. God on the earth performing miracles and empowering His followers to do the same shouldn’t shock us. We should all be shocked at what Jesus Christ told us about living. It’s been said like this, “Today, we are feasting on love, and starving for truth.” Both realities are happening to us at the same time. Jesus Christ will tell us how we can feast on both love and truth and thrive in this life.
At the conclusion of our series there will no doubt we have met The Messiah. With our doubts eliminated let us throw off every weight and sin which clings to us and holds us down. Let Jesus perfect our faith, so that we are closer to His perfection today than we were last year. Then as Jesus Christ continues His work in us, we will be closer to His perfection next year than we are now. Christians are getting closer to God, not better than others. God loves us and He wants to tell us how much. Listen to God. Tell others about God. Bring others to God. You cannot do this alone, but God will equip you for every good work in the name of Christ Jesus. Pray about what you can do for others is Jesus’ name and do it.
In Christ Jesus,
Pastor Michael
