Weekly Encouragement
Good Wednesday Everyone,
Weekly blessings to all. I hope this week has found you well. As we start into the Spring routine we have so much happening in our schedules. School will be ending, the Spring semesters end with final exams, and graduations will be announced and attended. We have so much to be thankful for. One of the greatest blessings we have comes from our church family. Let’s stop here for this week. Our church family is made up of special and unique relationships. The relationships you form at church are one of the greatest assets you will ever possess. You cannot buy it. You cannot earn it. God graciously gives you fellowship, and it is yours to receive.
The relationships at church are not the same as those at work, or at the ball field, or in school room setting. See: At work, on a team, or in school you get what you deserve. There are rules, expectations, and requirements and if they are not met you are fired, benched, or failed. This is not what happens in Christian fellowship. Church relationships are welded together by Jesus Christ. And none of us get what we deserve!! Sure, some church relationships are deeper and thicker than others, but all are grounded and united by a common faith in Jesus Christ. Within our church relationships we tell each other the truth, sometimes painful truths, and we love one another. The hardest thing about church relationships is also the greatest thing about church relationships – We hurt together. This is why we need church. Your church family provides encouragement, love, and support for whatever the world is putting you through.
These deep and thick faith relationships develop through Christian fellowship, and it only happens when we are together. Eating together. Sharing together. Talking together. Worshiping together. And yes, hurting together. Fellowship happens best in Sunday School classrooms and on Wednesday nights. God loves for us to praise and worship Him. God loves it when we learn from His Word. God also loves for us to be together. This is the only goal and purpose for our Wednesday Night Fellowships (WNF). This is a precious time to recharge for the rest of your week. WNF will refuel you to finish strong in your calling and your career. At Bethel Baptist we will continue to improve our WNF time together and we will always seek to improve. If you come to WNF, and only stay for the meal it is totally understood and know this: You will be blessed and you will be a blessing when you do. The fellowship will fill you, not the food. Physical hunger will hit again in a few hours. But Christian fellowship will fill you until the next time we gather.
At Bethel Baptist, we want to be known for our Christian fellowship. We also want to answer this question. What is God calling our fellowship to do for the future congregations at Bethel Baptist? There are immediate things we must do, and there are things we must do for the next congregation. Many of you grew up in Bethel Baptist, and you are living IN the result of their Christian fellowship. At Bethel Baptist many of you confessed Christ as your Saviour and followed in baptism. Some of you were married at Bethel Baptist and are now raising your children in halls and rooms where you sat and stood. Your children are asking the same faith questions you did. The next generation will do the same, as will the generation after. And all this happened from, is happening now through, and will happen in the future because of Christian fellowship.
All of us are CALLED to Christian fellowship. Fellowship doesn’t just happen. Fellowship takes commitment, effort, intentionality, and work. Hard work. We will not always agree. We will all want the same thing but differ in how to obtain it. We navigate through every issue with fellowship. The greatest testimony we have is verbal: We tell others our salvation story. The second greatest testimony we have is visible: Others see how we fellowship with each other. Bethel Baptist is not a struggling tribe pushing others away; We are a thriving family united by Christ inviting everyone to join us. Those around us who do not attend or sporadically attend a Christian Church are longing for and are searching for Christian fellowship, “They just don’t know it yet!” Fellowship is the horsepower of friendship. We have one of God’s greatest blessings in abundance and ready for delivery for all who come to Bethel Baptist. Offer someone an invitation to Bethel Baptist from your friendship, and watch God work for their good through our fellowship.
In Christ Jesus,
Pastor Michael
