Weekly Encouragement
Good Wednesday Everyone,
Weekly blessings to all. This has truly been a blessed week. The Calico Fort weekend is always fun and full. This year and last, Bethel Baptist had a flower/plant booth and the response was excellent. Much money was raised for our Summer camp and other activities for our Children’s Ministry. Thank you to all parents and children who worked in the booth, set-up the booth, and especially the children who carried plants to cars for those who purchased plants. For me, it was a blessing to fellowship and meet all those who came to our booth.
With Calico behind us, Bethel Baptist returns to our regular schedule. As you know we cancelled last week’s Wednesday Night Fellowship (WNF). This was the first Wednesday for the second quarter. So tonight, we will have our WNF with fried chicken on the menu. Then we will have our second quarterly business meeting. Make plans and write in your schedule for this business meeting. As a church you know we have a water leak in much need of addressing. The long term “fix” is not to keep the water turned off until we meet in the building. Our deacons and other members have investigated the issue and have developed the “best” plan going forward, and we need to discuss and address any questions. All input is needed and welcomed. We want to be financially responsible in fixing this leak, and so many have offered Bethel Baptist their services. We are blessed to have such expertise coupled with experience directly within our fellowship. Our plan of action will be presented tonight.
This coming Lord’s Day we begin a new sermon series. The series title is “Meet the Messiah”, and we will walk through the Gospel of Matthew. The Gospel of Matthew was written for us by a man who was called away from his entire life and living by Jesus Christ with two words, “Follow me.” This truth must not be overlooked. Please ponder this for a few moments. Matthew left everything for Jesus Christ with two words. We need to read, study, and duplicate what Matthew did for Jesus Christ. Matthew’s gospel did two incredible things for the Jewish brethren of his day, and for all Christians of our day. First, Matthew connected the Old Testament to the New Testament. Second, Matthew proved Jesus Christ is The Messiah. The Messiah was for every person of Jewish decent, God’s greatest promise and their greatest expectation. Remember the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:25 NLT), “When He (Messiah) comes, He will explain everything to us.” Imagine waiting, really waiting for the person who would, “Explain everything.” Matthew tells us who this person is – The Messiah is Jesus Christ.
In this sermon series we will see Jesus’ life told to us by Matthew, who walked with Him and ultimately gave his life for his faith in Jesus. Matthew wrote differently than did John. Both are accounts of their personal journey with Jesus acting as literal “bookends” in our New Testament to the life of Christ. However, Matthew and John wrote from differing perspectives. John wrote from a reflective approach teaching us this: “Jesus is The Messiah; Therefore, He could heal, preach, teach, and love all people far and above anyone before or after Him.” Matthew’s perspective was a descriptive approach to Jesus’ life teaching us with equal importance: “Jesus healed, preached, taught, and loved all people far and above anyone before Him; Therefore, He is The Messiah.” John is more personal. Matthew is more historical. The two perspectives perfectly complement each other as we learn about and believe in Jesus Christ – The Messiah; Our Messiah; My Messiah.
Most people know nothing about The Messiah, thus even more still do not know Jesus Christ neither historically nor personally. We can change this at Bethel Baptist. You can change this wherever you are. Don’t you think everyone would want to meet the person who can, “Explain everything” to them. This is the problem everyone faces today: We know everything, but we can’t do anything. Nothing fits. Nothing matters. Nothing works. How about this one? Nothing HELPS!!! What Christians have fits, matters, works, and it will HELP everyone, “They just don’t it yet.” Let someone find out for themselves who The Messiah is. Invite them to church. Pray for them to come. And repeat. If our great God is convicting you to obey, our great God will convict others to come. Be a blessing so others can be blessed.
In Christ Jesus,
Pastor Michael
