Weekly Encouragement
Good Wednesday Everyone,
Weekly blessings to all. Heidi and I had such a great weekend with family in Tampa and the wedding was a wonderful way to catch-up with family. Being safely home is an equal blessing as we rejoin our Bethel family. This Saturday is our “Trunk-or-Treat” at Bethel Baptist. We will be starting all the fun at 3:00pm and will be heavy on the “Treats”. Bethel Baptist Congregation: Bring your trunks and candy for our kids. Bethel Baptist Families: Invite those who you know with children and let us fill the parking lot. Invite in faith and let God’s Spirit do the rest.
We continue with our preparations to gather prices to replace the sanctuary flat screen above the organ side. We will have tentative, but very firm prices to present tonight at our Wednesday Night Fellowship. If our congregation decides to pursue the found prices, we will present the final costs to the church at a worship service. The proposal being sought is: two new flat screens for the sanctuary, and a portable flatscreen cart for the existing flat screen. The flatscreens complement our sermons and worship so well. Although our intentions do not come with an astronomical price tag, there will be a cost. Bethel Baptist’s congregation giving is so gracious. There is no better investment for you, your family, and your soul than in God’s church. God challenges His people to test Him in only one area of our lives – Giving to Him. God promises to, “Open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.” Malachi 3:10 We should never give to God with an attitude of getting, but with an attitude of faith in what God says He will do. God will bless obedient giving. “Tithing is trusting.”
As you know, we have taken a “sidebar” in our sermon series in Romans. We are learning about the power of God. Paul emphasizes throughout Romans, with a sense of courtroom drama, all God has done for us. All God has done is by grace. This is the radical difference between the idols people worship, and the living and true God. Idols have no power at all, other than what is given to them by their worshipers. But this teaching by Paul was also a radical difference between faithful obedience to God’s Law and the power of God’s grace over sin.
See, God bestowed grace on people before Jesus Christ came to earth and ultimately died for our sins, and God has continued to do so since Jesus Christ ascended into heaven. This is “common” grace. The grace which Paul speaks is God’s “saving” grace given to those who believe in Him. The moment you, “repent and believe”, God’s saving grace covers your sins, removes your unrighteousness, and makes your worthy to be in His presence. God’s has power over sin and God fulfilled His own Law through Jesus Christ. Thus, sin is defeated. God is that powerful and God is that gracious.
Sometimes we need to see how powerful God is. This brings us to the necessary testimonial “sidebar” of Elijah. God is showing us the life of Elijah so we can see His power. Elijah’s life is evidence of God’s power. If Elijah testified to God’s power, what a testimony he would have. The second greatest event of Elijah’s life would be his testimony about God’s power.
1 Kings 18, tells us it is the third year of the drought, and the “famine was severe in Samaria.” Could you imagine no dew, moisture, or rain for three years? Then something dramatic happens. God prepares Elijah to act, and God responds by directly challenging the power of Baal against His own. This is a dramatic scene, and Elijah is not only an eyewitness, but Elijah is the instrument of God’s power. God responds with fire from heaven, the removal of Baal’s priests, and by sending rain. God demonstrated His power as the only true God. The response – The people, “fell on their faces and said, ‘The Lord, He is God; the Lord, He is God.”
We can be God’s instruments. God wants us to be His instruments. Fire from heaven may not be the way God responds to you, but the impact can be the same. If we will faithfully and obediently engage those around us with God’s truth, God will respond with power. Those we are around and speak to are in the presence of God’s power, God’s grace, and God’s love, “They just don’t know it yet!!” You are God’s power, you are God’s grace, and you are God’s love. You are the living result of God’s power. You are God’s fire from heaven. Your faithful obedience can change how people see God, understand God, and worship God. Do not fear the power of other people. Be faithful and obedient to God and watch God respond.
In Christ,
Pastor Michael
