Bethel CRC Lacombe

Today, we will be reflecting on Malachi 3:1-5, Season 4: Refining . Refining is about purification, removing the dross and dirt from our hearts and lives. This is a season of self-awareness, often a painful time as we are faced with the reality of our own sinfulness and even our love and justification of our sins. This is a season of growing trust in God, of growing closer to Jesus.

Today, we will be celebrating our Thanksgiving Day service at 10:30 am, after our annual pancake breakfast. We will be reflecting on Leviticus 24:1-9, Oil and Bread Set Before the Lord . In this passage, the Lord gives Moses commands for the tabernacle. The Israelites are to bring clear oil so the lamps in the tabernacle will burn continually, and to bake twelve loaves of bread for the table that...

Today, we will take a break from our fall series based on 7 Spiritual Seasons in order to celebrate the Profession of Faith of Kyle  and the baptism of Kyle and Cara’s son, Jake Andrew . We will be reflecting on Deuteronomy 6:4-9, Love the Lord . Israel is at the banks of the Jordan River, getting ready to enter the Promised Land, so Moses takes time to remind them of the way of life and laws God...

Today, we will be reflecting on Deuteronomy 8:1-5, Season 3: Wilderness . The wilderness was a special place for Israel; it’s the place where they were shaped by God as a people, a place where people like David were shaped into leaders and their faith was shaped and deepened. John the Baptist chose the wilderness as the place of his ministry, a place where he led the people back to God. Jesus begi...

Today, we will be starting a fall series based on Spiritual Seasons . We will begin by reflecting on Psalm 126, Season 1: Planting . When I think of planting, my first thoughts have always gone to planting into others, or evangelism. But when we listen carefully to God speaking to us in Scripture, we hear him encouraging us to think on what we plant in our own hearts first. Faith formation begins...

Today, we will continue our fall series based on 7 Spiritual Seasons. We will be reflecting on Psalm 1, Season 2: Rooting . Deep roots grow slowly, drinking deeply from the soil, water, and nutrients in the soil and water. Deep faith roots come from drinking deeply and consistently from the living water that comes from Jesus, who is the water of life. These roots grow from the nutrients that are f...

Today, we will wrap up our series on 2 Peter by reflecting on 2 Peter 3, The Day of the Lord . In chapter 3, Peter moves into talking about the Day of the Lord, or what we see as the return of Jesus when he will come to reclaim all creation again under his rule of the kingdom of heaven. This day will come unexpectedly, and all that is evil and against the kingdom of heaven will face judgment. Pete...

Today, we will be reflecting on Mark 9:14-29, Overcoming Unbelief . We live in a world in which we need to be on guard against the false narratives with which we are inundated, especially through social media. We are well advised not to believe everything we hear and see. BUT this scepticism and unbelief can affect our faith! Many, including in our own communities, seemingly have abandoned "t...

Today, we will have Jerry Roukema bringing us the Word. Jerry Roukema is commissioned to exhort in his classis in Ontario. We have the privilege to have him lead us in the Word this Sunday in celebration of Tenna Stol’s 85th birthday. We will reflect on Matthew 12:46-50, Family Matters . In this short passage, Jesus defines what the family of God looks like. Our nuclear family matters, but the fam...

Today we will have Pastor Henry Stenbergen lead us in worship. We will reflect on Luke 18:1-8, A Haunting Question! The haunting question is this—will Jesus still find faith on earth when he returns?  Will we keep clinging to God in faith even when life doesn’t always go the way we want it to, even when we don’t get answers to the prayers we lift up to God?  The opposite of faith is not necessaril...

Today, we will continue our series on 2 Peter by reflecting on 2 Peter 2, False Teachers . Jesus has always been a controversial leader and teacher simply because his claims and teachings are rooted in his identity as the Son of God, as being divine. This places huge weight on his teachings and great responsibility on his followers to accept his teachings as the foundation of their own lives. This...

Today we will reflect on Exodus 34:1-8, What's in a Name?

Today, Pastor Jake is away on a pulpit exchange. We have the privilege of having Pastor Ken Vanderploeg lead us in worship. During our worship service, we will reflect on Psalm 130, Because of God’s Grace, Here I Go! The Awesome Character of God: His amazing grace, his unfailing love, full (complete) redemption; He does it all! Because of His grace, we are able to approach him, cry out to him, and...

Today, we will begin a short summer series based on 2 Peter. We will begin by reflecting on 2 Peter 1 , Confirming Your Election and Calling . 2 Peter is not just about Peter’s time; it’s also for us today in that Peter teaches us how to think about God, ourselves, sin, obedience, worship, suffering, community, and hope. His letter invites us to come close to him to understand Jesus and to respond...

Today, we will reflect on 3 John, Walking in the Truth . This letter is closely connected to 2 John, which was written to encourage the church not to support traveling teachers who were teaching heresies about Jesus. Here in 3 John, John is now encouraging them to support those who are travelling teachers who are teaching about Jesus. Even in the early church, there were power struggles, and so Jo...

Today, we will be reflecting on Romans 12, Peacemakers . In a world of chaos and hatred, we are still called to be peacemakers.

Today, we will reflect on Ecclesiastes 11:1-10, The Work of God . God created us to work, to have dominion over creation and help it flourish, responsible human work is part of God’s creation plan for humanity, but human sin spoiled God’s good creation, work is now much harder and made our work less certain. Jesus came to pay the penalty for our sin and to restore the good creation. Jesus sees wor...

Today, we will be finishing our series on Ecclesiastes by reflecting on Ecclesiastes 12:1-14, The End of the Matter . Solomon now comes to the end of his journey of examining the world from the perspective of “under the sun.” He discovers that he’s been looking in all the wrong places, and his search leads him back to his Creator, the God of heaven and earth. Solomon calls us to remember our Creat...

Today, we will be returning to our series on Ecclesiastes by reflecting on Ecclesiastes 8:2-17, The King and Obedience . When Solomon calls for obedience to the king, he’s speaking about obedience to God as our king. Solomon has been reflecting for so long about life under the sun, and as we near the end of Ecclesiastes, Solomon is turning his focus more and more towards God, recognizing that with...

Today, we will be continuing our series on Ecclesiastes by reflecting on Ecclesiastes 9:1-12, The End is the Same for All . We will be reflecting on death and life. In the end, we will all die, and for Solomon, death is the great enemy, the punishment for sin. No matter how hard you work, how much you gather, or how evil you’ve been, we all end up the same, in the grave. This is why Solomon encour...

Today, we will be celebrating Pentecost by reflecting on Ezekiel 37:1-14, The Holy Spirit Renews Us . Pentecost is about the coming of the Holy Spirit, but this is already foreshadowed in the Old Testament in a number of places, including Ezekiel 37. Israel is in exile, and hope is lost, and the people feel like dry bones, that life has left them. The Lord comes to Ezekiel with a promise of new li...

Today, we will be celebrating Ascension Day. We will reflect on Acts 1:1-11, Being Witnesses . After Jesus’ resurrection, he spent 40 days with his followers, teaching them and preparing them to continue the work he had begun. Jesus leaves them with this charge, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” This is the call of the church still...

Today, we will reflect on Ecclesiastes 7:1-8:1; Ecclesiastes 9:13-10:20, Wisdom is a Good Thing . These are two passages that reflect on what wisdom looks like, and yet what wisdom looks like in various circumstances can be difficult to figure out. When we live under the sun only, wisdom is often overlooked or even rejected. Wisdom is often disregarded because of who it comes from. Wisdom is a goo...

Today, we continue our series on Ecclesiastes by reflecting on Ecclesiastes 5:8-6:12 , Contentment. Wealth carries its own temptations, as Solomon observes. If you love wealth, you’ll find that you will always be striving for more, and living a life of thankfulness becomes almost impossible; wealth can harm you through worry, stress, and hurt relationships and trust in others; wealth can be lost....