Bethel CRC Lacombe

Today is the second Sunday of Lent. We begin our Lenten series “ Were You There…” by reflecting on Luke 22:7-38 Were You There… at the Supper ? It’s time for the Passover, the feast where Israel remembers how God saved them from slavery and led them into freedom and the Promised Land. Jesus takes the Passover and fills it with new meaning, pointing us to the freedom we are given through Jesus’ sac...

Today we are  celebrating GEMS Sunday, a time to rejoice in our girls’ ministry! We will be focusing on Micah 6:6-8 Act, Love, Walk . We will take a close look at their theme verse, Micah 6:8. There are a lot of questions in these verses. What does the Lord expect from us: does he want our stuff, does he want our very favorite things for himself, does he want us to give him some of our stuff, or m...

Today we are wrapping up our series on the Book of Judges by reflecting on Judges 16 Samson – The Foolish Man . Samson once again finds a Philistine woman to fall in love with, but as we go through the story, we discover that their love is about using each other for their own goals, rather than a self-sacrificing love that builds the other person up. We see that Samson is addicted to his desires a...

We will be reflecting on Psalm 78 Telling Our Children God’s Story. Psalm 78 begins by calling us to listen to the stories our ancestors have told us so that we can tell them to our children. The writer then moves into telling the story of God’s faithfulness in his relationship with his people, how he provides for them, protects them, and how the people fail to be faithful to God. The psalmist end...

Today we are returning to our series on the Book of Judges by reflecting on Judges 15 Samson – The Angry Warrior . Samson is treated unfairly by his wife’s father and he takes vengeance on the area.  When the Philistine leaders come to Israel, they demand the Israelites give them Samson so they can punish him. The Israelites comply. The Israelites are seeing themselves as slaves again instead of a...

Today we are celebrating Cadet Sunday and having the Cadets be an important part of our worship. The Cadet theme this year is Amazing, and we will be focusing on Joshua 3:1-6 Amazing . Israel is getting ready to enter into the Promised Land and Joshua calls on the people to prepare themselves, telling them that “tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.” We will take time to reflect on t...

Today we continue our series on the Book of Judges by turning to Judges 14 Samson—Doing it His Way . Samson’s birth story is one of those in the Old Testament where God gives a barren woman a child who will be used by God.  The angel tells Samson’s parents to raise him as a Nazirite, dedicated to God for His purposes. However, we learn in the historian’s first story of Samson that Samson is going...

Today we continue our series on the Book of Judges by turning to Judges 11:1-6; 14-40; 12:7 Jephthah—The Foolish Vow . This is a heart-breaking story of a mighty warrior who is called to be a judge in Israel and save the people from their enemies. But Jephthah has been influenced by his culture in how he understands who God is and makes a vow to God before going into battle, but the vow turns out...

Today is the third Sunday of Advent. We will continue our Advent series by reflecting on Matthew 1: 18-25 Joseph: Obedience and Righteousness. Joseph is chosen by God to be the earthly father of Jesus. Joseph is described as a righteous man and a compassionate man at the same time. For Joseph, faith and obedience go hand in hand, all while being open to having God completely change his life and pl...

Today we return to our series on the Book of Judges by turning to Judges 9:1-15;42-57 Abimelech: The Thornbush . Abimelech is Gideon’s son through a concubine and so he murders all his half brothers in order to rule over the people. His half-brother, Jotham, escapes and then curses Abimelech. Israel is looking and acting more and more like the nations around them instead of the people God wants th...

Today is New Year’s Day. We will be reflecting on Matthew 4:1-17, Following the Spirit into Uncertain Places. At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, Jesus was led into the wilderness. The wilderness was a place to meet God and to be shaped and refined by him. Jesus fasts for 40 days, a discipline that teaches self-control and trust in God to provide. At the end of the 40 days, Jesus is engaged by th...

Annual Christmas Eve Candlelight service. Featuring reading and Carols.

Merry Christmas! We will be reflecting on Luke 1:26-38 Mary and Jesus—God with Us. We will be reflecting on the angel’s visit with Mary, informing her of God’s plan for her to carry his child and give birth to a son, Jesus. The Holy Spirit will come over Mary, giving her a child that is both divine and human, fulfilling God’s promise to the serpent in Genesis 3 that a child of the woman will crush...

We will gather during this Christmas season in a spirit of somber remembrance. While the rest of the world seems to celebrate the joyous occasion, we come to the manger realizing that the world is cold as stone, feelings of loneliness and loss overwhelm, and our heart cries out “help me be strong”. You will be invited not to hide or suppress those feelings, but embrace them, realizing that they br...

The Scripture focus will be on Matthew 2:1-12 The Magi: The Nations of the World Come to Jesus. With the coming of the Magi to worship Jesus, we see the beginning of God’s promise to Abraham that his descendant will be a blessing to the entire world beginning to be fulfilled. 

Today we celebratethe second Sunday of Advent, the beginning of the church year. This year we will be reflecting on People Around the Manger . We will continue our Advent series by reflecting on Luke 2:1-20 The Angels—Heaven and Earth Rejoices. While shepherds watch over the flocks in the dark of the night, they are visited by an angel, who tells them that  the glorious news that the Messiah has c...

Today we celebrate the first Sunday of Advent, the beginning of the church year. This year we will be reflecting on People Around the Manger . We will begin our Advent series by reflecting on Luke 2:1-20 The Shepherds—Hope and Wonder . While shepherds watch over the flocks in the dark of the night, they are visited by an angel who fills them with hope and wonder. The angel shares with them the goo...

Today we are continuing our journey through the book of Judges, looking at Judges 6: Gideon—The Lord is With Him. Israel has turned away from the Lord again and now God looks to an insignificant man to be his deliverer, insignificant even in his own eyes, yet God calls him “mighty warrior.” Because Gideon thinks so little of himself, he asks God a number of times for a sign to give him confidence...

Today we are continuing our journey through the book of Judges, looking at Judges 7 Gideon—the Three Hundred. Gideon has received the reassurance from the Lord that He truly is God and now prepares to enter into battle against the Midianites. In an echo back to Jericho, God does battle differently than anyone else; first whittling away Gideon’s men until there are only 300 left; the Lord then has...

Today we are looking at Deborah—The Prophetess and Judge. Ehud has passed away, the people once again do evil in the Lord’s eyes. The Lord allows them to be sold into the hands of the King of Canaan who has the powerful general Sisera keeping the Israelites under his thumb. The Israelites cry out to the Lord to save them! The Lord responds by telling Deborah, (who was leading Israel at the time) t...

We are continuing our journey through the book of Judges, looking at Ehud—the Left-Handed Judge. Othniel has died and Israel has once again drifted in idol worship and wanting to be more like the nations around them rather than as a distinct people of God. God allows King Eglon of Moab, with the help of the Ammonites and Amalekites, to conquer Israel and make them his subjects. Once again, the Isr...

Luke 5:12-16  The man with leprosy

We will be reflecting on a variety of passages, including Mark 10:14, Romans 6:4, Colossians 2:11-12, and Ephesians 1:7-8 Baptism: Washed Clean by Jesus. Baptism is one of the two sacraments that we have been given to us as the church. Sacraments point us to who Jesus is, and what Jesus has done for us, and in us. Baptism points to the new life we have in Jesus, to having been washed clean from ou...

Paul’s letter to the church in Thessalonica is filled with encouragement and teaching on how to follow Jesus well. Paul had to flee the city when his life was threatened, but Timothy had remained behind to care for the church. Now Timothy has come to visit Paul and has brought back a really encouraging report about how they were doing, yet there were a number of things Paul also still needed to te...

Today we will wrap up our short series on the blessings of mentoring. We will be reflecting on Acts 16:1-5, Paul and Timothy: Mentoring the Next Generation of Leaders . Paul comes across this young man Timothy and sees the potential in him since others spoke so well of him, so Paul takes Timothy along with him on one of his journeys to different cities. Paul invests in Timothy, training him, shari...