Bethel Mennonite Church - Gladys VA

This is a father’s day sermon, but there are things here for all of us. Ephesians 5:23, Ephesians 6:1-4 – The responsibility is placed on the father for his family. The post Christian Leaders – Leading as a Servant appeared first on Bethel Mennonite Church - Gladys VA .

Acts 24:14-16 – Paul says that he goes to great lengths to keep a clear conscience before God and his brothers and sisters. Romans 2:14 – The conscience is a gift from God! Paul says that the law is written in our hearts. Even with the infection of sin in the garden, man still has an innate sense of justice, and right and wrong. Romans 9:1 – The conscience isn’t the same as...

1 Peter 2:11-25 – This morning we’ll be talking about honorable conduct and how our conduct affects the world around us. We see two possible effects that our conduct can have on the lost around us. First off, they could respond by joining us, this is the outcome we hope for the most! Secondly, they may see who we are and because of our excellent conduct quit attacking us. When we think...

One thing that isn’t in the book of Daniel is much about his life before he came to Babylon. We don’t know anything about his parents or his siblings. Scripture indicates that he was probably from a royal family. The name Daniel means, “God is my judge.” This was a constant reminder to Daniel that even when he was far from home, God was his judge, and someday he would answe...

Are we making the efforts that God expects from serious believers? Are we doing the things that He thinks are important? When things fall apart, what are we left with? What is real when the nonessentials are stripped away? Life is a story. We are writing part of our story today! We have trouble, and we can get distracted by trouble. It can pull our attention away from things that are more importan...

Psalm 24 – The world that we live in is in turmoil. The changes that have happened since the beginning of the year even is incredible. The Bible tells us that there is a place of quiet rest, near to the heart of God. We want to think about worshiping our King of Glory this morning. We’re talking about more than worshiping together or personal worship. We’re talking about an entir...

Texts: Matthew 8; Matthew 9:1-8 Other Texts: Matthew 7:28; Matthew 28; Romans 8:31-39; 2 Peter 1:3 What is authority? A definition might be ‘the power to command obedience or the right to control something or someone’. Without authority, it is hard to command anyone to do anything. What gave Jesus His authority? Jesus knew what he was talking about. He taught with authority. His approval came from...

Matthew 10:28 – The Bible tells us that we should fear the Lord. Fear is “person specific” you might be scared of snakes, but your siblings might not be scared of snakes. Fear is real. The fact that you think someones fear is a little thing doesn’t mean that their fears aren’t real. Fear is something that needs to be overcome. 2 Timothy 1:7, Joshua 1:9 – God kno...

Zechariah 8 – Speak the truth to one another, execute justice with truth for peace. Perjury is lying after promising to tell the truth. God cares about truth and he expects people to tell the truth. These days we can google things and find anyone’s opinion about what is true. They don’t all agree, so in some ways, it seems like we’re more confused than ever! Failure to know...

Mercy and compassion are tied very closely together. Compassion has more the idea of something being done on a physical level, while mercy tends to be on another level, forgiving someone who doesn’t deserve it or things like that. Mark 10:46-52 – Bartamaus was a beggar who sat along the road begging. In Jesus time it was a very common thing to see beggars. Beggars recognize their needs...

Hannah was in a marriage that had a second wife. There were many sore spots between the two women. Samuel was born to Hannah, a result of the promise of God. 2 Timothy 1 – Before there was a Timothy, there was a godly mother and grandmother. We don’t know much at all about Timothy’s father. What griefs or challenges did these ladies face raising their son Timothy? They raised the...

1 Peter 1:22-2:12 – Peter is pointing out the huge role that the Word of God has in the life of a Christian. It leads to the new birth. It leads to purification. It gives Christians something to stake their lives on. In verse 22 we see the command to love one another fervently. With this in mind we head into chapter 2. Here he gives us a list of things that we need to get rid of. They all ha...

Matthew 5 – Looking at the Lord’s prayer there are a ton of things that could be preached about here. Praying this prayer with sincerity requires us to believe that God is who He is says He is and believe in His Kingdom. We also need to agree with and submit to Him. Our Father in heaven. Do we realize how much love it took to make it possible for us to be called son and daughters of Go...

Humility Shares Philippians 2:1-4 – One thing that Paul wanted to see the Philippian church grow in was in their unselfishness and their care for each other. The message here for us is to look out for the good of others, even though it will be difficult. We’ve all been given good things, testimony about what God is doing for us, money, skills, etc. Share the things that God has given y...

This morning we’ll begin with a brief summary of the resurrection story. The disciples were so sure that Jesus was the Messiah. They had followed Jesus, they saw the lame walk, the blind have their sight restored, they saw Jesus living a perfect and holy life. Peter said emphatically, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. The women going to the tomb met a young man in a white...

1 Peter 1:1-21 – The pilgrims we usually think about when we think of the word “pilgrim” journeyed across the ocean right at 400 years ago. They were on a journey, far from home. Peter says that we are pilgrims. We are on a journey, our home is in heaven, not here on earth. Peter says that we have something wonderful to look forward to as Christians, a special reward that belongs...

Philippians 3:12-14, Acts 9:15-16 – When Paul was called it was with a bright light and a loud voice. That isn’t usually how it works for us today. Clearly God’s call of Paul was away from his old life to a new and very different one. Ephesians 4:1 – God’s call to us today is the same for us. Away from this world and sin, towards something very different. As we heed t...

We can have such a wonderful opportunity to come to the Father. Jesus taught us about the good shepherd who knows his sheep, and the sheep know his voice. God wants that for each of us. What does God want to do with His people during this time? Is there something that we need to be listening for? Tonight we’re going to look at “the rest of the story.” Often times this part of the...

Luke 15:20-24 – We are continuing with this story of the prodigal son. How far away from home was this young man? We don’t know for sure, we are told that he went to a far country. Do you suppose that his steps got a bit slower as he got nearer home? We don’t know. Often times when we make the decision to arise and go God will give us the grace we need to go on. The father was at...

We are servants of the Lord Who is in control of all of this. We don’t have to be troubled and perplexed. Luke 21:25-26, 1 Peter 5:7-11 – Let us not let the things around us in the world shake us too much. Let us instead cast all of our anxiety on the Father! Last evening we were talking about the prodigal son and the decision he made to leave hone and go to a far country. Where he bec...

We are so blessed that God is in control. What would happen if our country would become as concerned about our spiritual needs as we are about the Coronavirus. May God remove from us any spirit of distraction and let us turn our face towards Him to hear what He has for us tonight. May he also take away any spirit of fear we may have in our hearts. Jesus wants to give us a peace that passes all und...

Kintsugi is repair work that mends the breakage with lacquer and then dusted with a powdering of gold or silver or platinum. A piece of pottery that is repaired properly with Kintsugi is of more value than the original, unbroken piece of pottery. God has a process of repairing and mending that is so beautiful. Jesus can take our shattered pieces and make them beautiful again. Isaiah 61:1 – “...

Whoever you are, God has a particular and unique journey for you. Your life is not by accident it is ordered and directed by the Lord. A closet is a good place to hide when playing hide and seek, but a closet is not a good place to live. It is tight, and stuffy and uncomfortable. Many of us have a compartment of our life that we kind of keep hidden from other people. We have things hidden there th...

We need sensitive spiritual ears. Spiritual ears are imperative to spiritual understanding. There are a number of different ear impairments that sometimes affect our ability to hear with our physical ears. Matthew 11 – Jesus told his disciples that they had had missed at least part of the message that John the Baptist had been proclaiming to them. Matthew 13:10-17 – God has given us th...

In our fellowship and communion here, may we be drawn to God. In drawing near to God may we also be drawn to each other as well. We need to be careful to not put our roots down too deeply here. As Christians we are strangers and pilgrims here on this earth. Let us be living our now in light of eternity. All for His praise and glory, for His name sake. You and I today can experience piece and recon...