Bethel Mennonite Church - Gladys VA

Text: Romans 12:1,2; 3-8, 9-21 Other Scriptures: Romans 11:33-36; I Samuel 1; 1 Corinthians 6:19,20; Ephesians 2:12; Hebrews 2:3; Philippians 2; John 12:37; Luke 13:34; Ephesians 5:26; Ephesians 4:11-14; Proverbs 15:17; Matthew 6:12 Four questions: (Verses 1-3) Give our lives as a sacrifice What should we do? Why should we do it? How should we do it? What is the result? A comparison between our sp...

God is on the throne and He is alive in the world through the Holy Spirit! Jesus taught a lot by telling stories, but he also taught by asking questions. Jesus was a master question asker. Even at age 12 this attribute showed up when he asked questions of the elders in the temple. John 21:12 – Jesus appears at the end of a long night of fishing and asks if they had caught anything. He then t...

1 Thessalonians 5:16-28 Where God Wants Us to Be V23-24 – Paul is confident that the Thessalonians will be completely sanctified. This is where God wants to get us as well, complete sanctification and blamelessness. Paul is asking God to continue to change the people in the Thessalonian church. Paul is also asking that God would preserve them and keep them blameless until the Lord returns. H...

Text: Luke 22:14-20 Other references: Hebrews 10:1-4, 11, Jeremiah 13, Galatians 4:4, Matthew 27:39-42; Luke 23:36-42, Hebrews 7:25; Hebrews 9:12-14; Hebrews 8:12; Hebrews 10:17, Hebrews 2:14,15, Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 2:1-22, I Timothy 1:15, II Corinthians 9:15, Galatians 6:14 In Eden, Adam and Eve lived in perfect bliss in the presence of God. After the fall, they came to know suffering and u...

We’re talking about creating culture, not reacting to it. Continuing on from where we stopped in session 3. Values lead to …Passion. Passionate people are the people with impact. Passionate salesmen sell things. You cannot manufacture passion. It must come from core values. First, we must be saved. Then we are to build on that with personal sanctification “Unto the measure of the stature of...

You cannot preach vision into people. There must be something behind it. Even if vision is present, to actually move it to reality does require some parts and bits and pieces. Behind VISION is VALUES. Culture-driven values Principle-driven values Hero-driven values (“You want to change the values of people? Change their heroes.”) Visions of the Church: Foreign Missions Education Children’s Ministr...

21st century Christianity became so focused on personal salvation that the details of Christian culture was neglected. Billy Graham understood this himself and tried to emphasize the importance of discipleship. The story of Penicillin… Four words: Pathogen: A real problem… Sterilize or Inoculate (Matthew 13:1-9) What part of this story do we have the most control of? The soil! This is...

The Kingdom of God and Creating a Culture We need to stop reacting to culture, and start creating one. We come to an understanding of truth in the brotherhood and community. We need to put issues out and address them. Doctrine and Practice Hebrews 5:11-6, I Corinthians 3:9 It matters a great deal how we build our Christian culture. How are we building on the foundation of Christ? The culture wars...

I Cor. 11:27-29 Before communion we need to examine ourselves. What questions should be included in this examination? Are we at peace with 1) God and 2) our fellow man? Matthew 5:23,24 Text: 1 Thessalonians 5:15 Have I been seeking the good of each other? Or have we been repaying evil for evil. What are some ways we can disobey this verse and respond poorly? Payback mode Martyr mode Armor-All mode...

Prayer is not a gift that we are born with. Rather it is a habit that is developed and learned. Prayer is a way to humble ourselves before God, and demonstrate our faith in Him. Mistakes in prayer: Not praying at all or using empty words without meaning Not praying according to God’s Law Not accepting responsibility Not accepting consequences for our actions Not accepting what God has called us to...

1 Thessalonians 5 – Paul talks about some pretty important things starting at verse 12. How the ordained relate to the non ordained. How the church deals with needs and weaknesses within the church. These areas are important indicators of the health of our congregational life. The non ordained need to respect and esteem the ordained. Both need to have good relationships and have good attitud...

This morning we’ll be looking at and thinking about what God’s power looks like in our lives. A few introductory passages – Numbers 21:1-9, John 3:1-21 Look to Jesus and live. God’s power in our lives is meant to extend beyond just salvation. Steps in faith and obedience. 1 Kings 19 – Elisha answered the call to ministry, butchered his oxen and followed Elijah. Abraham was called and w...

Creation: The story of creation is an astounding demonstration of the power of God. It does matter what we believe about origins. If we doubt the account of creation in Scripture we cast a shadow of doubt on the rest. Colossians 1:16 – God demonstrates His power by interrupting the natural order. Care for His people: 2 Kings 6:15-18 2 Chronicles 16:9 Psalm 34:7 Acts 23: 12-22 God’s power ove...

I Samuel 1:1-18 – It seems that Hannah’s defining characteristic was her inability to bear children. Surely this was a great grief for her. Elkanah loved her, and gave her a double portion. He saw that she was hurting. Yet he seemed to be insensitive, asking her if he was not better to her than 10 sons! God has given us natural desires, such as Hannah’s desire for a child. Scripture promises...

Matthew 22:35-40 – Jesus was focusing on relationships here. He is saying that there are two types of relationships that are vitally important. Our relationship with God and our relationship with other people. What are relationships? – Two beings interacting. Contact. Communication. There are many levels of relationships as well. Any person that we have contact with, even if it is only...

James 5:11 – James refers here to Job as being a “patient man.” When we think of Jobs patience and our own patience, where do we feel like we stack up? Have you heard of the patience of {insert your name here}? “Exercise patience, kindness and forbearance…” This is part of the marriage vows. These three things are very closely tied together. Colossians 1:9-14 – Paul prayed for hi...

This is not going to be a normal kind of sermon. They are more historical reflections. We’ve had two sessions already where we contrasted the Catholic, Protestant and Anabaptist views of a number of issues. First I’ll review the areas we talked about to give a few more reflections on each. One’s conclusion about some of the practical side of these things will depend which kind of Anabaptist you ar...

What Happens to Christians Who Die Before Christ Returns? 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11 – Grief is a lot sharper when we don’t have answers for questions like this. Paul doesn’t tell the church here to stop grieving. He says that they can have hope! God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 1 Corinthians 15:50-53 – Not only will these saints be restored to life. They will be re...

Life has many twists and turns. We will face many difficult things. How can we be prepared? God has a plan, a reason for what is happening. This morning we will be looking at some of the tools that Daniel used when he faced difficulty. He was there to stay: Daniel 1:21 “And Daniel continued until the first year of Cyrus.” Daniel 2:49 “But Daniel made request of the king…” Daniel 6:28 “&#8230...

Text: Philippians 4:6,7 A few weeks ago we looked at Mark 11 and found some lessons about believing prayer. If we pray in faith God will help us. Sometimes when we pray the answers come immediately. But sometimes they don’t… This morning we want to think about peace in unanswered prayer. We need to pray earnestly about our burdens and still find peace in God when things don’t go the way we w...

##Point 4 What does it mean to be saved? Catholic view: receive the sacraments Medieval Pietism/mysticism: Focus on reproduction of Christ’s death and resurrection in the soul rather than at Mass; Focus on yielding the self to God in Gelassenheit Luther’s view: early view was medieval pietism; Later view was imputed righteousness General Protestant view: Imputed righteousness Anabaptist view: Reje...

Having an identity is important. When there is no history there is no identity. When there is no identity there is a tendency towards “redefining” an identity. Deuteronomy – Moses reviews the history of the Children of Israel. He is calling them to remember who they are, and who God. Joshua 24 – Remember your history. Renew your vows and serve the Lord! Joshua handed leadership over to...

This evening’s service is kind of “jumping in with both feet” not a lot of background but going straight into things that make the Anabaptist position distinctive. Religions Options in 1525-1535 Roman Catholic & Eastern Orthodox Lutheran: Luther, Melanchthon Reformed Zurich – Zwingli; Leo Jud; Bullinger Geneva – Calvin; Beza Strasburg – Capital; Bucer Scotland – John Kn...

Proverbs 11 – Since we cannot go back in time, we need to say, “God, this is where I am, but I’m willing to lay the past down and start from here.” When we give that which isn’t ours to keep, God will bless. Ecclesiastes 11, Genesis 22 – “The Lord will provide.” Abraham had gone all the way with God. He had given up his only son, knowing that God could/would provide. Abrahams faith was...

Are we open to listening to the Holy Spirit this morning? Are we willing to be tapped on the shoulder and then to obey? This is vitally important whenever we sit under the preaching of the word. To edify means: to build up, to make some progress towards a goal. Have we been growing? Are we helping each other to grow? Word Study We don’t use the word edify too much. We generally would say “encourag...