Bethel Crc Lacombe

Today we will continue our 4-week series on worship by reflecting on Nehemiah 9:1-15; 26-37, Worship: Confession and Honesty. The Israelites were home again in their own land after 70 years of exile. They have just finished celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles, remembering their time in the wilderness. During the feast, the priest Ezra read the Scriptures. In response to hearing the Law read again and recognizing how far they have drifted from God’s Law; the people enter into a time of deep and honest confession and worship.

Today we will begin a 4-week series on worship, as requested by someone through their personal faith plan. We will begin by reflecting on Psalm 81, Worship: Our Relationship with God-Built on Promises. We worship God because of who God is, and because we are commanded to worship. Because worship is based on our relationship with God, worship reminds us of God’s promises to protect and provide for his people, while punishing those against him. We are privileged to have a personal, covenantal relationship with God because of what Jesus Christ has done for us. Worship expresses that relationship.

Today is the sixth Sunday of Lent, which is Palm Sunday, and our theme is Good News. We will be reflecting on Zechariah 9:9-13 and Acts 2:39, Good News: Even Better Than Expected. The king approaches Jerusalem and the crowd shouts for joy as they had for generations and call out for salvation. This is a king of peace who is also a king of might who comes to his struggling people to bring hope. We are struggling in many ways too. Zechariah echoes ahead to Palm Sunday and Jesus coming as a king. The crowd then expect the Messiah to be an earthly king who would restore the Davidic dynasty. While they were wrong about the kind of king Jesus would turn out to be, they were absolutely right to connect Psalm 118 to Jesus (see vs. 22 and 27, for example). The good news of the gospel for us today is that Jesus saves us from our sins even as he is with us in our struggles. We can cry out “Hosanna!” to him (“Save us!”) and know that he will.

BECOMING THE WAY - A Good Friday Reading by Lee Fennema  ~ JESUS ~Song:  Here I Am to Worship ~ BETRAYAL ~Song:  What Wondrous Love ~ TRIAL ~Song:  When I Survey the Wondrous Cross ~ CRUCIFIXION ~Song:  The Power of the Cross ~ BURIAL ~

It is Easter! The empty tomb is a historical fact upon which the message of Christianity rises or falls. The women in Mark 16 were trembling and bewildered when they encountered it, and we have a hard time believing it ourselves. Yet the eyewitness accounts and the life transformation of the disciples are evidence that it is true. We can believe in this good news and share it. 

Today the fifth Sunday of Lent, and our theme is Good News. We will be reflecting on John 12:20-33, Good News: For All. In Jesus’ day, people were divided by ethnicity, gender, and social and economic class. The Pharisees in particular liked to keep people in their place and were disturbed at how Jesus upset the social order (John 12:19). Our culture today hasn’t overcome division either. In this passage, Jesus tells us that when he is lifted up on the cross, all will be drawn to him. In a world of division, we are reminded of the universal call of the gospel. 

Today the fourth Sunday of Lent we have the privilege of celebrating the Lord’s Supper together. We will be reflecting on John 3:1-21, Good News: A Fresh Start. We are reflecting on John 3:1-21, Good News: A Fresh Start. Nicodemus was likely the very picture of a successful person in his culture. This makes him an unlikely follower of a perceived troublemaker like Jesus. In this famous passage, Jesus tells Nicodemus that he needs to make a fresh start and be “born again.” This actually is good news for Nicodemus and for us. God can and will give us a fresh start, a spiritual rebirth, when we believe in the savior who was lifted up on a cross and raised from the dead to deal with our sins.

Welcome to Bethel! Today is the third Sunday of Lent, and our theme is Good News. We are reflecting on John 2:13-22, Good News: The Temple is Rebuilt. There are a few things we would do well to understand as we approach this passage. The first is the fierce and holy passion behind Jesus’ extreme actions. The second is how spiritually dysfunctional the Jerusalem temple had become. Jesus came into our fallen world as the true temple that would link heaven and earth. This temple would be destroyed and rebuilt in three days, just as he said. This is the good news of the gospel! And we who believe are the assembled body of Christ on earth who will proclaim his kingship until his return 

Today is the second Sunday of Lent, and our theme is Good News. We will be reflecting on Mark 8:31-38, Good News: Worth Dying For. We also have the privilege of celebrating a Profession of Faith! In this passage, right after Peter confesses that Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus starts teaching them what being the Messiah is going to actually look like: suffering, rejection, death, and then resurrection. Being a follower of Jesus is always about Jesus, never about what we want, but Peter doesn’t understand that yet and rebukes Jesus for talking the way he is. In one of the most shocking rebukes in the Bible, Jesus then turns and rebukes Peter, “Get behind me, Satan!” We will explore what being a follower of Jesus is really about.

Today is the first Sunday of Lent, and our theme is Good News. We are also celebrating GEMS Sunday, our girl’s ministry. They will be leading much of the service, as we will be focusing on the theme Standing Firm on God’s Promises by reflecting on Psalm 62:2 and Matthew 7:24-29. God is a rock, a place of strength, a place of safety and hope. Jesus teaches that if we shape our lives on his teaching then we are like the wise man who builds his house on the rock and no matter what happens, the house stands firm.

Today we have the privilege of celebrating in the Lord’s Supper and we will be wrapping up our series on the Apostle’s Creed by reflecting on Psalm 57 and John 20:24-29, Resurrection Flesh. The creed teaches us under the section the work of the Holy Spirit that we believe in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. The psalmist takes refuge in God, trusting God to protect him and save him. Jesus comes to save us; he dies on the cross and comes back in his physical body to reassure his disciples that he is truly alive. Jesus comes to restore all creation. The physical creation, including our bodies is central to the redemption Jesus brings. 

Today we will be celebrating the sacrament of Baptism for two lovely little girls. The parents have chosen Psalm 103 and Psalm 145, with the title of the message being: The Lord is Compassionate and Gracious. Both these psalms focus on praising the Lord for being a God of forgiveness, a God who does awesome works, whose greatness no one can fathom. Our God is compassionate and gracious, who calls us to tell his stories to our children and our children’s children so that they too will believe in and love our Lord.

Welcome to Bethel! Today we will be returning to our series on the Apostle’s Creed by reflecting on Psalm 51 and Mark 2:1-12, Forgiveness: Healing Power. The creed teaches us under the section under the work of the Holy Spirit that we believe in the forgiveness of sins. Our thoughts almost immediately go towards the forgiveness that we experience through Jesus’ death on the cross, however we are called to be a people who seek forgiveness from God through confession and repentance, and who offer forgiveness to others. Forgiveness is not simple, nor is it easy; forgiveness always comes at a cost. This week we will be focusing on God’s forgiveness of us, after Easter we will take a look at Jesus’ command for us to offer forgiveness and what that looks like.

Welcome to Bethel! Today we will be celebrating Cadet Sunday. Their theme this year is God’s in Control, based on Joshua 1: 2-9, focusing on verse 9. Joshua is leading Israel into the Promised Land and there are so many unknowns that lie ahead of them. God reassures them that he will be with them wherever they go, a promise we can still hold onto today.

Welcome to Bethel! Today will be reflecting on Acts 2:1-4; 14-17 and John 15:26-16:15, Spirit at Work. Jesus points his disciples to the coming Holy Spirit who appears at Pentecost. This is a time of hope, of change, of God on the move in a powerful way. The coming Spirit will point them back to Jesus, helps us be obedient to Jesus, and be a witness of Jesus to the world 

Welcome to Bethel! Today we will be reflecting on Psalm 121 and Matthew 16:13-28, On This Rock. Over half of the Apostle’s Creed focuses on who Jesus is. By looking at Psalm 121 we are reminded to look for our help from the Lord who keeps us from harm. Then we will move to Matthew 16 where Jesus challenges the disciples with this question, “Who do you say I am?” This question reverberates down through the centuries to us today where we are asked who we say Jesus. C.S Lewis in Mere Christianity wrote “You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse…You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. 

Welcome to Bethel!  We are starting a new series based on the Apostles’ Creed. We will begin by reflecting on Exodus 3:1-15 and Romans 8:1-17, Our Eternal Papa. In Exodus, God reveals himself to Moses as “I Am Who I Am,” a powerful statement about who God is, but God reveals more of himself in the following generations until we come to Paul in Romans 8 where we are given a picture of God as our Father, a personal God that comes to us in relationship 

Happy New Year! It is the first Sunday of 2022 and we will be reflecting on King David’s desire to build a house for God and how God responds by telling David that he will build David’s house. As we reflect on 1 Chronicles 17:1-15, we will look at how God builds our house and what that might look like in 2022. As part of the service, we will also take some time to look back on how God has been at work in our Bethel Church family in 2021. We remember those God called home, those who have left, and those who have joined our family, offering prayer for all 

Christmas Day Service: Jesus is born! New life has entered the world. This will be a service filled with lots of singing and a reflection on the Christmas story as found in Luke 2:8-20, Love is Here!

Welcome to Bethel! Today we have the privilege of taking part in the Lord’s Supper. For the message we will be looking at what Jesus has called us to do while we wait for his return. We will be reflecting on Matthew 28:16-20, While We Wait. This is a familiar passage and is often called the Great Commission. Yet in this passage, Matthew tells us that they worshipped Jesus when they saw him, but some doubted. This observation from Matthew has always puzzled me, how can they doubt Jesus after everything they had seen? We will explore that question, as well as how can we participate in the Great Commission.