Bethel Crc Lacombe

Today Pastor Jake wraps up to his series on the 3Ts by reflecting on Luke 18:18-30 Treasure. What does your treasure chest look like, what is it filled with? When it comes down to it, is the treasure you’ve collected and stored in your lifetime even yours? What does good treasure even look like? We will be exploring these questions and more.  We will also be celebrating the Lord’s Supper.  Please join us for refreshments in the fellowship hall after the morning service.  

This week Pastor Jake returns to his series on the 3T’s by reflecting on 1 Corinthians 12:1-31, Talents.  God has given each of us different talents or gifts.  Our culture tells us that we should use our gifts to do well in life for ourselves and our families and God doesn’t disagree, but His idea of family is much bigger that our culture’s.  Our gifts are given to us to use to build up our church family, to work towards unity, and for the common good.  This morning is also a commissioning service as we enter a new church year of learning, servicing and equipping each other to follow Jesus wherever the Holy Spirit leads us.  

This week our youth are the focus of our service, Pastor Jake will be preaching from Psalm 139, Where Can I Flee from Your Presence?  It doesn’t matter where you go, God is always there.  That can be reassuring for some and a bit frightening for others if you are trying to get away from God.  God reminds us through creation itself that he is here and he never gives up on reaching out to us. 

Pastor Jake will be beginning a short 3-week series called The 3 T’s.  We will be reflecting on Time, Talents (our gifts), and Treasure.  We will begin with Matthew 25:31-46 and Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, Time:  God’s Plan for Our Time.  Time is limited and we all have the same amount of it every day.  So how do we use our time, who do we use our time for?  Time is also precious and we have only so much of it to spend, so how we use our time while on earth is important. 

Pastor Jake will be wrapping up his series on trees in the Bible by reflecting on Revelation 22:1-6, The Leaves of the Trees are for Healing.  The Bible begins with stories of trees and the last chapter of the Bible includes trees whose leaves are for the healing of the nations. We all need healing; soul healing, physical healing, relationship healing and more.  Jesus came in order to bring healing in every area of our lives, overcoming the effects of sin through his death on a tree.  This fills us with hope and strength as we journey through life.  

This week Pastor Jake will be continuing his series on trees in the Bible by reflecting on Matthew 12:33-37, Make Your Tree Good.  Being healthy spiritually doesn’t just happen and there are many ways we can prepare and work the soil of our heart in order to be healthy.  We are called to do the hard work in following Jesus to make sure that we produce good fruit and are a blessing wherever God places us. 

Welcome to Bethel!  Today we welcome Mark Patterson as he leads us in worship.  “For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard."  When something good happens in your life, doesn't it seem even better if you tell someone else about it?  If someone does something special for you, isn't it natural to let others know how much you appreciate what that person has done?  Today we will have the chance to tell others how you've seen God working in your life.  It might be an answered prayer, a divine intervention, a joyous event, or a new insight from the Word.  To God be the glory!

Welcome to Bethel!  Pastor Jake is continuing his series on trees in the Bible by reflecting on Psalm 1.  In order to produce good fruit, trees need to be nourished by a reliable source of water; as followers of Jesus we also need to be regularly nourished and Psalm 1 points us to meditating on the Torah as the source of our nourishment.   All are welcome! 

This week Elder August Luymes will be bringing us the Word from Luke 24:13-35, The Road to Emmaus.

This week Pastor Jake is beginning a short summer series, looking at trees in the Bible.  Trees are found in both the first and last chapters of the Bible and play a role in so many stories.  They provide us with so many things that bless our lives: sap, wood, bark, fruit, fresh air, and so much more.  We will begin by reflecting on Genesis 2, The Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil.  

This week Pastor Jake is wrapping our journey through Jonah by reflecting on Jonah 4, Angry at God.  When God’s grace is offered to people who have hurt us and we’re unable to see how they are punished for the hurt they’ve caused, we often find ourselves filled with anger and confusion.  How do we live with God’s grace to those who have hurt us, how does God’s compassion and justice hold together, a real and haunting question for many of us.

This week Pastor Jake will continue our look at Jonah, reflecting on Jonah 3 and Unexpected Grace. God’s grace often shines out at unexpected times and to unexpected people; it is not earned, but flows out of the relationship God has with humanity. 

Welcome to Bethel! This week Elder August Luymes is continuing our 4-week series on the book of Jonah.  We often skip over this prayer of Jonah and yet there is much to learn about confession, trust and God’s mercy.  When times get tough, we turn to prayer to reach out to God and God hears our prayers with a heart of compassion and grace. 

Welcome to Bethel! This week Pastor Jake is beginning a 4-week series on the book of Jonah. We so often focus on the big fish, but there is so much more in this prophet’s tale about God’s grace and mercy and how this works with his justice and righteousness. We will begin by reflecting on Jonah 1, CAN YOU RUN FROM GOD?  Maybe another way of considering Jonah 1 is asking, “Why would we run from God?” 

 Today is Father’s Day and we will be bringing the Word from John 14:1-14 and reflecting on God as our Father.  The image of God as our Father is found throughout scripture and points to the relationship God desires to have with us.  A beautiful intimate relationship based on trust and love.  

Today we wrap up our journey through Acts by looking at the Pentecost story, the pouring out of the Holy Spirit.  We will be turning to Acts 2:1-21, What Does this Mean?   Peter reminds the people that the prophet Joel talked about the Spirit being poured out and the result is a people who dream dreams; hold onto visions of what can be and prophesy, speaking God into the world.  What an exciting way to see the church! 

We will be turning to Acts 16:16-34, An Unexpected Convert as we continue the story from last week and reflect on a slave girl who is healed and a jailor who becomes a follower of Jesus.  

Acts 16:9-15   How often is following Jesus more about doing what we want and then trying to get Jesus onside with our plans?  Are we willing to listen hard to Jesus and change our direction and goals based on where he is leading us?

We will be turning to Acts 11:1-18, Who is In, Who is Out?  Our tendency is to try and figure out who belongs and who doesn’t.  When it comes to belonging to Jesus, are we sometimes too quick in keeping people out?

Acts 9:36-43