Bethel Bible Church

Happy Thanksgiving

God loves a celebration!

Psa. 26:7 proclaiming thanksgiving aloud, and telling all your wondrous deeds.
Psa. 69:30 ¶ I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
Psa. 95:2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
Psa. 100:4 ¶ Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!
Psa. 107:22 And let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, and tell of his deeds in songs of joy!
Psa. 116:17 I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord.

I love Thanksgiving. Its not cluttered with the stuff of December. It is a day of feasting and fellowship with family and friends. A day of rest and refreshment. It is also a great day to pause and give thanks.

The pilgrims were not the first to have a Thanksgiving Day celebration. King David instituted a day of Thanksgiving to be celebrated by the nation (1 Chron 16:7). In fact, it was part of the fabric of the Jewish life and their covenant relationship to God.

It is part of the fabric of our life as believers as well. In 2 Corinthians 4:15, Paul says,

"For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God."

He is talking about the fact that we have and are treasures in jars of clay. We have an eternal significance because of Christ that far transcends the earthly experience of suffering, fatigue, sin and aging. And what he says is that the grace and eternity in our lives grows and extends so that thanksgiving may increase... because this gives glory to God.

A few of ways to give thanks today for the glory of God:

1. Take 10 minutes today to get alone and thank God for how He is renewing you inwardly today. He is at work in our life all the time. Thank Him for that.
2. Take 10 minutes and scroll through your phone and let a few people know that you are thankful for them and why.
3. Whoever you are with today, make sure you make time to go around the room or dining table or as you sit at halftime of the Cowboy game and say out loud some praise of Thanksgiving.
4. Before you end the day, sit down and write a letter (or an email) to someone that God has used in a significant way in your life. Let them know. Thank them and then thank God.

It is also great to know that as you feast and rest and enjoy family and watch football and generally celebrate family and friends today, God is taking great pleasure in your celebration. God loves when His people celebrate. God loves the feasts. God loves for us to enjoy the days of rest. God love for us to celebrate. God loves to be celebrated.

Happy Thanksgiving

What Do Angels Think about Thanksgiving?

The World on Wednesday by Jim Smithies, Pastor of Ministries and World

Luke 15:10: "In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

I am having the most vivid Thanksgiving I’ve ever had.  As I shared last week my Mom is in heaven – no longer suffering or struggling.  I also shared that this wondrous result is in “human” part because Kathy Herman went out of her way to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with her.

There is no greater thanksgiving on heaven or on earth than a sinner who repents!

My life now and forever is changed by someone who is not even part of my mother’s normal flow of life.  There are three words this rejoicing brings to my mind:

Common ground – Kathy found common ground with my mom through the multiple orthopedic surgeries and love for literature.

Compassion – Kathy felt compassion humanly and spiritually for my mom.

Commission – Kathy understood that we all are always ambassadors for Christ, living constantly under the call of the Great Commission in our lives.

- I came to Christ because somebody sent me a Bible...

- Cheryl came to Christ because a young man at Denny’s gave her a gospel tract after she had just seen the Exorcist and was quite undone by it...

- My son, Matt, came to Christ after being transfixed by a “wordless, gospel cake” that Cheryl makes every Easter... 

- My son, Drew, came to Christ through a Children’s Church teacher...

Jesus found common ground with the woman at the well as He discussed “water” with her.

Jesus found common ground with the rich young ruler as he addressed the Ten Commandments with him.

Jesus found common ground with his fisherman disciples as He made them “fishers of men.”

Who might be in your path – at a grocery store, beauty shop, a mechanic, a neighbor, a co-worker, a friend…?  Who might be that person whose family has shared the gospel with them but they haven’t been interested…but your connection with them will be different by God’s grace?

Who might God have given you a compassion for?  This could very well be His way to move you into the place that a family member cannot fill.

Do you live knowing that the greatest role you have in life is as one commissioned by the Lord Jesus Christ?

1 Co 3:6 - I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.

We do this in community...with each other, and with those in our world who need Jesus.  Some plant, some water and some reap...  That's even a good illustration of the origin of the American Thanksgiving...but it is even a better picture of the Thanksgiving we have unto God when someone important in our life trusts in Christ as Savior through the efforts of another believer.

May we become the "other believer" in someone's life.  Let's make some angels dance in Heaven...  Let's make someone like me who saw no other avenue to share the gospel with my mom...dance some, too (sounds a little too much like a Todd Wright video, but oh well).  Happy Thanksgiving!

Monday WorshipWord!

Monday WorshipWord! from bethel bible on Vimeo.

From The Children's Ministry...

This week, the Children's Ministry of Bethel would like to share a video with you. At Bethel, our prayer is that your kids would grow to understand their place in God's Kingdom. Each week, we work to make sure your kids understand the Father and His amazing grace and provision in our lives.

Enjoy the video!

When “Thank You” Is Not Enough…or Even Close

The World on Wednesday by Jim Smithies, Pastor of Ministries and World

In this “world blog” we’ve talked about the world far away in West Africa.  We’ve talked about the world in agony in Orissa, India.  We’ve talked about the world in our own country due to the damage Hurricane Ike wreaked on Galveston.  We’ve talked about our world close at home here in Tyler through International Student ministries, Griffin Elementary tutoring, and Living Alternatives.

Today I want to write a little about my world.  This past Sunday my 82 year old mother passed away.  Her last 20 years have been filled with endless pain and surgeries…with no relief at all.  She lived with a morphine pump in her abdomen and stints in various places throughout her body.  She lived in constant pain.  She fell in May and broke her femur.  That fall ended up taking her life as she never recovered.

It’s hard…losing one of the two people that has always been there…even if you didn’t call or visit very often.  It’s good in that her pain is over.  It is best because I believe she trusted Christ as her Savior in her later years.  It is special because the ministry of author and friend, Kathy Herman, was key to my mom’s relationship with God.

Here’s what happened.  The last time I tried to talk to my mom about God she jumped out of her chair and raced to the bathroom…the one room into which I could not follow, right?!  Shortly thereafter Kathy’s first book came out.  In that book Kathy superbly presented the gospel at least three times.  It gripped me.  My mom was an English teacher and a reading specialist for 30 years in public schools and loved literature.  So, being a little shrewd, I sent her Kathy’s book asking for her professional opinion.  This way I knew she would read it…and have an encounter with the gospel.  She read it.  She liked it.  She asked me to pass on her commendation to Kathy.

I did.  And in the conversation I learned that Kathy, too, has had similar orthopedic surgeries almost too numerous to count; and, she has her own battles with pain.  Here is the amazing part:  Kathy asked me if she could write to my mom!  Kathy writes 20 hours a day as an author!!!  How in the world could she possibly have margin in her day to write to a stranger?!  But she did…and my ever-courteous mom wrote back. 

This continued two to three times a year for years.  Kathy wrote to and prayed for my mom.  They shared the common ground of pain that others cannot understand.  They shared the joys of family and life that pain cannot take away.  Kathy shared the power of the hope of her faith.  Frequently Kathy would say “Jim, I think your mom is moving closer to the Lord.”  Then one day Kathy said, “I really think your mom is now a Christian!”  There not words to explain what it felt like to hear her say that.  And Kathy is adamant that the credit and celebration belong to God. 

After that I noticed Mom’s conversations with me began to include God and prayer…and she told me that she loved me.   Something was profoundly different…and it continued until the end.

I am at peace because I believe my mom is with the Lord.  I am hopeful because this means I get to see her not in pain or hobbled.  As you can imagine the words “thank you” cannot possibly convey my love and appreciation for Kathy’s sacrificial care and effort toward my mom!

This is my world today…and now, by God’s amazing grace, forever! 

I’ll see you someday, Mom!  (Though I do hope you didn’t take your meatloaf recipe with you!)

Youth Karaoke Christmas Party

KARAOKE CHRISTMAS PARTY

Saturday, December 13th

6-9pm in the Youth Room

All Middle School, High School and College and Parents Too!

Admission is FREE! So join us and let the music flow!

Monday WorshipWord!

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, there's just something about that name
Master, Savior, Jesus, like the fragrance after the rain
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,
Let all Heaven and Earth proclaim
Kings and kingdoms will all pass away
But there's something about that name!

Bill and Gloria Gaither (William J. Gaither, Inc.)
___________________________________________
This song by the Gaithers is one of my favorite hymns. If I'm being honest, I'd have to say that my first love for this song is musical...in other words, I love all the "7th chord sounds" and descending chords in the tune. As a kid, I used to love to sing this song in church.

But this song means a bit more to me, now.

Because I need more "Jesus."

I'm using quotation marks because I'm actually talking about the word "Jesus." You see, I use words like "Father" and "God" and "Lord" all the time. But for some reason, I don't speak the name of Jesus very often.

I'm not sure why.

I need "Jesus." I need that word - need to speak it, sing it, and keep it on my mind. I need the word because I need to remember Him. I need to remember that the name of Jesus represents His coming. When Mary and Joseph obeyed the command of God and called the child, "Jesus," my whole life changed. He came. He came to die. He came to beat death. He came to justify the sin-debt, and to forget His name is a travesty.

My encouragement to you this week is simply this:

Say, "Jesus."

Find a time this week to focus on His name. Speak it, sing it...maybe even SHOUT it! (His name is victorious!)

Todd is Pastor of Worship and Creative Arts.
He is still fighting a bitter winter head cold.
Email him.
Read him.
Buy him.

The Gallery!

For the past two Fridays, we've had some great ministry tours from Donna and Cay! For this week, though, Paula wanted you to have the chance to see what some of her volunteers have to say about working in The Gallery on Sunday mornings.

Enjoy!

The Gallery! from bethel bible on Vimeo.

We hope enjoyed having a chance to meet this folks right here on the blog!

Prayer

Last Sunday night at our annual Congregational Meeting, I shared my burden for the role of prayer in the life of our body. Not just the life of our body corporately, but I also have a burden for prayer in the role of our individual and family lives - all of them.

Though not comprehensive, I offer a few images of how prayer is really the fabric of the NT and the life of the church.

1. We must be committed to individual prayer that is authentic, intimate and full of faith (Matt. 6:8)

2. We must believe in the power of corporate prayer to build up, instruct and attract one another in the name of Christ (1 Cor. 14:16-19)

3. We must be committed to marriages that honor Christ for our prayers to be effective (1 Peter 3:7)

4. We must bear one another's burdens in prayer for the purpose of healing (James 5:16)

5. The ministry of God's Word must be accompanied with a devotion to prayer. In other words, your pastors and leaders must spend their time in prayer - this is their high priority (Acts 6:4)

6. We must pray for the rapid spread of the Gospel, the protection of the Gospel and those that will proclaim (that includes all of us)  (2 Thess. 3:1-2)

7. As we walk in the Spirit, we pray as the Spirit of God that inhabits us. God's Spirit is always praying for us and drawing us to abide with Christ in our prayer (Romans 5:3-5, 8:26-30)

The example from the New Testament is life and ministry that is bathed in prayer: from Jesus to Paul to the Early Church, to Peter, James, Stephen and John - all of the New Testament writers affirm the reality that we are dependent on prayer.

This next year, my chief devotion is going to be prayer. I have always struggled with a vibrant prayer life. Like many of you, I am a "doer." My mind is changing, transforming, to see that the my greatest labor is to be spent in prayer. And with that said, I am praying that you will join me on your knees, in your closets, in the sanctuary, with your family and small groups, as you drive, when you wake and as you lie down to pray. Pray with the reality that your "life" depends on it. Pray with the conviction that God hears you. Pray with the hope that God, before the foundations of time ordained that your life would be carried along by His Spirit in the labor of prayer.

Then, with eyes open and hearts tuned to Him, live and love and spend your life for the sake of the gospel, the advance of the Kingdom and to the glory of God. Amen.

Ross

How to Start a Crisis Pregnancy Center and Home for Unwed Mothers...

The World on Wednesday by Jim Smithies, Pastor of Ministries and World

Bev Kline has been a friend of Bethel Bible Church for decades.  She is one of our faithful and supported missionaries.  Bev will be our guest this Sunday in both services.  She will report on what God is doing now through Living Alternatives and FatherHeart ministries.  Here is the history of how she has responded to God’s call to impact our part of the World in East Texas.

	Beverly A. Kline Founder and Director		Founded in humble circumstance in 1982 by our Founding Executive Director Beverly Kline, she reached out to a young teenager who turned to her for help with an unplanned pregnancy. On behalf of the teenager Bev sought a free pregnancy test from a local health provider. This agency directed her to an 800 number and assured that she could secure a pregnancy test there. Bev soon discovered that this number was an abortion clinic in Dallas (100 miles west of Tyler) that was performing the free test and then encouraging the ones with positive results to seek their abortion services. Upon discovering this, the Lord birthed in Bev's heart a passion and compassion for pregnant teens who where facing an unplanned pregnancy. Her passion was to rescue young women from a Dallas abortion clinic's effort to expand their business in East Texas. Her compassion was for young girls facing pregnancy alone and without direction, guidance and support. From her small apartment in Tyler, Bev also began offering "free" pregnancy tests to women from her own advertised phone number. From these small beginnings God planted a mustard seed which has grown and blossomed to bless the lives of many thousands of people since 1982.
	1982: Within a few short months, Bev saw that her efforts alone from her small apartment were not adequate to meet the needs of the many calls she was receiving. With a volunteer staff of five and a big step of faith, the Crisis Pregnancy Center opened an office in Tyler. This Center continues operating today and offers free pregnancy tests, emotional support, community referrals and practical assistance such as providing baby and maternity clothes. The Center touches more than 1,000 lives every year. 1983: The need became clear for housing for pregnant teens who needed a place to live, and a small mother's home was started. Living Alternatives bought a fire-damaged four-bedroom home for $15,000 to use for this purpose. Because of the fire, the home needed $30,000 in repairs. However, with donated labor, supplies and $2,000, the home was completely restored. The home served 96 unwed mothers from 1983 to 1990. 1987: Living Alternatives established the State-licensed Loving Alternative Adoption Agency to help women who wanted to arrange a truly Christian adoption for their unborn baby. Through the ministry of Loving Alternative more than 100 babies have been placed in loving Christian homes and it continues to offer support services to the birth and adoptive families. Loving Alternative serves Texas adoptive families and birth mothers in the East Texas area. 1993: The Fatherheart property was previously owned by Last Days Ministries and became available for purchase. The home was 7,800 square feet and sat on 40 acres of property. The $300,000 purchase price was far below its appraisal of $645,000, but way above our then annual budget of $30,000. With another large step of faith, we moved in with a bank commitment of $45,000 a year for 5 years! Through the faithfulness of God's people, the mortgage was retired in only 3 1/2 years and the home is completely free of debt today! 1997: Fatherheart renovations expanded the home to almost 10,000 square feet and increased our capacity for 20 residents. Fatherheart is a State licensed maternity home and serves as a model for others to learn from and develop similar ministries in other areas. 1998: Life Skills and Discipleship afternoon program began. Visible changes in the attitudes and character in the lives of the girls is a credit to this program. 1999: Eagle Charter school, which is administrated by the Living Alternatives staff, opened on-site on the grounds of Fatherheart. The accredited high school and middle school curriculum enables our residents/students to earn fully accredited and transferable credits to public schools, at their own pace. (Non-accredited diploma programs and G.E.D. preparation is also available.)