Bethel Crc Lacombe

This Lenten season we will be reflecting on the Feasts of Israel.  We continue by reflecting on Leviticus 23:9-14, The Feast of First Fruits. This is a feast that calls us to a deep trust in God. By offering God our first-fruits, we are saying to God, “We trust you that you will provide for us and send the rain and sun as needed so our crops can grow, be harvested and our people will be able to eat.” This is also a festival of anticipation and excitement as the hard work of harvest is beginning and the fruit of the people’s labours are being realized. 

This Lenten season we will be reflecting on the Feasts of Israel.  We continue by reflecting on the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Leviticus 23:6-8 and 1 Corinthians 5:6-8. The Feast of Unleavened Bread is also part of the Passover Feast and it focuses on the importance of finding the sin in our lives and then cleansing our hearts and lives of sin. This is not something we have the strength to do in our own strength, for this we need the blood of Jesus, the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit.  

This Lenten season we will be reflecting on the Feasts of Israel.  We will be looking at each of the feasts God calls Israel to celebrate found in Leviticus 23. We begin today with the Feast of Passover, Leviticus 23:4-5. The Feast of Passover remembers the exodus of Israel from slavery under Egypt and how the Angel of Death passed over the houses of those Israelites who painted their door frames with the blood of a lamb.  A sign that the freedom of those in the home were purchased through the blood of an innocent lamb.  The beginning of Israel claiming a new identity, one found in God rather than as slaves.  

This week Pastor Jake will lead the service while Elder August Luymes will be bringing us the Word.  We will be returning to Luke 24 and Jesus encounter with two of his disciples on the road to Emmaus, focusing on what Jesus said that made their hearts burn.  

This week we are wrapping up our series on Spiritual Disciplines by reflecting on the discipline of worship and looking at Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:1-42.  Jesus tells her that a time is coming when we will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth.  What does this mean?  How can we worship in the Spirit and in truth? How does this show us who Jesus really is?  

This week we are celebrating our Friendship Ministry.  We will be reflecting on Mark 5:21-43, Face to Face with Jesus: Touching Our Lord.  This is the story of a young girl who is so sick.  Her father comes running to Jesus to heal her.  While on the way, another woman who has been sick for a really long time touches Jesus, hoping for healing.  Today we will be reflecting on Jesus as a healer, but also on asking some hard questions.  Questions like: why doesn’t Jesus heal me; am I not healed because I don’t have enough faith; How can I find peace even when I don’t get healed by Jesus?   

This week we are celebrating our Cadet ministry and inviting the Cadets and their counsellors to help lead us in worship.  We will be reflecting on Jeremiah 29:10-14, focusing on verse 12, Hi God, It’s Me.  God wants us to come and talk to him, to stay in contact with him in our day to day lives, sharing with him our day to day stuff and inviting him to be part of it with us.  Our God is also our Father and he’s always eager to hear from us.  We will be focusing on the personal nature of prayer.  

This week we are continuing to look at a number of Spiritual Disciplines as we focus this year on growing our relationship with Jesus. Richard Foster has written an important book on spiritual disciplines Celebration of Discipline: the Path to Spiritual Growth, which will be a main reference through this series. The spiritual disciplines are spiritual practices the Church has developed over the centuries to help us develop our relationship with Jesus, to grow stronger in our faith and to intertwine what we believe with how we live. This week we continue our exploration of the spiritual disciples by reflecting on John 13:1-17 the Discipline of Service. In the discipline of service, we will be exploring our attitudes towards service. Often, we are happy to serve in areas where we feel gifted or we enjoy, but what about service that is unseen or feels like it’s below us, what is your attitude towards service then? Serving is more about attitude than it is about what we actually do. 

This week we are continuing to look at a number of Spiritual Disciplines as we focus this year on growing our relationship with Jesus. Richard Foster has written an important book on spiritual disciplines Celebration of Discipline: the Path to Spiritual Growth, which will be a main reference through this series. The spiritual disciplines are spiritual practices the Church has developed over the centuries to help us develop our relationship with Jesus, to grow stronger in our faith and to intertwine what we believe with how we live. This week we continue our exploration of the spiritual disciples by reflecting on Matthew 4:1-11 the Discipline of Solitude by looking at the story of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness after spending 40 days and nights fasting alone in the wilderness. God meets us in places like the wilderness, times of solitude. Solitude gives us the space to listen more closely to God, to reflect on who we are and the lives we are living. Solitude helps us to prepare ourselves to be obedient to

This week we are continuing to look at a number of Spiritual Disciplines as we focus this year on growing our relationship with Jesus. Richard Foster has written an important book on spiritual disciplines Celebration of Disciple: the Path to Spiritual Growth, which will be a main reference through this series. The spiritual disciplines are spiritual practices the Church has developed over the centuries to help us develop our relationship with Jesus, to grow stronger in our faith and to intertwine what we believe with how we live. This week we continue our exploration of the spiritual disciples by reflecting on Acts 17:10-12 and Philippians 4:8-9, the Discipline of Study. Many people study the Bible as an interesting book of wisdom from an earlier time. The Discipline of Study seeks to learn to know God better and in knowing God better, we learn more about who He has created us to be. The Holy Spirit uses the Scriptures to then shape us more and more into who we are created to be as image bearers of God and fo

We will begin by looking at a number of Spiritual Disciplines as we focus this year on growing our relationship with Jesus.  Richard Foster has written an important book on spiritual disciplines, Celebration of Disciple: the Path to Spiritual Growth, which will be a main reference through this series.  The spiritual disciplines are spiritual practices the Church has developed over the centuries to help us develop our relationship with Jesus, to grow stronger in our faith and to intertwine what we believe with how we live.  We are beginning our journey through the spiritual disciples by reflecting on Luke 11:1-13, The Discipline of Prayer.  Prayer is the gift of communication, the opportunity to share with God what is going on in our lives and a time to listen for his quiet, gentle, or not so gentle leading in our lives.  Prayer is rooted in God’s glory and shapes us by drawing us into His presence on a regular basis 

This morning is the first Sunday after Advent, a time when the church slows down and reflects on the gift of Jesus who came to earth to become human like us.  We also look forward to Jesus’ return during Advent.  This morning we are wrapping up our journey through Revelation by reflecting on Revelation 21:1-7, Heaven and Earth Together Again.  This passage is all about hope and renewal, about victory over sin and death, and about heaven and earth coming together again, as a reversal of what happened in Genesis 3 when Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden.  It’s about how history begins with chaos before creation and how Jesus brings order and peace into our chaotic lives and hearts.  There’s the picture of us being made new again, of all our hurt and brokenness being left behind as we move forward into an eternal future with Jesus healed and forgiven.  Even after Jesus returns, there is still work for us to do to continue the task of discovering and releasing the potential that God has placed in creation

New Year’s Day Service: To begin the year 2020, we will be gathering together as a church family to reflect on Romans 12, Being the Body of Christ Together.  This is a time to dream forward into the New Year and reflect on who God is calling us to be as his church and his children.

On Christmas Eve we will be reflecting on the Christmas story as told in Matthew and Luke. This will be a Service of Lessons and Carols, and the message will focus on the angels’ announcement of Good News. 

This Advent season we are journeying through selected passages from the Book of Revelation: Angels, Help Us to Adore Him. This morning is the fourth Sunday of Advent, a time when the church slows down and reflects on the gift of Jesus who came to earth to become human like us. We also look forward to Jesus’ return during Advent. This morning we are reflecting on Revelation 5, Who is Worthy? The Apostle John is still in heaven’s throne room and the question comes up, “Who is worthy?” Jesus is the one worthy because he has taken the sin of the world on himself onto the cross where we are redeemed from our sin. In Advent we remember that Jesus became human and redeemed for his Father “persons from every tribe and language and people and nation,” as his own. When Jesus returns, we will join Jesus and the Father as heaven and earth are rejoined once again. 

Today, the third Sunday of Advent, a time when the church slows down and reflects on the gift of Jesus who came to earth to become human like us.  We also look forward to Jesus’ return during Advent.  This Advent season we will be journeying through selected passages from the Book of Revelation: Angels, Help Us to Adore Him.  We will be reflecting on Revelation 4, Falling Down in Worship.  In Revelation 4 we are given a peek into heaven’s throne room and the worship that happens there. It’s an amazing peek into heaven and some of the creatures that are found there. The Apostle John marvels at the worship that fills heaven’s throne room. It’s a good time to reflect on how worship fills and shapes our hearts and lives each day.  

Today is the second Sunday of Advent, a time where the church slows down and reflects on the gift of Jesus who came to earth to become human like us.  This Advent season we will be journeying through selected passages from the Book of Revelation: Angels, Help Us to Adore Him.  We will continue with Revelation 3:14-22, Lukewarm Christians. This passage is a letter to the church in Laodicea.  It’s so easy when you’ve been in a relationship for a long time to take the other person for granted.  It’s not that you love them less, but you stop showing it, you allow other things to take your time and attention away from the other person, and you slowly begin to drift apart, allowing your love to grow less hot.  This creates lukewarm relationships, even with God.  The challenge is how to revive a lukewarm relationship again. 

Today is the first Sunday of Advent, a time where the church slows down and reflects on the gift of Jesus who came to earth to become human like us.  This Advent season we will be journeying through selected passages from the Book of Revelation: Angels, Help Us to Adore Him.  We will begin with reflection on Revelation 3:1-13, Wake Up!  This passage contains letters from Jesus to the churches in Sardis and Philadelphia.  It is so easy become complacent as followers of Jesus, allowing our faith to become only a Sunday thing.  We can lose our passion for Jesus and our passion for the world to know Jesus, so Jesus issues a call to Wake Up!  Do we need a wake-up call from Jesus, how is our passion level for our neighbours and community? 

Today we will wrap up our 5 week series on the Canons of Dordt.  We will conclude our study by reflecting on John 17, Protected and Kept Safe.  In John 17 we find Jesus’ prayer for his disciples and followers.  Jesus prays to the Father for protection for them from the evil one, asking the Father to sanctify the people God has given him.  Jesus mentions how he protected and kept safe the ones God has given him.  This directs us to the last point of doctrine in the Canons of Dordt: Perseverance of the Saints. 

We will continue our 5-week series on the Canons of Dordt by reflecting on Ezekiel 36:22-38, Giving Us a Heart of Flesh.  Irresistible Grace is a beautiful doctrine that points to God’s deep commitment to us.  We sing, “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,” and God makes his grace so sweet to us that, while we may fight against it for a time, in the end our hearts are so drawn to Jesus that we find we have no choice but accept his love for us and commit ourselves to become his followers and children of our heavenly Father.