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The church at Jerusalem, where Christianity began, was composed entirely of Jewish Christians. Peter had preached the Gospel to the Gentile Centurion Cornelius, which opened the Gospel to Gentiles. The question, then, was whether Gentile Christians were required to be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses. Galatians addresses this issue. Paul begins his discussion by giving his qualifications. He says he was chosen by God and that his message did not originate with himself. The ordained, even bishops, are not lords of the church. They are dependent on Jesus for their message and hopefully love Jesus and the flock they are called to guide. Paul says that the view that Gentile Christians must practice circumcision and keep the Law of Moses is heretical. God calls and has a good plan for each believer, just like he did for Paul. A calling carries with it responsibilities. For Paul it included much study and prayer. He also traveled around the Roman Empire and suffered much persecution. It is important to cultivate good theology and avoid heresy. The more we know Scripture the more we will be able to recognize false teaching. It is important to be more concerned about God’s approval than the approval of others. We should be trying to please an audience of One, who is our Master, Jesus Christ. The post Beginning Galatians appeared first on Bethel Mennonite Church - Gladys VA.

There is a finish line ahead, and not everyone who starts the race runs all the way to it. Gideon started well but stumbled. Solomon began with great devotion and drifted into idolatry. Demas walked with Paul and then quietly turned back, having loved this present world more than the world to come. These are sobering reminders, but they are not meant to discourage us. They are meant to make us wise. The race asks us to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, and to keep eternity in view. Heaven is more beautiful than anything we have imagined, and the suffering of this present life is not even worthy to be compared with the glory that is coming. Finishing well also means staying connected to the vine. Jesus himself, fully God and fully man, went off alone to pray to the Father again and again. If he needed that connection, we certainly do. We are to abide in Christ, welcome his discipline when we stray, and run the race together in close brotherhood. We are called to look out for one another, to lift up the drooping hands and strengthen the feeble knees, and to reach toward those who are struggling before it is too late. Now is the time to make straight paths. Now is the time to run, and to run all the way to the end. The post Are You Running to Finish? appeared first on Bethel Mennonite Church - Gladys VA.

We are not meant to run this race alone, and we were never designed to. Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and Psalm 23 shows us everything we gain when we follow him closely: rest, guidance, restoration, courage in the darkest valleys, and the overflow of his Spirit. When trouble comes, the call is simple and urgent: do not try to fix yourself first. Run to the Shepherd right away, just as you are, and let him lead you back to the path of righteousness. But running with Jesus also means running with others. To be alone is not simply to be by yourself. It is to be unknown, and we can be surrounded by people and still be completely unknown to them. God did not design us to run as islands. He placed us in the body of Christ so that we would be truly known, confess our struggles, and carry one another. Discipleship is not optional and neither is vulnerability. Pride and fear will tell us to hide, but God gives grace to the humble. So we humble ourselves, open up to trusted brothers and sisters, and run the race together with Jesus as our shepherd leading the way. The post Are You Running with Jesus appeared first on Bethel Mennonite Church - Gladys VA.

Running hard is not just for the gifted or the strong. It is for all of us, and we are running a race where every one of us can win. The great enemy of running hard is not failure but apathy, that slow drift where we stop caring, stop feeding on what is good, and eventually become content with going through the motions. What we feed on today becomes our hunger tomorrow. If we fill our eyes and ears with the noise of the world, our hearts will follow. But if we feed on God’s word and dwell on what is true and good and lovely, a passion for the things of God will grow in us naturally, the way a seed becomes something far greater than itself. Running hard also means staying alert to the danger of lukewarmness, that comfortable middle place where we are not fully cold but not truly burning either. We are to be moved by compassion, grateful for what God has done, and intentional in how we train. The choices we make now are not small. They shape the runners we will become. Like the path that seemed easy at first but leads somewhere unexpected, half-heartedness creeps in quietly. So we fix our diet, guard our hearts, rejoice in the Lord, and press on. There are no civilians in this race. The post Are You Running Hard appeared first on Bethel Mennonite Church - Gladys VA.

There is a weight we were never meant to carry into the race. Hebrews 12 calls us to lay aside both sin and every burden that slows us down, and there is a difference between the two. Sin must be confessed and put to death, not managed or hidden. Walking in the light, with openness before God and honesty before our brothers and sisters, is the path to freedom. The blood of Christ cleanses us as we walk that way, not all at once, but continually, like a stream that never stops running. Weights are trickier, because they are not always wrong in themselves. They are simply things that fill our hands when God means for them to be open. Digital noise, endless recreation, the pull of bare minimum Christianity, all of these can rob us of the time and energy we need to grow. When we lay them down, we are not losing something good. We are making room for something better, for the spiritual disciplines, for the fruits of the Spirit, for love of God and neighbor. The race is not meant to be run heavy. It is meant to be run free. The post Are You Running with Christ appeared first on Bethel Mennonite Church - Gladys VA.

There is a race set before us, and each of us must run it. Like a trail through the woods, it has a clear starting point, marked boundaries, and a finish line we cannot see from where we stand. The great danger is not that we mean to go the wrong way, but that we drift off course without ever noticing. Good intentions, we are reminded, are like a rocking chair: they feel like movement but take us nowhere. Direction, not intention, determines destination. One small degree off course today becomes a vast distance from where we hoped to be tomorrow. We are, at heart, like sheep, prone to wandering and too easily pulled along by the paths others are walking. But there is hope, because we have a Shepherd, and he is the best one we could ever ask for. To run straight, we must add real direction to our good intentions, pay close attention to where our daily choices are leading, and keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, and he will direct your paths. Let us run, and let us run straight. The post Are You Running Straight appeared first on Bethel Mennonite Church - Gladys VA.

The cross is a reality for both Jesus and us. The seven sayings of Jesus on the cross teach us the meaning of the cross. “Father forgive them” speaks of the peace God offers those who trust Jesus. “Today you will be with me” speaks of assurance. “Care for my mother” speaks of concern for others. “Why have you forsaken me” speaks of the darkness Jesus felt during his deepest suffering. “I thirst” speaks of the suffering of Jesus that offers us the water of life. “It is finished” speaks of a work completed. “Into your hands I commend my spirit” speaks of surrender and trust. The path to life passes through death. The path to victorious living is suffering with Jesus, dying with Jesus to sin. This is the believer’s cross. The believer’s cross is experiential. No one can crucify himself, but we can repent and God does the work. Our daily cross is to do the Father’s will. Only as we die with Christ can we produce fruit. The post The Reality of the Cross appeared first on Bethel Mennonite Church - Gladys VA.

We are living in perilous times. The apostle Paul warns Timothy that the last days bring people who look godly on the outside but are rotten on the inside. They say the right things, lift their hands, and quote scripture, but they deny the power of the Holy Spirit. These are not strangers. They creep into our communities and our homes. We must learn to recognize them and turn away. Not everything around us is false, though. We have been given true examples to follow. The evidence is in the lives of faithful people who have suffered, endured, and kept going anyway. Scars are not lies. When we look at those who have gone before us and see that God delivered them through hard times, not around them, we find reason to trust the same road ourselves. Continuing is not a flashy calling. It is not the kind of word that fits on a banner or gets people excited. And yet it is the very thing Paul urges us to do. We grow weary sometimes. We wonder if the gospel is working. We hear voices telling us we are on the wrong path. But the challenge is simply this: keep going in what we have learned and been assured of. There is a great sadness in those who are still searching. The imposters, the deceivers, the ones chasing something they cannot name, they will not find it outside of Jesus. They are caught in a long, tired loop of wanting and disappointment. God desires better for them. He desires that all people come to the knowledge of the truth. So we press on together. God is a deliverer, and his power is given to those who say yes to his Spirit. We encourage one another to continue, because none of us should be left to assume the others are fine on their own. Like travelers on a long road through a dark wood, we are each other’s company and each other’s strength, until we are presented faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. The post 2 Timothy 3 – Perilous Times appeared first on Bethel Mennonite Church - Gladys VA.

The believer has a calling to walk worthily that is rooted in the provisions of God, not in human resources and effort. The grand and glorious Gospel message is that the believer is chosen, predestined, adopted, accepted “in Christ the Beloved” and redeemed/forgiven, and this chosen and redeemed person is participating in the grand mystery of all things in heaven and earth being gathered together in Christ coming into the fullness of its created, intended purpose (1:1-23). We walk worthily when we walk in unity and love in the church. Unity and love require humility, meekness, patience, forbearing with one another in love, living together in the oneness and power of the Holy Spirit, exercising gifts of the Spirit, speaking truth in love. We walk worthily when we walk in holiness (4:17-5:21). The old man is the old way of living and behaving. The new man is the new behavior produced by the mind renewed by the Spirit. The new man does not grieve the Holy Spirit, walks in the light, and is filled with the Spirit. Summary: Change from old man behavior to new man behavior requires vision, intention, and means. Vision: This means that I develop an internal vision of what my life could be if I was indeed different. This is a vision of who I could be if I was consumed by and fully engaged in a Kingdom of God life. This is the vision that I was created to be fully alive with the life of Christ, fully free to be fully alive and engaged in life-giving activities. Intention: To intend is to decide. You cannot change if you do not decide to change. The intention to change has to be greater than the intention to stay the same. And if we intend to, we decide to. This is not about what we will or should do; this is about what we decide to do. Means: The means is the actions that provide a framework for the new habits to grow. The post Walking Worthily appeared first on Bethel Mennonite Church - Gladys VA.

Christ is a gift-giver. Each believer is gifted, and each gift and gifted person is for a purpose. Rather than judge one another’s gifts, we are called to love and respect other people and their gifts. The purpose of gifts is the growth of God’s Kingdom. Since people exercise the same gifts in different ways, exercise of gifts can be the source of much friction. Love is the answer to friction. The post Gifting for a Purpose appeared first on Bethel Mennonite Church - Gladys VA.

This sermon is taken from Ephesians. The first three chapters tell us the divine blessings that make the worthy walk described in the last three chapters possible. The believer is chosen, predestined, adopted, accepted in the Beloved, redeemed and forgiven by the shed blood of Christ, participants in the final gathering together of all things in Christ (both Jew and Gentile and heaven and earth), and all of this is experienced “in Christ,” in the heavenlies. The person who has experienced these blessings “in Christ” is equipped to live a worthy walk. Eph. 4 calls the believer to walk in unity, in holiness, in love, and in hope and courage. We walk in unity as we walk in humility, meekness, patience, and forbearance in love. These are the attitudes that make a worthy walk possible. The post Walk Worthy of Your Calling appeared first on Bethel Mennonite Church - Gladys VA.

Jesus had a reason for instructing his followers to celebrate the Lord’s Supper. We know there is something special about this service and that Jesus is present to minister to us in a special way, but exactly how Christ is present is a mystery. We may not fully understand the mystery, but we know that we are in need of something that Jesus offers us in Communion, grace and mercy, the Christ who came and the Christ who is coming again. Psalm 22 describes David’s deep distress and suffering and foretells the suffering of Christ. The Psalm is the cry of a heart that is feeling lost and abandoned. And this is how both David and Jesus felt, but the heavenly Father had abandoned neither of them. The Father is not far away even though we feel alone. We need to see that while this Psalm begins with a lament – a picture of a suffering Savior – it ends with a song of victory Jesus came to gain victory over his enemies. His death and resurrection delivers people from captivity to sin, the devil, and death. Christ is risen from the dead and He is able to bring to us the victory he won on the cross and in his resurrection. Christ suffered greatly for us. We will suffer too. But we are also alive in the midst of suffering because Christ is risen from the dead. In the Lord’s Supper we celebrate the life Christ’s death and resurrection brings to us. The best of Jesus met the worst of humanity and Jesus was the victor. He was surrounded by men acting like animals, He experienced terrible suffering, and in the end, He won the victory. As we take these emblems this morning, let us remember not only Jesus’ suffering and death, but the reasons for it and the resurrection that followed, for there we can find victory. The post The Table of Victory appeared first on Bethel Mennonite Church - Gladys VA.

I Corinthians 12:31 introduces chapter 13, saying, “and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.” Charity is a requirement to honor Christ and bless others. Chapter 13 presents Christian charity–its importance, description, growth in it, and its permanence. Then chapter 14 begins, “Follow after charity” (KJV). Jesus was a GREAT LIGHT in a dark world (Matt. 4:13-17). One way people “saw” or sensed this light was through Christ’s love. Jesus went to Heaven, but He had told His followers they were to be the light of the world (Matt. 5:14-16). “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matt 5:16). Faith without works is dead (James 2:14-17). Love without works is dead (I John 3:17-18). Works without love is dead too (I Cor. 13:1-3). Paul wrote, “But we urge you, brethren, that you increase {in love} more and more” (I Thess. 4:10 NKJV). Christians who confess and repent, who pray for grace, will grow. Love is essential for our spiritual health and for our mission on earth. And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all (I Thess. 3:12 NKJV). The post Pursuing Charity appeared first on Bethel Mennonite Church - Gladys VA.

Two of the most important questions facing people of Jesus’ day and today are, “Who is Jesus?” and “What does He want me to do?” John records seven “I am” statements used by Jesus to reveal who He is. John 6 records a sign (the feeding of the 5,000), a sermon (in which He states, “I am the bread of life”), and then shows how this teaching was a stumbling stone to many of Jesus’ followers. The many parallels between the feeding of the 5,000 and the manna in the wilderness seem intended to show that Jesus is the source of abundant life in the wilderness of this earthly life. Jesus calls us to feed on Him by coming to Him in faith, believing that He is able to satisfy our hunger and emptiness. A community of believers who are living by Jesus’ words of life can be a place of abundance even as all of creation longs for the promised land of the new heaven and new earth. The post A Sign, A Sermon, A Stumbling Stone appeared first on Bethel Mennonite Church - Gladys VA.

Approved workers understand that they need to be living out a therefore response to the Gospel (vv 8-10). Approved workers recognize that the way to life is through union in Christ – a union that dies, lives, and endures with Him (vv 11-13). Approved workers avoid the teaching, influence, and behavior of unapproved workers like Hymenaeus and Philetus (vv 14-21). Approved workers have learned the core competencies of flight, pursuit, and joint effort (vs 22). The post Pursuing God’s Approval appeared first on Bethel Mennonite Church - Gladys VA.