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.

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.