Our third core value here at Bible Fellowship Church is learning to “Serve the Lord in your church, your community and your world.” As a result, BFC’s Missions Ministry is not only devoted to the Unreached people of planet earth, but also the people of the San Jacinto Valley. Our Mission’s Emphasis this Sunday will focus on four of the “Mission Outreaches” that we support—Youth for Christ, Life Choice, Hospital Chaplain, and California Family Life Center. Come this Sunday and meet up close and personal Dan Harris the Director of our local YFC, Deborah Freeman the Director of Life Choice, Chaplain Don Jentes of Hemet Valley Medical Center, and Chaplain Ozzie Oswald of CFLC. We plan to have these good people on a panel up front and they will have tables in the back so you can talk to them personally between worship services and after the second service. All four of these ministries often have places for volunteers and can use your help. This is an excellent way to “Serve the Lord in your own community!” (You can find all four ministries in your Passages Journal.)
This has been quite a week politically. If you voted then I want to say thank you for doing so. I was thinking again this week that the early Christians did not have the privilege of living under a democracy like we do; they had to obey governments that they had no say in and yet Paul was able to write that wonderful chapter in Romans 13 that is so informative for us today! With newly elected representatives and old ones too, we really need to pray for them now (1 Timothy 2:1-8). Ultimately it is good to know that God has a plan, He is on His throne in Heaven and nothing misses His notice (Isaiah 40:18-31). Every time we take Communion Paul says we should “. . . proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes again” (1 Co 11:26). This always reminds me that I must be “salt and light” here for our Lord’s Kingdom’s sake (Mt 5:13-16) with the balance of both of those elements in mind. When I vote that is one way to be “salt” in America, but I must remember to be “light” to all people by sharing the gospel with them so that they can be saved. By doing both we keep the balance and please our Lord (and it is pleasing to us as well). Please keep upper most in your heart that the people you and I mix with at home, at work, at school, in our neighborhoods, are people who are eternal beings that will either spend eternity with the Lord or with Satan. Let us be both “salt and light” and keep the balance always.
–Pastor Gil
