Happy April Fools Day!

I’ve been reading in Proverbs this week and there were a couple of verses that caught my attention that I would like to share with you. Proverbs 29:11 says, “A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back.”Proverbs 29:20 says, “Do you see a man who is hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.”

These are good principles for us to live by in our homes, schools, workplaces, and in the church.  Proverbs 23:23 encourages us to “Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.” Certainly truth, wisdom, instruction, and understanding cannot simply be purchased with money! But you and I can pursue these things as if they are of supreme value. My prayer is that the Lord would make us wise as we study the scriptures together and apply them to our lives.

Continue to pursue Him, church! Devour His Word; put it to memory; live it out!

Lord willing, I will see you on Sunday!

In His Grace,

Joe

Luke 22:31-32 – Failure in the Christian Life

Devotional Thoughts from the Passages Journal Reading – March 1, 2011

“’Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” Peter said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.” Jesus said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me.’” (Luke 22:31–34, ESV)

This must have been a very troubling moment for Peter to hear His Lord say, “Peter, you will stumble tonight.” We should not to quickly forget that Peter’s stumbling was for a purpose. It’s mind boggling to know that our Lord is able to take even our blunders and use them for His glory. For Peter, it would seem that he needed to be humbled so that he could lead effectively. Jesus had promised earlier that Peter would be an essential leader in the Church and now Jesus is promising that he will fail.

Of particular interest to me is what Jesus says in verse 32. “I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” Two things stand out. One, Jesus is always interceding for us, defending us and sustaining us before the Father. Two, when we are humbled through failure we are more appropriately equipped to strengthen our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Peter knew what it was to fail and to be restored by the grace of God. Therefore, he was also well equipped to lead the church into further dependence upon the grace of God and the sustaining power of the Holy Spirit. By no means do I want more failure in my life, but I do desire a heart of humility that is able to say to my brothers and sisters, “run to Jesus for He is gracious and able to sustain you!”

In His Grace,

Joe

Exodus 33 – By the Grace of God

Devotional Thoughts from the Passages Journal Reading – Feb 21, 2011

Exodus 33 is crucial for understanding why it is that the people of Israel stood before God as His chosen people. Remember that while Moses was on the mountain with God the people decided to make for themselves a golden calf to worship. They saw the power and majesty of God manifest on the mountain and yet they still went after false gods. As a result the wrath of God fell upon them in the form of a plague (32:35).

In chapter 33 God tells Moses to move on from Mount Sinai but He says “I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way for you are a stiff necked people.” The people mourned when they heard this. They knew that they did not want to move on from Sinai without the presence of God. Verse 12-23 are of great significance. Moses pleads with God saying, “If Your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here” (33:15), and “Is it not in Your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?” (33:16)

On what grounds did Moses plead with God in this way? What gave Him the confidence to talk with God and to, in a sense, bargain with Him. As far as I can tell, Moses brings nothing to the table at this point! And yet Moses stands before God with confidence. The question is, why?

There is a repeating theme in this chapter that answers this question. look at verses 12,13,16,17, and 19. What is the reoccurring theme?  The word translated “favor” in this passage is the Hebrew word for “favor” or “grace”. Why was Israel chosen and saved? Why did Moses approach God in this way? It was because God had chosen to shown Moses grace! Why did God show grace to Moses and the people of Israel as opposed to the other nations? God answers this question in verse 19b saying, “I will be gracious to whom I am will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.” Though Moses and the people of Israel brought nothing to the table, God choose, according to His the good pleasure or His will, to show mercy and grace to them despite their sin and rebellion. And so from Genesis 3 to Revelation 22, what is our confidence? It is by the grace of God that we are saved! Do you see how the story of redemption is consistent Genesis to Revelation? From Genesis 3 on the Bible is a story of God pursuing and saving a sinful rebellious people. It was this way with ethnic Israel, and it is this way with the Church today!

Let us live daily trusting fully in Christ Jesus with hearts of humility.

In His Grace,

Joe

Exodus 35 – Sabbath Rest

Devotional Thoughts from the Passages Journal Reading – Feb 23, 2011

It’s interesting in Exodus 35 that Moses reminds the people to honor the Sabbath right before a major work project is launched. The people are about to build the Tabernacle and Moses, knowing the tendency of man, reminds the people to work six days and rest on the seventh even when there is a bunch of work to do. This is certainly a good word of encouragement to me!

To rest one day out of seven as unto the Lord is to make sure that God, and not work or material possessions, is at the center of our life. The Sabbath is a gift to us from God. He gives us permission to rest, celebrate, enjoy relationships and all of the blessings that He has poured out on us, and especially to enjoy Him. To refuse to rest is to deny that God is sovereign and supreme in the details of our lives.

There are a number of things that must happen if we are to enjoy Sabbath rest in our culture.

1) We must plan for it. Taking one day out of seven to focus on family, friends, rest, and worship is counter-cultural. For many, Sunday will be the Sabbath. For our family, Saturday is the day of rest.

2) We must protect it. There will always be distractions that pull us away from this day of rest. Sometimes the distractions are valid and there is a real need to be meet and service to be done. We should not neglect human need for the sake of rule keeping, but we should protect the Sabbath with regularity for our good and the glory of God.

3) We must prepare for it. There is a bit of irony here in that if we are to enjoy the Sabbath it requires that we first be diligent in our work during the other six day of the week. The pattern should be six good, hard, God honoring days of work followed by one glorious day of rest. Get your work done, the bills paid, the lawn mowed, and the house clean so that the Sabbath can be enjoyed.

These are just a few thoughts that came out of my devotional time this morning and I hope that they are an encouragement to you!

In His Grace,

Joe

BFC Buzz 6/4/2010

Hello Bible Fellowship Church,

I hope your week has been a good one! What do you think of our new look? Thanks to Mike, we now have an email template to match the look of our website.

I thought I would take a moment to highlight one of the Core Values of Bible Fellowship Church. The third leaf in the logo represents the idea that as Christians we are to serve the church, community, and nations. This heart to serve naturally flows out of the first two Core Values, which are, to love God and love one another.

What’s not immediately clear is what kind of service we are talking about. Is it personal service or corporate? Is it service that is focused on the physical needs of people or on the spiritual? The answer to that question is yes, yes, yes, and yes!

Our hope is that this church would have, as a part of its culture, a heart for service. That means we should serve as individuals in the home, school, and work place, and also together, as the Body of Christ, in the church, community , and nations. Our heart for service should drive us to meet the physical needs of people; to alleviate suffering, to stand for justice, and to comfort those in need, but Christian service should always be done with gospel of Jesus Christ in view.

People need Jesus! Our families, our coworkers, people in our church, our community, and the nations need Jesus more than anything. But one thing is sure, people hear the gospel most clearly when they hear it while being shown love and respect.

Last week I highlighted “Top Crust” and their ministry to children with parents who are in prison. This week I would like to highlight Women’s Ministry and their service to the Teen Parent Program in our valley. Please see Heloise in the courtyard this Sunday to find out how you can serve teen parents in the name of Jesus and for the sake of the gospel.

One thing I know, we all should be talking about Jesus with those who need Him. It’s not complicated. People are often more willing to talk than you might think. The key is love. A humble, servants heart goes a long way in opening up doors for conversation.

On another note, I told you last Sunday during the sermon that I would send you the five points of application which answered the question “how do I live a life of dependence upon the lord in a practical way?”

So here they are:

1. Practice daily Bible study and prayer with a spirit of humility.
2. Live life with an ongoing posture of dependence being mindful of your weakness and His strength.
3. Enjoy a Sabbath rest one day out of seven.
4. Fast regularly.
5. Set aside a few hours every month for solitude.

If you missed last Sunday’s message these points might need the context of the sermon to make sense. You can always go to bfchemet.org and listen to past sermons in our archive found under the media tab.

I look forward to our time of worship together this Sunday! The text is Matthew 15:1-20 if you would like to look it over in advance.

In His Grace,

Joe

BFC Buzz 4.15.2010

The Big Serve
Sign up for a work project this Sunday in the courtyard at BFC.

On April 25, 2010
1. Meet at BFC at 8:30am
2. Work from 9am-noon
3. Meet at Weston Park at 12:30pm for a post-Big Serve gathering (bring a light lunch if you so desire)

The International Dinner
May 1, 2010 at 5:30pm
Pick up your tickets this Sunday at the missions table in the courtyard.

BFC Buzz October 29, 2009

BFC Buzz October 29, 2009

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BFC Buzz October 9, 2009

BFC Buzz Sept82009

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BFC Buzz 9.18.09

BFC BUZZ 8/20/09 Pastor Joe Anady

Hello Church!

Well, we as a staff have been nagging you about our August 30th Kickoff Night for weeks now. This is such a huge deal to life of our Church that I wanted to take a moment and make sure we were all on the same page.  Below are some potential questions and the corresponding answers concerning the 30th. If after reading this email you are still unsure about why we are doing what we are doing, just show up at Community Christian at 6:00pm on August 30th to find out what’s going on.

 Q – Joe, why are we meeting at CCC instead of BFC?

A – That’s a great question! Our sanctuary is not big enough to seat all of the people who attend BFC all at once. CCC has been very gracious in allowing us to use their facility for this special event! It’s kinda cool when Churches treat each other nice don’t you think?

 Q – Will the people of Community Christian Church be at this event as well?

A – No they will not. Perhaps we can do things together in the future, but for this event, we are simply using their facility much in the same way we have used Valley Wide in the past.

 Q – Should I go to church somewhere else on Sunday morning?

A – You certainly can, but that will not be necessary. Our Sunday night gathering will be a worshipful experience incorporating music, teaching, tithing, praying, and more. It is a BFC church service on steroids, held at a different time and place.

 Q – Joe, I’m thinking about staying home and watching preseason football. What do you think about that?

A – I think that is a bad idea. For one, preseason football stinks. Two, this is a very important night for BFC. We are coming together to talk about where we are going as a community of faith.

 Q – Will I be asked to make commitments at the end of the evening?

A – Yes! We want to see everyone sign up for a Small Group Bible Study and you will have an opportunity to do that at the end of the night. The Small Group day and times will be posted on bfchemet.org by Wednesday the 26^th so you can look those over and come prepared to sign up on the 30th

 Q – What if I don’t want to join a Small Group?

A – That’s fine. Still come though! Small Groups are only a portion of what we will be talking about.

 Q – Is this night only about The Truth Project?

A – No. the Truth Project will be highlighted, but we will talk about other things having to do with the overall direction of BFC in 2009/2010. It should be fun!

 Q – Will there be Sunday School?

A – Yes! Infants – Preschool with be with the Children’s Ministry the whole time. K-5 will be with their parents for worship and then they will be dismissed to Sunday School. Jr. High and High School students will be in the main service the whole time.

 Q – Should I bring guests?

A – Absolutely! There will be ample opportunities for new people to meet folks from BFC and to get plugged in to the life of the Church.

 Q – What will I get out of this?

A – In addition to rewards in heaven, you will also receive a cup of gelato (Italian ice cream) complements of Glen and Anna Dalbey from Angelina’s!

 If you have any other questions, feel free to email us at staff@bfchemet.org.

 In Him,

Joe