Bethel Church (princeton, Mn)

The sermon on the Mount. We are picking up where we left off this Fall with the series. We will focus on fasting. I'll do a fair bit of teaching on the what and why of fasting before getting to the teaching about how fasting can go wrong - doing it to show others how devout you are

Guest Pastor Les Kuiper preaching from Revelation 1:1-8 "The Key to History".

We're continuing our New Year's message series called "A Decade to Make a Difference." This series focuses on the values and practices that God calls us to ... and I'm highlighting four of these for Bethel in the coming years. This message is about "Being a Place of Multiplication." We tend to think about growth in terms of addition ... adding a person here or there as a new attendee at the church. But instead of thinking in terms of numerical growth, it may be more helpful to focus on the spread of the Gospel message about Christ, and assistance in helping people grow spiritually. In other words, think of it as knowledge and help that gets passed on from person to person. When this happens -- when we invest our time and energy helping other people grow, and equipping them to help others grow, they pass that on to others, who can pass it on to others. Like cells that divide, and keep on dividing, the growth happens by multiplication, not simply addition. We'll talk more about this on Sunday.

We're continuing our New Year's message series with a message about "Being a Place of Healing." This series is called "A Decade to Make a Difference," and it will focus on the values and practices that God calls us to ... and I'm wanting to highlight four of these for Bethel in the coming years. This week we'll talk about How healing happens, how it fits into our life as a church, and how we experience it in our lives today. As I'm sure you know, there is some controversy about the role of healing today -- questions surround the role of the miraculous, how "spiritual healing" relates to the healing we look for from science and medicine, and how we respond when we ask for divine healing and it doesn't come.

This series is called "A Decade to Make a Difference," and it will focus on the values and practices that God calls us to ... and I'm wanting to highlight four of these for Bethel in the coming years. This week we'll talk about this: What would it mean, and what would it look like for each of us individually, and for us as a church, to dedicate ourselves to being GENEROUS people?

Tomorrow we're continuing the message series I started last Sunday with a message about Love. This series is called "A Decade to Make a Difference," and it will focus on the values and practices that God calls us to ... and I'm wanting to highlight four of these for Bethel in the coming years. This first one is obvious, and it often gets lip service, but is actually really hard to live out. What would it mean, and what would it look like for each of us individually, and for us as a church, to dedicate ourselves to being LOVING people?

Tomorrow is the last Sunday of the year ... and, of course, in the decade. What will life bring us in the next 10 years? What do we hope for, what do we fear? On Sunday we're going to think about the upcoming years from a spiritual perspective. What is it that God wants for us, and from us, in the next few years? We can't know the future, but we can know the One who holds the future, and entrust ourselves to His care. Not only that, but we can commit ourselves to live in the way that will bring Life and meaning, no matter what the future brings. We will be looking at a small section of the prayer of Jesus on the night before he was arrested and later crucified (John 17). In this prayer Jesus talks about bringing glory to God the Father by finishing the work the Father had given him to do. We're going to think about what that implies for us, not only about Jesus, and the work He did ... but also what it implies for us, and how we intend to live in the next few years.

The Good News at the Heart of Christmas ... and our message at Bethel Church People sometimes ask, What does it mean to be a Christian? What do Christians believe? How can I get a new start in my faith? Here is a simple, three-point explanation of the "Good News" (Gospel) that is the heart of our faith: 1. God’s Design God created the world. We can see beauty, purpose and evidence of design all around us. It's impossible to ignore. Just look at the intricate design of plants, the way the moon influences the tide, or the ever changing colors in a sunset. The Bible tells us that God originally designed a world that worked perfectly — where everything and everyone fit together in harmony. God created us for a purpose. He created us to know Him and to enjoy Him; to live and bring glory and honor to Him. (Read: Genesis 1:31, Psalm 19:1 & Ephesians 2:10) 2. Our Brokenness (Sin) If we look around at society, it's easy to see that humanity is not bringing glory to God. Rather there is a brokenness in our world. W

This weekend we continue our message series during Advent, where we focus on the theme of "waiting." Tomorrow I'll be preaching on Revelation 5, which tells us what the apostle John saw when the door opened and he was able to get a view into what heaven looks like. Last week we talked about the view he got of the Throne of God, and this week we'll talk about his view of the Lamb of God, who was "worthy to open the Scroll" with Seven Seals. (I know, I know ... unless you're familiar with the imagery of the book of Revelation, what I just described might sound like a scene in a fantasy novel or movie. But trust me, there is important and valid historical and spiritual teaching behind this imagery.) AND ... especially important for us during the Christmas season ... the teaching in this chapter helps us understand what Christmas really means. It helps us understand: who is this Jesus who's birth we're celebrating?

This weekend we continue our message series during Advent, where we focus on the theme of "waiting." Tomorrow I'll be preaching on Revelation 34, which tells us what the apostle John saw when the door opened and he was able to a view into what heaven looks like. What he saw was not a view of the expanse of heaven -- it didn't include any description of what ordinary people are doing there. (That comes later in the book.) In this chapter, John describes his view of the throne room of heaven ... and it's an awe-inspiring scene. The theme will be worship ... and what a contrast this sense of awe-struck worship is from the sentimental, sappy platitudes people offer during the Christmas season. This is not a view of the baby Jesus, cute little lambs, or cherubic angels ... this is a life-altering vision of the power, holiness, and glory of Almighty God.

This weekend we continue our message series during Advent, where we focus on the theme of "waiting." Tomorrow I'll be preaching on Revelation 3:14-22, which is a specific message to the church of Laodicea. This section contains some of the most familiar passages in the book of Revelation ("you are neither hot nor cold" and "behold I stand at the door and knock"), and it has some important things to say to us today.

This weekend we begin the season of Advent, where we focus on the theme of "waiting." I will be preaching on Revelations, chapters 2 and 3 during this series, which contain messages from the Spirit to several different churches during the end of the first century. We'll be looking at these messages, and seeking to discern what they can teach us about how to live with the world's uncertainties today.

This weekend we will focus on the theme of gratitude, as we are gearing up for the Thanksgiving Holiday. I will be preaching on I Samuel 7, which has the story of raising the Ebeneezer, which we sing about in the popular hymn "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing." I'll share the story behind that word, and focus on what it means for the expression of gratitude. We will not only talk about raising an Ebeneezer ... we're going to actually do it! You'll have to come on Sunday to see what that means, and what it will be like. Click here to go to our Facebook page ... scroll down on the page and watch a short video of me talking about this sermon Also, note that immediately after the service, we'll be voting on whether to extend a call to Don Damborg to serve as Worship Coordinator, for Ignite and Sunday worship at Bethel. I hope you can join us.

This weekend we conclude our message series on how involvement in community helps us grow. The series has been called "Better Together." Tomorrow I'm going to be preaching on Galatians 5 which talks about the two natures within each of us -- what Paul calls "the flesh" in this instance, and the Spirit. Within that passage, he also gives a warning about what can happen if they give in to the instincts of the flesh, when they are dealing with any kind of disagreement or conflict: "If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other." (Gal 5:13) Many of us have dealt with great pain as a result of things that happened in churches. The focus of this message will be on the challenge to focus on our part, and our reactions, when there is conflict.

This weekend we will have a special Sunday devoted to Addiction and Recovery. In the past we've done done this in September (September is National Recovery Month). We've switched things up this year because of my travel schedule. Tomorrow I'll be looking at the story of Naaman being healed of leprosy (recorded in 2 Kings 2), and draw from it an important reminder about the challenge of finding healing from addiction. By the way, there's an important message here for all of us ... not just alcohol and drug addicts and their families. The more we learn about the brain, and specifically how addictions hijack the reward centers of the brain, the more we see that the dynamics of addiction are at work with all kinds of behaviors, not just alcohol and drugs of abuse. We can -- and do -- become addicted to many different kinds of things, and our addictions exist on a spectrum from mild to severe. Most of us can identify with some kind of struggle with how we use food, drink, sex, drugs, work, computer gaming

Message given by Jerry Van Someren from Daniel 2:24-49.

This weekend we continue our message series on how involvement in community helps us grow. The series is called "Better Together." Tomorrow I'm going to be preaching on Acts 4, which talks about the aftermath of the first miracle that Peter and John did as the New Testament church was beginning to form. After being arrested for causing a near-riot in the Temple, they are instructed by the Jewish High Court leaders to stop talking about Jesus ... and they say that just can't do it. They feel compelled to talk about what they've seen and heard. What about us? What is our commitment to take the Gospel message we talk about in church on Sunday mornings and share that with others during the week? We're going to talk about this mark of a healthy church: UNSELFISHNESS ... it's not all about us.

Sermon by Arlan Koppendrayer using Psalm 47. Pastor Arlan Koppendrayer is from Trinity Hill Church in Chanhassen, MN.

This weekend we continue our message series on how involvement in community helps us grow. The series is called "Better Together." Tomorrow I'm going to be preaching on I Peter 4:10, which talks about using our spiritual gifts to serve others. The title of the sermon is "Getting in the Game" -- and this does not imply that what we do is just fun and games. Rather, the idea is that we're invited to be participants ... players ... rather than spectators.

This weekend we continue our message series on how involvement in community helps us grow. The series is called "Better Together." Tomorrow I'm going to be preaching for the second time from Acts 2:42-47 ... the passage that describes what the early believers did when the church got its start. This week I'm going to focus on the different kind of gatherings these early Christians had, and how that helped them grow.