Bethel Baptist Church

06/02/2026

Come, Now is the Time
Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. Psalm 95:1-6
I am remembering those Thanksgivings past. Oh, the joy of family that I grew up with in days long gone. Even after all the children of my mom and dad were grown, married, and had family of their own, we just added tables in the living room to seat all of us. After my dad passed away my mom lost interest in hosting a family gathering. My wife assumed the role of gathering all of us together. But life changes happen, and we moved a distance away from where most of the family lived. Some of my siblings have passed away now and the grandchildren of my parents are not as interested in keeping the family traditions.
I think family gathering is the greatest thanksgiving we can share with each other. It does not have to be on a holiday, just gather, and give thanks that God has blessed us with family! That is what is so great about having a church family to gather and feast on the word of God! “Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.” What a joy it is to come and celebrate the thanksgiving of praise to God, who has blessed us with a family that gathers to enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise! (Psalm 100) I sometimes wonder if we enter the presence of God in this way!
“Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.” The Psalmist Has the right idea on how to approach the gathering of the saints, extoling God. The word extol is defined as, “highly praising.” I am not sure we can do that in our comfortable pews, sitting still, and never expressing anything! Then we seem to pick and choose what manner of song that we participate by singing along. If the words of a song give thanksgiving and extols the Lord Jesus Christ it is worthy. If it magnifies the goodness of God, it is honorable to God.
“For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.” All the beauty of this life is created by our great God. The joy of thanksgiving flows from our heart to the one true God who loves us and gave Himself for us that we might have joy!
The joy is not the need to loosen our belts after the feast, but to praise the one who is responsible for the feast! So, “Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.” Enter the gates, the living room, with thanksgiving, the courts, the family with praise when we enter the sanctuary of the house of God! For He is a great God, our rock of salvation, and the great king!
“Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.”
Grace and peace, Eddy

06/02/2026

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Psalm 63 is one of those psalms that becomes a whole lot more powerful when you realize where David is when he writes it. He is not sitting in a palace with servants bringing him snacks and refilling his cup every fifteen minutes. He is in the wilderness of Judah. Dry country. Hot country. The kind of place where you start noticing every patch of shade and suddenly become very interested in where the nearest source of water might be.

And what does David write?

"O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you" (Psalm 63:1, ESV).

Not, "Lord, could we talk about my situation?" Not, "Lord, could You explain why everything has gone sideways?" Not even, "Lord, could You please make the people trying to kill me stop trying to kill me?"

His first thought is God.

I don't know about you, but my first thought in a difficult situation is usually something along the lines of, "Okay, what's the plan? How do I fix this? Is there coffee? There should definitely be coffee."

David goes somewhere deeper. He says that what his soul wants most is not a solution. What his soul wants most is God Himself.

That is a strange idea in a world that constantly tells us happiness is one purchase, one promotion, one relationship, one achievement, or one answered prayer away. We keep thinking that if we can just get the next thing, then we will finally feel settled. Then we get the thing, enjoy it for about fifteen minutes, and immediately start looking for the next thing.

Human beings are remarkably talented at this.

We finally get the vehicle we wanted and suddenly we're comparing it to somebody else's vehicle. We finally clean the house and then somebody walks through wearing muddy boots. We finally get caught up on work and three new emails arrive before we can even enjoy the accomplishment. Life has a way of moving the finish line every time we think we're getting close.

David says the deepest longing of the human heart isn't actually for more stuff. It's for God.

Then he says something that almost sounds outrageous.

"Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you" (Psalm 63:3, ESV).

Better than life.

Think about that.

Not better than a bad day. Not better than a difficult season. Better than life itself.

Most of us spend a lot of time trying to improve our lives. We want things to be a little easier, a little safer, a little more comfortable, a little less stressful. David says there is something greater than all of it combined: the steadfast love of God.

Because everything else eventually changes.

Money comes and goes. Health can change. Jobs change. Relationships change. Seasons change. The people we love move away, grow older, or leave this earth entirely. The things we depend on have a habit of reminding us that they were never designed to carry the full weight of our hope.

God's love doesn't do that.

One of my favorite verses in this chapter is verse 5: "My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food" (ESV).

Now David has my attention.

Because there are few things more disappointing than expecting a feast and discovering somebody has provided three celery sticks and a motivational quote.

David isn't talking about surviving. He is talking about being satisfied.

And that is the amazing thing about God. He doesn't simply keep us alive spiritually. He fills us. He strengthens us. He gives peace in situations that make absolutely no sense. He gives hope when the circumstances haven't changed. He gives joy that somehow survives even when life gets messy.

Let's just say I've noticed that most of the things I worried about years ago turned out not to be nearly as important as I thought they were. The things that seemed enormous eventually shrank. The things I thought would make me happy didn't always do the job. The things I thought I couldn't live without turned out to be things I could live without after all.

But God has remained faithful through every season.

That is really what Psalm 63 is about.

It is about discovering that God is not merely useful when life falls apart. He is not simply the emergency contact we call when everything else fails. He is the living water our souls were thirsty for all along.

David learned that lesson in the wilderness.

Many of us learn it there too.

And while I would never voluntarily choose the wilderness, I have to admit that some of the clearest views of God's faithfulness happen in the dry places, because when everything else is stripped away, you discover that the One thing you truly need has been there all along.

06/01/2026

Returning the Air I Breathe
The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." John 3:8
I remember one football game in high school where I was temporarily injured. We were playing the McLean Tigers. I had jumped up in the air to down a punt and an opposing player hit me in the breadbasket! As I lay on the ground trying to get my breath wondering if I was going to die, the coach ran onto the field and began to raise me up and down with my belt. I thought this was the dumbest thing anyone could do but in what seemed like minutes I finally began to breathe again.
It can be a very frightening thing to have the wind knocked out of you. It seems the more you struggle to get the air back into your lungs the worse it gets and panic strikes at your very being. I have also had to have a trach surgery to allow me to breathe when I had an infection in my throat area. I listened to a doctor explain the importance of breathing for thirty minutes when I was struggling to get a breath in through my grossly swollen throat. I wanted to tell that doctor if anyone knew the importance of breathing it was me. I did not need a lecture. I needed air in my lungs.
So many times, throughout the scriptures the Holy Spirit is equated with breath or wind. In Genesis when God created man from the dust of the earth it says that He breathed the breath of life into man’s nostrils. It is the Holy Spirit that gives breath and life to mankind. It is sin that knocks that breathe out of us. The very first sin did it to all mankind. The freedom that God gave to the first man was that breath of life that He put into us. Only one thing that restricted freedom was the very thing that Satan tempted them to break God’s heart with. Mankind kind died that die. We lost the breath of life needed to sustain life forever.
With the wind knocked out of Adam and Eve it changed even the face of the earth as well as mankind’s relationship with God. Before God walked in the garden with man every day. After the breath of life, the Holy Spirit, left man it became a struggle for the freedom known by Adam before now had left. It is importance of breathing, but God is giving to us a lifetime of the importance of breathing. The Holy Spirit is the very life we seek in this lifetime. It brings a rebirth into life from death.
When we confess Jesus is Lord the Holy Spirit comes to indwell within us to seal that life. Paul explains that the Holy Spirit is God’s seal guaranteeing that we are His. Without the Spirit there is no life. The very air that we breathe as a child of God is not the normal air of the world. It is divine in nature. The Holy Spirit is a lot better than a tracheotomy! There is surgical procedure, but it is one of supernatural nature. It changes from the inside out.
In our physical birth we grow on the outside. In the Spiritual birth we grow from the inside out. The great thing about the Holy Spirit’s indwelling is that He will take us to places unknown to this world. The Spirit gives a life that is beyond anything this world has to offer. There is joy in the journey that is led by the Spirit.
Do not let sin knock the air out of you. Believe me, with the air knock out of your breadbasket it is miserable! Submit yourselves to the Holy Spirit’s lifting you up and down to return the air to your soul! He truly is the breath of life!
Grace and peace, Eddy

05/30/2026

Hallelujah set free. Tomorrow at 10 am. Matthew 26:27-28

05/29/2026

Slavery or Freedom, You Choose
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.
Ephesians 1:7
I remember as a young boy sitting at the table with little books and stamps and wetting those stamps and putting them in the little book. S&H Greens Stamps were the greatest. You could look through their catalog and find things that you normally would not buy because you did not need them but you sure wished you had them. When you got enough of those stamps then you could redeem them for some of these wonderful things. I received several Christmas presents that were redeem by the stamps. Any body else remember the fun of sticking them in the little book?

The redemption is a slave term dating way back into the Greco-Roman BC era. Slaves were freed by the payment of a ransom; this was called redemption for the debt owed to the master. The slaves themselves could not pay that ransom after all they were owned by the master and were not paid for their labor. Someone else had to pay that ransom. I believe that most of the time it was a family member that would pay the debt to free, to redeem, their loved ones. It was always a hardship to for those who redeem their loved ones. The sacrifices they had to make to come up with the price of the redemption were very hard.

There were many slaves who were never redeemed because the cost was just too great. Families and friends just could not come up with the price of redemption. The slaves that were redeemed by the love, the unfailing love of others, learned the meaning of grace. Grace is the unfailing love that leads to redemption no matter the cost; making the sacrifice for the freedom of those they loved.

You and I were slaves, slaves to sin, of the ways of this world. We were separated from the one who loved us. We were and are in need of redemption. Our debt is so great that no matter how much money our loved ones or even ourselves could raise, we could never be redeemed. The price of our iniquities of breaking the covenant of man the creature with God the creator, that no amount of money or any earthy treasure could ever pay the price.
There was only one who could pay the ransom for you and me; Jesus Christ Son of God. The price was so great that only the blood of the savior of the world could pay. In Mark 10:45 Christ says, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” Christ paid the price for our redemption with His blood; not just a few but to all who would accept Him as their savior, their redeemer.

The grace of God, His unfailing love and faithfulness, brought God to the place of desiring that all would be redeem from their slavery, that He allowed His Son to willing lay down His life for us to pay the ransom. For in Christ there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life has set me free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:1-2. Why choose slavery when you can choose life in Christ Jesus?
Grace and peace, Eddy

05/28/2026

Hallelujah, Set Free
Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Matthew 26:17-18
Over the last few years, we have been hearing about how certain lives matter. All lives matter! God is responsible for every life that exists. We are all a part of His creation. The value of a person does not come from themselves; it comes from the creator. So, all lives matter. But some place no value on life and are willing to take innocent blood.
The great things He has given to us to show He cares for each and every life. He is no respecter of anyone. In other words, no one is greater than any other. Even our Founding Fathers knew this when they stated, “All men are created equal.”
As Jesus prepared for the sacrifice of His life He stated to the disciples, "Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Notice “All of you.” Jesus did not exclude anyone. All of you reminds me of the Hymn “Whosoever Will.” It is our choice to place the value of life on the relationship with the sacrificial Lamb of God, Jesus!
When we participate in the Lord’s Supper in our churches we are declaring we have been covered with the blood of Jesus as it ran down the cross. We are set free from the slavery of sin by the blood that covers us and not just the doorpost of the Children of Israel in Egypt. Just as they were freed from the slavery in Egypt, we are freed from the slavery of sin. Hallelujah!
Grace and peace, Eddy

05/27/2026

The Second Exodus
"On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn--both men and animals--and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt. "This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD--a lasting ordinance.” Exodus 12:12-14
On a trip to West Virgina I visited a historic plantation called Adaland. By the front door where you could see the whole plantation was a painting of the acreage. It was cleared of the trees and fauna that surrounded the fields. The painting was of the time it was cultivated. As I looked out of the front door at the area of the painting, it was vastly different. The trees and fauna had overtaken the fields once cleared. With the rainfall the trees grow at a rate of 18 inches a year. Nature had taken back what it once had been before the owners cleared it.
The drought that had sent Jacob and his family to Egypt eventually led the Children of Israel into slavery. The hatred for the descendants of Jacob in Egypt had led them to cruel and hard lives. Slavery was and never will be a humane treatment. They cried out for God to relieve them of their plight. He heard their cry and sent Moses to lead them back to the Promised Land.
God sent plagues on Egypt to convince Pharoah to release them. The last plague was to destroy the first born of every household including the animals. The descendants of Jacob were to slaughter a lamb, place the blood over their doorposts and the death angel would pass over their homes leaving their firstborn alive. The next day they were released by Pharoah to leave. This was the first Exodus from slavery.
We observe the Lord’s Supper as oft as we do it to recognize the second Exodus of slavery. Jesus covered the sin with His blood so that the second death would pass over. Pass over, the Children of Israel ate the lamb that was slaughtered to recognize God’s death angel passing over their home saving their first born. Jesus, the Lamb of God shed His blood so that we might be set free from the slavery of sin. God returns His creation of man back to what He intended it to be just as the Ada Land returned to what it was before it was changed.
Grace and peace, Eddy

05/26/2026

Grow and Bloom
Just as rain and snow descend from the skies and don't go back until they've watered the earth, Doing their work of making things grow and blossom, producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry, 11 So will the words that come out of my mouth not come back empty--handed. They'll do the work I sent them to do, they'll complete the assignment I gave them. Isaiah 55:10-11 (MSG)
It is said that people only retain 10% of what they hear with hearing alone. I am not sure that this is a low enough percentage. Sometimes I wonder if people retain anything they hear. On a Monday morning ask someone what their preacher spoke about Sunday morning. At best most will have to think about it for a minute or two before they can recall the words spoken.
It is true though that when you add visual to the words the percentage of retention goes up. Add an activity and the percentage climbs even more. Speakers are told that you must repeat something three times if your listeners are to retain what they have heard. You must get people involved for them to retain much of what you speak.
Reading is a much better way to retain information. Reading it two or three times will improve your retention of knowledge as well. When I was in college I would take notes from the professor’s lecture, record them on a tape player, and listen as I read them on my notes. I graduated! Enough said!
Sometimes I would write the notes again and it helped even more. I am astonished that the greatest knowledge we can ever retain has so few people who take notes during a sermon or even studying the Bible on their own. Do you ever underline or write notes in your Bible?
“So will the words that come out of my mouth not come back empty--handed. They'll do the work I sent them to do, they'll complete the assignment I gave them.” The Word of God that we take in has the power to be retained. We even have a Holy Spirit that Jesus said would remind us of the things He has taught us! The power of God’s words that come from His mouth has the power to create the universe, the sun, the stars, and this life that we have in the flesh as well as the eternal life we have in Christ Jesus.
It is with the words of God that we are saved. Romans 10:9 states, “That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” He even gives to us the words to say that brings life from death and our eternal salvation.
This passage starts out with, “Just as rain and snow descend from the skies and don't go back until they've watered the earth, doing their work of making things grow and blossom, producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry.” The Word of God feeds us. It is necessary for us to grow and mature in our knowledge and relationship with the Father. The word of God gives us the necessary nutrients to grow and to blossom. It is said that anything that blooms is a fruit. If we bloom then we produce fruit that Jesus gave us the command to do in John 15:5, “"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” Without the Word of God, we cannot bloom as a follower of Christ or call ourselves a follower. A disciple of Christ teaches others the words of their master. How can we teach without knowing the words of the master? How can we grow and blossom without the nourishment of the Word? Are you hungry for the Word of God?
Grace and peace, Eddy

05/24/2026

Bethel Baptist Church

05/22/2026

Make Your Joy Complete!
The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less. John 3:29-30
Sometimes when we are humbled by something someone has done for us or to us it truly does bring joy. Now I know we can be humbled in a negative way and those usually hurt. But for someone to humble us in a positive way brings great joy. To know someone cares enough about you to do something needed in your life is such a blessing when you are not even cognitive of their awareness of your need. And we are all needful. Life in this world can be very hard at times.
Just as Mary without full understanding anointed Jesus’ feet with oil in preparation of His burial. Sometimes just expressing our love and appreciation of someone can meet a need in their life. John the Baptist had a need that every member of people needs—a Savior! John was humbled that Jesus came to him to be baptized. John was the one to prepare the way for Jesus’ arrival in this world. God had called John to great responsibility in his life. One that would change the known world and the world to come. John had been the center of attention for a time in his ministry in the wilderness. He had survived on locust and honey. He wore camel skin clothes which I am sure were not the style of the day, but he was obedient to the call of God. People had flocked to hear him preach and to be baptized.
In some ways you could say that for his day John was a celebrity. Now the One John had preached about was here and some of John’s disciples were complaining about the fact that Jesus was drawing people to Himself that were being baptized. Jesus now was the one who people were flocking to, to hear His words and believe. John’s disciples were humbled in a way they felt negative about. Jesus was getting the attention instead of them. What happened to the words that they had heard John preach for so long? Did they not hear John say, "Here he is, God's Passover Lamb! He forgives the sins of the world! This is the man I've been talking about, the One who comes after me but is really ahead of me. I knew nothing about who he was--only this: that my task has been to get Israel ready to recognize him as the God-Revealer. That is why I came here baptizing with water, giving you a good bath and scrubbing sins from your life so you can get a fresh start with God." John 1:29-31 MSG
We get the big head sometimes and begin to think more of ourselves than we should. That is what John’s disciples did. They had been with the one who was touching the lives of so many people. They thought that John was the promised Messiah even though he continually denied it.
John realized who Christ was, the Son of God, the Lamb of God. He also realized that even though he had been a servant of God that even he needed a savior. For a person to find a savior for their life, and everyone needs a savior, that person must first humble themselves before almighty God. Despite John’s disciples, John told them Jesus may have come after him, yet Jesus was before him.
John had been waiting for the savior to come, now instead of being proud and the center of attention, he declared, “That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less.” As we approach Sunday remember that you needed a savior and humble yourselves before God knowing that “He must become greater; I must become less!” Humble yourself and give Jesus the praise!
Graceandpeace,Eddy