Bethesda Shalom

14. Church Discipline – Paul M. Williams

1 Corinthians 15:9-13 What kind of father fails ever to discipline his son? What kind of mother lets her children grow wild without ever pruning them? The world calls this love, but the Word of God says, “He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes” (Prov. 13:24).   In this fourteenth and last teaching part in the Church series, we turn our attention to the topic of Church discipline.  When the Church gives the green light to professing believers living in willful sin, it fails to convey the correct message from God. God is not okay with His people sinning, and His Church need to communicate the same for the purity of the Body and the restoration of the sinner.     

13. Church Leadership – Paul M. Williams

Acts 20:28 Mention the word leadership today, and you’re bound to be met with a mixture of varied responses ranging from the largely pessimistic to the nominally optimistic! Stick the word “Church” in front of “leadership” and any trace of optimism there was speedily vanishes away!!  Try as one may to dress things up and paint a positive picture, when many hear the words “Church leadership”, they are left with a bitter taste in their mouth!  I wish I could say that such ill feelings are misguided and misjudged, but I can’t.  It is with good reason that Church Leadership over the last few decades has received such a bad rap.  In this 13th sermon part, we turn our attention to see what God has to say in His Word about Church leadership.  It’s time to bring the standard back into leadership.  

12. Evangelism and Missions – Paul M. Williams

Ephesians 4:11 There is a plague today that is infesting the Western Evangelical Church and greatly harming the Ekklesia.  It’s this notion of individualism — that I can be a dismembered member of Christ’s Body and still somehow function in ministry.  You’ll search the pages of the New Testament in vain to find such a pattern!  In every place you see ministry, you will see members connected to the Body!!   The gifts are given to the BODY — a local assembly of committed individuals/believers.  Different gifts are given to different members within that local assembly for the profit of the whole BODY.  This whole idea that one can be dismembered from a local assembly and yet be serving in “ministry” is a farce, and nowhere is this travesty more seen than in the field of evangelism!! 

Worshipping God in Spirit and Truth – Jason Wright

John 4:28 May the Lord bless you through His servant Jason.  There is something for everyone in this timely sermon.

11. The Gifts of the Holy Spirit– Paul M. Williams

1 Corinthians 12:31 The Church of Jesus Christ is first and foremost a spiritual body of believers who have had a supernatural encounter with the Living God, and through the new birth have been grafted into Christ’s spiritual body.  Jesus Christ is the spiritual head, and from Him flows down to each member, every spiritual blessing and spiritual gift needed for the sound nourishment and spiritual growth of the entire body.  These spiritual gifts are not mere niceties that make for a cosy addition; instead, they are crucial components required for the spiritual building of Christ’s Church.  In this eleventh teaching part, we examine the proper attitude that is required to excel in these gifts for the blessing of the Body.