From the Pastor’s Desk…

 “Equipping Forgiving Disciples to be God’s Redemptive A.G.E.N.T. In and
Beyond the Sanctuary.”
Luke 4:18-19 (CEV) 2 Corinthians 5:20-21 (NIV)

Available Generous Encouraged Nurtured Tither (AGENT)

Bethlehem’s 2014 theme thrust serves as a reminder of just a few of the spiritual accessories that can compliment a life redeemed and reconciled to God. As we embark upon our second 150th and as the banquet feast hosted by the Almighty draws nearer, we must ask ourselves, “Do I have all the right accessories?” Heaven’s tailors have confirmed that the final stitching on our robes that have been washed in the blood of the Lamb will be complete and ready. Because we have a few more “valleys and deserts” to spiritually navigate, final measurements are pending.

In the prophetic book that bears his name, the prophet Habakkuk after witnessing injustice among his people, later hears of God’s plan to use the enemy to execute God’ s judgment on Israel. Habakkuk was looking for a “house cleaning” while God was orchestrating a “house demolition!” Blown away by God’s decision, Habakkuk finally decides to take a couple of steps back and even go back to his ministry post to wait and see how God was going to work it out. While he is waiting he is instructed by God to write what he has been privileged to discern. God tells him to “Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.”

God has envisioned a Bethlehem people equipped for the work of ministry. A people who have been forgiven of their sins and redeemed from the curse and its consequences. Each Bethlehemite now has a redemptive stanza to the lyrics that tell their story. Now we can say, “I am redeemed, bought with a price, Jesus has changed my whole life; if anybody ask you, just who I am, tell them I am redeemed!”

God is counting on us to be his redemptive A.G.E.N.T.! Are you up for the ASSIGNMENT? MISSION POSSIBLE