New Bethel Weekly (July 27 2017)

¹⁶Rejoice always; ¹⁷ pray without ceasing; ¹⁸ in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

                                  1 Thesthsalonians 5:16-18 (NASB)

 

There is something about the power of prayer.  It has the ability to move mountains, tear down walls, and unit people.  Prayer can heal, comfort, and bring hope to a hopeless situation.  Prayer brings a believer to the front lines of a battle, the Throne Room of Grace, and under the protective wing of God.  Prayer allows our heart to cry, our spirit to rejoice, and all of us to have peace.  Prayer, through our savior Jesus, is a lifeline to the creator Himself.

Tomorrow night New Bethel will partner with Where So Ever Ministries Intl. and unit in prayer. Jesus said, “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.” (Matt 18:20). Have no doubt when we gather tomorrow it will be in the name of Jesus and for His glory.  We will come together to worship the person who is Jesus and pray in His name.

I know I keep saying what I love about New Bethel is…, but it is because there is so much that I love about our family of believers.  Another thing I love is the way we are unafraid to partner with ministries and create opportunities to unite the Body with those beyond our “four walls”.  I firmly believe that what will take the Church to the next level, will be looking beyond our division and finding ways to unit and strengthen the Body as a whole.  With that in mind, I encourage you not only to make plans to join with us tomorrow, starting at 7:30pm at New Bethel, but invite friends and family to do the same.

There are also a couple of fun fellowships to let you know about.  This Saturday the Women of New Bethel will be meeting at Judy Biemer’s home, 10am-2pm, for their next Women’s Meeting.  Obviously I’ve never been to one, but the testimonies I hear coming from these meetings are amazing.  It also doesn’t take much to see how these gatherings are serving to help strength friendship and community amongst our ladies.  If you have questions about Saturday’s meeting please contact either Keisha or Allison as soon as possible.

Speaking of testimonies, strengthened friendships, and building community, our Vine Groups are another great part of New Bethel that is doing that!  I know the August schedule has been advertised for a few weeks now, but it changed.  There will now be one BIG meeting on Tuesday Aug. 2^nd at 7pm.  All vines groups will be meeting at Ben & Jerrys, 3801 Hillsborough St Raleigh NC 27607.  The Vine Groups would like to invite everyone to join in this time of fellowship.  If you have never been part of a small group, or gone to a Vine Group meeting, this is a chance to ask questions about what happens there.  This is also a great chance to just hang out and fellowship with your New Bethel Family! So, mark your calendars and plan to join us.

Whew! We are busy busy this week.  I may not make everything, but I am looking forward to our time together.  Love ya.

 

Blessings,

~Allen Wilson

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New Bethel Weekly (July 7 2017)

Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses.

                                Joshua 1:3 (NASB)

 

It is time to get out of the building and start meeting the neighbors.  This Sunday is the next Evangelist Team meeting and we are going Prayer Walking!  The meeting starts about 15 minutes after Sunday Celebration and goes to about 2pm.  All of our team meetings are “open meetings” meaning everyone is welcome.  It doesn’t matter if you have been to all the meetings or none, you are invited to be part of this outing.

All the Evangelist Team meetings are Lunch-N-Learn style meetings, so remember to bring a brown bag lunch to eat before we go out.  For our first outing, we will be covering the campus.  For those that feel led, we will stop by the local businesses and introduce ourselves and New Bethel Church.  We want to be a blessing to our neighbors and to extend the open heaven that is over New Bethel so it rains on them too.

For those who are unfamiliar with prayer walking, it is exactly what it sounds like.  We literally walk around the campus and pray as Holy Spirit leads.  It will be a little warm, so dress accordingly and wear good walking shoes.  If you are planning to walk with us, please start praying now about what you are to release.  Also, see if Jesus is a laying a specific business on your heart.  Remember there are more businesses connected to our campus than Rays, Bucks and Jelly Beans.  If you are not able to walk with us, please keep the team covered in prayer.  You can also start lifting us up now and begin to pray-in those God Encounters.

In other news, New Bethel will NOT be serving at With Love from Jesus on Saturday.  While we will not be on site this month, it is a good time to remind everyone that we are a donation collection spot for WLFJ.  You are welcome to bring dry/canned food and gently used clothing to leave in the box located in the long hall by the kids’ classrooms.  Large items, like furniture, can be donated as well but should be taken directly to WLFJ.  For more information about location and donation hours please visit their website.  I cannot say enough good things about the work done at With Love from Jesus.  Know that when you donate to WLFJ you are giving to an organization that works hard to not only meet the physical needs of their honored guests, but their spiritual needs as well.

Finally, Vine Groups are still going strong and meeting dates are listed below.  If you are new to New Bethel we would like you to know that Vine Groups is the name of our small groups or home groups.  There are currently 3 meetings that take place at the homes of our members.  Vine groups are a great way to feel more connected to New Bethel and get to know some of the people you worship with.

That’s it for this week.  I love you and look forward to worshiping with you on Sunday.

 

Blessings,

~Allen Wilson

New Bethel Weekly (22 June 2017)

6Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May they prosper who love you.
7 “May peace be within your walls, And prosperity within your palaces.”

                                        Psalm 122: 7-8 (NASB)

There is physically only one place on Earth that the Lord God has set aside as His, Israel. “‘The land, moreover, shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine;’” (Leviticus 25:23).  For this reason alone, there may be no more important place on the whole Earth.  Yet, there is also so many promises associated with the land and the people of Israel that makes this small piece of land important.  Speaking to Abraham, the father of Israel, “And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who [a]curses you I will [b]curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.’” (Genesis 12:3), maybe the most famous of these. Of course, it is also the place where our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, lived, died, was buried, and rose again.

Israel even gives us reassurance that the promises God has given us personally will be fulfilled.  It is amazing that we can read Leviticus 25 and later read accounts of Israel being overrun and restored in scripture.  Not only can we read it, but we can see that promise being fulfilled in modern times.  The most notable being the restoration of Israel, to the world, on May 14, 1948.  God’s promises are not only yes and amen, but eternal!

There are many things that I love about New Bethel and just one of them is the honor we show Israel.  Part of our Morning Prayer Call includes a time to pray for the peace of Israel.  Our WhatsApp Prayer Group regularly has people calling on our members to prayer for specific events happening in the Holy Lands.  We are not only passionate about what happens in our community, but are passionate about the destiny of Israel.

This Sunday will be extra special as two of our own, Judy Biemer and Ellen Cureton, have returned from a recent trip to the Holy Land. They will be sharing about their time there, complete with pictures, stories and even testimonies.  I am so excited to hear what they will say!  In addition to being a special day for us, it is a great chance to invite a friend to experience Israel.

Blessings,

Allen Wilson

 

New Bethel Weekly (15 June 2017)

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

                                                                             Galatians 5:22-23 (NASB)

 

 

Two days and two shootings in the news.  The United States seems to love tragedy and hatred.  When it is not in the news, it’s readily available in the form of entertainment.  I cannot even begin to count the number of CSI, Law & Order and true life crime dramas on TV.  Throw in reruns and it seems the message of outrage and violence can fill our minds 24/7.  Where is the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control?

 

The truth is, all of those things are the fruit of the Spirit and should be within us.  When Jesus told us to love our neighbors, I am convinced He wanted us to show them love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  When He said we would do “even greater things,”  I am convinced He expected us to get out and help a stranger, neighbor or friend.  I believe a key to bringing freedom to our region isn’t just setting ourselves apart from the world in our hearts and minds, but stepping into the world and shinning.

 

The truth is, we have the answers to every question, problem and/or situation in Christ Jesus.  We ARE the solution in most cases.  My challenge to you is to go be the solution.  Find a person you can help and start helping.  Help fix a broken fence, babysit a young couple’s kids so they can have a night out, teach a teenager how to work on a car, or make lunch and share it with a grandmother.  There are thousands of problems in our area and we have the answers to each one.  You, you reading this, you have the answer!  Just pick one problem and start being awesome!

 

Here’s the kicker, you don’t have to talk about Jesus.  Sure, because He is such a big part of your life, Jesus will come up at some point.  When that happens, go with it and let Holy Spirit speak through you.  Until that happens, just keep problem solving.  The kindness of a stranger is so counter cultural that stories about it go viral on social media.  The world is starving for good news and the Good News.  With that in mind, I encourage you to be strange this weekend.  Be counter cultural.  Show your neighborhood a little more love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control and a lot less of the other stuff.

 

Blessings,

~Allen Wilson