Bethany Bullet - June 26, 2013

We will trust, trust in God alone,

We will stand, stand upon His Word

And whatever comes our way,

We are strong, and we are brave

And we will stand together, stand forever, we stand strong

Standing up for God each day, we will stand strong.

Every year I get VBS songs stuck in my head and this year was no exception.  This past week here on campus many experienced the electricity of Kingdom Rock VBS, where kids stand strong for God.  It was awesome seeing the excitement in the children’s eyes, hearing them proclaim the truths of scripture and learning the most amazing story about Jesus.  If you have not experienced VBS before you need to do it sometime.  It is AWEWSOME!

As we travel through the book of Galatians this summer I want to jump ahead in the book a bit this week.  Open your Bibles up to Galatians chapter 5, looking at verse 1, “Christ has freed us so that we may enjoy the benefits of freedom. Therefore, be firm in this freedom, and don’t become slaves again.” (Galatians 5:1)  That’s how the God’s Word version translates the verse and the English Standard Version says, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”

In a few weeks our country will celebrate freedom.  Fireworks and apple pie, thematic bunting and block parties will abound to celebrate freedom.  And while earthly freedom is great and is the foundation of our country, as citizens of the Body of Christ we have been given a different kind of freedom, freedom from sin and because of Jesus we can stand strong.  That is not something to take for granted.

We spent a lot of time this week at VBS talking about standing strong. 

On Monday our Bible point was that God’s love helps us…stand strong and we looked at Psalm 23 and heard from King David who reminds us that God takes good care of his people.  Our theme verse for the day was from Psalm 18:1, “I love you Lord; you are my strength.”

It was the love of God that sent Jesus to the earth and it was His love that sent Him to the cross.  Because of Jesus we have been set free to stand firm!

On Tuesday we heard about the courage of Queen Esther who stood firm when talking to the king about the plot to destroy the Jewish people with the help of her cousin Mordeci.  We learned that friends and family help us…stand strong!

Of course we know that we have all been adopted into the family of God through Jesus who stood firm for us as He faced God’s wrath.  We find encouragement in what Jesus did and from one another in the body of Christ.  Our theme verse for the day was from 1 Thessalonians 5:11, “So encourage each other and build each other up.”

On Wednesday we experienced what is was like for Nehemiah when he returned to Jerusalem after the exile to rebuild the walls.  Nehemiah’s name means “the comfort of Yahweh” and by his work the people were comforted as the walls were rebuilt, but it wasn’t easy.  There were people who didn’t want the people to succeed, but Nehemiah encouraged the people to pray.  We learned that prayer helps us…stand strong.

In our theme verse for the day from the book of Philippians we hear the Apostle Paul’s encouragement, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.” (Philippians 4:6)

Prayer is that foundation of faith that was begun in baptism and continues for all believers until we are called home to heaven.

On Thursday at VBS we entered the tomb where Jesus was buried only to discover that he was not there, he was alive.  Through Jesus our sin has been erased and we are free.  Our theme verse from Isaiah said it this way.  “Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock.”  Trusting God helps us…stand strong!  Paul said it this way, “For freedom Christ has set us free”

On Friday we took a look at God’s word and learned that the Bible helps us…stand strong!  Our story was from the book of 2 Kings where we find the 8 year old King Josiah who starts cleaning and rebuilding the temple.  In the process he finds a most precious item, the Holy Scriptures.  In those days, the word of God had been lost but in Josiah’s time it was found.  Our theme verse was from Psalm 119:105, “Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.”

Christ has set us free to stand!  But Paul continues in our text from Galatians, “¹³ You were indeed called to be free, brothers and sisters. Don’t turn this freedom into an excuse for your corrupt nature to express itself. Rather, serve each other through love.” (Galatians 5:13)

Freedom to stand is not something to take lightly.  It came at a great price…the life of God’s own son Jesus.  Just because we have been set free does not give us an excuse to do whatever we want.  Our freedom calls us to serve each other through love. 

Standing firm does is not a state of being but a state of doing.  It is not doing something to earn favor with God but serving others to show God’s favor to our neighbors. 

We love, because God loved us.

We serve because Jesus was a servant for all.

We stand strong because Jesus stood in our place and it is only because of Him that we can stand strong and one day we will stand forever.

We will trust, trust in God alone,

We will stand, stand upon His Word

And whatever comes our way,

We are strong, and we are brave

And we will stand together, stand forever, we stand strong

Standing up for God each day, we will stand strong.

Let us pray…

-Pastor Seth Moorman