Mt. Bethel Church

When you adopt a position of prayer, darkness trembles. 🙏

This summer, we're sending out 4️⃣ different mission teams from our church to share the gospel of Christ with the nations:

🇭🇳 Our Honduras team will be working with Orphanage Emmanuel and caring for over 300 children who were abandoned or abused. This team leaves tomorrow, June 14.

🇪🇪 Our Estonia team will be helping seminary and local churches with ministry. They left yesterday afternoon.

🇰🇪 One member of our church will be working later this month with our missions partners, Project82, who not only care for babies that have been abandoned, but also work with women to break down barriers that might keep them from being able to support their children.

🇪🇨 Our team going to Ecuador in July will be helping Servants in Faith and Technology (SIFAT) with building renovations to a local church, as well as helping that local congregation host a VBS for their community.

We prayed the words of Ephesians 6:19-20 over these missionaries this Sunday. SAVE this post as reminder to pray for them throughout the summer as they leave for their various assignments, taking the gospel with them as they go. 🙏

If we're going to win in battle, we have to have the right equipment:

🔹 The Belt of Truth - provides the foundation for our spiritual armor. When we're wrapped in God's truth, we are well equipped to discern the lies and deceptions of the enemy. We wear it by aligning our values and actions with God's character and will.

🔹 The Breastplate of Righteousness - to guard our hearts, which are incredibly vulnerable to manipulation by the enemy. The Bible calls the heart the "wellspring of life." If it's corrupted, then everything else will be thrown out of whack. We wear it by growing in our faith and continually filling our hearts with the righteousness of the Lord.

🔹 The Shoes of the Gospel of Peace - to ground us and motivate us to live in the peace available through salvation. We wear the shoes of peace by leaning into the peace available to us through our faith and by living in such a way that shares that peace with others.

🔹 The Shield of Faith - to extinguish the fiery darts of doubt, fear, and temptation that the enemy hurls at believers. When the voice of the enemy throws our shame and doubt at us, we can hold up and shield ourselves with our faith in Jesus’s victory over sin, death, and the devil.

🔹 The Helmet of Salvation - to protect our minds. When we preach the gospel to ourselves, reminding ourselves of our assured salvation through our faith in Jesus’s death and resurrection, we can protect our minds against the devil’s attempts to convince us to doubt our God’s almighty power and unfailing love for us.

🔹 The Sword of the Spirit (Word of God) - to fight back against the schemes of the enemy first by using its truth to discount his lies, but also to cut away the sin in our lives. The devil might tell us “it’s no big deal” or “everyone is doing it” or “it’s all you’ve ever wanted,” but we can answer with Scripture to reason with ourselves that God’s will, design, and purpose for our lives is better than anything the world has to offer or anything we can achieve on our own.

Our ladies had such a great start to their new Bible study today!

Women of all ages gathered to fellowship together and dive deep into a study of the Apostle Paul's letter to the churches of Galatia. Next week, they'll continue to learn the differences between false gospels and the true gospel of salvation through faith in Jesus alone. We're grateful for each of these women for taking time out of their week to study the Word of God!

The armor of God is the Lord’s resource to the believer to stand his or her ground against the enemy. It will provide you with the protection and efficiency you need in battle against spiritual adversaries.

How to Wear the Armor of God

“Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Ephesians 6:14-17

This is the church 👏 on 👏 mission. 👏

There are families in our community who depend on the free and reduced lunch at public schools to ensure their children have at least one nutritious meal during the day. But now that school is out for the summer, that free or reduced lunch isn't an option.

Yesterday after our 11 am service, several members of our church family came together to pack bags and boxes of food that will be distributed as part of MUST Ministries summer lunch program, which meets the need for these food-insecure households that depend on free or reduced lunch during the school year.

We're so grateful for our church family's amazing support of this program and love for these kids in our community! 💛

SHARE this post and encourage your friends to pray for families who will receive these meals to be blessed. Pray that the Holy Spirit will use these meals to open their hearts to Jesus. 🙏

"As we pursue Jesus, who is Truth, our eyes are opened to the spiritual reality around us. The more we become acquainted with this truth, it will impact our lives and prepare us for the spiritual battles that are to come." 🗣️ Pastor Jody Ray

Summer may have just started, but fall will be here before you know it. Register your kids for fall sports today!

Mt. Bethel Recreation Youth Sports, Group fitness, and Family Activities

“Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” Ephesians 6:13

Now this is a reason to shout "THANKS GOD!"

We're so proud of our kids and their generous hearts to sponsor children in India, and we're incredibly grateful for our supportive church family. At the beginning of this week, we challenged our kids to raise $1,500–enough to sponsor 300 kids in India. They blew us away by giving $3,150.

Inspired by our kids' generosity, a member of our church graciously agreed to match what was given for a total of $6,300–enough to ensure 1,260 children in India will get to attend VBS through our missions partners in South Asia. 🙌

🎬 That’s a wrap on SCUBA VBS! 🪸

We had a blast diving deep into a friendship with God this week. Not only is God a friend who is real, who loves, and who is forever, but He’s a friend we can TRUST. 🙌

If you believe all of the above AND you had a great time this week, comment “Thanks God!” below! 👇

This week would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of our NextGen Team and Volunteers. THANK YOU to all of our staff and volunteers for making VBS a success! 💛

"Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." Proverbs 4:23

Day 3️⃣ of VBS was an ocean of fun! 🪸

🐠 We learned God is a friend forever. By dying on the cross for our sins, Jesus made it possible for us to spend eternity with Him in heaven. If you've repented of your sins and chosen to follow God, reply to this post by telling us when you asked Jesus to be your forever friend!

🐠 We memorized John 11:25: “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying.”

🐠 We raised enough money to send over 400 kids to VBS in India through Mt. Bethel's missions partners in South Asia! 🙌 That exceeded our goal! With one more day left of VBS, we're praying for God to exceed our expectations again and help us raise enough to send 500 kids. Prayerfully consider giving online to help us!

The Bible is clear: supernatural forces of evil are real. Not only that, but they at work trying to destroy you. Learn how to fight back! 👇

Spiritual Warfare is Real. While accepting salvation means God has made peace with you, it also means the devil has made you his number ONE target! Be strong in the Lord and fight back.

God is a friend who LOVES 💛 That's what we learned on Day 2 of VBS this week!

The people of Nineveh did bad things that broke God's heart and would only lead to their destruction. But God loved them so much, He sent Jonah to tell them how they could be saved!

Sometimes those around us can be hard to love, like the people of Nineveh . But Jesus told us in John 13:34 that we should love them the way He has loved us.

If you're grateful for God's love, reply with a heart to this post!

Help our kids meet their VBS missions offering goal this week! They're aiming to raise $1,500–enough to sponsor 300 kids to attend VBS in India. Give online or through our mobile app by choosing "missions" as the fund and typing "VBS" in the note section.

When our Kid's Ministry Director Kimmi Lochner challenged our kids to each give $5 last year during Vacation Bible School to cover the cost for a child to attend VBS in India through one of our missions partners, she never imagined she'd get to see the fruit of that challenge.

But in March of this year, Kimmi went with a short-term mission team from our church to South Asia, where she was able to help with a VBS program there!

Mt. Bethel’s children raised over $1,300– enough to cover the cost for 261 kids in India to attend VBS. And while the kids Kimmi and the team taught in India in March weren’t necessarily the direct beneficiaries of the money Mt. Bethel’s children gave, “it was sweet to see the program we supported in action,” said Kimmi.

Kimmi used wikki sticks to walk over 200 children through the gospel story and were amazed at how eager the kids were to not only hear about Jesus but learn about how to share Jesus with their friends and family as well.

Mt. Bethel kids and families have another opportunity during this year's VBS (June 3-6) to support sharing the gospel story with kids in South Asia who might otherwise never hear the message of Christ. Our goal this year is to raise $1,500–enough to send 300 kids in India to VBS!

Consider helping our kids meet their goal!

We dived straight into fun on Day 1️⃣ of VBS! 🤿

🐠 We learned God is a friend who is real. If you agree, reply to this post by saying "thank you God!" (iykyk!).

🐠 We heard the story of Elijah, and how God showed Himself to Elijah in 1 Kings 18-19.

🐠 We memorized John 6:69, "We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God."

🐠 We kicked off this week's missions offering to support Mt. Bethel's missions partners in South Asia. Each child was challenged to bring in $5 this week, because that's how much it cost to sponsor a child in India to attend VBS. Our goal is $1,500–enough to send 300 kids in India to VBS. If you'd like to help our kids meet their goal, you can donate online or on our mobile app by choosing "Missions" as the fund and typing "VBS" in the note section.

Overall, it was a great start to our favorite week of the year!

When you accepted salvation, God made peace with you, but the devil declared war. 🤺

He will stop at nothing to keep you from living in the freedom of Christ and advancing God’s kingdom. He will do whatever it takes wherever he can to break you down. He’ll attack in your home, your work, your places of leisure, even (and arguably most especially) in holy places where you worship God.

But every time he attacks is an opportunity to grow stronger in the Lord and in His mighty power, which is the only way to fight back.

When the forces of evil tempt you with the fear of missing out, you can remind yourself God has a greater desire and plan for you than what the world has to offer.

When anxiety pushes you to focus on fear, remind yourself you are loved by the Almighty, All-powerful God who works things for your good and His glory.

When you’re exhausted because you’re being hit by stress from seemingly every direction in your life, you can find rest and refuge in God’s presence.

Being on the defensive against spiritual warfare means actively choosing God in every situation. It means leaning into the power of the Holy Spirit in every moment of your life. It means standing on the foundation of His Word and trusting Him to fight with and for you.

*inspired by message one of our series called "Battle." DM us to watch or listen to the whole message.

VBS begins today! 🙏

🙏 Pray for the 400+ kids who will be on our church campus this week. May the Holy Spirit prepare their hearts to receive the Good News of Jesus.
🙏 Pray for our staff and volunteers as they serve this week. May God renew their spirits daily and keep them energized throughout the week. Ask the Lord to work through them.
🙏 Pray for the families of the kids who will be attending VBS this week. Many of them don't have a church home. Pray they will feel welcomed and encouraged to connect with our church in other ways. And for the ones already a part of our church family, may they be inspired to take further steps of discipleship!