After long delay, all the sermons from Bethany’s spring meeting in March, 2009 are available. They are all identified with the spring 2009 tag. This meeting was the last one held in our sanctuary on Lawrenceville Highway. Visiting ministers were Elders David Pyles of Jackson, Mississippi; Vernis Stanaland of Tyler, Texas; and Lasserre Bradley, Jr. of Cincinnati, Ohio.

Elder Lasserre Bradley, Jr. closes out the 2009 Spring Meeting at Bethany with a most encouraging message drawn from John 14:1-3, beginning “Let not your heart be troubled.” Elder Bradley ably shows the scriptures to teach that a troubled heart will distort our view of circumstances and rob us of the peace that should come from trusting God with all of our hearts. One day we will be like Him and see Him as He is, and that promise alone can strengthen us through the challenges of this world. The road is rough indeed, but it leads home.

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Elder Vernis Stanaland considers the marks of a double-minded person, as referenced in James 1:8. He contrasts the double-minded man and his hidden agendas with the singleness of purpose and transparency that come from a commitment to following God.

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We are sanctified in Christ before God, but must also each day sanctify ourselves in our own flesh by spiritual discipline. Elder Lasserre Bradley, Jr. challenges us to examine ourselves for evidence of God at work in our daily lives: a servant’s spirit, compassion for the sinner, love for the brethren. Our sinful nature wars with these fruits of the spirit at all times. We must seek closer fellowship with Christ to become more like the Master.

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Elder David Pyles gives an account of his trip to Siberia in Russia, and some of the correspondence leading up to it. It is an encouraging story of God at work among his people in every nation.

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Elder David Pyles exposits the 45th chapter of Isaiah, in which God reveals the name and future deeds of the Persian king Cyrus, conqueror of the great city of Babylon. In his prophecy Isaiah makes clear that God is using Cyrus, a Gentile king, to accomplish His will and deliver a message both to the Israelites and to all of His children through the ages. That message is distilled in Isaiah 45:24: “Surely, shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness….” Not in our works or the works of other men, but in God alone is our hope.

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Elder Stanaland turned to the book of Nehemiah, chapter 1, focusing on where Nehemiah confesses to God that he and his people have dealt corruptly with God. Elder Stanaland finds parallels between Nehemiah’s time and our own today, and calls us to action with scriptural exhortation.

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Saturday morning services opened with introduction and prayer by Elder Lasserre Bradley, Jr.

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Elder Lasserre Bradley, Jr. spoke from the book of Micah, chapter 7. The prophet records a tumultuous time, a troubling time of ungodliness and widespread wickedness. Elder Bradley notes that today is likewise a time of trouble, perhaps uniquely so in our lifetimes. Let us say with the psalmist, “In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord” (Ps 77:2). And let us trust the sweet promise recorded in verse seven of Micah 7: “my God will hear me.”

We regret that technical difficulty caused us to lose the primary recording of the sermon. The version below was extracted from a recording made from the sanctuary. The quality of this recording is poor, but we hope you will be able to hear the content of the message.

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Elder David Pyles of Jackson, Mississippi, delivered the first discourse of our Annual Spring Meeting. He took as his text 2 Cor 4:6: “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to [give] the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” He presented a compelling case that this verse speaks of spiritual regeneration; the new birth.

We who believe in God while the world does not, believe because of a one-time event in our lives when God commanded light to shine in our hearts.

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