His Word is a Fire - Summer Reading Challenge

Dear friends,

The prophet Jeremiah said, "But His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, and I could not." (20:9). I can relate to that feeling! It has been almost four weeks since I last preached on a Sunday morning to our adult congregation, and God's Word is like a fire in my heart, and I can't wait to share His Word with you this coming Sunday morning! This weekend, we will be beginning a summer-long series in the Book of Acts called, "Supernatural: Contending for Signs and Wonders Today." We are going to examine the blueprint for the church that God has given us in the Book of Acts, and make whatever adjustments and course corrections are necessary to be the mighty, glorious church that He has destined us to be!

Along with our Sunday morning messages, I want to challenge you to seek God on your own this summer - in your personal prayer time, and also in your summer reading. Have you picked up a God-book yet? If not, we have four different resources that we have available for you at the church, to help challenge you to go deeper in your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, and for you to rise up and be all that God has created you to be. Here they are:

1. When Heaven Invades Earth: A Practical Guide to a Life of Miracles - by Bill Johnson:
Back-Cover Blurb: "Anyone can walk in the miraculous - even you! If you've ever wanted to live and walk in the supernatural power of God, here's your chance!"
My Take: This is one of my personal favourite Christian books - it was one that sparked a fire in my heart several years ago that helped catapult our youth group into experiencing revival, signs, wonders, healings, miracles, salvations, deliverances and more. This book will stir up your faith for the MORE that God has for you!

2. Drawing Near: A Life of Intimacy with God - by John Bevere:
Back-Cover Blurb: "John Bevere urges you not to settle for the dry shadow of Christianity that knows about God without knowing God. The incredible invitation from the Creator of the universe is not just to worship Him from afar with words and rituals, but to enter a relationship so meaningful and intimate that you know His heart, and He knows yours."
My Take: John Bevere is one of my favourite authors. His writing is based on solid Biblical principles, and this book will help you to experience more of the Holy Spirit's presence in your life.

3. Life Purpose - by Pastor Barry Buzza:
Book Blurb: "Who am I? Why am I here? Who doesn't as these searching questions at some point in their life? There is a place deep down inside every on of us that cries for significance."
My Take: This book is more of a primer for a new believer who wants to get rooted and grounded in some of the basic, foundational principles of the Christian life.

4. The Book of Acts - 31 Day Devotional - by Pastor Chris Jordan: This month long devotional booklet will be a great resource to read this summer as we're going through the Book of Acts together as a church. The devotional booklet includes a daily Bible reading guide that will take you through the Book of Acts, as well as daily devotional thoughts on each of chapters in this book of the Bible. This booklet is also available to download free of charge from our church's website.

If you want to pre-order one of these books, just send me an e-mail back or call me and I'll have it set aside for you on Sunday morning. We do have limited quantities of each of these books, and they will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis. I want to challenge you... let's seek the Lord together this summer, and go deeper into the realm of the supernatural together, amen?

Chris Jordan
Lead Pastor, Beausejour Community Church
Church Web-site: http://www.beausejourchurch.ca/

Daily Connections with God - July Devotionals

Dear friends,

Now you can download a whole month of devotionals at a time, to print out &/or share with your friends. Just click HERE to download the devotional booklet for the month of July. Some of these have already been posted on The Word of the Day Blog, others are new. Enjoy!

http://player.sermoncentral.com/c/chrisjordan/pdf/2185060_3793.pdf

Pastor Chris Jordan
www.beausejourchurch.ca

The Dominion of Canada

The Dominion of Canada

– We Stand on Guard for Thee:

“His dominion shall be from sea to sea.”

(Zechariah 9:10).

O Canada. Our home and native land.
True patriot love in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free.
From far and wide, O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
God keep our land glorious and free. O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

Today, we are celebrating the birthday of our nation of Canada. On July 1, 1867, Canada East, Canada West, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick came together under the terms of the British North America Act to become the Dominion of Canada. Do you know that when our country was formed, it was named the Dominion of Canada, based on the above Scripture in Zechariah 9:10? Canada was founded on the principles of the Word of God. It started out as a Christian nation, but we fallen so far from that glorious foundation. You have heard it said, “The philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.” What does that mean? Ever since God, the Bible, and prayer were removed from our schools, our nation has been plummeting into darkness. Abortion, homosexuality, pornography, divorce, drug use, teen pregnancy and ever-increasing violent crimes are the results of removing the light of God’s Word from our schools and government. Why? Because our nation as a whole has turned its back on God.

In our national anthem, we pray for Almighty God to keep our country glorious and free, and declare that we will stand on guard for Canada. Today, as we celebrate our nation’s birthday, whether it is with fireworks, or park celebrations, let us stand on guard for our nation. Let’s rise up and declare that we want God in Canada again.

“if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14). Do you want to see God hear from Heaven, and forgive our sins, and heal our land? Then we must humble ourselves, and pray, as students once did in public schools, “Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers and our Country.” We must seek God’s face, and be willing to turn from our wicked ways. We must declare by faith that Jesus is Lord over the Dominion of Canada, and raise up a standard of righteousness in our land.

“I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. As you make your requests, plead for God's mercy upon them, and give thanks. Pray this way for kings and all others who are in authority, so that we can live in peace and quietness, in godliness and dignity. This is good and pleases God our Savior, for he wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:1-4).

HAPPY CANADA DAY!

- Pastor Chris Jordan

http://www.beausejourchurch.ca/

BCC Dedication Ceremony - REPORT

Dear friends,

This past Sunday morning, we had a special service at church to dedicate our newly renovated buiding to the Lord. We were thrilled to have Pastor Barry Buzza - the President of the Foursquare Gospel Church of Canada - as our special guest speaker in the service. Other special guests include Pastor Darrell and Maralee Wurch, the pastors of the St. Ouens Country Church, and a few members of their congregation as well, not to mention many old friends of our church family, and several family members from Winnipeg too. We had probably close to 200 people in attendance to celebrate the goodness of the Lord with us! At the end of Pastor Barry's message on "The Secret of Happiness: Blessed to be a Blessing" I shared this with the congregation:

"It's not just about the building. The building is a tool that - in the hands of God - many people can be blessed by. There is a sign outside of our church building that says, "Providing Hope, Healing and Restoration Through God's Word." And we recognize that our church is not here just so that we can be blessed, blessed, blessed, but rather that God has placed us in our community to be a blessing to those who are around us. And we don't want to hang on to the blessing for ourselves, but we want to be a channel and a vessel that the Lord can flow through. So today we want to dedicate this building to the Lord's use, so that many people will be able to come in, be blessed, and then go out into their communities and be a blessing."

After I shared that, Pastor Barry got ready to pray a blessing over our building, and he shared this:

"I love what you guys have done with this building. We were here maybe a year and a half ago and we saw the building the way it was, which was fine, but I can hardly believe what you've done. It's wonderful! You're to be commended for this great work. Church buildings are a reflection of the soul of the church. So this is not God's house - but just like the body is the case that holds the spirit and the soul (the real you), and your physical bodies are a reflection of your soul... the way I keep what I have is a reflection of my soul. Now if you apply that to the church: the way you care for this buiding - this is just a building, it's going to be left behind when we go to Heaven - but it's where the soul of the church, the heart of the church, is encased. And it's a reflection of life. It's a reflection of health. And it's evident that it's a healthy church. And so I bless you in that... Our bodies are important while we have them, and this is an important building. And this is where life flows from. Not just to, but from, as Pastor Chris has just said. So I am going to bless you, and pray that God's grace is going to be upon you, and we're going to pray for the pastors."

Pastor Barry's Prayer of Dedication:
"Father, I thank you for Chris and Liza. They are a gift to Beausejour, and they are a gift to Manitoba, and to Canada. They are certainly a gift to Foursquare. And I say thank you Lord for this gift. I wish Lord we could put them in a Xerox (photocopier) machine and duplicate them a hundred times across the country - this is just an awesome couple! And I thank you Lord for the gifts you've placed in them, I thank you for their generosity of spirit, the joy that you've placed in them, and I know that the life of God is flowing into them and through them. And I pray for Pastor Darrell and Maralee Wurch, too. I thank you for them, Lord, for I know that they're a gift to their church, and they're a gift to this community also. So I pray that life would continue to proliferate in them and through them. Bless their family, and may great grace be upon them. And now Lord God, we as a congregation thank you for this building. What a wonderful testimony of God's grace. As people walk into here, or drive by even on the outside, they will say, "This is God's grace! The hand of God is upon this church!" And so Lord we just pray - we don't know how many things are going to happen, how many people are going to come to you, but I believe it's going to be hundreds and thousands of people through the testimony of this church, whether here or on the mission field, that are going to be touched by the grace of God, because of what you do inside this building. And so be bless every chair, every floor space, the nursery, the children's ministries, the washrooms, the foyer, the offices, and the greeting area - every room - may this be a reflection of God's grace. When people walk into this building, may they feel, "Wow! This place is awesome! Let's call this place "Bethel" because God lives here in this place!" And I pray that that won't be evident only in the building, but in every person that is a part of this building. The soul of this church is people, and the spirit of this church is the Spirit of God inside the soul of this church. And we pray that we would constantly reflect that grace in our lives in the building, and when we go to our homes, our neighbourhoods, our workplaces, our schools, wherever it is we go, may we reflect the grace of God wherever we go. BLESS this church, Lord Jesus, with all that you have in the Heavens destined for them, in Jesus' name we pray, amen!"

• Click HERE to see more photos from the ceremony.
• HERE is link to Pastor Barry's audio sermon from the ceremony as well.
• HERE is a link to Pastor Barry's personal website - with info about ordering his books, or downloading his audio sermons as well.
• Special thanks to Kim Friesen for taking the photos for us - you can visit her blog by clicking HERE.

Blessings!

Lots of love,
Pastor Chris

Daily Connections with God

Dear friends,

Every week we are adding new subscribers to our "New Life" Church blog, and for the benefit of those new readers, I wanted to make you aware of another blog I write: The Word of the Day. This is a place where I post daily devotionals that I have written, to encourage you and challenge you in the Lord. Check out the blog, and sign up to receive your own daily devotionals in your e-mail box!

Praying God's richest blessings on you and your family,
Pastor Chris
www.beausejourchurch.ca