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The Berean News is published monthly by the Berean Bible Students Church, 535 East Maple Street, Lombard, Illinois, 60148. The purpose is to share ideas, thoughts, and news from the Lombard church along with praising the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The Berean News will be mailed free of charge to anyone who makes a request in writing. Copies are available in the main lobby. Press deadline for the March edition is February 10, 2011; donna.mathewson@comcast.net

The sixth chapter of Micah almost sounds like the prophet is a prosecuting lawyer present-ing in court the case that Yahweh has against Israel. After clearly stating historical facts, Mi-cah asks (in verse eight) “And what does the LORD require of you?” Then specifically listed are God’s three requirements: (1) to act justly, (2) to love mercy, and (3) to walk humbly with your God.

The Talmud (Jewish biblical interpretation) says that the Pentateuch lists 613 requirements. It also suggests that David reduced these 613 to eleven in Psalm 15. Now Micah here quite com-prehensively sums up the cardinal teachings of the Hebrew religion in these three requirements.

Act justly. This is the basis of moral charac-ter. Do not do to other people what they have a right to expect. Instead, merely follow the ex-pectation stated in Matthew 7:12. Surprise them. “In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” Note this New Tes-tament verse states that action with this attitude sums up the Old Testament.

Have mercy. Here is stated a requirement that goes a step further (higher) than acting justly. It does not just say to act (interact) with mercy, but to love doing so. Our very hearts change when we love seeing mercy in action,

when we love extending and practicing mercy towards others.

Walk humbly with your God. This third re-quirement should be thought of as a condition of the first two. How can I fulfill the standards of practicing justice and mercy if I am not in the right relationship with my God? The necessity of humbleness means I am surrendering myself to God. I must have an attitude of humility. God is not my co-pilot. He is my pilot.

Can you and/or I possible meet these three requirements? Israel did not. That is why they were brought to court, to judgment by the proph-ets of God. But God provided a means, a way for us to succeed. That way is Jesus Christ. He is the only way. Through him we have the power, God’s own spirit, to meet and live God’s require-ments.

Jesus sums up or reduces the 613, or eleven, or three requirements to just two. A Pharisee tempted (tested) Jesus with a question, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied as recorded in Matthew 22:37-40. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

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Have you ever ridden the Metra train be-tween downtown Chicago and the Suburbs? People get off, people get on. No one smiles. No one looks directly at anyone else. Mostly they stare, mesmerized in their own private thoughts. Some anesthetize themselves with earphones that tune them into a different world. If you live in a big city, you understand the averted eyes. You know the fear. So many peo-ple, so close together, and scared to death of smiling.

I see many people on board, some in uni-forms, others with packages from shopping, still others carrying books to or from a class. But no smiles.

A smile is a sign of humanity. A sign that we are willing to communicate. That our sad-ness, no matter how deep, will not overcome us. But for many on that train journey, there is no joy. Their lives, I suppose, are full of pain and hopelessness.

They are trapped. Trapped in dead-end jobs they do not like. Trapped in a cycle of unem-ployment and welfare. Trapped in a loveless marriage. Trapped all alone. Trapped by wid-owhood. Trapped by life itself. Trapped with-out a smile.

A smile can be a sign of hope. Of hope in another person. Of trust. If I smile at you, if I let my personality bridge the distance between us in a packed city bus, perhaps you’ll smile back. Perhaps you’ll connect with me. And so I smile in hope, and am met with eyes turned away, of body language that protects itself from those close by, with a posture designed to avoid contact with another on a crowded bus.

The lack of a smile is loneliness personified, I guess. It is not letting oneself relate. It is being surrounded, but lonely—desperately lonely—yet are afraid to smile, for that would break the loneliness and threaten the solitude. So they do not smile.

They do not smile, perhaps out of fear. Fear of me. Fear of the person next to them. They’ve

heard stories of robberies and purse-snatchings, of abduction and rape, of people who are not what they seem. And so they do not smile in an effort to protect themselves.

I wonder how Jesus greeted people? With a grave religiosity? With a proper reserve? With a clearly defined distance from soiled humanity? No. He felt the jostling of the crowds. He touched the unclean. He stopped and inquired, “Who touched me?”

I don’t think he was afraid to meet people’s eyes with his own. I think he smiled into their souls and gave them a hope that would ignite within them. A smile of friendship and accep-tance to tantalize and then gently unwind that tightly-coiled loneliness. A fearless smile will-ing to handle all the pent-up hostilities and agendas for the day.

Jesus came to earth, I think, so that we would be able to feel God’s smile on this world. A smile that could penetrate this lonely, divided and fearful world, all heading the same direc-tion on the same crowded bus.

One Man began to smile and refused to stop until he had the attention of all who dared lift their eyes to his. And then, one by one, the crowd of people be-gan to smile, too, for his was a contagious smile, an open smile. And they began to smile with him in a new and friendly free-dom.

God smiled on the world through His Son Jesus and thus begets faith in us. God’s smile through our faces communicates that faith, as well. And that tenuous faith, that hope-filled faith, once rooted in a human heart, produces a joy that cannot suppress an ever-widening smile of its own.

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upon and our hands have handled... we bear witness and declare unto you.”(1 John 1:1-3) The beloved apostle well understood the im-portance of eye-witness testimony in relation-ship to belief, just as Peter did. My friend Peter says, “We have not followed cunningly devised fables... but were eye-witnesses of his maj-esty.” (2 Peter 1:16) For the record, it gives me great pleasure and always brings a smile to my face, whenever I find occasion to say, “My friend, Peter.” Why? Because, over the years, I’ve truly come to feel a special friendship with Peter, and I implicitly trust my special friends. Now, even tho I’ve never literally seen the Lord, I can still know, and trust with all my heart that Jesus was raised from the dead. How? Based on the eye-witness account of my friend, along with a huge array of other evidence. If, like they say in Missouri, my level of proof was: “I’ve got to see it to believe it,” I would be a very miserable and a really wretched person indeed. Thank-fully, I can testify that great blessings can flow from accepting the levels of proof the Lord will provide, if we will only “search for him with all our heart.” (Jer. 29:13)

Paul says, “That we may prove what is good, acceptable, and perfect.”(Romans 12:2) This is something we must do for ourselves, based upon the level of proof we require. This is not something we can shrug off, or merely accept some thought because we it’s convenient or be-cause so and so believes it. “Proving all things and holding fast to that which is good,” requires conscientious and persistent efforts on our part, and often the most puzzling, perplexing, and unknown variable is, at what level of proof do we or should we believe?

Permit me a personal ensample. I’m occa-sionally asked: “How do I know, or how can I be so absolutely sure, that the dead will be raised to life?” Now, it has long been one of my really ba-sic core beliefs that every human being who has ever died in Adam will be brought back to life in Jesus. The level of proof I needed to believe that was met very early on in my life. Frankly, I can't remember ever having a doubt that the dead

Ten disciples who had seen the Lord tell one disciple, Thomas, who hadn’t yet seen the Lord, that they believed the Lord was risen from the dead. In other words, Thomas re-ceived from his ten fellow apostles highly reli-able, eye-witness, testimonial evidence. Yet, Thomas hastily insists on a very high level of proof by proclaiming, “I need to see the same thing you have seen before I, too, can believe.”

Thomas should be very grateful indeed that the Lord saw fit to give him the level of proof he demanded. However, when he was given his level of proof, the Lord included this wise council for the disciple who had to see it to be-lieve it, Jesus said, “Because you have seen me you have believed: blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed.”(John 20:29) Needless to say, the Lord was well aware that Thomas was not with the others when he showed himself to them. But appar-ently, Thomas shrugs off ten eye-witnesses, and allows a totally preposterous presumption to enter his reasoning, that it is only fair, or equal justice, that he, too, receive the same evi-dence, or level of proof, that the others re-ceived. This was absolutely a total delusion on his part.

The level of proof we require to believe is a crucial topic on our life agenda, which really should receive quite a bit of consideration on our part. Why? Because nothing from nothing leaves nothing, you’ve gotta have something if you want to believe, and it’s undeniable that we must have a certain level of proof to believe anything at all. In scripture we find, time and time again, a full spectrum of ensamples from those who believed with a relatively low level of proof and are given great blessings for hav-ing strong faith, to those given an undeniable and overwhelming level of proof who still could not believe, and are left high and dry as they blow in the wind, having no faith.

Consider how John begins his first epistle, “That which was from the beginning, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked

would rise again or what death was. When God told Adam: “You shall surely die,” there’s nothing about his soul being immortal and living on in eternal bliss or eternal torment, or for that matter any of the other varied notions I’ve encountered, especially the one about a conscious spirit waiting to be reunited with its body in the last day. No, no, no, there are only the clear and emphatic words: “Dying, you shall die.” You know, dead!!

Honestly, if you’re fuzzy on just what death is, then I don’t understand how you can't be fuzzy on just what the point of resur-rection is. When Jesus proclaims himself as the resurrection and the life, THAT’S HUGE be-cause without it, we all would eventually be as dead as door-nails having no more life at all.

PASSION

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The scriptures tell us we must practice good because “faith without works is dead.” Likewise the scriptures tell us we must actively avoid sin and “abstain from every form of evil”. But how are we supposed to feel in our hearts about good and evil? Scripture tells us that God loves good and hates evil. Jesus ex-emplified this in his life on earth. In John 2:17, when he purged moneychangers from the temple, we are told he fulfilled the words from Psalms, "Zeal for your house will consume me." We too should love what is good and hate what is evil. I mean, really feel this in our heart. How much of the compromise in our lives really stems from a lack of this passion?

Do we look for ways to do good because we really love showing mercy? We can say that we don’t approve of violence but do we really hate it? Are we able to enjoy entertainment filled with violence, immorality, and profanity? Are we “ok” when yet another fight breaks out during the hockey game? Let’s examine our own heart and honestly ask ourselves if we feel a sense of revulsion. Do these things make us angry? Sickened? They should! Here are a few verses which tell us how God feels about

good and evil and how we should feel: Ps 11:5 “The LORD examines the righteous, but

the wicked and those who love violence his soul hates.”

Ps 97:10 “Let those who love the LORD hate evil, for he guards the lives of his faithful ones and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.”

Prov 6:16-19 “There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.”

Prov 8:13 “To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.”

Ezek 35:6-7 “Since you did not hate bloodshed, bloodshed will pursue you.”

Mic 6:8 “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

Matt 22:35-38 “An expert in the law, tested him with this question: ‘Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?’ Jesus replied: ‘Love the

Let me just say this: it is with all praise and thanks to the Lord’s exceeding grace and mercy, and the mighty cloud of witnesses which have always surrounded me, that I can testify that I believe with every fiber of my being, and say emphatically and with no reservation at all, that every human being who has died in Adam will be raised to life thru Jesus. Why? Because Jesus is the one “Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in DUE TIME.”(1 Timothy 2:6)

Yes, sometimes, determining the level of proof we need to believe can be a real challenge, but don’t ever forget what we know. “FOR WE KNOW that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”(Rom. 8:28)

“Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:31

A. W. Tozer in his book The Pursuit of God, wrote that “one of the great hindrances to the internal peace” of our lives can be the “habit of dividing our lives into two areas, the sacred and the secular.” Some may separate these two parts of their lives and feel they are shortchang-ing God when they must tend to their earthly duties, such as eating, sleeping, working and looking after the needs of our physical bodies. They feel that God would much rather have them studying and being about His business. But this approach to the Christian life leads to a divided instead of a unified life, for the necessi-ties of living compel us to be “always crossing back and forth from the one to the other.”

This crossing back and forth from the spiri-tual to the temporal can lead to uneasiness and frustration, but that is not how God intended us to live the Christian life. The Apostle Paul tells us in our text that every act of our lives contrib-utes to the glory of God. The knowledge that we are all God’s, that He has received all and re-

Beside Still Waters...

jected nothing, will unify our inner lives and make everything sacred to us. It is not what a man does that determines whether his work is spiritual or temporal, it is why he does it.. As Tozer puts it, “Let a man sanctify the Lord God in his heart and he can thereaf-ter do no common act.” All he does is a priestly service, an act of worship when he does all for the glory of God. So as we go about our business let us put this scripture into practice. If we are called to clean our homes, let us do it for the glory of God. If we are called to a job, let us do that for the glory of God. If we are lying in a sick bed, let us bring glory to God in that sick bed. Let us remember that if we do all to His glory and honor, we worship Him with our whole being.

Father, help us to live our lives as if every act

were an act of worship. May all we do rise up to You and bring You glory and honor. Keep us from compartmentalizing our lives and to wor-ship You even in the mundane chores that we find ourselves doing. May all we do rise to bring you glory and honor. Amen

Rev 2:6 “But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.”

Conclusion: God told us to be holy as he is holy. To do this we must love the light, love the truth, and love mercy. We also must hate sin and the corrup-tion that destroys so many lives. God is pas-sionate about these things and so must we be.

Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment.”

Rom 12:9-13 “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one an-other in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.”

2 Cor 9:7 “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

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For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.”

1 Corinthians 2:16 (NIV)

Saturday, April 30, 2011 Chairman: Tim Chabot

11:30-12:30 Lunch 12:30 Worship Service 1:00 Sermon: Ron Frye 1:30 Fellowship Please choose one of these two options

4:30 Fellowship 5:00 Think on THESE Things 5:45 Dinner 7:15 Concert and Drama by Donna

Mathewson and Abby Weeks 8:15 Fellowship and Refreshments “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets

itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)

Sunday, May 1, 2011 Chairman: Steve Teunis

8:15 Continental Breakfast/Prayer Meeting 9:00 Worship Service 9:30 Sermon: Ron Frye 10:00 Fellowship 10:30 Testimonies of Praise: Steve Teunis 11:15 Fellowship 11:45 Sermon: Wayne Urbaniak 12:15 Lunch

Accommodations: Charmaine Thorfeldt 255 E. Liberty Drive Apt. 509 Wheaton, IL 60187 (630) 682-1335

cthorfeldt@sbcglobal.net

Nursery Nursery Director: Val Weeks

Mother/Baby nursery room available at all times. Supervised toddler play room for children under 3 avail-

able Saturday afternoon from 1:00 to 5:45 & Sunday morning from 9:30 to 12:15.

Children: Ages 3-12

Sunday School Director: Matt Jensen

Saturday 1:00-5:00 Bible class, crafts, and recreation 5:00 Children’s dinner 7:00 Parents: pick up children in S.S. rooms

Sunday 9:00-10:00 Attend worship and sermon with par-

ents 10:00-11:30 Bible Class 11:30 Children’s Lunch 1:15 Parents: pick up children in Sunday

School rooms

Teenage Program Youth For Truth Director: David Elliott

Saturday 1:00-4:30: Teen Meeting/Feed My Starving Children

Sunday 10:30-11:15: Teen Meeting

Berean Bible Students Church 535 East Maple Street Lombard, IL 60148

(630) 889-1090

Mike Knapp Workshop

2:00-4:30 Confession/Corporate

Guidance

Wayne Urbaniak 2:00-3:00 Bible Study 3:00-3:30 Fellowship 3:30-4:30 Directed Application of Bible Study

67th Annual May Convention April 30th & May 1, 2011

Theme: Take Every Thought Captive

Mike Knapp Workshop

2:00-4:30 Confession/Corporate

Guidance

Wayne Urbaniak 2:00-3:00 Bible Study 3:00-3:30 Fellowship 3:30-4:30 Directed Application of Bible Study

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Wausau, WI

Winter Teen Retreat Andy & Val Weeks Feb 18-21

Winter Family Retreat Jim & D'Ann Lesch Mar 4-6

Work Weekend Kent Urbaniak June 2-5

Special Person's TBD June 19-24

Special Person Day Camp David Karavas July 11-15

Children's Camp Tim & Rachel Chabot July 17-23

Teen Camp Tim & Stacey Allen July 24-30

Canoe Retreat Mike Fischer Aug 12-14

Women's Retreat Charmaine Thorfeldt, Sept 23-25 April & Autumn Skorup

California

Spring Retreat David & Tracie Elliott June 10-12

Fall Retreat Larry & Joyce Urbaniak Oct 8-10

For 2011 Applications please go to the Camp Blessing Website and download the application: www.campblessing.com

Camp Blessing 2011

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As many of you know in late December my mom began a journey that took her where she didn’t really want to go. Christmas day found her in the ER in extreme pain and before the week was out her bowel has perforated and she was in the OR having emergency surgery to save her life. Being that my mom lives in NJ and I live in Illinois, I could not just jump in my car and drive to the hospital. I decided to try to get a flight out, but since the east had gotten socked with snow that week and many were stranded, it was not an easy task. Southwest had no flights available at all, I tried American and they had two flights out the following morning and while I was trying to decide what to do, one of them disappeared. I grabbed the last flight and hoped I would make it in time to see my mother one last time. The surgeon who performed the surgery said he had done the best he could, but that the next 24-48 hours would determine if she made it. The next morning I got to ICU just after visiting hours began and was greeted by both my sisters and my Dad and by my mom who was alert and weary, but looking much better than I had an-ticipated.

The journey for my mom continues, but what the experience of walking with my sis-blings through this valley really brought home was how very different each of us are and yet what a blessing those differences are. My sister Faye is a firstborn, she takes control of the situation and is concerned about everyone. She kept us informed of what was going on and how each of my parents were doing. My sister Faye was deeply concerned about my Dad. She was on the scene from the beginning and so she was aware of the toll this was taking on Dad.

She and Bert continued to focus on helping him to cope, knowing that the doctors and nurses were taking care of Mom. Faye continually got the word out to her circle of friends to ask for prayers and it was amazing to see how they all rallied around Faye, bringing food and praying for Mom. She made sure that food was brought to the hospital so that we all ate and took care of our every need.

My sister, Lori, who lives 4 hours away, was there the day before the emergency surgery took place. She had planned to spend some sister time with Faye, but the Lord knew our family needed her there for other reasons. Lori is a take charge, detail person. She wanted to know everything about what was happening to Mom and would quiz the doctors and ask the nurses why they were giving her certain meds and what they were for, learning as much as she could from the staff. We jokingly called her our “nurse-wanna-be,” we learned more than we ever wanted to know about the human body and what was happening to mom. Lori would spell out the details that to-tally overwhelmed my sister and me and yet be-cause of her need to know we found out 5 days earlier than we would have that Mom did not have cancer. Lori followed the surgeon out of the room and asked him who would be giving us the pathology report since he was leaving on vaca-tion and because of her persistence he make a call to the pathologist and got his opinion on Thurs-day, long before the final pathology report came on Tuesday. We felt this was a kiss from God to all of us, but had it not been for Lori’s desire to know all, it would not have happened.

I am the quiet sister, the laid back one, I am the hand holder, the comforter. Feeling helpless at times, all I could do was rub my mom’s feet,

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there has been friction and hurt feelings, but as I learned to appreciate how different we each are and how those differences played out to the benefit of all in this family crisis, I couldn’t help but realize that this is true in the body of Christ as well. We are all very different, with unique personalities and characteristics. Sometimes these differences cause us to be irritated with each other, but we need to realize that there are benefits to being different and embrace those differences and appreciate how they benefit the body of Christ and ultimately our Father in heaven.

In the end, I have learned to love my brother and sisters more through this trial and I think we are each closer because of having walked through adversity together.

The Weeks kids taken a few years ago at the CBC Conference: Lori Duhaime, Andy Weeks,

Faye Collins and Donna Mathewson

Note from the Weeks family: We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your prayers on my mother’s behalf. The miracles that we have witnessed in the past weeks we know were a result of all those on their knees for our mom. We praise God for the work He has done and will continue to do in her life.

trying to make her more comfortable. I also un-derstood how hard it was for Andy to be so far away and not know what was going on and so I made it my mission to let him know. Lori would sent out long detailed texts about what was taking place a few times a day, but I would text Andy telling him of Mom’s progress all through the day, not long lengthy ones but something such as BP is better or Mom looks really good this morning, just little messages to encourage and make him feel like he was in the loop. While there I got very sick and was not able to see my mom 3 out of the 6 days I was there and while that was frustrating, I spent the time in prayer, praying for my parents and my siblings. I was also able to witness the love of my siblings, toward me and knew they under-stood the frustration of being so close and yet so far away. I might add that I so appreciated them praying me home, flying with a sinus in-fection I knew could be painful and my flight home was nothing short of a miracle with no pain or discomfort.

Of all my siblings my brother Andy is probably the most like me. The day I flew home, Andy flew in. I did not get to see him as he went straight to the hospital from the airport and I was too ill to even say good bye to Mom and risking infecting her. He was there for both my parents and learning from my sister Lori, he started asking questions and advocating for my mom which was a great help to her. He kept us informed as to what was going on and began researching Rehab centers (as Mom would need to go to one for 21 days after being released from the hospital) and sharing with us the de-tails.

Our differences make each of us unique, but also gave each of us a special role to play in see-ing our family through this valley of the shadow of death. I won’t say that our differences always make for a perfect family reunion, often times

Mark your Calendars...

♦ Friday, February 4, 6-8:30 PM—Conscientious Objector Seminar—Paul Jezuit

♦ Aaron Kuehmichel will serve us on March 13th ♦ Don’t forget to mark your calendars for our Annual

May Convention which will be held on April 30th and May 1st this year. See page 6 for program.

Sunday Services

Prayer Meeting- 8:15AM Worship- 9:00AM Sermon- 9:30AM Second Service-10:30-11:30AM Sunday School-10:15AM Study/Youth For Truth-10:30AM

Attendance

First Monday of the Month Men’s Meeting at Church, 6:30PM

Tuesdays Weekly—Church,10:30AM Every Other Tuesday—Church, Philippians, 7:00PM Alternating Tuesdays—Pioneer Club at Church, 6:15PM Every Other Tuesday—Women’s Meeting—Church 12-2PM

Thursdays Weekly—Women’s Meeting—Church, Exodus, 7:00PM Weekly—Joe Knapp’s Home, 6:45PM

December 19—135 Candlelight—131 December 26—72 New Years Eve—78 January 2—107 January 9—105

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February 6 Food Pantry

Sermon—Andy Weeks “Marriage Attitudes” Study—Andy Weeks

“Marriage is Whaaat?”

February 13 Worship with Communion Sermon—Larry Urbaniak “Christ in You”—Part 1

Study—Joe Funari

February 20 Sermon—Larry Urbaniak “Christ in You”—Part 2

Study—Joe Funari

February 27 Sermon—Larry Urbaniak “Christ in You”—Part 3

Study—Joe Funari

March 6 Food Pantry Sermon—Larru Urbaniak “Christ in You”—Part 4

Study—Joe Funari

March 13 Sermon—Aaron Kuehmichel Study—Aaron Kuehmichel

March 20

Sermon—Mike Knapp Sermonalysis—Mike Knapp

March 27

Sermon—David Elliott Question Meeting—Joe Funari

Upcoming Speakers & Studies

TO