The Greatest Thing in the World: An Overview of Romans 1-7 …
Because of Christ there is no condemnation, only deep transformation.
The Word Was Made Flesh …
Christians must know Jesus well so that they can discern between the Christ of Scripture and the Christ that other religions claim to honor.
Education for Exultation …
A Psalm for Thanksgiving
Education and knowledge should cause us to rejoice in God. If not, then they aren't fulfilling their purpose.
The Reformed Faith and Racial Harmony …
Racial Harmony Sunday
Where racial harmony doesn’t flourish, the cross of Christ is dishonored and the sovereignty of God is obscured.
The Gentiles Have Obtained Righteousness by Faith …
The law teaches two things about obtaining salvation.
How to Submit to the Righteousness of God …
Mother's Day
Are we teaching the Scriptures to make our children wise unto salvation through faith in Jesus Christ?
Look at the Kindness and the Severity of God …
God's kindness is what we fly to, and his severity is what we flee from.
Present Your Bodies As a Living Sacrifice to God …
We were given bodies to make the glory of God more visible, especially through merciful behavior.
Predestined for Adoption to the Praise of His Glory …
Reflections on Being Adopted by God and Adopting Children
We must understand and enjoy our own adoption before we can properly grasp what it means to adopt another.
Using Our Gifts in Proportion to Our Faith, Part 1 …
The Gift of Prophecy
Abortion, Race, Gender, and Christ …
Sanctity of Life Sunday
Millions of abortions are the outworking of racism and sexism. Let us find another way to freedom and equality than killing the babies.
Lavish Giving, Loving Guests, Living Christ …
Christ’s promise to meet all of our needs is what frees us from fear and greed and enables us to joyfully share with others.
Treasuring Christ Together Above All Things …
What is Bethlehem's strategy for spreading a passion for the supremacy of God in all things to all the world?
How to Do Good So That God Gets the Glory …
God gets glory not from our heroic exertion but from our reliance upon his strength—when we serve as one who serves with the strength which God supplies.
How Not to Be a Mule …
Summer Psalms
Sunday Evening Message
Don't be like the mule but run headlong to God in prayer while he may be found. For the contrite heart which prays will be forgiven and protected and taught the way to God and will be glad in the Lord forever.
Thoughts on Baptism …
Sunday Evening Message
Baptism gives expression to our faith that we are God's from head to toe.
Meditation on the Magnificat …
Sunday Evening Message
God is about to change the course of all human history; the most important three decades in all of time are about to begin. And where is God? Occupying himself with two obscure, humble women—one old and barren, one young and virginal.
Jesus Is the Horn of Salvation …
There is a deadly disease and an awesome enemy. And every one of us will die from this disease and be devoured by that enemy if there is no horn of salvation for us.
What Is the Fruit That Befits Repentance? …
Sunday Evening Message
You can tell where a man's heart is resting by the way he handles his money and by the attitude he has toward his possessions.
A Woman Who Fears the Lord Is to Be Praised …
Mother's Day
What does it mean to "fear the Lord"? And why is it so important that we praise a woman who fears the Lord?
Get Wisdom …
What is wisdom? And what are some biblical instructions for how I can get it?
Total Abstinence and Church Membership …
Sunday Evening Message
Total abstinence may be the best way to treat alcohol today, but it should not be a requirement for church membership.
The Emergence of Sin and Misery …
The essence of the Fall and of our depraved hearts is the desire not to depend on God.
How Much Is Jesus Worth? …
Your power to give a compassionate witness about Jesus is in direct proportion to how precious Jesus is to you.
Flesh Tank and Peashooter Regulations …
Legalism is a more dangerous disease than alcoholism because it doesn't look like one.
Confirm Your Election …
If the knowledge of God's glorious promises does not spur us on to strive against the tide, then we will be barren and fruitless and drift to our destruction.
Listen to the Eyewitness of His Majesty …
The difference between mythical speculations and Christian faith is history. Our doctrines are not the result of clever head-work. They are the result of historical observation.
Discipline in the Christian College: Can it be Redemptive? …
Bethel College Counseling Staff
Twin Cities, MN
The Locust Horde and the Day of the Lord …
God will fight against us and clog the joy of our lives until we return with our whole heart to him. For his purpose is to be God alone in the midst of his people.
To Deliver Us from the Present Evil Age …
The freest people in the world are those who submit most fully to the authority of Christ in Scripture.
If You Are Christ's, You Are Heirs of the Promise …
When you entrust yourself to Christ you honor him, and he would be denying himself to turn you away.
Proud People Don't Say Thanks …
The human heart hates the truth that creation teaches because it is too humbling.
Beyond Forgiveness: Blasphemy Against the Spirit …
None of us knows when our toying with sin will pass over into irrevocable hardness of heart. Very few people feel how serious sin is.
Ruth: Under the Wings of God …
God will reward Ruth because she has sought refuge under his wings.
The Relationship Between Diversified Domestic Ministries and Frontier Missions …
The ultimate goal of the church is to reflect and display the glory and worth of God. Missions is a means, not an end.
The One Who Loves Lives in Light …
Hate is the evidence of blindness to the light of God. Love is the evidence that sight has been given to the blind.
His Commandments Are Not Burdensome …
Faith says to every temptation of the world: NO, BE GONE! I know where true satisfaction is to be found.
Strategic Hospitality …
Our homes and apartments should stand constantly ready for strategic hospitality—a readiness to welcome people who don't ordinarily live there.
I Have Other Sheep That Are Not of This Fold …
Missions Week
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to the Son of God and he declares, "I must bring in my other sheep." He will do it.
Christ: The Lion and the Lamb …
Palm Sunday
You were made to admire Jesus Christ the Lion and the Lamb.
Put on the New Person …
When Paul says, put off the old person and put on the new person, he is not talking about an optional elective. This is the core curriculum in the school of Christ.
The Pleasure of God in His Son …
The first and most fundamental thing we can say about the pleasures of God is that he takes pleasure in his Son.
The Gladness of the Risen God …
Easter Sunday
On Easter Sunday morning Jesus blew the lock off the prison of death and gloom and returned to the gladness of God.
God Has Given Us Good Hope Through Grace, Part 2 …
Sunday Evening Message
What will be the strongest witness in the last days?
Sustained by the Faithfulness of God …
The freedom of God in the calling of sinners gives us hope. No one is too bad. No one is too hard. No one is too far gone. God is free.
He Must Manage His Household Well …
Being responsible parents is a serious business. Far more serious than most of us think.
Battling the Unbelief of Anxiety …
In your warfare against anxiety, take up the book of God, ask the Holy Spirit for help, lay the promises up in your heart, and battle on.
Joy Recovered …
How do you become a Christian? How does the ransom Jesus paid become a ransom for me?
Manhood and Womanhood Before Sin …
Did God design men and women to express their equality in distinct ways?
O Lord, Open a Door for the Word! …
Pray with steadfastness, with watchfulness, and with thanksgiving.
Gifts of Healings and Workings of Miracles …
"Gifts of healings" and "workings of miracles" are for the church and the mission of Christ in the world today.
Tongues of Fire and the Fullness of God …
When the Spirit comes in power, he comes suddenly—on his own terms and in his own time—and he comes for harvesting.
Be Like Barnabas Not Like Ananias! …
Faking faith in the presence of God is a fearful thing.
Jesus Is the Christ the Son of God …
The truth that Jesus is the Son of God needs to be one of the central pillars in our understanding of reality.
God Has Chosen Us in Him Before the Foundation of the Earth …
The glorious, unshakable, objective foundation of your being a Christian is that God chose you to be one.
Called to Suffer and Rejoice: For an Eternal Weight of Glory …
Afflictions do not merely precede glory; they help produce the glory.
A Year-End Look at Jesus Christ …
We need to be like lights shining in a dark place. Which means we need to behold Jesus. We need to gaze at Christ.
You Joyfully Accepted the Plundering of Your Property …
Be free from domesticated, comfort-seeking, entertainment-addicted Christianity.
Joy Through the Fiery Test of Genuine Faith …
There is a design in your distresses as a Christian. God wills them, and he does so for your good.
As We Forgive Our Debtors …
What Does Forgiveness Look Like?
If we hold fast to an unforgiving spirit, we will not be forgiven by God.
Your Calling Is to Bless Believers …
The primary purpose of small groups is to help each other maintain the full assurance of faith.
When the Bridegroom Is Taken Away, They Will Fast—With New Wineskins …
We have tasted the wine of Christ's presence by his Spirit and cannot now be satisfied until the consummation of joy arrives.
But I Say to You, Love Your Enemies, Part 1 …
Becoming a child of God and being transformed on the inside precedes and enables love, not vice versa.
Praying for All His Purposes, Meditating on All His Word …
Unpacking the Master Planning Team Document
Believing that the Bible is the Word of God is a gigantic event in the soul. Therefore God does not leave it merely to man.
Raising Children Who Are Confident in God …
What is our calling as parents and as a community of Christians toward our children?
He Is the Source of Eternal Salvation for All Who Obey Him …
Christ became our salvation because he was perfect in three ways: in his dignity, in his eternity, and in his purity.
I Baptize You with Water …
The Baptism of John
What was significant about John's baptism, and how does it relate to the way we baptize today?
Be Strengthened By Grace …
How can I find and keep the strength I need to obey God's commands?
The Other Dark Exchange: Homosexuality, Part 1 …
God means for the beauty of worship to be dramatized in the right ordering of our sexual lives.
How to Pray for the Soul—Yours or Another's …
How you pray is based on what you believe God can do.
Here are 7 things to ask God to do for your soul and others'.
Christian Courage …
Are you willing to say and do the right thing regardless of the earthly cost?
Endings Are for Gratitude, Beginnings Are for Faith …
Every moment is an opportunity for gratitude toward the past and faith toward the future.
It Is Sown in Dishonor, It Is Raised in Glory …
Let us learn how to help each other die. It will not be easy, but, by grace, we will help each other say in our final pain, "To die is gain."
Planting a Passion for the Supremacy of God in All Things …
A Call to Focused Prayer, Soul Searching, and a Church-Wide Dream
Are there enough churches in America? The answer is no.
Love Her More and Love Her Less …
The greatest gift you give your wife is loving God above her life.
Suffering, Mercy, and Heavenly Regret …
Will regret ruin our joy in heaven, or will it add to it?
Should Only Unanimous Decisions Guide the Church? …
There will always be a range of maturity and wisdom in the church, but that shouldn't paralyze it from moving forward.
The Treasure That Turns Treasures to Garbage …
The Text I Didn't Preach On
What is superior to moral and religious achievements is knowing, gaining, and being found in Christ.
Ten Reasons to Listen to Questions Before You Answer …
Meditation on Proverbs 18:13
Why is it a bad idea to give an answer too soon?
