I Will Meditate on All Your Work and Muse on Your Deeds …
Moment by moment, our vital union with Christ is sustained, shaped, and carried by the Word of God.
The Sons Are Free …
Palm Sunday
A Service of Sorrow, Self-Humbling, and Steady Hope in Our Savior and King, Jesus Christ …
A Response to the Attack on the World Trade Center
How can our hope be steady on days like 9-11?
Hold Fast to the Word and Pray for Us …
How the Spirit and the Word Produce Change
Prayer and meditation are as inseparable in the Christian life as the Spirit and the Word of God.
The Spirit Helps Us in Our Weakness, Part 2 …
How does the Holy Spirit pray for us?
Bethlehem, Break Forth Like the Dawn …
The people of Christ should not be known primarily for what we don’t do, but for what we do do.
For God's Sake, Let Grace Be Grace! …
No one's obstinance can stop them from being saved, because God can remove the hardness.
Israel, Palestine and the Middle East …
What does Scripture say about the Promised Land and Israel's rights to it today?
Build Your Life on the Mercies of God …
Of all the things Paul could have chosen as the foundation of your life in Christ, he picks the mercies of God. Why?
Doing Mercy to the Brothers of Jesus and the Broken Neighbor …
If we are true Christians we will want to show mercy to suffering people.
Consider How to Stir Up One Another to Love …
Don’t be a loner in the Christian life. God did not design it that way.
Life Is Not Trivial …
Sunday Evening Message
The world is hungry for people filled with life because they see a reflection of eternity in everything.
The Shepherd, the Host, and the Highway Patrol …
Summer Psalms
Sunday Evening Message
I feel myself drawn with David not so much to love the green pastures but the good shepherd, not so much to love the lavish banquet but the bountiful host, and not so much to love the trip to Miami or the bungalow but to love the highway patrolman.
I Will Magnify God with Thanksgiving! …
What does an all-sufficient God, who owns and controls all things, demand from the creature he has made? That we cease to be great in our own eyes and become small that he might appear great.
For Our People and for the Cities of God …
Installation Service for Glenn Ogren
There are six things that should characterize every effort at team ministry in the church.
Today You Will Be with Me in Paradise …
Good Friday
Both thieves wanted to be saved from death. But O how differently they sought their salvation.
Do Not Labor for the Food Which Perishes …
Labor to feast on Jesus. Satisfy yourself with his beauty and his hope-filled fellowship.
The Evil Origin of a Good King …
The way we seek to have something may be wrong, when the having, itself, may not be wrong.
The Third Word from the Cross …
Good Friday
When Jesus commits his mother to John's care, he is showing us how our needs will be met when we leave everything to follow him.
Fear Not, You Worm Jacob! …
The good news of the Bible is not that we are not worms, but that God helps worms who trust him.
From Bethlehem in the Majesty of the Name of the Lord …
God uses little towns and youngest sons and slingshots to magnify his glory by contrast, to show that he is not the least dependent on human glory or greatness or achievement.
Worship the Risen Christ …
Easter Sunday
If your life is flat, empty, without exhilaration, without significance, without a single and fulfilling orientation, it is because you do not see the risen Christ for who he really is.
Only a New Creation Counts …
The mindset of the new creation does not just agree that Christ died for sinners; it glories in the cross.
Prayer: the Power of Christian Hedonism …
Prayer is the open admission that without Christ we can do nothing.
The Holy Spirit: Author of Scripture …
Bible confirms its divine origin again and again as it makes sense out of our experience in the real world and points the way to harmony.
The Holy Spirit Will Help You Die …
In their hour of greatest trial God gives his children courage and faith.
The Lofty One Whose Name Is Holy …
The lofty One whose name is Holy dwells with crushed and humble saints.
Ambushing Satan with Song …
Singing to God is not a nice little emotional trip to spice up a worship service—it is a matter of life and death.
Job: Reversal in Suffering …
What God is after in all his dealings with his children is a brokenhearted joy that trusts like a little child in God and returns good for evil.
Called According to His Purpose …
No promise in all the world surpasses the height and breadth and weight of Romans 8:28.
The Beatitudes and the Gospel of the Kingdom …
The powerful mercy of the kingdom has already come in Jesus Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Our Hope: The Appearing of Jesus Christ …
The blessed hope of all who believe is the appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. Do you eagerly await the coming of Christ?
Preparing to Receive Christ: Something More Than Flesh and Blood …
To recognize and receive Christ for who he really is, God the Father must reveal it to you.
The Pleasure of God in the Good of His People …
God does not do you good out of some constraint or coercion. He is free! And in his freedom he overflows in joy to do you good.
Barnabas: The Goodness of Great Faith …
Consider the outcome of Barnabas' life and imitate his faith.
Let None Be Faithless to the Wife of His Youth …
Don't back out on your commitments, don't marry an unbeliever, and don't divorce your covenant wife.
Let God Be All in This Building! …
It's the absence of the centrality of the biblical God in all of life that is leading to the collapse of our civilization.
The Great Invitation: Come! Drink! Eat! Live! …
Don't let the advertisements for the world drown out God's invitation to heaven!
Battling the Unbelief of Impatience …
God says he will bless us if we wait patiently for him.
Do Not Say, "I Am Only a Youth" …
Youth is no excuse for not venturing something great for God.
All the Promises of God Are Yes in Christ …
Are you living in the fullest enjoyment of God's YES to you in Christ Jesus? Have you said yes to all of God's YES to you?
Jesus Is Alive to Serve …
Easter Sunday
Jesus died to meet your needs. He rose to meet your needs. He reigns to meet your needs—and make you happy in him forever.
Jesus' Name Made This Man Strong …
The Father is the ultimate source of all healing. Through Jesus the Father does his healing will.
Six Gifts of the Resurrection …
Easter Sunday
The greatest news in all the world is in order to make you happy and glorify Jesus, God raised him from the dead to reign forevermore.
Christ's Power Is Made Perfect in Weakness …
The market wants power to escape weakness in leisure, but Christianity offers power to endure weakness in love.
The Straight Paths of the Lord …
God is not aloof or passive or indecisive. He is a searching and saving God, a God on a mission.
Behold, I Make All Things New …
God wants us to have assurance that no matter how much evil and suffering and futility we see now, he will make all things new.
Why the Saints Minister to the Body …
The aim of your ministry as a Christian is to build up the body as a whole.
How the Saints Minister to the Body …
Love abounding in knowledge and discernment is what builds Christ's body.
Advancing and Sustaining the Covenant Community …
Every Christian has a crucial need for covenant relationships, regardless of how un-American it may be.
A Model of Covenant Exhortation …
Don't get into people's lives only when things are falling apart; get in when things are going well and help each other keep that course.
That Your Prayers May Not Be Hindered …
There are ways live that hinder prayers and there is a way to live that helps prayer.
The Prayers of the Saints and the End of the World …
No believing prayer is in vain. Ever.
Do Not Forsake Your Mother's Teaching …
Mother's Day
All the commandments are full of promise, but God goes out of his way to emphasize that of honoring mother and father.
The War Against the Soul and the Glory of God …
The two greatest issues in life are how the soul of man might not be destroyed and how the glory of God might not be belittled.
Cities of Ruthless Nations Will Revere Thee …
Missions Week
Great affliction + deep poverty + abundant joy = great generosity.
How Elder-Shepherds Prepare to Meet the Chief Shepherd …
When the Chief Shepherd comes, he is going to call elders to account and say, "Did you feed my sheep?"
A Fast for Waters That Do Not Fail, Part 2 …
Let's trust the Great Physician—the Lord, our healer. Let's accept the fast that he has prescribed for us.
The Greatest of These Is Love: An Introduction to the Series …
God is love. The implications of this for the way we live are big.
This Man Receives Sinners and Eats with Them …
The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost. He sought them, he received them, he ate with them, and he saved them.
The Happiest Days of Heaven …
Jesus is the seeking heart of God going out after sinners and winning our repentance.
Good News to the Poor …
Unfolding Bethlehem's Fresh Initiative #5
The fact that Jesus was born to a poor couple in a cow stall tells us something about the way God meant to reach the world.
The Son of Man Came to Serve …
At the end of this season, receive the best present imaginable: Jesus giving himself to die for you and serve you.
He Made Purification of Sins …
Maundy Thursday
The purification that was made was made once for all.
He Sat Down at the Right Hand of Majesty …
Easter Sunday
We owe our purification to Jesus and we owe our being to him.
A Passion for the Supremacy of Christ—Where He Is Not Named …
What convictions drive world missions at Bethlehem Baptist Church?
When Does God Swear? …
God swears by his own name in order to give his people unwavering confidence in his promises.
The Faith of Noah, Abraham, and Sarah …
Installation of Chuck Steddom As Minister of Worship and Music
Saving faith isn't merely the one-time act of receiving Jesus. It goes on trusting him.
Amen …
A Word Common to Many Languages
God's beauty is magnified when it is echoed in prayer and preaching with agreements like "Amen!"
Not Ashamed of the Gospel …
The gospel elicits shaming behavior in those who will not believe it and it gives freedom from shame to those who do.
God's Response to Hypocrisy: Kindness and Judgment …
God's justice does not demand that he punish us for our sins immediately. His kindness leads him to forbear and to be patient with us, to a point.
Let God Be True Though Every Man a Liar …
Who are they whose condemnation is just? Those who play games with the Word of God.
Why Did Christ Come? …
Be Ready This Advent Season with the Meaning of Christmas
Wilderness, Worship, Treason and God …
Learn from David what to do in a brokenhearted, terrifying moment: Worship.
Truth and Love …
Truth aims at love; love aims at truth. Love shapes how to speak the truth; truth shapes how to show love.
Hope-Giving Promises for Triumph over Sin …
If God works to bring about obedience in our heart, then sin will not be lord over us, God will.
Pierced By the Word of God …
Use the Bible to know yourself and confirm your own spiritual life.
Teaching Doctrine to a Six-Year-Old …
How and why to teach kids the complex and essential doctrines of the Bible.
Lessons from Lisa …
A 9/11 Widow Trusts in the Sovereign Goodness of God
September 11, 2001 has served to prove at least these ten truths about the sovereign love of God.
How to Query God …
It is okay to question God if you do it humbly and teachably.
Is God Calling You to Give Your Life for His Sake and the Gospel in Missions? …
Ten Means God Uses to Compel Those Whom He Calls
An Open Letter To Governor Tim Pawlenty Concerning the Expansion of State-Supported Casino Gambling in Minnesota …
The desire to be rich is suicidal. Endorsing it by encouraging gambling is cruel.
Making Room for Atheism …
Thoughts on the Supremacy of God in a Pluralistic World
How do we express a passion for the supremacy of God in a pluralistic world?
