The Deadly Team of Sin and Law …
Sin fools us in two ways: it makes us hopeless of ever being righteous or it persuades us that we can do it on our own.
How Great Is the Honor of Israel? …
Recognizing Israel's privileges only underlines the tragedy that so many Jews are accursed and cut off from Christ because of unbelief.
The Present Effects of Trembling at the Wrath of God …
Believing that God is furious against sin produces a good fear that transforms everything in life.
Do Not Destroy the Work of God …
Faith is what really matters in Christian behavior, not just whether you accomplish certain things or abstain from others.
How to Argue with God …
Summer Psalms
Sunday Evening Message
Don't let your sinfulness hinder your prayers. Run into the arms of God and fill his ear with arguments that aim for His honor.
Who Should We Invite to Thanksgiving Dinner? …
Who you invite to share in your abundance shows where your treasure is.
What Do Answers to Prayer Depend On?, Part 1 …
Obedience
If we are unloving and unrepentant then we should not think that God is likely to answer our prayers.
The Cosmic Church …
The church is the cosmic showcase of God's mercy, but he gets cosmic reproach when we fail to receive his mercy with joy.
Even the Hairs of My Head Are All Numbered …
Reflections on My First Year in the Pastorate
Do not fear the work God calls you to. He loves you deeply, knows you fully, and will turn all for your good.
Why the Law Was Given …
The law is a description of the obedience of faith; it is not a job description for how to earn the wages of God's blessings.
Jesus Is Precious Because Through Him We Become Authentic …
We don't have a deep sense of peace and fulfillment when we have successfully deluded everybody about who we really are or what we really feel or think. There is a deep (and I believe God-given) longing to be authentic, not to be hypocrites.
Grow in Grace and in the Knowledge of Our Lord …
The best fertilizer for our hope and godliness is the knowledge of our future in God's grace.
Go and Make Disciples, Baptizing Them... …
When we make disciples, we bid people to come and die to their old, destructive ways and to live for Jesus, who loved them and gave himself for them.
Those Who Have Faith Are the Sons of Abraham …
The central concern of your life is to ensure that you are a child of Abraham.
The War Within: Flesh Vs. Spirit …
A Christian is not a person who experiences no bad desires. A Christian is a person who is at war with those desires by the power of the Spirit.
Money: Currency for Christian Hedonism …
What you do with it—or desire to do with it—can make or break your happiness forever.
Holy, Holy, Holy Is the Lord of Hosts …
Revival happens when we see God majestic in holiness, and when we see ourselves disobedient dust.
Tell How Much the Lord Has Done for You! …
Strategies and actions to seek and save the lost must have high priority in the life of our church.
How the Spirit Sanctifies …
Sanctification is obeying the Commander-in-Chief. Sanctification is a wartime word.
I Will Be Gracious to Whom I Will Be Gracious …
When I choose God, it is because he has first chosen me. My will is not sovereign and self-determining. God's is.
The Son of God Appeared to Destroy the Works of the Devil …
The reason there is a Christmas is because God aims to destroy something.
Job: Rebuked in Suffering …
The suffering of the righteous is not a token of God's enmity but of his love. It is not a punishment of their sins but a refinement of their righteousness.
Far More Than You Think …
When the massive weather front of God's love meets the massive weather front of God's power in the heart of a believer, it produces a hurricane of doxology.
My Prayer to God Is That They Might Be Saved …
Paul does not pray for ineffectual influences, but for effectual influences. And that is how we should pray too.
How Can I Keep on Hoping? The Scriptures! …
The strength to endure comes from the hope before us. And the hope before us comes from the Scriptures.
Let All the Peoples Praise Thee …
Missions Week
God's purpose is to be known and praised and enjoyed and feared among all the nations of the earth.
Good Deeds and the Glory of God …
Sunday Evening Message
God has given us the joy of spiritual sight so that we might spread the reputation of our eye doctor.
Rebuilt Ruins Will Reach the World …
We are ruins being rebuilt by the grace of God. And we are here that the rest of men may seek the Lord.
The Curse of Priestly Failure …
A great danger to the pastoral ministry is that the voice of God in Scripture may be drowned out by other voices.
Natural People and Spiritual People …
Without the Spirit, we are so rebellious against the Lord that we cannot recognize the truth and beauty of a crucified Christ.
When I Fall, I Will Rise! …
Since we sin against God every day, we should be broken; and, since the throne of God is a throne of grace, we should be bold.
Battling the Unbelief of Bitterness …
Anger is very dangerous. If it takes root in your heart and becomes a grudge or an unforgiving spirit, it can destroy you.
The Prayer of an Old Saint …
Some Scriptures can only be fulfilled by recognizing the generation gap and owning up to the fact that it is good.
The Word Became Flesh …
Christmas Eve
God came to live in a tent so we can watch him more closely. God wants to be seen and known in his Son.
A Call for Courage in the Cause of Truth …
Bethel College Chapel
Twin Cities, MN
The Fear of God and Freedom from Goods …
A holy, happy fear of God makes our material possessions insignificant to us, except as means to serve others.
Stephen's Crime: "Jesus Will Destroy the Temple" …
Palm Sunday
How did Jesus destroy the temple? Why did saying so cost Stephen his life?
Looking Back to Witnesses, Up to Jesus, and Forward to Joy …
The author of Hebrews knows nothing of coasting Christianity.
Execution, Escape, and Eaten by Worms …
How the Word of God Grew
If we stay with Jesus, we win, and if we oppose him, we lose.
Christ and Those in Him Will Never Die Again …
Easter Sunday
What if it's true that Christ rose from the dead?
Why the Saints Minister to the Body …
The aim of your ministry as a Christian is to build up the body as a whole.
Advancing and Sustaining the Covenant Community …
Every Christian has a crucial need for covenant relationships, regardless of how un-American it may be.
That Your Prayers May Not Be Hindered …
There are ways live that hinder prayers and there is a way to live that helps prayer.
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.
Cities of Ruthless Nations Will Revere Thee …
Missions Week
Great affliction + deep poverty + abundant joy = great generosity.
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.
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.
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.
He Made Purification of Sins …
Maundy Thursday
The purification that was made was made once for all.
A Passion for the Supremacy of Christ—Where He Is Not Named …
What convictions drive world missions at Bethlehem Baptist Church?
Amen …
A Word Common to Many Languages
God's beauty is magnified when it is echoed in prayer and preaching with agreements like "Amen!"
Why God Inspired Hard Texts …
What are some implications of the fact that God has founded Christianity on a book that has difficult passages?
We Exult in God Through Our Lord Jesus Christ …
The biblical portrait of Jesus must be the essential content of your joy in God.
Righteous Job and the Rock Star …
What is the Almighty that we should serve him? Good question, depending on the tone of voice.
Whence and Why the Earthquake in Turkey? …
When love has wept and worked, it must have some answers. Not all the answers, but some.
The Overflow of Easter …
A Whole Theology of Resurrection in One Chapter
In just one chapter Paul outlines a whole theology of the resurrection.
Teaching Doctrine to a Six-Year-Old …
How and why to teach kids the complex and essential doctrines of the Bible.
How Open Theism Helps Us Conceal Our Hidden Idolatries …
If we deny God's power over evil and suffering, do we deny his wisdom?
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.
If Christ Predicted War, May Christians Pray for Peace? …
God ordains that some wars happen. Ours is to pray that justice, peace, and the proclamation of the gospel prevail.
How to Query God …
It is okay to question God if you do it humbly and teachably.
God Is Not Boring …
God is worthy enough to inspire an infinite number of new and imaginative expressions of his beauty.
Taking the Swagger Out of Christian Cultural Influence …
Being exiles does not mean being cynical. Christians should be concerned about culture and involved in it.
Lilias Trotter and the Language Nobody Knows …
We shouldn't be afraid to use the spiritual vocabulary of the Bible even where it is foreign.
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
When Gratitude Gets Complicated …
Thoughts on Saying Thank You at Bethlehem and Desiring God
When you are in a position of receiving blessing from many people, knowing how to express gratitude can be challenging.
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.
Setting Our Minds on Things Above in Summer …
Thoughts on Colossians 3:1-2
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?
