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.
Sustained by All His Grace …
Unpacking the Master Planning Team Document
All things are by his grace because all things are for his glory. The all-sufficient, inexhaustible Giver gets the glory.
Vision for the Harvest: 2000 by 2000 …
Unpacking the Master Planning Team Document
When we give ourselves to the work of personal evangelism and world missions, God pours more life into our souls.
The Value of Relationships …
Unfolding Bethlehem's Fresh Initiative #1
All Christian relationships have this as their goal: to help each other stay satisfied in God.
Urban-Suburban Partnership …
Unfolding Bethlehem's Fresh Initiative #2
Our mission is to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in everything, including choosing where we live.
Diversity in God-Centered Worship …
Unfolding Bethlehem's Fresh Initiative #4
The abiding foundation of our corporate worship is God-centeredness.
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.
The Son of Man Came to Give His Life a Ransom for Many …
Christmas Eve Day
Were you ransomed when Christ died? Are you still under the guilt and power of sin when you might be free?
Incentives to Strive in Prayer …
God calls us from time to time, and some of us as a kind of vocation, to strive—to struggle, and wrestle, and persist, and prevail in prayer.
Prayer Changes People's Wills …
Don't neglect the amazing influence you have in the world through prayer.
Racial Reconciliation …
Unfolding Bethlehem's Fresh Initiative #3
Racial Harmony Sunday
Let us be the salt and the light of our hostile and fearful society with courageous acts of inter-racial kindness and respect.
Challenging the Church and Culture with Truth …
Unfolding Bethlehem's Fresh Initiative #6
Believing in the supremacy of God leads us to believe in the existence of absolute truth.
Advice to Pastors: Preach the Word …
Installation Sermon
Scripture turned into glad tidings—that is what happens in expository exultation.
God's Purpose for Jacob and Bethlehem …
Everyone we lead to Christ is a fulfillment of the promise, "I am God Almighty; be fruitful and multiply."
Walk in Wisdom: Seize the Moment …
Wisdom is the use of knowledge to reach worthy goals, such as winning outsiders to Christ.
Becoming All Things to All Men to Save Some …
Until the wrath of God figures as largely in our worldview as it did for Paul, we will not have the passion for evangelism that he had.
Raising Children Who Are Confident in God …
What is our calling as parents and as a community of Christians toward our children?
I Have Other Sheep …
The sovereignty of God over the wills of men doesn't make evangelism unnecessary; it makes it hopeful.
Getting Right with God and Each Other …
Human reconciliation is much harder than financial donation.
Let All Who Seek Thee Rejoice and Be Glad in Thee; Let Those Who Love Thy Salvation Say Continually, "The Lord Be Magnified" …
Commitment Sunday of "Freeing the Future"
Our joy in God is both our worship and our evangelism.
When God Says, "Not Now" …
What are God's purposes when he says "No" to his praying people?
In These Last Days, God Has Spoken by a Son …
Palm Sunday
Do you want to hear God speak? God has now spoken not just by prophets, but by his Son.
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.
Jesus Christ: Infinitely Superior to Angels …
Angels were created for Christ's everlasting glory and for our everlasting joy.
The Danger of Drifting from the Word …
Life in this world is like a river, not a lake. And if you don't listen earnestly to Jesus, you will drift down to destruction.
Spoken, Confirmed, Witnessed: a Great Salvation …
The message of our great salvation has been confirmed by a cluster of reliable witnesses.
Who Rules the World to Come? …
The second Adam, Jesus Christ, defeated death and restored the hope of Psalm 8 for all who are in him.
For Whom Did Jesus Taste Death? …
Christ tasted death for everyone who has faith. Because the faith of everyone who believes was purchased by the death of Christ.
Our Captain Made Perfect Through Sufferings …
We are saved by Jesus' suffering because that is what will glorify God most.
Sustained by Sovereign Grace—Forever …
How can you be sure that grace will sustain you to the end?
Jesus: Worthy of More Glory than Moses …
Jesus is both the word from God and the way to God.
Do Not Harden Your Heart in the Day of Trouble …
The surety of believers lies not in the absence of conditions but in the promises of power.
Eternal Security Is a Community Project …
It's the cavalier Christians who need to be worried about their standing.
Be Diligent to Enter God's Rest! …
There is a rest open to you today. The door is not shut. The time is not past.
The Word of God: Living, Active, Sharp …
The Word of God is living and active and penetrates to the bottom of our lives and rips the pleasant mask off the ugly face of sin.
Draw Near to the Throne of Grace with Confidence …
Because we have a great High Priest, the throne of God is a throne of grace.
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.
By This Time You Ought to Be Teachers …
Do you have the disease of "dullness of hearing," and if so, how can you get well?
Let Us Press On to Maturity …
The writer of Hebrews calls you to grow and press on to maturity. And you will—if God permits.
When Is Saving Repentance Impossible? …
It is possible that we who believe we are chosen might slide into a slow process of hardening and fall away from Christ.
The Full Assurance of Hope to the End …
Bank your hope on the justice of God to uphold the honor of his name by offering faith to his unworthy people.
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.
Hope Anchored in Heaven …
There are at least five practical things you can do to move your heart toward "laying hold of your hope."
From Thy Hand We Have Given Thee …
Celebration of Freeing the Future: Being Debt Free as a Church
Our High Priest is the Son of God Perfect Forever …
Five reasons for why Jesus' priesthood is superior to all others.
Purified to Serve the Living God …
How can people destroyed by their sin draw near to a perfect God?
Be Strong and Fervent in Spirit in the Cause of Truth and Life …
Sanctity of Life Sunday
Boredom with Christ is blindness. Open your eyes and let him inspire in you a new passion for the cause of life.
How the Called Receive an Eternal Inheritance …
How is the New Covenant like a last will and testament?
Let Us Draw Near to God …
Palm Sunday
Drawing near to God is the heart of the gospel, and we are called to embrace it with informed zeal.
What Jesus Built by Rising from the Dead …
Easter Sunday
Consider Each Other How to Stir Up Love …
Consider others—study them, know them, figure them out—to the end that you stimulate them to love and good deeds.
Woe to Those Who Trample the Son of God …
Threatening judgment is an effective (and biblical) way to motivate people.
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?
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.
The Hope of Exiles on the Earth …
God honors faith and obedience by using all of his wisdom, power and love to turn that kind of life into one of great joy.
Running with the Witnesses …
Be encouraged by the thousands of saints who have finished the race and testify, "It can be done! By faith it can be done."
The Painful Discipline of Our Heavenly Father …
God is not an ER doctor who only repairs our hurts; he is a master surgeon who plans our hurts in order that he might do us greater good.
Fail Not to Obtain the Grace of God …
Knowing that God's discipline is for our good helps us press on in faith.
You Have Come to Mount Zion …
Obedience is not our way of getting God to do something. It is how we act when we trust that God is already working for us.
Small Group Life in the Power of God's Promises …
The promises of God are the key to love and victory over sin. But we need people in our lives to "encourage us day after day" with those promises.
Be Strengthened By Grace …
How can I find and keep the strength I need to obey God's commands?
Let Us Go with Jesus Bearing Reproach …
Christians have a hope that frees them to move toward need, not comfort.
Obey Your Joyful Leaders, Part 1 …
Spiritual leaders are to keep watch of the word, of Christ, of themselves, and of their people.
Obey Your Joyful Leaders, Part 2 …
Part Two
Elders should see themselves as servants, and the church should have a bent toward trusting them.
It's All the Work of God …
Christians are secure, not because they are strong, but because God is sovereign and faithful to his new covenant promises.
World Missions and the End of History …
Missions Week
The price will be high, but God's promise that the gospel will spread to all nations will be fulfilled by his omnipotent hand.
All of Life as Worship …
God is worshiped when we seek to express and increase our satisfaction in all that he is for us in Jesus Christ.
Magnifying God with Money …
How can money be used to worship God?
Open My Eyes That I May See …
It is by prayer that our eyes will be opened to see wonder in God's Word and be changed.
Every Race to Reign and Worship …
Racial Harmony Sunday
By gathering his redeemed from all the races of the earth, God undercuts ethnocentric pride and throws us back on free grace.
Where Does Child Killing Come From? …
Sanctity of Life Sunday
Amen …
A Word Common to Many Languages
God's beauty is magnified when it is echoed in prayer and preaching with agreements like "Amen!"
The Place of Preaching in Worship …
Why is the proclamation of the Word so prominent in corporate worship?
