Bethel Baptist Church

Scripture Reading: Colossians 2:16-23  We are internally 'programmed' by our sinful hearts to trust in ourselves as the means to gain God's favor.  This explains the reality that people all over the world give themselves to religious rituals, from fasting to prayer wheels to bodily mutilation.  The 'Colossian Heresy,' against which Paul is writing in this letter, included a mixture of Jewish ritua...

Originally Presented on August 13th, 2006.  Sermon Reading: Romans 1:21-28               The overarching truth stressed in Romans 1-3 flies in the face of the popular understanding of the nature of man.  The widely-held view of man today is that he is basically good.  It is outside influences which corrupts his life.  Romans teaches us that man is not basically good.  On the contrary, he is basica...

Scripture Reading: Colossians 2:8-15 The way that Paul combats false teaching in Colossae is to exalt the nature of Christ and to emphasize His work.  In Colossians 2:11-15 we have a description of what Christ has done in us (Col 2:11-13) and what Christ has done for us (Col 2:14,15).  We have taken these sections in the order they appear, but logically what Christ has done for us has happened fir...

Originally Presented on August 6th, 2006.  Scripture Reading: Romans 1:18-21 Following the introduction of the epistle to the Romans in the first 17 verses of the book, Romans 1:18 begins the first major section of a tightly-knit argument which unfolds the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.  After sounding the theme of the book . . . the righteousness of God which justifies people who have faith in...

Scripture Reading: Colossians 2:11-13   The best way to confront falsehood is to declare the truth.  In Colossians, in order to rectify false teaching, Paul exalts the truth about Christ.  Christ is lauded as the Creator of all things, Lord of all things, head of the church, and the revelation of God because in Christ the fullness of deity resides.  In today's passage we see the truth of Christ's...

Originally Presented on July 30, 2006. Scripture Reading: Romans 1:8-25   A jealous and avenging God is the LORD; The LORD is avenging and wrathful. The LORD takes vengeance on His adversaries, And He reserves wrath for His enemies. Nahum 1:2 He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on Him. John 3:36 For the wr...

  Scipture Reading: Colossians 2:8-10              In this section Paul directly addresses the heretical teaching that had been plaguing the Colossian church.  He begins by warning the believers … "See to it that no one takes you captive . . ." (Col 2:8).  The King James translation better captures the strength of this exhortation … " Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy."             ...

Originally Presented on July 23, 2006. Scripture Reading: Romans 1:16-17             Romans 1:17 heralds the theme of the book of Romans, namely 'the righteousness of God.'  This phrase is so full of meaning that it is fair to say that the rest of the epistle was written to explain it.  Some form of the word 'right' is found 65 times in Romans.              The phrase 'the righteousness of God' de...

Scripture Reading: Colossians 2:1-7               This paragraph reveals Paul's great concern for the people in Colossae and Laodicea.  What makes this particularly interesting is that Paul had not been to those places.  The people he is so concerned about are people he had only heard about, but never met.               He writes this letter "that their hearts may be encouraged" (Col 2:2).  There...

Originally Presented on July 16, 2006. Scripture Reading: Romans 1:8-15             At the outset of the letter to the Christians in Rome, Paul has the delicate task of introducing himself and introducing his theological treatise.  In Romans 1:8-15 the apostle introduces himself to a community he had never seen.  His statements are very instructive as to how we should view our congregation here at...

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 9:1-7 Part of Isaiah's message was the terrifying report of judgment on the people of Israel.  They had been repeatedly unfaithful to God and He judged them severely. Isaiah 8:22 speaks of "distress and darkness" and "the gloom of anguish."  And all of it came upon these wayward people in the form of bitter captivity in Assyria and in Babylon. But then chapter 9 speaks of...

Originally Presented on July 9, 2006.   Scripture Reading:  Romans 1:1-7   The first paragraph of Romans summarizes the main topic of the letter, namely the gospel of God (Rom 1:1).  Wondrous truths about the gospel are indicated in these verses.  First, it is the gospel of God .  God is the source and means and goal of the gospel.  Romans 11:36 eloquently declares this grand reality: "For from Hi...

Scripture Reading: Luke 1:46-55              Mary's exultation in God in this wonderful poem is both passionate and insightful.  And we have the same God.  Even though for her to bear the Messiah is a unique event, it is possible for us to know the same awe and joy that she experienced.  For us to feel what Mary felt we must see, with the eyes of our soul, what she saw and we must deeply know the...

Originally Presented on July 2, 2006.   Scripture Reading: Romans 1:6,7             The church at Rome was not founded by Paul and he had never visited these Christians though he had desired to (Rom 1:13; 15:22-24).  The church was probably a result of people from Rome who were in Jerusalem and were converted to Christ during the celebration of Pentecost in Acts 2 (Acts 2:10).               The ch...

Scripture Reading: Luke 1:46-55 To a wide-eyed 5 year old, Christmas is lights and toys and brightly-wrapped boxes under a living room tree.  To a retailer it is increased sales and profits.  To a busy housewife Christmas is a fatiguing schedule of shopping, decorating, and cooking. But to Mary, Jesus' mother, the birth of Christ was an occasion for an impassioned declaration of unbridled joy.  He...

Originally Presented on June 25, 2006.      The New Testament book of Romans is, arguably, the most important book ever written.  Samuel Coleridge, 19th century English poet, wrote, "I think that the epistle to the Romans is the most profound work in existence."   Scottish Reformer John Knox thought Romans to be "unquestionably the most important theological work in existence."      Augustine, Mar...

Guest Pastor Rev. Greg Hands Scripture Reading: 1 Timothy 3:14-16 (ESV)   14  I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that,   15  if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.   16  Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh,...

Scripture Reading:  Colossians 1:28-2:5 This passage describes Paul's struggle to serve Christ and His kingdom, on behalf of the Colossians and the people of Laodicea.  What drives Paul, to the point of his willingness to be imprisoned and even to die, is the proclamation of Christ.  Christ is portrayed in this passage as God's mystery.  Jesus is the ultimate revelation of God to humanity.  He is...

 Scripture Reading: Colossians 1:21-23  This passage says something profound about the nature of the Christian life.  It tells us something, about the life of someone whose heart has been changed by God's Spirit.  And it tells us something, about the everlasting security of someone whose heart has been changed by God's Spirit.                 There is also a glorious encouragement here, but the wo...

Scripture Reading: Colossians 1:18-22 This glorious passage about the supremacy of Christ speaks of His relationship to God the Father ("the image of the invisible God" - v 15) … His relationship to creation ("firstborn of [over] all creation" - v 15) … His relationship to the church ("head of the body - v 18).  In Christ "all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell"      (v 19) "that in everythi...

Scripture Reading: Colossians 1:24-29 This passage is a good missions passage because it speaks of making known "how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col 1:27).  The 'mystery' spoken of here is that the Jewish Messiah would actually reach out to non-Jewish people and give them the promise of Abraham … the glory of the...

Scripture Reading: Colossians 1:15-17 It is highly significant that, from the very beginning, the Holy Spirit inspired passages like today's passage.  This section reveals, in glorious description, the nature of the Son.  For two thousand years there have been false ideas about who Jesus is.  In a recent Ligonier Ministries survey of evangelicals, 95% of church-going people said there is one true...

Scripture Reading: Colossians 1:12-14 In this first section of Colossians, Paul has been thanking God for the conversion of the Colossian church.  He had not been to Colossae, but wrote, "We always thank God . . . when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith" (Col 1:3,4).  At the end of this paragraph of thanksgiving, we have a brief, but glorious description, of what God has actually done i...

Scripture Reading: Colossians 1:9-14 When Paul prayed for the Colossians, this paragraph tells us what he asked God for on their behalf.  This section is very helpful to us because it tells us what to pray for others and what to seek for ourselves. Our prayers tend to be focused on physical problems that others have.  It is certainly right to pray for the sick (cf. Jam 5:13,14), but this prayer do...

Scripture Reading:  Colossians 1:1-8   When Paul was in his first Roman imprisonment, he wrote four letters which are usually known as his 'prison epistles.'  These letters are Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon.  The letter to the Colossian Christians bears some similarities to Ephesians, but has a unique element.  Drawn from some of Paul's references in Colossians, we can piece tog...