Bethlehem Baptist Church

Introduction: Have you ever taken a wrong turn trying to get somewhere and continued to travel that path and get further and further away from where you were supposed to be? I have a broken sense of direction when it comes to traveling and I rely heavily on GPS. Before we had GPS, it was Mapquest, but…

Introduction: I have had the wonderful privilege of studying under some great professors and men of God at Southeastern Seminary in Wake Forest, NC over my time studying and preparing for the ministry. We have the blessing in the Southern Baptist Convention of having 6 amazing seminaries, and all of…

Introduction: 1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord : 2 “Stand in the gate of the Lord ’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord , all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the Lord . 3 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways…

Introduction: 1 Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was…

Introduction: I have discovered something profound as I’ve gotten older. I cannot hear as well as I used to, nor can I see as well as I used to. Many of you have already gone through the transition and you perhaps think that I just said something like, “I cannot cheer as well as I used to,” or, “I cannot…

Introduction: Have you ever experienced an event in your life that left you completely unable to do anything except sit there and replay what happened over and over again? Perhaps the shock left you immobile and you could not see life going on as usual ever again. For some of you that may be the loss…

Introduction: Trip to Millegeville A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Conner Flannery believed in what she called a “Christ-haunted South” where religion was strong, but the land was full of hypocrites. The title of the book is provocative, but it is not the first time the question has been asked?…

Introduction: This morning, we are going to take a sobering look at the crucifixion of Jesus. It would be easy to give you all of the scientific explanations of a crucifixion, but I will not do that today. This morning, I want you to simply see that Jesus has completed the task. As this song we have…

Introduction: You've probably heard the expression, “trial by fire.” We use that expression when someone is put through a difficult test to see what they're really made of. The idea is that fire reveals what is genuine and what is worthless. Gold is put into the fire, and the impurities are burned away.…

Introduction: Nightmares Orson Wells, War of the Worlds Jeremiah 4:19-5:31 1. The Prophet’s Grief (4:19-31) 2. The Hardened People (5:1-13) 3. The Judgment of the Lord (5:14-31) Conclusion: How should we respond when God pronounces judgment. There are three different responses we see in the passage.…

Introduction: Where’s Waldo puzzles Sometimes it can feel like that with God. We might ask, “Where was God when that storm hit and took the lives of all those people.” “Where was God when that army came through and tortured those villagers.” “Where was God when my child was hit by that drunk driver.”…

Introduction: “Back in the day” people used to get all worked up and excited at a good “hellfire and brimstone” sermon. They wanted preachers to preach with what Kirby Smart might call today: fire, passion, and energy. No one wants a boring preacher, but we also don’t want to hear that God’s judgment…

Introduction: What has been the most shameful moment of your life? I can think of many times where I would be embarrassed for people to see me in my moments of weakness. I remember sometimes when my children were little getting upset with them and yelling at them, only for someone to come walking up…

Introduction: When you were a child, you probably had times where you were afraid of the dark. You would cry out for your parents and didn’t want to be alone. When your parents would come into the room, everything would be okay. It wasn’t because in your mind the danger was gone. It was because your…

Introduction: 1 “If you return, O Israel, declares the Lord , to me you should return. If you remove your detestable things from my presence, and do not waver, 2 and if you swear, ‘As the Lord lives,’ in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall…

Introduction: Some of you may love a good courtroom drama on TV. All of them have some similar traits that are part of a real life legal proceedings. There will normally be an investigation phase of the show where evidence is collected and theories are tested to see who the suspects are and who charges…

Introduction: Today we are going to begin looking at the last few hours of Jesus’s life on this earth as He was arrested, illegally tried, and crucified for our sins. It hurts to be falsely accused of something. It hurts even more when your accuser has manufactured evidence against you that is not true…

Introduction I occasionally have what I call a fat person dream. These are little dreams that remind me to get in shape and stay in shape. I will dream that someone is chasing me and I am running as fast as I can to try to get away. Often I will not get away or will find myself panting, only to wake…

Introduction: You’ve no doubt heard the expression “between a rock and a hard place” before. I was curious where that phrase came from. It is a pretty basic expression that doesn’t need a history lesson to understand, but it is still interesting to know how certain phrases came to be in our language.…

Introduction: What do you do when you know you’ve blown it with the Lord? How do you respond to the crushing weight of guilt and shame from your sin? Tonight, we are going to take a look at David’s response to sin. David was a man after God’s own heart, but he would have been the first to tell you that…

Introduction: Martin Luther nailed his famous 95 Thesis as an indictment against the Roman Catholic Church to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany as a warning and a call to reason. He never set out to start a new denomination, but was calling God’s people back to faithfulness and was…

Introduction: Everyone who lives long enough on this earth knows the pain of betrayal. You know what it is like to be betrayed by someone you love, but if you are honest, you know what it is like to betray someone you love as well. Some of the most famous betrayals in history have made the most memorable…

Introduction These past few weeks we have been in several psalms of lament and tonight we are going to be in another one. This psalm seems to be paired with the last one as a morning hymn because of what it says in verse 3. You know when we consider all of the dangers of life in this fallen world, this…