Bethlehem Baptist Church

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…

Introduction: What is the “swankiest” place that you have ever been invited to eat at? For many in the room, these are rare and special occasions that you only go to once in a while. Perhaps you are invited to be the guest of someone at a banquet to honor someone. There are several of these types of…

Introduction What keeps you up at night? Is it stress? Anxiety? Anger? Guilt? I have often heard the old joke where someone will ask a person, “How do you sleep so well at night?” and the reply is, “A peaceful conscience!” Perhaps that is true of us tonight. As we read Psalm 4 , we need to keep in mind…

Introduction: If you have a driver's license, have registered to vote, and are an adult, you meet all the qualifications for getting a nice letter in the mail to appear before the local magistrate for the wonderful privilege of jury duty. It's interesting that so many people try to get out of jury duty,…

Introduction: A little over a week ago we celebrated our freedom as a country. A little less than two months ago we celebrated the lives of those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice to give us those freedoms. In Israel, there was a festival known as Passover. It too celebrated freedom. It celebrated…

Introduction: As we continue looking at things related to the church, we move on to one of the most helpful and most neglected doctrines in the church and that is the doctrine of church discipline. Now, in the age of mega churches, one can see why this doctrine might have been tossed out. We have churches…

Introduction: Yesterday around the country, people celebrated the 250th anniversary of American independence. I was astonished, though I shouldn't have been, to scroll through social media and find an article that said that after polling people, many Americans didn't know what the 250th celebration was…

Introduction: How did you learn most of the things that you know how to do? If you are handy with construction projects, you probably had someone that taught you on the job. If you are good with mechanical things, you may have started with learning how to change your oil. If you are good at knitting…

Introduction: What are your favorite holidays? We are about to be celebrating the 4th of July and this year is a special celebration as we celebrate 250 years of America's Independence. You may have certain traditions that you follow and certain foods that you throw on the grill. You may find a pool…

Introduction: What is the worst trouble you ever got into? Don't glorify your sin, but consider the response of your parents (or the lack thereof) Why did you parents discipline you? Because they love you Because they saw the danger your actions could create You've probably heard the phrase: “You are…

Introduction: 6 Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, 7 a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table. 8 And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? 9 For this…

Introduction: Vignettes Definition in Photography A vignette in photography refers to a technique where the edges of a photo are darker or less saturated than the center. This effect can be used intentionally to draw the viewer's attention to the subject in the center, creating a sense of depth and focus.…

Introduction: As a parent, one thing you have to learn to do is to sort things out when your kids get into a tussle over something. You might not have been in the room when it happened, but you hear the voices begin to raise and then you hear the house being rearranged and before you know it, you have…

Introduction: How many of you have a motivational coach? There are some famous ones out there. Some of you know of Tony Robbins or Michael Hyatt or Oprah Winfrey. These are all people that use positive, encouraging language to try to influence their audience and followers. We live in a world of influencers.…

Introduction: We are entering into wedding season where friends and acaquaintances will soon be sending out invitations to join them for the celebration of their unions together as husband and wife. When you go to a wedding, there are certain steps you take to prepare, aren't there? You get the invitation…

Introduction: Some of you have had the wonderful experience of having to start going to the doctor on a more frequent schedule in order to keep your health up as you have gotten older or if you have had some kind of health issue that now requires more frequent checks. All of us will at some point get…

Introduction: Who is the most virtuous woman you know? I don't want you to answer that out loud in case she is not sitting right next to you. Throughout your life, you have probably had several women that fit the bill. I am blessed to be married to a virtuous woman and I remember preaching this particular…

Introduction: BOLO - person of interest Lookouts are also positioned on battle encampments to guard against the enemy 32 “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. 33 So also, when you see all these things, you know…

Introduction I don't know how many of you have ever heard of a woman by the name of Monica of Hippo. You may have heard of her son, Augustine. Augustine was one of the early church fathers, but he did not start out that way. He actually was a very wicked young man. He lived a life of sexual immorality…

Introduction 1. Worship in Spirit and Truth ( John 4:23 ) 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 2. Worship with All Your Being ( Rom. 12:1-2 ) 1 I appeal to you therefore,…

Introduction 15 “So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house, 18 and let…

Introduction: We say all of the time that we need people to pray for us. How often do you think people genuinely pour their heart out for you when you ask them for prayer? Most won't even pray in that particular moment. However, even if it feels like no one else is praying for you, know that Jesus prays…

Introduction: What the best gift you ever received? Some of you may immediately blurt out the church answer, so I'm going to take that one off the table as a given. Think about the next best gift you've ever received. For those of you who are married, I'm going to take your spouse as an answer off the…

Introduction Many of you, I'm sure, have played a round or two of tennis, or at a minimum, you've watched it played on TV or gone to a game. You know that when the players are good, they hit the ball back and forth in a volley that can last a few minutes. It's always exciting to see the hard shots and…

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: 37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the…

Introduction: Cemetery structures Cube in a cemetery 29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, 30 saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood…

Introduction: On Sunday, we read the passage that we are going to look at tonight. However, I want us to do something different with it tonight than just read it. We are going to first look at the passage and see what is going on and then we are going to pray it back to the Lord making it personal. 19…

Introduction: When you meet a fellow Christian, you often get around to asking them the question, “What church do you go to?” Today, a lot of people will tell you that they go to such and such church and they pick their church like it's a restaurant that they choose based on what they like. To be fair,…

Introduction: Take a stroll through a graveyard and you will see all kinds of interesting things, especially an old graveyard. Most of you know that Bethlehem has been around for a long time - over 200 years. We've had the cemetery for most of that time, so there are a lot of old and interesting graves…

Introduction: What is the most common way that you keep in touch with people? Today, we probably are more quick to jump on social media to see what someone is up to and we can usually see how their doing by taking a quick peek at their social media pages. We can also call or text them to find out how…

Introduction: Have you ever been lost and asked for directions only to have someone try to give them to you that had never been there themselves? During the American Revolutionary War, one of the advantages that the the Americans had was that they were fighting on home turf. They knew all the trails…

Introduction: Many of you are familiar with the song, “ Are You Washed in the Blood? ” We've sang it here for decades and it has been one of those hallmark hymns that gets passed along from generation to generation. Elisha Hoffman wrote the song and it quickly became one of the most popular invitation…

Introduction: Who is your favorite movie character? How many of you remember as a child or young person watching a movie and thinking, “I want to grow up and be just like that!” I've often heard it said, “Never meet you heroes.” What they mean by this is that they will let you down. We tend to idolize…