Bethel Christian Center

Opening night of the 2017 Southeast Regional Conference of the Fellowship Network - Keynote Speaker from London Harvest Church Pastor Jo Naughton

In the gospel of John, the miracles are called “signs.” As you drive on the highways, you will see all kinds of signs. One particular sign is painted red. The sign simply says, “Stop.” It is a stop sign. You never think that this is a piece of metal with red and white paint on it. You simply read the message. “Stop.” So it is with the signs in the Gospel of John. You ask, “What is the message of this sign of water into wine?

The Sunday Morning following VBS "Galactic Starveyors" Michael Britt and Todd Going share God's Word

I can’t imagine where my life would be without the Christian church. I don’t know where I would be. When the Christian church gets it right, it’s the most powerful force for God and for good on the planet. The problem is a lot of the time it doesn’t get it right.

All liberty is precious, but political and physical freedom, are freedoms merely of the second order. Freedom of the first order is spiritual freedom, and this is transcendent! No man in this world attains to freedom from any slavery except by entrance into some higher servitude.

Last year, the BBC asked a question that many of us are still asking: “Why Are Americans So Angry?” According to a CNN/ORC poll from a year ago, “69 percent of Americans are either ‘very angry’ or ‘somewhat angry’ about ‘the way things are going’ in the US.” In a recent article for the Atlantic Monthly, Peter Beinart writes that the absence of faith in some people’s lives has arguably impacted their disposition toward those with whom they disagree. As people of faith, we have a name for this kind of excessive anger—sin—and we also have a script for how to respond to it. Christianity Today

Anger can and will surface at the strangest times, brought forth for the strangest reasons, and exhibited in the strangest way. Anger is the most dangerous of all emotions. It’s like a boomerang—you throw it out at someone, and it comes right back at you. It is one of the hardest emotions to deal with. “Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame; anger is never without reason, but seldom with a good one.” B. Franklin Others have said about anger: “where there is anger there is always pain underneath.” He who angers you conquers you.”

Sermon about Lazarus on Father's Day

Increasing deception will mark the "end time". At a certain point, these deceptions are even going to be augmented by signs and wonders—miracles of certain kinds. And, if we are not careful, even the elect—if possible—could be deceived. A major theme throughout the entire New Testament is that God’s people need to develop discernment so that they can avoid spiritual deception. The key to understanding spiritual deception is the fact that we often choose what we want to believe rather than what we should believe, even in the face of the evidence

The words in Matthew 7:24-27 conclude one of the greatest sermons ever preached. Jesus Christ brings to culmination the great Sermon on the Mount, and he does so with a poignant truth about two men. These two men raise the question, what kind of foundation are we building on? These two men can be seen in terms of a comparison, a contrast, leading us to a clear conclusion.

This weekend not only marks the unofficial beginning of summer, it is the time we set aside to remember those who gave their lives serving our nation during times of war. We also take this opportunity to thank those who are serving and have served in our military because we can never say thank you enough but we have holidays to help us honor these special people. As we honor the brave men and women who secured our political freedom, we also honor the one who secured our ultimate freedom over sin, death, and the devil. Jesus gave us everything. He sacrificed his life for the cause of ultimate freedom.

As the power of God continued to be poured out on the early church, incredible things were happening, even to the point of people being healed by Peter’s shadow as it passed by. The high priests and his sect of the Sadducees were becoming jealous of these uneducated followers of Jesus. When they had the apostles arrested, an angel of God came in the middle of the night and released the men, telling them to go back to the temple and keep preaching. Let’s look at Acts chapter 5.

We live in a time of great transition, in the world/Church. Life is never stagnant. A greater part of our success as a Christian, and as a Church is how we manage the Season of Transition. First of all, we need to understand the nature of transition. Transition is a process, not just a change. A transition is moving from one point to another point. It is essentially moving forward. We need to remember that if God brought you to it, He will see you through it.

Today we celebrate Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter. Christians around the world recognize Palm Sunday as the day Jesus made His triumphal entry into the city of Jerusalem. On this day, prophecy was fulfilled; the prophet Zechariah had recorded this event some 400 years earlier (Zech 9:9). The Lord orchestrated the events of His ministry in Jerusalem in detail. As the sovereign King, He left nothing to chance but prepared each detail so as to culminate His ministry with majestic fulfillment of the OT prophecies. Matthew 21 begins the final week of the life of Jesus Christ.

Wind serves as a particularly good symbol of the Holy Spirit. Wind by its very nature is invisible and unpredictable. The original Hebrew and Greek words for “Spirit” can be translated as “wind.” The wind that appeared on Pentecost (Acts 2:2), was reminiscent of the wind that blew over the waters at the beginning of Creation (Genesis 1:2). The word Spirit means breath or wind, so that the Holy Spirit could literally be called the Wind or Breath of God.

The need to address the vital role of the Holy Spirit is as relevant today as it has been in church history. Jesus clearly told His disciples that even though he was about to leave them that in fact in the next phase of His ministry His presence would be mediated by another and that is the Holy Spirit. That means today the Holy Spirit it how we practice and experience the presence of God in our daily lives as Christ followers. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus is transforming hearts and lives around the world. The Holy Spirit is described in the Bible as a power at work in the lives of people dealing with them and revealing more fully God and His will to mankind.

"It would make a lot of sense that the enemy would tirelessly fight against something that has such a strong potential to pillage his expansion of darkness in our lives and on the earth." Larry Sparks Charisma News Michael expounds on the more difficult aspects of the Holy Spirit Baptism.

Jesus speaking publicly in the temple on the most crowded day of the most popular feast of Israel, issues the call, “Are you thirsty? Come and drink!” When Jesus stands up in the middle of the festival and makes his pronouncement, he claims that he will make available not only the sustaining power of the Holy Spirit, but also the power that provides for ultimate cleansing and satisfaction. “This He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” John interprets the words of Jesus to refer to the pouring out of the Holy Spirit that was still to come. The Holy Spirit existed from all eternity, but was not yet present in the sense indicated (Acts 2:33)

Habakkuk provides us one of the most remarkable sections in all of Scripture, as it contains an extended dialogue between Habakkuk and God. The prophet initiated this conversation based on his distress about God’s “inaction” in the world. He wanted to see God do something more, particularly in the area of justice for evildoers. The book of Habakkuk pictures a frustrated prophet, much like Jonah, though Habakkuk channeled his frustration into prayers and eventually praise to God, rather than trying to run from the Lord as Jonah did. The purpose of Habakkuk is to show that God is still in control of the word despite the apparent triumph of evil.

Have we come to the place where we don’t expect God to miraculously intervene in the history of the church? Have we come to expect that God will not save people in unusual ways (such as dreams and visions) when, in fact, many Muslims are saved this way today? Have we come to expect God only to heal through doctors and hospitals, and not miraculously? The Book of Acts is the story of the disciples receiving what Jesus received in order to do what Jesus did. When we read the Book of Acts we should ask why we don’t experience God’s presence and power as those early saints did. We should believe that He is able (and willing) to intervene in human history in a miraculous way. And we should pray that God would accomplish His will and His work, in whatever way He chooses.