This morning, the Apostle Paul walks the church in Corinth (and us) into a fight about food. Underneath the question, though, is something far more important. He is teaching the church how to set the table for one another.

In this week's message from our Church Recalibrated series through 1 Corinthians, Pastor Evan opens chapter 8 to address one of the most quietly dangerous patterns in any local church: the way we can be theologically correct and still devastating to the people Jesus bled for.
The sermon moves through three points:

The peril of knowledge that does not love (vv. 1-3). Knowledge inflates like a balloon. Love builds like a house. The mature Christian is not the one with the strongest opinion on the most issues. The mature Christian is the one whose knowledge has cost him something, driven him to his knees, and made him gentle.

The Lord sets us free (vv. 4-6). In the middle of an ethics question about meat, Paul reaches for the Shema and does something stunning. He splits it. One God the Father. One Lord Jesus Christ. Paul, the Jewish monotheist who would have died before committing idolatry, places Jesus inside the divine identity. Liberty is not the trophy of the strong. Liberty is the inheritance of every child of the King.

Love lays down its liberty (vv. 7-13). Paul refuses to let sound theology be weaponized. He calls the strong to look out for the genuinely vulnerable: the new convert, the recently rescued, the brother whose pre conversion shadows still fall on him. The most mature use of Christian liberty is the joyful surrender of it for a brother that Jesus actually bled for.

Along the way, this message draws a careful line between a wounded conscience and a weaponized one, between the brother who is hurting and the brother who is offended. We walk patiently with the wounded. We tell the truth to the offended. Both with love. Both very differently. You will also hear a clear word for the believer whose instinct is to fence off liberty altogether, because the New Testament does not treat Christian freedom as a problem to be managed. It treats it as a gift to be stewarded for love.

The gospel that holds it all together is the Son of God who had every right to stay in heaven, every right to refuse the cross, every right to call legions of angels and walk away. He laid every one of them down. Christian liberty is not a trophy. Christian liberty is a training ground. Every time you set down your right for a brother that Jesus loves, you are practicing the gospel in miniature, saying with your life what Jesus said with his death: liberty laid down for love.

Bethel Baptist Church is a gospel-centered church in Topeka, Kansas, committed to helping people love God, love people, and make disciples of Jesus Christ. Join us for biblical preaching, Christ-centered worship, authentic community, and opportunities for the whole family to grow in faith.

Plan Your Visit: www.betheltopeka.org/visit
Give and Support the Ministry: www.betheltopeka.org/give
Website: www.betheltopeka.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BethelTopeka
Instagram: @BethelTopeka
TikTok: @BethelTopekaKS

If you are looking for a church in Topeka, KS, we would love to welcome you to Bethel Baptist Church.

Thanks for listening to this sermon from Bethel Baptist Church. If the message encouraged you, we would love to meet you in person this Sunday. You can find service times, directions, and more information at www.betheltopeka.org. And if you would like to support the ministry of Bethel, you can give securely online at www.betheltopeka.org/give. God bless, and we hope to see you soon.

Thanks for listening to this sermon from Bethel Baptist Church. If the message encouraged you, we would love to meet you in person this Sunday. You can find service times, directions, and more information at www.betheltopeka.org. And if you would like to support the ministry of Bethel, you can give securely online at www.betheltopeka.org/give. God bless, and we hope to see you soon.

In the final week of our Be the Church series, Pastor Evan opens Matthew 28:18-20 to ask one of the most pressing questions a local church can ask: what does it actually mean for us at Bethel to make disciples of Jesus Christ in Topeka, Kansas, in 2026?

In this message, we walk through four movements:
The authority behind our mission. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to the risen King. We go as ambassadors, not on our own credentials.
The heart of our mission. "Go" is a participle. The only command in the Great Commission is make disciples. As you are going through your ordinary life, in your neighborhood, your workplace, your kid's ballgames, this is where the mission lives.
The method of our mission. Baptizing and teaching. Patient, lifelong formation that produces obedience, not just information. We walk close enough to people that the dust of Jesus, kicked up by the Word and the Spirit, lands on them through us.
The promise that sustains our mission. Matthew opens with Emmanuel, "God with us," and closes with the risen Christ saying, "I am with you always." The gospel is bookended by His presence.

Along the way we look honestly at the 70 to 80,000 unbelievers in our city, the wound that Westboro Baptist has left on the name of Christ in Topeka, the story of a 100-person church in the United Kingdom that began planting churches and is now planting 27 in a single year, and the ancient Jewish proverb that a disciple should walk so closely behind his rabbi that the dust kicked up would land on his face.

The challenge this week is simple. Ask the Lord to give you one name. One person in Topeka who needs Jesus. Pray for them every day. Ask for one step of obedience, whether it is a conversation, an invitation, or a question. Edward Kimball never knew what God would do with one awkward conversation. You may never know either. The call is just to be faithful.

Key Scriptures: Matthew 28:18-20, Daniel 7:13-14, Matthew 1:23

Bethel Baptist Church is a gospel-centered church in Topeka, Kansas, committed to helping people love God, love people, and make disciples of Jesus Christ. Join us for biblical preaching, Christ-centered worship, authentic community, and opportunities for the whole family to grow in faith.

Plan Your Visit: www.betheltopeka.org/visit
Give and Support the Ministry: www.betheltopeka.org/give
Website: www.betheltopeka.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BethelTopeka
Instagram: @BethelTopeka
TikTok: @BethelTopekaKS

If you are looking for a church in Topeka, KS, we would love to welcome you to Bethel Baptist Church.

Thanks for listening to this sermon from Bethel Baptist Church. If the message encouraged you, we would love to meet you in person this Sunday. You can find service times, directions, and more information at www.betheltopeka.org. And if you would like to support the ministry of Bethel, you can give securely online at www.betheltopeka.org/give. God bless, and we hope to see you soon.

Thanks for listening to this sermon from Bethel Baptist Church. If the message encouraged you, we would love to meet you in person this Sunday. You can find service times, directions, and more information at www.betheltopeka.org. And if you would like to support the ministry of Bethel, you can give securely online at www.betheltopeka.org/give. God bless, and we hope to see you soon.

Be the Church | Week 3: Love People (Matthew 22:39)

What if the heartbeat of every Christian was the simple, desperate prayer Desmond Doss whispered on Hacksaw Ridge: "Lord, just one more"?

In this third installment of our four-week Be the Church series, Pastor Evan opens Matthew 22:39 to confront what may be the easiest command to agree with and the hardest to actually live out: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

This is the second peg of our church's mission (love God, love people, make disciples), and Jesus will not let us reduce it to Sunday friendliness or sentimental affection. He calls us to a sacrificial, gospel-fueled love that flows from the cross, refuses to leave the wounded on the ridge top, and breaks every circle we have drawn around our hearts.

In this message, Pastor Evan walks through five movements:

1. Love of neighbor flows from the love we have already been given (Ephesians 2:13)
2. Our neighbor is anyone God places in front of us (Leviticus 19:18, 34)
3. Love has a body. It is action, not sentiment.
4. Love drifts in predictable ways, and we name 10 of them in the American church.
5. The love of Christ breaks every circle (Ephesians 2:14)

You will hear the stories of Desmond Doss and John Newton, the slave trader turned pastor whose memory near the end held only two truths: that he was a great sinner and Christ a great Savior. You will be challenged to identify where your own love has cooled, and you will be pointed back to a Savior who loved you when you were far off, when you were a stranger, when you had nothing to offer.

Whether you have never trusted Christ or you are a believer whose circle has grown small, the invitation is the same. Come back to the cross. Let Him warm you up again. Then walk into your neighborhood, your kitchen table, and your cubicle praying the prayer that changes everything: "Lord, one more."

Scripture: Matthew 22:39-40 Series: Be the Church (Week 3 of 4) Bethel Baptist Church | Topeka, KS

Bethel Baptist Church is a gospel-centered church in Topeka, Kansas, committed to helping people love God, love people, and make disciples of Jesus Christ. Join us for biblical preaching, Christ-centered worship, authentic community, and opportunities for the whole family to grow in faith.

Plan Your Visit: www.betheltopeka.org/visit
Give and Support the Ministry: www.betheltopeka.org/give
Website: www.betheltopeka.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BethelTopeka
Instagram: @BethelTopeka
TikTok: @BethelTopekaKS

If you are looking for a church in Topeka, KS, we would love to welcome you to Bethel Baptist Church.

Thanks for listening to this sermon from Bethel Baptist Church. If the message encouraged you, we would love to meet you in person this Sunday. You can find service times, directions, and more information at www.betheltopeka.org. And if you would like to support the ministry of Bethel, you can give securely online at www.betheltopeka.org/give. God bless, and we hope to see you soon.

#BetheChurch #LoveYourNeighbor #Matthew22 #Sermon #BethelBaptist #LoveGodLovePeople #GospelCentered

Thanks for listening to this sermon from Bethel Baptist Church. If the message encouraged you, we would love to meet you in person this Sunday. You can find service times, directions, and more information at www.betheltopeka.org. And if you would like to support the ministry of Bethel, you can give securely online at www.betheltopeka.org/give. God bless, and we hope to see you soon.