Bethel Topeka

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 yourse...

What is the one thing your whole life hinges on? When a lawyer stepped forward in the temple and asked Jesus to name the greatest commandment out of all 613 in the Torah, Jesus didn't hesitate. His answer reorders the axis of the entire universe, and it still presses on us today.
In week two of our "Be the Church" series, we walk through Matthew 22:34-40 and examine what it really means to love the Lord our God w...

What does it take to keep a rowing crew from falling apart? Just one rower pulling out of rhythm can slow the whole boat. The church is no different.

In this opening message of our new four-week series, "Be the Church," Pastor Evan Bialk preaches from 1 Peter 3:8 and calls Bethel Baptist Church to the foundation that every other mission rests on: unity. Not uniformity, not the absence of disagreement, but a share...

Have you ever stood in a place where grief made everything unrecognizable, searching desperately for something you couldn't even name? Pastor Evan opened Easter morning with the vivid scene of Mary Magdalene weeping outside the empty tomb, so overwhelmed by loss that she couldn't recognize the risen Jesus standing right in front of her. Not until He spoke her name. That single moment captures the heart of resurrection hop...

What began as an ancient prophecy became a revolutionary moment when Jesus entered Jerusalem—not as the military liberator the crowds expected, but as something far greater. Pastor Evan unpacks how Jesus rode into the city with perfect, intentional restraint, displaying His divine power through voluntary submission rather than force. Though the crowds shouted "Hosanna" and laid down palm branches, they missed the true mag...

What does it mean to be truly transformed by grace? In a powerful sermon exploring Titus 2:11-14, Pastor Evan uses the compelling metaphor of a compass to show how God's grace doesn't just rescue us—it reorients our entire lives. Drawing from Paul's letter to Titus, he reveals that grace has a face in Jesus Christ, operates as a comprehensive classroom for our spiritual formation, points us toward the blessed hope of...

What does it truly mean to live in the "already but not yet" of Christian hope? In this powerful message, Pastor Evan unpacks Romans 8:24-25 to reveal how biblical hope isn't mere wishful thinking, but a settled confidence anchored in God's promises. Through the metaphor of an emergency room—where anxiety fades upon arrival even before treatment begins—he illustrates how salvation brings us into a life shaped by...

What does true strength look like in our moments of deepest exhaustion? In a powerful exploration of Isaiah 40, Pastor Evan illuminates how God meets us in our weariness with inexhaustible strength. Through the compelling metaphor of a marathon runner collapsing near the finish line, he reveals that our human strength inevitably runs out – but this very weakness becomes the gateway to experiencing God's sustaining power. The p...

Have you ever felt trapped by your past, struggling to break free from old patterns? In Ezekiel 36, Pastor Evan reveals God's radical promise of supernatural transformation—not just behavior modification, but complete spiritual renewal. Through vivid imagery of ritual cleansing and heart transplants, we discover how God promises to wash us clean, replace our stone-cold hearts with living ones, and empower us through His Spirit...

Have you ever felt like hope was slipping through your fingers? In a message drawn from Romans 15:13, Pastor Evan reveals that true hope isn't built on optimism or willpower, but on the unchanging character of God Himself. Pastor Evan unpacks three transformative truths: that God is the source of all authentic hope, that this hope flows into our lives through faith rather than works, and that the Holy Spirit sustains and multi...

What if the most important alarm in your life isn't the one warning of physical danger, but the one calling you to reset your spiritual priorities? Pastor Evan explores Paul's message in 1 Corinthians 7:25-40, where he sounds an urgent wake-up call to the church about making temporal things ultimate. Drawing from a personal story about his friend's house fire, Pastor Evan illustrates how pressure reveals what truly m...

What does faithfulness look like when everything in our culture screams "upgrade"? Pastor Evan tackles this timely question through Paul's counter-cultural message to the Corinthians. We learn that true Christian faithfulness means remaining steady, in our marriages, mixed-faith relationships, and life circumstances, not chasing endless upgrades. Pastor Evan shows how ordinary faithfulness becomes extraordinary when ...

What happens when the church swings between extremes on sexuality, from rigid purity culture to complete permissiveness? In this message, Pastor Evan tackles this challenging topic head-on, offering a balanced biblical perspective that celebrates sex as God's good gift while maintaining its sacred place within marriage. Drawing from 1 Corinthians 7:1-9, he presents eight biblical "P" lenses - including purity, promis...

What does it mean to truly honor God with our bodies? Pastor Evan tackles the challenging topic of sexual purity through the lens of 1 Corinthians 6, revealing how our physical bodies are intricately connected to our spiritual lives. He illuminates how Christian freedom isn't a license for indulgence, but rather the power to live wholly for Christ. Pastor Evan emphasizes that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, purchase...

Have you ever wondered what happens when our desire to be right collides with our call to reflect Christ? Pastor Evan tackles this tension in 1 Corinthians 6:1-11, he reveals how the Corinthian church's habit of taking believers to secular courts exposed a deeper spiritual crisis. Pastor Evan challenges the common instinct to seek vindication through worldly means, reminding us that as believers, we're called to pursue sp...

What if the most profound joy isn't found in avoiding pressure, but in discovering its divine purpose? In Pastor Evan's message, he draws a compelling parallel between physical pressure—from pressure cookers to diamond formation—and the spiritual pressure God uses to shape our character. Through Romans 5:1-5, he reveals that authentic Christian joy isn't rooted in circumstantial happiness, but in the unshakeable peac...

In a powerful exploration of knowing and understanding God, guest preacher Josh Harris draws us into the compelling narrative of Jeremiah 9, where the stark contrast between living with and without divine knowledge unfolds. Through the lens of David's life—particularly his response to personal tragedy following the Bathsheba incident—Josh illuminates how true understanding of God's character transforms our response to lif...

In a challenge to conventional Advent narratives, Pastor Evan invites us to lift our gaze from the manger to the throne, drawing from the striking imagery of Revelation 19. Through the portrait of Jesus as the rider on a white horse, faithful and true, and crowned with many diadems, he confronts our tendency to domesticate Christmas into mere sentiment. Pastor Evan weaves together Christ's first coming in humility with His pre...

What does it mean to truly recognize God's redeeming work? In a message from Luke 2, Pastor Evan unpacks the moment when the infant Jesus was presented at the temple, revealing how salvation enters the world not with spectacle, but through quiet faithfulness. Through the eyes of Simeon and Anna, we see that salvation isn't merely a concept, it's embodied in the person of Jesus Christ himself. Pastor Evan illuminates ...