Bethel Topeka

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.

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 with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. This isn't just a theology lecture. It's a call to look honestly at whether our Monday through Saturday lives actually match the answer we would give on a Sunday morning.

In this message, we explore four movements:

We love God because He first loved us. The gospel always comes before the command.
We love God with every part of us, including our finances, our "meod."
We love God by loving our neighbor, especially the stranger at the table.
We love God by recovering the mission He has given His church.

Along the way we unpack the Shema, the difference between friendliness and hospitality, why greeters cannot replace gathering, and why a church that forgets its mission becomes a club that happens to own church equipment.

Key Scriptures: Matthew 22:34-40, Deuteronomy 6:4-5, 1 John 4:19-20, Romans 5:5-8, Leviticus 19:18, John 3:16

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.

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 shared orientation around one Lord, one gospel, and one mission.

Drawing from the Apostle Peter's words to a scattered, suffering church, this message unpacks four qualities that define a unified people of God:
A Common Call — Unity is not optional. "All of you" means all of you, with no exceptions and no opt-outs.
A Common Mind — Being of one mind does not mean thinking alike on everything. It means facing the same direction together, pulling toward the same finish line.
A Common Heart — Sympathy, brotherly love, and tenderness are not nice extras. They are the hallmarks of a people who have entered into one another's lives and chosen to stay.
A Common Posture — Humility is the soil in which everything else grows. Christianity did not find humility as a virtue — it invented it, by looking at the cross.

This is a timely and honest message for any church walking through a season of change, and an invitation to anyone who has quietly checked out to come back to the table.

Scripture: 1 Peter 3:8
Series: Be the Church (Week 1 of 4)
Preacher: Pastor Evan Bialk

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.

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 hope: it doesn't shout demands from a distance. It walks directly into our disorientation and calls us by name.

Working through 1 Peter 1:3-9, Pastor Evan traced five things Peter says about a hope that is birthed by resurrection. It flows from God's mercy, not our merit. It is alive because Christ is alive. It is doubly secured, guarded from both ends. It reframes our trials as refinement rather than defeat. And it produces a joy too deep for words. Peter wrote those words to a scattered, suffering community, and the message lands no differently today.

This is not seasonal Easter optimism. It is a daily reality grounded in the most historically verified event in the ancient world. Your hope is not a lottery ticket waiting to pay out. It is a cashier's check with the funds already secured on Resurrection morning, available right now in whatever you walked in carrying. The only question left is whether you will let the risen Christ speak your name.

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.

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 magnitude of who stood before them—not merely a prophet from Nazareth, but the Lord and Savior whose death and resurrection would conquer humanity's greatest enemies: sin and death. This Palm Sunday reminds us that our joy cannot depend on circumstances, but must be anchored in the unshakeable reality of Christ's finished work. True worship flows from this joy, leading us to lay down our whole lives before the King who gave His life for us. As we enter Holy Week, we're challenged to examine: Is our view of Jesus too small? Do we truly grasp that He is not just a good teacher, but the crucified and risen Lord who changes everything?

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.

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 Christ's return, and ignites an unstoppable zeal for good works. Through vivid illustrations of lighthouse keepers and navigation principles, Pastor Evan challenges believers to move beyond mere religious routine to become "zealots for the Lord"—people whose passion for God's kingdom work stems from a deep understanding of grace's transformative power. His urgent call for spiritual revitalization reminds the church that true renewal isn't about surface changes, but about remembering our identity as God's treasured possession and letting that truth rekindle the fire that grace was always meant to produce.

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.

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 future certainty while acknowledging present realities. Drawing from Paul's teaching, Pastor Evan shows that Christian hope is not optional but woven into the very fabric of salvation itself, evidenced by the Spirit's presence as a "down payment" of glory to come. Just as Israel was truly redeemed from Egypt yet had wilderness to traverse, believers live in the tension between redemption secured and its full realization. This hope is refined in what remains unseen and practiced through patient waiting—not passive resignation, but active endurance that keeps showing up, praying, trusting, and serving even when visible results are absent. The message concludes with an urgent call to embrace this hope-filled tension, recognizing that our present groaning isn't a sign of failure but evidence of life yearning for promised resurrection.

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.

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 pastor skillfully weaves together Israel's ancient cry of feeling forgotten by God with our modern struggles of spiritual and emotional fatigue, showing how God responds not by immediately changing our circumstances, but by giving us a renewed vision of His unchanging character. With pastoral warmth and practical wisdom, Pastor Evan challenges the cultural narrative that values instant results over patient endurance, reminding us that sometimes the greatest evidence of God's power is simply our ability to keep walking faithfully day by day. His urgent call invites us to bring our exhaustion to the cross and discover that waiting on the Lord isn't passive resignation but active trust in the One whose strength never fails.

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.