Berean Baptist Church

Berean Baptist Church There is a famine of the knowledge of God in our country. We seek to address this need at Berean.

06/18/2026

Wednesday 6/17 1 John 2:7-11, the third evidence of salvation

Wednesday 6/17 outline
06/17/2026

Wednesday 6/17 outline

06/16/2026

Sunday 6/14 radio message, What is a Christian, part 7

Hello, I am Charles Scheele, the pastor of Berean Baptist Church here in Tomahawk. How is everyone doing today?

We have been looking at, what I believe, are the two best criteria for judging a person’s Christian faith: 1) do they desire to please God in what they say and do, and 2) how do they treat other people in the ordinary, everyday affairs of life. Both that of loving God and loving others are tied together in I John 5:2, which states, “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.” If we would obey God, we would naturally be loving others by our conduct and character; we would be choosing to not act in selfish ways or do wrong. But, alas, most people do not love God, and therefore do not treat others the way we should.

Last week I talked about following God, which is to consciously make the choice to read God’s Word (Bible) so we can learn what God says, then apply it to our situation, and obey it as we understand it to apply. To do this is also what the Bible calls faith, or believing in God. To read the Bible with the intent of learning what God says, and applying it to our situation so we may obey it, is also what the Bible calls loving God.

In looking at our original question, what is the best way to judge a person’s Christian faith, the original answer was (1) do they desire to please God in what they say and do, and (2) how do they treat others. Both of these answers are bound up in following God. I might add here, that to follow God, we must accept God as He has described Himself to be, and to treat Him and what He has said, as truth.

There is only one way by which we can know who God is, and what He said. That one way is the Bible, the Word of God.

The old understanding about the Bible is that the Bible, as God’s Word, must be the judge of all things, but not the one which is judged. The Bible, as God’s Word, is the authoritative message from the Creator of all things.

In Numbers 23:19 we are told that “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent.” The comparison being made here is that God has no need to tell a lie, where sometimes people think they need to. When we are concerned about what other people think about us; we lie to hide things, or to look better than what we are. But God has no such need.

David, when he was the king of Israel, he wrote, “I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name” (Psalms 138:2). God is worthy of our worship because He is more concerned about keeping His word, than He is about what we think of Him, and so He does not lie. The fact that God does not lie, David calls it God’s “lovingkindness;” we benefit from the fact that God does not lie. How do we benefit from this fact, you may ask?

One way is that as our Creator, when God established the laws of physics that run His creation, He does not change them on a whim. I like to use the law of gravity as an example. Can you imagine what life would be like if God decided one night to end the law of gravity because He got mad about something? All life would end as we and our atmosphere floated out into space. But God does not behave that way.

Even when God judged the world in Noah’s day with a flood that destroyed everything that lived on the surface of the earth, God warned the people for 120 years that He was going to destroy the world with a flood if they did not repent of their sins and change their ways (Genesis 6:3). Imagine that, a holy God choosing to put up with the wickedness of mankind for 120 years so they may have an opportunity to escape His coming judgment against their sin. But like people today, they would not believe God, nor would they repent of their sin, nor turn from their wicked ways; so they wasted the opportunity God gave to them and died in the flood.

In Matthew 5:43-45, Jesus said that if we want to have the same character as God, we would need to love our enemies; something Jesus described as doing what is right in our relationship with them, even though they are not doing what is right toward us.
Jesus said that God does this all the time, sending rain and sunshine on the fields of bad people, just as He does on the fields of good people. God said He gives us this life as an opportunity to repent of our sins so we will not have to face His judgment against our sins, reserving our judgment for after we die, when all will stand before Him on Judgment Day (Romans 2:4-6). Because of this,
God still meets our needs in this life, even of those who hate Him.

Can you imagine what this world would be like if God decided to only allowed it to rain on the fields of good people? Most of the world would die because of the drought if He did that. The fact that God is more concerned about keeping His word, than He is about what we think about Him, is why He keeps His creation working as He designed for it to work.

In Acts 14:15-17 we are told that ”the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein: [16] Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. [17] Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” This is truly an act of His lovingkindness toward us, for which we can all be grateful.

Going back to the original issue of the two criteria by which we should judge a person’s faith; 1) do they desire to please God in what they say and do, and 2) how do they treat other people in the ordinary, everyday affairs of life -- wouldn’t those who love God also behave as God does and show mercy even toward those who hate them, as the God they claim to love does every day? The question is, do we believe and love this God as we should?

My time is up. If you have any questions you would like to have me address on this program, or if you would like a free transcript of what I have just said; you can find the transcript on Facebook, and you can contact me by calling me at 715-453-3407, or write to me at Berean Baptist Church of Tomahawk, or email me at [email protected]. I also want to take this time to invite you to listen to our Sunday morning and Wednesday night services on Facebook and You Tube, or to attend our Sunday School and discussion at 9:30, our Morning Service at 10:45, and our Wednesday night Bible Study at 7:00. We also invite you to read our Ask the Pastor article in the Tomahawk Leader. Until we meet again, may God bless you, and may it be your purpose in life to know this God who has made you.

06/16/2026

Scripture Reading Challenge, Revelation 17

Verses 1 and 2 introduce us to the subject of this and the following chapter; who is the woman riding the beast, and what is her judgment? Chapter 16 spoke of Christ’s judgment of those who are taking part in her sins (verse 2); chapters 17 and 18 tell us what is the judgment of the one who is the source of those sins. The title “whore” is referring to a spiritual situation; God owns everything and is Man’s Creator, but this woman has drawn mankind away from Him, so that people worship and serve false gods.

Verses 3 through 5 John is transported in his spirit to see things no human eye has seen (in the wilderness). A spiritual pr******te is seen riding a beast which is Satan (Revelation 12:3); who goes by many names, all of which slander (blaspheme) the Creator of all things (verse 3). The woman is described as possessing great wealth which was given to her by her customers (verse 4), whose nature is a mystery to mankind, but whose history goes all the way back to the Babylon that is the beginning of all false religions and rebellion against God; the meaning behind her name (verse 5). Babylon is probably referring to the original city of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9), an historical city that God promised to utterly destroy because of her sin (Jeremiah 50,51).

Verses 6 and 7 presents this religious pr******te as being drunk with the martyrdom of the followers of the Creator God and His Son. John is awed by the mystery of the symbolism embodied in the vision of this woman riding the beast (verse 6). John is not admiring the woman as our modern definition of the word “admiration” implies, but he is overcome with a “curiosity” concerning this vision (verse 6). The angel offers to explain the mystery of the symbolism in this vision (verse 7).

Verse 8 the angel explains that the red beast the woman rides, is someone who once exercised great power in the earth (was), but is now restrained (is not), whose influence will once again be restored to him for a short time (shall ascend) before he is judged (go into perdition). This is Satan who God allows to rule the earth for the final 3½ years of the tribulation, through the person of the anti-Christ that he will empower (Revelation 13:1-8).

Verses 9 through 11 help us understand the power Satan exercised in the past and will in the future – it was and will be through human rulers. “Mountains” are used in the Old Testament to represent kingdoms (Psalm 30:7), the last great “mountain” will be that of the kingdom of the Messiah (Daniel 2:34,35,44,45). The seven kingdoms he is referring to, are the kingdoms that have, and will, directly affect Israel; five have fallen (Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, and Greece), one is (Rome), and one is yet to come (kingdom of the anti-Christ). The beast empowers the last king, even greater than the influence he exercised over the previous six (he is the eighth, and is of the seven), but his judgment is determined (goeth into perdition, verse 11). Older commentators often attributed the woman to represent the Roman Catholic Church because Rome is built on seven hills (verse 9), but verse 10 ties those seven hills to seven empires, following the Old Testament use of the symbol of a mountain as a kingdom.

Verses 12 through 14 describe 10 nations (kings) who for a short time (“hour”, 3½ years) are the power base from which the anti-Christ will arise to world dominance. These nations did not exist in John’s day but may in ours, and will act in concert with the anti-Christ’s fight against the worship of Christ. Christ will win in the end because He is the true ruler over all things, who has always been worshiped by those whom He has redeemed from the earth (verse 14, also see Revelation 7).

Verse 15 explains the image of the waters (also see verse 1), an Old Testament symbol of the peoples of the world (Isaiah 8:7,8); a reminder that the Anti-Christ will rule the world for a short time.

Verses 16 through 18 describe the means through which God will destroy all false religions (Babylon), it will be through the power of mankind represented in these ten kings, who have given themselves to support the Anti-Christ. It appears that they will throw off the yoke created by false religions, and directly support the power behind all the false religions that have controlled the nations throughout history. Is this Satan throwing off the disguise of false religions through which he has influenced nations throughout history, because He no longer needs them since he now has his world leader he will be directly working through? Behind the scenes we see the providence of God exercising His judgment upon false religion (verse 17) through the actions of world leaders who hate the religions that have controlled them. Verse 18 reminds us of how influence false religion has exercised over world politics.

The scripture reading challenge this week is Revelation 18. I ask that in reading through the book of Revelation, that you focus on what it says about God’s blessings on obedience, and His judgment upon sin. Please read through this chapter with a focus on learning the character, judgment, and justice of God.

06/14/2026

Sunday 6/14 1 John 5:1-3, Why is it the love of God for us to keep His commandments, part 4

Sunday 6/14 outline
06/14/2026

Sunday 6/14 outline

06/10/2026

Wednesday 6/10 1 John 2:3-6 The second evidence of salvation

Wednesday 6/10 outline
06/10/2026

Wednesday 6/10 outline

06/09/2026

Sunday 6/7 radio message was a repeat from last week, What is a Christian, part 6?

Hello, I am Charles Scheele, the pastor of Berean Baptist Church here in Tomahawk. How is everyone doing today?

Before Memorial Day, we had been looking at, what I believe, are the two best criteria for judging a person’s Christian faith: 1) do they desire to please God in what they say and do, and 2) how do they treat other people in the ordinary, everyday affairs of life. I say this because of what Jesus said were the two greatest commands in the Bible: to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love your neighbor as you already love your self. For today I would like to look at these things as they relate to following God.

I was talking with a young man the other day about following God. In our conversation he said something that I have heard many Christians say over the years, something I do not especially like.
The line is, “Let go and let God.” This is usually said to encourage someone to let God help them through a problem they may be having. It sounds good and Christian, but what does it really mean?

Another phrase I especially don’t like is the phrase, “Let God lead you.” And again, it sounds good and Christian, and it is true that we need to follow where God would lead us, but are we to “let God lead us” as if we have other options, as if we are in the driver’s seat?

When God gave to Israel His law, He said to them, “See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; (16) In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it” (Deuteronomy 30:15-16). God told Israel, you have two options, follow me and find life or go your own way and find death. Later God again tells Israel, “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: (20) That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days….” (Deuteronomy 30:19,20).

Israel had a hard time with obeying God, they were prone to complain and disobey God. God tells them, you have two options, either follow me and find life, or go your own way and suffer trouble.

The picture God left Israel with, was that He was always leading them, but they were not always following Him. Israel had God’s Word, His priests and prophets; all they had to do was follow what God had written down for them. He was leading them, but they were not following Him. It is the same for us.

God does not say to us, “Let Me lead you.” He says, “I have shown you the way, now follow Me.”

I am reminded of the words of Jesus who said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (29) Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” (Matthew 11:28,29). Jesus did not say, “Let Me help you.” He said, “Come to Me and take my yoke, and I will give you rest.” The picture is that we must go to where He is and then we will find the rest.

When Jesus began His ministry and was choosing the twelve disciples, He did not ask them to let Him lead them. No! Instead we read that when Jesus called Andrew, He said, “Come” (John 1:39). When He called Phillip He said, “Follow Me” (John 1:43). When He called Matthew he said, “Follow Me” (Mark 2:14). The list could go on. Jesus does not tell people, “Let me lead you,” He says, “Follow Me.”

The Bible teaches that God is always leading; the question we must answer is, “Will we follow Him?” He does not ask us to give Him a chance; He tells us that He is our chance and we must take it.

The Bible teaches that God is the God of truth who cannot lie (Numbers 23:19). God has made His Word more important than His own reputation (Psalms 138:2). When God calls us to follow Him, He is calling for us to walk in the light of truth, which will make us free (John 8:31,32). If we choose to not follow Him, then we will be walking in the darkness of our own opinions. The call to follow God is a call to live in the light of truth.

We have only two options, follow the truth or live in a lie. The truth is not one of many options; it is the only option. It leads us. Truth does not say, “Let me lead you.” Truth is always leading. The question is, will we follow.

Another way to look at this is something we have talked about in the past; that is that who God is affects everything we say and do.
In Acts 17:28 we are reminded that God shapes the environment in which we live. When we are being obedient to what He has said, life is easier because we are living according to the environment designed by God. When we are disobedient to the moral principles God has laid out for us in His Word, then life becomes harder because we are violating the environment God had designed for us to live in.

In Psalm 90:1,2 we are told that who God is, affects everything we say and do, because He was God before He created everything, and remains God after He created. As the Creator, He defines the laws that govern our lives and our well-being. When we obey what He has said, we are conforming ourselves to the design of His creation. In this sense we must follow Him. To the extent that we are disobedient to Him, to that extent we are operating outside of His design in creation, and life becomes hard. God calls for us to follow Him, for He is always leading.

As we work through life’s situations, it is not a matter of letting go and letting God lead us. God is always in charge, and to follow God is to make deliberate choices to obey what God has said in His Word, the Bible. When we choose to obey Him, we are following where He leads. God does not ask us to let Him lead us. God says, “I am your life, follow me.”

My time is up. If you have any questions you would like to have me address on this program, or if you would like a free transcript of what I have just said; you can find the transcript on Facebook, and you can contact me by calling me at 715-453-3407, or write to me at Berean Baptist Church of Tomahawk, or email me at [email protected]. I also want to take this time to invite you to listen to our Sunday morning and Wednesday night services on Facebook and You Tube, or to attend our Sunday School and discussion at 9:30, our Morning Service at 10:45, and our Wednesday night Bible Study at 7:00. We also invite you to read our Ask the Pastor article in the Tomahawk Leader. Until we meet again, may God bless you, and may it be your purpose in life to know this God who has made you.

06/09/2026

Scripture Reading Challenge, Revelation 16

Verse 1 starts this chapter with God’s command to the seven angels to release their judgments upon the earth. It appears that God has given the beast (the anti-Christ) 3½ years to rule the world and persecute the followers of Christ (Revelation 13:5-9). These final seven judgments will probably fall in quick succession near the end of that time, God having allowed the world’s rebellion to be established and clearly defined. The 7 judgments leave the world in a condition that could bring about the total destruction of civilization. Notice the judgments in the following verses and remember, God is judging the wickedness (rebellion) of mankind (collectively) one final time (Revelation 14:18-20) – much like He did in Noah’s day.

Verse 2 is the first judgment, and will only be experienced by those who chose to follow the beast. This is similar to some of the plagues God sent upon Egypt, where He caused the plagues to only afflict the Egyptians and not the Jews (Exodus 8:20-24, also see 2 Peter 2:4-9).

Verses 3 and 4 may be talking about one action that affected two separate things (the salty oceans and the sources of fresh water), therefore presented as two acts of God’s judgment. Note that the waters of the world die and become unhealthy waters.

Verses 5 through 7 are the proclamation of the justness of God’s judgment of blood upon mankind (Exodus 21:22–28); mankind had freely shed the blood of God’s people. Both the representative angel of water (verses 5,6), and the voice of judgment and the prayers of God’s people (Revelation 6:9,10) from the altar, (verse 7) declare God’s judgment to be just.

Verses 8 through 11 may again be speaking of one action with two results, thus listing it as two acts of judgment. The single action may be sudden changes in our sun as God causes it to first expand (verses 8,9), and then contract (verse 10); as scientist have speculated will mark the death of our sun, though the process will be much quicker than scientist speculate it will. The kingdom of the beast will be plunged into darkness (verse 10) in the sense that the whole world will be plunged into darkness (it is a world wide kingdom). Notice the depth of the wickedness of mankind -- they will know it is God’s judgment upon them, and blaspheme God for their pains (verses 9,11), but they will refuse to acknowledge their guilt and turn from their sins (repent not of their deeds). The darkness is in preparation for Christ’s return where everyone will see Him when He returns as the only bright light in the sky (Matthew 24:23-27, Zechariah 12:9,10; 14:1-7).

Verses 12 through 16 is the sixth judgment, God gathering the nations of the world for the battle of Armageddon (verse 16), where Christ will personally rain down His judgment upon a wicked mankind (Revelation 19:11-21, Zechariah 12,14). Verse 15 says that Christ’s return will be sudden and unexpected by a wicked world, but will be an expected deliverance by those who have turned to Christ during the rule of the beast (verse 15).

Verses 17 through 20 speak of the rearranging of the earth’s surface as part of God’s final judgment upon a wicked mankind. This shaking of the earth (Hebrews 12:25-29) may be comparable to God’s judgment that destroyed the world in Noah’s flood, the earthquakes and volcanism that may have marked the beginning of the flood (Genesis 7:11), and the raising up of the mountains at the end of the flood (Psalms 104:5-9). Notice Isaiah 24 and its description of that time (especially Isaiah 24:19,20). Verse 19 singles out Babylon for special judgment, which is further explained in chapters 17 and 18. Could the rearrangement of the earth’s surface be God working through the gravitational forces at work because of what He does to our sun in verses 8 through 10 – God worked through His creation when He judged the world in Noah’s day. The cry, “It is done” (verse 17), is a statement that God’s judgment is at its end and the way is prepared for Christ’s return; even as Christ cried out, “It is finished,” before His death on the cross (John 19:30).

Verse 21 describes the atmospheric part of the seventh judgment. All of these final seven judgments are interrelated and probably fall at the end of the tribulation, creating a situation where life could not last much longer upon the earth (Matthew 24:22). Just as all of creation suffers under the sinful state of mankind (Genesis 3:14-19, Romans 8:18-22), so all of creation will take part in the judgment of mankind that will free it from the effects of man’s sin.

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