The Heights Baptist Church

If you knew you were going to die in a couple days, and it wasn’t because of sickness, you’re healthy and mobile, but you are going to die; what would be important to you to do? What people would that involve? What would you be talking about? A hypothetical exercise for us, but for Jesus it was His reality. He is down to a couple of days, and we get to see who He is talking to, what He is talking...

We continue our second week in our study of Easter at Luke's. We are studying this week in Luke 20.

Here I am today starting an Easter series in February, also the earliest I have done that, and Easter is not till April 17. I have so often handled both Easter and Christmas with 2, 3, maybe 4 messages; but there is so much more. And I wanted to do something a little more thorough. I choose Luke, for his expressed purpose of a gospel account that encourages our certainty. When it comes to the deat...

I hope we are all loving those we need to love well enough that we don’t need a special day, but don’t miss the special days. On this Valentine’s I wanted to take a moment to look at a great expression of love for the One who should be the greatest object of our love. Look with me today at John 12:1-8.

We have been now 5 weeks in a series called, What Would God Pray. God does not pray like we think of praying, but what are prayers, but us communicating to God our desires and our will. Well, God has desires and a will, and we do well to bring our desires and will, our prayers in line with His, and that is where we get the phrase what would God pray. We have gone to the Scriptures that reveal to u...

This morning we are thinking about what God would pray for the Church. If Jesus loves the Church, and we love Jesus and want to be like Him, then would we not also love the Church, and if we love her want to pray much for her?

I’d like to give us 7 things to pray for ourselves considering this appointment. These seven things are my own list. You can certainly look to God’s Word and build your own. The key is praying the Scripture, letting it build our prayers.

I hope you are excited today to find out what to pray, and today, what to pray for family, whether your family is parents and siblings, or a mate, or a mate and kids, or just kids, or grandkids. We are not talking about how to pray or why to pray, which are very important, but going straight to what, what to pray.

This is going to be a different prayer series. We are not going to talk about why we should pray. That’s important, but not what we are doing. We are going straight to what. What to pray for yourself, your family, your church, your nation; and in covering what, we may get some how and why in there. The key is just to figure out what would God pray.

Today we are going to look at Luke 2:40-52 because I just could not leave this one passage dangling, but if I did, it would not be the first time it was left dangling. We don’t study Luke 2:40-52. Oh, we want to know more about the childhood of Jesus, but then ignore the passage about the childhood of Jesus. It is understandable. We come to Luke 1-2 for Christmas, and by time we get to verse 2:20,...

Now my prayer is for each of you to have the best year ever, but the reality is even if you have your most amazing year, there will be times of struggles, trials, and troubles. How do we face an uncertain future? How do we live untroubled in troubled times?

Today we finish our study of the Christmas story as the Holy Spirit gave it to Luke. It is a story about an 8-day old Jesus, and two other children, Simeon and Anna. Luke 2:21-39.

The headlines for weeks in the Roman Times, Jerusalem Today, and every other paper would have been, Augustus Mandates Census. And that caused a great amount of time, money, and headache. We have been studying the Christmas story for 4 weeks, and now today we come to the heart of the story. Look with me at Luke 2:1-20.

What gives you a sense of awe? You might be thinking, the mountains and the moon sure, but the castles and the football game. Yep, God did that. Look with me today at Luke 1:57-80. This is the fourth of our six Christmas messages from the Gospel of Luke. I have learned so much, been challenged so much in this, and I pray the same had been true for you.

Thinking about the Thanksgiving table, and then coming today to the Lord’s Table, reminded me of how much of life is lived around a table and a meal. There are all kinds of traditions and ways from one family to another, one culture to another, but in a birthday, an anniversary, a Thanksgiving, a Christmas, a wedding, and even a funeral, it always involves a table and a meal and the people gathere...

Today is our third of six messages in the Christmas series and it brings us to Mary, a truly incredible woman of God. Let’s remember that Luke is writing to encourage the faith of believers who are being persecuted. This isn’t about Christmas stories and religious traditions. This is about the certainty of why I am following Christ, no matter the cost. Today we are covering an incredible and impor...

Turn with me today to Luke 1:5-25. We have begun our Christmas series early this year to give ourselves time to work through the entire Christmas story as given to Luke. Today is our second of six messages, bringing us to 1:5-25.

Christmas is all about believing. In the weeks in front of us, we will see Christmas movies, commercials, and cards that call us to just believe. Believe in Santa. Believe in humanity. Believe in the Christmas spirit. And belief is just a warm feeling that doesn’t need things like truth and reality. Now that belief, that warm feeling doesn’t actually accomplish anything, help us solve real problem...

In reading Mark 1:16-20, do you see them there on the shore? Can you see them drop the nets and follow? Do you realize this building, the campus, the ministry shown you today, you – it is all here at this moment because of that moment. They said, yes, not even close to understanding all that would follow in the journey. They just took the next step. Will you?

You will never hear Jesus say, 'I invite you to make a decision about Me.' You will hear Him say, 'Come follow Me.' Jesus invites us to the journey of a lifetime. What will it be like? Well, read the Gospels, see what happens with the disciples, and you will have a pretty good idea of what is ahead. And Jesus has a plan, just for you.

Rev. Jerry Witte, NextGen Pastor, shares about living a life on purpose.

I just finished a 4-week series laying the groundwork for today. There are a lot of things the church needs to do, and God has called and equipped some of us to do those things: Christian politicians can shape law, Christian intellectuals can shape thought, and Christian revolutionaries can bring about change. God calls some to do those things, but He calls all of the church to live and share the...

It seems quite clear that God wants you and me to share His work, His love, His gospel with the world. Why does God always say peoples, nations, and world? Would it not be more practical to say friends, neighbors, and co-workers? I wondered that, and then it dawned on me that if He had said friends, neighbors, and co-workers; then theoretically, I could reach a place where I am done.

We are continuing today our series called: The Gospel, Our Life, Our Answer. It is our answer to everything! God has not only saved us from sin, death and hell by the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus; not only saved us from running after wrong answers, saved us from the desperation of coming up empty again and again; but in the Gospel we have a new way of living life and relating with peop...

Now today is not a funeral service. We will do that next Saturday at 11:00, but today is an important time for every one of us. It is also a moment in which God has a purpose for you. He has a purpose in bringing Buddy home for you.