The Heights Baptist Church

Thank you for being here and celebrating with us our Lord’s resurrection this Easter weekend. As I say that, I know we are all here for different reasons. We all have a little different story running of what brings us to church today, or any Sunday. I have gone to church all my life, but not for the same reason every time.

Isaiah 53, written 700 years before the cross, perfectly describes the cross and God’s love for us. Now listen to Jesus describe what we just heard Isaiah describe. Read Mark 14:17-24.

Rev. Wes Rose shares about some upcoming missions plans for The Heights Baptist. We also hear from two couples from our church involved in missions.

We have spent a couple of weeks now talking about loving Jesus, and loving what Jesus loves. We saw first that Jesus loves the church. Last week, we looked at what it is we would love about this specific, The Heights, as we seek to love what He loves. And today we see that through giving to God and eternity we focus our heart on God and eternity with a wonderful benefit of escaping worry, and bein...

The psalmist ached to be in the midst of the worship of God with God’s people. He loved what we would refer to as church. Last week we learned how passionate, how committed, how devoted Jesus is to the Church. Jesus loves the Church, and as His followers, we love what He loves. He is all about the Church, so we are to be all about the Church.

While an object, a person, a program may have an impact, none of that should have a greater defining influence on my attitude about the church than Jesus. I am, you are a follower of Christ. My job, your job is to go where He goes, do what He does, say what He says, love what He loves.

We live in a world of injustice. It is a dominating reality on this planet. There are injustices that touch entire people groups and others that are felt very privately and personally. Some injustices devastate life and others just make it more difficult. There is justice brought to some injustices, and too many never have their day. There will be a day that Almighty God, the Judge of all, will sa...

We see God create this relationship in the opening story of creation and humanity. A relationship where we hold fast to one another, we’re one; naked and unashamed. Why would God want us to know they were naked and unashamed? Is that really necessary information? Yes, for God is showing a relationship where there is total acceptance, vulnerability, nothing to hide. There won’t be another relations...

This is one of the most important dates because this is the date that gives you wisdom, patience, love, help, strength for all the other dates and all the other issues.

We are talking about the fighting in our marriage in a way that helps us become one and this is a big one because fighting is clearly what makes us two. My goal today is to talk about what we would do on this date, but we have to have the right motivation going into that date, or maybe the right understanding.

So how do we go on a date and discuss money and keep it on where we agree, when there are possibly bills and disagreements at home waiting for us? The purpose of the date is simply to look at what we have already agreed on, see how we are doing, tweak and adjust as needed, and pray.

Today we are starting a series on marriage, and how we use dating to build and work on our marriage. We’re going to talk about 5 specific dates. I want to keep saying, we are going to see principles that apply in all relationships, so if you’re not married, don’t want to be married, there is something for you in this. And you may learn how to support and help another in their marriage.

Change is not easy. We need a lot of people to be willing to say, “I’ll change,” and I hope you understand why. It is so more can become a part of our family, more can faithfully follow Christ. The change is about positioning ourselves to bring about our vision and mission.

Rev. Mike Osborne shares 'Resolutions from a Wise Man' from Proverbs 3.

Throughout December I have been preaching on a connection between creation and Christmas, showing how Jesus coming to us in what we call Christmas fulfills or addresses issues going all the way back to the beginning of things. Today we see Jesus as the fulfillment to the first announcement, to the promise that we can be restored to God and all that has been lost.

Rest is a part of who God is. Rest is something He has for creation. The seventh day is holy. Holy here means set apart, distinct, not like the others. He blessed this day, and in so doing gives us a principal for living. There is a blessing in rest. There is a blessing in having a day that does not look like the other 6.

Our Christmas series will take us back, further back than our memory or traditions. It will take us back to Genesis. I want us to see Christmas at the beginning of time, and have a greater appreciation of the wonder, the consistency, the love and power of our God.

As we come to the Table, God has some concerns. Believers have tended to come here and miss the importance of unity, memory, and handling this in a way that is just worthy of what has been done for us. It is easy to come to this table and think it is all about me, all about me and God. No, it is not. It is much more about you and the church family together with God.

Two weeks ago we said the first step to the best holiday or Thanksgiving ever was confess. Step two takes us from confess to bless. So we have confess, bless, and now our third step, and you are trying to think of what rhymes, right, thankfulness. If we forget to acknowledge God, and that is thankfulness, if we forget we begin to take credit for all that God has done and provided for us.

Last week we said the first step to the best holiday or Thanksgiving ever was confess. Step two takes us from confess to bless. We sometimes refer to giving thanks as counting our blessings. And that simply means to take time to think on the good things, the blessings in your life.

Well as we start gearing up for Thanksgiving and this season, I want to do a three-week series that I pray will put us all in a place to have our best thanksgiving ever. We can’t control all of our family, or who will win the game, or a host of other things that make life good or bad; but we can set ourselves up for the best thanksgiving ever. And would you believe it is three pretty simple ideas....

When I say work, we’re not talking about working our way to heaven, for Christ has done that work, and it is only His work that will bring us safely, joyously into heaven. But when I say, work, I am talking about the activity of a Christ-follower. And reaching and coaching might well sum up that work.

We cannot move up the vertical toward God and remain at the bottom in the horizontal. We cannot truly build the relationships with others to what they should be without deepening our relationship with God. It is all about connecting with God and connecting with others. It is about serving – as something done for the Lord and not for people.

Now, we are calling this a measurement, meaning I need to measure my worship, which is basically measuring obedience and what thrills our heart. Am I growing in obedience to the Lord? Is the worth of Him leading me to tell the truth, look away from porn, forgive my enemy, pray, gather with God’s people and sing. Or not? And if it is no, go back to mercy. I mean really, without mercy what is it we...

How am I growing? How am I worshiping? Where am I investing? Where am I connecting? Where am I serving? Who am I reaching? Who am I coaching? I don’t think we can imagine or think big enough of what God would do through that. But that is our goal and we start today by teaching these 7 measures. We are looking at the first one today, *How am I growing?*