The Heights Baptist Church

Prayer is everything! It is the way to make everything in life deeper and more meaningful beginning with our relationship with God. Prayer is where we live life with God first and last. That is how we ended last Sunday, and today I want look at a way to make that happen, a way given to us by Jesus.

What is the point of prayer? Practically, it can be frustrating. Who has not wondered if their prayer makes it beyond the ceiling? Theologically, it can be confusing. If God knows everything, then what is it I am telling Him in prayer? If God knows what is best, then do I really want Him responding to my take on things?

Thousands of us are here this weekend because we believe. We believe a man named Jesus was more than a man. We believe He died on a cross for sins, our sins. We believe He rose again and that He is alive today, and through the power of that resurrection we believe Him to be the very Son of God.

I have blemishes on my face and body, on my relationships, on my life. I am not perfect. I am nothing like it. How is it possible to be presented blameless when I can be blamed for so much. The answer is the blood of Jesus Christ, His work for me on the cross. When I trusted in that, right then I was declared holy, and being presented blameless is little more than Jesus completing the work, fulfil...

Jesus is the most respected and influential person that has ever lived. Not everyone believes the same things about Him. Some would not believe in His miracles, and certainly some would not believe in the resurrection; though the historical evidence for it is overwhelming. It is in fact one of the most provable historical events there is.

Today I have asked several leaders in their perspective ministry to share what God is doing and how our church is making an Impact in our community and world. These are not trip reports, but snapshots of God working and allowing us to join Him.

We are a body, individual parts of it. We have each been given an ability to help, to bless, to minister to the whole. These verses do not call us to think about what is being done for us, but rather challenge us to think about how we contribute to the whole. And God has made sure we can. We are held accountable both for the command and the ability we have been given to do this.

Your life is impacted, affected, not only by the person next to you, but the person across the room, the person at the other service, the person at the other campus. You may not know or even see this other person, but they are having an impact on your life and wellbeing, and yours theirs. They are having an impact on this church, as are you. What I just described you to is a profound biblical, spi...

Do you want the Lord to honor you? Do you want the Lord to honor your money? In the passages I just read we have a command. We are commanded by the Lord; whether we think He needs or it not, to honor Him with our money. It says with first fruits.

We are continuing today our series on Honor. Now what we are looking at today could have been three sermons. That sounds kind of scary. There are three different issues, three complete messages, but I am going to present them as one. Let’s see if it works. So here we go, if you want life to work, honor the Lord with your body.

We all have them in the course of a lifetime: parents, teachers, coaches, babysitters, and the crème de la crème, bosses. And just about every one of them at some point is going to be wrong, unfair, mean, and possibly the devil. My guess is most of us have at the very minimum a hurtful memory if not a life that has been negatively affected by someone in authority. So why would God want us to honor...

Last week we looked at what it means to honor marriage, a command from the Lord, and while we certainly see a marital directive, we saw a command for all people, married or single, to honor marriage, to honor the marriage bed. Today we see that we honor the home. We honor God’s design for society.

The church honoring marriage is critical to our strength in an immoral world. Have you ever thought about your marriage as critical to the health of your church? This is not just marital advice, but a command given to all: married, single, divorced, widowed, all of us are to honor marriage.

The next two weeks we are going to be in the home and see what it means to honor marriage, parents, and children. Today though the calendar has picked our topic. Today in America is Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. Whatever we believe is in the womb, would we not consider life so precious, so valuable, that we would even honor potential life? I know it is more than potential life to God. Listen to P...

I believe today I am beginning the most important sermon series I have ever preached, and I have never made a comment like that about a series. Why do I believe that? Well, for one we are at the start of year. At the start of anything, a lot of us in here want God’s blessing. We want God to honor what we are doing, to show His favor on it, to make it work. But a heavier reason is that same princip...

The flipping or replacing of the calendar does not, in and of itself, bring newness, but this season, moving from one year to the next, is a time in which many seek improvement. It is a time that we seek to discard those things that hinder us and strive for new growth. You may call it making resolutions, or setting goals, or personal renewal. But whatever you call it, it signifies a hope for the i...

Rev. James Ford, our Singles and Discipleship Pastor, shares God's Word today from Acts 1:1-12, 2:1-12, 6:8-9, 7:58-8:3, and 16:7-14.

There is a peace about Christmas. It is a place to rest from the chaos in our culture, the chaos on the news, the chaos in the world, and yeah, even the chaos we call home. I don’t believe there is another day or season that has this kind of affect on a culture. It really is unique. Christmas seems to offer something our soul very much longs for: peace.

Let me say it one last time: Mark wrote this gospel to encourage and embolden those first century believers in Rome that Jesus was worthy of following whatever the cost. And those reasons are every bit as relevant for 21st century believers. Today we will see He is worthy because He wins.

The Gospel of Mark piles one reason on another of why Jesus is worth it. I can’t imagine we still need more reason, and yet as we arrive at Mark 14, we have the reason that stands out, stands alone, stands above. A reason I believe becomes a mandate to follow Jesus. What Mark shows us today is our faith, our hope, our very life. Without what we read here, we are consumed by sin and death into a go...

It is one thing to say you believe God loves you and has a plan for your life. It is quite another to let that truth shape the way you think and live. Thursday, every day, you can be thankful that God loves you, and He knows the whole story. He knows where you are in the story, and He knows why this part of the story is important to the next chapter. He has a plan for you, built in love and with a...

It’s nerve wracking, and can be even dangerous when we’re required to follow someone and we’re not confident they know where this is going. So what about following Jesus? Does He know where He is going? Does He know what is up ahead? That is an important question when following. Turn with me today to Mark 13:1-27, 32-33.

Our passage today contains THE question. There is no other question as big, as important, as eternal. Listen for it. You will actually hear it twice in the story. Turn with me to Mark 10:17-27.

I believe our passage to be the key passage, the pivotal passage of the Gospel of Mark. We are going to hear words from Jesus that must ring in our ears everyday, all day.

I am intrigued by the overwhelming evidence of humanity that we know something is not right between us and God; and religion is our attempt to fix it. And yes, people with a religion mentality have at times kidnapped Christianity. It’s our tendency to depend on religion over a relationship with Jesus. Today we hear Jesus confront that reality. Turn with me to Mark 7:1-23.