The Heights Baptist Church

While the Israelites were in exile in Babylon, they were encouraged to depend on the Lord. As Babylon was defeated and the Israelites were allowed to return to their homeland, the Lord encouraged them to depend on Him. Just like the Israelites, we are spiritual exiles living in a world that is not our home. But in God's infinite wisdom, He has us here is a sinful world for a reason. While we are h...

Psalm 19 is about your Bible. A more accurate description would be to say that it is about the revelation of God. The first line of this book tells me there is a God. Common sense tells me there is a God. My soul tells me there is a God. Nothing I just said it unique to me, but common for the human experience. But who is this God? Has He spoken? Has He revealed Himself? Can I know Him? Psalm 19 sa...

Death and deliverance are the themes of Psalm 116. Crying out to God, the writer is delivered from death. As a result of his healing, he has a new spiritual life of worship and witness. This Psalm gives us much insight on how we too can persevere and stay faithful even in the hardest of times. What do we need to practice today so that we are ready when the hard times come?

This week’s message highlights the glory of God as revealed through creation, humanity, and Jesus Christ. Psalm 8 reminds us that even in our weakness, God hears our cries and establishes His strength through our dependence on Him. The vastness of the universe reflects His majesty, and yet He has crowned humanity with honor and purpose. Most powerfully, God's glory is displayed through Christ, who...

We live in profound confusion and chaos on things there should be no confusion and chaos. How did that happen? Turn with me today to Psalm 9 and 10. 9 and 10 are two distinct Psalms that some believe may have been one psalm at one time because the language is so similar, and a flow between the two. Each also has its own distinct message. Psalm 9 directing us to see and enjoy, praise the goodness o...

I mentioned back at the start of this series that Psalm 139 is my favorite Psalm. It is the first piece of Scripture I remember being taught, I remember learning and thinking about. My mom and dad adopted me, and my mom used this passage when I was 4-5 years old to explain that God made me and God placed me in a special way into their family. What a blessing for me to be here preaching on it 60 ye...

On this Father’s Day, I am so blessed to be able to say once again, Happy Father’s Day to my dad. How would I describe my dad? I am very proud of my dad. I have 3-4 men who really shaped my life, influenced who I am and how I live. My dad is not only one of those, but the only one who has been there the whole trip. I would describe him this way: Always there. Always help. And that is not just abou...

Behind the scenes of my life and your life is a vast backdrop that is God. Here are my scenes being played out in this area, and your scenes playing out over here. Then another scene from someone else is going on in that arena and another is taking place over there. Sometimes they overlap for a time, but as each one plays out there is the reality of pessimism and hopelessness, but for the panorama...

You do good, you get good. You do bad, you get bad. It is a rule. It works. It is right and fair. We count on it. It is how we, people of faith, understand God and life. It is very much a part of why we do what we do. We believe God to be just and fair, and so a just and fair God is going bless good and punish bad. And it is a bit of a crisis when the rule doesn’t work. Look with me at Psalm 73.

On this Memorial Weekend we remember those who paid the ultimate sacrifice on the field of battle, and it has grown to including all who have died in uniform. This day was started in 1868 and called Decoration Day. On May 30th of each year communities would decorate the graves of those who died in the Civil War. That evolved to the fallen in all of our nation’s conflicts. 1971 is when Memorial Day...

Who do you talk to the most? Who is your go to, to process what happened today? Who do you want to share the exciting news with or what they did? As names and faces come to us, I am almost positive not one of us thought of the person we talk to the most. Yourself, a conversation that never ends. And we never choose the conversation. It just happens. That might mean our self-talk is taking us to th...

Today we look at Psalm 109, one of the most challenging Psalms in the Psalms. Psalm 109 is where the Bible doesn’t sound like the Bible. And it is not a mistake that it is here. It is reality. When I introduced the Psalms, I said we will see some statements in Psalms we think, 'Is it okay to say that?' This Psalm isn’t justifying these thoughts but acknowledging the reality of these thoughts and s...

What is the last song you shared. We love to share music, don’t we, and it is so easy today to do so. Some of us remember if you wanted to share a song, you had to carry the record over to their house, or get them to come to yours, and play it on a stereo, while dinosaurs roamed up and down the street. Used to be a good bit of effort to share a song. Well, whatever effort is or is not involved, Go...

Can someone have everything they need? I have moments, and so do you, where everything in life is good. I just enjoyed a moment like that back at Christmas, all our kids and grandkids at Christmas dinner. Perfect moment. I think of a mission trip last year Karen and I went on to Zimbabwe, and another trip with the church to Israel. Oh, and a river cruise for an anniversary. Yeah, I like to travel....

We are in a six-month study of the Psalms and currently a 3-week look at Psalm 22, a special passage in the Bible. Psalm 22 is quoted 24 times in the New Testament. It was written 1000 years before Jesus was crucified, 300 years before crucifixion was even invented, and it reads like it was written at the foot of the cross. God knew this would be hard to believe so He told us exactly what to look...

We are still at the beginning of a 6-month study of the Psalms, which currently has us in Psalm 22 which gives us one of the most incredible pictures of our crucified and risen King, Jesus. A picture drawn with incredible accuracy of a moment that would not take place for 1000 years. Last week we got an overview of the whole Psalm, and understood it as being the words of Jesus, the experience of J...

In two weeks, we celebrate the heart of Christianity: the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. It is a stunning event, that none of us would have planned that way. Seemingly, an out-of-control moment for an all-powerful God. So that we could see that this was His plan and purpose He told us in advance what it would look like. Psalm 22 was written between 1000-970 B.C. It is not for another 300...

We have begun a new series on the Psalms, largest book of the Bible, maybe the most read part of the Bible, an important intersection between theology, life, and feelings. Psalms is where real issues are worked out with a real God. And in this great book, guess what the first word is? Happy. Let’s look at it, Psalm 1.

The 23rd Psalm is a picture Jesus Christ, the Great Shepherd being resurrected from the dead. And this reminds us that just as death had no power over Jesus, it also has no power over us because He is our Great Shepherd.

Today we continue an overview or introduction to the Psalms. The goal of an introduction is to have a feel for the whole. We’re not as much looking at the trees as we are trying to see the forest. If you like getting a feel for what the Psalms are, then last week’s message was for you. If you want content or knowledge about what the Psalms are then today is for you. There is a lot to grasp with th...

The Psalms are songs. In the days Old Testament Israelites, the days of Jesus, these Psalms would have been sung. Seems that would really date them. How is it that these songs can be favorites of so many across time and style and culture to this very day. My guess is the Psalms are the #1 go to for so many when they open their Bible. Perhaps because they speak so fluently to the human experience.

We have spent the last two weeks looking at scriptural context for our mission and vision statements, and we have seen the heart of Jesus. He is our King, and this is what He has sent us to be and do in His kingdom. What really excites me about this is how much these statements represent what you already are and do. Let’s look today at the mission and vision alive in you.

Today we continue talking about the mission and vision of The Heights Baptist. Since all churches belong to Jesus, they should have a similar mission even as they are personalizing to their own context. Now mission doesn’t change. It can be tweaked as we did last week but not change. What does change is our vision. Vision is how we are going to currently fulfill the mission. We presented our first...

For the next several Sundays we are going to be looking at the mission and the vision of The Heights Baptist Church. Now that excites me, but I can respect, recognize the reality that when some hear that they kind of groan and think, 'That’s not what I needed today'. Or maybe even, 'I don’t care'. Why should you care? And with all you have going on, why should this mean something to you today?

Today’s sermon is about tools you can trust, tools that work: one tool that knows everything about us, all our information, but uses that for us, never against us. Look with me at Acts 9:10-20. We’ve been talking about changes and using the life of Paul as a backdrop looking at the changes God made in his life. In this story we see two things God uses, I referred to them as tools, but that might n...