Haven Baptist Church

We often turn to many things other than the gospel of grace.  Let me rephrase that.  I often turn to things (idols) instead of the gospel.  God has given us everything we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3-4).  So, why do we turn from God?  Because we prefer our own rationale and our own resources instead of trusting God.

It is easy to prefer things or people over God.  Yet, our choices reveal our treasure.  I pray that I will and we (as a church) will abide in and trust in Christ for all things.  Every situation is a situation for us to glorify God.  Let us follow Christ wholeheartedly by God’s grace.

As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.  – 1 John 2:27

The Holy Spirit will teach us all things and connect our experiences to Christ when we receive the gospel with thanksgiving.

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

– Philippians 4:4-8 –

Hello Church Family and Visitors,

This Sunday we will begin our study on Humility during the discipleship training time (5 pm).  We will be focusing primarily on what Scripture says in regards to this important subject but will also be using a book to guide our in-depth study.  The book Humility is by C.J. Mahaney and he does a wonderful job defining humility, illustrating how we succumb to pride, and how to apply the gospel each day when we struggle.

It is vital that churches have leaders that cultivate humility.  I know that I am a prideful man but hope that by God’s grace that humility will be cultivated in my home, in our church, and in our workplaces.

God repeatedly uses people throughout Scripture to teach us about humility and pride.  Throughout our lives, we fail and we see our need for God’s grace more.  Also, along the way, we succeed in life, and it is in our successes that we need to be humble more than ever.  We will look forward to each week applying the gospel and cultivating humility among our children, towards our spouses, in the workplace, among neighbors, and in our church.

All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 

 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time (From 1 Peter 5).

The value of life is not something we can put a dollar figure on.  God delights in life and we can see this from the first week of creation to the mercy through the life of Noah to the preservation of Moses all the way to the miraculous birth of the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ.  God displays his miraculous hand of mercy with each new baby born into the world.  As a father of five, I have not always been overwhelmed with the creative and wonderful display of beauty through childbirth.  Nonetheless, God has opened my eyes to see the beauty and magnificence from birth all the way until death.  Without a doubt, God has created mankind in His image.  He reveals his plan for mankind through humanity.  In his Word, God proclaims that He has created us and has fearfully and wonderfully made us (Psalm 139).  Despite his grace toward us, many in North America, prefer and advocate for death over life.  We, as a culture, often suppress the truth and choose convenience over compassion (Romans 1).  God has made his ways known to men and women but we have muddied them and distorted God’s Word in order to justify our wickedness.  As a church, we seek to proclaim the beauty of life from beginning to end.  God is the author of life and the designer of life.

During the month of January, we will have several special events as we celebrate life.  We will have a special speaker from Choose Life on Sunday Morning, January 22^nd.  On January 29^th, we will have a dear friend and minister at Brook Hills, Deric Thomas, come and share about the importance of adoption as he and his wife are adopting from China.  I pray that the Church will stand for life as we see God value life and demonstrate his power and glory through our lives.  If you are looking for a good book about the subject of abortion and life in general, I recommend Abortion:  A Rational Look at an Emotional Issue by Dr. R.C. Sproul.  The video below is of the author and his conviction in writing it.

Dr. Sproul on the issue of abortion

A couple of months ago I heard a song on the radio I really liked.  The song, Blessings, is by Laura Story.  In it, she outlines how God’s grace is seen through our trials, hardships, and even pain.  One of my favorite books of the Bible is Job.  It might sound strange but I love to study and learn about suffering.  It is because in our suffering and in our weakness we see God’s mercy and grace more clearly.  We should be overwhelmed with amazement in seeing God’s hand in our lives.  Unfortunately, our amazement at times centers around ourselves.  I’m thankful that God reminds me of his blessings and his Sovereign care even when hardship and pain comes.  Here are the lyrics to the song that I hope will be an encouragement to you as you follow Christ…

We pray for blessings We pray for peace

Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

‘Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights 
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we’d have faith to believe

‘Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights 
Are what it takes to know You’re near
And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know that pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home
It’s not our home

‘Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise

The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised (Job 1:21).

The Gospel & New Year’s Resolutions!

I’m excited as we start the New Year together as a church.  I have lots of learning to do but look forward to seeing God’s grace unfold in our church family.  How do we resolve to do that?

Dr. David Powlison, biblical counseling guru, helped me to understand how individualistic we are at times when we make resolutions.  We often make resolutions that set us up for failure or success based upon man’s ability to change him or herself.

We often describe our problems while not seeing the gospel as the goal.  Powlison illustrates this concerning men and women—“I find abc displeasing about myself.”  Then, we make no evaluation in relation to the power of our passions, fears, habits . . . inner sinfulness, sin directly against God Himself . . . We often propose self-dependent solutions – “I resolve to do xyz to change myself.” Change depends on fickle will-power and on common-sense strategies for self-management (e.g., “set achievable goals that are personally meaningful, and take small steps”). So they fail in large measure. Or, even when they succeed, they create absolutely no reasons to rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

A self-improvement plan finds no corporate context for commitment, no reasons for joint effort and mutual accountability, and no participation in a common cause bigger than any and all of us. So it fails. Or even if it succeeds, ditto the previous paragraph. I might feel better about myself, but what is God thinking about the Better Me I have become?

Is Christ at the center of my plan while the church encourages me or am I a lone ranger?”

In other words, we need to see our resolutions as a response to God’s grace not fleshly remorse that leads to temporary results.  Powlison encourages believers to “express the mind of Christ, mapping out a new life through all our days and years.”  For example, the mind of Christ identifies sins like the following: gluttony, laziness, drunkenness, overspending, drivenness, anxiety, and the rest against what ought to be. It aims for the fruits of change: temperance, diligence, gratitude, stewardship, rest, trust, love, joy, and peace (Galatians 5:22-26).

Here is a great resolution we could all adopt…“I now resolve and promise, in humble reliance upon the grace of the Holy Spirit, that I will endeavor to live as a follower of Christ.”

This resolution impacts how we handle hefty balances on our credit cards as well as bitterness that can brew in our hearts towards those we know.  Let these words by the Apostle Paul be our prayer, “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.  Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:4-5).”

I pray we will keep applying the gospel on January 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, and so on…individually and collectively as a church…put together by God to proclaim His power (Romans 1:16, Eph. 3:10).

Welcome to the site for Haven Baptist Church.  We invite you to get to know us more through our website or to visit us in person.

The site currently has a future event calendar, a Blog Calendar, A Blogroll (for church administrators) and a Blogroll for the congregation. If you have questions or comments please contact Pastor Steve Grissom.