Our Mission Statement:
"Serving God, our Father, by spreading the Good News of His Son, Jesus"
1/04/21
An Open Letter to the Members and Attendees of HBC,
I would appreciate it if you would bear with me for a bit and read this letter to its conclusion. I have thought about you and your health a lot over the past 10 months. As a fellow Christian, I do have concern for each part of you and that does include the physical body that God has given to you. However, the Biblical emphasis that we receive, which we see clearly by Jesus and His followers in the New Testament, is that our times are in His hands and that our lives, once we become “slaves to righteousness”, are now forfeit for His glory. As God’s people, we are not to over-value earthly things (our bodies are, in fact, earthly things). Instead, we are to consider heavenly things to be of far greater value than earthly things. For we know that if we are in Jesus, then “to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21).
My primary concern is not for your physical health, but for your spiritual health. My thoughts for each of you vary from one end of the spectrum to the other.
Are you all aware that the world that we live in is in great turmoil? If you have been awake at all, you most certainly are aware. The systems and peoples that we have counted on, most of us for our entire lives, are failing. The ungodly and corrupt seem to have infiltrated every level of leadership throughout the globe. There is no doubt that there are evil, powerful men throughout our world who have an unrighteous objective. These men have "conspired together", just like those at Babel (Genesis 11); like those who we recently read about in Psalm 2, to overthrow “the chains and the shackles” (Psalm 2:3) that they perceive the Lord and His people have placed onto them.
God, and by extension, God’s people, are the targets of disdain for these evil men. There is no benefit or value in human reasoning with these men. The reason being, their problem is deeply spiritual. Any people (we see this all throughout Scripture) who will do the following:
These people have chosen to reject God and to follow their father, the devil (John 8:44). They have determined to be the enemies of righteousness. They are perpetually offended by every Godly thing because they have a different leader than Jesus Christ himself.
So, what do we do? What approach do we take? What should our emphasis be?
We, God’s people, must do what Peter says in I Peter 5:5-9:
Dear Church, please recognize the day and time in which we are now living. The time for “lackadaisical Christianity” (as if there was ever such a time) is over. We, you and I, your children and grandchildren, certainly seem to be entering into a more difficult time than what we have experienced in our recent history. The sheltered and comfortable world that you grew up in is a far cry from the one that this and the following generations will grow up in. Biblical values, morality and the like are on steep decline. It will now truly begin to cost you something to publicly identify yourself as a follower of Christ. Only those who are strong in faith will persevere through the trial that is now here and will most certainly escalate.
Brothers and Sisters, Jesus is coming…soon. What will you be doing when He returns? Will He find you chasing satisfaction in this life? Will He find you “laying low” in order to minimize the damage done to you and your lifestyle? Or, will He find you studying, praying, working, serving and obeying His commands? In John 15:14, Jesus tells His disciples, “You are my friends if you do what I command you”. Are you a friend of God? Then do what He says! Come to church. Read His Word. Talk to Him always. Love people. Give, don’t hoard. You will be glad you did, He promised!
I will leave you with this final thought from God’s Word, “So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised. For, “In just a little while, He who is coming will come and will not delay.” And, “But my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.” But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.” - Hebrews 10:35-39
"To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen." - Jude 1:24-25
With love through Jesus, our Christ,
Pastor Jeremy
If you have a child in any of our departments, please go to the "Ministries" tab on the homepage and then follow the link to either the "Nursery, KinderChurch, Children's or Youth Ministry" page and fill out and submit the form on that page for each of your children. This form will cover the time period of the 2020-2021 School Year and summer.
Your cooperation is appreciated!