The Heights Baptist Church

What happens the moment we take our last breath? It is one of the most pressing questions any of us will ever face, and yet it is one we often push to the edges of our thinking. In this message drawn from 1 Corinthians 15, we are invited to look directly at death and the resurrection without flinching. The passage walks us through the core of the gospel itself, that Christ died, was buried, and rose again, and it forces us to reckon with what that means not just as a historical fact but as the anchor of our entire existence.

This powerful message takes us deep into the nature of sin and salvation through Romans 5 and 6, revealing truths that transform how we understand our identity in Christ. We discover that sin is far more than just breaking rules—it's fundamentally about doing things our own way instead of aligning with God's will.

What is a human? Just another animal? Is our existence random? Science has been answering this: we came from nothing and return to nothing. We’re just another living organism in a random creation. Does that view matter? Understanding what a human is more than a philosophical discussion. It shapes laws, views of life, and how we treat each other. We are continuing today out What Is? series with the question, what is humanity. Let’s start with hearing God on this.

Last week I made the comment that the only thing we are here to do, alive to do, is a be a witness for the Gospel. Today we continue our What Is? series by looking at what is the Great Commission and before we do, let’s look at the Great Commandment. Can we obey the great commandment without obeying the great commission? Can we love God, love our neighbor without the great commission? Why would that be a part of loving God and our neighbor?

The message today is not about a particular form of government. The follower of Christ follows Him under whatever government they find themselves. Throughout history, most Christians have not only had no say, they didn’t even think about having a say in the government that they followed Christ under. We continue our 'What is series' today with what is government? A lot of ways to approach this: biblical responsibility of government and leaders, patriotism, which I do believe the Bible would support, wrong views we tend to have about government. Does the Bible support a certain kind of government. The relationship between church and state. But I am not talking about any of that. Is government from God and why? Let’s read Romans 13:1-7.

Graduation. Marriage. Parenthood. A new job. A hard diagnosis. An unexpected loss. Retirement. Every one of those moments turns our hearts toward the future and makes us ask what comes next. Now the answer may look different in different seasons. What comes next after high school is not the same as what comes next in retirement. But I believe there is an answer to that question that fits every season, every transition, and every circumstance of life. Turn with me to Hebrews 12:1–3.

In case you don’t know me, I’m Mike Osborne, and I’ve had the privilege of serving here at The Heights as Executive Pastor. Or at least I will for the next 16 days. At the end of this month, I’ll be retiring after 23 years in this role and nearly 47 years in full-time ministry. So today, I’m not standing at an ending as much as I am standing at a crossroads in a long journey. If you’ve ever walked a long trail, you know that the farther you go, the more clearly you can see where the path has led. That’s how I feel as I look back over these nearly 47 years of ministry. It has been a long and gracious journey—filled with mountain peaks and valleys, hard climbs and quiet resting places, seasons of joy and seasons of sorrow.

In this series we’ve been asking some big theological questions, like: What is the Bible, What is God the Father, and what is God the Son, what is God the Holy Spirit. And over the past couple of weeks we looked at the questions What is Sin and Salvation and What is Eternal Security. Today we’re looking at another ‘What is…’ question—What is The Great Commandment—a question that is asked of and directly answered by Jesus Himself.

Loss can come at a moment’s notice and strike anything we have. Most of the time, the chance we would lose our job or marriage or health, tomorrow, seems so slim, it isn’t real, but it is. Ask anyone who has experienced it. We can lose anything and everything without seeing it coming. That is why it is such good news that God has something for us we don’t have to fear losing. We continue our 'What is?' is series with the question, 'What is eternal security?' Some call it the 'once saved, always saved' doctrine. To not understand this is to not understand the cross.

Today’s question is: What Is Sin and Salvation? The Bible teaches that every person—regardless of status, personality, or background—needs salvation because humanity has a problem we cannot fix on our own. Our culture often denies that problem, but without recognizing our condition, we’ll never seek the help we desperately need. To truly understand salvation, we first have to understand sin—and the standard by which it’s measured.

Today we continue our series, 'What Is', a series to deepen our faith and understanding in and of God. Last week we looked at What is the Church and continue that today with what is baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Let’s start in Galatians 3:1-3.

What comes to you mind when you hear the word church? I assume for a lot of us it is something positive. We do have a lot of people in culture today talking about church hurt, so it is an assumption. But what comes to your mind? A church you grew up in? A place of family memories: weddings, baby dedications, a funeral? The place you came to Christ? I hope your thoughts of the church are good. I feel blessed that all my memories of church from childhood to last Sunday, are good. I thank God for the church and what it means to me, but does that mean I know and understand what God wants the church to mean in my life?

Today we come to an interesting What Is question. They’re all interesting but today adds a little spooky to the interesting. What is Satan? Yes, there is a personal being devoted to opposing God and opposing God in and for you. To not believe in Satan is to reject the clear and consistent teaching of Jesus and the Scripture. Connected to this would be a study of angels and demons which we are going to do, but near the end. Today will be the individual character: Satan.

Jesus is not absent or distant from His people; He is actively working for them right now. In this message, we explore three present realities of Christ’s ministry: He represents us before the Father, welcomes us to draw near with confidence, and rules over all things for the good of His church. Because of what Jesus is doing now, believers can live with security, approach God boldly, trust Him fully, and worship Him deeply.

This is our third week looking at 'What Is the Son of God' and today we will look at His pre-existence and the prophecy surrounding Him. Next week we will look at what Jesus is doing right now. We can give ourselves to no greater pursuit than the knowledge of our Savior. It quickens the heart, strengthens the resolve, and purifies the soul.

My message today is about the most unappreciated person to ever walk this earth: Jesus Christ. We continue answering our “What Is?’ questions. Today is the second of four messages answering, 'What is God the Son?' Last week we looked at His death and resurrection, next week pre-existence and the prophecies pointing to His life. Today we look at the humanity and deity of Jesus. The Scripture teaches that Jesus Christ is the very unique God-man. He is 100% God and 100% man.

Happy Resurrection Day and let me add my welcome to The Heights! It is so wonderful to celebrate our resurrected Lord and Savior together. Today arrives in the middle of a long series we are doing at The Heights called What is? We are answering questions like what is God, what is the Bible, what is heaven, what is Israel, what is sin, what is salvation? We want to deepen our faith, our understanding of who God is, what He is like, and what He is doing because we live in a world deep in problems and suffering. A shallow faith can’t navigate this. Today we ask the question, “What is God the Son?” Today is the first of four messages answering this question starting with His death and resurrection. That might sound like we are starting at the end of the story, but it is the beginning understanding why Jesus came to us.

God loves you. What a precious and simple truth. And there are many other wonderful and simple truths to know about God. But God is not simple. There are truths about who He is and how He works that is just beyond our ability to grasp. And that’s okay. Wouldn’t He be really limited if He could only be and do what fits in our understanding. I need a God bigger than my understanding. And indeed, He is. We have seen that God is infinite: infinite in His power, His wisdom, His existence. So, logically, an infinite God is going to do and be things that do not always fit into a finite mind. The Trinity is one of those things. My goal today is not to give you the simple way to understand the Trinity but simply make it clear this is how God reveals Himself.

Today we come to our second message on What is God the Holy Spirit? First, we looked at who the Holy Spirit is and what He does. Next week on Palm Sunday we will look at What is the Trinity? If you are new to our church we are spending a lot of this year walking through doctrine, beliefs. We are learning to think about God, to deepen our faith because it is a deep world of problems and suffering. We can’t navigate that with a shallow faith. So, our second message on the Holy Spirit brings us to the topic of gifts of the Spirit and fruit of the Spirit, and I hope you leave with this: The Holy Spirit has gifted you and will produce in you a life that blesses and serves others. Both the gifts and the fruit are about others. Let’s read 1 Corinthians 12:4-12.

Names and faces are important. And we do run to them. We have names that we run to. What name comes to your mind when you have good news? Who do you want to share that with first? What about when you are angry? You’ve been wronged. You want to process. When you’re alone, what name comes to mind that you want to call or text? When you’re in trouble, what’s the name you need? When you just need help, what name? Is it all the same name, several names? Is the name Jesus on the list? Even we who run to the name of the Lord, can run to other names first.

The tithe is giving 10% of your income, the product of Your work, to the Lord and His work. Contributions are anything beyond the 10%. This is often referred to as a gift, but it’s not a gift. It is His and that is why He uses the word 'rob' when we do not give those tithes and offerings. It is not robbing someone to not give them a gift. Robbing is when we take what is theirs. 100% of what we have is from God and belongs to God, and we give the tithe as evidence of our understanding of this. We are stewards of what He has given. A steward is a manager of the owner’s stuff for the owner’s purposes. Now with that as a background listen to Jesus. referring to the tithe, the 10%. And again, notice, Jesus says that it is His. Now when God calls for us not to rob Him, His goal is not getting money. His goal is blessing. Show that you understand everything is from Him, show that you respect that as the owner He can call for the tithe, show that your faith is in Him, not money.

We have not always done a good job with the Holy Spirit, maybe even tended to ignore Him. Some of that might be the difficulty of understanding the Trinity; and even in that the Father and Son are more concrete images to us, but not as sure what the Spirit is. We just tend to be more unfamiliar with the third person of the Trinity. That is a shame. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to be our Helper. The help Christ has for us today in living the Christian life in this world is the Holy Spirit. We’d do well to not ignore Jesus’ help.

There is a common idea in history, in humanity that we are all seeking the same God. We have different names, different ways of getting to this God; but in the end we are going to find out we were all working toward the same God. It is a polite and tolerant idea. It is just not true. The person who affirms this idea knows very little of the god they follow or that others follow. He is God the Father, a title that implies a relationship with a son or daughter. God reveals Himself as the Father of Jesus in 1 Peter 1:3. That is not the God of the Hindus, Muslims, and it is the God the Jews are currently rejecting.

Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and forevermore! From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the LORD is to be praised! - Psalm 113:2-3 ESV The gospel is not merely what God gives, but God Himself. Through His revealed names, God shows that He is the One who meets our deepest need by drawing us into covenant relationship with Himself.

God’s call has never been about how impressive we are. It has always been about His grace at work through ordinary, willing people.

Today our 'what is question' is, 'What is God Like?' We are looking at His attributes. We will use the Bible to answer these questions. We have established its authority and trustworthiness. This book originated from God’s mouth. He gave us the Bible so we could know Him. Man did not research and find God; but rather God revealed Himself through the living word, Jesus, and the written word, the Bible. We will never know everything about God, even in heaven, for we will always be finite, and He will always be infinite. But He has revealed Himself so that we could know Him and bring glory to Him. That is our highest good and where our greatest happiness is found. Let’s get started in seeing what we can understand about what God is like.

For so many in our world today, the Bible is not valid for proving anything. People are quick to dismiss the Scripture even though It has NEVER been disproven scientifically, historically, archaeologically, or spiritually. Disagreeing with it, doesn’t prove it wrong. There were times in history when people said, 'We have no record of that king or that city the Bible refers to', so the Bible is wrong, not accurate history, but archaeology in the 1900s boomed and began to validate everything the Bible said. Last week we looked at the necessity, the biblical mandate for our study in theology. Everything I am going to be teaching in this series has as its source the Bible. So, let’s ask first, 'What is the Bible?' If the Bible is not trustworthy we can’t be sure of anything in theology. I am going to say that the Bible is completely trustworthy and fully sufficient for faith and life because it is incomparable, inspired and inerrant.

When you hear the word theology, what comes to your mind? Is it something done in the halls of academics, the discussions of people not living in the real world? Last week we learned that the word theology is made up of two words in the Greek: theos and logos. Theos means God and logos means words, content, ideas. So theology is words, contents and ideas about God; and everyone has thoughts on and about God. And those thoughts, right, wrong, vague will shape our view and understanding of God, ourselves, life, relationships, everything.

Today we begin a long series on theology, on doctrine. I am calling it What is as I will be looking at what the Bible teaches us about what is the Bible, what is God, what is Jesus, what is the Holy Spirit, what is Satan, what are angels, what is the Church, what is salvation, what is eternal security, what is the great commandment and the great commission, what is man, what is sin, what is Israel, what is going to happen when Jesus returns, what is heaven, and more.

We are starting off our 21 Days of Prayer today. Dr. Hahn shares about our vision and prayer needs, and leads us in the Lord's Supper. The full service is available in our app and online.

I believe that the tradition of New Year’s resolutions has, at its foundation, a good cause. A new year means a fresh start. And boy, do we need fresh starts sometimes. What does the Lord really want from you? Is it Worship? Sacrifice? Offerings? Turn with me in your Bibles, to the Old Testament book of Micah. (about 30-40 pages from the end of the OT). We will begin reading in chapter 6: 6-8.

Who is that baby in the manger? Who is that that baby born of a virgin? Who is that baby for whom 10,000 times 10,000 angels would fill the sky to sing and worship? Who is this baby for whom the blue-collar workers would come running? Who is this baby for whom the intellects and the elite would come and bow down. Who is this baby for whom the government would tremble? Who is this baby that would be called the Son of God? Oh, He's Jesus. He's God's gift for you. God's perfect gift for you. All that He is, all that is in Him is God's gift for you.

Here we are, the 4th Sunday of Advent. Christmas just 4 days away. It’s been a good month of preparing to celebrate the first advent of our Lord and in that being more prepared for the second Advent of our Lord because Jesus is coming back. We have a certain hope in that and we feed that hope, prepare to celebrate it by daily being in God’s word. We are recipients of peace, and we prepare for Christmas by being people of peace, sharing it, living it. And we have talked about preparing a joy that is in obeying God rather than ourselves, to find joy in what our Savior found joy. And today we come to the fourth word of Advent, love. What does love mean, what does it do?

The biggest impact of celebrating the first coming of Jesus should be our readiness for His Second Coming. Have you ever thought of Christmas that way? We’ve looked at hope and said we need to encourage that sure hope with reading our Bible daily. We have looked at peace and said we need to be a people always working at peace as that is a purpose of Christmas. And today we look at joy. Hope, peace, joy are words that adorn our Christmas cards, Christmas songs, and Christmas messages. Important words we can give little thought to. God has for us in Christmas a deeper joy, an eternal joy, but it is maybe a joy that requires the biggest course correction in our lives. Christmas is Jesus coming to this world and showing us life. In Him we learn what joy is.

Last week we learned that Advent has been around for over 1500 years and most of that time the focus of Advent, of preparing for Christmas was repentance and fasting. We’re thinking about preparing for Christmas in a way that God says, 'You’re prepared', and that is a place of great richness, strength, and joy. Last week we looked at hope in the sermon and then the devotional took you to 5 more places to think on hope and then a day 6 and 7 to repenting and fasting. Today we look at peace in our sermon, and the devotional will take us to 5 more days of thoughts on peace, and then repentance and fasting. So, there is a rhythm.

Are you ready for Christmas? We ask each other about our readiness for lots of things: vacation, a new job, start of school; but that all pales in comparison to how we inquire of each other’s readiness for Christmas. We ask strangers if they are ready for Christmas! What are we asking about? Cooking and shopping, maybe travel plans, or parties to prepare. Church! Don’t forget that Christmas Eve service. With the time, money and energy we give to preparing, seems appropriate to ask, 'Does God think we are prepared?'

As we have taken time to think about God’s good in our lives, there is no greater good than the gift of His Son, a gift He gave because He loved. Not because we were owed. Not because we were pretty good at heart. Not even because we had asked. He sent His Son as gift because He loved. And it was Jesus’ love for His Father, His love for You and me that brought Him to the cross.

And here we are at the end of another sermon series, Truths That Kill. We have looked at 3, today will make 4, statements used repeatedly by Christians, by the Church, and by the world that are true statements. But statements that have gained a life of their own apart from the context in which they are true and in that they have become destructive. Today we come to all sin is the same. We will look at the truth, the context, and the problem.

Join us for our Youth Sunday sermon.

We continue our series on Truths That Kill, and it is not the truths that kill, but the misapplication, misunderstanding, loss of context of truths that can be so destructive to faith and the Church. Today we look at a statement at the very heart of knowing God, of being saved: 'Just say this prayer'. As before we’ll look at the truth, the context, and the problem.

Truths That Kill is the more grabbing title, but as I explained last week it is the application of truths outside their context that can be destructive to our Christian life and the Church. We are looking at four ideas that are true but have some bad application. Last week we looked at 'You don’t have to go to church to be saved'. True, but you do need to go to church to be in a thriving relationship with the One who saved you. Today we are looking at 'Jesus just wants us to love'. Like last week, we’ll look at the truth, the context, and the problem.

Truths That Kill. My own title of this series scares me. I would refer to a lot of what we will talk about as elementary ideas, simple truths that have gone horribly wrong. Now to be clear, I am not talking about biblical truth. Biblical truth, God’s truth is life and life eternal! In all things we need God’s truth. At different times the Church has addressed certain conditions, ways of thinking among people in the world or people in the church and we come up with these sayings that are true, in that context. But out of that context, these statements have gained a life of their own and have become destructive to the Christian life and Church.

Kids pick up more from us than we realize. They’re always watching. But what do we want them to catch? A love for Jesus. Catching alone isn’t enough. If all we do is live it without ever teaching it, our kids may copy our habits but miss the heart behind them. Scripture calls us to do both: faith is both caught and taught.

Pastor Shay Osborne explains how every believer has both box ministries (within the church) and circle ministries (their personal circles of influence where they live, work, and play). Using John 1 as a model, he shows how ordinary people—like Andrew bringing Peter to Jesus—can impact lives by simply sharing faith within their circles. We are challenged to move from the sidelines into the game, living out the mission daily.

Here we are, the end. We have been studying Psalms since March 9th. I did two messages just introducing the Psalms. I took 3 messages to walk through Psalm 22 as we prepared for Easter. So that’s 5 messages and 24 other Psalms beyond that including today, Psalm 119, the longest Psalm, the longest chapter in the Bible, and it is a Psalm on the Bible. Psalm 119 is about your relationship, my relationship with this book we call the Bible.

Two of the most well-known stories in the Bible involve David. They are stories of David and. David and Goliath, David and Bathsheba. In David and Goliath, we see how great it is, how great it can be when we live for God and His glory. In David and Bathsheba, we learn that even when we are living for God and His glory, we’re not above, we’re not immune to doing great wrong. Our study in the Psalms today brings us to Psalm 51. There is much to study in Psalm 51 and that includes much to study in the historical moment that produced Psalm 51. That moment can be found in 2 Samuel 11-12.

The title of my message today is “How would you describe church?” There are more than a few words: God, worship, family, beliefs, praise, preaching, casseroles. Another set of words: boring, preachy, judgmental, money, casseroles. Regardless of the words we use, we might want to be thinking about the words God wants to use. If we are going to have church, His words ought to build the program. Turn with me today to Psalm 100 where we find those words.

Israel forgot who God is. The Church, our church can do the same. All we give God came from Him. Do we give God money? It is all His. Do we give God our life? He is the Creator, the Sustainer, the Redeemer and the Judge of our life. Do we give Him our time? You woke up today because He deemed it so. We give God nothing that does not come first from Him. If we don’t grasp this, or we forget it, we don’t appreciate how greatly we are loved, and how He has shown that. We possibly act like God owes us.

Job 42:2, Psalm 115:3, Luke 1:37 and a lot of other passages teach us that God can do whatever He wants. Nothing is impossible for Him. He has all power, all authority. No one, nothing can stop Him. That means God could make us obey Him, make us believe, make us worshippers who sing His praises. And He wouldn’t have to sweat to make it happen. He’d be entirely successful, and the world better for it. But He doesn’t. He doesn’t make us obey, believe, worship. There are consequences for not, but He does not make us. He invites us. He invites us to do these things and experience how good He is when we do. We continue our study of the Psalms and that bring us to Psalm 34, an invitation.

From Genesis 1-2 we learn we were created for the presence of God. Therein is our joy, purpose, life. There is not something else. There is not a second and a third thing. To be in and enjoy a right relationship with God is life and life eternal. But Genesis 3, we sinned. Sin makes us entirely not like God and His presence, His heaven. It makes us a life in rebellion. Sin is not just rules we broke, but nature of unholy rebellion. How can the very unholy come into the Holy? When you hear David say, 'Lord,' don’t hear a title or a salutation. Hear a cry from the depths of his soul. Who, my Lord, can dwell with you? Who can enjoy intimacy with their Creator? And then we get an answer, ten actually. Ten answers, character qualities, actions that answer who can live with God.