Emmanuel Baptist Church-Hoensbroek

07/03/2026

From the Desk of Pastor David

There I was: riding on the deck of a very old but beautifully restored paddlewheel steamship on the Thunersee, which is a big alpine lake located near Lenk, where the International Baptist Convention Men’s Conference is now held, and Interlaken, where the IBC used to meet, in Switzerland. The captain of this steamship blows a cheery steam whistle at each dock where we stop. The particular day that I am on this cruise is filled with lots of sunshine and clear blue cloudless skies. Snow-capped mountains surround us as we glide around this smooth lake.

What I didn’t know back then was that Switzerland has a big secret problem. This peaceful, beautiful sea – this big lake - that I am riding across is full of unexploded munitions. Munitions means bombs, bullets, rockets - all of the things that the army uses that explode. Unexploded munitions mean they can explode at any time. It doesn’t matter how old it is.

Switzerland, for much of the 20th Century, was surrounded by countries at war. The Swiss needed to be prepared to defend themselves. So they made lots of bombs and bullets. But they didn’t need to use them. So they threw what wasn’t needed into their lakes.

This article appeared on the BBC website, the British Broadcasting Corporation news website, on August 18th, 2024. It is written by Imogen Foulkes. The title is: Switzerland offers cash prize to get munitions out of lakes “Tourists enjoying the picture postcard views of lakes Lucerne, Thun or Neuchâtel might be surprised to learn what lies beneath those pristine alpine waters. For years the Swiss military used the lakes as dumping grounds for old munitions, believing they could be disposed of safely there… In Lake Lucerne alone there are an estimated 3,300 tonnes of munition, and 4,500 tonnes in the waters of Neuchâtel, which the Swiss air force used for bombing practice until 2021. Some munitions are… just six or seven metres below the surface. Now the Swiss defense department is offering 50,000 francs in prize money for the best idea to get it out.”Switzerland offers prize money to get munition out of lakes

How many people are like those Swiss lakes? On the outside, they appear to be happy, well-adjusted, normal human beings. But lurking inside of them are years of hurt and pain and the leftovers from bad decisions. All of this mental and emotional junk could explode at any time. What they really need is a spiritual deep cleaning.What does it mean to be pure in heart?

https://www.gotquestions.org/pure-in-heart.html

Our Beatitude for this week says: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” (Matthew 5:8 NIV) How do we get a pure heart? King David in the Old Testament gives us the guidance “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10 NIV) King David writes Psalm 51 to confess sin and poor decisions including murder and adultery and unfaithfulness to God. Is there hurt and pain and leftover spiritual and emotional junk still lurking inside of you? Take time to give it to our Savior Jesus. Ask him to cleanse and forgive and renew you. Ask Jesus for “clean hands and a pure heart,” for a life that is pure both in actions and in intentions, a life pure both on the inside as well as in what can be seen in public.

See you on Sunday!
Pastor David

27/02/2026

From the Desk of Pastor David

MERCY

“The quality of mercy is not strain’d…” are words taken from a famous sentence written by the 16th-century English poet William Shakespeare. They are part of a speech given by Portia in the drama The Merchant of Venice in Act 4, Scene 1, when she begs Shylock to show mercy to Antonio because: “It is an attribute to God Himself…”The quality of mercy is not strained.It droppeth as the gentle rain from heavenUpon the place beneath. It is twice blest: It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.

These words are not far from what we read in our Beatitude for this week. Jesus says in Matthew 5:7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” (Mt. 5:7 NIV)Mercy is needed by the person who receives it, but mercy also rewards and strengthens the person who gives mercy, or as we say in the English language, the person who shows mercy. Mercy is not deserved. It is freely given.

The most typical illustration of mercy comes from what can happen in a courtroom. A criminal has been convicted of a crime and deserves to be punished. Instead, the judge decides to show mercy and does not assign the punishment to the criminal. The criminal received mercy.The ultimate expression of mercy is from God. We humans sin. We sinned in the Garden of Eden along with Adam and Eve.

Each and every one of us sins too. Sin separates us from God. We sinners are destined for eternal separation from God. But God had mercy. Jesus Christ took the penalty for our sin on him on the cross. He paid for our sins. He arose again on the third day as victor over sin and over death. Now whoever believes on him is forgiven, is made right in the sight of God. Everyone who believes in what Jesus has already done through his death on the cross and through his resurrection, is now living in the presence of God, with the promise of spending all of the rest of eternity with God.

As the Apostle Paul writes to the Ephesians: “…because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:4-9 NIV)

Now, since we have experienced the mercy of God when we believed in Jesus, shouldn’t we be quick to show mercy to others, too?

See you on Sunday!
Pastor David

21/02/2026

FROM THE DESK OF PASTOR DAVID

THE PANTING DEER

“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” (Psalm 42:1-2 NIV) About a week ago, on last Sunday afternoon, as darkness approached and the snow began to fall, I looked out my kitchen window and saw a beautiful big deer walking along the stream, grazing and drinking occasionally. It was such a beautiful scene! I love to watch deer in the wild. This deer last Sunday immediately brought to mind what the Psalmist says, “…as the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.” Many commentators note that in the first three verses of this Psalm, the writer says that he needs air, water, food and just as essential as those three things, so is the worship of God. Does this emotion match your heartfelt desire, too? Do you passionately desire to spend time with God today?

Why do we pursue excellence in our job, in business, in sports? Why do we try to be the very best parent or friend that anyone could have, and not have the same passion for excellence in living the Christian life?This Sunday, we are talking about desire. Desire that comes from deep inside of us. We can create desire, culture desire, encourage desire. But the bottom line is this: I cannot give you desire. This is something that comes from inside of you. One of the great things about the time that we spend with God is that it brings us satisfaction. Jesus said this in our Beatitude for this week: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (Matthew 5:6 NIV)

HI & BYE THIS SUNDAY

Speaking of hunger and thirst, this coming Sunday we will have another carry-in meal. Every month on the last Sunday we take time to get to know those who are new to us, and the best way to do this is over food. This is what made our Dinners for Eight program so successful. Personally I find it a little bit ironic that as some people in other faith groups are beginning to fast and abstain from food, we here at EBC are celebrating with another fellowship meal. It’s good to be a Baptist! If you are able, please bring a food dish to share with others.

See you on Sunday!
Pastor David

16/02/2026

13/02/2026

From the Desk of Pastor David

READ

How often do you read? How often do you read in the Bible? Lifeway Research, just this past week, released the results of a new survey concerning the habits of Christians in America. Of those Christians who attend church every Sunday, only a third (31%) read in the Bible every day. Of those Christians who attend church every Sunday, an additional third read in the Bible at least once during the week. This means that about a third of Christians who will be in church this Sunday will probably not read the Bible at all during the coming week. “Seven days without reading the Bible makes one weak” is the old saying that makes a pun with the words ‘weak’ and ‘week.’ Reading the Bible is essential for spiritual growth in discipleship. How can you know what God wants if you don’t know his word?

For three (long) weeks, I have had no television and no internet. As a result, I have had SO much more time to read! It’s surprising to realize how much time I devote to looking at online news websites. So often it’s hard to put the computer away and instead open my Bible and read. There is no difference whether you read the Bible in hardback copy or online. Most people today like to read digitally, perhaps on a tablet or electronic reader or just on their smartphone. I’m so old-fashioned that I still like the tactile feel when I touch paper pages. It doesn’t make any difference. The Bible is God’s word, no matter which format you choose. Just read it!

BALM OF GILEAD

Speaking of reading the Bible, where does the Bible talk about the Balm of Gilead? What is the Balm of Gilead, and how does it relate to anger? If you have no idea of what I am talking about, maybe you will want to open your Bible and read Jeremiah Chapter 8. Recently, I did a search for hymns that relate to controlling our anger, and the first recommendation was for a very old hymn, ‘There is a Balm in Gilead.’ The words in this hymn refer to salvation in Jesus Christ as being the Balm of Gilead, although the real substance derived from native plants is what the Old Testament talks about.

What is the balm of Gilead? https://www.gotquestions.org/balm-of-Gilead.html

Apparently there is some variation in the lyrics to this very old hymn, but here is a sample:

There is a balm in Gilead,
To make the wounded whole;
There is a balm in Gilead,
To heal the sin-sick soul.
Don’t ever feel discouraged,
‘Cause Jesus is your friend,
And if you lack for knowledge,
He’ll not refuse to lend.

See you on Sunday!
Pastor David

06/02/2026

From the Desk of Pastor David

50th ANNIVERSARY PROJECT

Have you seen our baptistry? It’s pathetic! It looks horrible! This coming Sunday, be brave and open the door that leads up to the baptistry. You will immediately see that the stairs going up are covered with stuff in storage that makes it difficult to walk up to take a look. The baptismal tank itself is fine. But the wall has never been finished on the side that faces the baptistry. Plaster is falling off the back wall. There is an ugly plastic pipe that runs across the baptistry. It’s U-G-L-Y. We approved a complete renovation of the baptistry in our business meeting last fall. And we received a 5,000 Euro gift towards getting this project done. Now we need another 3,000 euros to finish the job. Why don’t we do this?

Let’s make the baptistry our 50th Anniversary project!

Let’s tell everyone everywhere that we are going to renovate our baptistry. We are going to make it look nice. We need donations to finish the job. For our 50th Anniversary as a church, give a little extra towards this special project, and let’s make the baptistry an attractive feature in our church building.

Jesus gave us the command to ‘make disciples’ in his Great Commission, Matthew 28:19-20. He said that as we go, as we teach, as we baptize, make disciples. Baptizing is a key part of following his command. Let’s make this important part of our building look like we really take his word seriously.

Pastor David

25/01/2026

24/01/2026

From the Desk of Pastor David

LENK
Last weekend 210 men from across the International Baptist Convention converged on Lenk, the beautiful town wedged into the end of the Simmental in Switzerland, to praise our Lord and to learn how to become even better fathers and husbands and servants in the local church.
What a great experience! Four of us from EBC were there. Ask Peter or Rene or Emmanuel about their perception of all of the good things that went on down there. The highlight for me
was my (now) annual hour long coffee with Tim Faulkner, the General Secretary of the IBC.
Oh, and during the ride down there and also coming back we laughed a lot too!

NO INTERNET
Here is something funny: My accommodation in Lenk did not have television. I missed it!
But it was only for one weekend, or so I thought. Last Monday I was so looking forward to having television once again only to discover, when I arrived back home, that I had no
internet connection and therefore no television. For one very long week now I have had no internet connection and no television and no email. It was amazing how much more time I
had to read! As I write this the technician just repaired the problem and once again I can rejoin the 21st century. Although this hiatus did give me a lot of peace and quiet and time to
read books that still have real paper pages, and this has been quite nice.

A CRANKY OLD MAN LOOKS AT THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT
The Sermon on the Mount is serious business for believers in the Risen Christ to get serious about living each day like a believer in the Savior who gave his life for us on the cross of
Calvary. The Beatitudes are not platitudes. Instead, they – and this entire sermon – challenge each one of us to live each day passionately as a representative of our Redeemer Jesus Christ.
Ready to get started? Read Matthew Chapter 5 before Sunday morning.

See you this Sunday!
Pastor David.

16/01/2026

From the Desk of Pastor David

THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT

The Sermon on the Mount is one of the most misunderstood and misinterpreted Bible texts. Most of us want to know what we should ‘do’. The Sermon on the Mount tells us what we should ‘be’. The key to this sermon by Christ is found in Verse 20 of Matthew Chapter 5:“For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Legacy SB) When those first fortunate listeners heard Jesus say this back then in the 1st Century, they would be shocked. The scribes and Pharisees were by far the most holy people alive. How can anyone exceed their holiness? This is the point of this sermon. You can’t live it! Not in and of yourself. Human efforts to live according to the Sermon on the Mount are doomed to fail. Only by the power of the transforming Holy Spirit can any believer in Jesus Christ aspire to the Kingdom lifestyle that Jesus makes so clear in this sermon.

When I get back from the Men’s Conference in Lenk, we will begin a study of this famous and much-loved sermon found in the Gospel of Matthew, Chapters 5 through 7. I almost called this series of sermons “A Cranky Old Man Looks at the Sermon on the Mount” because so many people come expecting to hear gentle words about how to be a good person. The Sermon on the Mount is serious business for believers in the Risen Christ to get serious about living each day like a believer in the Savior who gave his life for us on the cross of Calvary. The Beatitudes are not platitudes. Instead, they – and this entire sermon – challenge each one of us to live each day passionately as a representative of our Redeemer Jesus Christ. Ready to get started? Read Matthew Chapter 5 today.

SCRIPTURE READING SIGN UP

Probably the most important part of our worship on Sunday morning is reading the Scripture. This is God’s word. This is God talking to us. How exciting it is every Sunday to hear the Bible read in a different voice, in a different tone, with a different accent that makes the words come alive. Would you like to read the Scriptures to us? Ruyi put a sign-up sheet for the end of January and the month of February on the bulletin board in the back of our sanctuary. Sign up now!

THE DAY OF THE LORD

But wait! We are not yet through with the little Old Testament book of Joel. So far, we have seen that there are two events in the first part of this marvelous little book that are called the Day of the Lord. The first talks about the plague of locusts, those hideous swarming insects. The second Day of the Lord describes the invasion of the Assyrian army into Israel in the year 701 BC, when only the capital city of Jerusalem was spared destruction because of the pious prayer of the righteous king Hezekiah. There is still more! When you come to worship this Sunday morning Diego will talk to us about yet another Day of the Lord. It will be a message that we all need to heed.

Pastor David

11/01/2026

From the Desk of Pastor David

THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE

Did you ever wonder why did God clutter up his Bible with all of those little books at the end of the Old Testament? Who reads those little tiny books anyways? In reality, these books, known as the ‘Minor Prophets’ are actually so valuable. Every single one of these little books tells us that there is always hope. With God. With God, there is always hope. But there is a condition. Repent, from the heart. This is not just a head issue. This is not just about learning knowledge or changing perspective. This is about heartfelt action that comes from the deepest part of who we are. Joel says in Chapter 2: “Rend your heart and not your garments.” (2:13 NIV) Tear violently, break apart with force – your heart. Repent in your heart. Then God will restore. Repentance comes first. Then reconciliation follows. God promises, “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten – the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm – my great army that I sent among you. You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has worked wonders for you…” (2:25-26 NIV) As the great British Baptist pastor Charles Spurgeon once said: “You cannot have back your time, but there is a strange and wonderful way in which God can give back to you the wasted blessings, the unripened fruits of years over which you mourned.”

PASTOR’S HEALTH

My Dutch cardiologist, this past Wednesday, said that the “left bundle blockage” that I have with my heart is probably not quite as serious as first thought. She says that medication alone should be able to treat this condition, at least for now. Further, she says that I can continue to travel to Lenk for the Men’s Conference next weekend. Thank you for your prayers, your concern, and all of your help since my heart attack last month.

See you this Sunday!
Pastor David

10/01/2026

Come out and join us for an evening of Praise & Worship!

SATURDAY, 17 JANUARY @ 19:00

Come as you are.