Maranatha Baptist Church

11/30/2023

We would love for you to join us as we celebrate the birth of our Savior!

09/27/2023

08/03/2023

K-6th graders are welcome to come join us at MBC in Hayesville this Saturday Aug 5th from 10AM-4PM for VBS! It will be a blast with games, food, and lessons all about Jesus Christ! Message us with any questions!

07/31/2023

Do You Know What Your Face Reminds Me Of?
by J.R. Grover

Growing up with two brothers that are close to my age gave us all ample opportunities to make fun of each other…and we frequently took advantage of them. During our time in elementary school, we would often tease each other by saying something about each other’s faces, and too frequently we would begin a sentence along this idea: “Do you know what your face reminds me of?” Then we would proceed into mentioning pigs, cows, goats, garbage cans, etc. Ah yes, clear statements of brotherly love.

Speaking of brotherly love, the Bible discusses in detail two brothers who failed to get along with each other: Jacob and Esau. So what’s important about these two? Well, we have to keep the big picture of the Book of Genesis in mind to understand these brothers’ importance. Remember that God has promised Abraham that Abraham’s descendants would live in Canaan and that these descendants would bless the entire world (Genesis 12:1-4). Abraham has two sons that receive a lot of attention, but only his son Isaac (and not Ishmael) would carry on this promised lineage (Genesis 22:1-2, 15-18). Isaac then has two sons, Jacob and Esau. So, which son would carry on this promised lineage of Abraham and Isaac? Or would they both? Turns out that Jacob would. In fact, God tells Isaac and his wife, Rebekah, that they would have twins and that the younger son (Jacob) would be stronger and rule over the older (Esau) (Genesis 25:22-23).

How does this play out between the two boys? When they become old enough, Jacob convinces Esau to exchange his right as the firstborn to be Isaac’s heir and to carry on Abraham’s promised lineage to Jacob for a bowl of stew (Genesis 25:29-34). In addition, Jacob also deceives Isaac into blessing Jacob when that blessing should have gone to Esau (all of Genesis 27). When this happens, Esau becomes so angry with his deceiving brother that he swears to kill Jacob (Genesis 27:41).

Let’s fast forward several years. Jacob now has a large family and a lot of livestock. He’s left his father-in-law Laban’s farm and is headed back to where he grew up (Genesis 31:1-14). On his return, he sends messengers to Esau asking that Esau would not harm him but show him mercy and favor (Genesis 32:1-5). The messengers return saying that Esau is coming to Jacob with enough men that, if they wanted, could completely destroy Jacob and his family (Genesis 32:6-8). That evening, Jacob begs God to spare his life so he can carry on the line of Abraham’s promised descendents, and he ends up wrestling a mysterious man the whole night. After the wrestling match, Jacob calls that location “The Face of God” because he believes he wrestled with God (Genesis 32:9-12, 22-32).

The next morning, Jacob sees Esau, and Jacob starts bowing to him so that Esau will spare his life (Genesis 33:3). Esau embraces him, kisses him, and they both start crying (Genesis 33:4). After this reunion, Esau asks what all the presents are for, and Jacob states that they are to find favor in Esau’s sight (Genesis 33:7). But Esau refuses the servants and other gifts and states that he has enough material wealth. Jacob then turns to Esau and says that Esau’s face reminds him of God’s (Genesis 33:10). Wait…Jacob had just wrestled with God less than twelve hours ago and had seen God’s face. Now he looks at his brother, who he thought would murder him, and says that Esau reminds him of God’s face. How so? Because both God and Esau dealt graciously with Jacob (Genesis 33:11).

Friend, do you want to reflect God to others? I hope so. I hope the same for me as well. But what is one sure way we do that? According to Jacob, we do that by being gracious and forgiving to those who have wronged us. Jesus came and died for our sins when we never deserved his gracious sacrifice (Ephesians 2:8-9). Consequently, we reflect Jesus and the Gospel when we do the same for others through the Holy Spirit’s power, and I pray that God will use that Spirit-filled testimony of ours so that we can point others back to Jesus and their need for Him. So may all the “Jacobs” who have wronged us say one day because of our gracious hearts, “Do you know what your face reminds me of?”

07/03/2023

Wait For It…
by J.R. Grover

What’s your favorite fast-food restaurant? Where’s that place you want to go where you can get some comfort food without having to spend more than ten minutes waiting for the meal? Give me just a couple more minutes before you stop reading this article to zoom over for that entrée you’re thinking about. For more than two years, I worked at Chick-Fil-A, and at our location, we aimed to get 160 cars through our drive-thru in one hour at lunch time. That’s roughly three cars per minute or one car per twenty seconds. So, waiting wasn’t our goal or the guests’ when it came to feeding them. It was all about speed and accuracy.
Now let’s think about our attitude toward God. When we want Him to bless us, do we think, “God, let’s just ‘Chick-Fil-A’ this thing by giving me right now those blessings I want and answering the prayer requests I have.” Well, this attitude can provoke two thoughts. First, what is God’s timetable? Second, what is the blessing God wants most to give us?
To help answer these questions, let’s observe Abraham and the death of Sarah as found in Genesis 23. God promised blessings and descendants to Abraham and that those descendants would live in Canaan (Genesis 12:1-3, 6-7). Great! So what are the blessings, who are the descendants, and when does Abraham and his offspring get to move into Canaan? Well, let’s get to the “blessings” aspect later. But the promised offspring is Isaac, and he took a long time to arrive. Twenty-five years to be exact (Abraham was 75 when the promise came - Genesis 12:4 - and 100 when Isaac arrived - Genesis 21:5). And possessing some of Canaan took even longer. Yes, Abraham wandered around Canaan but didn’t own any of it…until Sarah died. Upon Sarah’s death, Abraham barters with a local Canaanite tribesman (Genesis 23:16-18) and purchases a cave to bury Sarah in (vv. 19-20). Abraham finally owns some of the land, but it took 62 years for that to arrive (Abraham was 75 when the promise came - Genesis 12:4 - and 137 when Sarah died - Abraham was ten years older than Sarah - Genesis 17:17 and she died at 127 - Genesis 23:1). What then do these years tell us about God’s timetable in our lives? They tell us that unless God gives a specific amount of years for something to come (which He rarely if ever does), He will fulfill His promises when He has wisely ordained them to occur. Wait??? So, if I don’t know when He will do what He has promised, then what’s the point of the timetable?
The point of the timetable is to see the bigger picture - God doesn’t want us to focus ultimately on these promises but on HIM. God didn’t promise Abraham with children and land just so Abraham would ultimately focus on those things. Rather, He established them as tools for becoming Abraham’s personal, relational God (Genesis 17:7). In fact, God reiterates and establishes this relationship later with Moses and all the people of Israel (Exodus 6:7-8). And that’s what He desires to do with you, dear friend. Don’t live this life checking on the timetable of when God will answer certain prayers or provide this or that for you. Look at Him. Love Him. Desire Him (Matthew 22:35-40; John 17:3). That’s the purpose of His promises on His timetable.

06/21/2023

To Go Up, Lie Down
by J.R. Grover

Sometimes in life, we combine two truths together that seem to contradict themselves. We often call this situation a paradox. Examples of a paradox would be “to make money you have to spend it” or “I slept so much that I’m tired.” Again, these statements seem to contradict themselves but can be true at times.

The Bible has its own set of paradoxes, and it provides us with a very important one in Genesis 11. This chapter opens up with the Tower of Babel. Why did this Tower come about? Well, several generations after the worldwide flood and Noah’s Ark (Genesis 6-10), all the people in the world moved to a place called Shinar, located in the Middle East. And this group decided to break God’s commands. How so? First, they wanted to make a name for themselves (Gen. 11:4 - “Let us build a city and tower…and let us make a name for ourselves”). But God made humanity to display His likeness and image. He made us ultimately to reflect His name and character to the world and not our own (Gen.1:26-27). Second, they wanted to control their own destinies (Gen. 11:4 - “Let us build a city and tower…lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth”). God commanded Adam and Eve to spread over the whole earth to have dominion over it, not to have humanity just stay in one place (Gen. 1:28). He also commanded the same to Noah and his descendants (Gen. 9:1). So the problem with this Tower is that it symbolizes direct disobedience to God’s will for humanity.

What’s humorous is that the people want this Tower to reach up to heaven to be equal with God, but God has to “come down” to see this Tower (Gen. 11:5). Friend, if you’re like me, you can think that our man-made efforts in this life are monumental and world-changing, but God still has “to come down” to see them. In other words, our Towers made up of our fragile, brittle efforts really amount to nothing no matter how high we build them.

So how do we build things in this life that will really matter forever? This is where the paradox comes in. To build up anything with our efforts, we have to lie down in humility before God. Our lives, families, churches, jobs, hobbies, etc. will mean nothing in the end if we don’t humbly do them and guide them in God’s name and in line with His Word. Psalm 127:1 declares, “Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.” Dear friend, build for God and you build up for eternity.

06/12/2023

Chaos, Your Life, & the Holy Spirit - Josh Grover

The living room transformed into a disaster as my two daughters threw toys, books, and clothes all over the carpet and furniture. One is a toddler and the other a baby, so my wife and I made plenty of mental room understanding that’s just what they do at that age. Regardless, the living room remained in chaos with all of these items out of place, so the grownups went to work putting the room back in order.

Now imagine a living room as big as the world and a massive flood in this living room. But this is no fictional short story. This situation actually occurred in the first act of God’s creating work. Genesis 1:2 says that the earth didn’t have a form and was empty and that darkness hung over the deep. That word deep in Hebrew means “flood or deluge.” The waters that God created were running rampant. They were chaotic. But then verse two says that God’s Spirit hovers over this chaotic storm and transforms it into the waters that He would use to create life on earth. This Spirit makes life come from chaotic situations. Perhaps you notice where I’m going with this point….

Our sin creates chaos like that of a storm. As we see in Genesis 3, Adam and Eve’s sin removes them from eating from the Tree of Life so they can live forever, and they enter a world where the evil Serpent’s seed goes after them (Gen. 3:15) and the ground refuses to live fully for them by failing to give them all the fruit thehuman couple worked to produce and now produces thorns and thistles (Gen. 3:17-19). We as humans experience reflections of this situation when we sin and cause so many problems and pain to ourselves and others. So, what do we do?

We come back to the life-giving, chaotic-fighting Spirit. The Spirit that transformed a global storm to peaceful waters two verses into the Bible will speak life and order into your situation. How so? Through His words. But how does He speak? Through the Bible. Second Peter 1:20 says that the Bible came to us through men who were moved through the Holy Spirit. Consequently, when we handle life’s situations through the Holy Spirit’s words (the Bible), we will see Him bring guidance and life to our situation.

Friend, are you letting Him talk into your life? Are you quieting yourself and following what He says so that your life becomes a trophy of His creative power? You can be that today. Just obey and let Him speak.

11/08/2022

The church family enjoyed our annual Fall Festival at Pathfinders Farm! The weather was perfect to sit around the fire and play games!

08/15/2022

Come join us!