Open Heart Baptist Church

09/06/2026

“A Tranquil and Quiet Life”
1 Timothy 2:1-8

True Christianity is characterized by a life of love, righteousness, peace, industry and tranquility. In its purest form, the faith of Jesus Christ is one which re-unites sinful man with his Holy Creator and transforms him into a person whose life's focus is to help, heal and improve the lives of those around him. The Mennonite culture reflects this pursuit very well. Mennonites are born-again believers who sincerely try to live the Biblical mandates of the early Church. They believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, that baptism is for believers only, and that infant baptism is not appropriate. They are pacifists who refuse to engage in or endorse activities that lead to human harm or death, and even refuse to exercise violence in the cause of self-defense which some may regard as simplistic or foolish. Mennonite theology stems from the early Anabaptists who evolved out of the Protestant Reformation in the early 1500's. Like all Protestant denominations, there are many different sects of Mennonites who vary in specific doctrines, practices, and the degree to which they should separate themselves from the worldly culture. But Mennonites all advocate being separate from the evils of this world. And that is commendable. They are willing to forgo most modern conveniences of our advanced society to demonstrate their devotion and purity to God — even to their own disadvantage and discomfort. Realistically, even the Mennonite culture has their share of hypocrites and crime because they are sinful, fallen people in need of salvation. But any faults of Mennonite culture are far less prevalent than that of the world around them because their identity is summed up in the truth that God, through Jesus saves from sin, and we are accountable to Him in this life, not just the next. Non-Mennonites may think that they take their faith to extremes that are not realistic or necessary, but when we judge where the world's culture has gone, and is heading to — with the extreme wickedness and violence that has approached the corruption of Noah's pre-flood world, then maybe the Mennonites are not all that extreme. Maybe they are the sensible and prudent ones.

08/30/2026

“God’s Golden Dome”
Deuteronomy 33: 26-29

One of America's stated goals is to create a "Golden Dome" missile defense system to protect us from a bad actor's potential nuclear attack. It would be a system of anti-ballistic interceptors that would shoot down any incoming attacks on America, much like the "Iron Dome" system does in Israel and Ukraine. It would be a purely defensive system, and vital to the safety of the nation in today's highly sophisticated climate of drones, missiles and ICBM's. Such a "dome" system would be very large and very expensive, but what price does one place on safety from nuclear attack? In another very real sense, America DOES have a "Golden Dome" protecting us already. It is God's ever-present umbrella of blessing that He has bestowed upon us since our founding in 1776. Scripture says, "Blessed is that nation whose God is the Lord", and He has been blessing us ever since. For 250 years, America has been a predominantly Christian nation that has flourished by acknowledging the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jesus Christ. In return, God has blessed and protected America and elevated her to the greatest, most prosperous and powerful nation on earth. He has provided us with abundant food, cutting edge technologies, health care, fiscal wealth, and the strongest military on the face of the earth. America is exceptional, as demonstrated by the fact that everyone on the planet is seeking to come to and live in this country because of our highest standard of living, personal safety, and freedom to achieve personal goals. A French statesman and philosopher said it well, "America is great because America is good". God, as He promises, has abundantly blessed this nation because we have been faithful to Him, and have striven to govern and live by His commandments and priorities. This was initially true with the nation of Israel too. God created Israel from one man, Abraham, and promised that if they would follow and obey Him exclusively, He would bless them exceedingly. And He did. Only when, after King David and the nation lapsed into idolatry and wouldn't repent, eventually He abandoned and destroyed them as a nation and started over with a remnant. America is no different. As America increasingly ignores God's Commandments and moves further and further away from Him through immorality, idolatry, violence and lawlessness, we are in real danger of God diminishing or withdrawing His umbrella of blessing and protection from us. If people think things are tough now, just wait until God allows the weather to assault us without restraint through earthquakes, storms or tornados, or if He does allow an evil global power to successfully attack us with nukes, or if He allows our financial system to collapse because of inescapable debt, people would really see what existence without the protection of the Sovereign God would be like. It is past time for this country to repent of its' wickedness, submit again to our Creator and plead for His continuing protection from things we cannot protect ourselves from. It is truly a matter of national survival.

08/23/2026

“The Convenantal Society”
Hebrews 8:6-10

Government is a necessary institution ordained by God to maintain order, freedom and safety on this earth. Some say that "the government which governs best, governs least". That may be debated, but the subject of which earthly government does the best in protecting human rights, keeping people safe, providing for personal opportunity, and yet maximizing personal freedom is still hotly debated. We believe that the US Constitution with our republican form of government is the best as opposed to a true democracy where the majority rules on any and all issues. The US government is a republic which allows majority rule, yet protects the rights of the minority — not an easy thing to do. One unique aspect of the American government is that it is a covenantal form of government — as opposed to a dictatorial type. By covenantal, we mean that it is a mutual agreement between all citizens that we will all abide by the agreed upon laws of the land. The American constitution begins with: "We the people......". This means that our government is instituted by the people for the benefit and welfare of the people and we do not rely on an all-powerful dictator to rule us, and hope he is just and kind. We have laws to guarantee the welfare and protection against tyranny, for all peoples. The main problem with our form of government is that when people don't follow the agreed upon rules (laws), bad things happen. Still, our free-market republic still provides the safest, most prosperous society for all its citizens. No wonder the whole world is seeking to come to America. The Covenantal form of government originates from God. In the beginning, God created the world and entered into a covenant with mankind for him to be fruitful, multiply and subdue the earth. Then God entered into a covenant with Abraham that if he would worship God exclusively, God would bless him and the entire earth, and thus the nation of Israel was created. Next was God's covenant with Israel at Mt. Sinai where He established the Old Covenant of salvation by the Mosaic Law. This covenant we doomed to failure, not because God didn't keep His promises, but rather because man could not keep God's perfect laws. The Old Covenant of salvation by the law was replaced by the New Covenant of salvation by faith in the Messiah, Jesus Christ. God promised mankind that if you will believe in, receive, and follow Christ, He will forgive your sin and you will live forever with Him. This is the perfect covenant between God and man and it will work for eternity. The covenantal form of government is only as good as the integrity of all parties to honor their commitments. God always honors His promises, but sadly, whether between God or man, man does not always honor his commitments because he is a selfish, treacherous and sinful creature. We believe that, like Israel, America was inspired and created by God in a covenant relationship for the preservation and propagation of the Christian faith, and freedom for the entire world.

08/16/2026

The gospel is gloriously free because salvation is a gift of God's grace, not a reward for human effort. We bring nothing that can earn God's favor; we simply receive by faith what Christ has accomplished on our behalf. The freeness of the gospel magnifies the sufficiency of the Savior.

Ephesians 2:8–9 — “For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—not from works, so that no one can boast.”

08/15/2026

08/09/2026

“God’s Sovereign Choice”
Romans 9:6-13

We find in the Bible and in real life that God is sovereign over all aspects of this world. His miracles show that He commands the natural physical realm, the realm of physical humanity, and the entire spiritual realm of heaven and earth. He stills the raging seas. He heals sick and diseased human bodies. He changes water into w**e. And He commands demons who possess and torment people to leave them — and they do. And in all His miracles, the overriding aspect is that He does it all according to His personal sovereign choice. He doesn't heal everyone, or cast out all demons, or banish all disease and illnesses. And He doesn't grant eternal life to everyone who lives and breathes. He does it all according to His own perfect wisdom, loving grace, fierce righteousness judgement, and eternal plan for His creation. He blesses some, and curses others. He gives life to some, condemns others to death, or to some He doesn't even seem to concern Himself. He causes rain to fall on some and decrees drought on others. One of the greatest frustrations we may have toward the Almighty is why He saves some people for the glories of eternal life, and seemingly condemns others to damnation. Scripture says that God loves all people and "desires all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth". As such, He performs great miracles and signs to convince some people to follow Him, but not to others. We often pray for our unsaved loved ones for a lifetime but when they ultimately die in their sins, we wonder why God did not lead them to salvation. We assume He defers to an individual's personal will, and will not make them do or believe anything they don't want to. Yet the Bible does tell us that God chooses some to life, and decrees others to death. He performs miraculous signs to convert some, yet not to others. He raises up and selects some to mighty works on His behalf, but doesn't seem to lift a finger on behalf of others. We will never entirely understand how or why our Holy and Righteous God deals with specific peoples, but we do know that He loves all people and wants the best for them eternally. We know that He is holy, and cannot sin or tolerate sin to exist in His presence. We know that He is omniscient and knows all things, that he is all-wise and cannot make mistakes. We know that in His righteous judgement, He gives back to every person according to what they have done. In this mortal life with our limited knowledge and vision, we have no choice but to trust Him to deal righteously with men because He created them, loves them, and has an eternal plan for us all — and it will be done according to His sovereign choices.

08/02/2026

“Giving Grace”
Roman’s 9:12-21

Grace is one of the key aspects of the Christian faith. Grace is defined as goodness or kindness given to a person that they do not deserve. It is like the judge paying your traffic fine so you don't have to. Or it's like when you had a car accident and didn't have a license, your friend takes the fall for you and says he was driving because he did have a license. Grace is getting off from punishment that you do deserve, or getting an undeserved goodie just because of someone else's kindness. This is what God does for us. He gives us grace, constantly. We are saved from our sins because of His grace, we are protected from evil because of His grace, and we are blessed daily with good gifts because of His grace. God's relationship with His people is based on His love and grace toward us, and not because we are so good, or good looking. We're not. God loves and values us simply because of who we are and because we are precious in His sight. Then, because God gives us His grace freely as a gift, He also expects us to pass it on. We are commanded to give grace to others who we interact with, whether they deserve it or not. Especially when they wrong us, and we really don't feel like being very generous, we are commanded to be gracious and forgive them — or even bless them. That's really hard because it rubs against our pride and sense of entitlement. In short, because we have received God's goodness, we are expected to give it back to others. We are to be like our Heavenly Father as much as we can. Because grace is then extended to those who don't deserve it, they will recognize the kindness and pass it on too. Thus, God changes the world. That's how it is supposed to work. Sadly, most people aren't like that and the world just gets uglier and uglier. Well, God is keeping notes and taking names. He finds out who wants to live with Him forever by receiving Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and then strive to live a life of grace towards others. Ultimately, though we are imperfect people who try our best to be like our perfect Heavenly Father, He ushers us into His heavenly home and gives us a new and perfect body to live with Him forever. Then, I really think, practicing grace will not be difficult, but effortlessly natural. Can't wait. Come Lord Jesus.

07/26/2026

“The Supreme Spirit”
John 14:14-18

The nature of God is somewhat beyond a human mind's ability to comprehend. One God, who exists in three distinct Persons. The Trinity. Some people and religions think that Christianity is polytheistic, that we worship three Gods. That is one way fallen man who lacks spiritual discernment looks at His Creator. But the Bible tells us that our God is One God, or one Living Essence, who exists in three Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The same life essence manifested in three distinct Persons. Kind of like water. It is either liquid, ice or steam depending on the temperature, but water is still H2O regardless of its state. The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity, and is the least often emphasized by design. Jesus says the Spirit's job is to point people to Jesus, not to elevate Himself so He will naturally speak of and lift up Jesus as opposed to Himself. A problem comes when people begin to emphasize the Holy Spirit too much in their worship, and He becomes the object of attention rather than the Son. Some people think the Holy Spirit is not really a person, but a force like gravity or electricity -- a force that we can manipulate to achieve our own goals. The "force" in Star Wars is a supreme fantasy power and can be manipulated by good or evil to its' own ends. God's Holy Spirit is not that way: He is a real person with real feelings and thoughts. He is the Mind of God. He is the living essence of the Almighty and was begat into a human body we call Jesus of Nazareth. God's Holy Spirit is not limited to time and space and can be everywhere at any time. He is omnipresent and can see, hear and witness all things at the same time. He permeates creation. Yet, He is small enough to indwell every believer in Jesus Christ. Jesus, foreseeing His crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension into heaven promised His disciples that He would not leave us alone as orphans, but would send us a "Helper" who would live inside each one and guide and empower us to live a victorious life of faith in Christ and in God. The Holy Spirit is only given to those who receive Christ. The unbelieving world does not have that promise, and live their lives without the benefit of the indwelling Spirit of God. That is one reason the world is in such a mess. Natural man tries to live the victorious life without the power of God, and cannot. The Holy Spirit, from within each believer sustains us when we cannot go on. He teaches us, convicts us, comforts us, warns us, encourages us, strengthens and enables us to live a holy life before our God that we could not do by ourselves. The Holy Spirit is truly a miracle bestowed by the all-powerful Creator onto His believing child. "He will be with you, and will be in you." He is all we need to get through this life and stand victoriously before the Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ.

07/19/2026

“Truth Matters”
John 3: 31,32

God is big on truth. Jesus says: "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life....". He says that if we follow Him, we "will know the Truth, and the Truth will set us free". The prophet declares "Thy Word is truth". As such, Jesus preached and taught God's truth everywhere He went. He proclaimed it publicly, and did not hide one word. He took great pains to explain and teach God's truth to everyone who would listen, and even to those who wouldn't. He didn't soft-peddle it, parse it, or minimize it. God's truth is essential for all of us to know the realities concerning this life we find ourselves in. God's truth cannot change because God cannot change, and we can build and structure our lives upon it forever. God's truths are altogether good for His creation, but the enemy doesn't think so. Satan is the author of the lie. From the beginning he has denied, distorted, and hidden God's truth from mankind in an effort to deceive and kill him. From Adam and Eve's time till now, he is still weaving his webs of deception to turn people away from God's truths and destroy them eternally. Today, one of the Devil's best tools for deception is mass media. In the news today it is nearly impossible to determine what is true and what is "fake news". The enemy so muddies the waters of reality that many people just throw their hands up and say "what's the use". We can't believe anything we hear and see anymore. And with the advancement of AI that is now true more than ever. What is crucial to know though is that with diligence and the discernment of God's Holy Spirit, we CAN know what is true and what is lie. Scripture tells us to be "wise as serpents and innocent as doves" because in the latter days, deception will be so rampant so as to deceive even the elect of God. Today, we must be informed about current events and leadership. Because knowledge is power, our basic safety and freedoms are at stake from forces and tyrants of evil who seek to harm us. Because not every voice we hear today is from God, we must train our senses to discern good from evil. Our personal welfare, our childrens', and that of those around us depend upon it.