Harmony Baptist Church

05/31/2026

04/18/2026

Roland Harvey
Romans 6:5-6 (KJV) "For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin."

“Planted" is a great term for Christians to understand. When we plant a seed it has to be viable in order to grow. If a seed doesn't have living parts the plant will not grow.
In my earlier days in school, like first grade, we planted peas in a cup to watch them grow.
Everyone got excited when they started seeing their plant break the surface of the dirt. My pea never grew. Others were watching theirs grow and I had a cup of dirt. No matter how many times I looked, my seed never sprouted.
My teacher decided that I needed a new pea. So we started over. Weeks later I still had a cup of dirt. The thing is that the reason some say "The seed died that it might bring life," is because the outside of the seed is no longer there. It has been changed. In fact, as the plant grows you will see less and less evidence of the old seed shell.
To be planted with Christ means that we are growing in Christ and replacing the old man. As we grow in Christ we become more like Him. There are some people who think this happens instantly. We are instantly saved, but growing to be Christ like takes some time. I know that there are some people who change their lifestyle instantly, but there is a whole lot to learn to become Christ like.
We must be buried with Christ so that the old man can die. The longer I live, the more I realize how much of the old man is still around. So being planted with Christ is part of the process of finding our freedom from the old man.
Lord, help me to enjoy the dying to self so that the new man might be more like you. In Jesus' name, amen.

03/25/2026

Roland Harvey
Deuteronomy 7:9 (KJV) "Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;"

We need to know that the Lord we serve is God. We say this but do we believe it? Belief always calls for action. Even in the simplest terms, belief wants action.
Let's say that you believe a chair will hold your weight. You will not know for sure untill you sit in it. Believing that God is God will lead us to take action in our lives. There are people who say that they believe God is God but their lives show no action of belief. By taking action we show our faith.
Christians have taken a step of faith by accepting Jesus as Savior; however, there are more acts of belief beyond that. The Lord calls us every day to believe He is God and to take steps confirming that. They don't even have to be big steps. Sometimes just an attitude of praise is all it takes for you to confirm your belief that He is God.
Every prayer should be an action of that faith. If you don't pray believing then why pray? Prayer is one of thoses things we do because we know we are supposed to. But do you pray knowing that God is going to answer "yes?" When we hear from God and He says to pray for such and such we should know that it is God's will so it will be done.
The challenge is we have turned prayer into what we want and desire and not into what God wants. God is always faithful. God will not break His Word so if He has said it will take place we can believe Him. It is His faithfulness that gives us our consistent belief in what He can do.
It is like gravity; it is always there and we know it will not change. What goes up will come down. We can count on God because He is God.
Lord, help me to take daily action because of my belief in you. In Jesus' name, amen.

03/17/2026

Roland Harvey
Ephesians 2:13 (KJV) "But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ."

We were separated from God because we were sinners. But now we walk with Him every day because He lives in us. The world can never understand this. To them it makes no sense at all. I was talking to a lady the other day. She grew up in church all of her life. She had heard people talking about having a relationship with God but she never understood how it could take place.
We had a long discussion but she was not willing to take that step. She left knowing how to find that relationship but not doing it. There is no way for the world to comprehend what we have with Jesus.
Once, I walked far away from God in the midst of my sin. Then I saw the way out of the darkness. It was the light of Christ. I used to think that if the lost could just sit down with Jesus for ten minutes they would accept what He is offering them.
Than I realized there were people who saw Him while He was alive and heard that He had risen from the dead but still didn't believe what He told them. Some people are so narrow minded that they can't see what God is doing. I see God at work in all kinds of ways in the world around me.
There are more spiritual things taking place in our lives then we can even imagine. Just in the spiritual battle taking place around us every day we are not even aware that there is a battle.
The lost world is so far from God that only by His calling them can they find Him. I know that some people believe that on their deathbed that they can cry out to God and He will answer.
The problem with that idea is it puts them in charge and not God. God doesn't share His glory with anyone.
Lord, thank you for your call to me. Thank you for the blood that opens up our relationship with you. In Jesus' name, amen.

02/24/2026

Roland Harvey
John 4:14 (KJV) "But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."

The water the Lord has given us is the Holy Ghost. There is no limit on that supply. It is a flowing river in our lives so we can share it and never use it up.
I have been sharing it most of my life and it has never run dry. This well has been flowing for thousands of years through millions of people. We haven't even tapped into the full potential of this stream.
There is a problem with this stream and that happens when we refuse to share it with others. This stream was designed to flow from one person to another. The thing that I have noticed is that when we refuse to share the love of Christ with others, it robs us from the joy of the stream.
As we share the gospel it stays fresh with us and gives us more joy than you can imagine. The Holy Ghost blesses and encourages us as He moves through our bodies.
The whole experience of the Holy Ghost is to keep us growing just like water does to plants. The biggest trees grow closer to the water. If you want your house plants to die just quit watering them.
It is a law of nature; plants need water to grow. We need the flow of the Holy Ghost to grow and to be able to stand against the attacks of the world. We have the Holy Ghost who starts to bubble up an idea of who we need to share with.
This motivates us to start to take steps to get it done. As we move into range the Holy Ghost gives us the words to share with that person. They listen and jump aboard and they are now a port for the stream to flow through. It is like floating down a river and seeing others join you on the trip as you travel along.
Lord, thank you for the living water that you give us. In Jesus' name, amen.

02/23/2026

Roland Harvey
Matthew 1:5 (KJV) "And Salmon begat Boaz of Rahab; and Boaz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse;"

We sometimes read over verses like this and miss the details. You remember the story of Ruth. How she left her family of origin when her husband died. And she chose to follow her widowed mother-in-law when she returned to Bethlehem.
There Ruth met Boaz. We now know that she was King David's great grand mother. The thing is, the Lord put these things into the Bible to give us continuity of the stories within it.
Not only that but it shows God's plan along the way. If Ruth had not gone with her mother-in-law, Jesse may have never been born. No Jesse, then no David.
I don't know if you can see the things that took place so that Jesus could be born. We focus on the here and now and rarely think on the things of the past that brought us here.
We also are not aware of the way God may use us to affect the future. My wife and I have no children of our own. So there will be no future Harveys from us.
But the effect we have had on others may live long past our lives. The Lord is in the process of working His plan all along the way. All of us have a part to play in that process.
I am sure that Ruth never thought that she would be the great grand mother of one of the greatest Kings that Israel ever had but she was.
We don't know the part that we will play in God's plan but it is exciting to know we have one. I am sure that Brother Lawrence, who was born in the sixteen hundreds never thought that he would affect a man's life born in the nineteen hundres but he did with his book, "The Practice of the Presence of God." I had a Sunday School teacher who read his book and would teach us some lessons out of it. It is a great book for Christians to read. He is still having influence in this world today.
Lord, I thank you for the plan you have for me. In Jesus' name, amen.

02/22/2026

Roland Harvey
Romans 6:2 (KJV) "God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?"

Let's set somethings straight here. Christ died for all of our sins. When He died on the cross all of our sins were in the future. We had not committed them yet. So he died for our past, present, and future sins.
I know that when Christ was on the cross He saw everyone's sin including yours and mine. So all of our sins were nailed to the cross.
When we accept Christ as Lord and Savior we become dead to sin. That doesn't mean that we will not sin. It means that sin no longer has control over us. We have been set free from sin by Jesus dying on the cross.
We now have part of God living in us. That part of God is there with us when we stray. But it is that part of God that keeps us from falling under the bo***ge of sin again.
This verse says that we no longer live in sin. That means we are not going to set up residency in sin. We may pass through but we can't live there.
There is an old saying, that "You can't go home again." The only reason you can't go home is because while you were gone something changed. It may be just a little change or a big one but something is different there.
My wife and I used to live in an RV park. But there is no going back there now because it is a gated community. We don't have the code to get in. Even if we had the code the neighbors we knew are no longer living there. The park has expanded and added new features.
When we are snatched out of the land of sin, there is now a new code on the gate. The old code only works with the lost. We can't get the code or find the code because we are no longer lost. We can only play in the puddles of sin which are around the land of sin.
Lord, thank you for locking me out of the land of sin. Because of you I can no longer live there. My flesh may want to go back, but you have locked the door and I can no longer live there. In Jesus' name, amen.

02/20/2026

Roland Harvey
Romans 14:1-2 (KJV) "Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.
For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs."

We are to talk with and receive into fellowship everyone who is a Christian. There always seems to be that one person who knows it all. They are quick to try and push their beliefs onto others.
This is the biggest conflict in a church. I don't know how many churches have had a split over a conflict. People get their feelings hurt because others don't agree with them.
I was once part of a youth group that was told by the youth leader how to vote on a certain election in the church. As members of a church we are all part of the same body. That means we should work together to promote the cause of Christ and not our own agenda.
It is hard to set aside our own ideas. We do that by bringing all the decisions to God in prayer. The challenge with that is our impatience with waiting on an answer from God.
I was in a church that wanted to build a baptistry but no one could agree on how to do it. The idea of the baptistry was causing a big division among the members. Our pastor suggested that we pray about it and let the Lord lead us.
So the subject was set aside and put into God's hands. It was brought up a few times but everytime we were told to pray about it. The challenges were where to place it and the cost. About six months later the baptistry was put into the church by an outside source.
People in the body of Christ need to be just the body which is controlled by the head who is Jesus Christ.
The vote with the youth leader went against him. He got mad and left the church because his feelings were hurt. Our feelings should be in check at the door and let God be our leader.
Lord, help us to accept others as we work together to do Your plan. In Jesus' name, amen.

02/19/2026

Roland Harvey
Psalms 34:19 (KJV) "Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all."

We all face different afflictions in our lives. We walk through them every day. But here is a promise that God will deliver us out of them. I know that there are red flags waving all over the place with questions like, "What about all of the Christians who have been fed to the loins, or the ones who died in prison for the cause of the gospel?"
Our challenge in beliving that they were delivered is that we, in our human minds, don't see them as being rescued. We don't really understand God's idea of deliverance.
God said that He would deliver them. Their rescue is handled by God. There is so much misunderstanding between us and God's ideas. We sometimes think that His promises are not kept because when we look at them we are only seeing them through our grid.
There are quite a few things that our grid keeps us from seeing, even in this world, let alone spiritual things. One of the things in my grid that I have no understanding of is why some people don't eat blackeyed peas.
Some think that those peas are only good for cattle feed. If there is such a misunderstanding on what to do with peas, I see no way for us to fully understand the concepts of God.
All I know is that I may not fully understand how the saints were delivered but I know they were because God is not slack in His promises.
There are so many things that I believe in that I've not seen happen. I've not seen Heavan but I know it is there. I never saw the crucifixion but I am receiving the benefits of it.
The promises of God are true and we can trust in them even if we don't understand them. So the next time you are going through afflictions, know that God is there with you and He will be there to deliver you out of them.
Lord, I want to thank you for the deliverance that you have given me in the past. In Jesus' name, amen.