Friday, October 28, 2011

“IDK”------”IDC”


Good morning.  I pray you have been having a great weekend and are planning a prosperous week ahead.  I am so thankful for the time I have been able to spend in God’s house and with His chosen people this week.  If you don’t know the feelings I’m talking about when you are in God’s house and with His people, you don’t know what you are missing.

Do you know what the letters above stand for?  For a long time, I didn’t.  You see there is a whole other language out there that was as far as I can tell, originated by our young people.  There are places you can go online to “learn” this code.  I caution you though, it may surprise you as to what you may find.  Sadder still, is that adults are beginning to adapt to and go along with this fad.  We have become a people that have no time, don’t know and don’t care.

2 Timothy 2:14-16 says, “14 Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers. 15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 16 But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness.”  2 Timothy 4:2-4 says “2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables“  Luke 12:48 says, “But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.”  Matthew 7:13-14 says, “ 13 "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.  Luke 8:11-15 says, “11 "Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12 Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. 13 But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. 14 Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. 15 But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.

The letters above stand for “I Don’t Know” and “I Don’t Care”.  Have we really become a world that would “rather not know” and that “really doesn’t care”? 
Everything is such a rush these days.  Children are expected to be so advanced from where we were back in my day.  Are we stupid or slow?  NO.  After all, all the advancements and inventions we are off and running with today came from the older generations, so we must have not been reared or trained too bad.  Our schools are so worried about “no child left behind” that they are spitting out graduates that cannot spell basic words, tell you the meaning of similar spelled words and cannot even make simple change without the assistance of a calculator or cash register machine.  For the most part, the chance of a full and complete sentence is almost out of the question.  What are we in such a rush for?  We are only going to live so long, so why don’t we stop along the way to smell the roses

IDK.  IDC.  People would rather not know the truth, thinking the less they know, the less they will have to answer for and that is not the truth of the matter.   Just because we choose to close our minds to the truth and ignore it, that doesn’t make it less convicting.

I heard a true story of a woman that was raped in a mall parking lot.  The woman yelled out for almost 20 minutes as this ordeal played out while many cars and others walked by, and no one came to her aid.  No one wanted to, “get involved“.  They “didn’t care”.

We are fostering generations of young and some older people, that just don’t care.  If you disagree with me, compare the rate of pregnant high school freshmen to 25 or 30 years ago.  Compare the dropout rate, suicide rate, single parent homes and number of children on depression medication to the same time period.  I am not picking on the young.  Some of them care very much and they are showing it everyday.  But, statistics are showing that in 20 years, over half our churches will be closed because the older generations are dying off and the younger ones to follow are too busy and would rather not be bothered by it.  We are not instilling the root system they need to face the here and now, let alone the future.

Remember:  It is ok to be a follower, if you are following Jesus, because then you will be leading others to Him.  This, you will,  “Know” and “Care” about.

Until next time, please pray for each other and me, as I continue to pray for each of you.  Love in CHRIST,

Brian Hanvey
Associate Pastor
Bethel Baptist Church 

“CHANGE IS IN THE AIR”


Good morning everyone. Well, fall has set in, and, as much as I don’t want to admit it, so has cooler weather. The other change that I don’t particularly like is the time change. But, I do love the colors that accompany the change of seasons.

What do you think of this time of year? For some, the excitement of the coming holiday season comes to mind. For some, this time of year begins the most difficult time of the year to fight depression. These two examples cover the differences like night and day. For most of us, we probably fall somewhere in between the two. We could never cover all the thoughts that come up in the limited space we have here, so I will focus on one area. When I think of “fall”, I think of a cleansing period. A time to let “old things” go.

Romans 6:6 says, “knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.” Ephesians 4:22 says, “ that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,” Colossians 3:8-9 says, “8 But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds,” 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” MalachI 3:6 says, “For I am the Lord, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.”

When I think of fall, I think of the old flower gardens that must be cleaned out. I think of vegetable gardens that must be cut down and tilled under. Leaves that must be raked and done away with. When I think of this kind of change, I think about salvation and what a change that makes, (or should make) in us. All of the “old” sin and ways of life that lead to destruction should be done away with to make way for a new prepared ground that will grow good fruit in due time.

Think of how God regenerates the earth every year. In the spring everything new pops up everywhere, then fall comes and things die off and God kind of washes everything old away to make way for the coming new. Our lives are just like that. The Bible tells us that His mercies are new everyday. God gives us good and plenty all the time, then we start going down our own roads and grow weeds that we need a fall change to come along and kill off to make way for the good. For us there will always be change, either by our doing or by God stepping in to take care of what we wouldn’t or couldn’t.

The only constant that we can depend on year after year after year, is God. His word proclaims to us, that He always has been, is and always will be and He never changes. This world has changed and grown and become a Godless place, but God is still God. While “Change Is In The Air”, leaves are changing colors, old things are dying off, the days are shorter and life seems to slow up just a bit, God is in control and nothing is going to happen that He cannot handle for us.

Remember: While there is a “change” in the air, eternity is ever the same. Under the same management for thousands of years and still growing.

Until next time, please pray for each other and me, as I continue to pray for each of you. Love in CHRIST,


Brian Hanvey
Associate Pastor
Bethel Baptist Church

Monday, October 17, 2011

“DROPPED BALL”


Good morning to all the faithful that read these each week.  It is thanks to you that I am of some use to God, while I sit in this house at this computer and in front of the TV all day everyday.  I pray that God speaks to you in a mighty way and that you receive His message though these each week.  Please feel free to comment anytime.

Today I want to discuss the topic of the “Dropped Ball”.  You have heard someone at some point say, “I dropped the ball”,  “I took my hand off the wheel”, “my head wasn’t in the game” and so on.  Well today I want you to think of these phrases in terms of our children, families and responsibilities to God.  Would you say that “you are 100% in line” with what God expects of you as a father, mother, husband, wife or servant?  Let’s look at a few scriptures.

Deuteronomy 11:18-20 says, “18 “Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 19 You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 20 And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,”  Ephesians 6:4 says, “ And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.”  Ephesians 5:33 says, “ Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.”  1 Timothy 5:8 says, “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”  Ephesians 2:19 says, Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,“  Galatians 6:9-10 says, “9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.”  Matthew 7:16-21 says, “16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them. 21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.”

WOW.  I know it is a lot of scripture, but you would rather know what God’s word says, than man’s.  God’s word is telling us that we are to be Godly fathers, with integrity, standing up for right, even if we have to stand alone.  Even if we risk ridicule.  We are to be fathers, leaders legacy leavers and if we can be that and friends to them, so be it, but friends should come last. 
God has charged us with a responsibility that must come first.

We must be loyal and faithful husbands.  God says we are to love our wives, as we love ourselves.  Most men don’t go around beating on themselves and cussing themselves out.  Why do we do that to the gift God has given us in a wife?  If you are at a loss on how to love your wife in a Godly way, I challenge you to check out the “Love Dare” at Lifeway Christian Bookstore.  It will help you take your marriage to levels you have never known.

Finally, God made us to have fellowship with Him and to serve Him.  If we are not doing that, there is no profit in us living from God’s perspective.  You may say, “that sounds cold”.  The truth sometimes is cold and sobering.  The fact is God created each of us for a purpose and if we choose to not do God’s will and just live to please self, then what good are we to God?  The Bible tells us that we are to bear fruit, good fruit, and if we don’t we will be “cut down”.  This is not talking about children and is the night and day of reality

Life is and can be great, if you are living for and striving to serve God each and every moment of the day.  If you do this, then you will learn to be better at all the above task as well as every other area of your life.

Remember:  A “Dropped Ball” has no direction, but a controlled ball, always lands safely.

Until next time, please pray for each other, and me, as I continue to pray for each of you.  Love in CHRIST,

Brian Hanvey      
Associate Pastor
Bethel Baptist Church

Sunday, October 9, 2011

“LOVE”


Good morning all.  This has been a great week of revival at our church and I am thankful that I was able to be there two nights.  Thank you to the two men who offered to drive me to and from.  This was a spiritual shot of espresso that my heart needed.  It is well with my soul today.

Today I want to talk to you about love.  Love is a word thrown around today by many who show no real signs of knowing how to love or what the meaning of the word really is.  Too often you will hear a man use the word to get what he wants from a woman.  You will hear a child use it with a parent to get what they want.  You even hear the word in church between fellow believers, but you do not see it in action.  Let’s look at the One who is love and what His word has to show us.

John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”  Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  Luke 6:32 says, “32 But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.”  Luke 6:35 says, “35 But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil.”  Ephesians 2:4 says, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,”  Mark 12:30 says, “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment.  1 John 4:19-20 says, “19 We love Him because He first loved us. 20 If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?

What is love to you?  Is it getting your own way?  Are you loved because someone gives you gifts?  Are you loved if someone gives you money?

Love can be defined as a profoundly tender, passionately affection for another person; a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child or friend.

We all have the capability to love and the desire to be loved.  The word love is used more than 320 times in the Bible.  John 3:16 is arguably the best known verse in the Bible.  Even those who don’t believe in a God, know this verse.   John 3:16 tells us that “God so loved the world”.  God loves us with a love we strive to attain and most often fail.  The Bible tells us that God loved us while we were yet sinners. 

Christ suffered a death that is unexplainable for the “world” whether we choose to follow Him or not, and that is the kind of love we are to strive to love Him with and others as well.

The Bible tells us that there is no reward for loving those that love us, even “sinners love those who love them”.  Our charge is to love those who love us AND those who don’t.  Those who would call us “Bible thumpers”.  Those who would mock and ridicule us.  Those who would make us be the topic of their jokes and laugh at us.  These are the ones we are to love and show God’s kind of love towards.

Mark 12:30 tells us that we are to “love the Lord our God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and all your strength”.  If we can ever accomplish this 100%, then all the other “loves” of our lives will be what they are suppose to be.  But we must first start with loving God and allowing Him to share that “Agape” love with us.

Remember:  When you are in love, you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.  (Dr. Seuss)

Until next time, please remember to pray for each other, and me, as I continue to pray for each of you.  Love in CHRIST

Brian Hanvey
Associate Pastor
Bethel Baptist Church

Monday, October 3, 2011

“CHARGE IT”


Good morning friends. I am thankful for another opportunity to come to you with what God has laid on my heart to share with you. It is an honor to be allowed to speak with you each week and I am humbled that you would take the time out of your busy schedule to read these.


This weeks topic is “Charge It”. All around us we see people, businesses, governments and countries struggling financially. People who are not making what they did, for whatever reason, are resulting to loans and credit cards to live on. Unfortunately, people have put God in the same category as credit. God is only important when we need something. Here are a few scriptures on the subject.


Proverbs 1:24-31 says, “24 Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded, 25 Because you disdained all my counsel, And would have none of my rebuke, 26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes, 27 When your terror comes like a storm, And your destruction comes like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come upon you. 28 "Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me. 29 Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the Lord, 30 They would have none of my counsel And despised my every rebuke. 31 Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, And be filled to the full with their own fancies.” Psalms 66:18 says, “18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear.” Isaiah 1:15 says, “15 When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood”.

God loves us and wants to give us our heart’s desires. BUT, He is not there to be used for just when we need something. We have become so dependant on self, machines, medicines, fortune tellers, horoscopes, good luck charms, magnetic shoe inserts, power bracelets and every other kind of craziness, that we have left out or forgot about God. The Bible tells us that all good things come form God.

The point I am trying to make is, God’s word tells us that He is there for those that hear and obey His word. You must have a relationship with Him and be trying to do your best to live for Him. If you are a friend of the world, living it up, drinking, cussing, drugging, lying, cheating others and all other kinds of sin, through the week and try to put on a “good” face for Sunday, you are wasting your time. The Bible tells us in the scripture above, that if you do all the kinds of sins mentioned and not mentioned, and then when trouble comes your way and you call on God for help, the Bible says, God “will laugh at your calamity”.
To experience victory, and have the best this life has to offer, you must have God in your heart and allow Him to have rule over your life. It cannot be a “part-time” effort. You cannot live a life where you have the reins during the good times and leave God out and when trouble comes along, then all of the sudden you want God to pull you out of another hole.

God is always waiting and listening for that prayer of forgiveness and repentance from a lost sinner. But there is no such thing as an “American Express God Card”. You cannot “charge it” and promise to do a good deed later if He will do something for you right now. You have been bought and paid for and accepted God as owner, or you have chose to continue to live a life of sin. He is either your Savior and Lord or not. He is not a credit bank to be abused and used in times of need and then forgotten the rest of the time.

Remember: The next time you want God to “do” for you, what He has already done for you. Then ask yourself, is He my Father or another overdrawn account.

Until next time, please continue to pray for each other, and me, as I continue to pray for each of you.

Love in CHRIST,

Brian Hanvey
Associate Pastor
Bethel Baptist Church