Harmony Church News

Harmony blogging

Welcome to the blog of Harmony Baptist Church.  If you are a guest and would like more information about our church including service times and location, please visit our official website at http://hbcarlington.com/ . If you just want to know about upcoming events and HBC news, keep reading below!  Have a blessed day!!

Community in....Community out

COMMUNITY IN
Harmony family reunion picnic - October 22, 5:00pm
Mark your calendars for this event of family, food, and fun at Stovall Park! The cost is $1.00 (we will provide the hamburgers, hot dogs, condiments, and drinks.   All you need to bring is 2 of the following: salad, vegetable, dessert, chips. Click Here for directions to the park.

COMMUNITY OUT
Trunk or Treat - October 31 from 7-8:30.
Decorate your car trunks, dress up in a crazy costume, and bring loads of candy as we provide a fun, safe environment for the children in our community. There is a signup sheet at the Welcome Center where you can volunteer your candy, car trunk, or both!

So there you have it! The Harmony Family Picnic and Trunk or Treat....two great events within the next two weeks for our church family and our community!

Fall Forward

There's nothing worse than stagnation.  Like water settling in a pond with no circulation, sometimes we experience a staleness or dryness in our spiritual lives.  We're often told the way to renewed life is to move forward and get busy.  This unfortunate advice has been no more prevalent than in the church.  The opposite extreme isn't the answer either when our society conveys the backwards message of self gratification and comfort seeking.  This has also been a problem in the church.

Now we all need to move forward because no one wants to live in a perpetual state of stagnation.  God has created us for great things in this life and hereafter.  As author Dallas Willard puts it, "we are in training for reigning".  We were created to have dominion and to reign.  Now don't let that go to your head. It simply means that God created us to have responsibility.  We see this foreordained purpose very clearly in Genesis 1:26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
You know, the fact that man disobeyed and fell from grace didn't cause God to say "well, that plan was a failure...back to the old drawing board.".   His purpose for man has not changed in that we are to grow ever increasingly in the image of His son Jesus Christ who, by the way, fulfilled God's purpose for man where Adam and all the rest of us failed.  The important element of this forward progress to remember is that it is by God's grace that we will be able to fulfill the purposes of God and not of our own effort.  But God's grace is not a license to be irresponsible, rather it is the life force that drives us to responsibility.  In other words, grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning.

Don't be fooled into thinking that you earn God's grace by tithing, teaching a class, leading worship, attending church, or simply being nice.  God's grace can not be earned.  God pursues us because He loves us, and when he imparts grace to us it simply means He is actively working in our lives.

When Peter encouraged us to "grow in grace", it means to allow God to be active in every area of our lives.  We do this through obedience (faith).  Obedience or faith is active.  This means effort on our part.  When we make the effort to obey,  we will begin to move out of stagnation into abundant life.  That said, it's not about moving forward under our own strength, it's about "falling forward" carried by His.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Harmony family reunion picnic
Mark your calendars now for October 22 at 5:00 pm for this event of family, food, and fun at Stovall Park! The cost is $1.00 (we will provide the hamburgers, hot dogs, condiments, and drinks.   All you need to bring is 2 of the following: salad, vegetable, dessert, chips. For directions to the park you can visit www.hbcarlington.com and go to the schedule link.

Trunk or Treat - October 31, 7-8:30

Decorate your car trunks, dress up in a crazy costume, and bring loads of candy as we provide a fun, safe environment for the children in our community.

 

 Living Hell- October 28, 6:30 – 11:00

We are headed back to Burleson this year for Living Hell. From there we will head back to the church building for some food and hide and seek in the dark. Make sure to bring a friend. Meet at the church building at 6:30pm.