Trinity 2026
Dear Grace Church family and friends;
It is a joy to bring an update to the website of God’s faithfulness and renewal at Grace Church. It has been a privilege to have served as Pastor since August 2007. Over the years, we have had seasons of growth and the sad departures of former members.
Much has changed in our culture over the years and even in Havre de Grace, yet we are committed to being faithful to our calling with Biblical worship and the proclamation of the bad news and the good news of the glorious gospel. God has sustained us through generous gifts from members, and we remain committed to our part in being faithful to his call by “Shining the light of hope.”
This season of Trinity began our expository sermon series on the Second Letter of Peter. The message to the early Church is a timely word for us. Through God’s servant Peter, we are reminded as followers of Christ in these days to know what we have in Christ. By God’s grace, we have obtained a precious faith and been granted a precious hope, thereby being made partakers of the divine nature through the indwelling Holy Spirit. And upon that foundation, we must be diligent to grow in the qualities of Christ each day, knowing that this will strengthen and secure us in our calling.
But in the second chapter, it issues a warning to the Church that there are false teachers in Christendom. And as God’s people, we must be alert to the destructive divergent heresies that abound around us. We must hold to the historical creeds of the Church that are grounded upon the inspired, infallible authority of God’s Word. We are also to beware, just as in our modern society, that the issues of morality will drift away from God’s Word by adapting to cultural accommodation and a self-pleasing lifestyle. May God enable us to be ever mindful of the dangers around us, and, with compassion, let us seek to share the hope within us with those who do not know Christ and his atoning work on the cross.
Lastly, in chapter three, there was confusion about our Lord’s return in the early Church, even as it is in our own day. Throughout the years, many prophecy teachers have made so many fanciful and unfounded predictions about the second coming of Jesus Christ that many no longer pay any attention to the Bible’s teaching that Jesus is going to return to raise the dead, judge the world, and make all things new. We are called to live with the expectation of Christ’s imminent return, having the blessed assurance “the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9) What a glorious day that will be!
In Christ’s Service,
Pastor Mark Specht