Sermons

We end our worship service every Sunday with the words, “You are loved.” Every church wants to be and considers themselves a “loving church.” But we want to be a church that loves without condition.  Wouldn’t it be great to be a part of a church like that? This is what we do. 

How do we respond to people coming into our church community that are different? We want to be a church that welcomes without judgment. Are we that church? Christ challenges us through his example in Luke 7 to examine ourselves in this area. This is the first sermon in our three-part series entitled, “This is What We Do.”

Last week we looked at the Lord’s Prayer and asked, who are we praying to? Once you know WHO you’re talking to, you know WHAT to pray for. What we pray for is not simply a matter of personal application but our prayer life impacts the whole church. If our church is to grow, we need to grow in our prayers as well. 

How’s your prayer life lately? Do you love to pray? Is growing your prayer life one of your New Year’s resolutions? For the next two weeks we will be looking at Christ’s teaching to see how his example might give us a foundation for a year full of prayer.

In Matthew 2 we are introduced to the villain of the Christmas story. Jesus has only been born and just his presence on earth is a threat to the kingdoms of man. But, the tension between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of man only adds to the magnificence and miraculous nature of the manger scene. 

Throughout the book of Matthew we find people discovering who Jesus is. Who you believe Jesus is will greatly effect what you expect him to do. John the Baptist in Matthew 11 found himself in this situation. We too will be faced with this question and find that our expectations of Jesus are not too high, but too low. 

We all love the Christmas season to varying degrees. Everyone has their favorite Christmas traditions and maybe even their favorite Christmas story in the Bible. One that gets overlooked many times is the genealogical record found in Matthew 1. Here we see that to be all in for Christmas is to be all in for the gospel. How we respond to the Christmas story is a direct reflection of how much weight we place on the gospel in our life. So, let’s go all in. 

We accomplish our mission to “Glorify God” by fulfilling the Great Commission. So, let’s be really clear on what that means. Pastor Jeff gives us to imperatives from Matthew 28 on how we can help Harvest accomplish this mission. Are you with us? 

When you’ve got a job to do you’ve got to roll up your sleeves and get to work! We’ve got a job to do. Our mission at Harvest is to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission in the spirit of the Great Commandment. This mission is not just some statement to hang on the wall that nobody really cares about. It reminds us: We’ve got a job to do! Work for Christ means you’re actively serving in His Church. So, let’s get to work!