Highland Church Podcast

Sunday Morning Sermon- February 7,2021 Mark 3:29 says “But whoever insults the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. That person is guilty of a sin with consequences that last forever.” This is troubling isn’t it? That there is something spiritual, something about Jesus, that I cannot afford to get wrong. That I cannot mess up. Because the consequences are irreversible and eternal (“forever”). If that’s true—and Jesus said it is—then the most important thing we can do is figure out what that irreversible mistake is. We have to get this right.

Sunday Sermon, January 31, 2021 Jesus is pulling back a curtain in this short scene. Behind it, the truth of human condition is laid bare. Our great danger, bondage even, and our great need comes into clear focus. The good news is that God has broken into our world in Jesus Christ. That not only does Jesus pull back the curtain and show us the puppet master- Satan. He ties him up, and steals what wasn’t his in the first place. We aren’t good people who needed guidance, or even bad people that needed redirection. We were in bondage, and we needed rescue.

If there has ever been a group of undeserving guys, it’s the twelve Jesus calls to him in Mark 3. When I say these are guys are undeserving, I mean unremarkable. Which is not to say they don’t go on to do some remarkable things… But to be called by Jesus? Set aside. Given world-changing jobs. Special…to Jesus, at this point?!. They hardly deserved that. These guys are largely unremarkable. Certainly unqualified. Undeserving. And Jesus wants them, calls them. You know what we call it when we get what we don’t deserve—grace.

Sunday Morning Sermon_ January 17, 2021 We study Mark 3:7-12 and what it means for us today. Eric challenges us, in this politically charged moment, to cling to the cross of Jesus. No matter what happens this week in our nation, as followers of Jesus, we are called to love those who might think differently than we do and even love those who we would consider our enemies. Cling to the cross this week.

January 10, 2021- In todays lesson, Eric shares from Deuteronomy 30 and how it applies to us in these difficult times. He talks about the similarities between these times and when the Israelites were about to enter the promised land in Deuteronomy. He gives us three ways that we can "Choose Life" in 2021.

Sunday Morning Sermon_ December 13, 2020 A lesson from Mark 2:23-3:6. Jesus gets confronted about the Sabbath, but he is really getting confronted on the importance of Scripture. Eric compares Scripture to a house we live in. Jesus believes in this house. Everyone has to have a home to live in. A worldview. Jesus believes the biblical worldview is the only one that can stand up, especially when the storms come. But he also teaches us to leave the door open.

Jesus is giving our lives context and purpose. That our whole lives are taking place in the context of a wedding celebration, a party. That Jesus—the groom—is being united to his bride, the church, his people. And therefore our purpose is to celebrate, to party. Immauel. God is with us. That should make us want to party.

November 29, 2020- Sunday Morning Sermon The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ is an unplanned pregnancy. It's not just unplanned, its what we might call a crisis pregnancy. Have you ever considered that the good news—the greatest news this world has ever heard—begins with an unplanned crisis pregnancy, with all of its shame and rejection, and two beleaguered parents who did the hardest thing of their lives? The thing they never planned to do. They intervened, loved, fought for this one vulnerable child.

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ is an unplanned pregnancy. It's not just unplanned, its what we might call a crisis pregnancy. Have you ever considered that the good news—the greatest news this world has ever heard—begins with an unplanned crisis pregnancy, with all of its shame and rejection, and two beleaguered parents who did the hardest thing of their lives? The thing they never planned to do. They intervened, loved, fought for this one vulnerable child.

November 22, 2020- Today we want to provide viewers with a vision of a grateful life. Doing so, understanding how grace deepens are sense of gratitude. What happens when the eyes of our hearts are opens and we begin to take notice of the present reality of God around us?

Sunday Morning Sermon- November 15, 2020 Today is so important. What we do, by giving to our Life-Giving Outreach Contribution today, will last. We are giving of ourselves, we are being selfless, because we believe not only are we eternal people, but that every person outside these walls is an eternal person. Wether the young man struggling to get his life right who ends up at Timothy Hill. Or the Papaua New Guinean who is worshiping tribal Gods, the young mom coming out of incarceration through HopeWorks, the child in need of adoption. We don’t care about these people because we are nice. We care about them because they will last.

Next week is Life-Giving Sunday. We are going to raise $275,000 and give it away to the best life-changing and life-giving ministries we know of, so that more people may have life in Christ. One of those partner ministries of ours is Timothy Hill. Today we are fortunate to have their Executive Director, Thud Hill, here with us. Listen to find out more about the Timothy Hill Children's Ranch.

Sunday Morning Sermon from the Highland Church of Christ in Memphis. Josh Jackson from the Rural Hills Church of Christ is our guest preacher today. He gives us a message out of Matthew 10:1-4. Today we are challenged to live together despite our differences much like the disciples who were called to follow Jesus did.

Sunday Morning Sermon- October 25, 2020 Part of being a disciple is coming to a table every week where I admit that I too have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. The power of that, is that when we take this meal confessing our sin to one another, we are reminded that none of us—disciple, sinner, tax collector, preachers—are really any different. To use the metaphor Jesus does—that we all are sick, in need of the doctor. That’s why there’s a meal involved in this whole disciple thing. In this following Jesus thing. A meal specific to our sin. It binds us together. Not in our success, our pride, our achievements. It binds us together in our common need.

Sunday Morning Sermon- October 18, 2020 Think about your car. Your engine is made of all these parts that work together. Each part is following the rules wired into it, so that it all works together. As far as your engine knows, your car is a closed system. But we actually know that we often have to pull over and put gas into the system. We also know we have to change the oil, to keep the system working like it should. You and I actually move in and out of the car’s “closed” system. We come and go from the car, and we actually maintain the system. A car isn’t actually a closed system at al and it can't fix itself. Do you know what faith is? It’s not just accepting that we live in an open system. Its not just believing in the miraculous. Do you know what faith is? Faith is giving Jesus authority over my life (always taking my car to his shop) because I believe he can actually fix what’s broken inside me. That would take a mechanic with an authority beyond any other.

Sunday Morning Sermon- October 11, 2020 Don’t doubt the authority and power you have. It comes from Jesus himself, who you were baptized into. Your sinful flesh was taken off, and you have put on Christ. You wear him into the world. You are filled with his power. Clothed in his flesh. The demons see you and tremble. As you go out to fish, you don’t go out as yourself.

Sunday Sermon- October 4, 2020 Why do we come together? Maybe you’ve been thinking about that question the last 6 months? I know I have. Six months in which we haven’t been able to be together like we were for decades before that. At first, we kind of liked staying in your pajamas for church, but then we felt a longing or ache we couldn’t quite pin down. We missed us. Until we lose something, we often don’t think about what it really means to us? Why it really matters to us? Its just a routine, a habit. Why do you go to church? Why do we come together? Why church?

In the baptism and anointing of Jesus, we see he is not only with us, but that he is so for us, that he is put on this world to fight for us. He is anointed by and empowered by the Spirit to go from these waters into conflict with Satan, who oppresses us all. Hey its one thing to know God is with you and for you. That is a powerful truth that we live into when we are baptized. God loves me. God delights in me. God is for me and is pouring out his spirit on me.

Sunday Morning Sermon from Highland Church of Christ in Memphis on September 20, 2020. In Mark one we learn that Jesus’ compassionate being is what our souls need. Jesus is the compassionate savior we all long for. This same spirit lives within us.

What if we came to the book of Mark with less of an agenda—questions to be answered, news to digest and move on—and we tried to just let ourselves be drawn into this picture of the good news of Jesus the Christ. The wildnerenss is still wild. All around us. Some of it our own doing. But the dawn from heaven has come. A path of peace has appeared. And you can head into it. On the Jesus way. This is good news.