Highland Church Podcast

Sunday Sermon, August 30, 2020 at the Highland Church of Christ in Memphis What if God has scattered us because He wants to grow us? What if this is the beginning of a revival at Highland. Where people let go of any expectation they have on what the church will do for them, and instead they live into the calling that God has given each and every one of them: BE THE CHURCH. Wherever you are. Be THE CHURCH, and there I will be also.

August 9, 2020- Who is worthy of a our memory—so many. But who is worthy of our worship? Only one. Not one who sits on a pedestal of stone, but the one who sits on the throne of God. The lion of Judah, the lamb of God. The one who died on a cross, so that you and I might live. That’s the one, who one day, everyone will worship.

Sunday Morning Sermon from the Highland Church of Christ. The sermon today focuses on the book of Daniel, Chapter 2. Many times in life the mysteries of our lives can cause fear. But we can have hope in the future because we know that Jesus is King.

Sunday Morning Sermon- July 26, 2020. The world tells us resistance is futile. In fact, if we resist, we think we wont receive those riches and pleasures of life that Jesus talked about. We wont get to eat the kings food, or drink his drinks. He wont know us by name. And the response of the gospel is you can resist, because you don’t need any of that. God will give us what we need.

For all our efforts to explain suffering and death, to explain COVID-19, maybe whats most important, is that we are present and praying in the place where the world is at pain. Maybe that’s what you can do right now.

Is the coronavirus a punishment from God? Is it a sign from God that this world needs to repent. Eric walks us through what the Bible has to say about those questions.

In disfunction, in turning points of disorientation, we as believers, can join in the spiritual practice of remembering the name of God. We learn from this psalm, that for this remembering to be transformative or a sustaining moment, it must be authentic it must be like a freewill offering. Given purely out of adoration for who God is. This practice of remembrance is part of the history of God’s people, and it is one we now carry on. In this practice we experience God’s goodness and we are realigned with the only one who can sustain us.

Sermon from June 21, 2020. Do I think God caused coronavirus, as some sort of cosmic punishment? No. Do I think that in this moment, God may be inviting us into the desert for his purposes, to charm us, to speak tenderly to us, to give us hope, to revive us, to revive his church? Yes. That seems like exactly the kind of thing God would do.

It's so easy to minimize the pain of others. Even the people we love the most. We don’t intend to do it, but sometimes we do. But not at church. That’s not how the church works. In a long section on the body of Christ, and how its made up of all types of people, Paul says that in this body: “If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part gets the glory, all the parts celebrate with it.” (1 Cor 12:26 CEB) If one part suffers, we all do. Together. That’s church

I know that you, like me, want to be back together. But don’t forget that this right here—this outreach offering— is not the reason we regather, this is the reason God gathers us. For his mission God brings us together. Online or onsite. God is bringing us together for this moment, in this present crisis, for his mission.

What's the key to life? That depends on who you ask. We often put our trust in the wrong things like money, power, or respect. But we are called to put our hope in a greater power...Him. Special thanks to B Chris Simpson for this lesson about Hope.

Sunday Sermon- May 17, 2020. This has been an unfulfilling end to the school year for our seniors. If you have experienced dreams that are unfulfilled, you aren't alone. Seniors, I’m sorry that this is how your year has ended. But don’t forget that this great cloud of witnesses beside you, also knows what it means to be unfulfilled. And it has made us into something extraordinary in our time—patient. You may find out there, wherever you go next, someone or something that will promise what you want quicker and easier. But don’t forget that’s not what you need. You need the church. And we will be here. Patient, for you, and for the one who is above all.

We are rooted in the same truth that those first believers were. Jesus—the same Jesus who was crucified on a Roman Cross and raised to new life after three days, is now the Lord of all, interceding for us and filling us with his spirit. That’s why we look the way we look. That’s why we do the things we do. And it is beautiful.

The Holy Spirit was released when Jesus ascended to heaven. Because of that, we don’t feel alone, even in isolation. Because we are swimming, our hearts are swimming in the presence of the spirit of God. Our counselor is at our side. All Around us. Our advocate. Here with us.

April 26, 2020- Sunday Morning Sermon Coronavirus is an interruption to our life. A severe one. It may even take our lives. But what we’ve got to do is go back and retell the part of the story that proves coronavirus, cancer, job loss, abuse—that none of that will have the last word. Because Jesus was raised, and raised to the throne of his Father, the power of life will win.

In Jesus we have someone who beats the drum of justice and mercy for us. When God listens to our prayers, and the prayers of millions of God’s people around the world, those prayers are filtered through the sound of the drumbeat of Jesus filling the throne room of God. When God looks at you, he sees Jesus. When he listens to you, he hears Jesus, saying Father, forgive him. Father, remember her. Father, save them. In you he sees his perfect son, who by dying justifies us, and in being raised to the right hand, can ask God on our behalf—for mercy.

Sunday April 12, 2020- Eric Gentry preached this sermon on Easter Sunday. If you are questioning Jesus then there is one thing you have to examine. It’s the resurrection. Take a look at it. If you find that you cannot deny the resurrection, then every other question is answered for you. The resurrection is the exclamation point on every argument and every decision of your life. If he is risen, then he is the only way.

This pandemic feels a bit like a dust storm, like a darkness that won’t lift. Many are losing jobs. Some are losing homes. Some feel like you are beating on God’s door, but its locked. Some are hopeless. What do Christians do when we feel that way? We look to the cross of Jesus.

The criminal beside Jesus on the cross asks Jesus to remember him. In the Bible when God remembers someone, he doesn’t just think about them, or recall them to mind. When God remembers someone he goes into action for them. He saves them. He refuses to leave them alone. He does what it takes to reach them. That’s how God remembers.

You were made for hope, the hope to which he has called you. You were made for a glorious inheritance in his holy people. You were made for an incomparably great power for us who believe. And that power is the same as the mighty strength, he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. You were made for Jesus. So wake up. Wake up to what God has for you.