Celebration Sermons

Sundays at 9:00 am | Sanctuary "There's a New King in Town" Matthew 21:1-13 The tension begins to rise as this Rural Rabbi rides a donkey into the seat of local power. Is this REALLY a new king in town? And what does that mean for every other person, institution or fear that claims power in our life today? For Secure Online Giving: https://harderwyk.elexiochms.com/external/form/6aac3...

Sundays at 9:00 am | Sanctuary "Who Fumbled the Ball?" Judges 2:6-19 The time has come for Israel - this new generation of Israel, remember - to enter the Promised Land and for that moment the LORD has raised up a new leader. All looks well with the transfer of leadership from Moses to Joshua, who then leads the nation into the land. But after Joshua's career and death, there comes a...

Sundays at 9:00 am | Sanctuary "Trusting His Voice" Exodus 17:2-6, Numbers 20:2-13 This moment seems so similar to a previous event some 40 years earlier. Desert. Water. Complaining people. Yahweh's miraculous provision for His people through Moses. I can just hear Moses thinking "Here we are again. I remember what to do in a situation like this." But what we once DID in a...

Sundays at 9:00 am | Sanctuary "Dealing with God, Trusting The LORD" Genesis 25-37 Yahweh gives Jacob a promise, but Jacob "The Schemer" responds by trying to negotiate a deal. Living by "IF, THEN" is a different journey - and far more difficult and lonely - than living by "BECAUSE, THEN" as we Journey with Jesus. For Secure Online Giving: https://harderwyk....

Sundays at 9:00 am | Sanctuary "Repeat Favorites" Genesis 25:27-28 The story of Isaac is a story of echoes. Echoes of Cain and Abel. Echoes of some of his father Abraham's worst decisions. And Isaac is perhaps most famous for the choices he makes that will reverberate for generations to come: his blessing of his younger son Jacob over his older brother Esau. Yet, despite the fragilit...

Sundays at 9:00 am | Sanctuary "It's Okay to Laugh with Wonder" Genesis 17:1-23 Sometimes the distance between the LORD's good promise and our circumstances can make us laugh with amazement! Fortunately, the LORD's good promises depend on Him, to be received by us and not earned, understood or manifested. For Secure Online Giving: https://harderwyk.elexiochms.com/external/for...

Sundays at 9:00 am | Sanctuary "Carrying the Name" Exodus 34:5-10; 19:1-8 As we come to the close of this series about God's name and character, this week we will talk about what it means for us to represent the name and character of Yahweh in this world and through our lives. For Secure Online Giving: https://harderwyk.elexiochms.com/external/form/6aac393c-8e7c-4ae5-b88c-721ae984767...

Sundays at 9:00 am | Sanctuary "What's in a Name? - Jealous" Exodus 34:5-14 The jealousy of selfish, broken human beings is not a helpful starting point for understanding the covenant commitment of Yahweh - the God who is perfect in KHESED and EMET - to the safe flourishing of His people. Human jealousy is about selfish resentment. Yahweh is jealous for His people’s freedom to flouri...

Sundays at 9:00 am | Sanctuary "Mercy & Justice" Exodus 34:4-9 We are continuing in our sermon series in Exodus 34:6-7 titled "What's in a Name?" where God describes his own character to Moses. This week we will consider the fairly troubling words about God punishing children for the sin of their parents. What is that all about? We will explore the original Hebrew that should help to offer som...

Sundays at 9:00 am | Sanctuary "What's In A Name? - Faithfulness" Exodus 34:5-8, Psalm 36:5-9, Mark 9:21-24 Faithful to what? is the question we need to ask here. As we see in the Scriptures and life, the LORD is faithful to His mission of restoring His creation to the beauty, righteousness and justice that He created it to reflect. Don't trust Him to fulfill your desires, whims...

Sundays at 9:00 am | Sanctuary "What's in a Name? - Loyal Love" Exodus 34:5-8, Ruth 2:19-20, Luke 1:46-55 We read "God is Love" (I John 4:8) in the New Testament but it is in the Hebrew Bible - Old Testament - that we see the unique "Loyal Love" (Hebrew - KHESED) that The LORD really is. The LORD will not leave the room - or our life - when we embarrass Him. For S...

Sundays at 9:00 am | Sanctuary "What's in a Name? - Slow to Anger" Exodus 34: 5-8, Jonah 3:10-4:4, Mark 11:15-18, James 1:19-20 The Anger of the LORD that we learn about today and the Anger of Humans (including mine!) are two very different, even opposing, matters. It is precisely BECAUSE The LORD gets angry that we must and can put away our anger now because we know that anger of ev...

Sundays at 9:00 am | Sanctuary "What's in a Name? - Grace" Exodus 34:5-8, Genesis 18:22-33, John 1:14 The LORD is "eternal in His being", meaning He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Heb 13:8) That means He is "grace itself" from beginning to end, from Genesis to Revelation, from my birthday to my funeral. What would it be like to "see" the LORD's activity in His world in the light of Hi...

Sundays at 9:00 am | Sanctuary "What's in a Name? - Compassion" Exodus 34:5-8, 1 Kings 3:23-28, Luke 7:12-15 Where do you find out what God is like? From the world? Or your family? Or traditions? Or your own heart? Or from what the LORD has given us in the Scriptures? Likewise, where do you discover the meaning of "compassion" - "God's definition" so to speak? Finally, what does that mean for my l...

Sundays at 9:00 am | Sanctuary "God-Shaped Self or Self-Shaped God?" Exodus 34:4-10 For Moses to discover and "live in to his true self," he must first grow to know the LORD, as He truly is and not simply as Moses might wish Him to be. Moses needs knowledge ABOUT the LORD that comes FROM the LORD as the foundation for his own life. From that foundation, Moses can begin to live out his life as a le...

Sundays at 9:00 am | Sanctuary "Good News of Great Joy" Luke 4:14-21 Celebrate the Savior's birth! A multi-generational experience of Word and corporate worship that includes singing songs of Christmas with choir, organ and orchestra. For Secure Online Giving: https://harderwyk.elexiochms.com/external/form/6aac393c-8e7c-4ae5-b88c-721ae9847679 Give one time without logging in or create an account a...

Sundays at 9:00 am | Sanctuary "Bringing Life into Focus" Luke 4:14-21 Through the course of life, our vision of all sorts of things can be blocked or distorted by all sorts of causes. The Good News is that Jesus has been anointed to bring recovery of all sorts of sight problems to all who look to Him in hope and through Him to our world and calling. View our Celebration Inform email for this serv...

Sundays at 9:00 am | Sanctuary "For Those Who Lost the Battle" Luke 4:16-21 While the Gospel is "Good News for All People" (Luke 2:10), it is a special warm breeze of freedom to the defeated, those who have fought, lost and been captured by the warring consequences of a broken world. View our Celebration Inform email for this service to learn more. For Secure Online Giving: https://harderwyk.elexi...

Sundays at 9:00 am | Sanctuary "How The Gospel Conquers Poverty" Luke 4:16-21 Jesus presents Himself as the Anointed One of God who will deliver Good News to the poor. This is not so much a message that those who lack money and what it brings can now have more money than they ever imagined. Rather, Jesus establishes a new Kingdom that re-values everything in His creation. Every “lack” - whether fi...

Sundays at 9:00 am | Sanctuary "Good News of Great Joy: Anointed for Mission" Luke 4:16-21 In the church calendar, we spend 4 Sundays preparing to celebrate the Birth of Jesus the Messiah. In human history, God spent a dozen or so centuries! As it turns out, the birth of the baby that was so long anticipated, is just the beginning of the next campaign in God’s mission to redeem and restore all tha...

Sundays at 9:00 am | Sanctuary "You Don't Have To Build Alone" Matthew 7:24-29 Imagine getting to apprentice with a master craftsman as he includes you in building the house that he dreams of for you. Tested by the storms of life, such a house would stand as a testament to that craftsman's ability as well as his love for you and would be an attractive invitation to others to become an apprentice a...

Sundays at 9:00 am | Sanctuary "How Can I Get There From Here?" Matthew 7:13-23 It seems that each of us can find within us a desire of the heart to get THERE from HERE. We sense that we are where we are at in life - HERE in middle school, a desperate relationship, a life that is now more behind us than ahead of us - but there is a yearning to get to something better and more authentic - THERE whe...

Sundays at 9:00 am | Sanctuary "Prayer & Practice" Matthew 7:7-12 How much more! With this memorable analogy of an earthly father’s love, Jesus teaches us that we can expect an answer not because of the form, technique or intensity that we use but because of the character of the God that we are praying to. View our Celebration Inform email for this service to learn more. For Secure Online Givi...

Sundays at 9:00 am | Sanctuary "Let The Judge Of All The Earth Do The Judging" Matthew 7:1-6 My world often reminds me that Jesus said, "Do not judge." But what if the world is using the words of Jesus while completely missing the meaning of Jesus? Could there be a difference between hurling condemnation on others and receiving wisdom for ourselves in order to avoid harmful consequences? View our...

Sundays at 9:00 am | Sanctuary Making Sense of the World We Live In Matthew 6:24-34 Don't worry about my life?! How in the world - especially THIS world we are living in right now - be safe for my friends and family or even make sense to anyone? Maybe Jesus knows something here that we don't - and that we need to learn and be ready to share with our world. View our Celebration Inform email for thi...