Harbor Rock Tabernacle

"Losing" an hour on our clocks this weekend gets us thinking about the value of time and how we use it. Most of us would change a few major decisions if we could travel back in time, even knowing it would transform our current life. Hindsight gives greater clarity, but all we can do with it is to use it to shape wiser decisions going forward. So the Bible calls us to carefully "buy" our time, so w...

There is a four word phrase in the Lord's Prayer that not only embodies the mindset for prayer, but also for everything in our life as believers. Humbly and sincerely asking for the Lord's will to be done shows our desire to see the world brought to Christ, while declaring our gratitude to Him for all He has done to transform us. So it is vital that we are willing to fully surrender ourselves to H...

Living as a disciple necessitates that our faith, conviction and commitment are unwavering, so at times, the Lord needs to test our faith. The disciples learned this in a familiar but out of control situation, and their initial response was to fear, doubt and question the Lord, instead of remembering Who they were with. He challenged their lack of faith by showing His power and calm our the times...

There is one word which sums up the heart, nature and purpose Christianity. Jesus said love is the defining mark of His disciples, and described and modelled this love as selfless, sacrificial and unconditional. We're called not only to love the Lord this way, but also everyone else, including our enemies. Holding this heart of sacrifice will alter our mindset, change our relationships and give us...

 After Jesus called Matthew to follow Him, the former tax collector gathered some of his friends to have dinner with Jesus. The proud, self-righteous religious leaders were shocked and offended that Jesus would associate with sinners, but He was proving that He came to identify with us in order to redeem us. It reminds us how grateful we should be that He hasn't come to just "patch" up our old sin...

Studies show that the new cultural epidemic is loneliness. Younger generations especially are feeling overwhelmed and detached, craving authentic community and connection. The author of Hebrews detailed the solution for this: To faithfully be part of the community of believers, encouraging and strengthening each other in our faith, while also using our gifts to serve, which helps us not be self-fo...

Many of us find our minds cluttered by information, e-mails, texts and social media, but all our scrolling often indicates a deeper desire for connection, validation and inspiration. Our greatest hunger is for spiritual meaning, so we have to recognize that the craving of our soul is to know the Lord. That makes it vital to "feast" on what will feeds our mind, will and passions, while clinging to...

The shocking and tragic events of the week remind us that the enemy is attacking the Lord and our confidence and strength. This is designed to diminish God's Word, incite doubt in the Lord, defame HIs character and destroy HIs plans. Part of this strategy is to convince us that a person's values are fully negated by any failure. So the Lord reminds us of how He cared for His servant Moses, Persona...

Who do we do, and what do we learn, when we're in a struggle that we know is both spiritual warfare and a spiritual education from the Lord? The apostle Paul faced this after an amazing supernatural experience, when the Lord allowed a "thorn" to keep him from exalting himself. He recognized that this humbling trial challenged his pride and plans, and increased his confidence and faith in the Lord'...

There is a subtle but pervasive internal attack on our mind and convictions, to pressure us not to outwardly bear fruit in our worldview, words, actions and witness. In this attack, we are enticed to build the foundation of our faith on what is temporary, self-centered, appealing to our senses and has no eternal value, instead of what is firm, strong, deep and eternally secure. This requires us to...

As believers, the Lord calls us to "run with endurance" as we live for Him and deal with spiritual warfare and a world that opposes Him. Thankfully, He has already guaranteed us safety, freedom, a new nature and victory through Jesus Christ. But because there are multiple obstacles trying to hinder us from doing this, we must be undistracted, disciplined, consistent, strong and wise, to be able to...

Regret is one of the most powerful emotions, and can weaken us and wear us down in multiple ways. Jesus taught this by referring to Lot's wife, whose regret was marked by proximity to, and permissiveness about, sin.  Aslo, because regret is sourced in self-focus, we need to learn from our past, align with the Lord in the present, and see how His care and protection guides us for our future.  Video...

When Jesus gave the two greatest commandments, the call to love our neighbor as ourself is intricately linked to loving the Lord with all our heart. If we love the Lord well, it is certain we will love others well...but the opposite is also true. We need to love with actions as much as words. This was embodied in the parable of the Samaritan, who cared for his enemy in at least 7 distinctive ways....

When a man named Nathaniel first heard about Jesus, he was skeptical--simply based on the fact that Jesus was from Nazareth. But he quickly became convinced Jesus was the Messiah once he realized that Jesus had seen him and knew who he was. God's Personal care over us mitigates against our propensity to have our faith and confidence undermined, largely by focusing on ourselves. This is a subtle bu...

A challenging aspect of living for the Lord is waiting for, understanding and being content with HIs direction. We tend to want immediate clarity and gratification, but faith, humility, patience, prayer and sacrifice are the means to discernment.  So there are 4 actions we can take to "roll away" the stress and anxiety, requiring that we yield our expectations and what is easiest, while anticipati...

An example of a failure in building a backyard hockey rink has strong parallels to a verse in Proverbs that warns that the beginning of strife is like letting out water...so we need to abandon the quarrel before it happens.  This causes us to humbly examine our emotional reactions to conflict and to walk in the Spirit so He can rule our spirit to have strong and holy relationships.  Video of this...

In pointing us to the example of Jesus Christ, Philippians 2 is very direct in commanding us to "do nothing from selfishness, but in humility regard one another as more important than yourselves". This calls us to confront the seemingly logical justifications we have for being selfish, and to understand that being like Christ and showing love requires joyful sacrifice.  Video of this service is al...

The Holy Spirit is given as a gift to all believers, but how fully do we open up and ask for His ownership and empowering of our lives? 3 of HRT's elders teach how the Spirit fills us to carry out our calling, with streams of living water to refresh and strengthen us, and then to offer the hope, life and healing that only the Lord can give.  Video of this service is also available:  https://www.yo...

Often, we make important decisions based on what we're feeling in the moment, but that can allow hurt and disillusionment to dictate a new reality in our mind. Naomi fell into this thinking after experiencing heartbreaking personal loss, becoming bitter towards the Lord and literally wanting to change her identity. But recognizing His goodness pulled her out of her discouragement and gave her a wo...

A man named Obed-edom was unexpectedly put in the challenging position of housing the Ark of the Covenant after the tragic death of Uzzah. Having the literal presence of the Lord in his living room was a serious, intimidating assignment, but Obed-edom was chosen by the Lord because he trusted the Lord fully, abided in His presence, and set a powerful example of faithfulness to his family.  Video o...

Looking at the significance of world events and changes to our culture, the apostle Paul's statement in Romans 13 that "the day is near" reminds us that Christ can return at any moment.  So as believers, we are called to holiness--casting off anything that at all has the appearance of evil, behaving properly and soberly, and making no provision for the flesh. This prevents the "drift" and "neglect...

Within Christianity, it is possible that we have communicated far too much latitude to be slow and undisciplined about advancing to spiritual maturity. The enemy leverages this to promote spiritual inertia in believers, by distracting and discouraging us, while pushing us to be soft in our convictions and purpose. But 1 Corinthians 9 calls us to action--to run with discipline the race of our faith...

There are times when we feel like the Lord isn't responding to our prayers--even when we're praying what is good and honors Him. That can breed doubt and discontentment, so David affirms in Psalm 4 that we need to have a long view of the Lord's goodness and be confident in His mercy and sufficiency. The promise is that the Lord "sets apart those who are Godly for Himself", and He calls us to analy...

We're all given a name at birth, but our identity is largely formed by our character and choices.  How people view us may not be how we hope they view us.  As believers, we are evaluated by 5 categories:  Our reputation, our spiritual maturity and passion, our example, our love and sacrifice, and our ministry impact.  It's vital that we represent Christ well, since we bear His Name first and forem...

In 1 Samuel, Abigail was a Godly woman who was married to a worthless man named Nabal, who intentionally offended future king David. Rather than letting David sin by killing Nabal, Abigail took wise steps to defuse the situation, protect lives and help David stay in God's will. This calls us to humble sacrifice, especially when we see the Lord's hand and plan. Video of this service is also availab...