Thrive Harbor

From slandering your opponent, to lashing with words, to shouting down the other side, toxic dialogue has become a fixture of our not-so-civil discourse. Is there a better way? In this message on 1 Peter 3:8-16, D’Vante Rolle of One Hope Church unfolds Peter’s instructions to respond with love to those who resist you, in order that our words and actions might be aimed at reconciliation, not retali...

As marriage rates decline and gender roles shift, does the Christian vision of marriage have anything to offer? In this talk on 1 Peter 3:1-7, Michael Bouterse, Thrive’s local director, unfolds 1 Peter’s instructions to husbands and wives, addressing along the way its many cultural “landmines,” such as: What does the Bible mean by submission? What is “a gentle and quiet spirit”? And why are wives...

As the post-Christian West grows increasingly antagonistic toward the claims of Jesus, how can Christianity win a hearing? In this talk on 1 Peter 2:11-25, Tim Cedarland, Thrive’s director emeritus, unpacks 1 Peter’s instructions for how Christians can be a powerful witness in a hostile environment.

The opposite of loneliness is belonging—to feel totally safe and at home. In this message on 1 Peter 1:22-2:10, Michael Bouterse, Thrive’s local director, explains how the gospel speaks to this basic human need, enabling us to belong to God and to His family, the church.

We’ve all met hypocrites—people who speak one way and act another. And religious hypocrisy can be worst of all. God’s solution to rescue Christians from hypocrisy is to make them holy: to change them from the inside out so that their lives and behavior resemble Jesus. In this message on 1 Peter 1:13-21, Michael Bouterse, Thrive’s local director, describes what holiness looks like and how God makes...

According to our culture, the good life consists of comfort, success, and personal fulfillment. But the Bible casts a different vision of the good life as one of cross-bearing, suffering, and discipleship. How can this be? In this opening message in Thrive's series on 1 & 2 Peter, Michael Bouterse, Thrive's local director, offers three reasons from 1 Peter 1:1-12 that God invites us to reinter...

Radical faith produces radical Jesus followers. But where does faith come from? Andy Abramson, founder and national director of elementum , explains that faith comes from falling in love with God in this message based on Hebrews 11.

Jake Chambers, pastor and church planter of Local Church , walks through Psalm 101, an invitation for believers to be deliberate and intentional in pursuing Christ, despite the siren calls of our culture.

God has a plan, and he’s let us in on it! In this message, Michael Bouterse, Thrive’s local director, turns to Matthew 13:1-52, where Jesus gives his disciples a “big reveal” about the future of his kingdom. On the one hand, Jesus teaches the disciples that the kingdom has arrived. But it’s arrived in a much different form than they’d expected! During this present age, the world is living in reje...

“Scary,” “weird,” “confusing”—these are common first impressions of the Book of Revelation. In this message, Michael Bouterse, Thrive’s local director, gives an overview of this last book of the Bible, which reveals how history will come to a close. And the best part? Jesus gets the final word! Scripture passages cited (or alluded to) in this message include Revelation 1:1-3, 9, 17-19; 4:1, 11; 5:...

Jesus is coming again—and soon! Yet today the Second Coming is often given little attention. Offering an overview of what Christians ought to know about Jesus' return, guest speaker Michael White zeroes in on what Matthew 24 says about the Second Coming, incorporating other material regarding God's plan for the ages from throughout the Scriptures.

D'Vante Rolle of One Hope Church walks through Psalm 51 in a powerful message on the importance of repentance in the life of a Christian.

Jake Chambers, pastor and church planter of Local Church , gives four talks at Thrive’s Fall Retreat on the theme of “learning to be with Jesus together.” In this final talk, Jake walks through how the Gospel of Mark describes the Kingdom of God. God's Kingdom is a kingdom of life, love, hope, and healing, and as we learn to be with Jesus together, God causes that Kingdom to overflow to a lost and...

Jake Chambers, pastor and church planter of Local Church , gives four talks at Thrive’s Fall Retreat on the theme of “learning to be with Jesus together.” In this third talk, Jake looks at Acts 2:42-47 to address how being with Jesus is something that we do corporately. Our culture promotes a philosophy of "mine" and "more." But the early church lived a simple, shared life that put Jesus at the ce...

Jake Chambers, pastor and church planter of Local Church , gives four talks at Thrive’s Fall Retreat on the theme of “learning to be with Jesus together.” In this second talk, Jake zeroes in on what it looks like to be with Jesus. Our culture encourages us to be in a hurry. But Jesus was relaxed. Jesus was present to God and to those around Him, and He calls us to be likewise through abiding in Hi...

Jake Chambers, pastor and church planter of Local Church , gives four talks at Thrive’s Fall Retreat on the theme of “learning to be with Jesus together.” Who is the God who invites us to be with Him? In this first talk, Jake unpacks four amazing statements about who God is, and what that means for who we are. God is great, so we don’t have to be in control. God is glorious, so we don’t have to be...

Tim Cedarland, Thrive’s director emeritus, wraps up Thrive’s series on Romans by reviewing the book in its entirety and preaching on chapter 16. In this final chapter Paul shows how personal and pastoral he is, remembering to greet a host of people from a church he had never even visited—besides offering a number of other closing remarks.

Chris Rogers, assistant pastor of Discovery Baptist Church , unfolds Paul's explanation of his mission to preach the gospel to the Gentiles in Romans 15:14-33. From our modern-day vantage point, it is easy to overlook how controversial it was for the early church to welcome Gentiles into the people of God. In this passage Paul boldly and winsomely reaffirms that  God has accepted the Gentiles...

David Shohradov, one of Thrive’s own, presents Paul’s teaching in Romans 14:1-15:13 about not causing another believer to stumble. Believers have different weaknesses, areas where they may be more vulnerable to temptation. Our response ought to be to lay down our rights in order to be a stepping stone rather than a stumbling block to those around us.

Alan Jones, pastor of Firebrand Church , takes up what Romans 13 says about how Christians should engage in politics and relate to human authorities. Because God Himself has modeled what submission to authority looks like, Christians, too, should respect the offices of human authority that God has established, even though it can require great care and nuance to do this in a God-honoring way when h...

Tyson Lash, pastor of Harbor Life Church , takes up Romans 12, the part of Paul's letter that asks, "In light of what God has done, how should we live?" Paul's answer is that a transformed life arises from a deep, heart-level grasp of God's grace and goodness. Only then can we rightly walk through life doing what Jesus did, loving as He loved, and glorifying God with all of our lives.

Mac Davis, one of Thrive's own, wraps up Paul's explanation of the gospel in Romans 1-11 by unfolding his great doxology in Romans 11:33-36. This great hymn of praise exalts God's worthiness of worship and shows that worship is our only reasonable response to all that God has done in Christ.

Periodically in Thrive's Romans series, we're pausing to take up a "hot potato in Romans"—a topic that is culturally "hot" and hard to handle. In this talk, Michael Bouterse, Thrive Harbor's local director, addresses what Romans 11 says about Israel—a nation and people group never too far from political and theological controversy. The story of Israel as told in the Old Testament revolves around G...

Periodically in Thrive's Romans series, we're pausing to take up a "hot potato in Romans"—a topic that is culturally "hot" and hard to handle. In this talk, Michael Bouterse, Thrive Harbor's local director, takes on the topic of predestination based on Romans 9. Far more than just a doctrine to be grasped cognitively, predestination is both personal and practical, providing believers with a joy, a...

David Baumgaertel, one of Thrive’s alums, launches Thrive into the next part of Romans by giving an overview of Romans 9-11, a critical section of Scripture that helps unlock a big picture of the entire Bible. In these chapters Paul demonstrates that God is perfectly righteous in how He has dealt with Jews and Gentiles, and that in different ways each group is the object of God’s mercy. Along with...