Highrock Church

Jeremiah finally switches from 100% bad news to a mixture of good news and bad news. He presents them some good news -- it's time for stability and peace! The bad news is that this stability will take place as exiles in Babylon for 70 years. The good news for us is that God's people have often felt like exiles even in their own homelands and have thus found healing, health, and hope in Jeremiah's...

As Jeremiah continues to suffer for being faithful to God's calling, he begins to wonder if God has abandoned him. He even compares God's help to a stream that has run dry. God once again answers Jeremiah and reveals that it is Jeremiah who has become distant. Suffering presents us with a choice. We can pull away from God and others, or we can discover God's invitation to draw even closer. Looking...

Have you ever become overwhelmingly frustrated with the injustice you see in the world? Even this week, many of us may be caught up in the firestorm over political violence. Jeremiah was frustrated, too, but rather than bring his complaints into social forums, he brought his complaints to God -- and God answered him! God gave Jeremiah, and us, a new perspective on the injustices that God calls us...

When God calls Jeremiah into service as a prophet, Jeremiah is not enthusiastic. He tells God that he can't do what God asks because he is too [fill in the blank]. For Jeremiah, he claims he is too young. How might we fill in that blank? Too busy? Too scared? Too unqualified? God not only addresses Jeremiah's lack of qualifications, God also addresses the underlying fear. Like Jeremiah, we do not...

We all want comfort from God, but what happens when He gives us confrontation instead? Jeremiah’s unpopular message calls out the false securities we hide behind and calls us back to justice & compassion. What if the challenge you least want to hear is the truth you most need? · · 👉🏻 Check out other Highrock sermons: https://tinyurl.com/3rdw4x8n 👉🏻 Check out Highrock's 15-min daily devotio...

At the conclusion of a vision of a renewed Temple, Ezekiel is shown a river that starts out as a virtual trickle as it flows from the Temple, only to grow to a mighty river that brings life to everything it touches. This river is the Spirit of God. However desolate we may feel, the flow of the Spirit brings life, hope, and healing. Looking for a previous devo? Want to share one with a friend? Star...

After extensively presenting the evidence of Israel's unfaithfulness to God, Ezekiel is now led to presenting an even greater vision of hope based in God's faithfulness. What could be more hopeless than a valley full of bones? God can breathe hope and life even into such a place. This word is not a prediction but a promise -- that God will bring real hope even into places that feel utterly hopeles...

It seems that God's people have always been tempted to put their hopes in politics and political leaders. In Ezekiel's day, they were having a difficult time listening to God because they trusted that their leader, a "son of David", must be God's chosen. Instead, God was going to take away the crown until one appeared who was not only a son of David, but the Son of God. Looking for a previous devo...

After God's extensive case against Israel, God sends Ezekiel to remind the people that they have not been abandoned. God is still with them in their captivity and God will honor the promise to return them to their homeland one day. Even better, God will one day give them a new spirit and a new heart so that they will finally be able to remain in faith and love. That is God's promise to us as well!...

The Book of Ezekiel begins shortly after Israel had been taken into captivity and the people surely wondered, "Where is God? Has God abandoned us?" As God appears to Ezekiel, the first image he sees was like an answer to this questioning plea. Amidst all the other sights, Ezekiel sees the cloud and the fire, the two images of God's presence with Israel when God led Israel out of Egypt. God was wit...

Feeling defeated by headlines, home drama, or politics you can’t change? If you’ve prayed, posted, protested - and still feel stuck - maybe you’re fighting the wrong enemy. Hear why the prophet Ezekiel’s strange assignment suggests the solution is learning to share God’s grief - and why inner change is the lever for everything else. · · 👉🏻 Check out other Highrock sermons: https://tinyurl.com/3r...

As David comes to the end of his life, he passes on to Solomon the one central lesson he has learned. In passing on this lesson to Solomon (and to us), David also recalls the promise God made to him -- but with one critical difference. What do we have to learn from David's life and what can we learn about God from the way David might have underestimated the faithfulness of God? Looking for a previ...

The great advisor Ahithopel had wisely declared that Absalom's violent rebellion could be ended with the death of just one man. As it turned out, it was Absalom's death that ended the war. Overcome with grief, King David ignores the needs of the people who had risked their lives to protect David. Thankfully, there was someone who could speak the truth that David needed to hear in that moment. Do w...

David seems unwilling or unable to take action in one of the most consequential moments in his reign. In fact, Absalom busies himself doing the job that David was supposed to be doing. He also uses his father's inaction to set up a coup that would further divide the fragile nation. Grace, mercy, and justice are never passive, whether in David's life or ours! Pastor Meghan's sermon on Absalom's reb...

[Note: An earlier upload had faulty audio] In the process of confessing and repenting of his sin, David recalls the joy he once had. The absence of the joy of the Lord made him vulnerable to temptation in the first place and now he longs for that joy to be restored. In essence, David asks to be restored from a relationship of rebellion to a relationship of worship -- the goal of all true repentanc...

On this Labor Day, we return to a discussion about work from the book of Ecclesiastes from June 13, 2024. The Teacher makes a surprising assertion -- that hard work is better than wealth. Hard work leaves us satisfied while wealth often just increases our insecurities. In other words, good work is to be preferred to the wealth we imagine might free us from having to work at all! What brings you sa...

If you knew your time was short, what would you say? King David’s parting advice to Solomon isn’t the simple blessing we might expect—it’s complicated, even troubling. Yet hidden in that tension is wisdom that can change the way we live today. · · 👉🏻 Check out other Highrock sermons: https://tinyurl.com/3rdw4x8n 👉🏻 Check out Highrock's 15-min daily devotionals: https://tinyurl.com/38d4aryd

In this flashback to June 12, 2023, we return to a word from the Apostle Paul on forgiveness. We know that we are to forgive, but forgive and forget? Is that even possible? This depth of forgiveness is actually something promised by God (Hebrews 10:17) and may be easier for us if we recall the forgiveness God has given to us. Looking for a previous devo? Want to share one with a friend? Start here...

No one likes to admit they are wrong. We have even perfected the non-apology apology: "I'm sorry if you were offended!" Rather than evade guilt, David publicly lays out the dimensions of his sin and calls upon the mercy of God, depending not on his own merits but on the compassion and kindness of God. Psalm 51 serves as a template for how we also can call upon God's mercy and forgiveness in true r...

David sins with Bathsheba, Bathsheba ends up pregnant, so David kills her husband Uriah. Problem solved! No one is wise to the truth! No one except God. God sends Nathan the prophet to confront David. Nathan has much to teach us in the way that he confronts sin. He also serves to remind us that God always knows the truth and stands ready to forgive and heal. Looking for a previous devo? Want to sh...

David's moral failure does not end with Bathsheba. What starts as perhaps a wayward glance leads to deception, betrayal, and eventually the murder of one of his most honorable and loyal warriors. Like a great fire that starts from a single spark, David's life is on the verge of burning down. What can we learn from David's hard turn away from God? Looking for a previous devo? Want to share one with...

People unfamiliar with the Bible often know two stories about David -- David & Goliath, and David & Bathsheba. The first is one of David's greatest victories and the second is one of his greatest failures. In our own lives, we often has as much to learn from failure as we do success, and so it is with David. Pastor Dave's sermon on David & Bathsheba: https://youtu.be/8s4t211UB24 Lookin...

We all want to pass on a positive, lasting legacy — but what if what we’re really passing on is our brokenness? King David's life exposes how sin seeps into generations. What would it take to break the cycle? · · 👉🏻 Check out other Highrock sermons: https://tinyurl.com/3rdw4x8n 👉🏻 Check out Highrock's 15-min daily devotionals: https://tinyurl.com/38d4aryd

In this flashback to January 28, 2025, we see Jesus under attack from the religious leaders. Jesus declared that he did not desire their approval because they did not have the love of God in their hearts. How much more whole might our lives be if we were to seek God's love rather than seeking the "likes" of others? Looking for a previous devo? Want to share one with a friend? Start here: https://w...

With the kingdom united and with the Philistines no longer a threat, King David has a moment to consider unfinished business. At the top of his mind is his promise to bless Jonathan's family, so David seeks out Jonathan's one surviving son, Mephibosheth. David's kindness to Mephibosheth serves to remind us of the grace of God toward us, a grace that is free to us but very costly to God. God invite...