Melbourne Heights - Sermons

There are times when we pray when it sounds like God is little more than our Amazon Wish List. We constantly make requests of God, asking God to do more and more for us. But, when we pray, we can't lose sight of who we are praying to. When we pray, we are entering into the presence of the God who created the heavens and the earth and everything in them...including us. So rather than seeing prayer...

Have you ever noticed that some people sound completely different when they talk to God than they do when they talk to other people? Sometimes they talk to God and sound like they're reading from the King James Version of the Bible or like they've just discovered a Thesaurus. ​But God doesn't care how elegant our prayers sound. What God really cares about is that we are real when we pray. And bein...

Often when we talk about prayer, we say that we will pray for someone or something. But when you for someone or something, how many times do you really pray for them? If you're like many people, praying for someone or something means that you might pray about it once or twice. But what if God wants us to do more than just pray for? What if God wants us to pray through? What if God wants us to pray...

One of the most common definitions that you'll hear for prayer is that prayer is talking to God. And this means that many of us do all the talking when we pray. But prayer is really a two-way street.  So a better definition is that prayer is talking with God.  So, when we pray, we need to learn to do a better job of listening to God. In this sermon, we'll talk about how we can listen to...

As life begins to return to normal, many of us feel anxious about what the future holds. Whether it's taking off our masks, getting on an airplane, or eating inside a crowded restaurant again; there's a little to feel anxious about.  So what do we do when we experience these occasional bouts of anxiety? What do we do when we feel like things are beyond our control? We turn to the one who is a...

One of the biggest reasons that we don't fight fair with the people we love the most is that we have unrealistic expectations for the other people in our lives. We expect that everyone around us won't make mistakes or mess up. So, when we find out that our relationships aren't perfect, we can take it out on the people we're supposed to love. But, if we want to fight fair, we have to remember that...

You can't really fix a problem if you don't know what the problem is. But, when it comes to fighting with our family, we're often afraid to address a problem head-on. Instead, we behave in passive-aggressive ways hoping that the people we love the most will just magically know what's going on in our heads.  But that's never going to happen. So, if we want to fight fair, we have to be willing...

There's an old cliche that says there are three sides to every story - your side, their side, and what actually happened. One of our biggest problems when it comes to fighting fair is that we forget that not everyone sees things from the same perspective. In this sermon, we'll be reminded that we all see things differently. And we'll be talking about what we can do to learn to see things through s...

Over the last year, we have all had a lot of moments where we've thought "If only I could do ______ then things would feel normal again." And, even as things begin to slowly return to some semblance of normal today, many of us are continuing to look forward to the future when we can this "if only" things once again. ​But, in our hurry to reach the future, we can't forget that God calls us to follo...

As the world around us continues to change, our calling as a church has not. But the church is not capable of fulfilling that calling on its own. And that's because the church is not some self-sustaining organism. No, the church is made up of individuals - just like you.  So, if the church is going to be who God has called us to be, we all have to do our part. And God has given you gifts that...

Have you ever had a moment where you found yourself ill-prepared for the circumstances you were facing? We all have...and that includes the church. ​As we resume worshiping in-person for the first time in more than a year, we're asking ourselves "So now what do we do?" Well, even though we're facing unprecedented times, our calling s a church has not changed. It's been the same since the beginning...

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed nearly every aspect of our lives. It's changed the way we think about our health, the way we interact with others, the way we shop, and even the way we eat. So it seems like COVID-19 will also change the way we do church as well. ​And, although church will be different in the future, God's calling for our church has not changed. In this sermon, we'll explore the p...

Last year, we missed out on many of the moments that we look forward to each Easter. But as things start getting back to normal this year, we don't want to miss out on the meaning of Easter. ​This Easter at Melbourne Heights as we'll celebrate Jesus' resurrection and talk about what the resurrection means for each of us.

After being viciously tortured, Jesus was unable to carry his own cross all the way to the place where he would be executed. So another man, Simon of Cyrene, was pulled from the crowds and forced to carry Jesus' cross. Although we don't know much about Simon, there are hints that this event changed his life forever. In this sermon, we'll see what we can learn from Simon's experience that can chang...

As Easter approaches, there are times when we can falsely believe that Jesus is the only one who died on a cross. But Jesus was far from the only one to ever experienced this horrific form of execution. ​As Jesus hung on the cross, he actually had another person on each side of him. And, as we look at how these two criminals behaved during the hardest moments in their lives,  we can learn a l...

Only hours before he will be arrested and put on trial, Jesus gathers together with his disciples to share a meal in a borrowed room. We can only imagine how much the events that would soon unfold weighed on Jesus' mind that night.  But in spite of what he would soon face, Jesus remains more focused on his disciples than he is on himself. So what can we learn from Jesus' selfless behavior to...

Holy Week is filled with some of the most significant events in the entire Bible. From Jesus' triumphal entry, to the last supper, to the crucifixion. But on Holy Tuesday, we read a story about Jesus picking fruit? ​Why is this story of Jesus and the fig tree included in the stories of Holy Week? And more importantly, what can it teach us about how we can follow Jesus during difficult times? That'...

On Holy Monday, Jesus enters the Temple in Jerusalem...and he's not real happy about what he sees when he gets there. In this week's sermon, we're going to discuss what was happening in the Temple, why it was happening, and what made Jesus so angry. We'll also see what we can learn from Jesus' anger to help us continue to follow God when we face difficult times.

Holy week begins with Jesus entering into Jerusalem. But there is far more to the story than Jesus coming to town. Everything in this story is meant to show us who Jesus is: Jesus is our king.  But Jesus isn't treated like a king for long. Five days later Jesus will be crucified. But in the story of his entry in Jerusalem, we're reminded that nothing can change who Jesus really is. And w...

When you realize that God is present in your life every moment of every day, you should enjoy praising God and celebrating what he is doing in your life. But real worship is about more than just having a big ole party for God.   Real worship also requires us to change ourselves for the God who is present in our lives. So, in this sermon, we'll talk about what God's priorities are for each of...

Our God is the God who created the heavens and the earth and everything in them...but our God isn't just a big and awesome God. Our God is also a God that is present in our lives every moment of every day. So how do we respond to God's presence in our lives? We respond by praising God. And praising God is about more than just singing a song or two. So, in this sermon, we'll talk about what real pr...

We come together every Sunday to worship...but what does that mean? Is worship just about watching a video for 45 minutes on a Sunday morning, or is there something more to it? ​Of course, there is more to it. In worship, we get to encounter God. So, in this sermon, we'll be talking about who God is and we'll try to understand why we sometimes forgot that God is at the heart of everything we do in...

It's been reported that the average American has about 5 hours of free time each day. So, as followers of Jesus, it's important for us to have some guidelines on how God wants us to use that free time.  In this week's service, we're talking about three guidelines that you can use to make sure you are following God with the way you spend your free time.

Throughout this new year, we've been talking about how we can follow Jesus in every area of our lives. So, in this service, we'll be talking about how we can follow God with our finances.  And we know that nobody really likes when a church talks about money. But we promise we won't be talking about money like a late-night televangelist. Instead, we want to give you practical advice on how to...

As we begin this new year, we want to help you follow the way of Jesus in every area of your life. And we tend to focus on three specific areas in our lives every new year. We focus on our health, our finances, and the way we spend our free time. ​This week, we'll be talking about how we can follow Jesus with our health and why God wants us to be as healthy as we can be.