11/4/18 “Warmer…Warmer” Psalm 146; Mark 12: 28-34 Pearl: Getting closer and closer to the heart of God’s reign Function: To nudge worshippers closer to the heart and soul of Jesus Way by seeking anew to practice loving God and loving neighbor Isn’t it fun playing “Hide and Seek” with your children or grandchildren? It has to be an all-time favorite for everybody! Youth groups love playing variations of Hide and Seek in church buildings! Think of all of the hiding … [Read more...]

"Honest Persistence” Psalm 34.1-8, 19-22; Mark 10.46-52  Pearl: Persistent, “true-blue” desire to follow Jesus the Christ is rewarded (God notices). Function: To move worshippers to ask God for what they most need to follow Christ better).   Blind man Bartimaeus may well have “seen” better than many who had their sight. By faith he saw who Jesus was and he perceived what Jesus was about. He also knew himself! He was a model disciple! Bartimaeus positioned himself along a … [Read more...]

10/21/18 “Pleased to Serve” Psalm 104; 1-9, 24, 35c; Hebrews 5: 1-10; Mark 10: 35-45 Pearl: Our calling as Christ followers is to serve. Function: To reveal to worshippers that true power and true life is found in serving others in the lessor jobs and in the more mundane tasks.   God made you and you are marvelous and amazing in many ways. God who created you, did so with great He gave you the gifts and the aptitudes that you have. You have them for a reason: … [Read more...]

10/14/18 “Abundance vs. Wealth” Psalm 22: 1-15; Mark 10: 17-31 Pearl: Wealth can get in the way of abundance Function: Dealing with the problem of wealth Today’s message is about the problem of wealth. You heard me right. How many of you are thinking, “I wouldn’t mind having that problem.” With the Powerball Lottery up pretty high many imagine winning and thinking about what they would do with all of that wealth. There are many sad stories of lottery winners who … [Read more...]

World Communion                                                                                                          10/07/18 “Hard Hearts Hurt Women and Children” Psalm 26; Mark 10: 2-16 Pearl: Christ and his followers do not dismiss or demean women and children. Function: To motivate worshippers to carry out Jesus’ mandate to value and lift up women and children because of their inherent value as human beings. Jesus was confronted by the religious power brokers of his … [Read more...]

09/30/18 “Above and Beyond” Psalm 1; James 3: 14 – 4:3, 7-8a Pearl: Look and think beyond yourself Function: To champion godly wisdom and to present ways of soaking it up and living it out. We are sometimes wise and we are sometimes foolish. Think for a minute about what some of your wisest decisions were and then about what some of your dumbest decisions were. I am not seeking brownie points here, but I think my wisest lifetime decision was to join my life together with … [Read more...]

09/16/18—Highland “Say What?!” Psalm 19; James 3: 1-12 Pearl: Guarding our words because they make a difference. Function: To encourage the fruit of the spirit of “self-control” when it comes to the things we say as our words have great power. Today’s common sense wisdom from James, rooted in the spirit of Jesus our Lord, suggests that we exercise great care and caution in what we say. And there is a major corollary today: take great care and caution in what you tweet or write in … [Read more...]

09/09/18—Highland “No Partiality” Proverbs 22: 1-2, 8-9, 22-23; James 2: 1-17 Pearl: Living faith means loving neighbor as self in an impartial way. Function: To motivate listeners to work out their faith by treating every neighbor with equal attention and equal affection (may be entertaining angels unaware).   Real, living faith in Jesus Christ is something tangible. Living faith can be “seen” in people. Is not this the faith that you aspire to? You want to be real … [Read more...]

08/26/18 “A Mighty Spiritual Fortress” Psalm 84; Ephesians 6: 10-20 Pearl: Power of a far different variety for a battle different from any the world sees. Function: To motivate worshippers to take up their spiritual armor and spiritual weapons which are more powerful than physical armor and physical weapons because they are from the powerful spiritual arsenal of God; we fight from victory not for victory. There is plenty of evidence that evil exists in our world today. But our … [Read more...]

Highland—Meute “A Christ-Rich Diet” Ephesians 5: 15-20; Psalm 111; John 6.51-58  Pearl: Consuming more and more of Christ and his Way Function: To move worshippers to hunger for the KOG and to be motivated by it more than anything else. Dieting is not only a big business but a major concern for many. All kinds of diets are being invented and tried. Some are motivated to diet by a desire to look a certain way. In many other instances you are motivated by health concerns and … [Read more...]