I want to share with you the story of a teenager named Daniel. I want to describe something that happened to Daniel when he was… Read More »Fault Lines: The Fault Line of Being Overprotective (Daniel 1) January 6, 2013 – Sunday Morning Message
One of the things many of us enjoy about this time of year is the music. We love the songs of the season. We enjoy singing them in church services like we will this morning. We love listening to Christmas songs on the radio.
I want to play a little game with Christmas songs right now. I’m going to give you a clue and I want you to guess the song from the clue. I’ll read the clue out loud. Then you shout out what you think the song is. I’ll then show you the name of the song:Read More »Christmas Presence: Celebrate (Luke 1:46-56) December 23, 2012 – Sunday Morning Message
This morning we kick off a new series called “Christmas Presence.” This morning I’m joined by Highland’s preaching apprentice Frank Bolling. Let’s pray and then Frank and I will share the message with you…
Frank Bolling
Christmas was only a few days away, when the unthinkable happened. Their house burned down. (Show picture of House Fire) Everything in it lost, destroyed by the fire and smoke. I wonder what Amanda Thomas and her 2 little children thought as they looked on at the scene with fire fighters trying desperately to put out the flames that consumed their life right before their eyes. Fear, loss, hopelessness. Officer Priest, one of the officers at the scene, came up to Amanda after the incident and said, “Don’t worry about Christmas. We’ll take care of Christmas. I promise you that.” I have heard promises before that weren’t kept, promises that seemed too good to be true. I wonder what she thought. No one keeps promises like that. This is hopeless. But I wonder what she thought only three days later when a patrol car brought them to their new rent house, freshly painted, prepped and furnished. The officers also presented her with gift cards, renter’s insurance, and a check for $10,000. An unbelievable gift to which Amanda Thomas’s reaction was “it’s more than I could ever ask for.” A promise fulfilled!Read More »Christmas Presence: He’s Coming (Jer. 33:14-16; 1 Thess. 3:9-13) Chris Altrock and Frank Bolling – December 9, 2012 – Sunday Morning Message
David Ralston, one of our elders, recently shared with me the story of Evelyn. David met Evelyn during his work in Kiev, Ukraine where we support the Ukrainian Education Center—one of our ministries to the nations. Evelyn seemed doomed from the start to suffer despair. Her father did not want her. In fact, he asked her mother to have an abortion. Her mother refused and the marriage dissolved. After Evelyn’s birth, her mom had to leave Evelyn with grandparents in Ukraine while she travelled to Italy to find work. Her grandfather frequently got drunk on vodka and beat the grandmother. It was a horrible living situation for a young girl. Evelyn’s mother eventually returned to Ukraine and was reunited with Evelyn. The two of them tried to live with her ex-husband. But after a tumultuous three years, Evelyn and her mother were kicked out. Evelyn eventually graduated from school and enrolled in a university in Kiev. Eager to learn English, she joined an English conversation club. But the man who ran the club took advantage of her and slept with her. Evelyn became pregnant and learned that this man had seven children with five different women. He persuaded her to have an abortion and then promised to break things off with all the other women if Evelyn would stay with him. She did. He didn’t. Evelyn’s life was filled with despair. Read More »Toxic: The Poison of Despair (James 5:7-20) Chris Altrock – December 2, 2012 – Sunday Morning Message