HPUMC - Cornerstone Sermons (Contemporary Worship)

Highland Park United Methodist Church - Dallas, Texas
  • 4.5 (70)
  • Christianity
  • Updated Weekly

Join us each week for contemporary worship with a vibrant community of Christian believers. With a modern voice, Cornerstone links Bible-based preaching with relevant life application.

  1. 4d ago

    Upside Down Kingdom: A City on a Hill

    Rev. Matt Tuggle | Click/tap here to view the Sermon Reflection Guide. Who are you?  Once we move beyond the polite answers such as our names, occupations, accomplishments, or even our collegiate football allegiances, the question becomes much more personal. It's a question many of us struggle to answer. Yet at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus offers a remarkable response.  Speaking to an ordinary, ragtag crowd gathered on a hillside, he tells them, "You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). What was true for them is still true for us today. Using the images of a city on a hill and a lamp on a stand, Jesus teaches that God's people are meant to reflect His light into the world. Just as the lights of a city shine far beyond its borders, what God is doing in our lives reaches far beyond us. The way we live becomes a witness to others, revealing God's character and love.  This passage challenges us to stay focused on what God has placed before us rather than becoming distracted by the many things competing for our attention. As we fix our eyes on Christ and allow him to transform us, our lives become a light that impacts others in ways we may never fully see.  If you've ever wondered, who am I? Jesus' answer is both simple and profound: You are the light of the world and a city on a hill that cannot be hidden.

  2. 4d ago

    Salt & Light

    Hannah Buchanan

  3. Sep 6

    Upside Down Kingdom: Introduction

    Rev. Matt Tuggle | Click/tap here to view the Sermon Reflection Guide. When we read the Beatitudes, it is easy to miss how radical Jesus' words really are. Many of us have heard them so often that they sound familiar, but to Jesus' first audience, they would have seemed completely upside down. In a world where power, strength, status, and success appeared to determine who won and who lost, Jesus declared that the poor in spirit, the meek, the merciful, the peacemakers, and even the persecuted were blessed. His vision of life stood in sharp contrast to both the values of the Roman Empire and the assumptions of everyday people. This week’s sermon invites us to consider whether Jesus is actually the one who sees reality correctly. If Jesus is truly the Son of God, then his teachings are not simply good advice; they are the words of the one who understands life better than anyone else. What appears upside down to us may actually be right side up, while the values of the world may be the ones that are inverted. Jesus calls us to trust his authority even when his teachings challenge our instincts or seem impractical. Most importantly, Jesus did not merely teach this way of life; he embodied it. He lived out the Beatitudes through his humility, mercy, righteousness, peacemaking, suffering, death, and resurrection. Because Jesus lived the life he calls us to live, he invites us to follow him into the upside-down kingdom that may not always make sense to the world but ultimately bears the fruit of a more abundant life. As we grow in faith and trust that God is with us, we are invited to embrace his way and allow him to transform us from the inside out.

  4. Aug 30

    He Began To Speak

    Rev. Matt Tuggle | Click/tap here to view the Sermon Reflection Guide. Every preacher is playing for second place. The greatest sermon ever preached was delivered by the greatest preacher who ever lived. The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) has shaped history, influenced cultures, and continues to transform lives today.  Many of Jesus' most famous teachings come from these three chapters: being the salt of the earth, a city on a hill, loving our enemies, and treating others as we want to be treated. Yet before Jesus teaches people how to live, he begins somewhere even more important. When Jesus sat down on a hillside overlooking the Sea of Galilee and began to speak, he saw a diverse and often overlooked crowd. They’d heard the world declare who was blessed: the wealthy, powerful, healthy, and successful. Jesus turned those expectations upside down. He announced that the poor in spirit, the mourning, the meek, and the struggling were the blessed ones, not because of their circumstances, but because they were loved by God. The foundation of the Sermon on the Mount is not a list of rules for earning God's approval; it is the announcement that God's grace is unmerited and immediately available to everyone. Jesus teaches us how to live, not so that we can become loved by God, but because we already are.  The Beatitudes remind us that our identity is rooted in God's love, and from that secure foundation we can live the life Jesus calls us to live.

  5. Aug 30

    Posture Shift

    Hannah Buchanan

  6. Aug 23

    Running Up Towers

    Rev. Matt Tuggle | Click/tap here to view the Sermon Reflection Guide. This year we are beginning a journey called “Blueprint: Building Lives of Faith, Hope, and Love.” We all want lives that are steady, resilient, and able to withstand life's challenges. Jesus teaches that this kind of life is built on a solid foundation. When our lives are founded in him, we can stand firm even when storms come. The challenge is that many things compete for that foundation: money, power, pleasure, reputation, and control. Yet Jesus says that true stability comes not from simply hearing his words, but from putting them into practice. Through sermons and Bible studies, we learn God's teachings, but transformation happens when those teachings shape the way we live each day. C.S. Lewis paints a beautiful picture of this process, describing God as a builder transforming a small cottage into a palace, "running up towers" and creating something greater than we could ever imagine. That is God's desire for each of us. As we follow Jesus and put his teachings into action, God is growing in us the three things that last: faith, hope, and love. Our prayer is that by the end of this series, we will look back and see that we have grown in faith, become more marked by hope, and learned to love God and others more deeply.

  7. Aug 23

    Solid Ground in Shaky Times

    Hannah Buchanan

  8. Aug 16

    Special Announcement & Sermon: It Is Just Beginning

    Rev. Matt Tuggle | Click/tap here to view the Sermon Reflection Guide. For many of us, the fall season brings its own sense of renewal. New schedules, routines, and rhythms create opportunities to reflect on where we are and where we want to grow. As we begin a new school year, Philippians 1:6 reminds us that God is always at work. Long before we were aware of it, God was pursuing us through His grace, and He continues that work today.  In the Wesleyan tradition, prevenient grace reminds us that God knew and loved us before we knew Him, justifying grace assures us of forgiveness through Jesus Christ, and sanctifying grace points to God’s ongoing work of transformation and healing in our lives. God is not finished with us, and the good work He has begun is still unfolding. This promise is not only personal but communal. God is at work in us and among us, shaping His church and inviting us to participate in His mission. As we journey together this year, we are called to build our lives around the things that endure: faith, hope, and love.  These virtues are both gifts of God’s grace and markers of spiritual growth. As we follow Christ together, we can trust that the God who began a good work in us will faithfully carry it to completion.

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Join us each week for contemporary worship with a vibrant community of Christian believers. With a modern voice, Cornerstone links Bible-based preaching with relevant life application.

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