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How important is your relationship with God? What would life look like if you really understood the way God thinks about you? What questions do you have about God that keeps you from actually taking the plunge? Every week, we post encouraging messages of life change that connect your life to Christ in powerful ways. Subscribe today!
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Week 2 – Joshua – Waltzing into a New World
How do we remain human in an artificial world? Join us as Kent delves into this crucial question. Listen in and let's sanctify this moment together. EASY TO GIVE at Harmony, text any amount to (859) 459-0316 to get started (or give online @ my.harmonychurch.cc/give ). Get the fill in the fill-in-the-blank bulletins my.harmonychurch.cc/bulletins.
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OPENING ILLUSTRATION:
We live in a crazy world. I remember growing up talking to my great-grandma Streeter in the 1980s. She had traveled to Kansas when she was a kid in a covered wagon… Isn’t that crazy? I remember thinking about how we had colored TVs, cars, phones, and planes and she had experienced all those changes in her life.
She had experienced monumental change…
You may not recognize it right now, but you are one of those people too…
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We are standing on the precipice of one of the most monumental changes in history.
The internet (I remember hearing the first time someone said, “www. - it stands for world wide web…”). Smartphones came out in 2007 and gave the internet a way to live with us all the time and now we stand on the verge of AI to potentially take all that to the next level.
People who stand at the intersection of monumental times tend to do at least one of three things. They either…
Try to hold onto the past and seek to turn back to what they came from.
They embrace the future unquestioningly and become passive receivers of both the opportunities and consequences of the times.
They find ways to sanctify the future, remembering the past and moving forward to the future God desires.
Our world is changing at a monumental pace.
We are privy at all times to all information
We live in incredible fear and anxiety because we bear the entire weight of humanity in our minds - you know about a war the instant it breaks out and see the devastation in your ticktock feed
We are INUNDATED with information - did you know one of our biggest challenges at the church is communicating with you - because you are so over-communicated within your world that you can’t hear what we are saying - that’s not a comment on you or me, it’s our world…
And it’s all about to go into overdrive.
ILLUSTRATION:
When I was a kid I remember going to my grandma’s house, she had this basket of fruit on her table and I grabbed an apple and took a bite. As I did, my teeth sunk in and I realized it was styrofoam. The fruit wasn’t real.
You and I are about to have that same experience in ways you can’t even imagine.
Already you can’t tell if the pictures you are looking at are created by AI or are actual people. Video is already there and will soon be everywhere - you won’t know if who you are looking at is really the person or not. You can’t tell if I wrote this sermon or if AI did.
And here’s what I think is going to happen.
I think there is a potential that we are going to go from a world that is fairly cynical to a world that is unbearably brutal in its inability to trust anything that cannot be experienced firsthand.
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It will have dramatic effects on the way people perceive truth, faith, God, the scripture, and Jesus Himself.
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I feel the global church trying to turn back to where we came from.
I see the people in the world who have no faith, unquestioningly, passively receiving it
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My question is, how do we become the people who sanctify it?
don’t hear me saying what I’m not - I’m not saying we remove truth or the past isn’t vitally important….
I’m asking a different question altogether.
How do we be human now in an artificial world?
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My answer is always to go back to scripture and the story of God - there is so much to learn there…
SCRIPTURE
We are not the first to stand on the precipice of monumental changes.
Joshua is one of the most interesting people in scripture. -
Week 1 – Moses – Slavery & Emancipation
🌟Join us for a powerful sermon journeying through Moses' life. What idols do we worship? Let's reflect together. Tune in at Harmony Christian Church. EASY TO GIVE at Harmony, text any amount to (859) 459-0316 to get started (or give online @ my.harmonychurch.cc/give ). Get the fill in the blank bulletins my.harmonychurch.cc/bulletins.
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This morning, I want to take you into the story of someone who is larger than life - so large that nearly 3,500 years later we are still talking about his story…
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The Story of Moses
Moses’ life is so big, I can’t really do it justice… Instead, what I want to do is take you into three movements.
I want to take you through the story of Moses, a specific incident from his life, and a challenge for us all.
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MOVEMENT 1: The Man Moses
He was born into a time of incredible tumult. The Israelites had been in slavery to the Egyptians for hundreds of years. Moses is born to an incredibly brave woman who fights against all the odds to save her child. Through a miraculous set of events, Moses is adopted into the family of Pharaoh - King of Egypt. Moses is raised in a world of contradictions. A slave who is a prince. As he ages he will be moved for his people and in a moment of rage he kills an Egyptian who is beating a Hebrew Slave. Moses will run away and for 40 years will be an exile. When he returns it is because of an encounter with God in a burning bush. God will call him to lead his people out of Egyptian slavery to come into the wilderness to worship God. It is an epic story, it’s so massive I can’t do it justice. But
During this time, God will send 10 plagues on the Egyptians trying to get them to release their iron grip on the Hebrew people.
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The last of the 10 plagues was the death of the firstborn son.
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The Lord sent an angel through Egypt and anyone whose house was not marked on the door frames with the blood of a lamb, their firstborn son died.
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This is called the Passover, because God passed over the Hebrews in this moment and finally released them from their slavery.
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For the next 40 years, Moses will wander in the desert with the Israelites, leading them and shepherding them.
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Through all of this, Moses faces the challenges of leadership and following God…
MOVEMENT 2: The Specific Incident
The Israelites have been in the desert for some time now. God has been leading them with a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. He is providing them with food, and water, He is giving them everything they need.
Immediately people begin to complain.
God begins to intervene and he gives what we know today as the 10 Commandments - it is a covenant of relationship.
It starts like this…
Exodus 20:1-6
And God spoke all these words:
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
3 “You shall have no other gods before[a] me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
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The covenant is: abide by the law of God, He will bless them. Don’t, and He will curse and leave them to their own devices.
Moses goes up on the mountain to hear from God (because the people begged him to) - God will codify the covenant onto two stones. He will be up on the mountain for 40 days. But I want to read to you what happens during that time…
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Week 4 – Joseph
Ever felt like you're constantly hitting walls? We've all been there. Join us as Kent unpacks the story of Joseph and finding resilience in adversity. It's EASY TO GIVE at Harmony, text any amount to (859) 459-0316 to get started (or give online @ my.harmonychurch.cc/give ). Get the fill in the blank bulletins my.harmonychurch.cc/bulletins.
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OPENING ILLUSTRATION:
One of the hardest things for me to figure is people who just constantly hit wall after wall. Have you known people like this? I feel like growing up, my family was like this. My parents started a marketing company when I was really young and a guy stole the money they had set aside for taxes and their business went under. My dad got a job and I got hurt, we went to the ER and found out his new company had been siphoning the insurance money instead of paying it and that company went under. It was one thing after another.
Every time we’d get up, we’d get knocked back down…
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Does anyone know what that feels like?
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Today, we are going to look at the story of Joseph and how he got knocked down and back up again and again and came away with a different perspective…
STORY:
Joseph is the great-grandson of Abraham. His dad Jacob has 12 sons who will become the 12 tribes of Israel. Jacob’s wife Rachel - who he loved most only had two sons for him and at the birth of the second one, she died. Her two sons were Joseph & Benjamin. Brothers already have lots of tension in their relationships. But you can imagine a couple of them being from the mom that your dad loved the most. This story is full of Jealousy and Envy. Honestly, as you read the book of Genesis, it feels like the same story unfolding over and over again in different ways. Jealousy, rage, anger, and deception, all getting the best of these people.
Joseph is different though. He seems to not do much wrong.
One of his biggest faults when he’s young is he seems to not have much humility…
Joseph will have a dream where there are 11 sheaves of grain - kind of big bundles of wheat or barley or something. All the bundles come and bow down to Joseph's bundle…
Well, the interpretation is clear. Joseph has 11 brothers and now this kid thinks we’re going to be bowing down to him… Oh man, can you feel the anger rising in his brothers?
Then the kid does it again. He can’t keep his mouth shut. He comes in and tells the family that he had a dream that the sun, the moon, and the stars all were bowing down to him. Lol, he just can’t stop..
His dad, Jacob - I picture him rolling his eyes and being like “Come on son!”
He rebukes Joseph - but the damage is done.
The rage, the jealousy, the envy and anger has all been planted in the hearts of his brothers…
One day, Jacob sends out Joseph to check on his brothers - he’s sending him multiple days away. Joseph reaches the spot his brothers should be at and they are gone. He finds someone who tells him they’ve moved on to another grazing area. As Joseph is approaching his brother see him and plot their evil plan. They knew it was Joseph approaching because of the colorful coat he was wearing, just another insult that their dad had given him this special coat that none of them had. Their plan was to kill him, but Rueben convinces them not to do it - to just throw Joseph in a well/pit.
ILLUSTRATION:
Years ago I was at the Grand Canyon and I decided to climb up from the side of the path that goes down into the canyon. I got up and realized you couldn’t go back down. I was stuck, I either kept trying to go up and maybe died, or tried to go back down which looked like even more death. These guys have gone up this cliff and now they don’t know what to do…
They talk again about killing him, but Judah stops them from th -
Week 3 – Jacob the Joker
Join us as Kent dives into the story of Jacob's wrestling match with God. Ever felt like life was spiraling out of control? You're not alone. Tune in and ask yourself: How do we find blessing in the midst of our struggles? EASY TO GIVE at Harmony, text any amount to (859) 459-0316 to get started (or give online @ my.harmonychurch.cc/give). Get the fill-in-the-blank bulletins my.harmonychurch.cc/bulletins.
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OPENING ILLUSTRATION:
A few weeks ago at our worship night the team started singing the song Oceans. As I stood there worshiping and singing that song I was taken back to a moment in New York City. Jenni and I had been gifted the chance to to go to this conference in NYC @ the New York City Music Hall. Shortly before we went to that we had stepped away from our church plant that we had started. We were not doing real good emotionally and the leadership we were working with, instead of trying to figure out how to help us, they had told us to step down from the ministry if we wanted the church to continue to get support. So, we walked away from it. It was heart wrenching. While we were at this conference the band introduced this new song “Oceans…” As I sat there with the lights off, my heart went back to that moment standing in the balcony beside my wife. We were at a conference that should have been pumping us up but I knew we had two weeks of pay when we got back and then nothing and honestly I was freaking out.
I can remember singing those lyrics and trying to will myself to believe it…:
You call me out upon the waters, The great unknown where feet may fail, And there I find You in the mystery, In oceans deep my faith will stand, And I will call upon Your Name, And keep my eyes above the waves, When oceans rise My soul will rest in Your embrace, For I am Yours and You are mine
This was not the first time or the last time I’ve been in that dark night of the soul…
There is a place where everything feels out of control and like you are losing more than you are gaining.
My guess is more of you in this room than we would like to think are in that place.
But I can promise you this
If you’re not there now, you will be at some point.
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We all know what it’s like to have your life start to spiral out of control
-Projects piling up left and right and you feeling out of control
-To have a spouse come up and tell you “I just don’t love you any more” and your are spiraling
-To find out your child has a health diagnosis that has no real fix…
Every one of us has a story that is written with the ebb and flow of pain and joy, fear and faith.
BIBLE:
Today, I want to take you into a story of wrestling to give you some encouragement when your life feels like it’s at risk…
In the story of God we are going to jump into the life of Jacob - Isaacs son, Abrahams grandson.
This would be one of those stories you will want to go read. It’s full of deception, has a really nice and weird love story in it, and it has redemption.
If I was going to define Jacob by one trait, it was would be deceiver. Jacob is a twin, his older brother Esau comes out of the womb first, but Jacob is holding onto his heel as he comes out. As they grow up, Jacob will be a mama’s boy who stays home among the tents and Esau will be their dad’s favorite - he’s a hunter, out in the field finding game - a mans man. There are several stories from their life that tell you about them. One of them Esau comes in from a long hunt, famished and ends up selling the position as the oldest son to Jacob for a bowl of soup. Eventually as their father was aging Isaac wants to bless Esau - he sends him out to hunt and to prepare a meal. Rebeka - the boys mom, will help Jacob fool Isaac who’s eyes are failing him that Jacob is Esau and he will steal his blessing.
Esau is enraged and wants to kill Jacob - so J -
Week 2 – The Child of Promise
🤔 What if our significance lies in what God does through us, not to us? Join Kent in exploring Isaac's "insignificant" life and discover the thread leading to Jesus. Tune in for insights that might change your perspective! 🎙️✨ It's EASY TO GIVE at Harmony, text any amount to (859) 459-0316 to get started (or give online @ my.harmonychurch.cc/give). Get the fill in the blank bulletins my.harmonychurch.cc/bulletins.
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OPENING ILLUSTRATION:
Years ago I was eating dinner with a really good friend from high school. He had started this marketing company and had some of the biggest brands in the world as his clients. Names like Red Bull and Etnies skateboard shoes. He was jet setting to New York and Australia and all these cool places. He’s such a good guy, he wasn’t bragging about any of this, we were just talking. And then he asked me what we were up to. I remember feeling like I wished I could just pull my head into my shell like a turtle and hide. We were a few years into planting a church in Wichita Kansas at the time and honestly, it was a struggle. We only had about 90 people coming and I was embarrassed because I knew about all these church plants that had 1,000 people. Jenni and I were struggling on every front. I remember talking through that and feeling like a poser as I tried to convince him and me that what I was doing was good and significant.
I was posturing to impress him and it left me feeling depressed.
Do you ever do that? Posture to impress people?
What I mean is over-inflate who you are because you feel like you’re “less than”
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I’m sure this appears for each of us in different ways
-Some mom starts talking about the birthday party she is throwing for her kid that includes ponies, clowns, inflatables & sky diving and you’re insecurity flairs up - “We just do a cake and some friends…”
-That kid on the team that’s the best makes a little snide comment about your abilities and you spent the rest of your career trying to prove them wrong
-You’re dad was NEVER impressed with anything you did and now you are secretly trying to be the best at everything hoping he will one day tell you how proud he is.
All of us have an insecurity somewhere about not being significant enough.
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I want to take you to an insignificant account of a person from history whose life is insignificantly significant and look at what we can learn from a person's life like that.
THE BIBLE:
Isaac is called “the child of promise”. His mom and dad, Abe & Sarah are told in their old age they will have a bouncing baby boy - if you missed it, go back and listen to last week. They will get pregnant, Isaac is born into a world that is very different from the world you are in. It’s shepherding, it’s sunup to sun down. It’s sacrifice and dirt and sweat fear and laughter. Isaac will grow up to be a young man who marries Rebecca. She is his relative (second cousin on Abrahams side). There is this beautiful narrative about Abes servant going to search for a wife for Isaac. The servant asks Rebecca for a drink and she offers to water his camels as well. His servant invites her to come and marry Isaac and she does…
It’s beautiful. These two fall in love, have a couple of boys - twins - we’ll get into that next week. Not everything is smooth for them. At one point they have migrated to the land of the Philistines under the territory of King Abimelech and Isaac lies (like his father did) about who Rebecca is - he tells them she’s his sister. When Abimelech finds out he’s furious - “you could have caused us great sin…”
He will eventually live to a ripe old age and seems to be so senile he can’t tell the difference between his own sons. He is manipulated by his wife and his family ends up seeming less than ideal…
Can I tell you -
Week 1 – The Call of Abraham
Join us as Kent dives into Abraham's crazy journey. The burning question: Why would God ask such a thing? Tune in and let's unpack it together. 🤔🔍 #SermonSunday #FaithJourney. EASY TO GIVE at Harmony, text any amount to (859) 459-0316 to get started (or give online @ my.harmonychurch.cc/give ). Get the fill in the blank bulletins my.harmonychurch.cc/bulletins.
OPENING ILLUSTRATION:
So, I don’t know if everyone is like this, but my brain doesn’t work for some things. Pretty much anything that starts with a G that isn’t bible related. When I was in High School I failed geometry one semester and got a D the second semester. In bible college, I got a D in Grammar & Geography… Serious… And it’s not like I didn’t work hard, I worked crazy hard and still I got an F… In Grammar, I would literally watch Conjunction Junction… It was like the information would go in my brain and would not stick. It’s probably some sort of learning disability…
Sometimes things just don’t make sense, right?
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Some of you had a relationship that you thought would last for your whole life and in one turn, your spouse went a different direction and you were left holding a bag that you don’t know what to do with…
You’re left saying, “it just doesn’t make sense…”
-I’ve been passed over for jobs that it didn’t make sense, “I crushed that interview”
-You worked your tail off, showed up early, stayed late, and still they laid you off…
We all know what it’s like to have things that just don’t make sense.
Today, we are going to look at a moment in the life of Abraham that doesn’t make any sense, then we’ll look at how God made sense of it.
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We’ll see how God is always tying threads from the history of the Old Testament into the life of Jesus and making sense of things.
SCRIPTURE:
So, part of this series is helping you get a sense of who biblical characters - people are. It has roughly been a few hundred years since the flood. Noah is still alive. There is an ancient document Jasher (in chapter 9) that actually says that Abraham, who we are about to talk about, lived with Noah and his son Shem for 39 years learning the ways of Yahweh God. Abraham sticks out in this post flood world. Everyone has immediately gone back to their own way - they are humans after all. Abraham is called by God - you should study Genesis 11-25 this week. Abe is called to leave his country, his family, and everything he knows and he does it. He follows God. 3 times God will promise to Abraham to bless him, to make his name famous, to give him land and to bless the whole world through him. Abraham. Abe will have all kinds of crazy things happen, two times he will almost lose his wife to foreign kings, he will build up an empire and risk it all to rescue his nephew. Abraham will be involved in crazy things like his wife telling him to sleep with her servant to have a child because God had promised him a child and Sarah could never get pregnant.
God will eventually promise Abe that He will have a child, even when he is old and Sarah is old - Sarah was 91 and Abe was 100… Can you even imagine…
There is all kinds of drama that happens during this time - it is worth a biopic movie. Sarah kicks her servant and son out, God intervenes. There is drama upon drama
Abraham isn’t perfect either, we catch him lying and being deceitful, we catch him being manipulated by his wife.
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But what Abraham is most known for is his faith.
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The faith part is what brings us to our story that you just can’t understand.
Genesis 22:1-2
Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt of