Highway Sermons

This week, we examine the image of the Holy Spirit that Jesus gives us, the image of the “Paraclete,” or the one who comes alongside us. We will see that the Holy Spirit is a person, not an impersonal force or charge. We’ll break down the word “Paraclete” to see what it shows us about how the Holy Spirit relates to us. And finally, we’ll examine how the Holy Spirit applies the truths of Christ to our everyday lives.Passage: John 14-16

The world and our lives can feel so out of control, it's natural to grasp for ways to to manage and gain some kind of semblance of order. We plan, we calendar, we overthink, and we try to find ways to exert control over our lives.
But Jesus talks about the Spirit as being a wind, that blows wherever it blows. What would it looks like for us to release and surrender the need to control life and learn how to trust in the power of the wind all around us?

In our modern world we tend to move through the world with a bias towards materialism, blind to the spiritual realities around us. In this first week of our series on the Holy Spirit we look at the image of “light. The Spirit is a light that awakens us to a spiritual reality beyond our physical, material reality.

From global news fatigue and political division to personal anxiety and broken relationships, life often feels like it's sliding into chaos. While world leaders and cultural icons lean on symbols of status, capital, and force, Jesus introduces an upside-down Kingdom represented by the Cross—one built on self-sacrifice, radical love, and justice for the vulnerable.

What if a culture of performance and productivity is crowding out our joy? Psalm 33 invites us to sing a new song—to simply enjoy the presence of God, not because we have something to accomplish or prove, but because God is wonderful and worthy of praise.

The psalms show us that thanksgiving is a regular part of our conversation with God in all moments in life. How does the spiritual practice of thanksgiving differ from the general practice of gratitude? Join us as we see how thanksgiving is a story that we tell, which orients us to God, is specific, and is communal — and how it is a practice that ultimately changes us, draws us together, and transforms how we see the world.

What do we do when the arrogant and the corrupt succeed? How do we react when others have better looks, more success, and greater portions of wealth than us?Today’s Psalm shows how to bring our real, envious complaints directly to God, while learning to find fullness through abiding in Christ.

So often we compartmentalize our lives. We segment and sever based on our roles or our emotions. But the Psalms are tools to help teach us how to live integrated and whole lives, realizing that every moment and season is a moment for prayer.
In this first week we look at Psalms of Lament and how to not bottle our grief or pain, but to release it, unedited before God.

We wrap up our 'Standing on the Shoulders' series by asking an old question in a new way: what's the actual difference between a blessing and a curse? From the Curse of the Billy Goat to the Garden of Eden to a redwood forest that shouldn't be able to stand on its own, we trace where blessing really comes from — and close by having two generations bless each other, out loud.

This week we look at Josiah, a kid who became king of Judah at eight, inherited two generations of religious rot from his own family, and at sixteen — with nobody telling him to — started seeking God for himself. By twenty he'd reformed a nation. It's a strange, wild story about what happens when fresh eyes show up inside an institution that's gone stagnant, stuck, and a little blind to its own condition. (Luke Skywalker makes an appearance too.)

Part of our "Standing on the Shoulders" series — on becoming a church that actually listens to the young people already in the room, not just the church of someday.