HPUMC - Sanctuary Sermons (Traditional Worship)

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Our culture celebrates efficiency. We prioritize getting from Point A to Point B as quickly as possible, and we are good at it! But what if closing the gap between problem and solution isn’t always the goal? Some things—like heartache, grief, and struggle— cannot be rushed. Though we crave instant relief, Scripture tells us what we truly need: patience.

Of all the commands in the Bible, which is the hardest for you? To rejoice? To forgive? To serve? For many of us, patience might top the list! Why is it so difficult to wait? And where is patience when we need it most? In this sermon, we explore what James 5 has to say about this Fruit of the Spirit, and what it looks like to practice patience in difficult circumstances and in our relationships with God and others. 

The average adult makes about 35,000 decisions per day, large and small. That’s an unbelievable number! Every day, we find ourselves at forks in the road and have to choose which path to proceed down. Many are referring to this election and the outcomes afterward as a big fork in the road for our country, but how can we let our faith shape our perspective? As Jesus followers, what do we do in the days and weeks afterward? What do we put our hope in during times of uncertainty?

We believe that God brings goodness out of uncertain, difficult, and troubling moments, and in this sermon, we explore what we can do to faithfully follow His lead and put our trust in Him.

Do you ever have to deal with mean people? Of course you do, and it's really hard! As people of faith, how are we supposed to respond to the mean people we encounter? Do we return mean with mean? After all, "getting even" sounds really nice. And surely we shouldn't just tolerate meanness. That doesn't seem helpful at all either. So what do we do?

In 1 Samuel 25, David finds himself in this exact situation, and he is tempted to get even until a wise woman intervenes to advocate for peace. This week, we'll look at David’s story and gain perspective about making peace with the difficult people in our lives.

We all have regrets about things we've done, decisions we've made, or people we've hurt. Sometimes by accident. Sometimes with intention. The impact of yesterday's choices often leads to a heart full of pain and chaos today. What do you do when the past just won't stay away from the present? What do you do when you believe you’re forgiven by God and others, but you still can’t forgive yourself?

Scripture tells us that God’s mercies for us are new every morning, but we have to decide whether we are ready to receive them.Am I going to live bound by the regrets of my past or freed by the grace and peace of Jesus Christ to embrace the possibilities of a different, brighter future? In this sermon, we'll continue looking at the Fruit of the Holy Spirit called peace and what Jesus says about making peace with our past.

“I'd give anything for a moment of peace!” How many of us have said that? We just want a little peace from the stress, from the chaos, from the pressure, from the kids, from work. We all get to that place where even the strongest among us want a break. We turn to things we can do, take, drink, use, etc. to help us cope with our problems, but the peace we seek is elusive, always just beyond our grasp.

Jesus says it doesn’t have to be this way because his peace is always available. In this sermon, we consider all the wrong places we go looking for peace, and we dive into what it looks like to seek peace in the only place we will ever truly find it: God Himself.

As people of faith, we regularly celebrate the sacrament of Holy Communion. In its simplest form, Holy Communion is a worship moment when we memorialize Jesus' last meal with his disciples. During the meal, Jesus announces to them that He will be arrested and crucified. Pretty heavy stuff. Yet, Jesus gave thanks and rejoiced, even in His darkest hour, because He was confident that God would turn His suffering into victory.

In this sermon, we take a look at our next Fruit of the Holy Spirit: joy. The Greek word for joy is chara, and it refers to an inner gladness or delight in response to the work of God in the world. Our culture often misunderstands that joy isn’t like happiness, which is dependent on our circumstances. It is a choice to believe, like Jesus did, that God has the desire and capacity to turn all of our darkness into light. 

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“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” For thousands of years and throughout generations, devout Jews have been reciting these words as part of a daily prayer called the Shema. It is one of the most important prayers in history for all of God’s people, and Jesus declares it the Greatest Commandment in the Gospels! The Shema calls us to center our lives around our love for God, and it reminds us that we must impress that love upon our children.

One of the most important responsibilities we have as a church is passing down the love of Christ to the next generation, but how do we do it? How do we truly model love–the first fruit of the Holy Spirit–for those coming behind us? In this sermon, we take one last look at the fruit of love and how we pass the baton to the children in our church family.

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Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.” Put simply, as we seek to cultivate a life with God where love will grow, forgiveness has the potential to be either a springboard or a hindrance for us. Yet, it is more often talked about than understood. We all know it is a good idea to forgive others, but what does that really mean? And how do we do it? In this sermon, we learn about Jesus’ view on forgiveness and some very practical steps we can take to live it out.