Harris Creek Baptist Church

SUMMARY When you hear the word religion, what comes to mind? What about the word relationship? What do the two of them have to do with Christianity and the Bible? As we continue studying the book of Philippians, Dr. Bryan Carter teaches through Philippians 3:1-14, teaching us what we can learn about religion and a relationship with God through the life of the Apostle Paul. KEY TAKEAWAYS -Beware of people who say Christianity is Jesus + something else. -We will never be able to earn our way to God. Doing good, religious things is not what God wants from us or for us. -Religion always leads to pride, self-righteousness, and cruelty. -Unfortunately, some of the meanest people can be found in the church! This should not be; it is not what God is about nor what the Bible teaches. -Followers of Jesus change from the inside out, not the outside in. -Religion makes a whole lot of noise, but it’s empty. It doesn’t really do anything. It’s like a vacuum that powers on and sounds like it’s working but doesn’t suck anyt

SUMMARY When you think of heroes of the Christian faith, who comes to mind? As we continue studying the book of Philippians, Nate Hilgenkamp teaches through Philippians 2:19-30, showing us that God uses ordinary obedience from ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things. KEY TAKEAWAYS -Genuine care is rare. -It’s easy to care for people in the moment, but it’s challenging to care for people on an on-going basis, day after day, week after week. -If all your prayers from this last week were answered “yes,” how many lives would be impacted? -An inward focused life will never be a Christ-exalting life. -The more you love Jesus the more you will love the things Jesus loves. -The more you love yourself the more stressed and depressed and anxious you will be. However, a life focused on others is a life of impact. -Willingness is worship. -Are you willing to serve others? To go out of your way and your agenda to serve someone else? -Is there anything you aren’t willing to do to worship Jesus? -Your willingn

SUMMARY Do you know anyone who is in good physical shape? They don’t simply stay that way…there is no cruise control; there is maintenance and they work at it. As we continue studying the book of Philippians, JP teaches us how our faith is similar. We are saved by grace in faith through Jesus, and through that grace we are told to exercise our salvation. KEY TAKEAWAYS - People do not drift toward Holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated. -D.A. Carson - Work out your salvation trusting that God is at work in you. - If you

SUMMARY There is a deep desire in all of us to be great...something in each of us that wants to be part of something bigger than ourselves. What makes someone or something great? The greatest person of all time used His greatness to serve others. As we continue studying the book of Philippians, JP teaches through Philippians 2:3-11, teaching us about Jesus’ greatness and His humility. KEY TAKEAWAYS - The secret to being great in any situation is to be humble. The secret to happiness is humility. - If we define greatness as anything other than humble service we’ve made the same - mistake as the devil. - God’s exhortation of humility (exhortation simply means a strong call or urge to do something). - Biblical humility is thinking of others more and thinking more of others. - How do you do at giving others the benefit of the doubt? - “Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call 'humble' nowadays: he will not be a sort of greasy, smarmy person, who is always telling you

SUMMARY Do you remember the events of September 11, 2001? As our nation was under attack, we rallied together to fight against our enemies. As we continue studying the book of Philippians, JP teaches us that as Christians, we must have unity in opposition. KEY TAKEAWAYS - It’s imperative to understand that we have one enemy: Satan. He hates what’s happening at Harris Creek, and he doesn’t want it to go well for you. - Keep firm in the faith by being unified in conduct. - As Christians, our teammates are other Christians. Not people who share a team, political party, or zip code, but simply and only people who share a faith in Jesus Christ. - Keep firm in the faith by being unified in courage. - No one should be more courageous than Christians. We are immortal and we will live forever. We won’t die one second before God is done with us. - Keep firm in the faith by being unified against comfort. - The courage we need is the courage to suffer. Suffering is central to being a Christian. - "If your Christianit

SUMMARY Have you ever met someone who had courage? What are you most courageous about in life? As we continue studying the book of Philippians, JP teaches us about the courage we can have through Christ. KEY TAKEAWAYS - Encourage simply means to put courage in someone. As Christians, our courage should be in the gospel—the good news of Jesus. - We have become inoculated to Christianity. Meaning, we have received a little bit of it time and time again to where we are numb to what it really is and means for our lives. - Does talking about Jesus mark you? Do you view every opportunity as an opportunity to talk about Him? - Paul’s courage is contagious. - Harris Creek makes disciples. We are a factory, and we make missionaries to go serve in businesses, schools, coffee shops, and countries all over the world. - You can share the gospel with 100% confidence because one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. - Paul’s courage is confident in opposition. - Sadly, the church is oft

SUMMARY Do you ever look back on life to a season when you had a close group of friends? When you always had someone with you no matter what life threw your way? Do you want to have that today and in the days ahead? As we start our study on the book of Philippians, JP shows us how to grow our affections for others as he teaches through Philippians 1:1-11. KEY TAKEAWAYS - The first thing you are going to see out of the gate when reading Philippians is how much Paul loved the church at Philippi. - The gospel is more powerful than the sin of materialism and the power of demonic forces…it cannot be stopped. - One of the most common features—behind the gospel itself—of successful life groups is they embrace the fact that community is forged and not found. They understand that to have successful community you must learn to love one another. - Grow love for people by partnering with them in the gospel. - As a Christian, every relationship can be summed up in one of two groups: You are either partnered with them in

SUMMARY Have you ever heard someone who had a distinct accent? Where it was obvious they were from somewhere different than you? As we finish our series, Sticks and Stones, Nate Hilgenkamp teaches through Colossians 4:2-6, teaching us Christians should have their own “accent” based on the words they use. KEY TAKEAWAYS - As Christians, we should be known for how we use our words. - If you want to honor God with your words: Talk to God. - If you don’t emphasize prayer, you won’t utilize prayer. - You don’t just fall into a good prayer life. The way to develop a deep and intimate prayer life is by working at it! - If you want to honor God with your words: Talk about God. - Everyone has a message...what’s yours? What do you talk about the most? - If every word you spoke in the last week was printed out in a packet for a stranger to read, how long would it take for them to realize that you love Jesus? Would they read about the gospel? - If you want to honor God with your words: Be wise with your words. - Wisdom w

SUMMARY Can you think of the last time you were hurt by someone else’s words? Every single one of us has been on the receiving end of hurtful words. As we continue our series, Sticks & Stones, Scott Kedersha teaches us about the tongue by teaching through James chapter 3. KEY TAKEAWAYS - The phrase “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me” is a horrendous lie. Words are extremely dangerous and can cause lifelong damage. - No one is perfect in their words...we all stumble, every single one of us. - The tongue is powerful. - The tongue is a small part of the body that has an abnormal influence relative to its size. - The tongue is destructive. - Our words—while they might seem like a small spark—can start a dangerous fire that can burn for a lifetime in someone’s memory. - The tongue is revealing. - The tongue reveals who we really are. It shows what is in our hearts. - What kind of words come out of your mouth? What do they reveal about who you are? - While the tongue is powerful, re

SUMMARY What if all the words you ever said were recorded? If you wore a microphone all the time? What would your words say about you? As we start a new series, Sticks & Stones, Nate Hilgenkamp teaches through Matthew 12:33-37, showing us how much God cares about our words. KEY TAKEAWAYS - When you are all alone your words show who you really are. - However great something’s potential for good is, equal is its potential for evil. - The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit (Proverbs 18:21). - What you plant is what will grow. - Your relationship with your words is similar to your relationship with your bank: you can only withdraw what you have deposited. - Apple seeds make apple trees, and orange seeds make orange trees...there are no exceptions. It’s no different with your heart and your words. What type of seeds are you planting? - You can’t fake what is growing in your heart. - God hears everything you say, so you are only fooling yourself if you think you can hi

SUMMARY God created the earth in the very first verse of the Bible. Do you know what He did immediately after that? As we finish our series, Conflicted, JP talks about our ability and authority as Christians, as well as answers the most common questions we received about conflict. KEY TAKEAWAYS - Ability and authority go hand in hand, and as Christians, we have both when it comes to handling conflict. - Here is the ability for how to handle conflict: See conflict as an opportunity, own your part, know conflict is pressing, overlook a small offense, clearly express your hurt, and when necessary, widen the circle. - Asking for forgiveness should be normative for Christians. - Knowing what to do is often not the problem. It’s the fact that we are scared and care too much about what others think about us. - Right after God created the earth itself, it was formless and empty, so He formed and filled it. - God made mankind in His image and commands us to fill the earth and “subdue it” or form it. - Genesis chapter

SUMMARY Have you ever known the right thing to do but didn’t feel like doing it? Or maybe you did it, but it was begrudgingly and with the wrong heart? What posture should you take when pursuing conflict with others? As we continue our series, Conflicted, JP teaches us how to be balanced when dealing with conflict. KEY TAKEAWAYS - There are so many things that Christians are divided on...there are over 30,000 different denominations in America alone. - You don’t get to pick your biological family, and the same is true of Christianity; Christians are part of God’s family. - To summarize the last two weeks of our series, Conflicted: 1) Change your perspective, see conflict as an opportunity; 2) Own your part; 3) Know conflict is pressing; 4) Overlook a small offense; 5) Clearly communicate your hurt; and 6) Widen the circle. - “Worthy” in Ephesians 4:1-6 is from axios, which is where we get axel and axis. It is something that a structure balances on. Paul is calling us to live with a sense of balance. - Be ba

SUMMARY Have you ever felt stuck in a relationship because of conflict? As we continue our series, Conflicted, JP teaches through Matthew 18:15-17, showing us how to overlook a small offense, clearly express our hurt, and widen the circle. KEY TAKEAWAYS - Whether you realize it or not, conflict affects every single relationship you have, and because God loves you, He has given you everything you need to get through it. - A healthier Harris Creek will have more conflict, not less. - Did you know that Jesus prayed for you? He prayed that you would live in unity with other Christians the same way He and the Father are unified. - As a summary of the first message in our series, Conflicted: See conflict as an opportunity; own your part; and, conflict is pressing...there is an urgency to it. - Overlook a small offense. - Are you more prone to peace-faking or peace-breaking? If faking, you probably need to pursue offenses more. If breaking, you probably need to overlook offenses more. - If you can’t overlook somet

SUMMARY Have you ever been angry with someone before? Had someone who was angry with you? As we start our new series, Conflicted, JP teaches through Matthew 5:21-26, teaching us to change our perspective, own our part, and understand that conflict is pressing. KEY TAKEAWAYS - The way we deal with anger and conflict is what we learned from our home. Are you open to learning a better way? - The first step to deal with conflict is to change your perspective - Conflict is an opportunity to glorify God, be sanctified, and deepen relationships. Avoiding it will not go well with you. - Those who belong to God are peace makers. Not peace fakers or breakers, but peace makers. - All healthy relationships are marked by conflict. Someone who says they never have conflict in relationships does not have real relationships. - When there is conflict in your life you should be marked by urgency to address it. - The second step to deal with conflict is to own your part. - If you are part of the conflict, you have a part in t

SUMMARY: Have you ever felt like life is unfair? Like you didn’t get something that you thought you deserved? As we continue our series, Summer of Stories, Nate Hilgenkamp teaches through the parable of the workers in the vineyard in Matthew 20:1-16. KEY TAKEAWAYS: Like many of His other parables, Jesus starts this one the same way: “The kingdom of heaven is like…” We don’t work to get saved into heaven, but once we are saved, we get to work for the Lord. “Can we be casual in the work of God—casual when the house is on fire, and people are in danger of being burned?” -Duncan Campbell If you are bored with Jesus it’s not because He’s gotten boring. Life in a fallen world doesn’t seem fair, and because we don’t fully understand God and His ways, He doesn’t appear fair either. The true wages of our efforts in life—our sin—is death. The landowner was trying to be as generous as He possibly could…exactly what God does for us. We don’t work in order to receive a reward, we work because we’ve already received our