My vision for Biblical Worship at Harvest is to encourage, develop, and raise up true worshippers who worship the Triune God in spirit and truth within all aspects of life; that we might be a people who grow in our understanding of God and respond by making much of Him with our lives not just music....
Rob Maxey was a friend to as many people as he could meet. He was tireless in his service in God's Kingdom, relentless in his pursuit of teenagers for the sake of Jesus, and abounding in hope and joy and love that came from a heart captivated by the good news that Jesus forgives sinners and changes lives for eternity. He is and will be deeply missed. ...
So many questions, so little time! We had over 30 questions come in on Sunday morning during our services, and of course we couldn’t get to all of them from the front. But, we can provide some brief answers to the ones that didn’t get mentioned, and that’s what we are doing here. The goal is not an exhaustive answer, but helpful, direct, biblical answers. And, we provide links to reliable sources where possible because many of these questions already have good answers....
At Harvest, "walking with Christ" is the process by which you consistently grow as a disciple in community, growing in your love for Jesus and other people. Being a disciple is never a one-person show....
You were created to worship. There isn’t a single soul on this planet who isn’t wired this way. We are all worshipers. The question is simply who or what you worship. People can deny God exists all they want, but far from denying His existence, they prove his existence as they live out a life of worship. ...
"Meditation" is a popular practice for many people, yet also a confusing one for many Christians. Is it OK to meditate like other people do, seeking to cleanse or empty the mind of all distractions, worries, burdens, etc? Is meditation spoken of in the Bible similar to that, or altogether different?...
There’s no denying that we each come to the Bible with our own presuppositions, biases and assumptions, and there are a slew of contributing factors. So when you come to God’s word, your commitment must be to let the Bible say what it says and mean what it means even if it changes the way you’ve always thought about it......
Every presidential election season seems to create a feeling of "When will this be over?" by the time we are all actually voting. We've heard about candidates for years already in some cases, then we hear from their "camps" every day for months and months, then we hear from candidates themselves incessantly down the home stretch. This race feels, to me, to be more polarizing than any I've seen in my relatively brief 32 years of life......
Anniversary celebrations bring perspective and expectation. Perspective of what’s God has done and expectation about what another year of walking with the Lord will produce in our hearts, in our church, and in our community. Our third anniversary has once again prompted both. People have asked me, “three years ago, is this where you expected to be?” And it’s difficult to answer that question. ...
How could I encapsulate the top 3 lessons learned in the past 3 years at Harvest? Answer: I can’t. So, I’m ditching the idea of “top” 3 lessons, and instead want to put forward the following 3 lessons that we’ve learned at Harvest. There have just been too many lessons to count, some more significant than others. But for your consideration…...
I believe there is so much that God has in store for us, but were I to sum up all that the Lord has impressed upon my heart for this upcoming year of ministry, I could summarize the focus in two words: All in! This is our theme for the year. If we’re to be the type of church that I believe God is calling us to be, it’s going to start with each and every person committing to being “All in.” This year, we’re going to get off the fence of mediocrity. We’re going to stretch ourselves beyond our levels of comfortability. We’re going to establish a clear focus on the right priorities. And we’re going to be sold out for Jesus unreservedly. ...
As I reflect back on 3 years of ministry at Harvest, my heart is overwhelmed with thankfulness. Were I to speak of every form of thankfulness that has welled up in my heart, I would likely never stop writing. So in light of three years of ministry, I wanted to speak of my thankfulness in 3 ways......
The Trinity is one of the most complex and mysterious Christian doctrines, but there is certainly a strong Biblical basis for this concept. The foundational idea is that God is one God who eternally exists in three persons. Bruce Ware summarizes it well when he writes......
For the better part of a year, we will be studying the book of Mark together and the series title is Discipleship Defined. In light of the mission and the momentum God has been building in our church, I felt that it would be essential to define what our mission is again, which is glorifying God by making disciples. If you were to poll an assortment of Christians and ask them about discipleship, I believe......
I have at many times in my life following Jesus been frustrated by my feelings. It is sadly not an unusual thing to go a few days doing very well, and then for no apparent reason the next day is hard, unmotivated, and just lame. I've slogged through many days hoping to become more chipper merely as time passes, but to no avail. I try praying and even get very honest with G...
Keep ReadingHarvest is changing its method of online giving. This is a move that will save the church money and make an already good accountability system into an even better one. Online Giving is a convenient way to give, and can be set up for recurring automatic donations so you do not need to worry about forgetting, particularly during busy summer months. That being said, it is imp...
Keep ReadingWhen you look at 2 Cor 8:1-7, the word grace appears 4 times in 7 verses. Grace is so connected to the context of giving that all acts of generosity should be viewed as an extension of God's grace from you to others. Paul had spent several years organizing an offering among the Gentile churches for the poor saints in Jerusalem because the church was populated by pilgrims, ...
Keep ReadingSunday was a very special day for us in the history of our church. Perhaps the best way to describe Sunday was that it acted as a church graduation of sorts. Being a church plant, the question many people ask is when will Harvest go from a church plant to a church. I proposed that Sunday was that day because we officially became an autonomous church in every way with the i...
Keep ReadingDuring a British conference on comparative religions, experts gathered from around the world to discuss whether Christianity truly had a distinguishing feature that set itself apart from all other world religions. The debate went on for a while until C.S. Lewis heard the topic and said, "Oh, that's easy. Grace." No other world religion has a God of grace. Grace is stunning...
Keep ReadingGood news! Harvest Bible Chapel Sacramento is rolling out another way to stay connected and learn from God's Word. We're starting this blog in order to address more key issues and help folks become better disciples of Jesus Christ. Here's some of the kind of content you can expect from the blog: Pastoral updates about matters in the life of HBC Sacramento Thoughts about ...
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