Harbor Rock Tabernacle
Religion & Spirituality
About
Sermons from Harbor Rock Tabernacle in Racine, WI. We are a nondenominational, evangelical church, called to reach all people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Our pastor is Paul Rhoads. We invite you to listen and be encouraged!
Episodes
- Episode 777: A Beautiful DIchotomy
A warning given by the Lord to an evil city 3200 years ago has implications for us today, in how it gives us a full picture of the Lord. It's uncomfortable but important to remember that the Lord is the Holy One Who has to judge sin, becau…
- Episode 776: The Last Loaf
When you have a crisis or trial, do you get despondent and give up, or deepen your dependence on the Lord. An unbelieving widow in 1 Kings 17 endured three painful tragedies, but when the prophet Elijah called her to seemingly unreasonable…
- Episode 776: Doubling Down On A Debacle
Often we people help us, we infer negative ulterior motives that aren't true. This can lead us to unnecessarily alienate relationships. When we realize our mistake, it's far better to apologize and seek forgiveness, unlike a man named Hanu…
- Episode 776: Offsetting The Opposition
Spiritual and psychological attack is a fact of life for every believer. In the life of King Hezekiah, we see a strong response: Doing what is right in the Lord's sight, tearing down "idols" and clinging to the Lord in faith. The Lord resp…
- Episode 775: The Cost
Hebrews 12 reminds us to look at the example of faith filled believers who went before us, keeping our full attention on Jesus, and guarding against falling back. David failed to protect his heart twice--and when he proudly took an u…
- Episode 774: Dealing With The Fallout
After Jesus ascended to heaven, it finally may have hit the disciple how awful Judas' betrayal--to Jesus and them. When our trust is broken by someone, it can make us question our judgment and hinder trust going forward. But the disc…
- Episode 773: Rolled Away
It is shocking that no one was there when Jesus walked out of the tomb, alive...having defeated sin and death forever. This happened even though the disciples and crowd and Pharisees all knew the convincing truth that He was the Son of God…
- Episode 773: Loud SIlence
When someone is sentenced to death, an innocent person will cry out for justice, and a guilty person will seek mercy. Jesus was innocent, but He chose to satisfy His justice by offering us mercy. He wasn't killed--the Bible says He laid do…
- Episode 772: Only One Voice Matters And Only One Is Worthy
When Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, there was alot of noise in the city. But one moment of quiet was when Mary anointed Jesus' feet with oil--which bred alot of criticism from those who didn't understand the moment. Jesus said to…
- Episode 772: Under No Illusions
Often when our mind faces warfare, the enemy pushes doubt, fear and frustration instead of faith, confidence and hope. This breeds disillusionment, which is a wrong perception based on what we thought should happen. When we realize that th…
- Episode 771: Position Of Strength
It's an awesome truth that a believer has the equipping power of the Holy Spirit to be strong at all times--even in trial and difficulty. After they had settled in the Promised Land, Israel chose to not fully live in the Lord's strength, b…
- Episode 770: The Boy In The Corner
A scene of a boy isolated from others at a grade school prompts us to weigh the importance of community in our walk, because we all crave it and need it. But it's more than just fitting in. Each of us has a calling to be fully integrated a…
- Episode 770: Prepared For Action
As believers, we trust with confidence in the awesome work of Jesus Christ to save, redeem and cleanse us from sin. But the enemy constantly attacks our thinking to try to undermine our faith. Peter knew that testing, so he calls us to be…
- Episode 769: In This Corner...
The Bible teaches about freedom & victory--as believers, there's no latitude to be despondent and defeated, because the Lord has provided everything we need to live abundantly. The Israelites didn't believe that when they heard the bad…
- Episode 768: 24 Hours In Jericho
On His way to Jerusalem and the cross, Jesus met two men in Jericho who both experienced deep insecurity, because of physical, relational, emotional and spiritual inadequacies. Marginalized by the people around them, it would have be…
- Episode 768: Hijacked
As we are inundated by the "hollow and vain philosophies" of the world, we must be careful not fall into the temptation to accept as "normal" what is contrary to God's Word, because studies show that the vast majority of believers don't ev…
- Episode 768: A New Way Of Thinking
The Bible defines a sharp contrast between a redeemed and transformed mind, and one still stuck in sin and self. Before salvation, we walked in "futility of mind", but after, we are given a new mind. Now, we are called to choos…
- Episode 767: Walking Into The Wilderness
Proverbs 23 says our character, actions & faith are determined by our thoughts--which can be damaging or strong. So the enemy pushes the narrative that when we go through difficulty, the Lord must be uncaring or insufficient, and we sh…
- Episode 766: 2 Sides Of Forgiveness
We've all hurt multiple times in relationships, affecting our self-worth, sense of security, emotional and mental health and often even our faith and worldview. But when we are the offender, do we show ourselves more grace and latitude tha…
- Episode 765: Daring Requests
When Paul wrote to the Ephesian believers, he praised their knowledge of theology but was concerned about their soft gratitude and weak application of what they believed, especially in the face of opposition and difficulty. His prayer that…
- Episode 764: Looking Back In Advance
The Bible says there are "ancient paths" that bring rest to our souls--marked by repentance, faith, fear of God and love for the Lord. As we start a new year with anticipation of a fresh work of the Lord, it's vital to intentionally apply…
- Episode 764: Three Angles To Truth
In 2 Chronicles 18, three men in the same situation deal with one truth from different angles because of their varied convictions. Truth doesn't provide latitude for subjectivity, even though the enemy is trying to couch it as relative and…
- Episode 764: The Perfect Gift
When we give and receive presents, it may not be what we were expecting and we are disappointed, or sometimes, it is wonderful and exceeds what we could have hoped. The people who were there during the birth of Jesus had four different exp…
- Episode 764: Cleaning Up The Mess
The historical account surrounding Jesus' birth contains change, discomfort, struggle, stretching of faith, uncertainty and alteration of plans. It was messy socially, relationally, emotionally and physically--a metaphor for the impurity c…
- Episode 764: Hidden In Plain SIght
In the genealogy list preceding the account of Jesus' birth, there's not one mention of sin, judgment, the cross or resurrection, repentance or salvation. And yet, it points us directly to Jesus and the Gospel. It details people who…
- Episode 763: 15 Years: Testimonies
As we celebrate 15 years as a church, we praise the Lord for His kindness and faithfulness, and members of the congregation share how He has worked in their lives and through Harbor Rock. Video of this service is also available: …
- Episode 762: Loud Faith
If our faith has enough power and influence to move mountains and heal people, what are we doing about it? And who is actively being impacted by it? Even though they were young believers with little training in a carnal, polytheistic cultu…
- Episode 761: In A New Light
In a time when there is a drastic drop in faith in the U.S., we have to examine how well we are living in the Light of the Gospel and making sure it is emanating from our lives. Rather than it being only perceptible in certain situations,…
- Episode 760: The Right Fit
We often make presumptive evaluations on who a person is, what their values are and whether we want to know them based on their appearance and clothing, because clothing impacts our identity. So it's important that when Jesus returned to h…
- Episode 759: Buying More Time
"Losing" an hour on our clocks this weekend gets us thinking about the value of time and how we use it. Most of us would change a few major decisions if we could travel back in time, even knowing it would transform our current life. Hindsi…
- Episode 758: The Best Request
There is a four word phrase in the Lord's Prayer that not only embodies the mindset for prayer, but also for everything in our life as believers. Humbly and sincerely asking for the Lord's will to be done shows our desire to see the world…
- Episode 757: What, Why And Who?
Living as a disciple necessitates that our faith, conviction and commitment are unwavering, so at times, the Lord needs to test our faith. The disciples learned this in a familiar but out of control situation, and their initial response wa…
- Episode 756: And This Is Love...
There is one word which sums up the heart, nature and purpose Christianity. Jesus said love is the defining mark of His disciples, and described and modelled this love as selfless, sacrificial and unconditional. We're called not only to lo…
- Episode 755: Skin Condition
After Jesus called Matthew to follow Him, the former tax collector gathered some of his friends to have dinner with Jesus. The proud, self-righteous religious leaders were shocked and offended that Jesus would associate with sinners,…
- Episode 754: A Quiet Threat
Studies show that the new cultural epidemic is loneliness. Younger generations especially are feeling overwhelmed and detached, craving authentic community and connection. The author of Hebrews detailed the solution for this: To faithfully…
- Episode 753: Too Many Open Tabs
Many of us find our minds cluttered by information, e-mails, texts and social media, but all our scrolling often indicates a deeper desire for connection, validation and inspiration. Our greatest hunger is for spiritual meaning, so we have…
- Episode 752: Private Ceremony
The shocking and tragic events of the week remind us that the enemy is attacking the Lord and our confidence and strength. This is designed to diminish God's Word, incite doubt in the Lord, defame HIs character and destroy HIs plans. Part…
- Episode 751: Getting The Point
Who do we do, and what do we learn, when we're in a struggle that we know is both spiritual warfare and a spiritual education from the Lord? The apostle Paul faced this after an amazing supernatural experience, when the Lord allowed a "tho…
- Episode 750: Surfaces
There is a subtle but pervasive internal attack on our mind and convictions, to pressure us not to outwardly bear fruit in our worldview, words, actions and witness. In this attack, we are enticed to build the foundation of our faith on wh…
- Episode 749: Route Running
As believers, the Lord calls us to "run with endurance" as we live for Him and deal with spiritual warfare and a world that opposes Him. Thankfully, He has already guaranteed us safety, freedom, a new nature and victory through Jesus Chris…
- Episode 748: No Regrets
Regret is one of the most powerful emotions, and can weaken us and wear us down in multiple ways. Jesus taught this by referring to Lot's wife, whose regret was marked by proximity to, and permissiveness about, sin. Aslo, because reg…
- Episode 747: The Greatest Thing
When Jesus gave the two greatest commandments, the call to love our neighbor as ourself is intricately linked to loving the Lord with all our heart. If we love the Lord well, it is certain we will love others well...but the opposite is als…
- Episode 745: Critical Review
When a man named Nathaniel first heard about Jesus, he was skeptical--simply based on the fact that Jesus was from Nazareth. But he quickly became convinced Jesus was the Messiah once he realized that Jesus had seen him and knew who he was…
- Episode 744: Getting The Right DIrection
A challenging aspect of living for the Lord is waiting for, understanding and being content with HIs direction. We tend to want immediate clarity and gratification, but faith, humility, patience, prayer and sacrifice are the means to disce…
- Episode 743: Holding Back The Water
An example of a failure in building a backyard hockey rink has strong parallels to a verse in Proverbs that warns that the beginning of strife is like letting out water...so we need to abandon the quarrel before it happens. This caus…
- Episode 743: Do Nothing
In pointing us to the example of Jesus Christ, Philippians 2 is very direct in commanding us to "do nothing from selfishness, but in humility regard one another as more important than yourselves". This calls us to confront the seemingly lo…
- Episode 742: The Power Of The Spirit
The Holy Spirit is given as a gift to all believers, but how fully do we open up and ask for His ownership and empowering of our lives? 3 of HRT's elders teach how the Spirit fills us to carry out our calling, with streams of living water…
- Episode 741: Fake ID
Often, we make important decisions based on what we're feeling in the moment, but that can allow hurt and disillusionment to dictate a new reality in our mind. Naomi fell into this thinking after experiencing heartbreaking personal loss, b…
- Episode 741: In The House
A man named Obed-edom was unexpectedly put in the challenging position of housing the Ark of the Covenant after the tragic death of Uzzah. Having the literal presence of the Lord in his living room was a serious, intimidating assignment, b…
- Episode 740: Don't Widen The Plate
Looking at the significance of world events and changes to our culture, the apostle Paul's statement in Romans 13 that "the day is near" reminds us that Christ can return at any moment. So as believers, we are called to holiness--cas…