Recent
Sermons
People of Presence: Prayer Builders
Pastor Andrew Schmidt concludes the sermon series, “People of Presence”. In this message, Pastor Andrew reviews the last several weeks of our Prayer Builders initiative.
Sermon begins at about 43 Minutes
Audio:
You can listen to the sermon below, or you can subscribe to our Celebrators Podcast wherever you listen.
Scripture References:
Things To Remember:
Other Sermon Notes and References:
People of Presence: Intercession (Global Outreach)
Pastor Andrew Schmidt continues the sermon series, “People of Presence”. In this message, Celebrate Church Pastoral Care Pastor Judd Nelson shares about intercession. He focuses on global outreach and the power of prayer. Pastor Andrew emphasizes this point and encourages the church to pray specifically for our global outreach partners.
Sermon begins at about 25 min
Audio:
You can listen to the sermon below, or you can subscribe to our Celebrators Podcast wherever you listen.
Scripture References:
Things To Remember:
Jesus’ tells his disciples to pray: Ask the Lord to send out workers for the harvest. (Matthew 9:38)
Jesus sends his disciple out: As answers to the prayer of workers for the harvest. (Matthew 10:1, 5-8)
Jesus says: Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? What is your answer? (Isaiah 6:8)
Other Sermon Notes and References:
People of Presence: Intimacy
Pastor Andrew Schmidt continues the sermon series, “People of Presence”. In this message, Nicolas Lirio shares about intimacy with the Lord. He focuses on David’s bold approach to God’s presence. Pastor Andrew emphasizes this point and encourages the church to practice both confession and repentance as they approach the Lord.
Sermon begins at 17:40
Audio:
You can listen to the sermon below, or you can subscribe to our Celebrators Podcast wherever you listen.
Scripture References:
Things To Remember:
When we draw close to God, he promises to draw close to us (James 4:8)
God is reaching for us out of his love for the world.
The world system prefers to stay in the darkness rather than be exposed by light.
Confessing Jesus as Savior and Lord helps us draw close to God.
Confessing our sins allows us to draw close to God, rather than remaining in darkness.
Repenting, turning toward God and away from worldliness, helps us draw close to God.
Other Sermon Notes and References:
People of Presence: Intercession
Pastor Andrew Schmidt continues the sermon series, “People of Presence”. In this message, Doug Terpstra shares about the power of praying for others. Pastor Andrew emphasizes this point and encourages the church receive prayer from youth prayer ministers during the service.
Sermon begins at 36:38
Audio:
You can listen to the sermon below, or you can subscribe to our Celebrators Podcast wherever you listen.
Scripture References:
Things To Remember:
Jesus ministered in power. So did his early followers. So can we.
Power was released through Jesus’ words and touch.
Jesus’ ministry wasn’t just powerful, it was personal.
Other Sermon Notes and References:
People of Presence: Imagination
Pastor Andrew Schmidt continues the sermon series, “People of Presence”. In this message, Ali Cranmer shares about imagination, and how important it is to imagine with God. Pastor Andrew emphasizes this point and encourages the church to invite God into our imagination. Ali finishes by leading us through a prayer called The Garden of The Heart Prayer.
Sermon begins at 37:26
Audio:
You can listen to the sermon below, or you can subscribe to our Celebrators Podcast wherever you listen.
Other Sermon Notes and References:
People of Presence: Intercession (Not Giving Up)
Pastor Andrew Schmidt continues the sermon series, “People of Presence”. In this message, Aubrey Schneider begins the sermon with a personal story about prayer intercession. She also shares some takeaways about blessing others. Jon Suntken follows with thoughts on Bamboo trees, and how this mirrors our need to keep praying. Andrew concludes the message with encouragement to pray without ceasing, and to see how God is answering prayers even when we can't see what He is doing.
Sermon begins at 23:48
Audio:
You can listen to the sermon below, or you can subscribe to our Celebrators Podcast wherever you listen.
Scripture References:
Blessing Prayer: Ephesians 3:16-20
Things To Remember:
We are to always pray and not give up. (Luke 18:1)
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise as some understand slowness. (2 Peter 3:9)
God you owe me leads to complaining and a focus on what God is not doing.
God you love me leads to thanksgiving and a focus on what God has done, is doing and promises to do in the future.
Bamboo Plant: Like the Babmoo plant that doesn't break the ground for 4 years and then grows 90 feet in 60 days, God is often at work under the surface in response to our prayers.
3 Things To Do When You Bless Others:
Use their name
Pray scripture
Pray out loud
Other Sermon Notes and References:
“When we move from petition (asking for things for ourselves) to intercession, we are shifting the center of gravity from our own needs to the needs and concerns of others. Intercessory prayer is selfless, even self-giving prayer.”
People of Presence: Intimacy (Nature/Service)
Pastor Andrew Schmidt continues the sermon series, “People of Presence”. This week we focus on intimacy with God. Mike Moats shares with us about how nature is the place where he feels God’s presence most. Andrew continues with the series after, encouraging us to find intimacy with God as we serve others and also as we walk with Him in nature.
Sermon begins at around 35 minutes
Audio:
You can listen to the sermon below, or you can subscribe to our Celebrators Podcast wherever you listen.
Scripture References:
Things To Remember:
Jesus often went alone to pray in nature.
God communicates through nature. We still need His Word and community, but it is spiritually beneficial to connect with His creation.
We experience Jesus's Presence when we serve the least of these.
Other Sermon Notes and References:
He was sinless, and yet he needed prayer. Far be it from us to dream that we can do without it. In private, we must, like our God, equip ourselves for the public battle of life. -Charles Spurgeon
No doubt it was the constant habit of Christ to pray. But there were certain times where He retired into lonely places, and His prayer life was peculiarly fervent and prolonged. -Charles Spurgeon
People of Presence: Intercession (Elders)
Pastor Andrew Schmidt continues the sermon series, “People of Presence”. This week we focus on intercession for the church as a whole body. Celebrate’s Elder Board shares scripture and prayer with us at the end of the message.
Sermon begins at 21:27
Audio:
You can listen to the sermon below, or you can subscribe to our Celebrators Podcast wherever you listen.
Scripture References:
Things To Remember:
The church was born when people accepted the gospel message that Jesus died for our sins, rose from the dead to make a way for eternal life and was exalted into heaven that we could have His Spirit/Presence now.
Believers responded by repenting and being baptized, and devoting themselves to each other every day.
Ephesians shares God’s ideal vision for the church.
We learn that
The church is Jesus’ body and is intended to be filled.
That the church is a temple being built together so he can dwell with them.
The God through his love wants to fill us with His fullness and have his glory dwell in us like it did in Jesus Christ.
God wants to fill his church his body so we can be mature and complete and unified.
We can be filled with God’s Spirit by not being filled with other things and by speaking and singing praise to God.
Other Sermon Notes and References:
People of Presence: Ministering To The Lord
Pastor Andrew Schmidt continues the sermon series, “People of Presence”. We begin with Matt Van Sant, Celebrate’s Worship Ministries Leader, teaching on what it means to minister to the Lord.
Sermon begins at 26:11
Audio:
You can listen to the sermon below, or you can subscribe to our Celebrators Podcast wherever you listen.
Scripture References:
Things To Remember:
Ministering to God:
Extol- to record, to remember
Thank- to thank
Praise- to shine, to rave, to boast
Sermon Notes and References:
God being present everywhere is not the same as God being present somewhere.
A theme throughout the Bible is God desiring to be present in a specific place and time to be with his people.
David was not content with God's Presence being 'there', he wanted it to be 'here' in his midst.
David desires for God's Presence to 'somewhere' matched God's desire. In this way he was a man after God's own heart.
God brought God's Presence with musical worship and maintained his presence with ongoing musical worship.
When we come to worship are we more like Simon the Pharisee evaluating what we think of everything or more like the sinful woman ready to offer what we have to Jesus?
I Chronicles 16:4 Says that David appointed Levites to extol, thank and praise the Lord:
Extol: remember or recount what the Lord has done
Thank: express appreciation for what the Lord has done
Praise: to shine, rave, or boast about the the Lord
People of Presence: Intercession
Pastor Andrew Schmidt continues the sermon series, “People of Presence”. This week he focuses on Luke 5. In the second half of the sermon, Pastor Andrew interviews three leaders of ministries that Celebrate Church partners with. Jennie Koenig, with Pleasantville Youth Initiative, Larissa Van Donselaar, with The Well, and Bruce Crozier, with Crosswalk and Food Pantry.
As you watch or listen to this week’s message, keep in mind it involves space for prayer. We encourage you to participate from wherever you are at.
Sermon begins at 17:40
Audio:
You can listen to the sermon below, or you can subscribe to our Celebrators Podcast wherever you listen.
People of Presence: Intimacy
Pastor Andrew Schmidt begins a new sermon series called, “People of Presence”. Intimacy and intercession are two key ingredients for being People of Presence as God intends. So this fall we are going to explore different ways of drawing close to God and praying for others. Each week we will focus on either Intimacy with God, or Intercession on behalf of others. This week, Andrew is joined by Skip Jackson, who leads us into the sermon, and Camille Schmidt, who teaches on intimacy with God.
Sermon begins at 37:23
Audio:
You can listen to the sermon below, or you can subscribe to our Celebrators Podcast wherever you listen.
Scripture References:
John 15:1-9
Things To Remember:
Intimacy is closeness in relationship that builds over time
Intimacy is costly
Intimacy is exclusive
Intimacy is experience
Sermon Notes and References:
“I feel simply carried along each hour, doing my part in a plan which is far beyond myself. This
sense of cooperation with God in the little things is what so astonishes me, for I never have felt
it this way before. I need something, and turn around to find it waiting for me. I must work, to be
sure, but there is God working along with me.”
“The core task of remaining in Christ is talking to Jesus. I often exchange the phrase “remain in Me” for the phrase “talk to Me” - I use them interchangeably. The Christian life is an ongoing dialogue with a real person. In fact, the essence of Christianity is living in an ongoing dialogue with the most Glorious Man who ever walked the earth. He is fully
God and fully man, and we get to talk to Him! Jesus has much to say to us, but He allows us to set the pace of the conversation. If we start, He will continue the conversation as long as we do. When we stop, He stops and waits until we begin again. He responds in the degree to which we communicate with Him.”