Who Is the Holy Spirit, and Why Does It Matter?

Preached by Pastor Michael Gunn on May 4th, 2008

The Holy Spirit may be the most misunderstood in all of scripture! Is He an energy force? Is He a manifestation of power much like Kali is a manifestation of Shiva in Hinduism? Is the Holy Spirit God, and what does He do? God’s mysteries are amazing, and I think a reminder of His infinite being and our finite minds.
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A People Of Purpose

Preached by Pastor Aaron Youngren on January 27th, 2008

The sum of the entire Bible and the entire gospel is God's glory in Christ. As the church, we are the everyday, practical-yet-incredible demonstration of that good news to the world. As such, our lives and every waking moment are part of a larger purpose; because we are God's people, and God's people have purpose.
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Romans 8:28-39 Living Free in Christ 6 by Mike Gunn

Preached by Pastor Michael Gunn on May 27th, 2007

We are either living according to the “Flesh” (Our self-saving, god-mitigating self), or we are living according to the Spirit (Grace, forgiveness, justification). Our salvation is wholly the work of God in our lives, and not our own mechanisms that often fill in the “Gospel Gaps,” that take place of the real gospel of God’s grace in a person’s life. This is where it all hinges on this doctrine of predestination. Our comfort and hope is in this reality, not our own strength, and religious ways to feel righteous. It simply isn’t up to you, but up to the God “who didn’t spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all.”

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Romans 8:13-27 Living Free in Christ 5 by Mike Gunn

Preached by Pastor Michael Gunn on May 20th, 2007

If we live by the flesh (Our own self saving, self controlling mechanisms) we will die (Spiritually and eternally). Life’s circumstances have a huge bearing on our growth, and how the heat of life’s trials either move us toward God, resulting in repentance, faith and fruit, or move us away from God and toward the thorns that result in our hardened hearts, when we continue to operate in our own self control mechanisms.

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The Unreal Woman: Proverbs 31 by Mike Gunn

Preached by Pastor Michael Gunn on May 13th, 2007

Our culture is a strange one. Depending on what magazine article or book you read, you could be led to believe that children and being a mom are an anathema, and a drain on your lifestyle, or that children are mini-gods to be worshiped and adored every moment of their waking days. Being a mom in today’s world is not an easy task. When we are guilted into trying to be a perfect mom, the task will only become more difficult. Moms need to find their identity and focus from Christ, and join Him in His mission in the world.

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Redeeming the Compass of the Heart by Caleb Mayberry

Preached by Caleb Mayberry on May 6th, 2007

Amongst all our many desires, aspirations, and longings is there any unifying purpose? What does the bible have to say? Do you worship God? Do you treasure God? We were created to worship our Creator. Worship is what we’re called to do.

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Romans 8:1-13 Living Free in Christ 4 by Mike Gunn

Preached by Pastor Michael Gunn on April 29th, 2007

God is more concerned with your motives (Heart) than with your behavior (Actions). Behavior changes can be a mask for the sins of the heart, and changing behavior is not the goal of Christian transformation, loving God with our heart, mind and soul is, and loving our neighbor as a result of that change is certainly the goal of the gospel. So the gospel gives you the ability to change, and the method by which we can identify our real problem (Our desire to be our own gods), but it also goes beyond this to give us the power to change. It is by the power of the Holy Spirit that we change.

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Romans 7:1-25 Living Free in Christ 3 by Mike Gunn

Preached by Pastor Michael Gunn on April 22nd, 2007

Sin’s presence deeply indwells who we are, but it is our transformed nature that can “Mortify” our sin and battle against it motivated by God’s love for us, and empowered by His Holy Spirit to do it. Killing off sin has more to do with knowing who we are and what power exists in us and how imbedded sin is in the human condition than it does using behavioral modification techniques to change the things we do not like about ourselves. Romans 7 gives a picture of the human heart that the principles need to be applied to, while Romans 8 tells us how these principles are to be applied for transformation to be a reality.

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Romans 6:15-23 Living Free in Christ 2 by Mike Gunn

Preached by Pastor Michael Gunn on April 15th, 2007

What does it take to push the “nice” person to the brink of their “true” self? We are all sinful and fall short of the glory of God, and in need of His grace in order to experience life in this life and beyond the grave. Holiness is truly an issue of the heart. It would be easy to judge a person’s “Good works” and say that person is a righteous person, but their heart is far from God.

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Romans 6:1-14 Living Free in Christ 1 by Mike Gunn

Preached by Pastor Michael Gunn on April 8th, 2007

“Should we sin that grace may abound?” It is the clearest teaching in the bible that salvation is from God’s grace and not our actions. Now Paul rhetorically asks that question and some are actually accusing him. Today on the Lord’s Resurrection day, let’s focus on the death, burial and resurrection as the framework for our freedom, and the great hope we have in Christ! Basically, you will be enslaved to something, either God or something else.

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God and Evil by David Kent

Preached by David Kent on February 25, 2007

David speaks to us about God and Evil and how it relates to our world.
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Earthly Kings And Heavenly Messiahs Preached by Aaron Youngren

Preached by Pastor Aaron Youngren on January 21, 2007

If we approach Jesus as merely an earthly king to take care of our earthly wants and desires – if we ignore the needs of our fallen, sinful spirits, and only engage with God as a force for the betterment of our physical circumstance – Jesus will leave us.

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Matthew 2:1-12 The Pagan Witness of the Christ Child by Mike Gunn

Preached by Pastor Michael Gunn on December 24, 2006

Every Christmas reminds us of the pagan nature of the festival , and causes many to question the origins of our own story.
In our passage today we will see the reality of this witness to Pagan wise men who utilized their Pagan means to locate a divine end. God speaks in the midst of heresy because He is a gracious God who sheds His grace upon the wicked and the righteous.

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God is With Us by Michael Gunn

Preached by Pastor Michael Gunn on October 29, 2006

No one in all of history has impacted this world to the degree that this man, Jesus Christ, did and does. Even our calendar reflects His influence: B.C. is before Christ and A.D. (Anno Domini) means “the year of our Lord.” More songs have been sung to Him, more paintings have been painted of Him, and more books have been written about Him than anyone who has ever lived in the history of the world. So the question remains to be answered: who is this Jesus? This is a question asked by Jesus Himself 2000 years ago, and is still being asked today

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Being Missional by Bryan Nelson

Preached by Pastor Bryan Nelson on October 1, 2006

GOD has sent believers to go out and share HIS gift of salvation to all nations to embrace and engage them in their culture. We as believers must be obedient to go and invite and encourage the unchurched in our areas to participate in the gospel story. The Spirit equips us and provides us with opportunities to do HIS will for HIS glory, even when we do not want to. This is worship.

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The Gospel and Social Justice by Mike Gunn

Preached by Pastor Michael Gunn on September 24, 2006

What is the biblical idea of justice? Everyone from movie producers to Marxists have used justice as their mantra. Is justice just another disguise for fascism and bloodshed when your agenda gains power? What could a pacifist like Dr. King mean by his statement “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” ? Does God demand justice, and what does he mean by that? Pastor Tim Keller says, “The way you treat the poor speaks to the reality of how you regard God…And deep social conscious and a life poured out in deeds of service to others, especially the poor, is the inevitable sign of real faith, and real conviction with God.” Justice is very important to God (see Isaiah 1:15-17). The question is, why does God care?

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Part 6, The Gospel and Pluralism by Mike Gunn

Preached by Pastor Michael Gunn on September 17, 2006

The Trinitarian God is the embodiment of unity and diversity, and His creation preaches this reality. Therefore Harambee seeks to intentionally embody a style and ethos that embraces reconciliation and diversity ethnically and culturally.

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Part 5, The Gospel and The People of God by Mike Gunn

Preached by Pastor Michael Gunn on September 10, 2006

Our lives were meant to live with Him in the center, but sin has marred that reality, and we have become an idolatrous people who live with our personal centers. Subsequently we have a world of chaos, and broken relationships, and wars and strife and racism and hatred, simply because we have chosen to deny the reason for our creation and the creator that made us. Salvation is creating a newly constituted humanity in order to "bless the nations." Through one family (Abraham) He built a nation of people, and highlights that story with Moses, the liberator from bondage, which was a precursor to Christ's work on the cross, liberating all men from spiritual oppression creating a newly constituted people of God, who are created to bring His peace not only to the Jewish nation, but to all nations.


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Part 4, The Gospel and Theology: by Mike Gunn

Preached by Pastor Michael Gunn on September 3, 2006

God has definitely left all of humanity with a general witness to His glory and He has also given humanity a specific witness through the incarnation of His Son. Theology (The Truth about God) appears to the skeptical non-believing mind to be irrelevant, or impossible. The postmodern critique of modernism and its belief that truth is absolute to human reason, has discarded the search for the sake of peace only to find out that fragmentation, tribalism and disunity have permeated our “Pluralistic” world. Truth has been relegated to opinions, and critique of opinion has been extricated from our modern world leaving us with a strange “tolerance” that has brought forth more confusion than clarity and harmony. Jesus Christ comes to earth embodying truth that will set us free from the tyranny of sin and point us in the direction of its wisdom and the unity it should bring. Truth is more than an ideal amongst many other ideals that subsequently lead to tyranny, but is a personal reality of the God who created the universe.

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Part 3, The Gospel and Creativity by Mike Gunn

Preached by Pastor Michael Gunn on August 27, 2006

Sin corrupts the beautiful and uses it for our own desires. Our lens becomes foggy; although we aren’t completely devoid of recognizing beauty, we do fail to see that beauty as reflective of a beautiful creator. Thus we become nature “lovers” and not nature “appreciators.” We fail to see any meaningful, eternal purpose behind the things we behold as beautiful; subsequently we see beauty as utilitarian and objects of our own desire.

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The Gospel and its Context (Meaning) by Pastor Mike Gunn

Preached by Pastor Michael Gunn on August 20, 2006

GOD's truth is found in all elements of the culture in which we live. We need to explore the culture to recognize GOD within that culture. Just as Paul used the secular writers of his day to give meaning to their culture through the Gospel (Acts 17).

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Worship: The Gospel And Purpose by Aaron Youngren

Preached by Aaron Youngren on August 13, 2006

The Bible clearly shows us that worship is what man was created for. Mankind never acts without purpose or without direction. He is always worshipping one thing or another. The Bible speaks of the worship of man as a set of binary options – either man worships God or he worships something else. When he worships something other than God, it is called idolatry.

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One Foot in Heaven: by Justin Trondson

Preached by Justin Trondson on August 6, 2006

Justin Trondson takes us through the scriptures to remind us of our Heavenly goal and focus for this life through the curse and into GOD's glory.

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The Centrality of the Gospel @ Harambee by Pastor Mike Gunn

Preached by Pastor Michael Gunn on July 30, 2006

The Gospel is God’s inbreaking into human culture in order to transform it and redeem it for His Glory! Harambee exists to know and worship God by enjoying Him and joining Him in His mission to take His whole story, to the whole person, in the whole world, equipping those that respond to do God’s will and enjoy Him forever!

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Rising From the Dark Night of the Soul Part 2: by Pastor Mike Gunn

Preached by Pastor Michael Gunn on July 23, 2006

Biblical joy can be found in the midst of our pain, when we turn to God even when we don’t “feel like it.” Many can see this as a crutch, which it is, since we are told to lean not on our own understanding, .” We have become a people of entitlement, and believe the lie that life should produce feelings of euphoria, whereas the bible teaches that we live in a fallen world, where death, corruption, war, and disease rule. Sin has taken its toll on humanity, and our mental health is in a state of disarray because of it.

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Rising From the Dark Night of the Soul Part 1: by Pastor Mike Gunn

Preached by Pastor Michael Gunn on July 16, 2006

There is no doubt that life is suffering. Jesus Himself said that, “In this world you have tribulation,” but “In Me you may have peace.” The truth is that it can be painful, and there often seems that there is no cure. I believe that the problem is complicated and conjoined with the biblical notion of sin, which is tamed but not eradicated in the hearts of humanity.

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Doing Justice

Preached by Guest Speaker Rudy Carrasco on Sunday May 21, 2006

Rudy is the executive director of Harambee Ministries in Pasadena, CA, (where we get our name from). He shared with us his vision and encouragement for doing justice.

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Finding Significance as Mothers in Christ: by Pastor Mike Gunn

Preached by Pastor Mike Gunn on Sunday May 14, 2006

Going to the bible to find a Mother’s Day sermon is like going to ‘Moby Dick’ to find a manual on whale hunting. That’s not the intent of the book! All too often Mother’s Day sermons are sentimentally slanted to a hero mom or a perfect Proverbs 31 woman that do nothing more than make many women feel either inadequate or prideful. The bible presents the gospel of Jesus Christ, and how our significance and joy is to be found in Christ, and I very much want all of our moms to feel and be significant, which can only result from a healthy understanding of the gospel, and the significance we have in Him and His mission here in the world. Otherwise we dangerously make our families into idols, and a false “Hope” which is misplaced and most often damaging to our families. Our passage today sees Jesus redefining the family as those who do His will, and I do believe the best thing for our families and our mothers is to be in the center of that will

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Philippians 2:1-11

Preached by Caleb Mayberry on Sunday April 9, 2006

Everyone has self-interest; we are always aiming to promote our well-being. However, there are two kinds of self-interest: one in which we promote our well-being through selfishness, and one in which we promote our well-being through our interest in others. The problem with the church of Philippi was that they were leaning toward the selfish self-interest, and as such were not as united as Paul wanted.

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Radical Generosity

Preached by Pastor Mike Gunn on Sunday March 19, 2005

We are taking another week hiatus from our Hebrews series to discuss the state of the church as well as the vision of the church. Our church, which is a little over three years old, has grown from a small amount of people to nearly two hundred people that call Harambee home.

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Who Are You in Jesus Christ?

Preached by Pastor Brad Sessler on Sunday March 12, 2006

Pastor Brad reminds us of who we are in Christ, and the significance of this on our lives.

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The Sustaining Gift of Good Works: John 4:1-42

Preached by Deacon Aaron Youngren on Sunday March 5, 2006

We’ve been seeing in Hebrews that none of the things that we do – our actions and our good works – can bring us closer to God. We’ve all fallen from perfection, and permanently separated ourselves from Him. There is absolutely nothing we can do to make up for the wrongs that we have done and restore us to right relationship to God. What we’re going to ask today is, where does that leave us with regards to good works? The Bible does instruct in them. Indeed, one might say that the Bible tells us that good works are the essence of the life of a redeemed child of God. So what are we to make of good works, this essential part of our living?

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Ephesians 1:3-14

Preached by Caleb Mayberry on Sunday January 22, 2006

Many Christians can remember a time when they were “on-fire” for God.  They were passionately in love in God, but somewhere along the line, things changed.  They may still attend church and bible studies, but they have lost the fire, the thirst, and the zeal for seeking God passionately.  Our praise and worship becomes more superficial and less heart felt.  We have lost our first love.  In Ephesians Paul is addressing a church that suffers from the same problem.  Paul’s response to the Ephesians is an encouragement for us to remember who God is and what He has done for us, so that we may rekindle the joy we once had and praise and glorify God with a sincere heart.

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New Beginnings 2 Corinthians 5:17

Preached by Pastor Mike Gunn on January 1, 2006

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What If God Was One Of Us? Part 2

Preached by Pastor Mike Gunn on Friday December 24, 2005 (Christmas Eve)

Last week we looked at three questions regarding Christ’s incarnation. Those questions dealt with the significance of Jesus’ name, the uniqueness of His incarnation, and the power of His example (Incarnation) for us as a church. Tonight I want us to take a deep look at the importance of the incarnation.

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What If God Was One Of Us? Part 1

Preached by Pastor Mike Gunn on December 18, 2005

Every Christmas Season it gets harder and harder to do a Chrismas Message here in the United States. If you've been in church long enough, you have heard so many messages, and they all seem to blend into one after awhile. I think the reason it is so hard is not becuase the topic is so mundane, but that we have profaned it with layered mythology, neutering the majesty of the season

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Luke 7:36-50 Salvation As A Surprise Ending

Preached by Deacon Aaron Youngren

When was the last time you were as moved by the Gospel of Christ as by a film? Will we ever see Christ? Do we come to Christ simply because it’s our fate? What makes a real surprise ending? Deacon Aaron Youngren reflects on these questions and more as he goes through Luke 7:36-50.
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Harambee Church Sermon Podcasts

Sermons preached at Harambee are now available on itunes.
From itunes, simply click on Podcasts in the Source pane on the left, then click on Podcast Directory at the bottom, then type in Harambee Church in the Search Music Store bubble in the top right and hit enter. Now select the link for Harambee Church. A list of available podcasts should appear below.