Blog - Heartland Community Church

Is God...?

Ever wondered, "Is God loving?" "Is God just?" "Is God real?" These are the questions that skeptics, seekers, and curious minds have pondered for ages. To complicate matters, the most grandiose claims about God's character don't come from people of faith. They come from the mouth of God himself! This brand-new teaching series takes seriously the statements God makes about himself and seeks to understand how we harmonize the existence of such a great God with the reality of living in such a harsh world.

Live A Life That Tells A Story

What story is your life telling?

HEARTLAND

What God started in the basement of a Johnson County home way back in 1986 is still alive and growing through us today. Over the next four weeks, you’ll be introduced to the heartbeats of Heartland as we celebrate the past and look to the future, together!

In Wilderness

Life can leave us confused, lonely and spent. Where is God in seasons like this? We believe God is present and protecting us in the hard and the joy filled seasons. We just need to learn how to locate him in the hard and orient ourselves to his presence.

Instructables

Words To Live By from the Proverbs

The Good Life

Too often, we think of “the good life” as floating down a lazy river with the sunset in front of us and a cocktail in our hand. Jesus has a lot to say about what a full life looks like. In this series out of the book of Luke, we’ll see moments where Jesus describes his version of the good life, and how we can finally find all that our hearts long for.

Finding Home

What do you do when this world leaves you feeling homeless? That was the case for the first followers of Jesus, whose faith left them feeling socially, politically and economically homeless. This question is answered in the example of the first Jesus followers, whose faith in Jesus caused them to be exiled from their homelands. They were encouraged by Peter to double down on the hope of the good news Jesus brought, and bless the world that doesn’t bless them. In this way, their very lives would proclaim the holy hope of heaven, our true home.

Kick The Habit

Ignite purpose and invite God's power into your life through a month of intentional habit building.

Someday At Christmas

Double Or Nothing

Where is God asking you to double down? What do you do when you can't see into the future but you have to take a step?

Quick To Listen

Who doesn’t like being right and winning arguments? As social media rants and combative conversations become more frequent, is it possible to stop talking past one another and find understanding? This 3-part series will look to the practical wisdom of scripture to show us how to talk about things that matter with the people we disagree with, in healthy and grace-filled ways.

It Brings Me Joy

Joy isn’t happiness, it’s a deeper, more enduring emotion. You can be happy your team won the game today, but they might lose tomorrow and your happiness will be gone. But win the championship, you have joy forever. Joy has a deeper grounding, something sustaining . . . joy is even possible in hard situation. But, how do you get joy? What brings YOU joy?

The Family of Jesus

Asking For A Friend

Your friends say more about the direction and quality of your life than you think. In this series we’re talking about the importance of meaningful friendships and how to be the friend we all need to have.

Greatest of All Time: Promises

A teaching series highlighting some of the greatest promises ever made by God in the Bible. What is your greatest promise of all time?

Restore My Soul

MINDFULL

Sometimes life has us tied up in knots. Not just with a busy schedule or complex relationships, but internally… how we think and feel. Anxiety, stress, depression, and conflict are normal challenges we all face. So how can we love God fully when our minds are already full? This new five-week teaching series will help us each become mindful of our mental health as we follow Jesus.

TELL ME WHY

Even Jesus asked why. God’s incredible plan brought purpose out of pain. While Jesus' pain on the cross was incomparable - he shouldered separation from God with the purpose of our being close to God - we see that there was a purpose to the pain, he was ending the reign of sin over the world he loves. Jesus finds Mary in her pain and sorrow and surprises her with new life. She wasn’t looking for a resurrected Jesus, but Jesus changed her purpose and changed her life. Eventually Jesus appears to his disciples, who were hiding in the upper room of a house. The power of the resurrection wasn’t immediately clear to them - they were still afraid of what the Romans would do to them, not realizing that Jesus had already conquered the very thing they were afraid of - death.

ALL ACCESS

Jesus doesn’t have a scheduling assistant, secret handshake, or personal security detail. His life and his home are all open to whoever would simply come to him. In fact, he not only welcomes us to himself, he wants us to be with him! And when we do accept his invitation, we find that he gives us everything he has and holds nothing back.

BRING YOUR DOUBTS

Childlike faith doesn’t always translate into an adult-capable faith. In fact, many of the experiences we have cause us to question and doubt the foundations of our faith in God. A child dies. A relationship is lost. A tragedy strikes. Church people act hypocritically. Where do we go with our doubts? What does unsettled doubt mean for the Jesus Follower? Some of Jesus’ closest followers experienced doubt, even after the resurrection, and in bringing their doubt to Jesus, they found more of his presence and saw with clearer eyes his new life. Doubt is often a vehicle toward deeper faith.

PREPARE HIM ROOM

Amid all our holiday traditions and preparations, nothing quite matches the feeling of making space for our far away family members to spend time with us. The world was awaiting the arrival of God’s chosen king, and prophets told the people to “get ready and prepare.” Today, we don’t need to wait to receive Jesus into our lives, but we’re always making space to enjoy more of our relationship with Jesus, finding that it’s actually him who has prepared us room in his father’s home.

GRATITUDE

Jesus, help me to see what I've been given. To see what I am giving. To see what I am spending. To see what I am missing. Help remove my blurry view of myself, how I see the world, and how I see you.

MONUMENTAL

What do we do with the larger-than-life dreams we feel God has given us? For generations, God’s people have created a legacy of doing hard things, of leading the way in caring for the community, and demonstrating the greatness of our God. We’ve accomplished more together than we ever could apart, despite many hardships and difficulties. The story of Nehemiah shows us the power and potential of pursuing our God-sized dreams - when we start with God’s heart, see how he’s positioned us, and use our resources to bless others - it’s then that God turns our obstacles into opportunities, and our problems into monumental victories.

Ancient Paths

Jesus came offering us a relationship with him. But relationships get hard, and sometimes we get...stuck. Whether it’s finding the time, going deeper, or just learning the ropes of this relationship, we stop moving forward. Sometimes what’s worked in the past doesn’t work as well as it did, so we try harder, get tired and eventually give up. Fortunately, Jesus is always inviting us forward and he doesn’t leave us on our own to figure it out. In fact, during his time on earth he showed us ways we can do this. Join in as we explore what many call the “practices” of a life with Jesus. We’ll be learning from him the rhythms we can work into our days and weeks to experience more of God’s presence so we can live more fully for him. Whether it’s time reading the Bible, praying, or even resting, we’ll learn how these things become rhythms that bring life and growth to our relationship with God. Let’s pause in this season to learn how to move forward in the most important relationship we have.

Ready For More

Jesus is always inviting us to experience more of himself, not less. More grace. More purpose. More freedom. More life. As we emerge from this pandemic year – as restrictions loosen, as living rooms and offices and stadiums fill up, as the world begins to move again – we’ve been given an opportunity to not settle for the way our lives, our world, our church and our relationships with God were before the pandemic, but to pursue something more…something better…something richer. How do we make the most of this opportunity? By hearing Jesus’s invitations to experience more of his promises as we move into a Jesus -first life.

Here For It

Join us as Dan Jacobsen, our new Leadership and Teaching Pastor, shares his story alongside God's story and casts a vision of what the posture, "I'm here for it!" looks like in our lives.

The Journey Between

Ever felt caught between moments? Between what has been, what is, and what could be? The in-between space of waiting, hoping you have the endurance to keep moving? Us too! This series will meet us in The Journey Between God’s promise and that promised land, whatever it may be for you and I.

The Journey Between will explore lessons we can take from the life of Abraham, a guy living in the land between God’s promise and the promised land. His journey is full of waiting, walking into the unknown, side-stepping out of fear, overreaching for lack of faith, and working mightily to build his life on the sure foundation of a relationship with God in the midst of the struggle.

If you need encouragement in the everyday, or in the midst of the struggle, these messages will speak to you. Together, we will put one foot in front of the other, taking the next right step toward God as we learn to trust in him and follow with endurance. We may struggle on the journey, but we can rest assured that God does his best work in between the promise and the promised land.

Easter at Heartland

LAST WORDS OF JESUS

Join us in a journey into the heart of Jesus as we explore his last words on the cross. These timeless messages speak to us, to our lives today. Lean in close...and consider what Jesus might be saying to you through his words of hope and encouragement. He will speak to us in the common struggles we all experience . . . hopelessness, loneliness, guilt, suffering, defeat and uncertainty.

INTERIOR DESIGN

As a culture, we are obsessed with making home improvements - fixing things up, DIY projects, and fresh interior design. The pandemic has only heightened our improvement frenzy. Just as it takes hard, focused work and resources to improve our physical spaces, it requires equally hard, intentional work to improve our interior design - the social, emotional, spiritual and mental spaces in us that help us relate intentionally with the world around us. The holiday season and turn to a new year sparks for many the acute awareness that we are in need of improvement in our interior, and in our closest relationships. Most of us don't feel like we have the tools, knowledge, or resources to provide DIY fixes in our personal and relational world. We could all benefit from an increase of personal awareness, a change in perspective, a nudge to get outside of ourselves. We believe God's guidance, laid out for us in the Bible, offers timeless tools and tips on how to improve our inner lives, and in turn strengthen our relationships with those around us.

LOOKING BACK: Christmas at Heartland

Ever thought about the perspective of the other people involved in the birth of Jesus? What was their perspective of this “global event” experienced that first Christmas through the arrival of Jesus. God in the flesh. The incarnation. How did Jesus’ birth impact their lives? How did it change their trajectory? And - how does Jesus’ birth impact our lives today, making sense of our past, and setting the trajectory for our future? Join us as we strengthen our faith by looking back and seeing where God has met us and changed our paths. Christmas means that God is present with us in the difficulty and celebration of every season, and we look forward to both the encouragement and the challenge as we conclude 2020 together!

LOVE ALWAYS HOPES

Join us Sunday, November 29 with Dylan Mortimer. Dylan will be sharing his incredible journey of living with cystic fibrosis, receiving TWO double lung transplants, and engaging people worldwide with his art, his faith, and his message . . . love always hopes.

LOOKING UP: It Is In God We Trust

As we each navigate a country--and even homes, neighborhoods and workplaces--that are deeply divided, we are reminded that when we look up, God's call is to trust first, only and ever in him. Through this series we will navigate the Jesus first life and the call to pray for unity, for all people, and for God to transform us as we follow him.

NEW THING: A Heartland Manifesto

REVOLUTIONARY

What does it look like, to live in light of the gospel? To live out the revolutionary call of Jesus to love Him first, and then love others as you love yourself? We believe that living the Jesus first life wholeheartedly today would be revolutionary. It would change our homes, our neighborhoods, our workplaces and our communities, if everyone could learn to love & lead like Jesus did.

In Acts, Jesus’ call to the first church was revolutionary in their time . . . and it continues to be today. The call is to declare our faithfulness to Jesus alone. Not to manmade places, structures or ideas . . . Paul’s invitation on his missionary journeys was so revolutionary precisely because Jesus’ message & movement was for Everyone. Every human. Regardless of where they came from, or what they looked like. Jesus’ first followers made space, for building relationships, that made Jesus first – and our world has never been the same.

You and I have a role to play. We are commanded to not hold back in pursuing that role of making Jesus’ voice the loudest, most caring, life changing voice in the room. How can we be a people . . . a community . . . that changes the world one person, one place, one conversation at a time? How can we be a people that trusts in the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit to lead the way forward? What might our courageous next steps be into living out the Jesus first life?

ROOTED: Encountering God Through Psalms

The Psalms are many things. Poetry and prayer. Music for corporate worship and musings for troubled souls. The Psalms were Jesus’ hymnbook in the 1st century and the Psalms have become the soundtrack of our faith today.

Over everything else, the Psalms create the pathway by which you and I can encounter the living God.

Join us for our new series called “Rooted: Encountering God through Psalms.” We will learn together how to read the Psalms as poetry, and how to engage with Psalms as prayer. We will experience why the rhythm, lyrics, and melody of these ancient songs have captured the hearts and imaginations of Christians throughout the centuries. We will explore how the Psalms train us to draw closer to God’s heart than ever before - as they model for us what it is like to speak to, and hear from God.

Explore how the Psalms can root us in our faith today and keep us deeply rooted in our faith for a lifetime.

RESILIENT

Resilient—tending to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change. Resilience is a trait we are all developing right now. The early church followers and leaders developed it as well, and we are learning from them today. Resilience. Confidence. Joy. Boldness. What did they tap into in extreme times that led them to this posture? How can I draw on resilience as a follower of Jesus today? How do we develop resiliency? We stay in the fight. We may fall, but we get back up. Every day a better day, every breath a better breath. We seek to encounter God, and our lives are changed because of each encounter.

The Story Continues

Unified togetherness. All people welcome. An uncomplicated faith. A community of believers united around the person of Jesus, and pursuing him with every ounce of their being. They . . . and you and I today . . . are God's "plan A" to reach and impact our world. God committed everything He had to work with and through a ragtag band of followers and build his church. God could have done all of this without us . . . and probably been more efficient. Yet, he chose to take us on the journey with him. To prepare the way, to teach and guide us, and to walk a path of partnership with his people. The journey continues . . . from the Acts of the Apostles through the winding path of scripture and all of time . . . to you and me today. How will you engage this story?

First Things First

The story of Jesus. Radical healing. Acts of compassion. Offers of mercy. Love. Forgiveness. A savior who will go to the ends of the earth to rescue us, to bring us home.

Jesus came in power to invite us to draw near . . . to dare to believe . . . to go on an adventure that he had written for us from the beginning of time. To give us unprecedented access.

One thing he asks of us . . . and it goes against everything in our human nature . . . that we stop pretending we are doing better than we really are. He comes to be a healer, a restorer, and he asks us to admit our need for healing . . . to ask for it and to be open to it. To receive it. He knows we want to be in control. And we know that we are not. It is when his incredible love for us, and our humble confession of our need meet that his power is unleashed.

As we journey through Luke, consider Jesus’ words and actions and their bearing on your story. Consider your own need for rescue, healing, dignity and forgiveness.

Let There Be Light

Radical healing. Acts of compassion. Offers of mercy. Love. Forgiveness. A savior who will go to the ends of the earth to rescue us, to bring us home.

Jesus came in power to invite us to draw near . . . to dare to believe . . . to go on an adventure that he had written for us from the beginning of time. To give us unprecedented access.

One thing he asks of us . . . and it goes against everything in our human nature . . . that we stop pretending we are doing better than we really are. He comes to be a healer, a restorer, and he asks us to admit our need for healing . . . to ask for it and to be open to it. To receive it. He knows we want to be in control. And we know that we are not. It is when his incredible love for us, and our humble confession of our need meet that his power is unleashed.

As we journey through Luke, consider Jesus’ words and actions and their bearing on your story. Consider your own need for rescue, healing, dignity and forgiveness.

Threshold

Threshold: point of entry; beginning; magnitude or intensity that must be exceeded for a reaction or phenomenon to be manifest.

Discover God where you are, in your surroundings, actively pursuing you in your daily life. How can we discern His voice? Can we trust what He is saying? If He is actively pursuing you, if He is speaking to us and those words can be trusted, what are the next steps on how to act on what he is saying?

I AM

In a world of fast, fuzzy, and false we are all seeking what is real.

A fast pace.

Fuzzy lines of what is OK, or not OK.

Fake news. False truth.

These things leave us empty. And hopefully longing. Longing for answers to the complex questions in life.

Who is God?

Who am I?

Why am I here?

Where is God taking me?

What’s my next move?

Am I clear on who God is? I have to start with Him, you see, before I can be clear on who I am. It is in His life and story that any of our lives and stories begin to make sense.

Many of us have experienced God’s story. Few of us have interpreted it. And even fewer can articulate God’s story in a way that makes sense of our own story.

This eight week series will walk each of us through the steps of knowing why we were made and what we were made for as we explore the life of David.

SUIT UP

Because There's More Going On Here

Ever had the sense that more’s going on around you?

You can’t see it but you can sense it.

Sometimes you wonder if you come up against it.

Well, you are.

There are invisible forces at play in our lives, systems, world, and cosmos that— when rightly understood— make better sense of our reality. As we explore the last section of the Apostle Paul’s letter called Ephesians, we will address matters of spiritual resistance and how God calls us to suit up, stand firm, and . . . pray.

The good news is that, at the cross and empty grave, the battle has been won and we’re more than conquerers. We’re now called to join God in His peace-keeping mission . . .

LOVE(MATH) 2.0

Formulas For The Whole Household

A lot goes on under a roof, doesn’t it?

Every family is unique.

Every family is special.

Every family needs help.

With math.

To tackle Paul’s instructions to the households in Ephesus and his radical views on subverting the power structures of his day out of reverence for Christ, we thought we’d dust off LOVE(MATH), introduce some new formulas, and spend 10 weeks exploring how we can thrive in our most important relationships!

Sightings

Just when you think He’s not there.

Hagar, Moses, and Jacob.

Every single one of them were in a hard spot. They each had a very thin faith, if at all. Yet God was there every single time, to each one of them, differently.

Beside a spring, from a bush, in a dream.

This is true right now too, can you perceive it?

Walk This Way

In this series we are going to dive headlong into a stretch of Ephesians that—at first blush—can seem just like a bunch of rules. When in fact, they are very specific ways to love and build our relationships, with God and others. Paul writes that we should “walk” in these ways: “…walk in a manner worthy of the calling…” (4:1); “…walk no longer as the Gentiles do..” (4:17); “…walk in love…” (5:2); “…walk as children of light” (5:8); “…be careful how you walk…as wise” (5:15). We’re going plow through specific ways that Paul encourages us to walk and not walk—again, NOT to compile a list of “do’s and don’ts” but as practical and clear ways to walk in love.