The Highlands Church: Recent Episodes
The Highlands Church
Welcome to The Highlands Church! We are a community of people learning to walk with Jesus and become more like him. This podcast includes sermons from our weekly Sunday gatherings in Delano, MN. To learn more about us, check us out at www.thehighlandsmn.com.
Our summer ministry intern Will Brown delivers his first sermon today, and dives deep into a simple question - Do you know Jesus? Using Luke 5:1-11, Will shows us how Peter was able to, in a single instance KNOW who Jesus was, and dropped every thing we had to follow him.
Pastor Drew Johnson, Senior Pastor of the Aspen Grove Network is guest preaching today and continues our series based on Romans 12:20. Today, he speaks on the pattern of Nationalism - meaning from a Christian perspective, our sense of patriotism goes too far and our country becomes our focus and idol instead of God.
Today, Dr John Grams, who is also Pastor Aaron's Uncle, guest speaks today on his favorite topic - God's Love. Dr. John goes through one of Paul's most impassioned speeches on God's Love in Romans 8:31-39, where Paul can stress enough, that if God is for us, who can be against us?
Pastor Luke speaks today on Moral Relativism - the idea that moral judgments are relative to societies, cultures and even individuals - that there is no universal truth. While relativism can be true with regards to some things - like winter in Minnesota vs Panama, God and Jesus are not relativistic. Truth is grounded in God and Jesus.
Pastor Paul comes back to goes speak today and continue our series on the different Patterns of this world. Listen in as he dives in science and God's fingerprints in just how finely tuned the universe truly is.
Brad Gotto, Overseer and member of The Highlands, is our guest speaker day and joins us to celebrate Fathers Day 2026!
Pastor Aaron make a quick return from paternity leave to kick off a new series - Patterns of this World, and we begin with one that will touch all of you - Individualism.
Pastor Ryan Windell, found of the soon to be coming Anchor Community Church in Lakeville Minnesota, is our guest speaker today to wrap up our first series on Artificial Intelligence. We learn that AI is like a hammer - in the hands of the right person it can be used to build a beautiful house, but in other hands it can be used as a weapon. AI has also prompted to move faster, be more productive, keep doing things - when our souls were made to move slow and with purpose.
Pastor Brody continues our 5th Sunday tradition of teaching Generosity. Today, we learn that Jesus COMMANDS - doesn't suggest or comment or say it's a good idea - but commands us not to worry and to put our worry in God's hands for He will take care of us. If he ensures the ravens and birds are well taken care of, for He will surely care for us as well.
Pastor Aaron is out on paternity leave! Stepping in today is Pastor Luke McClaine, The Adult Ministries Pastor at The Highlands. Pastor Luke continues our series on AI and the risks of letting AI define your value. God defined your value, and it was defined on the Cross. No AI algorithm or prompt can change the value that God has given to you.
Happy Mothers Day to all our Mother's out there! Pastor Aaron uses the story of Mary, the mother of Jesus to explore some truths about motherhood.
When faced with over 800 Philistine soldiers, what would you do? Would you retreat? Or would you stand and face them on your own as your comrades retreated? Eleazar choose to stay and fight those soldiers as the rest of the Israeli army retreated, and fought so hard and so long that his hand locked over his sword. What is that you are retreating from? What is it you are too scared to face without God's help?
We continue to Chase The Lion, by looking into not just one of David's Mightiest Men - but David himself. While to us, the idea of a long teenager facing a. nearly 10 foot tall man in single combat is a guaranteed losing fight - with consistent Yes answers to God over his life, David was ready for that moment. And perhaps, it was Goliath who was the underdog in this fight.
We all need the courage to follow God-sized dreams, because if your dream doesn't scare you - it's too small. Showing through examples of courage, Pastor Aaron begins a new sermon series on courage, inspired by the book Chase The Lion.
Join us for our Easter 2026 service. This is the day that Satan and Sin learned a powerful lesson - that even when you think God is cornered, that there are no moves left in your faith, your finances, your marriage, you children - and it's all hanging by a thread - God, The King, always has one move left.
Pastor Aaron brings a powerful sermon today as we contemplate and sit on the fact that today is the day that Jesus was crucified. Pastor Aaron brings a little known comparison between the Day Of Atonement - a Jewish holy day in which a goat is sacrificed for atonement - and how Jesus and Barabas were presented to the crowd, with Jesus being selected as the sacrificial goat.
Today is Palm Sunday - the day of Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and the beginning of Easter week. On this same day, we start a multi year series, where on the 5th Sunday of each month it occurs, we will explore the Generosity Recipe - learning how to be generous as Christians. The first ingredient in this recipe, is fittingly for today, learning and understanding that God owns everything, and gave everything.
Pastor Aaron brings home our sermon series today with further discussion on The Flesh and its relationship to sin. We listen as Paul tells us to not simply transform, quiet, or push away our sin and flesh - but to crucify it and start a new with Jesus.
Pastor Aaron leads an intense and deep sermon into The Devil and how he affects us everyday, using his favorite tool of deception to lead us astray. And it affects everyone - even those who believe that they are too "smart" or "modern" to be deceived by The Devil. We, the Church, must be on guard against these deceptions in our lives by sticking to what we know to be uncuttable truth - the truth of Jesus Christ.
Pastor Aaron kicks off a new sermon series called The World, The Flesh and The Devil. In Ephesians 2:1-5, Paul describes the 3 biggest catalysts to our sin - the Devil, The Flesh and the World. With today being an overview of this topic, we will go in-depth into each one in the coming weeks.
Pastor Drew, Senior Pastor of the Aspen Grove Network, continues our series by exploring the word Truth. We learn that truth is not a WHAT but a WHO, and like the default Sunday School answer that was never wrong, and the WHO is Jesus.
Pastor Aaron is back and continues our sermon series on Five Worlds that Describe Christianity. Today's word is HOPE. Pastor Aaron goes into what Christian Hope looks like, and how it is founded in God's promises to us. Listen how we can still find hope even in our darkest moments.
Pastor Zac from Woodridge Church continues our pastor swap between the Aspen Grove Network churches and continues our series on 5 Words That Describe Christianity, with today's world being Faith. Pastor Zac goes into great detail about what Faith is, what it looks like and how we exercise faith on a daily basis.
Pastor Austin, from the Foundry Church in Plymouth MN (a sister church to The Highlands and Aspen Grove Network) begins a sermon series on 5 Words To Describe Christianity. We being with the Love - something that Jesus commands us as followers of His to be known for - yet all to often we are known for the opposite. Pastor Austin goes into why that is, and what loving one another looks like.
Pastor Brody pinch hits for Pastor Aaron today with a message that, while aimed at our youth - is a good reminder for all of us - kids, parents and those who are young in their faith. It doesn't matter how old you are, or how spiritually mature you are: you are NEVER too young to hear and follow God's voice.
Pastor Laurel is back once more with a strong sermon on contentment and being content while desiring more Jesus over more 'stuff'.
Pastor Luke preaches today to continue our sermon series on the characters surrounding Jesus at His birth. Today, we look at the Magi, or Wisemen, who made the 800 mile journey to see Jesus after His star rose in the night sky. Pastor Luke dives into who these Wisemen likely where, what a Magi was at this time period, and what they mean and symbolize to us today.
Pastor Paul guest speaks today and continues our sermon series, Prepare Him Room. Today, we dive into Mary, and how she not only prepared room for Jesus spiritually, but physically as well. If Mary could say yes, in what could have culturally made her an outcast, why can't we say yes when times are hard?
We hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving! Now, as the calendar turns, so does our attention to Christmas and the Christmas season. Today, Pastor Aaron starts a new sermon series called "Prepare Him Room", inspired by the song Joy To The World. Each week, we will look at a character from the Christmas story and what each character did, or didn't do, to prepare room in their hearts for God. Today, we look at Zechariah, and his response to the appearance of the angel Gabriel and the proclamation that he and his wife, though well beyond child bearing years, will give brith to a son - who would be known as John The Baptist
Join guest speaker Pastor Ryan Widdel as he continues our book study on Philippians and we learn the meaning of rejoicing in the Lord.
Join Pastor Drew Johnson, Senior Pastor of the Aspen Grove Network, guest teach for us today as Pastor Aaron runs in the New York City Marathon with Team World Vision! We continue our study in Philippians for another week. Today we learn what it means that our citizenship isn't simply to some town, state or country - but to Heaven.
We continue our study on the book of Philippians this week by moving on to Chapter 3. To start this chapter, Paul writes about a topic that he is very passionate about - going "Christ Plus": the idea that we need to do more than believe in Jesus so that we can earn our place in Heaven. Listen as Pastor Aaron goes into the history behind the idea that works - such as circumsision - is what saves us, and why Paul was writing about this topic to the Philippians.
Our Philippians study continues on as we read Philippians 2:19-30, and we learn about Epaphroditus, a member of the Church at Philippi, who volunteered to bring money to help Paul while he was imprisoned in Rome. Paul describes him as a Brother, co-worker and fellow soldier. Can we say the same of ourselves in how we follow Jesus?
Our study in Philippians continues as we hear what Paul has to say on something that every single one of us is guilty of on a regular basis - grumbling and complaining, and how it affects us as followers of Jesus.
Is Jesus your hero? And do you copy your hero? Today's sermon centers around these questions as we examine Philippians 2:5-11, and how Paul uses scripture to show us how to copy Jesus - who happened to be Paul's hero!
Buckle up, because Pastor Laurel guest preaches today to continue our book study on Philippians. She preaches today on how important it is that Christians live in the interest of others instead of our own self-interests - especially in today's world of a "you deserve this" culture.
Before continuing our study in Philippians, Pastor Aaron delivers a message about embracing God in what has become a heavy few weeks for all of us. We encourage to reach out for prayer, and to seek God's embrace in these times.
Pastor Aaron kicks off a new 12 week sermon series where we will do a deep dive into Paul's letter to the Philippians. There's a lot to unpack in this short letter, and as we see today, even the first 7 words have a lot to unpack!
Pastor Aaron preaches today on Romans 5:1-5, and teaches us that as Christians, we have a unique opportunity to have unfiltered and unguarded access to God and Jesus, regardless of who we are.
We start a new Sermon series today exploring what the Bible says about who and what the Church is. Pastor Aaron shows how Jesus is the shepherd to us as followers of Christ, that we are his flock. And like the good shepherd that Jesus' calls himself, we guides and leads us - as long as we are willing to listen and follow.
Pastor Laurel Bunker guest speaks today and teaches us on Psalm 134 - a short Psalm of only 3 verses, but a powerful one. Come and learn how, even during tough times, low times and boring times, it is always important to give worship to God.
Pastor Aaron kicks off a new sermon series, Psalms of Ascent, that will lead us through and into Easter. Join us as we explore a set of Psalms in the coming weeks that the Israelites would sing as they climbed up to Jerusalem to celebrate different festivals. Today, we go into Psalm 122 1-9, as it extols the Joy of Worship, Unity of God's people and Praying for Peace.
Pastor Brody, The Highlands Next Gen Pastor, starts us on the path to Easter 2025 with a revealing sermon on the Transfiguration of Jesus - the moment that Jesus went up a mountain with Peter, James and John, and meets with Moses and Elijah. A moment that has very close ties and similarities to Moses receiving the 10 Commandments.
Pastor Aaron returns! Join us as Pastor Aaron concludes our Di$ciple sermon series with a sermon on how God uses the gifts we give to multiple the lives of others - even if we don't see it right away in our lives, since God is the great supplier and the great multiplier.
Pastor Zac Busch, Lead Pastor at Woodridge, part of the Aspen Grove Network, guest speaks today to continue our series on Discipleship and generosity. Today, he goes into how we live in contentment with what we have, and not chasing more things to add. We learn that when we acknowledge that Jesus is, in fact, enough for us to live, we can say Enough is Enough and live in contentment with what we have and rest.
Pastor Drew Johnson, Senior Pastor of the Aspen Grove Network, guest speaks at The Highlands today to continue our sermon series on Discipleship and giving.
Pastor Paul Johnson, the Aspen Grove Networks Generosity Pastor, kicks of our new series on Discipleship. Listen as Paul describes and goes into how to live abundantly, while giving and living for others.
Pastor Aaron concludes our By Faith series by sharing the story of Jeremiah, one of the major prophets of the Old Testament, who was called to his service during one of the most difficult times in Israels history. Come and learn how Jeremiah's faith kept him going during the most difficult years of following God's calling.
Our series in By Faith continues as we look at the story of Barak and Deborah, and how God used Deborah to lead Barak and the Israelites out of bondage to the Canaanites. Through their faith and humility, we see how a life of faith is also one of humility, and that God purposefully seeks those who are humble.
Pastor Aaron continues our sermon series By Faith, by going through the story of Gideon. Listen as we explore how God uses Gideon to save Israel from the Midianites- by all accounts someone who would be the worst qualified person to do so. This story shows how God can use every one of us to do great things - all through just a little faith.
It's a New Year, and we kick things off with a new sermon series. Pastor Laurel Bunker, opens up our new series by looking at a Biblical definition of faith, and what faith means. With that foundation set, she goes into depth on the story of Samson, and how he falls from his faith, but finds it again at a key moment. While Samson's story is not one we would likely find ourselves in today, we can take heart in how in finding his faith once more, God forgave him and welcomed him back.
Today, Pastor Aaron goes into a depth that's not often covered in depth - and that is fasting. Pastor Aaron goes into detail on the importance of fasting in the Bible, a practice prevalent in both testaments, the role it plays in spiritual warfare, and how the act of fasting brings us closer to God.
Come and celebrate Christmas 2024 with The Highlands! Pastor Aaron delivers a powerful Christmas message about God revealing Jesus birth first to a group of Shepherds - people who were among the lowest of the low, and how that is meant to show us the heart of God.
Pastor Aaron continues our Christmas sermon series, Do Not Be Afraid, by going into the topic of courage. Listen to the story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor during WW2 who had the courage to stand for both what God was calling him to do and what was right, and the courage that Joesph had in saying yes to Jesus in the face of serious cultural and societal backlash.
Pastor Aaron continues our Christmas sermon series, Do Not Be Afraid. Today, he goes into Mary, and all of the many, many reasons she had to be afraid when the Angel Gabriel appears to her, and gives her the news that she was chosen to be Jesus' mother. Given the cultural times, and the issues for her that would come from saying yes, she put her aside her fears, to become the first person to say Yes to Jesus.
Pastor Aaron opens the Christmas season with a new sermon series, Do Not Be Afraid. Aaron goes into the story of Zachariah and Elizabeth and how God answered not just their prayer for a child, but also the prayers of Israel longing to hear God's voice, and wondering if God was listening. Turns out, He was.
Pastor Paul wraps up the Rooted and Flourishing series by summing up everything we've learned the last few weeks with 2 Bible verses. Stick around until the end of the sermon to see a Pastor do something you likely have seen a Pastor do before!
Pastor Paul Johnson continues his sermon series on being rooted in God in order to flourish. Today, we go into how living a life filled with the Holy Spirit can lead to a life of song and praise, and provide you with the spiritual nourishment that you need to flourish. Much like the sap of a tree delivers the nourishment of the roots to the rest of the tree.
Pastor Paul continues our series in living a life rooted in Jesus Christ. Pastor Paul ends the service with a call for people to follow. If this message inspires or stirs a feeling to follow Jesus within you, reach out to us at The Highlands! Our staff are here for, and are looking forward to walking with you in the journey that you are undertaking.
The Generosity Pastor of the Aspen Grove Network, and former Senior Pastor Paul Johnson is starting a new series on being rooted in your life in Jesus.
Pastor Aaron concludes our series "Transformed" by looking at Peter and his relationship with Jesus.
Pastor Laurel Bunker is once more our guest speaker for today, and continues our sermon series, Transformed. She speaks on a story in John 4:1-27, about a woman who meets Jesus at a well and sees first hand how perceptions and people can transform in a single conversation.
Pastor Brody, The Highlands Next Gen Pastor, kicks off our next sermon series Transformed by delivering a powerful message on the comparison between leprosy and sin - and the power of Jesus and God to heal both!
Pastor Aaron brings our sermon series on The Highlands mission and values to a conclusion today with the last, but not least, value of Living Generously. Pastor Aaron goes into how living generously goes far beyond just being generous with money - but also generous with your time, your heart and faith.
Pastor Laurel Bunker is our guest speaker today to continue our series on The Highlands Vision and Values. Our value today is reaching the Next Generation, and this is something Pastor Laurel is on fire for. Pastor Laurel goes into detail on different stories around the world in which the young generation are on fire for Jesus, and how we can ALL help reach the children and young adults of our world.
Pastor Aaron continues our sermon series on The Highlands mission, vision and values, with this week's value being the Transformation of God's People, and how The Highlands will be a training ground for intentional discipleship.
Pastor Aaron continues our series on our church's vision and values by delivering a powerful sermon on our 1st value - seeking the Presence of God.
Pastor Aaron returns! With our Pastor teaching rotation ending successfully, Pastor Aaron kicks off a new sermon series where we will go into depth on the vision and values that we as a Church will have in this coming season. Today, we go into great depth of our church's Vision - that we will Learn and Live the Way of Jesus.
Pastor Paul Johnson continues our speaker rotation in the Aspen Grove Network to bring our Be Resilient sermon series with a "Doing Action" sermon. Pastor Paul goes into how acts of worship like fasting can and do strengthen your faith and how actions in your faith will strengthen your faith - just like reps on the bench press strengthens your arms and core!
Today we welcome Pastor Drew Johnson, the Senior Pastor of the Aspen Grove Network, to continue our sermon series on Being Resilient in our spiritual and faith lives.
Pastor Zac, Lead Pastor at Woodridge, one of our fellow churches in the Aspen Grove Network, comes as a guest speaker today to kick off/resume our sermon series on Being Resilient. Pastor Zac speaks on consenting to building our resilience in life and faith by blessing and praying for others.
Brad Gotto, one of our Overseets at The Highlands, joins us today as our Guest Speaker for the final week of our Sermon On The Mount summer series. Listen closely as Brad encourages everyone to use what we learned in this series as a foundation for our faith, to and to go and Do the things that Jesus preached. Be a Bible Liver, not just a Bible Reader!
Pastor Aaron continues our Sermon On The Mount series by looping back to Matthew 7:1-5, speaking on Jesus teaching of avoiding hypocrisy and not unfairly judging others.
Pastor Julio is our guest speaker today. Join us as he speaks to his role in Haitian Teen Challenge and the challenges and triumphs that they face while working in Haiti
Today we welcome Pastor Laurel Bunker, a member of our Aspen Grove Teaching Team, to continue our Sermon On The Mount series. Today, listen closely as she emboldens you to trust in God your worries, and how our worries and wealth often accompany each other.
Our summer series covering The Sermon On The Mount continues today as Pastor Aaron goes deep into Matthew 6:1-18, and how not to go through the motions or making a spectacle of what we do for God. This is because God desires our heart far more than any actions we take.
We resume our summer series on the Sermon On The Mount this week, by working through one of Jesus' toughest teachings to follow - loving our enemies. Follow along with us in Matthew 5:38-48 to see what it looks like to agape love those who are against you.
Pastor Aaron is back! Today we continue our series on the Sermon On The Mount, covering Jesus teaching on adultery and the affect of sin on our lives, and how through God's love we are forgiven of our sins and can move on in our lives.
Pastor Paul Johnson is our guest speaker today, continuing our Sermon On The Mount series. This week, we dive into Jesus' teachings on the necessity to reconcile conflict in our relationships, and just how important it is to keep our relationships healthy.
Pastor Brody, The Highlands Next Gen Pastor, gives a sermon going into depth into what it was like to be in the audience of the Sermon on The Mount, and then a deep dive into the first of The Beatitudes - "Blessed are the Poor in Spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven".
Pastor Drew, Senior Pastor of the Aspen Grove Network of churches, is our guest speaker today. Today, he opens our new Sermon Series on Jesus' most well known sermon, the Sermon on the Mount.
Happy Mothers Day! Pastor Paul delivers a sermon on the power of a Mothers pride in their children.
Sunday Sermon by guest pastor, Pastor Zac Bush on being generous with our thoughts towards others.
God entrusts you with important things. But what are they and how do you figure it out?
God entrusts you with important things. But what are they and how do you figure it out?
God entrusts you with important things. But what are they and how do you figure it out?
The Bigger Better Offer series is about learning to hate what God hates and learning to love what God loves in order to show up differently in our world.
The Bigger Better Offer series is about learning to hate what God hates and learning to love what God loves in order to show up differently in our world.
The Bigger Better Offer series is about learning to hate what God hates and learning to love what God loves in order to show up differently in our world.
The Bigger Better Offer series is about learning to hate what God hates and learning to love what God loves in order to show up differently in our world.
The Bigger Better Offer series is about learning to hate what God hates and learning to love what God loves in order to show up differently in our world.