
Level Ground Mennonite Church
By Level Ground Mennonite Church

Level Ground Mennonite ChurchNov 23, 2023

Core Practices: Reconciliation
Speaker: Pastor Andrew Haak
Scripture: Amos 5:21-24

Core Practices: Reconciliation - Peace Sunday
Speaker: Pastor Andrew Haak
Scripture: James 3:17-18
Reflection Questions:
What do you look for in wisdom? How do you discern godly wisdom from everything else?
Can you think of a time in your own life when sowing peace lead to a harvest of righteousness? Where are you currently sowing peace? What does that look like? How does it feel to wait for peace to come to fruition?

Core Practices: Reconciliation
Speaker: Clifford Weber

Core Practices: The Lord's Table - Communion
Speaker: Pastor Andrew Haak
Scripture: Luke 22:7-38
Reflection Questions: How does seeing the brokenness that gathered at the Last Supper shape how you imagine living out the Lord's Table?
In what ways have you experienced your brokenness being welcomed by Jesus and redeemed by him?
How are you being nudged to follow Christ's example of humility in service and sacrifice around the Lord's Table?

Core Practices: The Lord's Table - A more Christlike way
Speaker: Keith St. Jean
Scripture: Didache 1:1-5 & Philippians 2:5-11
Reflection Questions:
What is your most dominant image of God? Where did that image come from? How does this image affect how you treat yourself, the people around you, and all of creation?
How has Christ shown you that God is love? Are there key moments in your life that illustrate this truth? How can you participate with the God who is love?

Core Practice: Kingdom Prayer - Thanksgiving
Speaker: Pastor Andrew Haak
Scripture: Philippians 4:6-7
Reflection Questions:
How have you experienced prayerful thanksgiving leading to God's peace?
Can you think of a time where you were prompted to be thankful in the midst of a conflict? Was this a positive or negative experience? What made it so?
What is something you can express to God today in a prayer of thanksgiving?

Core Practice: Kingdom Prayer - Lament
Speaker: Pastor Josh Willms
Scripture: Psalm 88 & Lamentations 3
Reflection Questions:
Think back on a time when you experienced great loss or pain. What was that grief like for you? Did you feel pressure from yourself or others to get past or get over grieving that loss?
How does the rawness of Psalm 88 echo the pain and emptiness that you or someone you know has experienced?
How might you provide a safe space for someone who is grieving to express their lament to God?
How does reading Lamentations 3 help you grieve a loss? How can expressing words like this or helping someone else express such words give space to lament the brokenness in our world together?

Core Practices: Kingdom Prayer - Confession
Speaker: Pastor Andrew Haak
Scripture: Luke 18:9-14
Reflection Questions: How have you experienced confession bringing connection and restoration with God and others?
In what way are you being invited to prayerful acknowledge your need for God today?

Pastoral Installation & Commission Service
Speaker: Shel Boese
Commissioning and Installation of Andrew Haak and Josh Willms as Pastors of Level Ground.

Sermon: Acts 27 (September 10, 2023)
Speaker: Pastor Andrew Haak
Reflection Questions:
Where have your difficult experiences in life taken you? What doors or paths have challenging circumstances opened for you?
How have you experienced God in the middle of a storm? What words of comfort or promise have helped carry you through hardship?
In what ways can you draw inspiration from Paul’s example? How would living as though you were in your last chapter change how you lived today?

Sermon: Summary in Acts (September 3, 2023)
Speaker: Pastor Andrew Haak
Reflection Questions:
Can you think of a time when you had to wrestle a difficult decision with God? Who are the people in your life that you trust to discern this with?
How has encouragement and hospitality been extended to you on your journey? Who has walked with you and stuck with you through times of great difficulty?
Conversely, who are those that you have welcomed into your family and home as they have journeyed through your life? How might God be inviting you to come alongside someone as they face hardship and uncertainty?

Sermon: Ephesians 2:14-18 (August 27, 2023)
Speaker: Jesse Nickel
Reflection Questions:
How have you experienced the Shalom, the Peace of God in your life through Jesus?
Do you have stories of reconciliation or restoration?
In what ways have you experienced disunity, division, or polarization?
Do you struggle with the urge to just write some people off?
Or do you feel written off by others?
If you imagine a community defined by Shalom, what comes to your mind? And how does that make you feel?

Sermon: Acts 19:1-22 (August 20, 2023)
Speaker: Pastor Andrew Haak
Reflection Questions:
What does turning to Jesus today look like for you? How would you describe what it means to follow Jesus? What were the gaps in understanding that were filled along the way as you grew in faith?
How have you experienced the power of God in your life? In what ways has that power led to confession, witness and transformed lives?

Sermon: Acts 18:5-11 (July 30, 2023)
Speaker: Keith St. Jean
Reflection Questions:
In what ways has suffering shaped you? How could you see your suffering as being filled with potential?
How do you see your suffering as compost instead of garbage?
Has the community of God's people provided comfort for you in your suffering?
How could you be a comfort to the people around you?

Sermon: Acts 17:15-34 (July 23, 2023)
Speaker: Pastor Andrew Haak
Reflection Questions: What are the longings, questions, and profound insights about God that we can discover in our society?
How might we affirm and satisfy these by highlighting their fulfilment in Christ?
What are the present day idols that exist, those things that attract our devotion, affections, and trust?
How might Christ be inviting you into fuller alignment with him?

Sermon: Acts 17:1-15 (July 16, 2023)
Speaker: Pastor Andrew Haak
Reflection Questions:
What difficulties have you endured either coming to Christ or remaining with him? How has obstacles, troubles and suffering shaped your understanding of Christ and faith?
What are some of the ways you have seen a church respond to tension and turmoil? What did you learn from that situation?

Sermon: Acts 16:11-40 (July 8, 2023)
Preacher: Pastor Andrew Haak
Reflection Questions:
How have you experienced freedom, freedom from darkness and the things that enslaved you? In what ways are you still waiting for freedom?
How have you seen the church link together those who otherwise would never be connected to one another? What are some ways a shared commitment to Jesus has connected you to others in a way you didn't think possible?

Sermon: Acts 15 (June 25, 2023)
Speaker: Pastor Andrew Haak
Reflection Questions:
How have you seen churches make decisions and work through disagreement? Was this a positive or negative experience for you?
In what ways has the Spirit guided you through a time or situation that required discernment? What is something that you are in the process of discerning right now?

Sermon: Persecution, Prison and a Prayer Meeting Acts 12:1-17 (June 11, 2023)
Speaker: Pastor Josh Willms
Reflection Questions:
How do you see the early church embodying the practices of Reconciliation, The Lord's Table, and Kingdom Prayer?
What does it look like for you to live out these practises in daily life?
Can you think of a time that God answered your earnest prayer? What does that look like?

Sermon: Acts 9:32-43 (May 28, 2023)
Speaker: Pastor Andrew Haak
Reflection Questions:
In what ways do you observe gifts of the Spirit at work in our LGMC community?
How have you been equipped by the Spirit to participate in God's work and witness?
To where and to whom is the Spirit guiding you?

Sermon: Acts 7:2–53 (May 21, 2023)
Speaker: Jesse Nickel
Reflection Questions:
Looking back at your own life, where and how do you see God at work in it?
Where have you been participating in God's story?
Reflecting on your own life, the story you live each day, where might you notice the fingerprints of the Creator?
What distracts you from noticing God's presence in the world around you?
What stories have shifted the way you understand your identity, the world, and your place within it? How has the story of Jesus impacted your story?

Sermon: Economy of Grace (Acts 5:1-10)
Preacher: Keith St. Jean
Reflection Questions:
“A proper community is a commonwealth: a place, a resource, an economy. It answers the needs, practical as well as social and spiritual, of its members - among them the need to need one another.”
Wendell Berry
When you have a need, whether it be financial, spiritual, social, or any other, what is the first place you think to go for help? Why there?
According to Wendell Berry all our needs can be met in a “proper” community. According to Luke in a transformed Christ-following community there should not be a needy person among us. What are some ways that we have been living this out at Level Ground and what are some new ways that we can begin to live into this economy of grace?

Sermon: The Prayer Full Church (Acts 3:1-10)
Preacher: Andrew Haak

Sermon: Live a Good Story (Acts 2:42-47)
Preacher: Andrew Haak
Reflection Questions:
1. What is it about this description of the early church that you find exciting or appealing?
2. Where are the challenges in living this out?
3. How are you being nudged to respond today?

Sermon: Pentecost (Acts 2:1-21)
Preacher: Gareth Brandt
Exploring what it means to be 'pentecostal' Anabaptists.
Reflection Questions
1. What are some ways that you have seen the gifts of the Holy Spirit manifest through others?
2. How does it make you feel to know that God’s Spirit is for everyone, and that includes you?

Sermon: Living Proof (Acts 1:1-11)
Preacher: Andrew
Reflection Questions:
1. How have you experienced the gift of the Holy Spirit in your life?
2. What does being Christ's witness and partner in His kingdom building look like to you?
3. How has Jesus been made visible to you through His people?

Sermon: Easter Sunday (April 9, 2023)
Preacher: Andrew

Tenebrae Service (April 6, 2023)
Tenebrae meaning shadows, a time of reflection on Jesus' moments before the cross.

Sermon: Palm Sunday (April 2, 2023)
Preacher: Josh
Exploring stories of Lazarus and the Triumphal Entry.

Sermon: Isaiah 40:27-31 (Mar 26 2023)
Guest Preacher: Tigist
(this is the audio from her pre-recorded video message for us)

Sermon: Zachaeus / Luke 19:1-10 (Mar 19 2023)
Preacher: Clifford
(apologies for the delayed start of the recording; comments shared in response to the message have been edited out for privacy reasons)

Sermon: The Audacity of it All / Mark 10:35-45 (Mar 12 2023)
Preacher: Andrew
(apologies for the delayed start of the recording; comments shared in response to the message have been edited out for privacy reasons)

Sermon: All In / Matthew 19:16-30 (Mar 5 2023)
Preacher: Kevin
(comments shared in response to the message have been edited out for privacy reasons)

Sermon: A Question of Identity / Mark 5:1-20 (Feb 19 2023)
Preacher: Keith
(comments shared in response to the message have been edited out for privacy reasons)

Sermon: John 9 (Feb 12 2023)
Preacher: Josh
(comments shared in response to the message have been edited out for privacy reasons)

Sermon: Mark 5:24-35 (Feb 5 2023)
Preacher: Monika
The recording was started about 1/3 into the sermon, apologies.
(comments shared in response to the message have been edited out for privacy reasons)

Sermon: Much More Than a Meal / Mark 6:30-44 (Jan 29 2023)
Preacher: Andrew

Sermon: Who Is This? / Mark 4:35-41 (Jan 22 2023)
Preacher: Jesse
(comments shared in response to the message have been edited out for privacy reasons)

Sermon: From Shame to Celebration / John 2:1-11 (Jan 15 2023)
Preacher: Andrew
(comments shared in response to the message have been edited out for privacy reasons)

Sermon: 4th Advent / Matt 1:18-25 (Dec 18 2022)
Preacher: Andrew

Sermon: 3rd Advent / Luke 1:57-80 (Dec 11 2022)
Preacher: Ronald
Apologies for the delayed start to the recording
(comments shared in response to the message have been edited out for privacy reasons)

Sermon: 1st Advent & Baptism Sunday #2 / Luke 1:5-25 (Nov 27 2022)
Preacher: Andrew
(comments shared in response to the message have been edited out for privacy reasons)

Sermon: Baptism Sunday / Acts 8:26-40 (Nov 20 2022)
Preacher: Andrew
(comments shared in response to the message have been edited out for privacy reasons)

Sermon: Peace Sunday / Rom 12:18 (Nov 13 2022)
Preacher: Andrew
(comments shared in response to the message have been edited out for privacy reasons)

Sermon: What Are You Doing / James 2:14-26 (Nov 6 2022)
Preacher: Keith
(comments shared in response to the message have been edited out for privacy reasons)

Sermon: Thanksgiving Sunday / Psalm 136 (Oct 9 2022)
Preacher: Andrew
(comments shared in response to the message have been edited out for privacy reasons)

Sermon: The Kingdom of Children / Matt 18:1-5 (Oct 2 2022)
Preacher: Andrew
(comments shared in response to the message have been edited out for privacy reasons)

Devotional: AGM / Col 4:2 (Sep 25 2022)
Preacher: Andrew

Sermon: Hallelujah / Rev 21-22:21 (Sep 18 2022)
Preacher: Keith
(comments shared in response to the message have been edited out for privacy reasons)

Sermon: Damascus Road (Aug 21 2022)
Preacher: Keith
(comments shared in response to the message have been edited out for privacy reasons)