Calvary: the Hill Sermons

What is God doing in our lives and how does it work? We can reverse-engineer Paul's prayer and discover that we need God's help to understand God's love so that we can become more fully what we are; the temple of God.

The message of welcome is indeed surprising, but the surprise doesn’t stop it being admitted into the kingdom of God. It continues when God invites us to actually participate in a ministry welcome. He graciously give specific callings to be fulfilled through the church, by and for Christ.

The essence of the Christian message is an invitation. It is a free gift, a new identity, a twist in the plot, a windfall inheritance and a news-worthy happening. In short it is the gospel; the good news of our surprising welcome into relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

Paul had been talking about what God has done; he brought us near and made us one. Now he turns to what God is doing, making a people into his temple built on the scriptures, focused on Jesus, preaching the gospel, empowered by the Spirit, to the glory of God.

The salvation brought to us in Jesus Christ is not just spiritual but social. In Jesus, true peace between divided and hostile communities is made because Jesus put the hostility to death. We are called in all our differences to be one new family in Christ.

Jesus was both the expected Messiah and the unexpected incarnation of God. At the moment of Jesus' birth, everything changed: God had become man and all would be well. Because Jesus came as God with us, we now can be with God forever.

Solomon, the son of David, ruled over a glorious kingdom. But it was temporary, and flawed. Like all the kingdoms of the earth is was a glorious contradiction. Jesus however was glorious in paradox, and is therefore worthy of being the King of Kings and Lord of Lords as the true son of David.

For a story we associate with Joseph, the narrator sure spends a lot of time on Judah. As it turns out, The author does this to push our gaze beyond Joseph to the one who would come who would be the greatest and truest example of God's providence and reconciliation.

Noah was prophesied to bring rest from the curse, but the real rest had to wait for the coming of Jesus. Although Noah was indeed a son of Adam, in him God only gave the world a new start. In Jesus, God is not only making a new world, but a new people.

How does the fact that we are saved by grace impact our daily life? Much and in every way! God has graciously given us a life of purpose and a story which He is writing for us to walk in every day.

How are we saved? What does it mean to be saved. Paul blows past our often overly simple understanding and explains that salvation is accomplished by God's kindness and is nothing less than experiencing the full depth of God's kindness forever.

The Bible's depiction of what's wrong with humanity has much in common with a lot of the assessments from other quarters. However in every case, the Christian view is worse and more desperate. None the less, because of Christ we have true hope for even death is defeated in Christ.

To live the Christian life we need to know the power available to us in Christ. This power not only raised Christ from the dead, but appointed him as the ultimate authority and will make the whole world right. Because we are in Jesus, we can experience that same power in our daily life as we live as God's temple and make his fullness manifest.

With God's help, we can find our identity through knowing God better and knowing the hope, blessings and power He has given to us. We are more than rescued, we are transformed.

Our salvation also comes with a great inheritance, not only are we God's chosen inheritance, but he, the Living God of Love, is our inheritance. We can be sure of our future because we have received the Holy Spirit.

The climactic moment in history and our own personal story is the cross of Christ. In that we find reversal, revelation and resolve and that changes our present and our future. We are no longer what we were.

To understand the story we are in we need to understand its origin and its author. Since we are in Christ our story begins before time in the heart of God. Knowing this changes how we view events both good and bad in our life, as we can trust that they are a part of the glorious story of God's grace.

Paul writes the letter of Ephesians to the Saints. What does it mean that we are saints in Christ? It means that we have entered into a new story and have a new identity. Living this out is our new purpose.

The book of Micah closes with worship. As it turns out, the center of Micah's message is not Israel's unfaithfulness but God's faithfulness, and not God's judgment but his forgiveness. Understanding this leads us to ask, as Micah did, "Who is like you Lord?"

Lament is an essential part of being a community of justice in a world of injustice. Although it is not natural to us, the discipline of lament helps us to take the reality of evil seriously, own our responsibility in its existence, and place our hope in the God who can fix things.

Here Micah makes clear that injustice isn't just wrong, its wrong headed. Using the traditional language and perspective of wisdom, Micah warns Israel that their behavior doesn't bring life but death. We also need to recognize that injustice isn't cheating to win, but a foolish loss.

Why isn't God satisfied with all of the worship of Israel that takes place at the temple? What is it that he requires? The same thing he has always required; that we would respond to all he is and all he has done for us by doing the same things. This alone is true worship.

What are the people of God supposed to be about during the interim? The mission is both one of blessing and judgment. It is simultaneously a fragrance of life and a fragrance of death. Both of these are accomplished as God publicly transforms us, changing us into witnesses of God.

What does Christmas have to do with Civil Rights? At the very Center of Micah's book and message is the announcement of the one who is to be born in Bethlehem. How does the coming of Jesus and the gospel relate to issues of Social Justice? Here we see how to think of their connection.

God makes clear that although in "that day" he will set all things right "now" will be a time of suffering, exile and difficulty. However, this is not a detour to the plan. It is the plan. If we are to embrace God's way of justice, we also will have to embrace suffering, but that suffering will be productive and lead to life.